Down and Dirt-y [solo,nk]

Now that he was a genin, he had access to slightly better training facilities. Then again, for this, all he needed was the soil beneath him. He was also a Senju, an outlier amongst Hoshigakure ninja (who might be called outliers themselves), so he must have something that he sought... something like the earth release, perhaps. 

Yes, that's it.

Now that the genin exams were over, the premonitions returned regularly. It was as if they were guiding him down some kind of path, and each time he stepped off of this "path", the frequency of the visions would increase. Not a particularly nice way to do things, he realized, but it was working out for him so far. He'd made it this far relying on the information that he had gleaned from those visions, so he might as well keep going. So, the earth release. The visions inconveniently enough didn't give him any information on how to actually go about training it, so he supposed that he had to go and research things for himself. Firstly, though, it was time to warm up. Getting out of bed and getting dressed, he limbered up and stretched for a bit, and went for an early morning jog.

There was a point at which Kiichi's ability ran into a wall. This was one of those times. As a fresh genin, he had no clue how to do this. If the visions were to give him actual instructions rather than just simple directives, he would be able to do what they told him to better. At any rate, there was an option left open to him. How else did the other genin (some of which had undoubtedly more talent than he did) learn their elements? Well, what was the single biggest place of information in the village?

Right, them national archives, named after some dude that had died some time ago. He could go there... it was a bit of a jog from where he lived, but hey, he needed more exercise anyway. He rounded a corner, and headed west, away from the rising sun. Not only were the archives that way, he also didn't want to be facing the sun as it came up. Better to have the light on your back than all up in your face. Having to squint your eyes all the time while out jogging was a bad thing indeed. 

The archives loomed before him. He could tell that it had once been a much smaller building... had this "Kozai Yuki" guy really put in that much work just to make a freaking library bigger? Well, to each his own he supposed. It had definitely brought Hoshi to a better spot than where it had been before. Either way, it had once been a mess, or so he'd been told. Nobody he talked to wanted to speak about the old librarian, though, as if he had been some kind of uncomfortable topic. Kiichi wondered why... what made this man so unusual? 

That's not what he was here for, but he certainly took note of the rather simple portrait of the man on the way in. Dark hair, icy eyes... and an expression of crippling objectivity. It was like everything he perceived before him was some kind of data to be interpreted, whether it be plant, beast, or person. Eugh, so he was that kind of person. Tossing the idea out of his head, Kiichi continued on into the depths of the building. It was well-lit, and the shelves were piled with books. How did they keep this place organized? The boy imagined that there must be some kind of system to it.

He couldn't quite figure it out until he looked at the ends of the bookcases. Right, there were numbers here, but what did that mean? It was almost like Kiichi had never been here in his life... Well, he had, but only to escape the rain, not look at books. If he'd needed to read something, the mini library in the academy had been more accessible to him. But now, he had this. All he had to do was figure out how it worked. A dark-haired girl who was apparently a volunteer there soon pointed him to a compendium that contained a numerical reference chart for his use. Not bad.

Memorizing it quickly, he navigated the towering bookcases and foreboding sculptures and busts (both abstract and not-abstract) to the aisle that he desired. Walking down it, his footsteps muffled by the regularly cleaned and maintained carpet, he soon reached the book he desired, a beginner's guide to the earth release. Hah. More like an "earth release for dummies", am I right? Well, perhaps.  Either way, the boy took the book over to one of the remote studying tables, activated the lamp placed there for his pleasure and use, and began to read. 

If Kiichi was a fast learner, he was also unfortunately a slow reader. It took him a bit to realize some of the basics. Right, so there were certain handseals associated with earth release. More specifically, the snake hand seal, which tended to finish off most of them. Reflexively, the boy formed the handseal, with the two fists inverted downwards. Right, so this was important. To be able to chain together handseals even faster for the purpose of these techniques was going to be a good time, he thought to himself.

Turning the page, he would note the presence and usage of certain examples. Spears of earth, platforms of earth... so it seemed like the element was based on terrain manipulation and the like. Unlike water release, earth also had sources everywhere, since human beings were bound to this planet by the force of gravity. The only time this wouldn't be applicable would be in the air, or perhaps on water.... but even then, there were ways. Earth was everywhere, either way. Not as ubiquitous as air, for sure, but it was still definitely something he could work with.



Now, as to tips on how to practice the element. Wait, where was the part about learning it? Like, the very very basics. Was there a page missing or something...? No, the numbers at the bottom of the pages were all in order. Mmmph... that meant this was a book for those who already knew the earth element, kind of how he already knew the water element. So was it just trial and error for him? His mind and soul recoiled at the thought. No, he needed some kind of methodology. Otherwise, what was the point?

He put the book back and looked around for some other ones. Gaah, so many... He needed to search faster, or he'd burn away most of his day. Already, the morning had been progressing steadily. Frowning (and groaning inward with desparation) he determined that if he didn't find an appropriate method by noon, he would finally try the "trial and error" method, which he really didn't like. Always good to have a plan. Without a plan, any number of things could happen. Something within him told him that strange things could happen even with a plan. So went the old adage: the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry... or whatever the other version was with the weird accent.

A premonition struck him again. Perhaps whatever was sending them had grown frustrated by his lag of progress. This, he sighed to himself, was understandable. He, too, was becoming a little piqued by how slow this was taking. After all, was not his talent a little better than that of the other genin around him? Still, he supposed that he shouldn't be expecting himself to grow THAT quickly. He wanted the best from himself, however, and would press and drive himself as if he had much more talent than he actually did.

At any rate, as said before, a premonition struck him, guiding his hand toward a smaller pamphlet. A tiny book, as it were. Earth release.... practicals? Wasn't this for the better earth release users? Puzzled, the boy took it out, and walked back to his table pensively. Opening the worn pages, he read the introduction. A man named Campbell had written this one, though it was obvious that it was a pseudonym of sorts. Why an academic writer would need to do that, Kiichi had no idea. 

Still, that was none of his concern. The fact that the book had a section called "back to the basics", however, did. Damn, why had he not bothered to look in non-dummy books before? He cursed himself for his own idiocy. He could have done so much better... but now that he actually had his hands on this thing, he would finally be able to get to training that goddamn earth release that he so badly wanted. Or was it "needed"? No matter, he thought, as he quickly scanned and studied the contents of the book. The writing style was familiar to him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Alright, sooo. This was telling him to throw out a lot of the stuff that conventional training held dear. For example, in most cases, the people who wanted to develop a talent with this found some place with a great connection to earth, and to nature. Some sources spoke of a sort of symbolic earth release "life stream" that people would go to to meditate and train. Others simply used things like meditation gardens, or large mountains upon which one could find enlightenment. This book, however, was different.

"Throw away everything you know, everything that those other stupid sentimental books have taught you", so it began. Wow, so straightforward right off the bat. He liked that. Whoever this writer was… this strange “Campbell” person… he wanted to find more of his writing later. For now, though he kept reading. Directly after that was a series of terse, brief instructions. No wonder the book was so small and easy to miss… maybe if the author had packed more elements into it, it would be more noticeable. Well, that wasn’t his business, now was it? He needed to focus on his training.

That mostly consisted, of course, of reading this damn book. It was damn good, though. So, that was all he had to do? Perfect. He put the book back in the reshelving cart, as instructed (probably so the volunteers here would actually have something to do, hehe), and sauntered out back into the fresh air. Ah, sweet sunlight… it also reminded him of how little time he had to train. Right, it was about time to get going. All he needed was an empty training ground, and that was quite easy enough to find. This village was a quiet one, especially on a day like this. So, it only took him about ten minutes to find one that was suitable. Ten minutes too long, perhaps?

Either way, there was an open, circular area of good compact soil. That way, when he performed his techniques, there wouldn't be silt flying around everywhere. Yes, this would work nicely. He stretched and warmed up again, feeling the blood flowing through his body and the chakra circulating through his chakra network. Always a nice feeling, he thought to himself. There was a sense of pride in feeling just how powerful he was compared to other people... a feeling that he knew could pick him up and carry him away like a riptide. Best not to think about it for too long.

He stood in the middle and poured his chakra into the earth, just like the book had instructed, no need to fuck around with meditation and getting to know one's true talent. Talent, the book said, is what one made of life... and Kozogami intended to make the most of it. He had been born with great potential, and to not make use of it to achieve his goals was shameful indeed.

With that, he tried to move it. With all of his power, he tried to move the earth, tried to make it shift. The earth... pushed back. Right, physics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This didn't mean that the earth was trying to throw him into the sky or anything.... or maybe it was? There was an easier way to explain this. If, say, Kiichi were to push down with his hand on a table, there would have to be a force from the table pushing back up on his hand, otherwise, it would simply go straight through the table.

Perhaps another example, to help, this time with multiple forces. A man standing on the earth... in how many ways is the earth pushing back on him? Well, there are a couple of things going on here. For one, the simple fact that the man is standing on the ground, with the force of gravity sticking him to it means that the man is "pushing" down on the ground. The ground pushes back on the man so that the man does not merely sink through what's obviously a solid object. This is evidenced by... well, anything sitting on the ground.

However, there's more at work here than that. Large objects such as Earth have a gravitational force. In fact, almost EVERYTHING has a gravitational force. For example, one of those heavy cameras used for professional filming exerts a gravitational force of a magnitude of... about a fraction of the weight of a mosquito. Sad, right? However, the planet was a different matter. The force of its gravity pulled everything toward its center. What was the opposite force here? Well... that was the gravitational force of the human body pulling back on the planet. Makes sense, right?

Then, what would happen if a human body reached the center of the earth? He already knew the answer, this was an easy one. The magnitude of a gravitational force was proportional to the mass of the two objects while being inversely proportional to the distance between the two. The equation flopped if the distance between the two was zero, resulting in weightlessness. Weird how physics worked, right? You would think that mathematically, the force would be infinite, but in truth, you wouldn't be crushed if you floated there (although realistically, going to the planet's core was probably a bad idea). 

However, how he was faced with a problem. How was he going to bypass this natural stubborn nature of the earth? He knew that there were methods out there (that he read about at the library of course) that required someone to...... um.... achieve a state of mental euphoria, whether via blood loss or various... substances. Once in this state, the person involved would call out to the earth (what the fuck), and ask it what it wanted. He or she would then persuade the earth to obey it... Ew. This was all superstitious crap. The only thing he really needed was his own power. 

So, it wasn't working. What were possible solutions that he could resort to while still keeping to this same training regimen? Well, in theory, he could just keep trying. It was within the realm of probability that he just wasn't using enough power. So, chakra increasing exercises? It was worth a shot, he thought to himself. He gritted his teeth and began to forcibly raise his own chakra level, testing the limits of just how efficient his stamina to chakra transfer ratio was. A true, perfect thermodynamic engine could achieve 100% efficiency in conversion from fuel to energy, and an ideal one was about 96%. He needed to up his game, because his conversion rate was only somewhat above average.

No, this kind of level was completely unacceptable for someone such as him. How could he be lacking...? He had the body of a Senju, so there was no reason for him to have this kind of discrepancy. In that case... it must be something mental. Something psychological, within his mind, that he had complete control of, but didn't realize it. He was holding himself to too low standards. More! He could be so much more! 

With a roar (thank goodness nobody was around this training area), the boy would not notice the chakra within him surging to new heights, but he did notice the effects of it, or rather, the symptoms. The aura around him, the ground cracking at the sheer output of power that was emanating from his very body. The natural small little fissures in the packed earth began to stress and shear along their various lengths. This wasn't true earth release, no this was just a simple chakra impact, but the boy knew that he was moving in the right direction.

Finally, the stress became to much, and there was a loud noise. Kozogami stopped charging up, and looked around him. It was almost like the soil had been tilled to some extent, or at least pummeled. For something that had been stomped and packed down by the feet of many ninja before him, it now looked like someone had run some kind of machine through it. Still... this wouldn't be enough for the long run. At least for now, though, this was not bad. It could be said to be average among geniuses, which Kiichi wasn't satisfied with.

His self-improvement wasn't for its own sake, that would be ridiculous. Who did that just... to do it? Those were the kinds of people that Kozogami didn't understand. No, this was for him to achieve his goal of self realization. When he had enough power to get what he wanted, he would be able to find out why he was here on this planet. He would be able to look into things that he wouldn't have been able to before, when he was a weakling. So, he needed to make the most use of his talent, lest he lose his chance.

So here he was now, doing just that. Growling again, he would clench his jaw and start powering up. He had figured out a little of what he needed to do, and so his path ahead was pretty clear now. He just needed to power up further and further until he was able to utilize... wait, what? There was something in his dantian, his chakra center, and the internal veins that lay within it. His first element had been formed at his birth, so he hadn't had the chance to sense what it had felt like, but perhaps this was something similar. 

He focused his chakra inwards, hoping not to blow himself up. Dying here would shame him and his clan name. Not that he cared about his clan, mind you, but it would still be bad. His chakra surrounded something like a small bean or seed, and began to nurture it. No, more like a pebble. So, this is what the earth element represented within him? He supposed it might be different for everyone, as the book made no mention of such a thing. That was honestly fine, it was whatever worked best for him and him alone.

Somewhere across the city, a bell tolled out, a clarion noise that sounded through the city. Probably one of those shrines... Kiichi wasn't particularly religious, but he believed that there were things out there that were well beyond human comprehension. Life itself, for instance, was so difficult to define. But as for this... exactly what were elements? Kiichi assumed that this earth element had always lay dormant within him. In that case, why had the water one awoken first? Strange things, indeed, to think about. Questions that he did not yet have answers for. But these weren't the important question whose answer he chased every day.

He desired no fame, nor glory. Well, once he achieved his goal, if that was his purpose in this world revealed to him, he would chase it with all his heart. It isn't up to human beings to change what they were meant for, he thought. But it is their duty to do whatever they do best to the utmost of their capabilities. Each human being was placed on earth with a "directive". To succeed or fail at that directive... that was what life was all about. Kiichi was quite determined to succeed, if you must know.

He stood there for a bit, then observed the small sphere of chakra as it appeared to grow and blossom, leaking more and more power into his system. Good, not only was his efficiency increasing, this was developing a new system for his chakra to cycle through. In other words, the birth of the element within his body after years of gestation. Well, that sounded weird. It's not like he was pregnant with a baby element or something strange like that. Did he even want to know what that felt like? He cast the thought out of his head quickly.

As it bloomed, an earthen yellow power leaked into existence around him. So, the earth element was finally available for him to use freely, and to learn techniques with. Not bad at all... this could have taken a lot longer in retrospect, he thought, without the help of those strange visions. He silently thanked whoever was sending them, and once against focused his power into the ground, leaking it into every space between soil particles, every small bit of ionic gap between plant nutrients, every hole and crevice. The dirt around him was full of his power, and his power alone.

The bell stopped tolling, and Kiichi waited in the silence. His power was still a bit slow, but he knew for sure that it would improve eventually, and soon too. All this training... there was no way in hell that it would be for naught. He had more capability than that. There was a large difference between him and your average genin, struggling in the dust, sweat and grime. Despite not knowing his clan, he knew that he came from a proud and noble heritage, and determined to himself that that heritage would not go to waste on him, even though he cared not for the Konoha-based clan.

With a grunt, he applied his power to the earth around him, and there was a slight rumbling sensation beneath his feet. His first thought was that there was something coming through the earth to pop up under him, the true stuff of nightmares. But no, in fact, this was just his own chakra beginning to do what he had wanted it to do all along. Indeed, as he began to come to the realization, a tiny grin spread over his face. He was moving the earth now.

Dust rose into the air as chunks of rock popped out of the ground and plopped up on the packed dirt. Huh... so, that was the extent of his ability now. But that was fine... as soon as he learned to refine and shape his power, everything would be fine. He'd be tossing around rocks and the like soon enough. For now, though, this was good. He'd learned to harness this power much faster than some of the other seniors that he remembered from the academy. He still kept in contact with a few of them, so he had a small window into the real world while he was trapped in the academy.

With that, he dusted off his clothes and hands, and started to make his way back towards home. On the way, he saw the library, as it picked up activity during the mid day. He was glad that he had decided to take his research to the library, as it had helped him immensely. More importantly, now that he had earth release, it was time to fulfill his destiny and use his genes to their full potential. For now though, he was quite exhausted indeed.

[WC 4000
20 stats
4000/4000 to earth release
closed]

Fantastic. Approved.