The First Step [solo, no kill]

Flinglass "Flash" Ametsuchi was wide awake, but he felt like he was dreaming. That was probably because he had stayed up way too late the night before. As a matter of fact, he hadn't slept a wink. He had just been lying there in bed, impatient for morning to come so he could get up and move again. He always wanted to be in motion, to keep going onwards and outwards. The reason he was called "flash" was not because he was particularly fast, but because he was "itchy". He was always wanting to go somewhere, and he wanted to be fast. He didn't mind being last in a race as long as he got somewhere in the time that he wanted to get there in the first place.

He got up a few minutes before the sun rose and rushed outside. "Whoohoo, I'm going to go train up today. Let's see how far I can get!" He remembered that he was always rushing around in his academy days, and managed to get through without being too far behind. Sure, he hadn't been the top of his class, but that's what you get for being in a rush without being hyperactive. He walked out the door with a little bounce in his step, looking forward to the sunrise. "Come on, sun, lets go! I can't see much without you, ya know!" It wasn't that his vision was poor, it was that he mountains near where he lived cast gloomy shadows on the houses below, making things extremely dark. He couldn't see the stars or moon after they sank behind those mountains, which made him a little upset. 

Light was good for him, it warmed him up and made him feel ready for the day. It made him think that his blood was circulating faster (which it probably was, but who cared? Better leave the sciency stuff to the medical ninja). He hadn't had the highest grades, but that didn't depress him. He didn't commonly get depressed about his academics anymore, now that he was out of the academy, he didn't have to worry much about that until the next chunin exams, whenever that might be happening. He hoped that he would be ready for that, but consoled himself with the thought that, when the time came, he would just cram study and be all set to go. Really, that was his philosophy for most things. 

Whenever he reached a deadline, he would just speed things up. He was able to deal with most things this way. However, he wasn't just going to stand outside and burn up in the bright sunlight. He had things to do. He went down to a training ground, which was nothing more than a dirt plot encircled by a metal fence. Going in, Flinglass looked around, and then started jogging in place. This was an unecessary step, as he had already been somewhat warmed up by the bright Kumo sun, but he did this just because he could, and because it was part of his usual routine.

After he stopped doing this from boredom, he decided he would give his legs a little rest, and have his arms do some of the working out as well. With each one, he bent his arms so that his upper and lower parts of his arms were at ninety degrees with each other. Grunting, he brought himself up, pushing on the ground and straightening his arms. He would repeat this process several times, counting off as he went. "Down! One.... Down! Two...." so on and so forth, ad nauseam. 

He had done this, and lost count after fourty-five. He collapsed to the ground, more than a little tired and aching. Wow, this was tougher work than he remembered. He didn't see any training dummies in this area, so he walked over to a different training ground, and this one had three tall stumps that were used for training dummies. He walked up to one and cocked his head to one side. Then, he delivered a devastating (or maybe not so devastating, depending on your point of view) to it, which didn't faze the stump at all. There wasn't even an extra crack. "Well, damn. It looks like I'll have to do something more than this from here on out."

He proceeded to kick the stump, hurting the instep of his foot in the process. Yow! That hurt! Flinglass hopped around a little longer, trying to get the pain to wear off. Once he achieved this, he breathed deeply and sighed. Whew, that was painful. Lesson learned today: don't kick something hard with your instep. Kicking an opponent with your instep meant that you were trying to hit a soft spot, like the belly, or perhaps some other fatty area. 

Well, he was done with this training ground for the day. He headed a bit to the east, and into a woody patch. This was one of his favorite places to practice one of his favorite techniques. There was a small pond here as well, which wasn't even as large as a swimming pool. He stepped onto the water, then concentrated his chakra into the soles of his feet. This activated the surface climbing jutsu as he stepped across the water. Waving his arms for a little bit to keep balance, he managed to keep himself from falling in and drowning.

Wow! He could now do this with much more ease than he had done in the academy. It looks like this meant he was a fully-fledged genin. As he walked back across the water and onto the shore, he thought about what else the next day might hold for him. Most certainly more training, that was beyond a single doubt. Well, it looks like he was done for the day. Cleaning himself off in the shower, and then lying down on his sofa, Flinglass smiled. It looked like he had done well today. As he closed his eyes and fell asleep, his eyes glowed with power.  

[Word Count is 1008, 5 stats and 10 jp, level 1 of kenseigan]

accepted for all rewards