Kannin picked up his father's sword and showed it to Mifune and explained,
"This is my father's sword. I never met him, but my mother gave it to me a while ago to help me in my missions. I want to know how to use this to protect my friends."
Mifune nodded as he explained, seemingly concocting something in his head.
"The first thing you need to know, young Kannin, is that this blade is not your father's. Yes, he might have wielded in years past, but this is your sword now. Only yours. As long as you think this blade to be foreign to yourself, you will never be satisfied with its performance. You must own this blade."
Kannin's face turned serious after hearing Mifune's words. He had a hard time thinking about this blade as anything but his father's. It was one of two things he had to remember his father by. He didn't want to lose it. He was afraid he would lose his father along with it. Afraid to lose something he never had to begin with.
Mifune could see the conflict in Kannin's eyes, and realized that taking full ownership of the sword would likely be a long process for the lad. He didn't know what happened to Kannin's father, but he had seen enough of war to have a decent guess.
"Your father is dead, then, I gather?" Mifune asked with little tact
A long silence separated the question from the answer, "...Yes."
"Don't worry about owning your blade for now, when the moment comes, you will hold this sword as your own. In the meantime, I can teach you the basics of swordsmanship." He paused before adding, in a more serious tone, "I cannot teach you the unique techniques of the samurai, you understand? Just how to understand your blade and use it to full efficiency."
Kannin nodded. He had no intention of taking the techniques of the samurai. Beyond the basic respect any shinobi was supposed to have for the techniques of others, he simply had no need for them.
"Okay then, let's begin. I'm only in Konoha for a few more weeks, so training will be a bit condensed for your sake. First, you must understand..." And Mifune went on to explain a grand and complicated philosophy of the blade, about respect and care, but also how a blade is a weapon of death.
"Understand that the greatest aim of any warrior is one day to sheath his blade for good."
Kannin couldn't quite wrap his head around most of what Mifune was saying, but he understood that part, and it had a profound impact on him. He thought of all those he had known in school and in Konoha in general who seemed obsessed with power for power's sake--just to be stronger than the other guy.
Kannin guessed that maybe that was what put him and maybe his friends apart from the other shinobi. He never saw a jutsu or technique in greed, to learn things only for the strength they offered him. He even remembered when he told Mifune what he wanted from his instruction was to protect his friends.
He felt quite satisfied with himself, thinking that his motivations were so noble, when suddenly Mifune smacked him on his head with the sheathed katana, "Are you paying attention, son?"
Kannin shot back to the present and quickly shouted "Yes!"
He felt a little embarrassed from getting lost in thought while bragging on his virtue, so he decided to think about things after his lesson was over, which would serve him well.
-
A week later, Mifune had finally ended the theoretical lecture portion of Kannin's training, and had begun the physical portion.
'God, finally!' Kannin thought to himself, 'He's been lecturing forever.'
Inspecting Kannin's blade once more, he told him, "Your blade is well made, but for training, its custom to use wooden swords for two reasons 1) As not to endanger anyone you are training with (wouldn't want to lop my arm off, would you?) and 2) To protect the blade from overuse. If your sword breaks in training before it can see battle, the whole point is moot, don't you think?"
Kannin nodded, and asked, "So where do we get a wooden sword?"
Mifune's eyes widened for a second, realizing that this wasn't the Land of Iron, where wooden swords were as plentiful as leaves in the fall. Regaining his composure in front of the kid, he confidently said "You make them!"
Kannin wasn't so convinced by his assuredness, but he wandered into the brush to find a tree branch that roughly matched the shape and weight distribution of his father's sword.
It took him a moment to find one, but eventually he saw one fairly high in the canopy, so he had to climb the tree to get it, and he chopped it off with a basic wind slash, before descending with his new blade.
"Good. Now you need to shape it."
Kannin was a little annoyed by all the work he had to do before even swinging his sword, but he nonetheless got out a kunai and began shaving the branch closer to the shape of his sword. About an hour later, it was done. Kannin held in his hand a very pretty wooden stick. Not only that, but he had approximately 400 splinters in his hands.
"Umm, sensei, can I go to the hospital real quick? I have a lot of splinters."
"Sure, just be quick"
Another 30 minutes later, Kannin returned without the splinters, and was finally ready to learn the sword. Mifune was comfortable using his sheathed sword for practice to show Kannin--which Kannin thought was a little hypocritical, but then again, Mifune was a sword master so who was he to say?
'I really don't want to get so many splinters making my own' Mifune thought to himself.