I blinked against the sun. Finally, after a few days, it appeared again. The dark clouds had cleared and a clear blue sky stretched to the horizon. Today it was finally time to train again, after all I couldn't fall behind. My steps on the asphalt were the only thing that could be heard, no one else had been seen here. However, I always went along the smallest but most beautiful paths in Konoha. Few people got lost here. I liked the quiet, and it was always the best way to think about the things that haunted my head.
I turned the last corner and came to the large meadow that I always used as a training ground. It was really colorful. After the rain, the flowers had dared to come out of their hiding spots, attracted by the sun, and showed their colors. I took a few steps into the meadow, only to find that it was still damp. However, it was now too late and I didn't back down anymore, my feet were already wet anyway. I took a deep breath. Then I raised my right arm, reached back over my shoulder and closed my hand around the handle of my katana. It felt good to feel him again. I slowly pulled the sword out of its scabbard and over my shoulder until I had it right in front of my eyes. I examined it carefully. Nothing had changed, the long, narrow, silver blade gleamed in the sun. With one movement I pulled the katana across my face and touched the front part of the blade with the finger of my other hand to give it some support. It was really a good feeling to feel it again. With one blow I reached out and lifted the head off a flower. It was spicy just like I always had it. I let the sword circle around my arm a few times, did exercises for the tension of my body - after all, as a swordsman you had to be steadfast - and then slowly walked across the meadow to a tree at the edge.I concentrated, then cut off a branch of the tree. It landed just at my feet. I grabbed it to stand it upright as best I could, then held my katana in the air above my head. Immediately it flashed again as the sun threw its rays on it. I could feel the chakra of my body flowing through my arms into the sword. An amazing feeling! A jerk went through my body and my katana cut the branch in half exactly in the middle. Hit, perfect! Bursting with strength, I turned around on my own axis and took this swing to aim straight into the tree. Suddenly there was resistance and I almost fell into the tree. Shit, how was it again with the steadfastness ?! However, what annoyed me more was that my katana had not cut the tree in two and it was now felled on the ground, but the blade stuck in the tree! Crap, crap, crap !! I had become weaker, but it shouldn't be that difficult to cut this tree in half and it couldn't be because of the blade, it was sharp! I pulled the handle of my gun, but nothing moved. Oh crap! I added a stronger pull, but nothing, not even the slightest movement! What should I do now? I couldn't get anyone and ask them to pull out my sword, that was embarrassing! I shook the handle desperately. Don't panic now! I concentrated on the sword, took deep breaths and tried to direct my chakra specifically onto my katana. I just wanted to do it now, it had to work! All my will wanted to pull this sword out of the tree again. And then it suddenly loosened up a bit. I held the grip a little tighter. My arm pulled back and the katana slid smoothly out of the notch it had left.
Phew !! I dropped to my knees.It worked and so I escaped an embarrassing situation! However, I didn't feel like training anymore. I got up slowly and headed back.
My first day of training after the rain break couldn't have been more disappointing ...

To cheer me up, I decided to make a detour to my favorite shop in Konoha. It was a bookstore crammed with thousands of books, each with its own story. I slowly walked down one of the many side streets, which then crossed with the wide path in front of the academy. Right on the intersection was none other than my Sensei! Shit, couldn't they just leave me happy with school and training today? In the faint hope that my sensei hadn't noticed me yet, I was about to turn around again, but then he was already calling my name. “Hey, Sui!” I had no choice but to surrender to fate and shuffled over to my Sensei. “Oh, hello Sensei Izumo!” “Sui, it's good that I meet you. I have to talk to you about something!” Oh no, now he will probably give me a moral sermon about the fact that I would let my training run too far and that I would so would certainly never go on missions.
For me there was a problem:
I'm not exactly the shinobi I should be. I had passed my graduation from the academy with flying colors without a doubt and was therefore also a legal Ge-Nin. I never had any problems with the tasks. However, there must be some catch and it was precisely that my abilities on missions totally failed. Shortly after I finally got my headband, I was sent on a bigger mission. What does bigger mean, it wasn't about life and death or anything! However, when we were really supposed to fight another group, I just stood there.I was nervous, had no idea what to do and was practically paralyzed! What an experience! ...
When my sensei had gone through everything with me again after this mission, I got the second chance to do better this time, but this mission was no different from the first! There was nothing I could do about it, on the one hand I was strong, on the other hand it was just an annoying appendage for the whole team under these conditions. So I was no longer allowed to go on the missions. But what kind of shinobi was I then, a shinobi wasn't a shinobi without missions! I stayed at home and trained, fighting my weakness, but it didn't go away, despite the hard training. At some point I gave up, I didn't feel like it anymore. Train for what if it was just useless for me? I postponed my training sessions to the days when I felt like doing it and actually it always felt good when I pulled my katana out of its sheath. I also knew that if I stopped training, I would fall behind, so I trained, just at irregular times.
"I wanted to talk to you about your training." I rolled my eyes, why was it only clear to me that he would say something like that ?? But I made a good face to the bad game and looked at him with interest. "I haven't seen you training lately! I just wanted to see how well you've gotten now. Do you think you could show me something on the academy's training grounds?" Hadn't trained in time, was he trying to tease me with it? A little taken by surprise, I nodded. “Yes, okay.” So I walked single file behind him to the training area and already saw my embarrassment in front of me.
"Good. The first thing I would like to see is your way of dealing with the Shuriken and Kunai." What? With these things I would embarrass myself endlessly."But Sensei, you know that I don't like these things and therefore never train with them! These weapons are so ... so sneaky!" Sensei Izumo just smiled. "Sui, we ninjas are sneaky too! A ninja would never show his techniques or weapons open-heartedly so that every opponent really knows what he is dealing with!" Tortured, I looked over at the targets, then back at mine Sensei. He nodded encouragingly to me. Reluctantly, I took the three shuriken he had ready for me. I looked nervously at the targets again. I aimed at the center and then whipped the star through the air. He hit, just off the middle, but at least I hit! I looked questioningly at my sensei again. He nodded satisfied. I threw the second throwing star. Yes! Hit again, damn it, I was lucky, because there was no question of "ability" ... Now only the third one, he had to sit down too. I concentrated, saw only the black center in front of my eyes, and then aimed at it. “Oh. That was nothing!” The star was totally off track. "Well, two out of three stars is better than one or no hit!", Sensei Izumo wanted to help me. “All right, then the kunais!” I took the kunais, doubting myself. “They'll work even less!” But I turned back to the targets. "I want you to aim a kunai at the tree, one at the straw doll over there and try to catch me with the last one. Got it?" "What, I should catch you with the kunai? But Sensei ...!" " Sui, this is your training task, so do it! "" But ... "My Sensei crossed his arms in front of his chest and didn't want a discussion. I threw the first knife at the target on the tree. Strangely enough, it hit the middle! I wasn't that bad after all! With a fresh push, I turned to the straw doll and threw the kunai.It hit the target, but not in the "heart", but in the "stomach area" ... "The other organs would have been injured, maybe your opponent would have died of internal bleeding ...", said my sensei and sat down his "most professional" face on, but then he pulled the corners of his mouth up. “Sensei, that's not funny, I just can't handle these things!” He held up his hands defensively. "What? I didn't say anything!" Yes, of course ..., but actually it was a good thing that Sensei Izumo wasn't so strict.
"Okay, but now back to business, just do your best and try to catch me!" A pained and fearful expression was visible on my face. I just couldn't do that, I couldn't hurt my sensei! "I'm sorry, I just can't! I don't want to hurt you, so I won't get you either!" Izumo took a deep breath. "That lyre again ..." I looked ashamed at the floor, but I couldn't help it, that is naturally the case with me, I can't even harm a fly, literally! "Sui, we had already discussed everything, a ninja has to be able to do things like that!" "But didn't you just want to see my abilities anyway? I could look for another goal !?" I looked at him tortured and expectant at the same time. Sensei Izumo shook his head, exhaled audibly and then said: "All right, I'll make a shadow duplicate of mine and you have to catch it!" "Thanks ... I'll try." That was a lot better than hurt the real sensei! So he made a