Hone the body, strengthen the mind (Solo)

This new bed that Haru slept in was incredibly uncomfortable. Back at his old home, he had a feather matrass, however, in the rush of moving out, a lot of the things he held dear had to be left behind. Haru himself couldn’t have gone home to get his things if he wanted to, because it was his job to see after the refugees, who likely would have panicked if their ANBU guard went missing to go grab his matrass or something. That would have been incredibly shameful, no doubt.
 
So for now, he’d have to make do with this crappy straw matrass in the little makeshift hut his family had been staying in. Thankfully, Haru’s dog had made it out okay, but everything from his old room that he held dear was gone. His bed, his newspaper clippings, his work bench, everything. Not even his curtains remained. Those too were lost in the see of refugees that swarmed the streets of Tengakure on the day they left their home.
 
Haru was still trying to figure out just why they left. The lord Tenkage had said nothing to him of it, not that that came as much of a surprise. He had only had one or two dealings with Xyxer, and they weren’t direct ones. As Captain of the ANBU, you’d think that he would go a little more out of his way to speak with him on important subjects, but Haru had yet to receive even a letter of instructions or anything of the like. Maybe that was just the way he operated. He was glad to see some efficiency under this new leader, even if he still was partial to Denketeki and Shinji, as they had both made a significant impact on him, at least he no longer had to call Takeo Tadashi “Lord Tenkage.”
 
The politics of his work bored him. Ninja were made to fight, not to bicker. They were supposed to solve problems and defend the innocent, not lust over power and fight tooth and nail over it. Maybe he was missing the bigger picture, but it seemed like a waste of time to him. Haru still wondered if the citizens truly believed that Den and Shinji had abandoned them, especially after their encounter with Den at the gates, not long before they left the village for good.
 
Oh, well. Day late, dollar short. Perhaps if Haru had backed Den, things would have been different. Perhaps he was right to stay loyal to his village. “Maybe” is a word that haunted him in situations like this.
 
As he rolled out of bed, Haru was blinded by the light coming in from the cracks in the wood. Groggily, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, walking out to the main room of their makeshift hut. The hut itself had but one room, but they had walled them off for privacy. Haru and Aryll shared one half of the hut, while their grandparents shared the other. His half of the hut was already empty, meaning Aryll was already out and about.
 
In the main room, a fire was going, not that it was necessary for heat, as it was hot as hell in this island nation, and Haru still hadn’t adjusted to his new home’s level of heat. This all felt like a dream to him, as if somebody had just turned everything upside down in an instant, and he was left to pick up the pieces.
 
Haru was happy to see Aryll waiting for him there, smiling at him as he entered the room. He had promised her he would each her some medical ninjutsu today. Without a word, he led her out to the beach, where he used his byakugan to locate a fish in the water, tying a wire to a kunai knife, and spearing the fish, pulling it back and setting it in the sand as it flopped around.

“Use the mystical palm technique to heal the fish. Simple enough.” He said. Aryll nodded, placing her hands on the fish. Nothing. 
“Umm… how does that go again?” She asked.
“Alright, I’ll explain the jutsu again.” He said. She nodded. “This technique is a prime example of medical ninjutsu. It allows the user to speed up the body's natural healing process by sending chakra directly from their hands, and into a wound or afflicted body part. This allows the user to heal a patient without the need for medical equipment or surgery, making it very useful on the battlefield. It can be used to treat both external and internal injuries.” He said. Aryll sighed. 
“I know what it does, but I need to know how to do it, Haru.” She said, a little annoyed. Haru nodded in turn. “Alright, I’ll skip the explanation, then. It is you need to match the amount of chakra you apply to the injury to the severity of the affliction or injury.” He said, his hands beginning to glow at varying intensities of green. “It requires a lot of chakra control, which is why only experienced medical ninja can preform it. And it’s also why you’re most people are not going to figure it out in one day.” He finished.
“Get me a fish.” Said Aryll. Haru nodded.
“I have faith in you, sis.” He said, pulling another fish out of the bucket. Aryll activated her byakugan, allowing her to track his chakra flow more effectively, and began to apply chakra from her hands, healing the fish. The effect was miraculous, and the fish healed almost instantly. The woman stared at him, amazed. 
“How did I…?” She stammered. Haru grinned. 
“Next challenge.” He said. Aryll sighed, tossing the fish into the sea.
. 
“For the next part, you’ll be learning how to use a chakra scalpel.” He said simply, his hand beginning to glow blue, as he brought it across the lump of rock he had found, cutting it in two.  “This is the chakra scalpel, another medical technique where the user forms their chakra into a small, sharp blade on the tips of their fingers. It is then used for highly precise cuts and incisions on the patient. For a ninja, it can be used in combat, though it’s incredibly difficult to do so effectively.” He explained. “Focus the chakra to the tips of your fingers, and sharpen it.” She said. Aryll obeyed, copying the action, and swiping it across the lump of rock. “Don’t swipe it like a knife! A chakra scalpel is a scalpel, not a sword. Use slow, precise cuts.” He said, emphasizing the word precise. Aryll sighed, making a slower cut across the lump of fat. Her blade wasn’t all that effective, nowhere near as powerful as Haru’s. “Focus your chakra more, concentrate it, don’t just release it, shape it!” He encouraged. Aryll followed these instructions, and noted her blade gaining quite a bit of intensity. She brought it across the rock again, and was happy to see the cut was successful. “Wow, you learn quickly. I’m impressed.” Haru said
 
Once they had finished, they went back to the hut for breakfast. Their grandmother was sitting at the fire, cooking breakfast. She offered a plate of eggs to Haru, who accepted and proceeded to wolf down the food almost instantly, before taking his training bag that was laying by the wall.

“I’ll be back.” He said, popping a pill into his mouth as he headed out the door. A concoction of his own design, from back in his days as a genin, Haru had taken a Development Enciphering Reversal Pill, a pill he had designed to allow the body to develop more, in exchange for sacrificing their vitality in one area. In this case, it was his strength.  He found that his muscle structure was far to weak, and he was much more easily injured then a taijutsu master should allow. His Creation Rebirth technique could only do so much, and if he was struck down too fast, he would be unable to save himself. Then, it really would not matter how strong he was physically. There was little use for muscles in a corpse besides feeding worms.
 
Haru arrived at the beach in a simple pair of shorts, his bare chest exposed to the wind, allowing himself the most breathability in his new, incredibly hot, home climate. To train his body’s durability, he would be subjecting himself to intense physical strain, and recovering with Creation Rebirth should he feel the need to.
 
There were a lot of ways to increase physical strain on ones self. The simplest was to take out a kunai and stab yourself, but such a barbaric technique wouldn’t do Haru much good in actually improving his muscle density. No, to do that, he was going to have to put himself under intense strain. On the beach, Haru found a boulder, probably washed ashore by the currant, of huge size. Testing the weight, Haru found that he was just barely able to lift it. Pulling it up over his head, he held it there, as if he were Atlas holding up the sky.
 
At first, the strain was minimal. Just exertion, no real pain. Soon, however, his body began to give in to the force, and he found himself having to focus to keep himself on task. However, as he held the rock, his mind began to drift….
 
He thought about Tori, and about the unlikely conditions of their meeting. To his knowledge, nobody else knew she existed in Tengakure, at least, nobody important. That was good for Haru. He wondered if it would be held against him if it ever came up, however, he very much doubted that it would be a problem. Likely, nobody would even know she was a missing ninja, since she had successfully gained entry to Konoha village once more.
 
He thought about Sephora, and how badly she wanted his girlfriend dead. What could she possibly want that required her to the point of fighting to the death over her? Or perhaps, it was not as he thought. Perhaps it was something so horrible that she needed to silence every loose end. Was it really right to let her go? Was Haru letting his feelings for Tori cloud his better judgment? Now was too late to tell. If Sephora came back, he would destroy her. He had no doubt in his ability to do so.
 
Haru struggled under the weight, groaning as he tossed if forward, off of his body. It was truly painful to train in such a way, but it was all he could do. Falling back into the sand, Haru made a tiger seal, using his creation rebirth technique to heal his body and strengthen himself once more. As the strength flooded back into his body, he crawled over to the water, placing his hand in it, and feeling surprised as he found it… it almost felt strengthening. He conducted his chakra through the water and felt it coming back to him, making him stronger, more alert. The water coated his body, and suddenly, it was as if he had a shield of water around him.
 
The moment reminded him of his encounter with Lynch, and the way he had suddenly regained his strength at the last moment…
 
“So, Haru, was it?” Came the voice of Lynch. “As much as I’d like to let you have a touching moment, there is money being wasted here. Now get out of my way.” He said, his voice suddenly growing lower as he finished the sentence. Haru held out his arms, grinning at the man. 
“Well then, just try to pass me.” He said cockily. And with that, Lynch took off at him, charging at full speed towards the boy. Haru was taken aback by Lynch’s raw speed, which was much more impressive then he had originally thought. He turned, attempting to sidestep Lynch, and narrowly missing the point of a sword, which cut the skin on his bare arm slightly. As he spun, he held out a leg, sending Lynch flying onto his face. Haru finished his spin, going a whole three hundred sixty degrees, before stepping forward and sending himself into the air, coming down and using his momentum to smash Lynch into the ground. At the last second, the man regained his orientation, rolling away from Haru’s strike, which left a crater in the ground. 
 
Haru shuddered. That was one of the most intense fights he could remember being in, even if it was certainly not his most powerful opponent. The sheer stakes of that battle had tested his nerves.
 
His mind drifted back to the water coating his body.This was… Interesting, to say the least. Haru now had a new technique at his disposal. Taking another development reversal pill, this one for chakra, he decided to get back to his training.
 
He decided to go to an old workout of his, one he had not done in quite awhile, in the hopes of getting actual, physical results, because God knows he needed them. His body was far too flimsy for the high strain he put on it. Today there would be no training weights, he wouldn't need them. Putting in his headphones, Haru got ready to start his workout for the day.
 
Starting to run on the soft sand, he pushed as hard as he could, forcing himself to focus and count the steps he took as he ran. As he finished his first mile, he dropped to the floor and did a rapid one hundred push ups, rolling over and doing another one hundred sit ups, before jumping back to his feet and running even harder then before. Already, he was beginning to wear out, but he wouldn't let that happen. He needed to push himself if he wanted to get any better. Finishing another mile, He jumped down and repeated the one hundred push ups, and one hundred sit ups, this time adding fifty more reps to each exercise. Jumping to his feet again, He ran the next mile. He was trying to keep the exercise interesting for himself, by mixing up the workouts every time ("Although the last rep wasn't very inventive" Said a voice in the back of his head).
 
As he ran through the exercise, He realized that this workout was pointless. It wasn't going to improve his performance at all, and he needed to change that. Shrugging and stopping as he finished the last portion of a mile, he slipped the incredibly heavy weights that he had forsaken at the beginning onto his arms and legs, and heading back to the track. He preformed a set of hand seals, creating mokuton clones, who ran alongside him through the workout. His challenge was to keep them sustained throughout the workout, no matter what.
 
As he finished the lap, He jumped down and preformed one hundred clapping push ups, jumped to his feet, and made the hand signs for a mokuton: cutting jutsu, trying to push himself by multitasking, before doing another one hundred push ups and starting to run again, clones in tow. Realizing another way to test himself, Haru ran across a rock wall at the edge of the beach, focusing the chakra to his feet. He figured he could do the whole workout this way, as long as he could concentrate on the clones. This probably looked really weird to watch, but it was training, and it was genuine hard work, however silly it looked. Finishing another mile, Haru jumped to the floor for another one hundred push ups, not realizing that the floor was the wall, and the chakra was in his feet, not his hands. He fell to the REAL floor, rubbing his back in pain. Luckily, the clones had stayed on the ceiling. Recovering, He went for another set of push ups, preformed another jutsu, and did one more set of pushups. He started to get in a pattern again, and before he knew it, He'd ran another three miles.
 
Deciding he needed something fresh, he dispersed his clones and ran across the beach to the waterfront, where he ran across the water and realized that was a perfect place to train Chakra control. Focusing the Chakra to his hands, he jumped down and did one hundred push ups, before his feet sunk into the water slowly. Disappointed, he pulled himself out of the water (Which looked and felt very strange to him), and tried again. This time, he focused too much on his feet and his head sunk into the water. Coming out gasping for air, Haru was determined to get this right, even if it took him all day. He pulled himself up again, still dripping wet, and went down for another set of push ups, focusing his chakra as evenly as he could between his hands and feet. Succeeding at last to get a full one hundred, Haru rolled over, without thinking, to do a set of sit ups.
 
He fell into the water instantly. Coming up sputtering from the surprise drenching, which really wasn't so surprising, He pulled himself out of the water again, before doing another set of push ups, then focusing the chakra to his back. The resulting exhaustion that Haru felt caused him to fall in to the pool again. Apparently it was a lot harder to focus it to such a large area, like his back, compared to somewhere small, like his feet. Feeling determined, Haru set to work completing an entire Crossfit on the water, Drenching himself too many times to count, but eventually succeeding in almost every workout he could think of, except Burpees.
 
No matter how hard he tried, he could not focus his chakra fast enough to do those. Shrugging, satisfied with his work, Haru packed his bag, slipping the weights off of his arms and changing back into his clothes, as he headed back home. This time, he actually felt like he'd become a little stronger, and boy, was he sore!
 
   
It was a successful day for his training, and at last, Haru felt as if he had a body strong enough to keep up with the intense level of exertion he placed on it. No longer would he have to hide completely behind his armor to protect himself. No, now he could rest a little easier knowing he’d never be stunned by a lightning blade or some bullshit like that again. Today was a good day for his training, and a reminder that there was always more to improve upon.

(Exit)


(TWC: 3015)

3000/3000 Towards Water release: Water Trident

D.E.R.P. Used to lower stats in Strength and chakra by 5

+10 Health
+5 extra stats for 500 Ryo