Journey of Change (and training) [private]

(OOC: The claims made in each post are meant to be approved at the end of the thread because some of the jutsu Shiro will learn are impossible for him to obtain because of his current current chakra stat. By the end of this thread, his chakra will be high enough for the jutsu so that no rules are broken.)

(Beginning of day 1/5)

Taking the first steps out his front door, Taiyo inhales the morning air. The grass below is soft and slightly wet. Drops of water still fall from tree branches in the distance and the sun’s position is not yet high enough to evaporate the remaining rain. Some puddles here and there ripple ever so slightly as he continues, his steps causing vibrations through the earth.


Over his shoulder, Taiyo slings three pouches. One of the three is exceptionally heavy, making the load in a whole harder to carry. He pays no mind to the extra drag they impose upon him. To Taiyo, carrying the travelers bags is added training. He does indeed take delight in the little things that increase one’s strength. With them, one can continue to empower themselves across a long period of time so as to bring about greater results.


Taiyo’s wrist weights are not on his forearms as they always are. Instead, he has packed them into his ninja pouches. There is no space in any of the sacks for the weights. They held much more important items, two of them did at least. Ignoring the heavy sensation he feels as a result of the carrying sacks, Taiyo continues out towards the forest. Not once does he step foot into a puddle, he is careful not to. One of his most disliked happenings, if one were to ask, would be wet footwear. The felling to wet sandals or water seeping into socks takes away from paying attention to what is going on around him. In the case that such a thing were to happen in battle, Taiyo would fling his sandals off of his feet, continuing the fight barefooted! Though, on this training journey, such a thing is unlikely to happen. In one of the sacks, an extra pair of ninja sandals resides for such an occasion.


He passes the training log which he has erected as a target for when he practices his techniques. This is the second one. The first one was destroyed completely. In order to avoid having to cut down another tree and exhaust his strength in doing so, the replacement wooden pillar is thicker and less likely to break. Looking down at the missing chips of the post, though, Taiyo wonders if he will need to retrieve yet another tree trunk. And it wouldn’t really be all that bad if he were to have to do so. It  can be seen as a form of training, swinging the axe again and again. Add wrist weights and it would become even more rigorous. But the harder the training, the greater the results. That is the reason Taiyo has made the decision to wander the wilderness. It is unknown what he may find. The odds are though, seeing as how it is a wild forest, that whatever he faces will make him stronger… if he does not die in his pursuit of advancement.


Finally, the edge of the forest is reached. Turning to look back at his home, he stares at the door. Mentally, he imagines himself returning to the abode, opening the front door, walking through it, closing it behind him. The Taiyo he sees is the Taiyo he knows will come. The coming trials will be hard, yes, but he understands that the time will come when it will be over. Time moves ever forward. Every second, the time when he will emerge a new man draws closer.


Turning back towards the trees before him, the rising sun shines through the sharp pines. Some of the leaves of oak trees are visible as well but they are overshadowed by the many pine trees.


“I guess that I spent more time than I thought looking back. The sun was not rising when I first left through that front door. I need to move forward if I want what I see to become a reality.” He whispers. “Only then will I be able to walk back to that house.”


Taiyo takes the first steps into the shadows. This part of the woods has seldom been entered before. Truly, he knows not what he is walking into. But it is only when we try something challenging that we get any better. Here comes the challenge.








By the band of a flowing stream, Taiyo kneels to rest. He removes the sacks from over his shoulder, opening one. In it are five fifteen-inch-wide and ten-inch-tall thermos bottles under a medical kit. Held within the thermoses are white rice, his only food for the five days he will spend traveling to the outer Hoshigakure forest and back. Dividing the food into five days gives Taiyo one thermos per day to divide into breakfast lunch and dinner. And the rice is all he will consume. Berries on bushes, whether he knows them well or not, will be ignored. For one thing, the resisting of other foods will improve his mental resilience. The stronger than it, the longer he will be able to train, to further his own ability. This journey is one way Taiyo is achieving this. But it is not the reason he has taken only white rice as food with him.
Just recently, Taiyo had mastered the earth chakra nature. To his system, the feeling of earth chakra is simple, it is static, it does not change. White rice is simple, its taste is static, its taste does not change. The two are much alike in that they are nearly flavorless. In the hopes of strengthening his connection to his new found earth style, Taiyo has taken himself away from other tastes. In that way, he can cope with the sensation when he must use it quickly in battle. It would be killing two birds with one stone to improve his earth style mastery and expand his ability in the same training trip.


“I guess it’s time for breakfast.” He thinks, moving the medical pack and lifting one of the thermos containers from the cloth sack and placing it onto the ground. Gathering sticks and other foliage from around him, Taiyo piles them into a small mound. Forming a half tiger seal with his right hand, he exhales while forming an “O” shape with his lips. From his mouth, flames fly in a cone, widening out upon the twigs and fallen branches. They catch easily, igniting in a small burst.


“Perfect.” Taiyo grins. “Obviously, I have fire style down. Hopefully, on this journey, I will perfect some earth style jutsu. That would make me quite proud.”


Lifting the thermos of white rice, he holds it over the flames so as to warm it in preparation for its consumption. Looking up into the sky, it shines with pinks and oranges as the sun begins to reveal itself. Now, only the tips of the trees hide its shine. Stars die in brightness, the light of the sun washing them out. Though there still has yet to be enough light to evaporate any of the rain from the night before. Taiyo is only able to kneel because he wears shorts and his knees are bare.








The thermos rests open on the cloth sacks. They are laid sideways to allow for their use as a sort of plate for the container.


Clapping his palms together, Taiyo forms the ram seal, concentrating his chakra. He inhales deeply through his nose and exhales slowly through his mouth. His chakra, as he inhales, solidifies and hardens. The weight is felt throughout his arms, his legs, and his very core. The entire system of chakra within him becomes weighted. This is earth nature chakra. In exhaling, his chakra loosens and heats up to its normal temperature, a warm temperature. The weight of it disappears, being replaced by a lighter feeling. This is Taiyo’s regular chakra, fire nature chakra.


In hopes of being able to quickly summon a change to earth style on command, Taiyo continues to transition between the two nature transformations before stopping to finally eat one third of the warmed white rice in the thermos.


Standing, Taiyo stretches his muscles. For too long he has been kneeling. At times, he went on two knees, like when he performed the chakra transitions. Other times, he used only one knee.


The rest of the supplies, Taiyo packs up and puts over his shoulder. The difference in weight now that he had taken his breakfast worth of rice out is not quite noticeable. He walks down the side of the river, putting his left hand onto his hip. There, one of his two fuma shuriken are strapped to his side. Taiyo pulls it from its bond, raising it to chest level by the big ring in the middle. Quickly, he flicks it to unravel into its four blade formation.


“Since I bought these new shuriken, I have yet to use them.” Taiyo tells himself. “Actually, this is the first time I’ve opened one of them. It’s big. One blade is as big as my forearm. But at the same time, it’s light and easy to throw.”


He swings it forward as if to throw it but does not let go, keeping the shuriken.


“Yes, it’s light. I could use wires with this. Or coat them in fire for larger fireballs. It would be like the phoenix flower jutsu with the shuriken in the fire balls. Such a dangerous attack. With a shuriken of this size, many new strategies are possible. The question is, how will I use it?”


Continuing down the river, moving farther and farther from the inner forest, making his way towards the outer forest, though still quite far from it, Taiyo stops in his tracks. His sight catches a perfectly thick oak tree.


“If I had brought my axe with me, I would cut it down and bring it back as a new training post.” Taiyo says, walking closer to the tree. “And even though this shuriken is big, it isn’t made for cutting trees down. Of course, I don’t really need to bring the tree to my home. Not when I can bring myself to the tree. This here is my training post. And seeing as how this is a training trip…”


Putting the sacks over his shoulder down onto the grass, a dry patch protected by the arms of the trees, Taiyo stands at ready stance. His fuma shuriken is in his left hand and he lifts his second one, taking it from his right side, above the left weapon, holding them horizontally. They point towards the oak tree.
Moving the shuriken to their sides, his body moves forward and the arms are left behind him. Running towards his target and making his way to being about five meters from the tree, Taiyo brings his arms and the shuriken forward to throw them. One above the other, they fly and spin. They cut through the wind, speeding towards the trunk of the tree. Upon impact, they cut into the wood and stick themselves in it. Continuing to run, Taiyo jumps high and makes his way into physical contact range of the tree. Coming closer, he spins.


“Leaf whirlwind!” His voice screams through the forest. Birds fly from their branches, the former peace and quiet of their environment now contaminated by a loud yell.


Taiyo’s right leg forces it’s way into the tree’s wood, not only chipping it but also charging through and penetrating the outer skin. The inner rings of the tree are destroyed as the leg bores through the tree, stopping halfway into it.


He lands with his left leg onto one of the blades of the shuriken. The top is supported by the bottom shuriken. Standing one the blade, Taiyo removes his leg from within the tree and jumps down. The drop is one meter down, the shuriken making impact 1 meter up the trunk of the tree.


Taking the shuriken, Taiyo looks up at the dent he had made in the tree. He flicks the shuriken to a close, putting them back onto his hips, strapping them in at their rings.
“Quite nice.” He thinks, walking down the river once more.






A clearing with few trees. The ones in the area are all pine trees. For a while, Taiyo had not run into any oaks. But the types of trees have no impact on the jutsu which he will be practicing to use. Before departing on the five-day-long journey through Hoshigakure’s woods, he took it upon himself to create a mental list of earth style and fire style jutsu to master before he returns. One of the techniques is the jutsu which he plans to complete at this location.


“It’s perfect.” Taiyo tells himself. “If there were too many trees, the Tearing Earth Turning Palm would be too unpredictable. I need to be able to know if I hit my target.”


The ground has dried quite well. The sun is higher than before now that the morning has passed. Kneeling down on his right knee, Taiyo places his palm onto the grass. The ground is not too hard and, at the same time, not too hard. Perfect texture for a jutsu such as this, especially for a beginner. If the ground were too soft, the learner would perfect the jutsu much slower than if they had a ground of medium density to work with.


“This feels like a good start. And that tree there.” He points to one of the pine trees. Around it, there are no other trees, not for a good twenty meters. “It will make a good target. There are no other trees with a clear diameter of 30 meters. This one will have to do since it has the widest clear area. And if I take down a few more trees, that would be fine.”


Taiyo’s hands come together, forming the boar and ox seals in quick succession. Afterward, he forces his right hand into the grass. His chakra had solidified already due to weaving the hand seals. Throughout his entire chakra system, the flow slows and he can feel the weight in each of his chakra points. Gathering it in his right arm by accumulating it from multiple areas of his body, the chakra flows down into Taiyo’s right hand.


“I can’t perform this jutsu without mapping out its steps first.” His chakra connects to the earth below through his palm. It carries his senses through the earth and spread out under the roots of the target tree.


There, he rests the extension of his own body, his chakra, and takes time to understand the sensation of feeling such a large expanse of the underground. Doing his best to commit it all to memory, Taiyo contemplates the nature of such an experience.


“It isn’t all that different.” He thinks, moving the chakra around under the oak tree. “If I had to put it into words, I would say that the chakra spread is equal to my hand. Both seem to move in the same way. When my palm moves to the right, so does my range of chakra sense.”


Taiyo glides his palm over to the right and the center of his circular chakra field under the surface of the ground moves from the roots of the tree to being under a spot of only grass.


“As long as I can see my target before I begin casting the jutsu, I will always be able to make them the center of the technique. That way, the attack can commence without my needing to move the chakra. Things would take longer that way.”


Shifting the jutsu’s range back to the oak tree’s roots, Taiyo tests the versatility of the technique, how much it can change and in what ways he can utilize its steps.


“After gripping the earth in the jutsu’s area,” He begins. “It can be moved to the user’s will. Of course, there is a limit to what can be done. I don’t have a strong enough chakra to flip the area completely. All I can do for now is shift medium sized areas and perform the jutsu’s intended purpose, that being to twist the ground and create a sinkhole. Such a performance should be easy enough.”


Holding his chakra under the ground and extending it forward towards the tree has exhausted him. His chakra system is losing its endurance and the desire to revert it back into his original fire nature is strong.


“But for now,” Taiyo whispers. “I need to stretch. Then, my chakra should be ready once more to utilize earth style.”


Pulling out, his chakra loosens. The weight disappears and the heat he’s known returns.








“I’m ready.” Taiyo thinks, rising from the grass and placing his thermos of rice back into his bag with the others and a medical case. He stomps out the flames and kicks the stones, there only so that the flames did not spread onto the rest of the grass, away.


His hands form, in quick succession, the Boar and Ox hand seals and Taiyo slams his right hand onto the ground. The chakra he uses to recreate the progress which he had on the jutsu before stopping is hardened and sinks into the dirt.


Curling his fingers, Taiyo gets a grip on the earth below the tree and the ground within a twenty meter radius of the target.


“I fooled around a bit last time.” He thinks. “Too much actually. I didn’t have the time to perform the jutsu and check for mistakes. I had planned to get the jutsu down before lunch. Since that hasn’t happen, I’m behind schedule. The faster I check this jutsu, the faster I get to the edge of Hoshigakure forest.”
Narrowing his eyes, Taiyo straightens his right arm and concentrates the chakra in the muscles. That way, his control is much more accurate.


“That would have been a mistake.” He notes. “The performance of the jutsu would be incomplete if I didn’t have a strong enough hold on the targeted ground.”


“And another mistake.” Taiyo points out to himself. “I almost turned my palm without hollowing out the earth below the jutsu’s area. If I spread it out, that will allow for the sink hole effect. That would mean that the surrounding underground will increase in density. Seeing as that would have no serious effects on the jutsu, at least none that I can see, I will take that route.


The earth which Taiyo can feel that is not directly under the tree’s roots and within the twenty meter radius is compressed into the rock just outside of the jutsu’s range.


In one slow motion, Taiyo turns his arm at the shoulder, spinning it counter-clockwise. While doing this, he watches intently as the ground shatters beneath the tree and spirals inward, turning in the same direction as his hand, counter-clockwise.


The oak, that is the target of the jutsu, tilts and lowers into the sinking ground. The hollow area below it is filled gradually with the passing seconds. The two trees in the vicinity of the jutsu also fall victim to its pull.

Watching the jutsu follow through after he draws his hand from the grass, Taiyo takes pride in his work. 


“It looks like those last minute changes pulled through in the jutsu’s execution. So I’m going to mark this as a success. Of course, I’m going to continue its practice. For now, though, I should continue forward. I won’t get anywhere if I don’t make any travel progress. Just as I won’t complete this training expedition if I don’t make it to Hoshigakure’s outer forest.”

(3,289/3,289)
(2,000/2,000 towards Tearing Earth Turning Palm)

[Claims towards completion: 16 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm]

Approved.

It has come to be late afternoon. The ground and trees have long since been dried by the sun’s rays. Such a happening is to Taiyo’s liking. After all, he has departed on this journey of growth in order to improve his use of his earth chakra nature. The less moist the ground is, the harder it will be to move. And if he sets the standard of moving hard, dense earth, the field of battle may be just as easy for him to utilize, easier even.


“But nothing will come of me, no progress will be made if I cannot continue on.” He reasons within himself.


Gazing out at a medium sized waterfall through a few trees, he struggles to keep himself where he is, planted sitting on the grass, moving his chakra between the states of earth nature and fire nature. He must use mental force even to keep his hands folded in the Ram seal.


“Not yet. Later, but not now. Keep your schedule.” Taiyo convinces himself to stand without running out of the trees and towards the crashing water. “First, the Rock Section Cane. Afterward, you may try your hand at the Earth Wall. Remember, you yourself created this method yourself before embarking on this trek. A jutsu of higher level followed by a jutsu of low level. That’s how it works. That is the pattern until no low level jutsu remain to be learned. At least, none that interest me. And I’ll be gaining new fire style jutsu as well, do not get completely caught up in the earth nature. Do that and you change your main element. And you know yourself now. Change and you will need to reunderstand yourself. What a setback.”


The chatter within himself ceases. He looks up at the position of the sun. To him, he is right on time. Here at this location, he will teach himself to perform the Rock Section Cane. The jutsu is simple. He elevates a staff from the ground made out of earth and can use it as a melee weapon or projectile. To Taiyo, it is obvious that he will use the jutsu at a weapon for himself and harden it as much as possible with his chakra. The equation allows for the density of the staff to increase with the chakra used.


“The possibilities of this staff. I am, after all, quite fine with the staff. It is my go-to weapon, my weapon of choice.” Taiyo kneels down, averting his eyes from the waterfall. Knowing that today is not the day which he will use it to train, remembering his planned schedule, he begins to morph his chakra into the earth style nature he had come from earlier. “It isn’t getting any easier actually. But this is the first day. What should I expect?”


With two fingers, his strikes the ground. Through the grass, he penetrates to the dirt but does not break through it. He only needs to touch it for his chakra to flow through it.


“So… I thought about it. And it isn’t all that hard, really. It’s an E-Rank jutsu. Truley, the steps are simple. First…”


Taiyo’s chakra, his earth nature chakra, spreads in a circle of one inch diameter away from his fingers.
“Second, sink.”


The chakra sinks down through the ground, cutting it with the strength of earth style. He himself separates the earth as if it is his own body.


“Third, stop and finalize.”


The cutting stops, he reaches the length of the staff. From there, he cuts it horizontally, forming the staff.


“Fourth and final step.”


Exhaling slowly, Taiyo struggles to maintain the solidity of the earth chakra long enough to drag out the staff. He finds though, his strength and uses the chakra to connect himself to the stop of the staff. That way, as his arm moves upward and he flips the connection to his palm, the earth follows. As it moves through, the chakra Taiyo had left at the top rim of the hole smooths out the staff’s rough edges.
“And that’s about it.” Taiyo sighs, holding the staff and spinning it out in front of him, striking at the air. “There was no thrill though. A student could have learned this jutsu, I never had any struggles thinking about how to form the jutsu and how to execute it. One motion, one mentality. That is what this jutsu is, at least for I.”


Setting up camp, Taiyo dozes off as he watches the sun fall ever so slowly. It isn’t until very late that he sleeps, eating shortly before it becomes dark. Continuously, he hears the sound of the pounding water calling him.
“Tomorrow.” He whispers.


(End of day 1/5)

(786/4075)
(500/500 towards Rock Section Cane)

[Claims so far: 20 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane]

(Beginning of day 2/5)

The sky is a golden-yellow color with the clouds curving away from the sun. The wind is not as humid yesterday, the rain has long passed. Now, there is a much more crisp feel with the air, it is sharper. Though, by the waterfall, the atmosphere is wet, one could feel the light spray from the collision at the bottom of the falls.
A thin mist rises from that area and Taiyo stands on the bank of the river. His looks out to the other bank and at at the trees farther down.
“For as far as I can see,” He begins telling himself in a whisper, “This river is too long for me to walk around. By the time I made it to the other side, I will have wasted too much time. Five days is all I have, four now. And though I have all of the time in the world to reach the end of the forest and return to my abode, it wouldn’t be all that strenuous if I could take my leasure. What self improvement would come of that?”
Taking three steps back, Taiyo puts his palms together.
“Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog.” He repeats in his head the hand seals required for the technique which he promised himself he would learn as they are performed physically.
Immediately, his chakra system increases in density at the tenketsu as the hand seal’s effect on Taiyo’s chakra begins to show. The added weight, though, slips by his senses. Over the past training sessions with utilizing earth style chakra, Taiyo is beginning to ignore the feeling of added weight.
“Now that I’ve made a transition from my regular chakra to earth nature chakra, I should begin thinking the procedure through.” He thinks. “Having to maintain earth style subconsciously should improve my use of it without needing to concentrate on it entirely. In battle, I will need to concentrate on the enemy, not just my technique.”
He sits before the water. It rushes past Taiyo and one cannot see the bottom of the water flow. It would be too difficult to swim through to the other side, the current is extremely powerful.
“In order to get across to the other side of the river, I am going to use the Earth Wall technique to build a bridge long enough for me to jump from so that I might land on the bank.” He reasons. “But this is an exceptionally wide river. In order to form a bridge long enough to reach the halfway point of the water, I will need to use the wall’s maximum height. So…”
In preparation to practice the jutsu, Taiyo enhances the earth chakra, making it heavier and more dense than before. Careful not to make himself immobile due to the rigid chakra, he stops short of an extreme level of earth. Not only for this reason, but also because it is not in his skill range to do this. Odds are, if he could do such a thing, he will have done it already, trying so hard to practice his earth style.
Taiyo’s palms slam into the earth, he can feel the vibrations from his impact ripple through the ground. His chakra seeps below, giving him a sixth sense through the dirt.
“Good.” He thinks, smiling. “The composition is just about the same as yesterday. I could move the earth then and I should be able to move it now.”
Making his way to the edge of the bank and spreading through the area to begin contemplating the steps of the jutsu, Taiyo can feel the water of the river rushing against the rock. With the speed of the water, he predicts that an earth wall through the water itself would not be the most ideal bridge. The rock would be softened by the water and become mud. Granted, it would eventually harden and become stronger than before. This cannot happen if it does not have extended and uninterrupted contact with the air.
“Well, that’s no good.” Taiyo laughs within himself. “And there doesn’t seem to be enough space between the water’s surface and the top of the bank to build an earth bridge that does not come into contact with the rushing water. So…”
Opening his eyes, Taiyo brings his chakra back to his system though his palms. Coming back into reality and leaving his mind causes him to stop and reassess his chakra. The weighted feeling comes back and the density increases in comparison to how he felt before. Quickly, it subsides.
Looking towards the waterfall, Taiyo gets an idea.
“What I could do…” He begins whispering. The rest, he speaks only in his head. “I could form the earth wall on the cliff face. Even though I can climb up there myself, I need a reason to practice and utilize the earth wall. If I make one halfway to the top, I can chakra climb to it, stand on it to test its sturdiness, and climb to the top the rest of the way. From there, I will practice the Great Dragon Fire technique. That way, I will be able to test it by blasting it towards the created earth wall. Only when I shatter it will I allow myself to continue forward by forming another earth wall above the position of the old one,jumping down to it, wall running while chakra clinging to the cliff face, and jumping down towards the other bank. With the air time and enough push forward off the wall, I should be able to make it across. It isn’t a tall waterfall, I shouldn’t sustain any injuries.”
Surveying the landscape further, looking up and down the waterfall and cliff face, Taiyo brings his hand to rub across his scalp from his forehead to the back of his neck.
“Crazy. But if I don’t try pushing myself by taking harder ways out of situations, I won’t grow as much as I intend to on this journey.” He says out loud. “This is a journey of change. And only after I successfully complete it will I be able to achieve the true and ultimate prize of this trial…. The sooner I stop talking and get to work, the sooner this will be over.” Taiyo smiles.
Getting up, his chakra reverts back to its original form. The earth qualities it takes one vanish in an instant. Noticing the change, Taiyo forms the ram seal as he makes his way to the wall.
“No, not yet. I’m not taking a rest just yet.” He thinks, recreating his earth style chakra. “Pushing myself is a must.”
The tiger, hare boar, and dog seals are weaved in quick succession after letting go of the ram seal. Though his chakra points are beginning to wear down and become strained at the constant use of density enhancing chakra, they hold up through the will of their host. The flow is steady as he calms himself and forces both of his palms into the cliff face. The chakra flows outward as if attracted to the rock itself by free will. But this is the free will of Taiyo, not the chakra. He himself wills to train. He himself wills to connect with the earth. He himself wills to adopt a personality of both simplicity and passion because these are just as earth and fire themselves.
“I want a wall twenty meters wide. And twenty meters high. Also one meter thick. Those are the dimensions of this jutsu, I believe.” He thinks, grabbing a hold of the rock within the cliff face. “But even though I know what this wall should look like, I need to think about how this wall will form.”
Thinking about the way the formation will occur in both a vertical fashion and a horizontal fashion proves to be a challenge. With a horizontal wall, a mechanism can be put in place to keep the wall horizontal. In a vertical wall formation, such a mechanism may not work.
“A platform can be made below the wall but that still leaves a void of emptiness below.” Taiyo thinks. “That would compromise the wall. Any attack that can destroy that support will topple the wall and undo the jutsu.”
Seeping his chakra into the earth which it encompasses, he gets a read of its density and just about how much matter is in each cubic meter of the cliff face. To his delight, there is a fine amount. More than that which is in the soil of the ground, much more. Being a cliff face, the rock must be strong.
“Perfect!” Taiyo exclaims in himself. “If I can take some of the earth within each cubic meter, only a small amount, I will accumulate enough matter to form the wall without compromising the terrain or making it easy to topple the jutsu.”
He runs his hand along the rugged surface of the cliff face, moving his chakra with them. The sense his earth style chakra gives him allows him to measure the contents of the things below the surface of rock because of the chakra’s penetrating through the earth and becoming one with it.
“For this jutsu… I believe I will need quite a few cubic meters. Seeing as how this wall will have a volume of 400 cubic meters. I could multiply that by two and select 800 cubic meters of the earth in this cliff. It will take extraordinary concentration but this would be the most ideal plan for a ninja of my level. By shifting half of the rock from each cubic meter of the 800, I can get a full 400 cubic meter wall. And the cliff face will keep its structure as long as I do not unevenly draw substance.”
To Taiyo, all things pan out fine. And so, drawing his chakra back within himself, he lets his hands slide down the rock and fall to his sides. The toll on his chakra system can no longer be ignored and he lets go of keeping it in a state of earth nature. Reverting back to its natural state, Taiyo’s chakra loosens and he relaxes. His legs make their way back to his tent, the one he slept in before awaking today as his gaze stays fixed on the cliff face until he can no longer look back. He is at his tent, a black tarp arranged on metal poles in a pyramid formation. They are staked into the ground so that they do not fall in the case that strong winds come across it.
“It’s almost mid-day.” Taiyo thinks, kneeling down to the base of the tent to pull the metal poles from the ground. He moves them back and forth to loosen the ground and release them from the earth. Afterward, he takes the dark blue tarp and folds it into a rectangle. With the four poles, on the grass, he picks them up and collapses them into poles that are only half of a meter long. Finally, he groups the poles together, rolls the rectangularly folded tarp around them, and places the roll of cloth and metal into one of his three cylindrical pouches.
Reaching into one of the three bags, he pulls out one of the five thermoses. After shaking it to make sure that it was not the empty one, the one which he had finished eating the day prior. Along with it, he removes a pair of chopsticks and places them onto the now opened thermos horizontally. Taiyo stands and looks around for twigs or other foliage. He has no need to seek out stones because he can simply use the Rock Section Cane and break the staff up to make a protective circle for the soon to be flames.
Without needing to go too far, Taiyo gathers the fallen leaves, branches, and twigs into a pile of plant material.
“And this won’t take much effort.” He thinks, striking his right hand’s pointer and middle fingers into the grass. The chakra follows the procedure which Taiyo performed in order to create the rock staff the first time during training. Drawing it up from the ground and catching it in the air, he asks himself, “But… where have I gone to since than? I’ve made too little progress, at least not as much as I first believed that I would. I will fix that.”
Taiyo nods at the resolution and his determination to complete the earth wall jutsu is reignited. “Now that I think about it…” His eyes widen at the realization of what he had done. “I didn’t even have to think about transforming my chakra into the earth nature before I produced the rock cane! It’s becoming automatic. That in itself is a sign of improvement, one that I am proud of.”
With a quick half tiger seal of his right hand, Taiyo lights the mound of plant material ablaze after surrounding it with the rock cane’s broken segments.


He has eaten and through his enjoyment of the white rice, nothing else but water to accompany the dish, the resolve to charge ahead and continue advancing has continued. All he has thought about until walking back to the waterfall has been to tackle the earth wall and earn his strength.
“And I have done so.” Taiyo whispers, looking down into the flowing water. “Now, just like this waterfall and the river it is connected to, I will continuously aim ever higher in my dealings with ability. Without tiring, I can trudge through the rigor and soreness. What an example that rock section cane was! Without needing to think about the change, my chakra did on its own what I have had to sit down to accomplish. And to think that I have only just started my trek! But… now is no time to talk about these things. Right now, I have a jutsu to grab.”
Turning right, Taiyo faces the cliff face once more, His chakra draws him to the surface as if it yearns to use it as an extent of Taiyo’s own body. As if telling him “greatness awaits”, his physical self continues on its own to complete his set task. The determination is so strong that what goes on is nearly subconscious, second nature (see what I did there?).
He slams his right hand into the cliff face followed shortly after by his left hand. The chakra almost leaps out of his palms and grips onto, into rather, the rock. The extra sense nearly startles Taiyo. Immediately, he can feel the entire area of the cliff, from the bottom to the top and from the far reaches of the left side to the mid-section of the right side. There he sections out each cubic meter of space.
In an instant, his feelings dip ever so slightly. It occurs to him, not that he truly looks into the rock with a deeper earth chakra, that not all of the cliff face is equal in density.
“Honestly, I should have known.” Taiyo laughs. “The ground below has this same composition, why wouldn’t this cliff? This was a mistake on my part. All of that planning and I’m met with a situation that throws all of that way. How foolish of me to look deeper into what it is I am making my plan to accomplish.”
His dip in emotional encouragement decreases no further. The events as of late are too powerful for Taiyo to forget about them for even a second.
“It isn’t all bad actually…” He reasons, seeing another benefit to the experience, this mistake that he has found in himself. “See, I made for myself a template to follow. I mapped out an entire procedure to make this jutsu work. But this jutsu may not be the same as the others I have trained to achieve. This jutsu may be completely different. After all, this is only the third earth style jutsu I have attempted to learn. And though I have grown in my knowledge and ability for earth style, I still do not know enough. This may be an area which I have yet to venture into. So, I will penetrate through this wall and continue. If I let this obstacle obscure my view of the end of this journey, I may never reach that goal.”
The eagerness to utilize his earth style, though powerful, Taiyo must resist. His palms withdraw from the cliff face.
“I already have an idea of how this jutsu is supposed to proceed. The plan is… not to have a plan. This is earth I am talking about. Some of it is systematic and come of it is mixed and without organization. But it is still the same as white rice. It is simple on the outside, it has one taste, a plain one, and at the same time is complex and seemingly mixed and unorganized within. The molecules which make up the white rice are difficult to memorize the composition of. The carbohydrates are not easily repeated atom for atom.” Taiyo thinks. “The same with earth. There are times to plan. And there are times to allow the earth to guide you. This is what I will do.”
No plan is necessary as Taiyo continues putting both of his hands back onto the cliff face. The cubic meters no longer matter.
“As long as I have good space underground and I can reach far enough to pull the necessary material out…” He begins. The chakra spreads and collects the rock without displacing the internal structure overall. Drawing that to the surface, it is pulled out by Taiyo’s hands as the chakra sticks the two surfaces to each other. The chakra lets go once the connection between the earth wall and its source is secure. Though the wall is an artificial formation, the two are one, fused as if the wall were always part of the cliff this way.
“The jutsu will follow through.” Taiyo finishes, refusing to grin. “But don’t get cocky. That will surely cause to to fall. Stay focused. And I know I said that I would use that fire style jutsu to bring the wall down and then rebuild it but after this, I have to be honest with myself… I’m way too exhausted!”
The fatigue sets in on his body and his chakra system. Such extensive use of his chakra has side effects.
“To think that I could bypass the toll of this training was another mistake. I’ll just… sit here for a second and…”
Blackness.

(3098/7173
(2,000/2,000 towards Flying Thrown Stones)
(1,000/1,000 towards Moving Earth Core)

[Claims so far: 35 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane, Fist Rock Technique, Moving Earth Core]

(With permission from Risako, I have changed the jutsu trained for to Fist Rock Technique and Moving Earth Core)

Gonna trial approve that, cause he messed up and learned a B-rank ninjutsu when he didn't meet the requirements. It seemed kinda wrong to rob him of his 3k, especially since refunds similar to this have been done before.

The growl of Taiyo’s stomach, a sign that he is hungry, awakens him from his informal slumber. His eyes open and his arms stretch outward as he arches his back. He sits on the grass in dark shade. The surrounding ground around him, though, is not much brighter than the area he is sitting in. Looking up, he sees only a dark square shape. Touching it, Taiyo feels its rugged texture and cold temperature. This structure has given him protection from the outside elements of nature. The slightly illuminated grass is noticeably wet. The golden light, though dim, is refracted through the many water droplets.


“It’s rained.” Taiyo thinks, running his right hand along the wet blades. The dirt below them is damp and soft. He looks back up at the earth wall and down to the grass which he sits upon.
Instant realization follows his previous aloofness to what had happened hours ago. He snaps his fingers.


“That’s right.” He whispers. “I made this earth wall. I completed the jutsu and dozed off under it. Good thing too. I would have been rained on if this hadn’t held up.”


Taiyo stands, the wall being formed above his head when he was standing, and stretches his legs. He cracks his knuckles as he walks out from under the earth wall of a tent. His sandals crush the droplets of water. The rain was not enough for the ground to give of its absorbed water when pressured. Because of this, Taiyo can walk upon the ground without feeling the little mud below.


“Seeing as how this jutsu held up under the rain, I think I can skip testing it. And after all of that effort, I don’t think that today is a good day to begin practicing the jutsu I planned on practicing earlier.” He reasons, picking his three sacks up from the ground. They are only slightly wet because the tree’s branches protected them from the rain. “But I still need to learn one more jutsu for today. I’m supposed to complete two jutsu per day, I’ve only accomplished one so far.”


His eyes widen as he looks up into the sky.


“And it’s nearly sundown!” He yells. “The sun is already setting… so I need to think of a quick jutsu. One that will only take me a few minutes to perform.”


With a few steps over to the cliff face, Taiyo leaps up onto the earth wall. It’s surface is much less moist than the grass below because any mud formed on it hardened into the earth.


“Well, I need to get to the other side of the river. It’s too deep to walk in and the current is too fast for me to swim. I suppose it’s about time I learned the body flicker. I mean, all of the chuunin have it. There’s no harm in learning it early, right?”


Taiyo proceeds to drop down to the earth wall to sit while his legs dangled over the side. He places his head down into his hands.


“Now, if I remember correctly…” he begins his contemplation of the steps in which the jutsu is executed. “The user of this jutsu is supposed to use chakra to vitalize their body and heighten their speed. Such an instant burst of speed would get me from point A to point B but only in a straight line. For this situation, I think that’s acceptable. And in battle, that would also suffice. Let’s get to it then.”


Taiyo stands and forms the ram seal with his hands, channeling his chakra through his system. He can feel the flow of his inner streams as they travel from chakra point to chakra point.


“Well this should be fairly easy. Just let the chakra out into the muscles and use that enhances strength to quickly dash over to the other side of the river. It shouldn’t feel too weird. After all, I have channeled chakra through my hands and feet before. To get to those areas, it has to pass through the arms and legs. And because I start the chakra out in the center and spread it when infusing my muscles with it, I’ve charged every area before. Just not all at once. This will be just like the other times.


Gathering up enough chakra in his core, he disperses it outward. It reaches his extremities, his arms and legs. Every one of his muscles are charged with his chakra and Taiyo feels the effects quite quickly.


In an instant, he makes a high speed dash, the type of quick one stride dash he would attempt at normal speed, towards the other bank across the river. The crashing of the waterfall, for a moment is inaudible. With the experience of moving at this speed, Taiyo neglects to pay any attention to his other sense. Because it is his first time, he lives only in the moment.


After only a split second, Taiyo stands up straight on the other bank of the river. He has used his chakra to enhance his muscles further upon landing. This way, his muscles and bones can resist the force caused by such a sudden stop at speeds as high as these.


“Certainly a rush.” Taiyo thinks, relaxing his body and letting his chakra flow just as before. “But it isn’t something that I can’t recover from immediately upon stopping. As long as I remember to reinforce my body with extra chakra when coming to a stop, I should be fine. Also, the jutsu will probably take some time to get used to. I haven’t experienced speed like that before.”


Looking out through the trees, Taiyo begins walking forward through them. Looking up into the sky once more as he walks, he realizes that it has gotten darker. Though it has yet to become night, the orange color of the sun has disappeared again and it has become noticeably darker than before.


Searching around, Taiyo catches a good spot to set up camp. Stopping himself, though, he stand up from kneeling before the tree.


“I probably shouldn’t be setting up camp.” He reasons in his thoughts. “I haven’t gotten very far in terms of getting to my destination other than crossing that fast river.”


He looks out into the darkness of trees ahead.

“I’ll keep going. I shouldn’t come across any beasts… right?”

(End of day 2/5)

(1,063/8,269)
(1,000/1,000 towards Body Flicker)

[Claims so far: 40 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane, Fist Rock Technique, Moving Earth Core, Body Flicker]

(OOC: Skipping day 3/5 because I haven't decided how it will play out yet)


(Beginning of day 4/5)


Finally waking up, Taiyo takes a deep breath in and out. He lies on the grass inside of his tent which is beside a tall rock formation. It isn’t above the surrounding trees. And is of a lighter color than the cliff face from two days ago.


He sits up, raising his head from his pillow and stretching his arms out over his head. Birds can be heard singing in the trees and the rustle of the leaves sounds through his tent.


“Then the trees are close.” He reasons, climbing out of his tent. Again, he has forgotten about the event of the night before for a little while. Collapsing of exhaustion, not being a proper way to fall asleep, must have something to do with it. “Yes, I remember.”


He looks out and around the area. His tent is pitched in a clearing and, as explained, next to a boulder-like large rock. The grass below is dry and the sun’s heat is much more intense than other days. Before, it would rain and the grass would be wet but with the sun’s current heat, evaporation occurs much faster. The ground is not moist despite the fact that it rained last night.


“Last night…” Taiyo whispers, reaching back in time to fully recall the occurrence with the beast. “That’s right, it was raining. And the beast was vicious. The fact that I made it out alive would be one feat but to have bested the animal is something of true strength!”


Walking around to the other side of the rock, Taiyo wonders how much farther he will need to travel in order to finally reach the edge of the forest.


“I have been going on for four days now, this is my fourth day.” He thinks. After looking up his heart nearly stops. “And it’s almost midday! A whole morning wasted sleeping? In that time, I could have been training or making my way ever closer to the edge of the forest! Granted, fighting that beast was a challenge and should bear great fruits for my labor, I need to be making progress along with my physical exertion! I have a schedule. By this time, I should be making my way back.”


Looking out through the few trees before him after making his way around the large rock, Taiyo stops his thinking. Ahead of him, there are barely any trees. And farther, there is only tall grass. The oaks around him are thinner than the ones he has seen before.


“I made it…” He whispers, taking a few more steps forward. His sandals sink into the tall blades of grass. He is out in the open with the sun beating down on his arms and legs. He takes pleasure in basking in the heat. “But enough celebration. I’m not home yet. I haven’t completed my task. Further, I haven’t performed any new jutsu today. Normally, I would practice one in the morning and another later in the day but because I have no morning today, I will need to begin now and continue working into the afternoon.”


His stomach rumbles violently. Taiyo brings his hand up to his core and curls his fingers over the fabric of his ninja vest. Walking back into the trees, he sighs. “I didn’t have anything for dinner last night if I recall correctly. And the time for breakfast has passed. It’s almost high noon. I suppose I’ll eat lunch after I attempt the next technique.”


He reaches the clearing and the large rock still stands before him. Looking up to the top, Taiyo begins to think. “Before I leave here, I will destroy the rock with whatever jutsu I have learned. It will be a test of my improvement.” Walking around the boulder, he comes across his tent again. It still stands, the dark blue tarp flowing in the slight wind. He removes the metal pikes from the ground after removing the tarp and folding it up. All three collapse and he places them onto the folded tarp, rolling them up inside of it. Finishing up, he stuffs the tent supplies into his empty carrying pouch. For a moment, he is about to choose the wrong sack because two of the three look empty. However, only one it truly void of solid objects. One carries his food, the white rice, and a medical kit, one that he has used once so far. The second is empty, it is meant to hold his tent supplies. The third is the one mentioned near the beginning of his trek before he entered the forest. The wrist weights which are in Taiyo’s ninja pouches were previously to be held within it but he changed his mind. “They held much more important items, two of them did at least” is how the sacks were spoken of, two of them carrying vital equipment and one carrying nothing of real value or importance…

Setting the pouches down below a nearby tree, the shade hanging over them, Taiyo approaches the rock once more. “Today is the day that I perform the Great Fireball technique. And to do it, I’m going to need a high platform.” He tells himself. “The area is too densely populated with trees. I would risk starting a forest fire be practicing a fire style jutsu down here. I could use the open field over at the end of the forest but being up high will allow me to watch the fireball fly without hitting the ground. As long as I point it up, I should be fine.”


Taiyo’s hand glides over the stone. “I could climb this boulder with chakra surface walking but that wouldn’t be too fun. I do that all of the time, it comes too easily.” He begins thinking, taking a few steps back to survey the large boulder-sized rock. Snapping his finger, he falls to one knee and, in an instance, enhances all of his muscle groups with his chakra.


I didn’t learn this technique too long ago but after performing it on a whim last night, I feel much more confident that I can pull it off as well as before. Then again, I was in danger. Being so fluent the way I did fighting that beast may have been due to being in the zone at the time…” He looks up at the top of the boulder, thinking back to the first time he he used the technique. His eyes narrow. “It was no problem the first time so why am I so worried? This jutsu is simple. In fact, I’ve already completed its preparations. All there is left to do is -”

In a blur, Taiyo’s body moves from the ground to the top of the tall boulder. “- dash.” He finishes his sentence.


Around him, Taiyo takes in the scenery. He has elevated himself above the trees. He can see out so far that the oak trees and pine trees are distinguishable from each other. From the ground, one would need to come closer to a tree to identify its species. He may only be able to skim their tops but he can see them.


Taking a deep breath, Taiyo inhales the crisp high air and, as he exhales, feels the heat of his chakra moving inside of his limbs and chest. In quick succession, he weaves the horse and tiger seals, holding the tiger form.


“These are the hand seals, if I remember correctly.” He whispers, looking down at his hands. Taiyo weaves them once more, repeating the warm surge of fire nature chakra through his system. “I should get used to weaving these in quick succession. This jutsu will be one I use often in battle.”


Again, he separates his hands and clashes them back together to form the horse seal. Without a second thought, he brings them apart about an inch or so for a split second and puts them back together in a different formation, the tiger seal. Throughout his chakra system, his fire chakra rages. His chest holds the highest concentration of chakra after the hand seals.


Letting the hand seal’s effects on his chakra wear off, Taiyo stretches his arms high.


“I’m going to need to be limber when attempting this jutsu. I could feel the chakra rush through me.” Taiyo thinks, standing on one foot now and pulling his other foot to bend behind him. “It would be a good idea to stretch my muscles out before trying to utilize that fire chakra this jutsu creates. I have felt the chakra of the Fire Stream and the Fire Style: Explosion. Those two are nothing compared to this. But it’s nothing I should not expect. This jutsu is a C-Rank. The others are E-Rank and D-Rank respectively.”


Pushing his shoulders back, Taiyo stands erect with his feet planted firmly onto the surface of the rock. He enhances the grip of his sandals by using the chakra surface walking technique.

“It’s good to take precautionary measures. Based on the way my chakra felt after weaving those hand seals, I may not be able to fully withstand the push of this jutsu.” Taiyo whispers. “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And I would never ignore a law of physics. Expelling this jutsu is going to create a great push backward as it flies forward. The name of the jutsu is Great Fireball. Such a title is not to be taken lightly.”


After confirming his stability upon the surface he stand upon, Taiyo forms the horse seal, all of his fingers except for his index fingers curling and locking together. His two index fingers meet above them at the center. Both of his thumbs bend and stay parallel to his palms.


Next, the tiger seal. His little and ring fingers curl around the top of each hand as the palm come together. The thumbs cross. Finally, Taiyo’s pointer and middle fingers point upward, both as parallel as their palms.


Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he collects the fire chakra in all of its intensity. It balls up in his chest but without the pressure of the Fire Style: Explosion technique. This way, the flames are not compressed and flare without constraint. The resulting flames, then, would still be solid, being made of kneaded chakra, but would not be as small or dense. Chakra is rolled and stirred within his lungs and increases in heat. Now, it has passed the range at which Taiyo’s fire stream jutsu would be released. If the chakra were condensed into a ball and increased in density, the Fire Style: Explosion would result.


Due to the hand seals, the chakra only keep coming and Taiyo finds that the reserves within him are more than he knew. This technique brings much more of it out than other fire style techniques, it requires much more fuel to burn as it is launched at the opponent. For twenty meters, it travels before thinning out into nothingness.


Taiyo’s chest inflates with chakra, his lungs expand larger than any jutsu he has performed before has done. The heat builds with intensity until it cannot be held any longer.


“Now, let’s be smart about this…” Taiyo thinks, before pointing his face towards the sky above. “When executing this fireball technique, I have to make sure that, despite the immense chakra build up, I keep my lips in a tight circle while spewing the flames. If they open too wide, all of the chakra will attempt to leave at the same time. The jutsu would blow up in my face if I were to do that. But if I position them too tightly, I’m only going to get a fire long fire stream. Then, I would just be out of breath after the technique and the jutsu I want would not be casted. The fire needs to flow out and build up in front of me into a ball. To do this, I need to give it a curl as it is expelled out of my mouth. This way, it will curve upward and into the coming stream, forming a rolled ball of fire. At the last second, I will cut the curve by positioning my lips so that there is a downward curve that is stronger than the initial one which caused the fireball to form. That would counteract the first curve that formed the fireball and launch it forward with a good spin.”


The jutsu is executed as planned. His lips open into a circle that, at first, is too small. Despite the curl he puts on it, the stream is expelled. Noticing this, Taiyo widens them. Now, the ball he has theorized is forming and, in his chest, chakra still has yet to contribute.


Not much time passes and all of the chakra in his chest has been used. With the last bit of the flames, he gives a downward curl steeper than the first upward one. Now, the jutsu flies ahead of him and into the sky. He watches in awe, breathing once more, as the fireball soars. The heat in his chest has left along with the chakra, leaving his throat and lungs much clearer.


After twenty meters, as Taiyo had seen another shinobi use the jutsu, the fireball runs out of fuel and dies down.


The grin on Taiyo’s face is not easy to mask. It is under control, though, by the time he lands on the grass after jumping down from the large boulder.

“I would say that I’ve earned lunch.”


(2263/10,542)
(2,000/2,000 towards Great Fireball)


[Claims so far: 52 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane, Fist Rock Technique, Moving Earth Core, Body Flicker, Great Fireball]