182"Ready to train?" Akio asked the next day as Kakashi and himself stood in the rocky training area. Kakashi was currently kneeling down and tying some bandages around his leg. Kakashi had discarded his Konoha jounin outfit since he was currently off duty.
He now wore a loose white tank top and black trousers, simple training clothes that had no value. His mask was still present although Izumi tried to convince him to take it off since he was at home. Although Kakashi found the gesture sweet he still was not going to part with the mask he's been hiding behind since he was six.
"I can handle anything you throw at me" Kakashi replied standing up
Akio tossed him something and Kakashi caught.
"You've got to be kidding" Kakashi groaned as he looked at the blindfold hanging loosely in his hand
"I'm going to teach you how to fight even if you were blind" Akio informed him "I want you to feel the vibrations in the Earth as well now that you can sort of fight from sound alone"
"What do you mean sort of?" Kakashi muttered
"That means you suck compared to where I want you at but we'll get there sooner or later" Akio replied hearing Kakashi's comment "Tie it on already, we're losing time"
Kakashi sighed out loud as he secured the blindfold in front of his eyes
"Feeling the vibrations in the earth will help you greatly with taijutsu when fighting blind" Akio explained "I just want you to use taijutsu, you can rely on sound, however, it won't end well. Ready?"
"As I'll ever be" Kakashi replied. The second the words left his mouth Akio attacked. Kakashi felt him get closer yet and when he thought Akio was close enough he crouched to the ground and did a sweep with his legs.
"I'm still not close enough" Akio instructed. Before Kakashi could register Akio's word a kick contacted at his ribs sending him flying. Kakashi flipped and landed gracefully on the ground
"He's holding back" Kakashi thought "Till I get the hang of it at least, then who knows"
"I'm coming again" Akio replied. They kept at it till Akio felt that Kakashi could measure the distance from himself to the attacker from the vibrations. After that, Akio attacked aggressively knocking Kakashi around the area.
Kakashi struggled back up after a painful kick flew him into a boulder that impacted with his back hard.
Akio attacked without faltering.
"Around forty five degrees left," Kakashi thought encrypting the vibrations "Still twelve meters away… alright just a bit more"
Suddenly, Akio jumped and Kakashi did not have time to find his new location as Akio's foot collided with his head sending him face first into the ground. Kakashi could feel the blood seep out from his nose yet ignored it and stood up again.
Akio noted the bleeding and concluded that it wasn't too serious and could wait.
Six hours later and they were still at it. Kakashi was bruised from head to toe now and was bleeding in more than one place. However, his pain was rewarded with his progress. Right now as long as Akio was on the ground Kakashi could pinpoint his exact location.
It was difficult to know Akio's location in the air and thus switched to his hearing abilities when Akio was no longer on the ground. The problem remaining was Akio's use of ninjutsu in order to hinder Kakashi's sense of hearing useless for a short time. The sound of rocks and fire managed to drown the sound of Akio's movement and Kakashi usually found himself hit hard after escaping the jutsu.
"74 degrees to my left," Kakashi thought "Seven meters away"
Kakashi was suddenly hit hard in the back by a punch and was knocked to the ground. As Kakashi was standing up again Akio removed the blindfold
"What's the matter?" Kakashi asked standing again. He was trying to understand what had happened, Akio was in front of him yet he got hit in the back.
"Kage bunshin" Akio replied "I had one fight you and while you were preoccupied with it I attacked from the air. You can't assume your opponent will stick to one type of area. Since you were focusing on the vibrations you couldn't sense the real me jumping down from a rock and hitting you from behind."
"I just expected that…" Kakashi began
"No excuses" Akio cut him throwing Kakashi a sandwich that was substituting for his lunch "The key isn't to grasp one type of detection and use it by itself. The key is combing them. You were switching between your senses instead of using them all at the same time."
"So vibrations, sounds, smell and vision all at the same time" Kakashi nodded
"It will be difficult and will take some time to master. It's like your sense of smell and sound, you use it in collaboration with your eyes without thinking about it, right?" Akio explained
"Yes" Kakashi nodded
"Now you'll learn to use all your senses at optimum efficiency" Akio informed "It will be difficult as you will always have one sense that will dominate over others at a certain time. Once you master your senses, it will give you an edge over your opponent as different senses have different values and strengths. Vibrations help you detect positions and is extremely useful in taijutsu."
"But isn't it better with sight as I can see were the punch is coming?" Kakashi asked
"That is the part your eyes play however what would be better to determine the distance accurately, vibrations or sight?" Akio asked
"Vibration" Kakashi answered immediately "Sight is easily fooled because of depth perception, although much more worse in magnitude with one eye, everybody has a degree of it"
"Exactly, yet vibrations can't be fooled" Akio asked "Yet the best thing about vibrations is that they eliminate your blind spot, at least from the ground"
"True" Kakashi nodded since he knew he could sense vibrations all around him at a 360 degree angle. A makeshift byakugan.
"If let's say you were fighting Gai, was it, in a taijutsu match again, yet this time you also used vibrations, how much easier would it have been?" Akio asked
"Fractionally easier yet not much to gave me the upper hand completely" Kakashi replied
"Honing your senses will not give you that much of an edge since eyes are the fastest sense" Akio explained "However, if you master all your senses, it will differ greatly, trust me. Mastery over the senses will give you a stronger front and it will benefit you greatly while facing tough opponents. And you can always use a jutsu that hinders sight useless like mist which drops visibility to almost zero, that way you can defeat Gai easily"
"I understand why it's important" Kakashi responded thinking over his many possibilities that he gains from being able to read vibrations.
"Yet mastery of the elements cannot be achieved through training alone" Akio informed him "You must stay in practice and manage to live your life while using that sense alone. It is much easier than fighting in some sense yet it will be uncomfortable at first since you will be longing to open your eyes"
"Wait are you telling me you want me to manage around the house blind?" Kakashi asked trying to decipher Akio's words
"Exactly" Akio nodded "I hope you regained some strength since we are going to battle again. Put the blindfold on"
Kakashi obliged and secured the cloth on his head one more time as Akio came at him again. This time Kakashi tried to use both vibrations while not abandoning his hearing as well. Akio kept using Kage bunshin at unexpected times and Kakashi managed to sense some tricks yet others left him lying on the rocky terrain in pain.
Once the sun set Akio stopped the training. Kakashi was breathless to say the least and it was obvious that he was in pain as well. Akio did not go easy on him at all and Kakashi had the feeling he won't in future days.
"Good work today" Akio complimented "Really helped your stamina too. For two hours now you've been ready to collapse"
"Trust me I'm collapsing the minute I take a bath" Kakashi replied while yawning
"I hope you can have dinner" Izumi said noting how tired Kakashi was once he entered the kitchen. Akio was pushing him hard and it showed.
"I'm not sure that's an option" Kakashi replied yet Akio forced him to have something to eat saying he needed the protein and vitamins.
"Go take a bath and put this in the water" Izumi instructed handing him a bottle "It will sting a bit yet it will clean all your wounds, afterwards I'll come and heal anything that I can"
Kakashi placed the contents of the bottle in to tub he was currently lying in, the pain set in immediately and he let out a groan longing to get out of the tub.
Akio, however, knowing that this might happen, pushed Kakashi back in the tub who hissed in pain
"What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked trying to ignore the pain the medicine was causing
"Had a feeling that the sting Izumi warned you about will be pretty bad considering the extent of your injuries" Akio replied
Kakashi sighed tiredly and leaned his head back at the rim, the pain still causing him agony. Akio didn't say a word as he watched Kakashi try to ignore the pain, his expressions readable without his mask on. He now realized how young Kakashi still was, not even in his thirties yet. A lot of time for him to become an excellent shinobi. This was only the beginning and Kakashi will have days when his wounds are a lot worse, fortunately, Izumi will heal those and apply sedatives if necessary.
Speaking of which he needed to hire a medic since Izumi might not be able to handle it all on her own and he needed someone with experience on injuries more than medicine to monitor Kakashi. Then he will train Kakashi in accordance to the medic's orders as well.
"You have Thursdays off" Akio told Kakashi once his wounds were cleaned and the medicine was giving him a slight numb feeling yet not adding pain anymore
"Good to know" Kakashi replied
"Place some of the water on your nose" Akio ordered "Apply the medicine on all your wounds"
Kakashi reluctantly ducked his head under, feeling the searing pain com back hurting his nose and head where some wounds were existent due some of his many collisions with the rocks.
Kakashi resurfaced breathing hard
"Don't have the energy to even hold your breath?" Akio asked in concern yet he hid it with his tone of sarcasm
"Aren't you tired at all?" Kakashi asked
"I feel as if I had my morning exercises done yet once you become better I have a feeling I'll be lying in my own tub full of medicine" Akio smiled
"Are you going to train me on becoming a dragon rider as well?" Kakashi asked "Or are you focusing on ninja skills right now?"
"Only a highly skilled ninja can become a dragon rider. Same goes for Kioshi, only a highly skilled dragon can have a rider. Things were rushed because the Akatsuki fight was coming up, yet now we have time. That being said it has been agreed that you and Kioshi will train twice a week." Akio informed him
"I understand" Kakashi nodded
"Looks like you're all healed up now, more or less" Akio noted "Put some shampoo or whatever then go to sleep."
"Whatever you say" Kakashi yawned reaching for the shampoo bottle and squirting some on his hand. Akio saw that Kakashi was fine and turned to leave
"Good night" Kakashi said as Akio left and Akio nodded in return.