The Rumbling of Storm Clouds~

Kato gazed out of his window as he began his day. He stared out at a gathering of clouds in the distance, they were dark and heavy. The window to his apartment overlooked the Mist village docks, the building he lived within was near the top of a hill, this is what granted him such a privileged view. He often found himself starting his days like this, staring out over the ocean in a quiet reverence. The storm clouds he observed pulled him into a memory, a memory of a time before joining the village, a time of transition.

In his memory he was walking through the countryside of the fire country. He'd not long left the Leaf village after being expelled from his branch of the Hyuuga family. The part of the clan he was born into was a political branch and was more concerned with affecting government than training shinobi, thats why he clashed with his elders so much. Kato held a fighting spirit within him that was rare in his branch of the Hyuugas, most of his peers growing up were mild mannered, respectful and obeyed the clan elders without hesitation. Kato was vastly different, his searing red hair stood out from the dull black his clan brothers and sisters had atop their heads. He was far less patient and mild mannered as well often meeting his elders orders and requests with questions of their purpose and disobedience. There would be times where he would try and be obedient but he could not last a full lesson sat respectfully at the desk where his elders would attempt to educate him on their branch's role within the Hyuuga hierarchy. Kato's elders would often tell him he needed to be calm and steady like a slow lazy river making its way towards to sea. It was a nice metaphor but it did not strike home for Kato, he felt more like storm cloud, pent up and ready burst forth as a crackling bolt of lightning, fiercely bearing down on those who torment him. It was these feelings that would cause Kato's patience to break, more often than not resulting in him upturning the table at which he was sat and bolting from the room, like lightning escaped from a bottle. With outbursts like this happening on a weekly basis it was only a matter of time before the elders of his branch decided cast him aside. The two memories temporarily layered over each other until the memory of his banishment from his branch of the clan faded, leaving him in the memory of his journey to the Mist village. 

It was during this time of his life that Kato first realised he had access to the lightning element. On his travels he would often reflect on his time in the Leaf village, why was it that he caused so much friction with the elders. His mind repeatedly would return to memories of the classroom and the metaphors his elders tried to instil within him. Despite the tone in which they were delivered he did enjoy his elders metaphors, he found that he could grasp information previously unavailable to him through their use. It was just the type of metaphor that didn't sit right with Kato, calm and steady like a lazy river? that didn't resonate with him, at least not in this stage of his life. The counter metaphor of the rumbling storm cloud would often force itself into his mind when he thought on his elders' metaphors. There had to be something to metaphor, was it his spirit trying to tell him something, some wisdom from deep in his subconscious.

At several points throughout his journey to the Mist village Kato found a secluded clearing in the forest or some other kind of semi private space where he could experiment with the thoughts that he was having. If he really was a storm cloud rather than a lazy river he should be able to generate lightning energy, and lightning energy combined with the Gentle Fist style that he found so natural to him would be a wicked combination. Despite multiple attempts at various locations he could not form enough lightning energy to properly combine with his Gentle Fist style, all he could produce was a few sparks, far from the formidable storm cloud that he hoped to be. With that the memory faded and he shook himself out of the daydream. Now that he was a member of the Mist village he had access to the military training facility, it was very high tech and Kato knew that if he was going to get a handle on the lightning element, it would be there.

With a fresh sense of motivation Kato quickly got dressed, ate breakfast and headed out of his apartment building. The storm clouds had blown over the village and the sky was dark and overcast, rain began to fall as Kato made his way over to the village's military training facility. "what a perfect day to train the lightning element" Kato thought to himself as there is a small flash of lightning in the distance before Kato. The following rumble of thunder slightly shook the ground on which Kato walked, this brought a grin to his face. By the time Kato made it to the training facility the rain was pouring pretty heavily and bolts of lightning were striking every couple of minutes. With conditions as they were Kato decided it would be better for him to train on one of the outdoor practice fields, that way he could use the weather conditions as a source of inspiration. 

Most of the fields were empty today so he had his pick of location, he chose an open field that had 3 thick tree trunks that served as targets. They were usually used for standard taijutsu practice or archery/ranged weapon practice but they should be serviceable for the training he was about to impart on. Kato knelt down on the field, closed his eyes and focused on his breath. His mind moved into a familiar meditative state and he spread his awareness to the thunderstorm all around him. The thunderclouds crackled and roiled above Kato, he felt the energy in the clouds compressing, rubbing, causing friction, then the release of a fresh lightning bolt. Feeling this process happen through his expanded awareness was very informative for Kato and he began to formulate ideas on how he could generate his own lightning energy. "It seems as though lightning is produced by the energy in the cloud compressing, building up and then the friction forms the lightning bolt". Kato predicted that he would need to do a similar thing with his chakra if he were to master the lightning element.

Now that he had his theory on how the element worked he began focusing his own chakra. Closing his eyes and listening to the rumbling all around him he gathered chakra in his spiritual centre. Kato formed the image of a storm cloud in his mind, crackling and building, he imagined the storm cloud was in the area where he was channelling his chakra and it grew as he gathered more and more chakra. With the image of the storm cloud strong in his mind he began to compress the chakra, it was easier said than done but the imagery that Kato was using was going a long way to helping. He felt sparks within him, he could begin to feel the lightning energy within himself. Still in his knelt meditative position Kato felt close to the storm around him. He expanded the mental image of the storm cloud that he had manifested in his mind, swelling his chakra at the same time. Then suddenly something unusual happened. Free from his control the mental image of the storm cloud released several bolts of lightning and simultaneously Kato felt a wave of lightning energy course through his body. This was a wild experience, he felt super-energised, like electricity was in his veins instead of blood. Of course this wasn't literally the case but the feeling made Kato feel powerful, now he could create his own source of lightning energy it was time to try a jutsu.

Kato opened his eyes and stood up from his meditative position, eyes trained on the first of the tree stumps that stood before him. He adopted the usual fighting stance for those who practiced the Gentle Fist, legs in an L shape, left foot leading, left palm outstretched with the right close to his body. Kato still felt the lightning energy coursing around his body, this emboldened him. He gathered some of the lightning chakra in his right palm and stepped forwards, his right palm shot forwards and he released the energy that had gathered there. After a second Kato stepped back and witnessed the result of his attempt. He'd created more than sparks this time but it was still not enough, the tree stump before him was charred with the lightning energy he had released but that was about it, no massive damage. "Not bad for a first try" Kato thought to himself as he readied himself for a second attempt.

Returning to his Gentle Fist stance Kato stood before the first stump once again. The thunderstorm around him had not let up, in fact it seemed to be growing in intensity. Kato tried to imitate the weather conditions around him, building the lightning chakra within him to a higher concentration. The storm cloud image he was using as a mental guide was now massive, roiling and looked like it was fit to tear and let out a vicious bolt of lightning. Kato channelled this chakra into his palm once again and this time he could see sparks emitting from his hand, the lightning energy was fighting to get out, eager to escape the container it had found itself in.

This time when he stepped forwards, releasing the Raiton energy from his palm he saw that instead of sparks there was a large cone of lightning released. The cone of lightning streaked forwards and decimated the first tree stump. Half amazed but proud of himself Kato let out a triumphant roar, he could feel himself getting stronger every time he visited this training facility. However, one successful jutsu release was not enough and so he got into position in front of the second tree stump. He repeated the process for the second and third tree stumps, using his mental imagery to generate massive amounts of lightning energy and destroying the tree stumps with the resulting thunderbolts that he released. The day was drawing to a close and the thunder storm was beginning to pass. Happy with his progress for the day Kato returned home, the fading sounds of thunder soothing him as he walked back to his apartment.

[1816]
[Using 1750 WC to learn Gentle Fist: Shock]
[Using 1800 WC to train 21 stats for Kato Hyuuga - 7 Vigor/7 Chakra/7 Speed] - I think I'm doing the stat boost right for the training centre? I gain an extra 20% on the WC I've done, is this correct?
[Using 66 WC for learning Gentle Fist: Palm Bottom {308/1500}]

Approved