Adam looked at the sack of rice in front of him in confusion. "What do you want me to do with this? Should I carry it or something?"
"No. As I said you're going to work on your punching and grabbing technique. All you have to do, is punch the sack of rice, until I say you don't have to anymore." He nodded and punched the bag. He looked at his hand, seeing the small cuts on it from the sack and the hard rice inside. "You're still punching incorrectly. You need to not focus on the blunt damage on the outside, you need to focus on the shock damage that happens inside the sack." He looked at the monk in confusion. "Are you saying that you want me to learn how to send the force of my blow into the rice, and not the sack itself?"
"Exactly. That's what I mean. Think about it. You'll be facing people wearing armor, from leather to metal, so if you're in a situation where you are unable to draw your blade, you need to be able to incapacitate your enemy without hurting or killing yourself." He frowned. "Masanari. Once you learn how to do this, than even if they're wearing armor, you can still cause injuries with your fists and when you hit their joints they'll feel the pain and damage there. I'm going to go do some sutra reading. I'll be back to see your progress later. Farewell." He bowed, waiting for the masked monk to leave, than he turned looking at the sack of rice.
He nodded. "I'll practice until I can hit the rice inside and turn it into polished rice." He stood staring at the sack, breathing it and hitting it until his knuckles were bleeding. He looked at the position of the sun. He saw a group of student monks walking past, talking amongst themselves.
"How unlucky. The black masked tengu is teaching him. I wonder how long he'll survive under his study?"
"I don't think he'll last that long. I'm sure that those chosen by that one are ones who are destined to fail Kurama." He looked at their backs as they walked past. He frowned as he looked at the sack, and his bleeding fists. "What have I got myself into?" He punched the sack again and again until the sun set.
"Masanari. Are you letting others get in your head?" He turned and saw the black masked monk standing behind him. He turned, bowing to him. "No. I'm not. I'm here to train and become stronger."
"You should open the sack, and than you'll understand why they said what they said." He opened the sack of rice, and saw rocks and powdered rocks in the sack. "That's why. There're time limits in place, so I have to skip a few steps, so you can learn faster." He looked at the masked monk. "I understand. We don't have time, so I need to work harder."
"Good head Masanari, I'm glad that I chose you, to teach you. You have the mind and the head to understand what really needs to be done. Let me see the sack." He took a step back from the sack, allowing the masked monk to look inside. "Not bad. You're getting the skill faster than others. Keep going, and we can increase the difficulty of your training." He bowed at the masked monk. "I will follow your training."
"Good. Now go look after your hands, we have more to do. Tomorrow we're going to be working on your feet and legs." He bowed and left the sack with the masked man and went back to the small room. He washed his hands, cleaning the blood and wrapped his hands in cloth keeping it tied tightly. He heard the door slide open and he saw the masked monk stand there with a bowl of rice and vegetables. "Here's some food. For the training I do feel bad, but this is the only way to improve your body." He stood up and bowed at the masked monk. "Thank you. I appreciate your guidance."
"Your fists? How did you learn to mend your hands like that?" He looked down at his bound fists and smiled. "My father taught me to uses bandages like this to heal wounds like this."
"Your father is a good man. Make sure you learn much from him. Tomorrow your training will intensify. Eat and rest." He stood and bowed at the masked monk, listening to the sound of the door closing behind them. He knelt on the ground and started to eat the rice and vegetables in silence. "It has a weird taste. What did he do to the vegetables?" He sat in thought, smiling. "He added lemon juice, and other herbs. He's trying to strengthen my body on the inside as well."
He sat on the futon looking at the empty bowl. "He does care it seems, just in his own strange way." He closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep. He dreamed of fighting against soldiers and samurai against the back drop of a castle on fire. He looked at his hands covered in blood, as he sliced through countless enemy forces. "My LORD! Run to safety."
He woke sitting up in his futon panting. He looked at his hands, wiping the sweat off his face. "Just a dream. It felt so real." He looked around. "Am I the one that's in a dream? Is this all a dream?" He stood up and looked around the small room. He started to recite the Kuji mantra. He felt his heart rate instantly calm down, and his mind became clear. He walked out of the small room, and walked using his okuriashi steps to hurry to where he was punching the sack. He stood staring at the sack. "Hello again sack of stones. I'll turn you all to powder." He opened the sack, and stared at the powdered rocks and stones. "I need more stones."
He emptied the sack, and carried it with him as he left the grounds of the shrine until he was staring at the waterfall. "Here are a heap of rocks and stones that I can work on." He started to fill the sack with the loose stones, putting the heavy sack on his shoulders, and walked back up the mountain to the shrine. "You're back I see with the sack. I wonder what you put inside it?" He put the sack down and bowed at the masked monk. "I just added more stones to it, from the waterfall to bring back up here to practice with."
"I see. Well you can take these empty sacks and also fill them up with stones, and rubble from the same waterfall. Remember I told you today we're working on your feet and legs." He bowed taking the empty sacks, and started to walk back where he had come from. "Wait. You still need to take this sack to the training grounds of the shrine." He stopped walking, nodding at the black masked monk, placing the sack over his shoulders and walked back to the training yard. He put the sack of the rocks and smiled. "One done. More to go."
"Hurry up, you have many bags to fill before we can go back to kicking them, and turning them into powder." He bowed at the masked monk. "Apologies. I'll go now, and complete this task." He turned and walked back down towards the waterfall. "Oh, when you're carrying the sack up here, I want you to continue to use okuriashi. That's the only condition I have. Full sacks of stones, using okuriashi to carry the sack back up here." He nodded as he left the shrine, ignoring the gaze of the masked monk.
He stood in front of the waterfall. "Time to start packing these stones and rocks into the sacks." He finished packing the rocks into the sacks, and picked up one of the sacks carrying it back up the mountain. He focused as he kept his okuriashi steps until he placed the sack on the ground next to the first one. "That's another. I need more. Come on. You still have more sacks to bring up here." He nodded, turned around and started walking back towards the waterfall.
He kept packing the sacks bringing them up to the training yard. "That's enough sacks here. Time to start kicking them." He stood watching as the monk placed a sack on top of another sack. "You need to hit the sack on the top. Understand?" He nodded. "I can do that." He got into a fighting stance and kicked the sack. "Not bad. You're quite flexible, now turn that sack into powder. We need to fix some holes here in the shrine, and we need rock powder to seal up the gaps."
He kicked the sack as long as he could, and he looked at the cuts and bruises on his legs and feet. "Not bad. You can rest now. Go eat and wrap up your legs, including your feet." He bowed at the masked monk and leaned on the wall to steady himself as he slowly moved almost falling over onto the ground. "I need to get back to my room, and rest."
"Masanari. Your body can't keep up with the training." He turned and saw Sojobo and another masked monk walking with him. He pushed against the wall to stand straight, and bowed at them both. "Greetings to you both." He groaned in pain, and leaned against the wall. "I'll take you back to your room. This one here is skilled in the arts of medicine and herbs. He wanted to meet with you, and see if you're suitable for his training as well." He felt his body being picked up as Sojobo carried him back to his room. He felt himself being place on his futon. "Thank you."
"His arms are bruised heavily, and his skills using the cloth as bandages tightly wrapping around is helping the body to heal. He has skills, and I feel he can learn much from me."
"There you have it. You have another who wants to teach you and guide you Masanari. While others here can teach you physical skills, you also need to train your mind, in talking and dealing with others, as well as mending yourself if you or others get hurt."
He smiled weakly on the futon, feeling pricks in his legs as the other masked monk started to jab acupressure points. He sat up watching the yellow monk, lit a fire and mixed herbs with it. "This will aid the healing of your legs and feet. Apply it on your skin, before you wrap the cloth around it with your homemade bandages." He nodded, watching as the heated herbs were pasted on his legs and feet. "I'm sure you can wrap them up by yourself." He nodded. "I can do that. I'll look after myself."
He heard the door slide open and the black masked monk appeared carrying food. "Ahh you're both here. I was coming to help as well."
"Using your herbs to help his body heal in food. Clever." He smiled at the yellow masked monk.
"You see it yourself. He's determined and wants to become stronger, so I do all I can do to help him. If his body heals through this small pain, he'll be able to survive any pain or torture that he's put through in the future. Its his Bushido after all, we all sensed it."
"Yes. That's why you're the back tengu. Your methods of improving the body are quite harsh, yet they give results. I'm glad to see you are also holding back on him, since he's only eight, soon to be nine."
"Yes. He's still a child, but his mind and thoughts, is similar to a senior. I'm sure he'll give the other monks here a hard time in discourse, if he studies under you." He sat in silence listening to them talk about him while he was sitting there. "Thank you seniors to teaching me and guiding me. I'll take any lesson and do my best to master it at all times."
He sat in silence as the three of them turned and looked at him in surprise and shock. "See what I mean. He's just asking for punishment."
"Very well. Still hold back. The both of you hold back." He looked at Sojobo in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Personally, I think the black tengu here is tough, but since you've caught this ones eye, you'll be pushed to your limits to the upmost. You'll be able to make that balm for yourself in the future, among other things."
He bowed from his sitting position. "Thank you. This student accepts your training." He looked up at the face of the yellow masked tengu, smiling as their eyes twinkled in excitement.