Progression Session #2 [Solo, P,]

Yet another day had gone past in the Rock village, yet time felt like it was going so slowly for Léon after he had lost his brother, Near, to the person who was now the new village Kage, while Near was only Léon's adoptive brother, he was still the older brother who looked over Léon through all 17 years of his life, the same person who taught him how to be a ninja. How to be proud of the village, and also helped him become a Jounin prodigy at the tender age of 14. Everything that Léon had become, all the praise that the villagers gave him. Everything that he ever was, was due to Near, he made Léon the person he was today, and his death broke him into the person he was now, a sad, deteriorated shell of his former self.

Léon knew he couldn't stick around this village, whatever love he had for this village was now well and truly gone with Near's death, it felt like it was something which wasn't going to go away, which was incredibly unfortunate for him.

Léon rolled over, clutching his head and wincing, his head hurt. Probably due to the mixture of serious binge drinking he had been doing these past couple days, and also due to these strange migraines he had been getting, strange that. These migraines were far from normal, because each time they flared up, they activated his Kekkei Genkai. So something was definately unnatural about them, speaking of which, he hadn't heard many of the voices he got in his head, they seemed to have calmed down, but the headaches were definately new.

Léon groaned in discomfort, he had a pounding headache and his mouth was completely dry, signs that he was drinking the previous day, Léon didn't want to wake up, he didn't want to do anything anymore. He didn't ever want time to continue, he had become tired of every day in his life, he was definately depressed, that was the problem.

But sometimes he thought, would Near want to see him like this? Is this really what he had become? A drunk depressed shell of his former self? Obviously not, even Léon knew this, he knew that his brother wouldn't want to see him like this, and that's what woke Léon up suddenly, he had to get training. He had so much other shit to do, like find out what happened to his actual family, as he was still left in the dark about the Shinkou clan's heritage. He didn't even know his whole name, he knew he was a Shinkou, but he had no clue what his first name was, so he was still going to be referred as the River name, but since the clan was now dead, he'd probably have to resort to his older one once he had actually gotten to discovering his actual identity, which was still unknown to him.

Nonetheless, his identity was the least of his issues here, Léon felt weak, everyone else was training hard and progressing while he was just standing here, drinking profusely and crying his eyes out and smoking a lot. It was about time that this changed, and that he trained again so he could get better, Léon knew that he was only at the tip of the iceberg when it came to his potential, Léon felt plenty strong as he was, but he felt as if he was just at the start, and that true power was just beckoning to be claimed, Léon felt as if there was more to be discovered when it came to his kekkei genkai, it was already rather potent as it was. He could see chakra signatures with it, but it seemed as if there were so many more things he could do with it under the correct circumstances, he reckoned that Genjutsu would kick ass with this, but it was just a hunch, maybe if he trained hard enough and showed enough will Izanami would tell him more about those splendid red eyes he possessed, and sooner or later, he'd discover his true potential, and just what the Shinkou clan had in store.

He got up, stretched out a bit and immediately clutched his head, what was he going to do today? How was he going to train? He figured he needed to get more physically stronger before he attempted to discover more about his Kekkei Genkai, so that's what he would do, try to focus on all of his physical abilities in order to get stronger. He had to brush up on his physical aspects, especially if he was being offered a spot in Arcanis' group, which was no doubt full of powerful ninja and Léon would definitely find himself at the bottom of the pack if he didn't come out with all guns blazing in this training, and that's exactly what he'd be doing.

Hangover or not, nothing was going to stop him from doing this training. He needed to brave this. He had to get stronger to be able to protect his family, or whatever remained of it anyway, which right now was only Akuryou, but he had to do it, especially if he wanted to discover more about his family, he'd probably need much more training, but now was the time to get started, it was a long journey, but he had to start somewhere.

He stretched out, cracking his arms and his back in the process, before grabbing something to eat. Considering he was going to be training, he needed something packed with carbohydrates, he was probably going to head out to get something to eat at one of the ramen shops, who had a specialty for Léon when he was out on his training sessions, after all Léon was so well known at one point every restaurant wanted to have him as a guest of honor, he was hoping he'd still be known though and that his sudden spiral down into misery wouldn't affect his social status enough to deny him a tasty meal.

He dressed himself in his usual attire, a classy black coat with a gold front with koi fish patterns on it, with a gold watermark of the River clan behind the collar of the shirt, he wore black slacks on his legs with some leather boots on his feet, he never really liked the whole ninja sandals scheme, they weren't classy enough for his tastes, he liked to be affluent, after all. The River clan were raised that way, huge manor, great food and full of all sorts of luxuries. And that was the lifestyle that Léon had as a kid and it was part of his character in a way.

He exited the manor and went along the walkway, his favorite ramen shop however, was far from affluent, in the middle of the market district, it was merely a food stand. Which was interesting as people got to see someone who was basically considered aristocratic, Leon. Eating in somewhere so working class and casual, but the food was good so that wasn't going to sully his reputation, Léon had a good taste in food and he'd go anywhere as long as the food was good, that was his number one rule when eating out anyway.

He journeyed through the markets, still being recognized by several people, a lot less than usual since he was no longer assistant Kage, but he was still looked at by several people, and then he finally arrived at the stall.

"Heeeeeeey Leon! Been a while since I've seen you, kid!" a friendly rather large middle aged man called out in welcome, "Nice to see you too Kumakomo-san." Léon replied with a smile, a friendly face never hurt to see, Kumakobo knew about Near's death though, and knew not to mention it, but a glance to the floor in sorrow was a clear enough symbol, Léon sighed. "Could I get the usual, please." He simply ordered. "Yeah...Comin' right up kid, on the house." Kumakobo said, he knew that Leon was going through a tough time so he figured that he might as well let him off with this ramen, hopefully it'd brighten up the day of a kid he watched growing up in the district.

"Thanks." He simply replied a light smile, he watched the crowds go buy, well, Echo managed to pump funds into the village at least, people looked happier, which was what Near would've wanted in the end, but he wished that Echo hadn't killed him, he wanted Near to run all of this like the good old days, but in a way, he felt relieved for the villagers of Iwagakure, but Léon felt like he didn't belong here anymore, not after what had happened before, but still he had to get over it if he wanted to get stronger, because that was just what life did to you sometimes, sometimes life just isn't fair. But Léon had to move on, this was the second time he lost a family, which was definately rather sad when Leon thought about it, he wondered if his brother knew anything about the Shinkou clan, well, he was dead now so it was too late to ask. Léon was just hoping that Izanami would give him a good explanation, maybe something key to revealing his actual identity, which Léon was so curious about, since there were no birth records in sight. And he was pretty sure wherever he came from was destroyed. So no evidence in sight, it was all a massive mystery. He wondered if Izanami knew it, she probably did, but was waiting for the right moment for him to know.

While he was pondering over these various things, his ramen finally arrived, egg noodles, and beef with all sorts of vegetables and assorted deliciousness, absolutely perfect for the day of training he had ahead of him, Léon quickly got stuck in, and god was this delicious, just like every other time he came here, nothing had changed, which was nice.

He had to finish this quickly, he was already overtime for his training, he figured he'd be training a little bit of chakra, but also a little bit of strength. Or speed, whichever one he thought he needed most.

He wanted to see if he could learn a technique, the Wind Cutter technique, which he attempted to perform before, but unfortunately did not have enough chakra to perform it, he knew he was close to actually being able to do it though, just a little bit more training and he figured he'd be able to perfect it, maybe even master it.

Or maybe not in this training session, mastering a jutsu is difficult work and he'd first need to get to grips with how to use it before learning how to master it. But it was a very difficult technique but it seemed as if it was definitely worth using, it had incredibly destructive properties including ridiculously sharp blades, high speed and a good area of attack, it was also invisible to the naked eye, so it was incredibly effective when used as a surprise attack, or even just a normal attack, it'd also easily shred things like trees and houses so it was incredibly different to avoid as seemingly no cover could protect you from the massive destructive blade of pure wind chakra.

Léon quickly finished up his ramen, this thing was simply amazing just how good it tasted, he'd eat this every day if he could, well, probably not. That might be going a bit too far, after all eating a good thing so many times can make you bored of it, but it seemed as if this didn't, it was addictive almost. Like some kind of drug, he felt that way anyway.

He smiled and thanked Kumakobo for the ramen and then left towards the mountains, hoping that the higher altitude would help him train, and also get away from the village's population into a more secluded area to train, away from people or other things which could distract him, it was important that he actually got this training done.

He made his way up the path to the mountains, still as scenic as ever, it also allowed Léon a great view of the city seemingly stretching out, and the fact that there were less structures the further he climbed up the path, he got to admire the village a little bit, he knew that he wouldn't be here for much longer, he had to leave, even if it meant leaving everything he had ever worked to achieve in this village. Well, Akuryou was part of the group he was joining too, so at least he wasn't far away from family. He still didn't know where he was going to stay in the meantime, he might move to another village, one which wasn't anywhere near Iwagakure's new leader. He figured that if he stayed here he just wouldn't feel right just acting as if his brother's death meant nothing, he'd probably leave because of the new opportunities that joining this group presented.

Eventually, he made his way near the summit of the mountain, to where a flat plain was, this was where he'd be training.
He removed his coat, revealing his bare chest, placing his coat on a branch so it didn't get dirty by hitting the dusty rocks, Léon wasn't particularly muscular, he was no beefcake, but he had thick enough arms and a six pack, one of the many features that got him a lot of female attention. He remembered all the articles in papers about alleged affairs at the time, and speculation about him having a girlfriend and stuff, well. The affairs were true, but he never had much of a girlfriend, he wasn't really the commitment type.

Léon spread his legs apart evenly, breathing in and putting one palm up, and putting a  hand opposite in a tai chi stance, before breathing in, conjuring up his own chakra, he was going to train this first, as the more he got, the faster he'd learn this jutsu he had been attempting to learn for quite a while now, and so he had to build his chakra up just a little bit more before he was capable of producing it.

The grass began to waver a bit as he built up his wind chakra, sending a couple of dew droplets bouncing off with each flicker, he took in deep breaths, attempting to conjure his wind chakra, and let it course through his system, he had to really build it up, after all it required a lot of energy.

He decided that his goal would be to cut down the tree positioned 100 meters away from him, which was the jutsu's approximate max range, so hitting it and cutting it down from the position he was currently standing in would be his goal for the moment, and it seemed realistic enough because that meant he'd actually have learned it if he used it out to his maximum destination, and it was important that he did this, no point wasting time doing a jutsu he didn't know would work when he wanted it to, so it was important that he hit the tree.

He attempted to conjure enough chakra, and when he thought he had enough, he put his palms together and swung them towards the tree, letting out a grunt in the process, but nothing really came out apart from a blurred stream of air which faded about a quarter of a way to the tree, it didn't look particularly sharp either, as only some grass was sent flying and not cutting down the entire lawn, he had to build up more, relying on some more chakra exercising, which required meditation, he put his fist in his open palm and breathed in and out slowly, taking nice, deep breaths to ensure proper chakra flow, as this was arguably the most important part of learning this jutsu was to get the chakra flow just right.

He had to be careful that he didn't tire himself out too much, as running on an empty chakra system was pretty dangerous. So it was important that he minded his chakra reserves.

Léon focused and activated his Meigan, his eyes glowing a deep red, this would allow him to see the chakra of his Wind Cutter, as it was pretty much invisible to the naked eye so he needed to be able to see the chakra to judge just how much progress he had made in his quest to learn this jutsu.

He focused his chakra again, gritting his teeth in concentration with the aim to get some nicely concentrated wind chakra and form it into the blade he needed to slice down that pesky piece of vegetation 100 meters down the line, he threw the blade towards the tree yet again, and this time, he did much better than he did before, but it still wasn't quite there, he had only gotten about half way to the tree, still not good enough, he had to try something else, but he didn't quite know what yet.

He again tried to concentrate all of his chakra, but it felt like a natural barrier was blocking him, it wasn't mental or anything, it actually felt like something he was incapable of doing, not because he didn't want to, but because his body couldn't muster up enough chakra to actually unleash it.

But suddenly he heard a sigh in his head with the same echoing voice that Izanami had whenever she talked and with that he felt his chakra level shoot up slightly, and with that he attempted the jutsu again, building up all the neccessary chakra to perform the jutsu, Léon grunted and gritted his teeth together as he launched the sharp blade of wind across the plains, he could see it, packed full of chakra as it coursed towards the tree at breakneck speed, and it was now that the moment of truth began, the blade hit the tree and cleaved it in two as if it were a hot knife through butter, it then coursed further down and hit the clifface, drilling a massive gash into it, Léon stood there in awe. "You work admirably, you want to get stronger to protect those you love...You have been good, my child." The voice echoed through his head, he didn't respond, Izanami knew exactly how he felt, after all, she was victim of sorrow herself.

He looked at his hands, he had actually performed a jutsu this difficult and this complex, he was rather proud of himself, and so he should've been.

Meanwhile, on top of a different mountain, a bandit group looked at Léon, they didn't see him perform the jutsu, but they instantly recognized him. "That's Leon River isn't it, we could probably get a decent sum should we capture him." One of them noted, "Should we?" Asked another. "Of course!" Replied another, and they all jumped down and landed around Léon in a circle formation, obviously, Leon seemed rather surprised, but he grinned straight afterwards. "So, hand yourself in, River. You're outnumbered." They spoke, and Léon replied: "You idiots should've run while you still could." Before he advanced forward to one of the bandits, who brandished a sword and tried to cut through his chest, Léon simply span around the sword, grabbed him by the wrist, twisted and threw him over his back, catching the sword as it was about to fall down.

He span the sword around and instantly brought it down on the bandit's neck, cleaving his head clean off before spinning around to parry an attack, avoiding a stab, and using his free hand to push a Chidori straight into the bandit's chest, completely pulverising his heart with a powerful dose of lightning chakra, killing him basically instantly.

He instantaneously turned his attention to one of the bandits behind him, who appeared to be a taijutsu user, as he rushed towards Léon with the intent to flying kick him in the face, Léon ducked it as quickly as he could before turning around to face him, as the fighter launched another kick aimed for Léon's chest, he sidestepped and kicked him in the back of his other leg, leaving him with no leg to stand on and he crashed to the ground on his back helplessly, with Léon finishing him off with a swift stab to the heart, sometimes the simplest of executions were the best ones, he then turned around again to parry a slash with a sword from another sword user, the two clashed swords, parrying eachother seemingly endlessly, the blades connecting every time the two seemed to even think about slashing, Léon then stepped back, put his finger and thumb together in a circle shape and blew out a Spiralling Wind ball, which the kenjutsu user was smart enough to block, the ball spinning and drilling against the sword, and while he was occupied, Léon took a slash to his waist, slicing his body clean in two.

There were still two other bandits left to dispose of, seems as if they were coming around a little more since the managerial change of the village, strange that, people were probably beginning to think they could just go around and pillage everything during the brief state of anarchy, obviously that wasn't the case now that Near was back in power, Léon wondered why these two were so adamant to capture him anyway, were they expecting some kind of fat ransom payout? Unlikely, hardly anybody in this village was that rich, apart from the River family, but nobody was there to pay the ransom with, so it all seemed rather redundant in the end.

Léon turned around to parry the swords of both remaining bandits at once as they attempted to attack him in tandem in an aim to overwhelm him with attacking power, unfortunately it didn't turn out so successfully, as Léon tilted the blade slightly, slicing both of their wrists before he sliced one in the stomach, the other one was wise enough to jump back and bandage his wrist, this guy was probably the leader of the group, as he appeared to be the most talented member of it.

"And so, two remain." The man grinned, as he activated a strange jutsu, it appeared as if he wasn't moving, but Léon could see right through his blatant genjutsu attempt with his dojutsu and simply avoided the strike, he decided to wait for an attack, might as well make the fight last, he didn't want to go home bored, Leon pointed the sword to his opponent, awaiting a strike, and sure enough, it came.

And with that the two swordsmen clashed swords for seemingly eternally, sparks flying each time the sharp blades crashed into eachother, Leon wanted to learn more about Kenjutsu, but at the moment, he was focusing on his talents in Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, but he wasn't bad with a sword in his hand.

The bandit leader made a wild slash to his side, which Leon avoided by handspringing backwards and landing back on his feet, and with that his opponent rushed towards him with a stab, only for Leon to jump over, pirouette and slash his head clean off his neck as he came down.

Leon threw the sword through the air, impaling the head with it as it wedged into the rock, game over.

As that was finished, he turned back around, it was time to head to the hot springs, was what he reckoned, and it'd be a perfect way to recuperate after having learned a difficult jutsu and being attacked.

4020 words.

Approved for appropriate rewards.