Inside The Box [Solo/Training]

“Shi--”

“A'yo, Sato! Where ya at?” Takatoshi called from the entry way, the sound of the front door following behind him. He'd slip his outside shoes off to replace them with his house shoes before shuffling deeper into the house to find Satomi sitting in his room with his back against to the door, the father noticing that his child seemed more than a little anxious as the toy's feet tapped rapidly on the floor. With his presence having still gone unnoticed, Takatoshi casually moseyed across the room to peek over the child's shoulders. Hips lips pursed as he nodded, watching as his child held a vice like grip on a small pale yellow wooden box as a few inaudible curses passed his lips. His father's chuckle would cause Satomi to jump slightly in his chair, startled by his father's bemused chuckle.

“A—Ah! Father, sir!” Satomi squeaked in surprise, quickly spinning around on his swiveling chair to face his father. In his frantic maneuver, the back of Satomi's chair knocked his desk to cause one side of the box to casually fall away from the rest. Satomi tried his best not to let the frustration show in his expression as he stared up at his father, but of course he knew. Takatoshi placed a gentle hand atop the boy's head, a kind smile on his face.

“What's this? Looks like ya box has seen better.” Takatoshi frowned as he let his hand drop to his child's shoulder as he crouched down to get a closer view, Satomi turning with him wearing a matching frown. “Not surprisin' to be fair, it's older than ya are.” It was fact that the boy already knew, the bento box had belonged to his mother and had been gifted to him by his father on his first day of the academy. Since then Satomi had been sure to pack every lunch into its spacious compartments, unfortunately that meant a lot of use and wear as well. Satomi huffed as he flicked a small shiny button across the desk, the fastener tumbling just above the surface until striking the far wall of the box and drop inside. His father, sensing how much it was getting to the boy, gently nudged him aside before picking up the box and the broken side. “Tell ya what, you go out and find somethin' ta take ya're mind off this an' all see wha I can do.”

“But--” Satomi was stopped by the tip of a single finger pressed to his lips, Takatoshi's tongue clicking with a few tsks.

“No buts here, ya get out of tha house and I'll have it fixed by tha time you're back!” Takatoshi beamed, presenting his patented smile of unbroken promises. Satomi had no choice by to by to smile in return, his eyes brightening somewhat—that family smile was certainly infectious.

“Yes, father, sir.” Satomi chirped. “There was something I wanted to do today anyway~”

All things settled, Takatoshi shuffled his way out of the room to disappear within the lair of his own bedroom with box in hand. Satomi on the other hand was quick to sweep up a set of ratty clothing from a dirty pile on the floor in a haste to ready himself for a day out, there was no sense in putting on fresh clothing for his plans.

Grody streetwear and unkempt blonde locks, Satomi was ready for the bright day as he made an enthusiastic march through the village towards what had become his stomping grounds. In his passing through the nature reserve's forest, Satomi paused to observe a pair of opposing walls of stone and earth. The imposing architecture forged form the ground itself would be a lasting reminder of everything Miyamoto had done for him. He wasn't much older than Satomi himself, but the chuunin had become a mentor to him—whether he realized it or not. He had been lucky to have crossed path with the older shinobi back when he was just an academy student and even more fortunate that he shared the same elemental affinity that Satomi had, without such luck the young genin felt unsure if he would have have been able to unlock his potential in the same way. Passing under the archway of the first wall, Satomi let his fingers gently glide across the exposed stone, his eyes staring ahead at the next wall across a several meters ahead. He had  known Miyamoto for months and knew very little about him personally, then again the chuunin didn't ask about him either. More than physical walls seemed to be shared between the pair of Hoshi-nin.

Not wanting to waste the day reminiscing Satomi stayed for only a somber moment before heading on his way to his way through the remainder of the forest and towards the rocky outer terrain of the nature reserve. The day was favorably cooler, the breeze even cool enough to give the child a small shiver as it caressed the exposed skin of his limbs. Satomi had certainly made the place his own, his prowess in earth release techniques having allowed him to alter the landscape. Feeling a larger connection with the  location since his mastery of the Earth Dragon technique, Satomi had used it as a personal training ground for his other earth elemental jutsu. Several artificially created walls of earth dotted the land, the young genin having practiced the latest jutsu passed onto him by Miyamoto. Lately Satomi's ambitions have grown, in no small part to the great success he had as of late. As with the mind of a child, Satomi had recently adopted the stance of 'if one is good then many should be even better!

Unfortunately it wasn't as simple as he had initially thought as he practiced for the upcoming exam. Sure he could place as many walls as he want, but it was murder on his chakra. He needed a way to erect multiple walls simultaneously while conserving as much chakra as he possibly could. The genin would take a brief glimpse around as he gently chewed on his inner cheek, his mind already at work on a plan of attack. While he much preferred the guidance of his mentor, the fear of what the chuunin exams held for him had given the child to find an exceptional ability to be self-sufficient when needed. This would be one of these times as he scuffed both feet into the hard dirt under them, marking out a place for himself as he began to build his chakra up. His hands moved right into the seals that he already knew for the base jutsu—Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog—however he increased the amount of chakra that he focused into his hands assuming that bigger walls would mean more initial chakra. The pay off would come in the form of having to need to use less over all if he only had to perform the jutsu once, but there's a saying about people who make assumptions.

His assumption would be debunked pretty quickly as for all the extra chakra he spent resulted negligible difference in the one single wall he managed to produce. The only difference was that this wall appeared to have unearthed the small fossilized impressions of some small early shelled sea life, which admittedly did give this particular wall at least some value over the others, just not in the way he had hoped. Grumbling as he searched out another spot to try again, it became more of the same tried song and dance as he failed and failed again. He even had the bright idea to start experimenting with the hand seals themselves while applying various levels of each his physical and spiritual chakra into the jutsu. Those attempts were even more disappointing as he was often left nothing at all to show for it, just wasted chakra and a growing appetite. His grumbling belly only made him think of his broken bento box, which only made his heart sink even move as he shuffled over to his favorite rock. Crawling up to sit atop it, he's fold his legs under him as he reached back in his satchel. His refused to pack a lunch today without his bento box, instead he opted to stash away a few pieces of dried meat and some water to wash it down. The tough protein was almost as taxing on his jaws as training was on his chakra as he chomped and chewed away, the little grouch scowling as he looked out over his work—or lack there of.

“It's just more walls at once, it's not like I'm asking to make a wall across the whole country!” He did have to admit to himself however that one big great wall would be... well, great. He'd of course talk himself out of such a notion, for now at least as he settled on making tiny steps toward an idea of such grandeur. On the bright side, having the ability to build large shadow-casting objects whenever he wanted allowed him more utilization in his Shadow Imitation technique. It took some time in the archives, but Satomi managed to find information on a whole group of people capable of manipulating their shadows as well as controlling others through theirs. He however couldn't find any updated information on the Nara clan, nor did his father seem to know anything about it and seemed rather evasive of his questions regarding the clan or the ability to manipulate shadows. Of course he wouldn't press his father on the issue, but he was quite curious as to why it appeared to bother him so much.

After lunch Satomi would hit the jutsu training again, forging new and equally as impressive monoliths in his quest to streamline his efforts. At the rate he was going, in two-or-three hundred years for now Satomi was sure someone would stumble across his handy work and mistake it for a scene of ritualistic sacrifice. The child rubbed his hands stiff and achy hands together, having formed what felt like a trillion sets of hand seals had left his digits quite cramped and his arms tired as the passed over head and the evening set in. Giving his knuckles a good solid crack, Satomi grabbed the bull by the horns and embraced his stubborn never say never attitude to trudge on through one seemingly futile attempt after another evening grew into early night and the cool breeze became freezing. It was quickly decided that he should probably head home rather than risk catching a cold, besides, he was really anxious to see if his father had fixed his little bento box.

The stars were out by the time Satomi walked through the front door to his home only to be promptly assaulted by an ecstatic gray haired loony pushing a small box into his hand. His defeated expression suddenly softening and brightening into one of joy as he ran his fingers around the repaired ends, while the cracks were noticeable from where it had broken away the box never felt more solid.

“This-- This is great!” The thrilled child cheered as he hugged the little plain yellow box to his chest. Takatoshi stepped aside to allow his child proper entrance into the house, quite pleased to see his son in good spirits. He had began to miss seeing his child smile; Satomi's anxiety and fears surrounding the chuunin exams weren't lost on him. He could only do so much for his child however, not being a ninja himself he did his best to support his child and offer the same guidance he had to spend years traveling the countries to discover on his own. Then there were little moments like these as he watched Satomi sit his lunch box on the table before washing his hands, a broad gap-toothed smile spread wide across his face as he proceeded to prepare a small meatless meal and fill the yellow container with the offerings before stashing it in the refrigerator. Takatoshi smirked slightly as he followed his child into the kitchen, they still had dinner and their nightly Shogi game before bed.

That night Satomi would lay in bed staring at the ceiling as he more often than not found himself doing as of late. It was hard to sleep with so much on his mind, a thoughts trying to all get his undivided attention all at once. The biggest of which was the battle portion of the chuunin exam, he still didn't know who his opponents would be or if all the effort he had put in as of late would even pay off in the end. Even his latest effort to make his chances of passing more favorable didn't have him fully confident, no matter what he did it didn't feel like enough. It was never enough, he just needed to prepare more. More. MORE. MORE! Satomi found himself in a downward spiral of anxiety and depression, his attitude of sunshine and rainbows replaced with shadows and dark clouds. To the young shinobi, the ability to grow in rank marked a huge sense of accomplishment towards proving that he could be the best shinobi. Eventually sleep would become too much for even his rampant thoughts ward off and he would find himself swept away by the promise of rest and pleasant dreams.

Satomi was fortunate to have both when he finally awoke, seemingly restored to his normal self. A broad smile and a light bounce in his step, Satomi made sure to pack the lunch he carefully prepared the night before before into his old dusty ragged backpack before setting off for the day. He'd forgot the walk down memory lane this time during his passage through the forest today, taking to the tree tops today to hasten his travels in an eagerness to get in as much time as he could today.

He could feel his chakra surging through his body, ever bit as eager as the young genin himself was as he searched for a suitable spot to practice his jutsu. Focusing chakra into his hands he would toy around with the seal combinations, working his trying to channel the correct amount and combination of chakra to produced the desired results. Unfortunately hand seals were rarely negotiable and as a result his experimentation merely resulted a lot of nothing, he could already feel the threat of dark clouds as he shuffled his feet and muttered under his breath to himself.

“Come on, Satomi... it's just another jutsu.” The flustered child chewed on his bottom lip as he mulled over what he could be doing wrong. Ever after another set of attempts the only thing he succeeded in was proving an old adage to be correct, of course he hadn't quite reached 10,000 attempts—yet. Then again there was the old saying about insanity and Satomi was about at wit's end as he fidgeted and flicked his foot back through the dirt in mild frustration, which gave him a mild avian appearance as he huffed. Even squeezing in more time in the morning to practice was beginning to feel futile as the afternoon quickly approached, Satomi was well on his way to get the high score as he learned several new ways not to produce the desired jutsu. He did try to look on the bright side however, his failure had given him a confident understanding in the intricacies and relationship of hand seals and their role in chakra control for producing jutsu. Satomi would not however erect any new earthen structures that morning as the sun rose to set over head and beating fiercely over the vegetation barren landscape, fortunately for him he had plenty of shade to hide from it. A small smirk stretched the boy's lips as he sat in the shade of one of his walls with his backpack, perhaps his attempts should be seen as less of a failure and more of... an unintended environmental improvement.

Wiping his sweaty brow with an equally sweaty forearm was less than successful at making either of the surfaces any less damp with perspiration, instead he'd unsnap the fastener on the pouch holding his canteen on his backpack and would enjoy a swig of water. Fortunately he had the foresight to add ice to the water and set the bag in the shade to help ward off the effects of the warm weather, which only made it feel that much better as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back and allowed a few ounces of water to spill out over his brow and overheated face. It wasn't as nice as a shower would be, but he'd take what he could get while away from the convinces of the village. Though he wouldn't say no if the sky wanted to open up and offer a little rain, but it only ever seemed to do that when Satomi was training with Miyamoto and it looked like the weather would be just as stingy today. It was probably all for the best anyway as he if it had rained it would have made enjoying his lunch much more difficult as he burrowed through the various books on geography and history, a few scrolls on anthropology and a beginners guide to fuinjutsu that he  though he might bury a great many kilometers under ground for its atrocious abuse of puns. But in all of that was his prize, the lone yellow bento box. He could feel the drool dribble from the corner of his mouth as he eyed the little container, carefully opening it to reveal the nourishment within. It may have only been a few rice balls stuffed with fried veggies and rice, but it was just what he needed right now.

“Let's eat!” Satomi's voice sung brightly as the temptation became too much for him to wait any longer, his hands rising quickly to clap together before him. There weren't and hand seals this time, just a traditional meal time gesture before the ravenous chow down.

Sometimes a stroke of genius can hit a person at the strangest of times and now may have been just one such time as Satomi's eyes emboldened as he slowly returned his current rice ball back in his box. He carefully studied his hands for inordinately long moment before slowly bringing them together in front of him, it was as if he discovered the very meaning of life of that moment. While of course that wasn't the case, he may have discovered something a bit more prudent to his immediate needs. Being extra careful to reseal the lunch container, Satomi stashed it away before rushing to his feet. It wasn't like the idea was going anywhere but he didn't want to take that chance as he flailed like an angry hen towards and open spot of land, granted that was as simple as running practically in any direction. When he reached an appropriate location he dug his feet in with a sharp little smirk as he rubbed the palms of his hands together, unfortunately for the soft featured child his game face was any more intimidating than his adorable smile as he primed his chakra, letting flow down through his feet to feel the earth before circulating back through his body before ultimately being directed into his hands.

Satomi would clap his hands together again, the fire of determination once again alight in his eyes as the chakra practically tingled in his hands. “Tiger, Hare, Boar--” The concentration of chakra in Satomi's hand began to build and build even as his hands parted as the boy quickly crouched to place them palm down on the ground before, sending his chakra back right back into the earth. The move was met with thunderous rumble as the ground shook violently under his feet, it wasn't too long ago that he had incited a similar quake. This one was different, the ground didn't feel like it was stirring or alive. He could feel the ground fusing, forging something greater than the sum of it's parts as the surface shattered to give way to the emerging stone construct. Rising from the ground was a wide wide stone carved by jutsu, its surprising sophisticated sculpting slowly revealed as it emerged from the otherwise dull dirt. As impressive as the wall was Satomi had hoped for something more than just another single wall, even if it was a pretty new wall. Fortunately the child wouldn't have to wait long along for all his efforts to be paid in kind as the ground was torn asunder on either side of the initial wall as a pair of secondary walls carved in a complimentary fashion as the first budded from the ground, one mere seconds before the other. The triplets slowly formed a three sided box around the astonished genin who at current was trembling with excitement as he knelt before the giant walls of stone.

Having left his measuring tape at home Satomi could only guess at the height of monstrous monoliths he'd forged before him, needless to say he was going to have a hard time convincing anyone he wasn't staging ritualistic sacrifices when they laid there eyes upon what he had raised from the earth. Satomi's body continued to vibrate for a bit long following the construction of his jutsu as he fell back onto his butt, eyes scanning the building size architecture that jutsu built.

The genin fell back as his body decided now was a good time for a break, the boy's tired body melding with the sand as his muscles could finally relaxed. He'd stay there for a few minutes just to admire his handy work before he peeled himself off the ground for a closer inspection. Satomi's fingers would cautiously trace along the ridges of the cool stone surface, his fingers following one of the many inset ornamental markings. “I wonder if I have any control over these.” He'd mutter curiously to himself—never satisfied.

Satomi's stomach would rudely remind him that he had put off lunch because he just couldn't wait to put his epiphany to the test; on the plus side was that he now a fully shaded area to escape. Hunkering down against the back wall after gathering his supplies, Satomi fetched his lunch from the dingy backpack. Somehow the already tasty morsels tasted even better in the wake of success as he nibbled his way through the rice and vegetables, the child all smiles as he traced his index finger around the rim of the little yellow box which held his food.

His head fell back to rest against the wall as he looked up at the towering constructs flanking him, somehow they felt larger than life even as reached for the sky right in front of him. Satomi felt around next to him as he continued admire his handy work, his fingers eventually feeling their way around to his canteen before he'd collect and open it. He just let his mouth hand open, his head already back and ready to receive the liquid of life. The boy closed his eyes and rolled out his tongue in anticipation as he tilted the opening of the vessel towards him, it wasn't long before he would be rewarded with a splash of water to moisten the dry pink flesh of his tongue. His thirst would however be unsatisfied and left unquenched as the flow ended just as quickly as it began, Satomi opening a single eye to confirm that there was indeed nothing more to be given from the container as he shook it overhead. His arms would fall to his side with a long disappointed sigh, letting the metal canteen clink onto the ground as it fell from his hand.

The shrill screech of a vulture perched atop the wall above Satomi would cut the boy off as the genin's body slowly sunk against the wall until only head was propped up by the stone, a frown melting his face.

“Shit...”

Approved