Sluggish training is better than none

He walked into the archery range, ready to begin his day of training. Slowly he grabbed an arrow from his quiver. As he drew the arrow back, he visualized his target that was roughly 20 meters away. This would not be too hard of a shot, but this was indeed just his warm up. He took in a deep breath as he readied to pull the trigger, and as he exhaled, he released the arrow. The arrow flew through the air, slightly spinning as it began to gain velocity through the air. Kurayami could see the arrow as it flew, ever so slightly catching it's flight pattern before it reached it's target. 

The arrow met its target in the center, right in the bullseye. The boy was happy with the result, but knew that he had far more work to do than to hit a measly stationary target only 20 meters away. He drew another arrow back and he repeated the same process. Something that he always realized was the key to getting the same result in your shot, to have the same process. He still hadn't done too much practice of shooting in combat, but he hoped that now that he had completed the Ninja academy that he was going to get the practice in very soon. 

He shot another shot, and another, and another. He emptied his quiver into the target and each shot was in the bullseye, which pleased him. He moved farther and farther away from the target, retrieving his arrows as he emptied his quiver. As he continued to warm up, he felt his normal self taking full control again. He was smiling again and he even felt a sliver of joy as the sun came out from behind the clouds in the sky. Feeling the warm embrace of the sun caressing his body, the sun was warm enough that he felt sweat begin to form on his forehead and the back of his neck. 

As he began to shoot at the target sixty yards away, he stopped for a moment and he felt that his right arm was beginning to get tired, so he decided that it was time to switch from archery practice to sword practice. He threw his bow around his shoulder and he pulled his father's sword towards the front of his person. He walked up to the training dummy and he got himself in his fighting stance. He stared into the dummy's head, visualized his target and he slowly began to unsheathe his sword with his left hand.

He felt the metal become unbound by the constraints of the sheathe, seeing the metal glimmer from the sunlight descending upon it. He unsheathed the sword quickly, unleashing a strike onto the dummy, lopping off part of the head clean off. With the first strike finished, he followed his own momentum and he twisted his body counter clockwise, swinging the sword above his head as he did so. As his body finished rotating, he came down upon the dummy in a fluid motion, slicing off the right arm of the dummy. He continued to follow with the flow of his attacks to strike upwards on the other side of the dummy, lobbing off the left arm before swiftly thrusting his sword directly through the midsection of the dummy.

The movement was second nature to him now as he had been practicing with this sword for years. He remembered his father, the way that he would so masterfully handle the blade. He would flow through a fighting arena or the training grounds with such grace, it was astounding to be sure. When he was six years old his father gave him a sword that was carved out of pure red oak wood. Kurayami loved that sword, and he wore it on his person everywhere he went. Even when he was going to school, he always made sure to have that sword fastened to his back. The sword was almost as long as he was tall, so when he was that age, it was more of a great word than it was anything else. But the shape of the wooden blade resembled that of a katana, and now that he had grown quite a bit since he was given the blade, it was more proportionate to his body. 

He hadn't used that blade in a few years, not since his parents were killed on mission. The boy pulled the blade back out of the dummy and he began to practice his footwork as he carried the blade. Swinging and slashing at the air, practicing with the weight of the sword, ensuring that it wasn't too much for him to handle. Each swipe was beginning to slow as his stamina was running low. He had only eaten one meal since a three day fast, so his body was not quite up to full conditioning, as was his normal. He didn't know why the trances happened as they did, but he had gotten more used to them as he aged. 

This trance was more interesting than the ones he had been having in the past, the reason is this trance seemed to trigger a different feeling in the boy's mind. During his trance, he didn't feel alone, but instead, he felt the presence of Yuumei. His parents always told him that he was special because he was given the gift of Yuumei's presence through the trances, and for a long time he just felt like that was just his parents lying to him. But after this trance, he could feel a heavy hand resting on his shoulder, and a voice speaking to him. He couldn't quite understand just what the voice was saying, but he did understand that this was a voice for guidance. The voice was speaking to him trying to teach him something, but he didn't know just what it was. 

The boy felt that this was Yuumei, and he was telling him that he was now ready to begin training in the arts of the clan. It wasn't enough that he was becoming proficient with his father's sword and his mother's bow. Now it was time that he began to improve himself farther than he ever thought possible. It was time that he took his training to the next level and begin training in not only his weaponry skills, but in the use of his chakra too. So much of his world was going to change after this trance, and he was actually mentally ready for it. 

He took another few slices at the air, but he could feel his body beginning to fatigue to the point of having to stop entirely. He was out of breath, panting from exhaustion he took a knee and rested for just a few minutes. He continued to remember his mother, watching her on the archery range was something to behold. She would sprint, holding a few arrows in her hand as she would fire them off two by two. It was amazing, and it was something to be envious of when he remembered her skills. He would stick his sword into the ground and he would push himself up using it as a balance point in the ground.

Once he got to his feet, he sheathed his sword after wiping the dirt off of the blade. Once he had the blade clean and sheathed, he walked over to the edge of the training grounds, still feeling fatigued. He turned away from the training grounds and he began to walk to the store, semi swiftly. His body was still very hungry and he needed to get his body back into a routine that he could live off of, for right now, his body was far too weak for him to be able to train effectively. This was especially true if he was going to start training even deeper in his chakra control and all the physicality that training with the blade and bow took. 

As he slightly shambled through the village, he thought of just what he wanted to stock his house with, and he thought of just how long until the next trance was going to take place. If he was lucky he had a solid week or so before it happened. He enjoyed the trances because it gave him time to be with Yuumei and embrace the presence that he had when he was in his trances, especially with the last trance that he had gone under. But there was a difficulty in never knowing when the trances were going to come, how harshly they affected his personality when they did come and how hard it was for him to train when he was unable to eat for days on end when he was in the trance. 

Through the village he saw many people that he had slightly recognized, he always had a way with faces, but the names always seemed to escape him. He greeted several people as he walked through town, and many of them greeted him back. When he got to the general store, he had a brief sigh of relief, he was beginning to get exhausted from walking in the sun and an air conditioned room seemed pretty nice right about now. He entered the building and he went straight for the produce section. When he wasn't in a trance, he tried to eat as healthily as he could, always made his life a little easier because it allowed his body to recover from the harsh trances than it would have if he decided to eat junk all of the time when he wasn't in a trance. 

He grabbed some leafy greens, some beans, and some rice. He always enjoyed making sushi at home, so he made sure to grab some seaweed paper and some sesame seeds. When he was done with the produce and the seeds, he headed over to the meat counter so he could get himself some fresh fish, some salmon sounded the best for tonight so he was very excited to get over to that side of the store so he could get himself home and eat something. He passed through the frozen food section, making sure to steer clear of any of the processed foods that lie within those shelves, and he kept on going towards the meat section. 

When he reached the meat department, he was greeted by a woman behind the counter. She was a beautiful woman who had a very nice smile on her face. He nodded his head and he greeted her back with the same jovial tone that he was given in the first place. The woman had asked the boy what he wanted, and he asked for a few sides of prepared salmon fillets, the woman nodded her head with excitement and immediately went to work preparing the order that the boy had just given her. She grabbed the sides of the fish and she set it down on some wax paper that was set prepared on the cutting board behind her, which sat on top of a stainless steel counter. She didn't need to cut the fish as the boy was looking for the whole side of the fish, so she just wrapped the fish up in a plastic wrap before wrapping it up in the wax paper and finally labeled it with the type of fish and the price of the total amount of fish the boy was getting. 

She handed the wrapped fish over the counter and the boy received it, thanking the woman, who did the same to him. After he received the fish, he went through the stuff that he needed for his sushi and he double checked all of the ingredients that were within his cart. He realized that he had everything he needed to make the dinner that he had planned for tonight. When he realized this he headed to the front of the store where he could check out and he could finally head home to make his dinner. He arrived at the front and checked out, then he bagged up all of his groceries and he carried them out the front door.

He left the comfort of the air conditioned building and he entered the uncomfortable and arid place that was the outside world. He didn't have very far to go which was fortunate, but he still had a slight trek ahead of him before he was going to be home so he could drop the groceries off, and even longer yet until he was going to be eating dinner. He was slightly light headed and dizzy, maybe training that early off of a trance wasn't a good idea. But he wanted to get some training in, as he hadn't been able to for a few days due to his trance. 

He had nice and long strides through the village, wanting to hurry his trek home and get his dinner started. He didn't stop for anything, he practically ran through the village when he saw his apartment complex come into view. He rushed up the stairs and he burst through the door. He set the groceries down on the counter and he went to put his weapons away by the front door. With his bow off his shoulder and his sword now off of his waist, he turned back to face the kitchen where he was going to make him some sushi. 

He first turned towards his largest counter, where he had a wooden cutting board placed on top. He grabbed the wrapped fish and he set it gently on the cutting board. When that was done he opened up a drawer and pulled out his honing steel so he could sharpen his knife as much as he could so he would have the best chance of getting some clean cuts in on the salmon. After a few passes across the honing steel, he set the steel back into the drawer and he held his knife in his left hand. He placed his right hand gently on the fish as he cut through the flesh of the salmon with the knife in his left hand. 

Slice after slice, he portioned out the salmon when he remembered that he hadn't started cooking his rice yet. He set the knife down on the counter and he turned to the other side of the kitchen. He grabbed his rice cooker and he plugged it in. He grabbed his rice and he poured some onto a strainer that was fine enough to where the rice wouldn't fall right through. He started the water and he began running a moderate temperature before he ran the strainer with the rice inside under the water and rinsed all of the excess starch off of the rice. When he was finished running the rice through the water, he turned the water off and he dumped the rinsed rice out of the strainer and he poured it into the rice cooker. With the rice in the cooker, he turned the rice cooker on and immediately it went to work.

With the rice cooking and the salmon cut, all that was left was some more prep work of the avocado, the cucumber, and the carrots. He cut the ends off of the cucumber and he began to slice it lengthwise after he peeled the rind off of it. When he was done slicing the cucumber lengthwise, he began cutting smaller sticks out of the larger slices, making sure that they were about the length of what the sushi roll would be. When he was done doing this with the cucumber, the next vegetable came was the carrot. The boy checked the rice cooker and saw that he still had a decent amount of time before the rice was done, so he decided to take his time with the carrots and the avocado. 

He chopped the ends off of the carrot, and then he peeled the carrots. With them peeled and having the ends chopped off, now all that was left was to do the same thing that he had done with the cucumber. He sliced the carrot lengthwise, and once they were sliced, he began to julienne the carrot to ensure that it too would fit inside the roll of sushi that he was preparing. The last thing that he had to put together in regards to the fruit and vegetables was the avocado. He grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and he plunged his knife into the flesh of the fruit and he hit the seed directly in the center. He ran the knife around the seed, as to cut the entire fruit in half. He set down the knife and he gripped both halves of the avocado and he twisted them, to get the seed and the meat of the avocado to split. 

Now that he had the avocado split, he grabbed the knife once more in his left hand while holding the half that still held the pit in his right hand. He positioned the knife to have it hover over the pit of the fruit. He snapped his wrist and caught the pit with the knife, once the knife was inside of the pit, he rotated the knife clockwise very briefly and the seed came out of the meat of the avocado. He discarded the pit and he began cutting a few lines into the meat while it was still within the skin of the fruit, then he set the knife down onto the counter. He picked up the spoon off of the counter and he began scooping the meat of the avocado out of the skin.

Once he had scooped the meat of the avocado, he set it down into a bowl that he had set down onto the counter. With that, he heard the rice cooker go off, letting him know that the rice was done cooking. He set the spoon down on the counter and he threw away the empty skins leftover from the avocado. He walked over to the rice cooker and he lifted the lid. He grabbed a bamboo paddle and he began to fluff the rice. The rice had been cooked perfectly and this was something that made the boy smile. He set the wooden paddle down to the side and he turned his attention to the salmon. He decided in the spur of the moment that he was going to have some spicy salmon in one of his rolls. 

He checked the refrigerator and to his delight he just so happened to have some mayonnaise in the fridge that was good. He grabbed it out of the fridge and he turned back to the counter where he had the salmon lying there. He had cut some the perfect size to just drop right on top of a small pile of rice and go to town on it. But for his spicy salmon he was going to need to cut the fish into really small pieces, almost minced. He began cutting the salmon into really small pieces and transferring it to a medium sized bowl where he was going to mix the sriracha and the mayo together to make his spicy salmon and put it together to make a spicy salmon roll. 

As he cut the salmon the smell of the fresh fish was a smell that he knew very well, but it was always a smell that he never got tired of. He finished cutting the salmon and he began mixing it with the mayo and the sriracha. Mixing the ingredients together began to fill the entire room with an aroma that was truly intoxicating. Now was the moment that he had been waiting for the better part of an hour. He got a few bamboo sheets for rolling his sushi, and he got some plastic wrap to make cutting his sushi rolls a little easier. 

He set the bamboo roller sheets onto the counter and he placed the plastic wrap on top of it. He put a layer of rice on the plastic wrap, then he put a sheet of Nori, which is the seaweed wrap. He placed a nice helping of his spicy salmon on top of the sea weed wrap. Then he placed some cucumber and carrot strips, then he finished this off with a couple pieces of avocado to finish it off. He grabbed one end of the bamboo roller sheet and he began rolling the sushi ever so gently to make sure that he didn't squeeze out any of the goodness that was meant to stay inside. He rolled it, ensuring that the roll was tight before he unrolled the bamboo sheet, keeping the sushi roll itself wrapped in only the plastic wrap. 

He grabbed his knife and he moved the sushi roll onto the counter and first he cut the entire roll in half, lined up both of the halves side by side and then he cut two pieces of sashimi each time he sliced through the roll. When he was done cutting it, he unwrapped the plastic wrap and threw it away before sprinkling the entire roll with some white sesame seeds. He didn't want to wait to set the table, so he just began eating the sushi right off of his counter. He grabbed a piece of sashimi with his fingers and he threw it back and chewed it vigorously. 

The spice was perfectly balanced, just enough to make him sweat, but not too much that it consumed all of the flavor and replaced it with just spice. He was in love all over again with each bite and he was so excited to have the next piece every time. He ate and he ate until he was ready to move on to the plain sushi. He grabbed a small dollop of rice and he placed a small slice of the salmon on top of the rice. When he was done, he wrapped the two together with a small strip of seaweed to keep it together. He knew that he was going to be eating this sushi immediately after and the fanciness was unnecessary, but he was a fan of the theatrics of it all. 

After he was done eating his sushi, he began cleaning up the kitchen so he could then finally go to sleep without having the concern of a dirty kitchen awaiting him in the morning and he was going to still have to clean up after himself. He cleaned the cutting board and the knife that he had used to cut his salmon. He wrapped up the salmon, and he covered the rice that was leftover, being excited about having plenty of ingredients to make sushi again the next day. When he was done putting all of the food away and cleaning all of the dishes, he left the kitchen and he went into his second bedroom. 

He never liked using the same bedroom when he was out of a trance as when he was in a trance. For some reason it just made him uncomfortable, and he had the second bedroom so it was no bother to him that he used both bedrooms. He walked into his unentranced bedroom and just before he was going to lie down, he realized that he still needed to take a shower so he didn't ruin his bed. He turned right around and he went into the bathroom. He hopped into the shower and quickly washed his body in the hot water. His showers were always quite fast, but he was sure to be thorough. 

His mind was pretty much a blank slate by this time, he was still coming out of his trance fully so his mind was in a void of sorts, something that was quite common for his day when he came out of trances. When he was done with his shower, he dried himself off quickly and went to bed. The day he had was filled with some interesting events, but tomorrow he was going to spend purely at the training grounds, making sure that he began the path that he knew Yuumei had planned for him.

WC: 4051
+40 speed
+4000 towards Meigan Stage 2
+51 towards Meigan Stage 3 (Will have to do the ceremony I understand, but I'm going to spend the WC now so it's a quick process then)

Approved for everything except M stage 3 pending approval