Learning the Earth (T)

The new genin of Kirigakure, Kalix Terumi, was among the last of his clansmen to know the ancient arts of his heritage. Now 22 and without any merits to his name, the now older ninja has learned much about his village, but little about himself or the rest of the world. The decision to take training seriously is not one made lightly. Many nights of meditation on the matter complimented this harsh decision. Learning would make him unique. This would in turn make him powerful. But in turn it would make him a target. They would see his inexperience as weakness and use that against him. This meant that he had to read books on the way of ninja. Texts that would sharpen his mind would make him a stronger willed person. Physical training would give him the stamina to accomplish this mammoth of a task.
 
When Kalix first became a genin. He saw his view on the village change. He wasn’t just a pupil of the village any more. He could be put onto active duty for a mission at any time. HE would be assigned to a team at any moment, with other genin much younger than him, and a teacher that may even be his age, or younger. This reality scared the new genin. Kalix knew that he would be embarrassed by his lack of experience and his age. It would be a point of question for many within the ninja ranks: How could somebody so old just start his career. Kalix did many hours of meditation on this. Kalix thought about leaving the order many times. He never went through with it, he knew that would be the ultimate dishonor, but he thought about it none the less. Then he remembered why he embarked on this quest to begin with. He decided that he needed to be a larger man than others to be noticed within the village. That larger man would be somebody that everyone would want to be around. That larger man would have to be strong and smart. Kalix came to the conclusion that was the only way that he was going to get that which he wanted most.
The next question was how. Kalix came from a long line of Terumi clansmen. He could not trace his records back very far but he was for certain a Terumi. It meant that he had great power within him. The fires of the volcano flowed within him. The great volcano that caused so much devastation to the world. The volcano that had so much power. Kalix was intrigued with that: how such power could do so much in such a small scale of time. That power could be within Kalix right now. All he had to do was train it out of him.
It was his new mission to become an acolyte of the lava. He would give his life to the magma in exchange for its power. To do that, he would need to train the lava within him so that he may summon it at will to command. The power of the volcano would take many weeks to learn, and many more years to master within. What secrets can the Lava reveal to Kalix and how will he use it to shape the world. Kalix was excited at the prospect of finding out the answer to that. That was his motivation to start his training.
It would begin like any non descript day within Kirigakure. With this new purpose the new genin would begin the next step of this journey. He would have to train the earth to bend to his will. The lava was just earth heated to beyond their limit. When they cool the earth returns to its solid state, but it will never be the same. If Kalix would want to control this lava, he would have to start with mastering the earth that it comes from first.
Kalix would head to the beach to train. The cool air would hit his face as he trained, bringing new life into his breath as he trained for hours on end. There was no teacher of this power, there was only what he felt within him.
The first day of training would be on learning the element. Earth is not just the rocks and the mountains. It is the sand beneath his feet, the foundation upon he is standing, and even the very dust within the air. That fine of rock was beyond Kalix and his realm of control, he knew that, but knowing what that was before is a step in appreciating the earth in its entirety.
As he was beginning to understand the element Kalix knew that he wouldn’t ever master the element. While the earth may bend to his will with time, it was merely a stepping stone to the lava that he desired to master. This literal stepping block would influence the way that Kalix trained with the element.
Kalix knew that the earth was meant to the toughest of the five natural elements. It was a representation of stamina, durability, and will. But lava was not that. The earth to Kalix was a material combined with fire to turn into the burning liquid. This meant that the earth that he would need to use had to be corruptible. His use of the earth element was going to be more flexible and mobile. The earth Kalix would use would sacrifice some of its integrity to give it its acceptance to heat.
The beach was the best place to learn. The rock here was corrupted by the water over time which meant there was ways it could be made changed. Kalix would start with some simple replication techniques. He would try to knead the chakra within his hand into to a moldable earth. There were many days of training to master this. If Kalix focused too hard on the earth then he would get hard rocks that wouldn’t be changed. These pebbles wouldn’t be turned into lava. Other times, when kalix would knead the charka too weak. The earth would just turn into dust in his hand. This stuff would be way too fine to manipulate.
This would mean that Kalix would have to find the balance within the two extremes. Something that could be hard and soft without losing its integrity would be the right material for Terumi ninja. Kalix took many nights of reading books on the different types of earth to find the right one for the job. Sand and mud were out of the question. The fine grains of sand were far too much to manipulate and the water within the mud would be impossible to use without first being able to bend the water within it; this was something Kalix would want to do in the future, but after he had more mastery of the lava. On the other end granite was too coarse to be bent into lava, but something like sandstone would be strong for a bit, but Kalix feared that the process of heating this type of earth would cause it to break down into sand. Kalix would meditate on this more in the hopes that soon he would find a solution.

(WC: 1212, would like 1212/4000 words on earth element training, 6 stats for my work, I'm back btw :D.)

More and more days had passed. With no assignments to begin training with a team yet, so Kalix Terumi would take this time to learn more about the mysteries of the earth, and discover its secrets. Kalix had been struggling to understand how he could manipulate the earth into the Lava he so craved to have. It was not going to be an easy task for him but with the right mind and the right will the ninja would eventually learn how to master the fundamentals of the element. Kalix would read some more books about the subject so that he could find the balance between hard and soft, coarse and fine, and boulder to grain. He wished to learn more about the Volcano, the lava that flowed through it. What kind of earth was fueling that lava? Kalix would think to himself. Without the right tools necessary to complete that task, seeing that Kalix was not able to read every book, he knew that he could have to learn more about the element through his training.
HE would head to the beach every day for almost 5 hours a day. It was a job to him learning the element and nothing else mattered during that time. IF he was summoned to a meeting with his family it could wait. If he was needed to go on a mission the ninja would find him and take him to the Mizukage. But this was the time for Kalix to learn what he needed. For a moment Kalix would get what he was looking for in the earth, something that was able to take the heat and turn into lava, but it wouldn’t last and would turn into dust before Kalix could even react. For a while kalix thought that it would take many months for him to find out the answer, and for a while the experience would be worthless to him.
With about 3 weeks of consistent training under his belt Kalix realized that there was not going to be an easy way to learn the element. If he wanted to find the right balance that he needed for his lava then he would have to master the two opposites before. The earth was a strong material and if Kalix was going to learn the element he would have to be stronger physically too. The earth was all about not failing under pressure. It was about being strong enough to hold the greatest of weights without collapsing. If Kalix were to master the element he would have to be that as well.
Kalix abandoned learning about how to make his lava for the time being and instead focused on taking his time training his body for the demands of the element. Instead of going to the beaches or close to the sea Kalix would head to the training grounds. The training grounds were made very nice, and the expansive training centers would be great for him to harden his body. Kalix would run around the track course in order to work up the endurance. For a few days the run was tough on Kalix. HE had never had to run that much before without something that could harm his life pushing him to do so. But as he took to the track day after day he began to see that he body and his mind were changing as he did it. HE didn’t dread the track so much, now he began to enjoy going to the field and doing it. After about 2 weeks of doing that it became a routine to the ninja. IT was something that would help him calm his mind after the days trials and tribulations. It was a way for him to become one with himself.
The next think that Kalix needed to work on was his strength. Kalix was not particularly strong. He never did a lot of resistance training because he always thought that his work would be through jutsu and the like. He didn’t spend a lot of time learning about the other elements of being a ninja like Genjutsu or Taijutsu. While he still didn’t see a need to divert his time to training any physical ninja moves he also realized that if he didn’t train his body he wouldn’t be able to control the earth like he wanted to. He began to see the earth as something that had to accept him before he would be able to use it for his goals. This meant that he would have to prove his worth to the earth by being strong like it. There were many ways that the ninja would be able to train in this manner at the grounds. There were free weights, machines, and lot of other ways that he could train. Kalix decided that while he was training his body he would mix it up day after day. One day he would take to the free weights and another day he would take the machines. The ways that he mixed it up would be the best way for the ninja to get the most bang for his buck. As the days past he began to realize that he was getting sore. This meant that he wasn’t eating right and not giving his body enough time to rest. Kalix did not know what to do at this point. If he was to stop training to take days to rest did it mean that he did not have the will to move forward?
This thought went through his mind a few times. It was tough for him to rationalize taking breaks from training for a day. Did that mean that he wasn’t ready to control the earth? Did it mean that he wasn’t strong enough to serve his kage? This troubled him deeply as he went through the training. There were days that Kalix would get out of bed, head to the training grounds, and he wouldn’t be able to even lift the weights because he was so sore. Kalix would again have to think about this and what sacrifices he would have to make to learn this difficult element.

(WC: 1030; Requesting 1030/4000 words towards training the earth element [total is 2242]; also 5 stats for the 1000 words. :D)

The days had passed on and on. Still no sign of any immediate change in Kalix’s control happening. The earth still resisted him and his desires. It had been only about 45 days since Kalix had begun his quest to master the earth element. But something was off. Kalix knew that he should have somewhat more control now than he did when he started. Yet every time that he trained. Every time he tried to bend the element to his will something would hold him back. The earth would still not mould into the substance that he needed. He wanted the earth to flow through him like water but keep the firmness and the integrity of steel.
Kalix had no clue what he was missing in this formula. Was he just too old to learn the elements? Had he wasted his time during his youth so that he couldn’t form the earth, so in turn, the lava? These are the questions that Kalix had going through his mind while he was training. HE felt for the first time that he wouldn’t be able to do something that he had set his mind to. HE did not know what to think of himself now. He saw this as a challenge yes, but surely the training would come much easier than this. Given that he was a Terumi. Learning a new element was difficult yes but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t impossible. He knew that his training had yielded some results. HE was able to knead his chakra into rocks and boulders at will but he wasn’t able to get the firmness that he needed to create his precious lava.
Did it mean that everything that Kalix would do would be this hard? HE didn’t know. But Kalix also knew that while he was older than most he would be able to take the time he needed to learn the element fully. Alas he continued his exercises. After a few weeks of going to the training grounds it started to become a consistent routine to the young ninja. It was a way for him to gain strength in his body and his chakra. But increasing his endurance he was able to run longer and lift more consistently.  This was a sign that his body was taking to the training well. Kalix was pleased to see how much his body had changed in just the few weeks of training. His muscles were well defined and his skin shined. His hair became healthier due to all the time outside. The islands had granted him a physical beauty within which made him very happy. While one day that he was training he began to think more about the short journey he had undertaken recently . HE thought about all the sacrifice he had made to further himself and he was content in knowing that he was doing something more with his body than party and socialize.
While it was a good a feeling for the short moment he would come right back to the reality that the earth was still not his. He was frustrated at that and while he had grown much he still felt as though he was the same since he didn’t have the damn earth that he needed. He thought about training his body more and more until one day he saw something on a shop sign that gave him an idea. As he was walking to the training ground he saw the sign of a construction company whose motto was “Stays strong forever”. While it was a clever marketing tool to make people want to buy from his shop it also resonated with the genin. To stay strong forever meant that he was consistently strong. While he may maintain his strength during his lifetime physically he still had a lot to learn when it came to his mental strength. He needed to be more consistent with his mental learning. If he didn’t do that there was no way that he was going change the way that he needed to in order to master the earth. If he was happy one day but he was sad another because he didn’t get what he wanted then maybe it was time for a change in course. Instead of going to the training grounds today he decided that he wanted to go to a place of peace. The place that he thought would be the most peaceful would be a  temple or a shrine. So he decided that he would go to the shrine of the new mizukage to do his meditation. Since he had decided to do this only at the end of the day, Kalix thought that he would do his best if he trained his body like he normally did and then start his meditation tomorrow. It wouldn’t be difficult for him add this to his routine. Hopefully this ritual would become the catalyst he needed to master the earth.
When he first arrived on the first day of his new training the altar was quiet and peaceful. It was very early morning and many people were still in their beds. And the few that were awake were prepping their shops or the many other facilities that made the village run. However the shrine was almost barren. The young ninja would place a mat somewhere within the park and he would sit down on it. Alas the ninja would then close his eyes to do his meditation.
At first it was extremely difficult to do. Even the slightest sound from a wave or a bird or a branch would make him stop his meditation and open his eyes. He was worried that he was being watched and while his eyes were closed he would become paranoid at the thought of anyone getting to close to him. He would hear the tapping of footsteps coming closer and louder towards him and he would become nervous and open his eyes to the direction of the sound. HE would not see and enemy but a fellow ninja or a citizen of the new village roaming to the shrine or just passing through. He would take another deep breath and he would close his eyes again hoping that this time his meditation would be longer. When he did close his eyes for a long while the meditation was flooded with many thoughts about him and what he was most worried about. The ninja did not know the silence and the peace of a true mediation but only for a slight minute until these thoughts would bounce through his head. He would continue to get frustrated at how the time just seemed to lag on without him getting any further down his path. And when he had finally had enough on that first day when he was so frustrated at everything that he wasn’t able to take it anymore he realized that it was just 15 minutes. 15 minutes were all that passed during his first meditation when to him it had felt like it was an hour or longer. Angry he would leave the shrine and he would go do his training for his body earlier than usual. He would eventually calm down but for him to quit after so little of time was an extreme disappointment to the ninja.
The next few days were a bit like the first. He would wake up earlier than normal so that he could do his meditation and then he would find himself getting too angry at everything and his lack of progress after about 15 minutes that he would just get up and go. The training was not going the way that Kalix had thought that it would have. But he would try again. One day he went to the shrine to train and he had noticed that his body was more at ease than usual. He would sit down to his meditation and for the first time he did not open his eyes to the outsides sounds. The thoughts that would go through his mind would still come through. But he didn’t open his eyes. There was nothing immediate that he realized that he needed to open his eyes for and for that reason he was able to keep himself in this trance for about 30 minutes. To Kalix that 30 minutes was terrible. It was as though he had to use all of his will not open his eyes and do something with the thoughts to the point that one time when he was getting extremely anxious he grunted out like he was in pain. But when about 30 minutes had gone by he had done it. He had made progress significantly from the day prior. Proud he would head to training grounds again to focus more on his body.
The next few days would get better and better still. It was as though the ninja had gone through a wall that was stopping him from reaching the potential that he needed and that one day he had broken through it. Every day he would be able to go longer and longer without opening his eyes as though his will to endure would become longer and longer. Also a boon for the young genin was his ability to block his thoughts from entering his mind for a short while. While he could not stop them forever from entering his mind he could stop them for a short while. And while the weeks past he realized that he had much more control over his mind than he did before. He was not worried about the progress that he was making with the earth but he was just content with making progress. He was going in a direction instead of just staying in one place. His meditations would continue on as long as he had the time to do them and he would use the time to calm his mind for the day ahead.
It had been about two months now since he started learning the earth and about a month since the ninja had tried to train with the earth. But since it had been awhile since he did he thought that it was time for him to train again. The ninja would go to the beach but instead of trying to find a balance within the earth for him to train his lava he learned from his time training that he was must take the time to learn all the steps instead of just jumping to the one that he wanted. He would knead some chakra in his hand hoping that earth would move around him. And it did. One the first try he was able to make stone pillars from the sand around him. It showed Kalix that he had made a lot of progress. He would work on mastering the earth and his meditation a bit more before trying to learn the lava. He would appreciate the time it was going to take him and he was excited for what the future would hold.

(WC: 1852; 4094/4000 for training earth element and 9 stats for my work. Topic is presumed closed if training is approved)