Chapter 21. Training with Hayate Gekko

A/N Here's a treat for you guys! Gaara119 wrote this chapter! And if I must say, she did an AMAZING job, she puts my writing to shame.  

Chapter 21. Training with Hayate Gekko

Hayate, the third proctor of the exams, stepped into the room. He looked as sick as ever. Could such an ill sensei really help me improve? I thought doubtfully.

Orochimaru could really-- No! Hayate is plenty strong! He was the proctor for the third exams, and was a Konoha Jonin.   

"I would like you to train Maki here," The Hokage gestures.

I catch the flash of fear that crosses Hayate's face as he glances at me.   My stomach drops to the floor.

Do people... Fear me now? Because of the curse mark, because of what I did to Lee?  

Hayate walks up to the Hokage's desk, leaning over to murmur lowly. But he isn't quiet enough for my ears.

"Hokage-sama, I beg you to reconsider," He mutters. "I wish not to train her. And are you sure it is wise to make her stronger, facing our current... dilema?"  

"She must grow stronger to control the curse mark," The Hokage said at a normal volume so I could easily hear.

Points for the Hokage. 

 "Very well, Hokage-sama," Hayate agrees.

He walks over to me, grabbing my shoulder in a bruising grip. He creates a hand sign, and smoke surrounds us. I cough slightly, looking around in surprise.

  We were now on top of a plateau, some sort of isolated training ground. I turn towards Hayate, only to see him already far away from me, sword in hand.   

"I specialize in kenjutsu," He says, swinging the sword around, "I have jutsu and skills you couldn't even hope to compete with," He hissed.  

I furrowed my eyebrows."Yeah?" I call out with attitude, taking my sword in hand. I swing the sword around, feeling the weight of it pull at my arms. "Let's see then!"

  I rush at him, swinging towards his head. To my surprise, he easily blocks it with his thin sword, arms not even trembling.My eyes widen in shock as he disengages, throwing me back.   

He does several handsigns, and I activate my Sharingan quickly, attempting to catch them. But I'm to late, and using my chakra sends a shooting pain from my curse mark.

I grip it in pain, then look up to search for Hayate.

  The hand signs he had done made him disappear.  I look up, down, left right, behind me, then spin back around to my front.

He was no where to be seen.  

Suddenly, a punch was delivered to my face. What the--! I had been looking right there! Where did that punch come from?!?

I keep getting punched, not even seeing my attacker.

The blows cease, and I'm left panting.   But Hayate still doesn't appear.

An idea forms in my head, and I close my eyes.

That's it... I listen to every movement around me, and when one was out of place...   I whirled around, slashing with my sword. I grin triumphantly as I feel it connect, throwing him back.

The jutsu is ended as he slams into a tree.

I smirk. "Don't underestimate me," I called out mockingly, planting the end of Inazuma into the ground, casually leaning against it. 

Yeah, I'm bad ass, I scoff slightly.

  He rushes at me quickly. I blink.There were... two of him?

I cringe away, blocking with my arms as he lands a hit with his sword. I grab Inazuma and jump away.

"My moon shadow technique," He called out, "The after image of me left your eyes confused, making you wonder when to block," I grit my teeth against the sting of pain in my arm. 

This guy just got right into training me, huh?

Hayate drops his sword, pulling out a kunai. "I'll go easy on you," he mocks.

I clench my jaw. He rushes at me. 

Again, his speed! I readied myself. Two more of Hayate

. What? I didn't even see him make hand signs! 

  The clones attack from the right, from the left! Hayate is attacking from above! Who do I block? I jump forward, avoiding the two shadow close, but the real Hayate catches me.

  I'm sent flying backwards, punching through two trees and slamming into the third. I arch my back in pain, then collapse to the ground.    The last thing I see is Hayate standing over me, disgust but slight acceptance in his eyes

. "Fine, I'll train you," He agrees as I fade away, "I know what you need to work on now..."  

***

I woke up, leaned against a tree. It was sunset, the chill setting in as it slipped below the horizon. I sat up, wincing as My head throbs.

"Ah, so you're up," someone calls. My head snaps around, and I see Hayate sitting calmly in front of a fire, a kettle of water boiling as he ate some sort of stew. He handed me a bowl, a small smile on his face.

"Eat, you must be tired," He ordered.

I obeyed, gulping down the savory food. By the time I was done, the kettle was whistling. Hayate poured the boiling water into two teacups, handing me one.I set it aside, waiting for it to steep.

  "I must apologize for losing control of myself slightly," Hayate sighed.  

I raised an eyebrow. "No..." I say, "I'm glad that you actually used your true power on me," I glance at him, "You took me seriously, not like a kid," I explain.  

"I'm happy you forgive me. But I still feel the need to tell you why I lost my cool," He said slowly.

I gesture for him to continue.

 "Well... it's partly to do with your curse mark. I was very upset that you messed up the preliminaries. I felt like my power had been usurped by a twelve year old kid in front of many important ninja and the Hokage.So I was bitter towards you. Also, I view the curse mark as evil... and because you are its bearer, I began to view you as evil,"  

"You began to confuse the prison... with the prisoner," I murmur, "My body is this curse marks prison. I keep it at bay. And therefore, it is my prisoner."  

Hayate nods, "Exactly," He agreed, "And also, if I'm truthful... I was afraid of you. You could kill me if you lost control of the curse mark. I didn't trust you at all. And I thought it was stu-- Ahem, I disagreed with the Hokage about training you. I believed that if you could be a threat to the village, it was foolish to make you even stronger,"  

I nod. "It's understandable," I whisper, feeling deeply guilt ridden and disgusted with myself.

I hadn't been strong enough to keep the curse mark under control... I needed to be stronger.

"Well, at least our fight didn't go to complete waste," Hayate sat up straighter.

I sipped my tea, and made a face.

"Oh, sugar?" he offered.

I stirred it in, smiling as I take a gulp of tea.

"First off, your sword. Bring it over here," He orders.

I get up and pick it up, walking over to Hayate.

"Sit," He demands.  

I do so. What fighting technique was he going to teach me sitting down?

He runs his hand along the edge of the blade.

"See that?" He asks.

I lean closer.    "No," I tilt my head in confusion. I didn't see anything.

 "Exactly," He said, then pulled out his sword.

He ran on fingertip down the length of his blade, and pulled his finger away, "Now, do you see that?" He asked.

I immediately nodded.

His finger had a cut on it, blood dripping from it. He had let it slip down the blade so lightly! It must have been incredibly shard for it to cut him.  

"Now, look at the edge of your blade," I obeyed. I viewed several nicks and notched along the entire length.

"You haven't been taking good care of your sword," He announces, "It's dull, has scratches, dents, and nicks in it,"   I sigh as he pulled out some rags, stones, and polishes.

I have an inkling as to where this is headed.

He then proceeded to begin a long, important, yet boring explanation as to care for my sword.  

"Now, you must do this every day, after every practice. You don't want to hurt your sword, or have it get rusty or dented beyond repair."He explains.

I have to go through the entire process under his watchful gaze until I got it right and Inazuma looked as good as new.

This took about two hours.

My head hurt and I was exhausted by the end of it. My arm ached from all the polishing and sharpening!  

But we weren't finished.

We talked long into the night about techniques, what to do in certain situations, when there were several enemies or just one skilled swordsman. "Or woman," I had interjected at this point.He laughed, which then turned into a coughing fit.   "Or woman," He agreed.

The dying fire flickered slightly, and he glanced over, then seemed surprised at the amount of time that had slipped by. "Oh!" He softly exclaimed, "We better get some rest," he murmured, crawling over to the dark where I couldn't see, to lazy to walk.

He returned with two sleeping packs. 

 "I come here to train sometimes. Always prepared," He joked, tossing me a sleeping pack. I unfold it, laying it on the softest patch of dirt I could find. He created a clone from his lying position. "Just in case," He said sleepily as the clone took on a watchful stance.

I nod, turning over, a small smile on my face as I begin to nod off.   But the smile grows larger as I feel the clone tug the blanket towards my chin, warding off the cold, then whisper, "Good night," To me.  

He did care, after all.

A/N Omg, didn't you love that chapter? Thank you gaara119!!!! <3 I KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE THINKING. SHE SHOULD JUST CONTINUE MAKI HATAKE BECAUSE SHE'S SUCH AN AMAZING WRITER, RIGHT?! *sighhs* I don't blame you guys d':  

Well anyways, comment, vote (I totally would if this weren't my story xD) , follow

And if you follow me, follow gaara119, i guarantee she's an amazing writer! and if you like maki hatake, you will LOVE forgotten darkness and her sequel R--- Oops, sorry guys. I'm not allowed to reveal the name of the sequel, muahahahaaa xD

 Oh by the way, Inazuma is on the side --------> It's actually the sword kirito uses in sword art online (anime) :333 so, if you haven't already, check it out!