Training in the arts of Combat [Solo Training]

A young girl, barely five feet and four inches in height, made her ways through the training grounds of the Hidden Cloud Village, her feet moving back and forth as they propelled her body forward gracefully and gently. Her boy swayed ever so slightly as she moved, walking towards her usual spot where some training dummies were located. After all, the most efficient method of training ones physical strength was always practicing on reinforced dummies. The young girl, Yuki Hiyu, made it to her spot and turned to face the dummies, her fists raised as she wasted no time in getting in her stance. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she took form, letting a quick jab fly at the head of the dummy, following up with a second and third strike to its gut and chest respectively. She proceeded to jab and punch the dummy with great force and efficiency, modifying the rhythm of her breathing for optimal performance and speed. She would punch, breath quickly, punch, breath quickly, punch and breath quickly once more over and over again, timing her breaths perfectly as to preserve her stamina.

Yuki was beyond your average shinobi in terms of appearance. Few shinobi shared similarities with her appearance-wise. Although a handful of other shinobi had blonde hair and blue eyes just like her, few, if any, possessed the amount of purity that she did in terms of how blonde and well kept her hair was as well as the deep blueness of her eyes. Her eyes, being so deep blue, were easy to get lost in. After all, it was almost as if one were looking into the ocean when one looked into her eyes directly. Her face was cutely shaped and relatively small as far as her forehead, nose, and chin go. Her lips were full yet not too large, with a pinkish hue to them. She often kept them pursed together when deep in thought and would pull out a gentle smile when looking to comfort her allies.

Her hair, being blonde, was pure and clean in many ways. Her bangs extended down to just below her eyebrows, waving to the side so that they did not obstruct her vision. While she also had a bit of hair on either side of her head that extended down to the bottom of her neck. In the back, her hair flowed all the way down to around her waist-area. She often kept it loose and waving in the wind but today was different. Instead, she had decided to tie it up into two pony tails that each extended down evenly to her waist. She often tied them with blue ribbons when she did this but today had chosen to use pink ribbons. She had tied the pony tails so neatly and perfectly, making them look nice and neat. She was actually quite proud of herself as she was not often very good with things such as hair. The fact that she was able to do her ponytails so well was a testament to how good she was at things which she did not even do often.

Although she was not the type to be considered too 'girly', she actually cared a lot about her appearance and wished to give off a good impression to those she interacted with, especially in the training grounds as she wished to attract attention to her so she could meet a nice training partner who could help her grow better and stronger. She felt that if her appearance gave off the impression of a slacker, she would not get very far in life. She was, after all, the type of person who believed how one carried themself was vital to how far they made it in life. One could easily look at a person and draw first impressions based on their appearance and how they dressed themselves. This was a sad truth in the world and one that she did not particularly approve of. However, she had little issues with it as she had a large wardrobe of nice clothing as well as

Her eyes were full and blue, as previously mentioned, with relatively large pupils which were as equally bright and gleaming as her irises. Her eyes were somewhat large compared to most but not too large. After all, they gave off a 'cute' appearance that many would fall in love with. They sat at the top of her face perfectly, though not necessarily perfectly symmetrical as no one's eyes are perfectly symmetrical. However, it would be quite a tedious task for one to find flaws in her beauty. That's not to say that her beauty was flawless, on the contrary, her appearance was slightly flawed but that was what was cute about her. Each component of her face worked together to produce an image that would be quite difficult for one to say no to. Over-all, she appeared to be gorgeous but if one were to focus on each part of her face individually they may have realized the flaws in her looks.

She often wore a clean, pure-white button-up shirt that she would change without thought should it get dirty. She wore such a shirt on this day, as she did not feel like changing up that detail of her appearance even if she had decided to switch things up with her. After all, it was not necessarily her nicest shirt but it was not a bad shirt either. It was perfect training attire as far as her wardrobe went. She wanted to look nice while not risking ruining her better clothing, after all. She wore the shirt quite well, feeling it fit snugly to her skin while also not being so tight as to restrict her. It was perfectly fit to her body and thus good for training. Much better than her tighter or looser clothing which would have hindered her in some shape or form. She could not have hindrances when training. She had to be of best model and form if she was to train properly and efficiently. She wore it completely buttoned up except for the topmost button which she had left, as she typically did, unbuttoned to give her some breathing room, especially considering she would be doing intensive training today. She could not have her shirt choking her or restricting her, after all. She would be breathing heavily throughout the training session and to have the top button buttoned up would have forced it to cling to her neck. Something she was not particularly fond of.

The collar of this shirt extended half-way up her neck and was folded neatly outward and buttoned up at the innermost portion. It was certainly professional in appearance, clearly designed for those who had the money to afford it. The material was nothing to scoff at and neither was the design. Though it appeared plain, the over all appearance of the shirt was something one did not find often in the shinobi world. Her breasts protruded subtly from the upper-portion of the shirt, being relatively large in size but not too large. They were well-rounded and she wore a light-duty bra that did its jobs while not restricting her too much movement-wise. It wrapped around underneath her arms but had no actual straps. However, the way it was designed prevented it from sliding down or coming off too easily. It was almost like a miniature tube-top that she wore underneath her clothing.

On the outside of this white, buttoned up shirt was her brown over-coat which extended halfway down her upper body, but not all the way to her waist. This was so that it did not inhibit her movement. After all, the shorter a jacket was the less it would impede a kunoichi's movement. It was, in fact, so short that it did not even reach her belly button. Though this was simply off by a few inches, it was still helpful to her agility and swiftness. It was not as if she would wear it training but still. It had been somewhat cold on the way to the training grounds and it helped her stay warm, regardless of how short it was. Even though the Hidden Cloud Village was normally extremely hot, she was always one to get cold quite easily. It could have been one hundred degrees out and she would still feel a little breezy and cold. The coat had long sleeves with furrowed cuffs at the end of each arm.

Yuki brandished her head-band on her right shoulder, tied prominently around her arm on the outside of jacket. It bore the symbol of the Hidden Cloud Village, as most headbands of the village did, and was made from a meager silver material that shone brilliantly but was not all too durable. The material it was embedded in was a brown cloth-like material that wrapped around her arm, a bit darker tinted than her coat. On the front of her coat, on the left side, was her clan's emblem which was embedded and laced in a flimsy silver-type material, making it durable, professional looking, and prominent. Underneath her jacket were two straps that extended around either one of her shoulders, in place in order to hold her entire appearance together when undergoing transformations. After all, her clothing was over-all designed to expand and change in size when she transformed into something awkwardly shaped or larger than her initial size. With that said, the straps did the same and also acted to hold her lower garments to her upper garments while transforming, i.e. her pants to her shirt.

Above her coat she often wore a small, short green cloak-like garment that buttoned up to the right of her neck. It was a sign of her clan, as it was often what members of her clan wore to designate who was of pure blood and who was not. Those with green capes were often those who were of the purest blood while those with blue capes had a grandparent or two who were not of the clan's lineage, while those with a red cape had a parent who was not of the clan's lineage. With that said, Yuki's was pure green due to her purity and bloodline. Both of her parents as well as all of her grandparents were pure-blooded Hiyu clan members meaning that she was considered of the utmost purity with regards to her clan blood. It was no wonder that she possessed the clan's kekkei genkai.

Around her waist she brandished a brown belt with several pouches which held her basic ninja weaponry, even though she was currently not in possession of any weaponry to list. Although she did not possess any weaponry, she had in fact loaded the pouches with small polished pebbles that were actually quite durable and sharp at the ends with jagged parts jutting out. She used them as moderate weapons of sorts due to the fact that she still had to stop by the ninja shop and acquire some new weaponry. She wondered what the prices were looking like around this time of year. After all, the prices were constantly fluctuating with the economy. Regardless, the pebbles would do just fine so long as she threw them at a decent speed. Her father had always taught her to make use of her surroundings and objects around her if she was lacking anything necessary. This was her form of compensating for her lack of weapons. It was not as though she really needed weapons at the moment but one never knew when they would enter combat or need them in a spar, after all. On the front of the belt was a simple silver belt-buckle as well as several holes in place for her to clip the belt or adjust it.

The belt was of moderate thickness and height, but was not too large or bulky. It was quite sturdy and durable while being somewhat difficult to remove if one did not do so on a daily basis. She could easily unclip and remove the belt with relative ease due to the fact that she clipped it on and off every day and had done so for several years now. It was not as if she was new to the whole 'belt' concept but this belt in particular was a handful for anyone not used to it. Anyone who would wish to remove it without her knowing would find such a job quite tedious and time-consuming. This was to prevent anyone from stealing her weaponry or leaving her without her pouches. The belt buckle had two clips on it which slid into the holes found on her actual belt, making it firm and steadfast. The belt also had several clips on it so that she could easily and readily add pouches or bags to it for later use.

Right below her belt she wore a green skirt like garment that was similar in color and hue to her cloak. It was extremely short as it was not intended to be worn alone. Instead, it was simply there to cover her rear and front due to the fact that she was quite modest and innocent in many ways. It was a bit shorter in the front than in the back due to the fact that the front was where it overlapped and clipped at the belt at the top of either one of her thighs. It was not necessarily fundamental clan attire, as not many clan members wore it, but it still bore the same color as her cloak due to her pure clan lineage. Her butt was pert and well-rounded, extending out almost as much as her breasts did. This was one of the main reasons she wore this skirt as her tights did little, if anything, to properly hide it. She did not like for anyone to look at her butt and would even get quite embarrassed when someone acknowledged it in any way, often reacting somewhat harshly towards them in response.

Underneath the skirt was a pair of tights that extended all the way from her waist down to her ankles. They were a whitish grey color and were somewhat thin when it came down to the material. It was stretchy and clung to the skin. Among the tights were several straps which helds a kunai holster or two, each holster holding several kunai and other weaponry that it could fit inside, though they were presently empty due to her lack of weapons to fill them. The straps each had single-clip buckles that were similar in appearance to the belt that she wore around her waist. They criss-crossed around each of her thighs, perfectly symmetrical in appearance. Her tights, due to how tight they were, were over-lapped by the aforementioned skirt and knee-high boots. Her knee-high boots covered up to just below her knees and opened up a bit more toward the top more so than lower down. The boots were brown in color and were of similar hue to her coat.

These boots had a slightly elevated heel which she had mastered running on and were a bit pointed toward the front. They had few, if any, designs on them other than a few swirled light brown designs here and there. The boots fit snugly against her feet and allowed for optimal running speed and performance. They were light-weight, despite their size, and hindered her very little compared to most boots. Her feet were relatively small, though the boots made them look slightly bigger than they actually were, though this is hardly an issue seeing as her feet were rather small to begin with. Her feet actually looked of ordinary size even for a girl in the boots that she wore.

Yuki sighed as prepared to begin her training. After all, training was of the utmost importance lately. One never knew when they would need to defend the village or even defend themselves against internal threats within the village. It was not as if everything was safe and happy around the village. Well, it might have been in most parts of the village but one could not expect things to stay that way forever. Yuki must always remain vigilant and prepared for any crisis or threat to her safety. She could not simply walk around safely forever. In her present state, she was far from powerful. She needed to become stronger if she was to protect herself from other shinobi. There was a threat around every corner and not to be paranoid, but in the world of shinobi almost everyone was out to get you. Even your comrades. Yuki let out a sigh before smiling, realizing she was indeed being paranoid. But regardless, training was important if one wished to remain in shape and become stronger. Becoming stronger was the only way to advance in this world, after all. The world of the shinobi.

Growing up, Yuki experienced many atrocities and hardships which most shinobi either had to face or did not. It was perplexing to her how the shinobi world could be so cruel and dark. Rather than allow it all to get to her and interfere with her mind, she broke free from the constraints of anger and depression and came out a girl who was happy and content with life, regardless of how bad things could get. She was not the type to let things hurt her, far from it, she accepted everything and sugar-coated the bad, while accepting the good open-armed. Although this was difficult on anyone to do, she did it so flawlessly that most consider her the 'optimist' of the Hidden Cloud Village. Indeed, her optimism was something characteristic of her.

She was the happy-go-lucky type of person who was always ambitious and excited for new things and experiences. She was always willing to train regardless of how difficult or tedious it may have been. Furthermore, she was more than willing to go on missions and do small jobs with little pay. After all, someone had to do it. Why not her? She undertakes low-rank missions and jobs without a second thought to it, realizing that she may not be suited for the more bloody and difficult missions, given the fact that she was unable to kill most people and the aspect of such a thing scares her. She instead undertakes E to D rank missions more than any other, sometimes C rank missions, in order to pay for her apartment and living arrangements. That's not to say that she was completely incapable of killing, though you could draw such a conclusion by looking at her past, moreover she does not wish to take a life if it can be helped.

She often keeps a little purse with her that was modeled after squirrel, with a little furry tail and all. She often keeps most, if not all, of her money in said wallet and carries it with her everywhere she goes in one of her front pouches. She was constantly weary of thieves and thus keeps all her most important valuables in her front pouches so that she will notice if someone tries to steal from her or pick-pocket her. With that said, she believes the only truly safe place for her valuables was on her person. At the very least, she can defend such things with her life if need be. Otherwise, she would have no such opportunity should she choose to keep her valuables elsewhere. In her home? No way! Someone could easily just walk in and take what they please when she isn't around. She was not so gullible as to trust her valuables in her home.

Yuki was extremely loyal to the Hidden Cloud Village. Her loyalty extends to the boundaries of her morality. She was willing to do just about anything for the village if it logically makes sense to her. For example, if her values come into question she will go with her values over her loyalty. She will not kill needlessly for her village or do anything else 'dark' or 'sinster' for it. She abstains from such actions or from being put in situations where she must take such actions. After all, she puts her moral values well above her loyalty. However, should her village be at risk she was more than willing to set aside her values. It was only when the breaking of her values was needless that it becomes a problem for the young kunoichi.

Yuki Hiyu was a master of nintaijutsu, constantly training and honing her abilities for hand-to-hand or melee combat. She was far from a novice in this area and was more than willing to train. After all, she spends the majority of her time training, especially when she was not on missions. She will often train alone but will also do so with a buddy or even a complete stranger. She lives by the saying, "everything was more fun with more people" which might be an odd saying but it was certainly one that proves true when she was with her friends. Yuki was always smiling and appears to always be happy, even when she isn't. She feels that if she was always happy, others may draw upon that happiness and be happy as well. She truly believes that all the world needs to be a better place was at least one person to smile through hardships and show everyone that things aren't so bad.

As a genin, Yuki had always been the sort of unenthusiastic kid who liked to watch clouds. She preferred not to get involved in "troublesome" activities, pretending to be busy to avoid responsibility. She also does not like fighting, deeming it, as she does to most things, "bothersome". She was fully aware of this side of her personality. She even named herself "the number one at running away" or "the number one coward". In fact, her most commonly used phrase was  "how bothersome" or "what a drag" when it comes down to fulfilling duties or doing her job. She can be quite lazy at times, which was a sad she tries to hide in front of others but particularly comes out when she was alone or facing something truly bothersome.

However, when duty calls, Yuki had a strong moral compass and sense of commitment towards her comrades. Even though, by her own testimony, she lacks bravery, she will sacrifice herself and face almost certain death, for the sake of her friends and/or villagers without a second thought. Because of her raw leadership skill, she was one of the first academy students in her level to become a Genin. The weight of the decisions she must make as a genin and, thus, a part of the villages inner-working parts have caused Yuki to mature rapidly. This was most evident following the death of her sensei, Amatachi. She vowed to protect and later mentor Amatachi's child, so that the child could grow up to be just like Amatachi.

Yuki's sense of duty and commitment to the future of her village was also reflected in her willingness to take a life if it interferes with the safety of her village, even in the face of potentially obstructing her values or facing death herself. Yuki had also developed an immense sense of pride as she believes that only someone of high intellect can become Raikage, such as herself. As such, she refuses to die no matter what happens before she becomes Raikage as she feels that once she achieves such a status in her village, she will be able to then and only then change the shinobi world for the better. She had also resolved to be a 'mentor' of sorts to the academy students of the village, often helping them train or giving them advice on how to become Genin as well.

Yuki enjoys playing thinking games which ordinarily only elder shinobi enjoy playing. These games include things such as chess or checkers and she was actually quite good at them, as her intellect was much higher than one would imagine. She simply choose to reserve it and act a bit foolish as that was merely her personality. Yuki's most distinctive character trait was that she considers most men bossy and "bothersome", particularly her sensei, whom she came later on to respect greatly. She usually defines them as aggressive, demanding, and sometimes even scary. Given her late father's tyrannical personality, this isn't too surprising. However, her mother shares the exact same attitude, even though she married Tatsuma, Yuki's father, in the first place.

When Yuki questioned her mother about why she would marry such a domineering man, her mother responded that even the toughest man will show his gentle side to the woman he loves. Nevertheless, Yuki was generally courteous to women, doing them favors and avoiding fights with them. She feels that women, like her, should be the ones protecting them and not the other way around. Despite the latter point, she almost exclusively fights men seeing as how the majority of the shinobi world are male. With that said, she was a bit hesitant to fight men for multiple reasons. Mainly because she feels that they are too 'primitive' in a cute way. She finds them both cute and sometimes brutish, often noting both when encountering a new male.

She had expressed a notably mature and modest interest in marriage and raising a family. She hopes to "marry a regular guy who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after her daughter is married and her son becomes a successful ninja, and spend the rest of her life playing checkers or chess. Then die of old age after her husband."

Yuki was a very kind, polite, and caring person. These characteristics were said to be her greatest strength by both her father Tatsuma and her former teacher, while her greatest weakness had always been her lack of confidence at times. Although she lacks confidence when fighting for her own sake, she will bolster quite a confident attitude when fighting for the sake of another. After all, she believes whole-heartedly that fighting for the sake of another makes one much stronger than fighting for oneself. This belief had proven true for her throughout her past, though things may change. She was always looking to protect and assist those around her and will never leave someone to do something hard all by themselves. This was just not her nature. She was always ready to assist and provide support to her comrades in particular.

She was easily motivated by the prospect of food, and becomes highly agitated when somebody calls her "fat", especially considering she was rather far from fat. However, she does not hide her love for food and her near constant hunger was also an annoyance to her fellow village shinobi and comrades, as eating often comes before other necessities such as stealth and teamwork. Food can also make her over-react about silly things, such as who gets the last chip, or when she was not allowed to eat something crunchy and loud even in a mission situation that requires the utmost stealth. Yuki also tends to eat a lot when she's angry, indulging herself greatly. She also eats when she was upset, often eating great amounts of food while sobbing in tears. This was ordinary for her and she often gets over things quickly after she had eaten a good bit of food. Her high metabolism truly works in her favor, allowing her to eat extensive amounts without gaining too much weight.

Yuki had a long-standing friendship with multiple ninja throughout the village, choosing to form bonds with many of the shinobi throughout the Hidden Cloud Village. She typically only befriends those who see past her quirky nature and oddities and understand her true nature and capabilities. Because of this, Yuki had unwavering faith and loyalty to her comrades and, if necessary, would give her life for them, without much of a second thought, if any. She was definitely the friendly type and will do her best to not anger her comrades, simply blushing and apologizing when someone gets angry with her. She was not the type to argue or lash out at others, instead keeping to herself when she becomes enraged or depressed. She doesn't let her emotions, especially negative ones, affect those around her and will often seclude herself to avoid such things.

As stated by her father and teacher, Yuki greatly lacks confidence in herself and her abilities which often times hinders her actions or even progression in some aspects. However, she easily overcomes such tendencies when the situation calls for it, especially if she had to protect or defend her comrades. With that said, she doesn't ever let her lack of confidence hold her back but instead keeps it in place as a humbling factor.

Yuki approached the center training dummy which was closest to her, her feet pacing slowly yet gracefully as she got into position, his martial arts skills kicking in as she properly positioned her feet and hands in a perfect form, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Yuki was an expert in martial arts as far as the fundamentals went. She still had a good bit to learn but was over-all much more experienced in the areas than most others. She pulled her right hand back slowly, curling it into a fist as she moved her elbow and arm to empower her punch further before letting her punch fly forward at phenomenal speeds, feeling her knuckles connect with what was supposed to be the dummy's head. With a single punch the dummy shook and shuttered, but she did not let up, not even a little. She let another punch fly at the head of the dummy before proceeding to let one after another follow. She did not show any mercy to the training dummy as she unleashed a flurry of punches at it.

The importance of speed and agility in a shinobi's life could not possibly be overstated. Even for those who undervalued the asset or were simply unable to replicate it to a satisfactory degree, the benefits were still blatantly apparent to them and there was no denying it no matter how much one might try to do so. Those who were quick on their feet and able to rapidly close distances had a distinct advantage that could not be denied. Of course, speed was not everything, but at the same time, it was definitely no small thing. It was such a major area to be trained that anyone who would neglect it would surely find themselves at a disadvantage in combat against faster opponents. It was common practice to train one's speed and agility, so it was as if agility was the most fundamentally trained aspect of any shinobi. However, it was even more vital and of great importance to Yuki due to the sole fact that she specialized greatly in Taijutsu. Without speed, taijutsu was borderline useless to her.

To most shinobi, the advantage of having such speed conferred would have been enough to motivate oneself to train their bodies in the art of swift movement and hone one's reflexes to be able to react with split second timing that such speed demanded. Yuki knew and understood the importance of speed. In fact, throughout her life she had neglected her other areas of training for the sole purpose of training her speed. A recent encounter made it all too much more important, however, that she expand on the ground work that she had already laid down. She needed to become even faster! If she could just become faster she would not be so vulnerable to those who focused solely on speed. She would at least be able to comprehend their speed and react appropriately without having to worry about being completely over-whelmed.

She finally stopped punching the training dummy as she realized that the speed of her punches were not the only vital aspect of training one's speed. One must also have great speed when it comes to running and maneuvering. She repositioned her hands and feet so that she could prepare to get ready to run. She wanted to run all around the village but decided perhaps that was too much to do in one day. Instead, she would simply run around the surrounding area around the training grounds at the least. "25% spiritual, 25% mental, 25% physical, 25% chakra!" she shouted before taking off running around the training grounds. She jogged at a brisk pace at first, not going too fast but at the same time not going too slow. She picked up speed gradually, however, moving faster and faster as she ran around and around and around. She repeated this for quite some time, admiring the nature around her while she did so. It was a nice day, after all, and she couldn't help but enjoy the way the sun shined on the flora and fauna around her.

As she grew weary of her surroundings she decided that it would be appropriate to leave the training grounds and go looking around the village while she trained. As she made her way out of the training grounds she gazed up at the deep blue sky above her, smiling at how brightly lit it was. She also glanced at the villagers and merchants in the area who were selling a wide variety of things, from fizzy drinks to water to even snacks. She ignored all of this for the time being, however, and focused primarily on her training. The act of 'fasting' was something people of her clan would undergo in order to train effectively. By focusing on training and training alone, they would get the most potent results from it. They would go without food, water, or any other necessity until training had been completed in its entirety. By doing this it caused them to train harder and faster and more effectively. It also helped spiritual growth, or so it was believed.

She kept glancing over at the merchants and what they were selling, longing to get a drink of water or a taste of food; though she knew she couldn't have either at that point in time. She had to complete her training first! She started to run faster and faster as she went lap after lap, her speed gradually increasing already. It was actually quite impressive how fast she was improving. After all, a shinobi of her caliber was able to improve from even the most minor of training. She giggled, enjoying the feeling of the wind against her face. She continued to run until she felt like she could no longer run at all, but even still she persisted. After all, she could not give up so easily. She wanted to make sure that she garnered noticeable results from her training. She did not want to get just a little faster, after all. She wanted to get incredibly faster than her present state. She wanted to be one of the fastest Genin in the village, at the least.

She continued to persist in her training until she absolutely could no longer run, at which point she collapsed down on her knees, gasping for air as she struggled slightly to breath. She had been running for so long that her stamina had finally given out. She certainly felt the muscles throughout her lower body ache. Clearly she had trained hard enough, it was time for a snack and some water. She made her way over to the street vendors and ordered a bottle of water before making her way to a ramen stand and ordering some ramen to go. She ate some as she walked down the street, her chest heaving as she guzzled water from the bottle.

[Total Word Count: 6015 for Lightning Element and 30 Stat Points]

Approved