Xxplosive. [Solo training]

It was yet another hot day in Funkagakure, well, it was basically always hot, that and misty, living next to a hell of a lot of active volcanoes definately had its' effects on the climate surrounding the village, but today was especially hot, the volcanoes roaring today, and the humid, scorching heat emitting from the magma filled volcanoes not too far from the village, thankfully its' elevation from sea level protected it from said volcanoes, as there were definately tragedies caused by volcanoes in this village, if anything they were probably the most frequent cause of death, people getting lost and finding their way near volcanoes, but today, someone was going to go for something else, not for sightseeing, not for mere tourist-y purposes, but he was going to go to the volcanoes to train, he knew that the volcanoes were the harshest, most unforgiving conditions to train in, at over 50 degrees when near, massive humidity and chance of eruptions, the volcanoes definately didn't fuck around, but Akuryo was going to go for a different reason, he was going to go for the metals and minerals found in the volcanoes, he was going to train his bloodline limit, the infamous Kinzoku Souran, the Kekkei Genkai which once made the Kanda clan so great, the bloodline which preceded even the First Shinobi World War, where the Kanda were a mere clan of humble blacksmiths setting up commerce with whoever had the right amount of cash for the most finely crafted blades to grace the surface of the Shinobi universe.

The reason that Kanda blades were the best blades were because the Kanda had an unparalleled knowledge of metals, which metals to use in the correct conditions, and for whatever use, whether they were supposed to be used in tandem with chakra or just mere blades for the workhorse Samurai, even to axes for the most humble of lumberjacks, that was the reason why the Kanda's blades were some of the most sought after tools in the world, and that was what gave them a reputation back in the day, people even went to making fake Kanda swords by replicating the indentations engraved into their products, but every Kanda sword had a name, which was written in a massive scroll, to determine whether it was a pure Kanda product or just a priceless phony, any names which weren't written in the Kanda scroll, was not a Kanda product.

Another reason was because the Kanda thought of blades as much more than just mere tools, they thought of them as invaluable companions, that's why they were all given names and treated with the upmost care, and often Kanda blades shimmered much brighter than other blades, with a spectral reflection at times due to the presence of Iridium in a lot of their swords, a metal which doesn't corrode until past 2,500 degrees, enough to resist a good hit of thermite and stay composed, as well as it being completely resistent to water or any form of acid, which meant it never rusted, mixed in with titanium and good old fashioned steel, Kanda blades were truly the swords of legendary warriors, there are even Kanda swords which have lasted longer than a thousand years, there are even rumors that a sword made of a metal that only Kanda could create in existence, but nobody has found its location, even less as to where it was since the apocalypse passed, there is however, the old scroll detailing the procedure needed to create such a metal, but no member of the Kanda clan since the almighty Mizoguchi Kanda was capable of creating it, even less to smelt it, but in Akuryo's head, there was a shimmer of hope, that he could be the next member of the Kanda Clan to forge Kandanium, so he was going to train today, in the undying hope that he'll one day succeed in his quest to be the strongest member of his clan and restore the glory that the Kanda clan originally was, to raise the bar even higher for the descendants of the clan.

He was going to show the world that the Kanda clan, was not to be toyed with, he was going to push the limits of his bloodline limits and transcend onto a new level of power and might.

All these dreams rushed through his head seemingly endlessly...Right until his alarm clock rang, the infernal din its tinny ass speakers produced resonated hard throughout the room, Aku slapped the snooze button as he tossed and turned violently, stretching out a bit before leaving his bed and getting dressed in his usual attire, today was the day, today was the day he was going to master his bloodline limit, it was going to be a challenge, but he was definately ready for it...Well...Will be, once he has breakfast anyhow, he got into his boots and then rushed downstairs, his brothers already playing outside, good riddance, he didn't want them wreaking absolute havoc on his morning, like they do every other day, thank god he didn't have to deal with any of that today, all these screaming children get on his nerves, it didn't help that the two kiddies always fought.

He grabbed the box of rice balls and soy sauce with wasabi on the kitchen table as he slid the door open and walked out, sliding it shut behind him before sprinting off to the volcano, the sprint should be a good way to train his mobility, the faster he was, the quicker he'd be able to react in an emergency situation, this would prove vital if he was going to have to help his friends, he also really needed to work on his strength, that was important, he had to be able to defend himself at close range when he couldn't rely on his kekkei genkai, and fists were the next best thing when it came to the nitty gritty.

The scenery went past as he jumped from roof to roof and eventually out of the village gates and closer to the treacherous path towards the volcanoes, today was definately going to be a difficult training session, but he knew he was going to be able to climb the stages of mastering his bloodline pretty easily, he was the only Kanda in a while to want to become a fully fledged ninja, and god damn was he going to succeed, he had the right mentality for it.

And so the trail towards the volcanoes commences, the long, winding, snaking roads up to the volcano was covered in ash at a certain point, which wasn't out of the ordinary, this volcano often spat ash into the sky, which fell onto the road up ahead giving a light brown tinge to the grey rocks used to make the pavement leading up to the fiery summit of the volcano, the path which Akuryo took, it wasn't anything too treacherous, the ash was a little like snowfall near the top of the mountain, slightly restricting visibility, but in general the gentle descent of the ashes were generally pretty harmless, besides they wouldn't really do much anyway, they cooled down basically the second they hit the air so there was no chance of being scalded by stray ashes.

He continued his trek up the path, he could feel the temperature rising with every meter of altitude he ascended, turns out everything everyone said was true, it really did get just get hotter and hotter, well, it was a volcano, and being hot was sort of what it did during its activity, and that was showing right about now, the temperature rising, Akuryo swore that it was ten degrees less less than ten meters ago, and after a dangerous trek, you finally reached the peak of the volcano, a couple of streams of magma visible in the distance, but there was no way in hell he was going to go over there, he had a hell of a lot more common sense than to just waltz over to a zone with magma, but at least the peak was seriously hot, and the air was much stuffier, even Akuryo had to struggle to get even the smallest amount of oxygen into his system, oxygen which he so needed if he was going to be taking it to the max in this training session.

Well, here he was, the peak of the volcano, and now it was time to get cracking with the training, he closed his eyes for a few seconds, took a deep breath and opened his eyelids again, his eyes turning a deep shade of silver, and now Akuryo could see every mineral around him, every metal embedded or formed in the volcano could be seen right through the ground at over a kilometer down, the metals glowing a deep shade of red through his eyes, he put his legs apart, clenching his fist and raising it into the air powerfully, sending all sorts of metals flying out of the ground and floating in mid air with his control over them, he split them apart into powder to get rid of the rock where the metals were embedded in, he then proceeded to manipulate the powdered metal to his will, spinning it around into a wheel, making it into a little ball as Akuryo manipulated it to his free will, making an invisible ball in mid air with his hands in order to do change the shape of the manipulated metal, Akuryo could tell that the metal he was manipulating was in fact Iridium, as it was very bright and very spectral.

He then proceeded to use his fire chakra to heat up every fragment of powdered metal, effectively liquifying it and manipulating it even further, making it wheel through the air, he waved his hand left and right, making the metal surge through the air to the left and to the right, and up and down, before he made the metal into a spiral shape by making a twisting motion with his hands, it now looked like a drill bit, however the form was liquid, but the liquid finally cooled, making a solid drill bit which he continued to manipulate, meanwhile a slight rumble was heard as the volcano several kilometers away slowly bubbled lava, coursing down one of the streams and into the sea, this happened almost every day, as such the territory grew by about 5 centimeters every day, a shocking statistic, but was actually the truth, it didn't really matter because in the sea there were hardly any fish capable of surviving the ashes which fell into the water, it intoxicated the water and made life hard for any aquatic life form living in that side of the ocean at that particular moment.

As the ash started to fall, the wave of heat from the newly erupted volcano started to spread, and it could be felt, it was probably around 70 degrees now, but these are the conditions Akuryo wanted to train in, he slammed his foot against the rock and a massive boulder leapt out of the ground, the boulder shattering as it revealed the titanium inside, the slate silver look of the metal making it easily distinguishable, Akuryo smirked, Titanium was incredibly rare, and it was a metal which was never used in the shinobi world, as not many people knew how to correctly forge it, and nobody saw the uses of it, apart from the Kanda clan, who knew that it was a much more durable and much lighter metal than the old fashioned iron used to craft most blades, and titanium didn't rust, but it was very hard to forge due to its' tough nature, thankfully the Kanda clan were masters of the forge and could effortlessly craft entire blades made out of the stuff, and now Akuryo actually had a quantity he could work with, ad he had heard that his friend, Rokuro, needed a blade of sorts for him to use his wind chakra with, and he figured an alloy of an iridium and titanium mixture would be perfect, he would need it to be hollow however for maximum potential when the wind chakra was channeled through so it helped the vacuum effect that it brought, which should increase the sheer cutting power that the wind infusion should bring, but he'd be sure to forge the weapon right after he was finished training.

He manipulated the drill bit, heating it up again and melting it, splitting it into two piles of liquified metal, manipulating each of them individually, making them hover just above his hands as he did all sorts of figures, flipping with them, making them wheel around his body, turning them into a flat puddle of metal and spinning it over his head and making all sorts of complex forms, making a bird at one point, making it flap its wings by bending his fingers, before liquifying it again and making a spear of liquid metal, solidifying it and throwing it a short distance, stopping it in mid air and making it return to his hand withh a subtle slap, melting it once again as he manipulated the weapon basically effortlessly, as most Kanda would, another rumble and a boom heard as the volcano sent clouds of ash into the sky along with a few globs of scorching hot lava, however Akuryo was far enough to not be hit by it, but he could feel the sheer force of the heat emitted from the hot erupting volcano, the sheer heat proving to be nearly unbearable Akuryo took deep breaths, feeling the sheer heat sap out the energy from his body, but Akuryo knew that if you didn't try to push your limits you were never going to succeed in life, and that was what was important, he wanted to keep up with his friends and he wanted to be someone who people looked up to, or who people feared, he wanted to show that the Kanda clan were back, and they were definately ready to rock, and he was going to prove his superiority with his friends, and show the world that you don't need a whole army to have an influence on the fate of the planet, all you need is group of four people, four people was all you needed to change the fate of the Earth, forever, and that was what you four were going to prove, that as long as bonds were strong, nothing would break you, and, well, that was what you wanted to prove, that the bonds you had with your friends were unbreakable, and that through the hardiest of problems, the most depressing of decisions, and through the most torturous of battles, they were going to come out triumphant simply because of the fact that they were inseperable, this surpassed mere camaradery, this was brotherhood in all its purity.

He proceeded to manipulate the metals even faster, throwing a couple of punches and kicks while keeping the metal in the air with his mind, spinning on the sole of his left foot before leaping off of the ground, solidifying the titanium in the form of a ball, before Akuryo connected with the ball in the form of a tornado kick, sending the ball hurtling through the air and away from Akuryo, before making it return, Akuryo jumped into the air and caught the ball, spinning it around on his fingertip before throwing it into the ground and landing on it, bouncing off of it and manipulating the two balls to rise and spin around him rapidly, catching them and making them collide with eachother, melting them and then solidifying the mixture of both metals, he was going to melt this mixture down later on to create a special blade for one of your friends, honestly speaking he were excited and yet honored that you'd be the one making weapons for all of his friends, visibly, they knew of his talents and that was something he was somewhat flattered about, while, yes he knew of his natural talents as a blacksmith, he was just now realizing that he no longer needed his father to work a forge by himself and become on of the best blacksmiths in the land, he now realized that he could do that journey by himself, and that feel of sheer independence was a feel to be relished, now he was going to become one of the most infamous blacksmiths to roam the face of the Earth.

In fairness, he learned how to work the forge at the tender age of about four, that was when his fascination with metals and blacksmithing commenced, it was then that he,decided that it was the coolest thing ever and that he himself was going to learn, and from 8 years old onwards, he started helping his dad around the forge, at the age of 9 he had made his first blade, which can be found hung up in the dining room in the clan's house, it was named Choshiro, it was definately not the most finely crafted blade but that said it was better than a lot of things the blacksmiths could've conjured by themselves, even his father was surprised at how well made the blade he was using was, as it was far sharper than the standard issue ANBU Tanto, if anything the blade he formed was powerful enough to slice it clean in two, but the sword that was famous among the Kanda clan was a sword made of Kandanium, but nobody remembers the name, and nobody knows of its location before it was lost, but Akuryo vowed that he'd eventually find this sword, and wield it in battle.

The volcano rumbled yet again, this time a sheer wave of magma emitted, this was Akuryo's cue to leave.

3003/1600: Stage 3 of Kinzoku Souran learned.

Hm, word count came out as 2989 for me for some reason.

Approved for:
Stage 3
+15 stats
+30 JP