Strength in Endurance

The sun was just breaking over the horizon, but Arashi was already in a light sweat.  He had spent the last three hours with a rigorous training and fitness program, going through all sorts of in place cardio and strength training.  All for the increase in his ability to weave chakra and the limberness to be able to move even faster.  It was to increase his own effectiveness as a ninja and be able to stand by the rest of them in defense of Kumo.  The village had just had an attack not long ago, and there were still things to clean-up.  But the boy was determined not to be on the sidelines.  He would be the one who stands by the Raikage, stands by Akihana-san, stands by his family, and fight off those who threatened the village.


Which was why even as the sun brightened the land, Arashi was not even close.  He gave himself a minute on the rock he was on, sitting in the middle of the river, to take a drink and rest for a moment.  He was determined to give himself an advantage of being able to learn wind.  He would find a master to train under, and then earn the right to learn his own jutsus, his family's bloodline, and maybe even develop his own flavor to it.  It was definitely something he wanted to do. First though... he was only at step on.  He stood up and crossed his fingers.


"Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!"


Four figures grew from the water and formed into identical clones of Arashi, and each one pulled out a kunai from their pouch.  Arashi did the same, and looked around at the clones surrounding him.


"Come at me with all you got.  We will all get stronger the more we fight." he said to his clones, and they all nodded with grins.  Then at once, all 4 dashed to the center, where he was, and the fight was on.  Arashi dodged the first couple of swings and kicked away a third, before jumping out of the pile and landing nearby, but out of the circle.  The clones charged again, and this time Arashi pulled out a second kunai, fighting off 4 different attacks at once. 


No one was showing signs of letting up, and when they were too close for kunais, they resorted to attacks and blows against each other, kicking mostly as they blocked with arms and weapons.  Twice Arashi was kicked hard enough to fly across the river, and another 3 times he was injured by fists.  Only once did he feel a slice on his face from a weapon, and that's when the boy jumped back, looking across the 4 assailants. 


"Only one of us will live.  Which one will it be?" he said to the 4, who turned to each other and then all 4 ran at Arashi.  He responded by running with them and at the last minute slide beneath, throwing hidden shuriken up at the two in the middle.  One missed, the other was right in the gut.  That one doubled over and fell, but then stood up, blood visible on his clothing.  Arashi charged after the group, hitting and fighting each one in succession until he made it to the one he injured.  A quick hand to hand fight ended with Arashi slipping around and bringing a kunai to the clone's neck, who responded by pushing forward and dying.  Arashi felt a surge of energy, as did the other three clones, and the fighting continued with a renewed pace. 


With one less assailant, it was easier to hold off the attacks, but harder to find a target of opportunity.  Arashi found himself moving faster and harder in order to avoid the incoming attacks.  It wasn't enough that they clones were fighting like they were real opponents, it was almost as if they did want to win.  That they wanted to take over Arashi.  It was exactly what he wanted, but certainly a challenge.


The 4 remaining Arashi moved from the river to the trees, as Arashi tried to gain the higher ground on his clones.  He made it to a rather thick branch when he had to sidestep a drop kick that not only came from him, but made a sizable break in the branch itself.  The clones were seemingly stronger.  As he dodged and countered, he noted that even the punches were making marks in the treetops, and Arashi found himself having to move even further.  They were getting too strong, he needed to reduce the numbers again. 


The boy had an idea and jumped even farther ahead, losing initial sight with the clones.  This is what he needed.  He sighted a large branch hanging overhead and pulled out some explosive tags and kunais, throwing them at the ends of the branch ahead.  He then jumped up into the trees as he clones caught up, and as they passed over the trap, Arashi set the tags off, bringing the entire thing down.  The highest clone was hit, but the other two saw the trap and both used their strength to break the log in two. 


It did not matter, as Arashi dived down to the one who was injured, bringing weapons forward and lodging them into the fallen clone.  With a final land and hit to the head, the clone died, dispersing into water as once again Arashi and the survivors felt a surge of energy.  Arashi shot his eyes back open, gripping two kunais tightly, and engaged his other two clones in battle.  Things were seemingly getting tougher again, but at this point Arashi was ready for it, and he shot a pair of shurikan at their feet to take off again. 


This time, his clones were right on his tale, and he was forced to fight in transit.  He was starting to get very tired, but he knew he had to continue.. to win.  It was the only way he would learn what he needed to know.  Arashi dodged at the last minute as a series of shurikans lodged themselves into the tree he was just passing.  He had to hurry, they were getting stronger. 


Arashi dashed out of the trees and started running up the slope of a mountain near the village.  He figured he would be able to use his surrounding to his benefit this year.  As he scaled the first third of the large mountain, time slowed as he saw an explosive tag flying right past his face, and into the boulders above.  A quick explosion send this section raining down on Arashi, and he knew almost immediately that it would cause a rockslide down the mountain.  He turned to see who did it, which clone, when the rocks he was one slipped, and Arashi was forced to jump ahead once again.


Near the summit, he finally stopped and jumped behind a natural ledge, as both clones sailed over him.  Arashi grabbed one and swung him away and down the mountain, leaving the boy to deal with the one left who was looking around widely as the sudden disappearance of half of his kill squad.  Arashi tackled the clone, and both became locked in a dance of move and countermove, as each one tried to overpower the other.  Just when things seemed to get dark, a sudden sound of released weapons alerted Arashi, and he spun around, lifting his clone in his place, and feeling the water flash over him as the clone died.  Finally, it was just him and one more clone.  And Arashi felt another surged of energy.  This was it.  Arashi and his clones stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, and then the two ran at each other, colliding in a flash of weapons and kicks, and before long the two were racing down the mountain, exchanging blows and clings. 


His clone had a clear advantage, as it was made of water and therefore seemed to have an almost unlimited supply of water based weapons.  While they didn't do as much damage as the real thing, it was still something that he had to try to avoid at all costs.  Before long Arashi and his clone were in the forest, dodging each other's attacks while avoiding the large branches and trunks that came out of nowhere.  Arashi was not about to give up.


The sounds of splashing alerted to the two that they had reached the river, and the two looked downstream before turning back at each other.  Both ignored each other and took off downstream, trying to beat each other while they jumped over rocks and trees, making sure that they stayed on the water.


There was one point where Arashi and his clone slowed as they entered where the river began to whiten with foam and sped up, but it wasn't enough to stop either of them as they continued.  Arashi ran forward as hard and fast as he could, turning to his clone only once as the two ran forward and off a waterfall. 


As the two began to free fall, Arashi turned to his clone and nodded.  He was feeling very energized, and so was the clone, and both were feeling ready to try.  As they neared the water both boys brought up their hands in the water clone defense justsu, and two globs of water hit the river surface with a sickening slap. 


Out of base of the waterfall, both boys burst out, far from the village lines.  They reached the end of the river, where it opened to a large lake before taking one last stream to the ocean.  Both moved and skidded to a halt in the middle of the lake, staring each other down, and then both brought their hands up.


"Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!"
"Mizu Bushin no Jutsu!"


Two more clones popped up, just in time for the two boys to start the same jutsu, forcing two columns of water to grow in front of them.  The other two clones started spinning them rapidly to the speed of sound, and finally both Arashi and his clone stared at each other one more time.


"Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!"
"Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!"


Both water columns shot out at the other, but Arashi's was faster, and it went into and through his clone.  The clone looked up and stared at its creator in shock as it turned back into water.  The second column died on route, gently splashing on Arashi as he stook in shock and smile.


"I.. I did it?  I did it!" he shouted to no one, cheering for the creation of the first water bullet.  It was no where near ready, but he was now almost there.  And as the boy dropped onto his back, slashing a bit, he was just relieved that he finally, finally, formed the jutsu.



(w/c: 1822)
(+9 stats gained)
(2836/3000 to Water Fang Bullet)