The Frailty of Genius (A Naruto Fan Fiction)

Chapter Six ~ Training

I panted softly, amazed that Ibiki had managed to push me this far yet again. He was good, and I could tell he still wasn't completely serious. Suddenly he straightened, signaling an end to our sparring session.

I stood, beginning to walk toward him. It had been a week since my new training had begun in an effort to develop my abilities. While there had been some improvement, it wasn't enough to satisfy Ibiki.

"It's still the same!" He shouted at me, "Your mind may be able to see exactly what you have to do to defeat me, but your body is unable to carry it out!"

I sighed, subtly stretching sore and tired muscles. "I'm improving at the most advanced rate my body can handle," I replied, barely keeping from whining.

This seemed to irritate him further instead of placate him. "Well then, improve at a rate your body can't handle!"

I didn't point out to him that other aspects of my training--strategy, chakra control, and many other skills--were developing at a seemingly impossible rate. And this was with me being distracted with a much more delightfully interesting puzzle: why were the ANBU still watching me?

Ibiki held out weights and dropped them on the floor with a thud, forcing me to bend over to pick them up. "I want you to wear these and run around Konoha until you drop. And then I want you to run double the time you managed to run. Only then can you come find me."

Logically, I knew this was impossible. Logically, I knew that Ibiki had to have a reason for this, but I couldn't figure it out. If I tried to explain to Ibiki that this task wasn't physically possible, chances were he would come up with some worse form of "training." Ibiki wanted to prove something to me, show that just my mind wouldn't be enough. I knew that I needed to develop the physical aspects of my fighting style, but the way Ibiki was doing it...I didn't think it would work.

Instead of voicing all of this, I slowly strapped on the weights, then turned to leave the training facility. "Wait!" Ibiki called. I paused, tensing and trying not to show it. "You cannot use chakra, either," he ordered, snapping a bracelet into my wrist. I raised an eyebrow. A chakra inhibitor.

"You really don't trust me and my morals, do you?" I asked.

"Of course not," he scoffed.

I smirked. "Smart."

He snarled and gave me a light backhand that swung my head to the side. He had been doing this, lately; randomly attacking me--often after I irritated him--in an effort, he claimed, to make me constantly aware of my surroundings and possible threats. I slowly turned back, stretching my neck and ignoring my throbbing temple.

"Why don't you really punch me, huh?" I taunted. "We all know you want to,"

He grimaced and dropped his hand, and I allowed a faint smirk to grace my lips. I had managed to manipulate him into not hitting me. I began to turn away, dismissing him from my mind when it happened. Staggering, I choked for a moment, spluttering and trying to draw air as my vision faded slightly, black crawling in from the edges. I forced my mind to not feel the pain. My throbbing head didn't throb anymore. My lungs painfully twisting as they try to draw air no longer bothered me.

I straightened, breathing in and out once to clear my oxygen deprived brain and turned and scowled at Ibiki, studying him closely. Did he understand how absolutely frustrating he was being? How did he know what I was trying to get him to do? Was he manipulating me? Did he know everything I was thinking? Did he--

"Nice try, Morino," I sneered slightly, "But it's not going to be that easy to break me."

"You thought tha you had successfully manipulated me into not striking out at you," Ibiki shrugged. "And completely ignored me and the threat I posed afterword. You need to learn that even after you've, in your mind, successfully neutralized a threat, you need to remain aware of it. Now go. Run."