Gearing up to get ready

The last few weeks had been quite busy for the young Shinkou. He had met many different people that had strengthened his will in life, he met individuals that held strong beliefs about the weaponry that the boy just simply thought were tools. He always had a certain liking to the art of fighting with weapons, but he didn't realize just how deep someone's respect and love could go for the weapons a ninja wields and the armor a ninja wears. He wasn't quit to that point as the others, but they certainly opened his eyes to him possibly being that infatuated with the tools of his trade. 

He always knew that he was going to be a weapon based fighter, his parents were both the same way with their weapons, they treated them with the utmost care and respect. They practiced with them every single day, which was something that the young Shinkou carried down to his own life. Every day he practiced with his blade and his bow, always wanting to make sure that he was as strong and talented as he could be, being the man that his parents wanted him to be. They always talked about him like he was going to be the next big thing, but he truly wanted to make the village believe that.

His number one goal was to become a member of the Nova corps, he wanted that more than anything. But if he was going to become a Nova, then he was going to have to become better than everyone else in the village, bar none. He bought his own armor, and he got his own weaponry because he wanted to strike out on his own, and not just be continuing something that his parents had started, like he was when he was using his parents weapons.

He still loved his parents weapons, he kept them both hung up proudly on his mantle, showcasing to the world that could see it just how magnificent his parent's weapons were. His mother's bow made of pure Mahogany and oak wood, the string was hand wound by her father, who gave her that bow when she had graduated from the academy. She used that very bow for many years until her death on mission for the village. The bow was gorgeous, and every night she would spend at least an hour cleaning it and making sure the wood was nice and supple to keep the life of that bow as long as it could be. 

His father's sword was in the same boat as his mother's bow. He would spend hours a day ensuring the edge on the blade, always making sure that there were no lasting forms of damage. He visited the blacksmith often, keeping the edge sharp, but the metal free from rust or anything of the sort. He admired his parents and he was always so proud of just how powerful of shinobi they were. They never got to become members of the Nova corps, but they were Jounin of the village and they were well respected because of it. 

When he finally go ahold of his own weaponry, he knew that he was making the right step toward becoming a member of the Nova corps, which was what he wanted more than anything. He loved this village and he was going to stop at nothing to protect it, and to keep it safe from all matters of harm, be it from within the very walls that protected the villagers, or it was a foreign operative trying to harm the village by any means. 

He thought seldom on his parent's deaths, he figured that there wasn't much to think about. He knew that the way of the shinobi was to be a tool to your village, and then one day you would either outlive your usefulness, or you would sooner die at the hands of a tool a little sharper than yourself. Being killed during a mission wasn't just something that happened, but happened regularly as that was the nature of being a shinobi. He did find himself missing having parents from time to time, but that was something that he just couldn't have any longer, and that was something he needed to bring himself to understand and to accept. His parents were dead and there was no bringing them back.

He more or less understood that reality, but it was still something that him being a child and all, was quite hard to completely get used to. He missed having someone else to talk to, which was why he was spending so much time out of the house. He was forced to spend so much of his life inside that pitch black room on the other side of the hallway because of his episodes that he would often have, but now he was hoping to never have to stay in there again. He instead wanted to learn to channel the influences that he was receiving from Yuumei, and have them become a source of power for his fighting, rather than an obstacle that he needed to overcome. 

His last few missions in the mines had been successful, he had gathered quite a lot of materials from the mines, and now he was needing to actually augment and improve the armor that he was given at the weapons shop. He still didn't know just who would have paid for his armor for him, he didn't know anyone that well, he didn't have any friends that would pay for his stuff. The shopkeeper didn't give him any details either, just told him that the armor was already paid for and to have a nice day as he handed him the suit of armor in a rather sizeable box. He was extremely thankful, but he would be lying if he didn't try to think of just who would pay for his armor. Maybe he would go back to the shopkeeper and ask him some questions about the armor and who paid for it, if he actually remembered to do it. He could also just consider it a great gift and move on from it, taking the gift and using it to its fullest potential.

His sword was no ordinary katana, this one was extremely refined. It was folded steel, being strong as possible. He was already learning how to channel his own chakra into the blade, making the blade even stronger. But soon he was going to be working on his own natural element, which he had learned was wind back in the academy. He had been told that he would actually be able to extend the blades reach with his wind chakra, making him even more dangerous when it came to combat. He wasn't sure when he was going to be given the chance to be in combat, but he was certain that the time would come because he certainly is a shinobi, and that is simply the way life was for his kind.

His bow was a beautiful piece of work, as beautiful as it was simple. It was nothing special, just a short bow with a leather handle in the center. The wood was orange wood, one of the hardest woods in the world, but it was flexible enough to become the strongest bow in the land. It was short, so it provided a slight boost in speed, and even though it would have the range as some other bows, especially of the longer varieties that provided the boost in range. But he wasn't too concerned about range, as he was confident that he would be able to get close enough to whatever target he was going after, and be silent while doing so. The only thing he truly needed was the opportunity to show what he could do, not only to the village, but to himself as well.

He wanted to become more than just what his parents were, Jounins of the village, no he wanted that Nova Corps spot, and he was going to get it with the loadout he had. He had the bow, the sword, and the armor, now the main thing that he was missing was the know how and the experiences. Once he had those, he was going to make sure to be the strongest shinobi in the village without a shadow of a doubt. Even when he slept, his mind was full of battle scenarios and how he would fight his way out of whatever situation he was in. He felt strongly about his equipment, being sure that he could do the things his parents only dreamed of doing. He thought about being the Hogokage, and whether or not he would actually want to have that kind of power, but he was never truly sure. The Hogokage generally didn't battle or go on any old mission anymore, so he wasn't sure if he wanted to be the guy that was stuck behind a desk all the time.

So much of his life was dedicated to isolation, the last thing he truly wanted was to be relegated to that once again. But there was so much about his life that he wasn't sure about, but he did know at least one very simple and basic thing, he was a shinobi and that was all he truly needed to know. He was going to be the best shinobi around and there was no doubting that whatsoever. He had learned a few techniques in the last week of training, he was actually quite proud of himself, with just how strong he was already getting in the short time since he took his training as a shinobi seriously. He had learned a technique that was called the "Sacred Spear." This technique allowed him to extend the range of his blade significantly, shooting a beam of pure sharpened chakra directly to wherever his opponent would be. 

He had also been working on his aim with his bow and arrow now that he had purchased his own equipment. His aim was impeccable, and his speed was off the charts. He had learned a certain way to move to have his bow drawn almost instantly, he used his chakra a slight amount to get himself to move a little quicker, but the results speak for themselves when he actually gets that arrow drawn and ready to shoot in the same amount of time it takes people to blink. He knew that he still had a long ways to go in regards to his skills and experience, but he also had the drive that was required of him to make him better and to be the best swordsman and archer in the village.

This training did not even include the ways that he was beginning to channel the influence of Yuumei into his chakra and his training. He knew that his clan had access to a certain chakra transformation, called Shade release. This was yet another way that he was improving himself as a shinobi, by channeling the power that was given to the members of his clan, the power of true darkness. He had only learned one technique that actually used Yuumei's influence, and that technique was one that helped him in his archery. There is always a chance that there will be an individual that will be able to side step his arrow, but with this technique, Yuumei would be able to influence the trajectory of the arrow and cause it to turn a full ninety degrees and actually keep the arrow in a dangerous category for whoever it would be that he was aiming at. He was going to make sure that he continued on this path to furthering his abilities, not only in his weaponry, but he wanted to become proficient in ninjutsu, which was his clan's specialty. There was still so much left for him to learn, and now he had the chance to learn it.

Today was going to be a day of strictly training, or at least that is what the Shinkou had planned on the day being anyways. He had been getting missions dropped off last second and at random for the last few days, so he wasn't sure if that original plan was going to hold throughout until the end of the day. He was happy with how the last days had been unfolding, he had been getting paid a decent amount for doing very little work, but he also had been contributing to the village. He was always a firm believer that it doesn't matter what size the contribution to the village, as long you were contributing, you were a good citizen of the village as a whole. 

He was still sleeping, having one of those nights where nothing was truly going on in his brain, just silence. He was okay with these nights because they gave him a chance to actually sleep, which was happening more and more lately. Maybe he was actually channeling Yuumei properly, so he felt less inclined to chant over him while he slept in his actual dreams, or maybe it was just coincidental and the chanting dreams leading to sleepless nights were still ahead of him, that was the thrill was that he never truly knew until he fell asleep and woke up the next day.

He knew that he had been training quite a bit lately, but he wanted to make sure that he was as ready for combat as he could be, because he had a feeling that soon, he was going to need the skills he was currently mastering. His skill with his weaponry was good, but certainly there was plenty of room for improvement. His battle knowledge was lacking because he hadn't been able to get himself into that situation, so he was woefully lacking in that department. 

It wasn't that he didn't want to get into that situation, it was just that he lived in a village where combat didn't generally take place, so he just didn't have that opportunity. He thought about it often, remembering that bandit, the one where he cut off the man's arm. He remembered that fondly because he had the speed, the strength and the ability, he just needed to be able to prove himself against someone who wasn't trapped in a room. He wanted to prove that he could take on a missing ninja, or a rogue of some sort that had some skill with ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even taijutsu. Maybe he would even go up against another weapons user, like Tsuna, the individual that he had gone on that mission with to gather the resources from the meteor that had fallen outside of the village. He could also go up against the man that he had met in the training grounds, the one that had complimented him on his abilities with the bow, but said there was more that he needed 'unlock'.

So many things were left in his court, he still had a lot of things that he was needing to do. But luckily he was patient, he knew that he had merely just begun his journey into becoming a ninja, fresh out of the academy and still needing to find himself as a shinobi. He wasn't expecting too much of himself, but he was very excited to get himself passed this stage of his life. The stage where everything was still new, combat, ninjutsu, all of the different maneuvers that he was learning with his bow and sword, he just wanted them all to be second nature already so he could prove himself as being a worthy shinobi.

He decided that he was going to strike out and be his own ninja, now he just needed to decide how he was going to do that. Was he going to take on a missing ninja head on in a fight to the death and try prove that he was a worthy combatant that way? Or was he going to stay within the village and go through a gauntlet of missions with the higher ups and prove that he was worthy of the title of Chuunin, then Jounin that way? 

He had a lot of options, and so many different ways that he could take this journey he was on, so many that it was honestly kind of overwhelming knowing just how many options there were for him to choose. He knew that he wanted to be a famed samurai, a man who wielded his sword and armor masterfully. That was an absolute standard for his life, to be one known for his skill with  blade and bow. But there were other things about his life that he wanted to be good at to supplement any shortcomings that he may run into with his weaponry skill.

That is where the other specialties would have to come into play. His clan specialized in the workings of ninjutsu for obvious reasons. Due to the fact that his clan has special access to a special transformation of chakra, the shade release. But he wanted to specialize in other things, like enhancing his ability to sense others, or even doubling down on the specialty of ninjutsu so he could access the highest levels of his clan's special techniques using shade release. Again, so many options that he just wasn't sure which one he was going to choose. 

He was beginning to stir in bed, probably due to all of the choices that he was going to have to make were beginning to flood his mind and he wasn't too sure what to choose. He would usually stir at night, sometimes for hours or just through the night if the sleep was bad enough. Today the sleep wasn't so bad as it was just restless due to the excitement that he was beginning to have. He had so much rushing through his mind all of the time that it was hard to ever have a moment to truly just relax and breathe, to truly live in the moment.

If he had access to the higher level techniques of his clan, then he would be better capable of handling his own ninjutsu and he would better channel the power that would be given to him by Yuumei, but he wouldn't be able to handle the ability to sense incoming trouble, or to cut off his opponent's ability to sense his location. He was sure that he could probably wait until he had finished his specializing in ninjutsu first, then begi6n to study the specialty that was sensory techniques. That would be another option that he would be able to go with, which would likely yield the best results in the short term.

He dreamed of being a bowman that could kill his opponent without them even knowing he was there, that was the true dream of his. Because if he was able to obtain that dream, then he would just be one massive step closer to becoming a member of the Nova Corps, he just needed to get better at his stealth in order to make that dream a reality. He had the skills with the bow down, but if he wanted to be stealthy, then it was going to take time and effort to truly get to a point where he would be recognized as having a significant skill with his weaponry. His stirring began to cease as the thought of becoming a ninja able to pick off his opponents from so far away, without them even knowing he was there was enough to feel a massive feeling of joy, something that he had began to feel more and more often lately, which was a feeling he was more than ready to receive.

But if he wasn't able to pick them off from a hundred meters away, that would still leave the remainder of his combat skills, mostly residing in his sword. He was practicing his sword skill on his own, but there was still a lot of learning that he needed to do. Soon he was going to be learning it from others, or at least that is what he had hoped for himself. He was meeting multiple people that could show him a thing or two, so his hopes were sky high as of right now, things were really looking up for him and he couldn't be more excited.

The stirring continued as he slept. The sun was just about to rise above the horizon, so it was nearing the time that the young Shinkou should wake anyways. Who was he going to be put in a team with, that was another thing that he couldn't stop thinking of. Genin were generally put into teams of three shortly after they graduated from the academy, but he hadn't been put into one yet. He was sure that was because the Chuunin exams were going on right now, and unfortunately he was unable to participate this year. But he was hopeful that he would find himself some other way of proving to the higher ups of the village, especially the Hogokage that he was worthy of such a rank, even if he didn't go on the path of the traditional Chuunin Exams. 

He was sure that there was more than just showing off in the exams. He would still participate in them if he was required, but he was hopeful that he would be able to perform other deeds that would show his value as a shinobi, something worthy of note from the highest role in the land, the Kage himself. He wasn't sure just what it was that he was going to do, but he was going to find out just what it was that would impress the Kage enough for him to be granted Chuunin status, then Jounin, then he was going to go for the Nova Corps no matter what. That was his dream and there was nothing that he was going to let get in the way of that dream.

Finally the Shinkou's eyes began to open, slowly at first, then all at once when he realized that he had slept in for the first time in a while. The sun was fairly high in the morning sky already and he was falling behind schedule. Luckily there wasn't much on the schedule, except to train in the grounds and to continue to work on his sword skill and archery skills. He may drop in on the mine if he had the desire to do so, but he wasn't too sure if that was going to be part of the plan today, for he was pretty set on going to the grounds and spending the entire day there. 

Now that his eyes were open, he was in the process of waking up the rest of the way and readying himself for the day to come. He decided that he was going to sit up in his bed and he was going to look out the window for just a minute, so he could watch the village wake up and the people begin to walk the streets in droves as they all were beginning to commute to work, or even the kids as they also began going to the training grounds so they could get better as ninjas themselves. 

As he watched people begin to leave their homes and apartments and walk the streets, he began to think about getting up himself so he could start the day and get to his training. He wasn't being lazy so much as he was being sleep deprived and after finally getting the first night's sleep where he actually overslept, his body was feeling exceedingly groggy to say the very least. He leaned against the wall for a moment, resting his back on the wall as he continued to be deep in thought, thinking about all of the things that ran through his mind as he slept. 

He thought about his rank, being a Genin, and how he wanted so badly for that to change already. He was so ready to be taken more seriously in the village, that he was willing to do whatever it took to get the next rank up. He pushed the blankets off of his body and off of his legs. When he was clear of the blanket, he shifted his weight to get each of his legs off of his bed and swung them down to the floor, readying himself to get to his feet and rise from his bed. 

As he mentally processed the next few steps of his morning, he slowly got himself into position to lift his body up onto his feet so he could carry himself over to the bathroom and begin the next phase of his morning routine. Inching his body off of the bed, he stopped and he stretched out his legs for a brief moment to make sure that he was all stretched out before beginning the movement process. He wanted to be as limber as possible for the day to come as there was a lot of training coming his way.

With both feet firmly on the floor he slowly lifted his body and shifted his weight from the bed onto his feet, standing up straight and stretching out his neck by pulling it down to the side by each of his hands before hearing a sullen pop. He would then switch to the other side and pull his head down the opposite direction and he would pull until he heard the same pop happen on the other side of his neck. With his neck all loosened up, he was going to work on his back next.

He slowly shifted his weight to his heels to counter balance the movement that he was about to perform, he was going to bend over and grab his toes. This would help stretch his lower back, which was imperative because he was in fact a stomach sleeper, so a lot of his lower back goes through constant stress throughout the night, so he wanted to make sure that he was able to get it as stretched out as possible so it wouldn't bother him too much or hopefully not at all throughout the day to come. He stretched his hands downward and he began reaching as far as he could, placing his palms solidly on the ground, hearing and feeling multiple pops come from his lower back, feeling a sudden rush of relief go through his body as he performed the stretch. He would stay there for just a few minutes, making sure he was as stretched out in his hamstrings as well as his lower back. This would help his overall performance throughout the day, making sure that his lower back was well taken care of was always a great idea in his mind.

He slowly rose up from the bent over position, feeling his hamstrings and lower back stretched out. Now he was going to move on to the arms, which was obviously important as his arms performed pretty much all of his combat actions throughout the day. His arms carried his sword and his bow, performed all the maneuvers for all of his weapons, so stretching out his arms was an absolute must if he was going to be performing at his peak level today. 

He straightened his left arm out and he reached it across his chest, using his right arm to loop around it to hold it into position. He felt the center of his spine pop a couple times and he could feel the outer side of his arm stretch. He held this position for a few minutes, waiting until he felt that his arm had been sufficiently stretched out. He made sure that there were no knots left in his arm, for if there were then they would just prove to get in the way while he was training, and today that was absolutely not an option. No day was that truly an option, but today seemed like it was going to be a special day.

When he was done stretching out his left arm, he released the left arm by straightening and lowering his right arm and allowing his left arm to just fall back into place. He then did the exact same motion with his right arm. He lifted his right arm and stretched it across his chest, then he held it in place using his left arm and hooking his right arm up with it. He could feel the stretch in the outer side of his arm, so he knew that he was stretching this part of his arm properly.

After his arms, legs, neck and shoulders were all stretched out, he hopped up and down a few times. The hops would be light, just enough to get his toes just off of the ground, and then he would come back down and bounce directly back up. He wanted to get his body woken up properly with a small amount of high impact pressure on his feet, ensuring that there was no parts of his body that was in pain that he was going to need to use an Epsom salt bath before training commenced for the day.

When he felt like he was all limbered up and ready to start the next phase of his morning routine. He walked over to the bathroom, which had the door facing the foot of his bed. So he turned his body to the left and he began walking into the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, he could feel a warm breeze passing by his body. This could only have meant one thing, that he had accidentally left the window open overnight, which wasn't truly an issue, but he didn't want the warm air coming into his apartment any longer, so he walked over to that window and he closed it, ensuring to lock it after he shut it all the way.

After the window had been shut, he turned to face his bathtub. He walked over to the bath tub and he turned on the water, but he only turned on the cold water as he wanted to shock his body awake fully. This was a trick that his father had taught him when he was really small, and it always seemed to work for him. He always made sure to perform this trick every morning, partly because it reminded him of his father, and partly because it was truly the best way to get his body to wake up the rest of the way.

He felt the water rush over his head, soaking his hair and his neck. He cupped both of his hands and he splashed the ice cold water onto his face. When he was done soaking his head and hair, he turned the water off, still leaning over the bath tub and after the water had stopped rushing through the shower head, he grabbed the towel that was hanging off of the curtain rod. He patted his neck and face dry, then he began to dry off his long red hair. When he was all finished drying himself, he would walk back over to the bathroom sink and he would examine his face in the mirror. He wanted to make sure that he didn't have any blemishes that he had to deal with before he left the comfort of his home. 

It was extremely important for the young Shinkou to look presentable, because no matter what was going on in his head, he always had control over what he looked like. He saw that there were no blemishes and he was content with the way that he was looking that day. He then faced the doorway that led back to his bedroom so he could go through his closet and decide what he was going to wear underneath the armor that he was absolutely going to be wearing today. Since he had gotten the armor from the weapons shop, he had made sure to wear it every single day since that moment. He knew that a ninja's armor was a crucial part of their loadout, and it was so crucial to have when that same ninja was one who specialized in weaponry. This is because he was one that would always choose to get up close and personal with their opponent, no stay far away and heave jutsu at their enemy.

He knew that there was nothing wrong with individuals that used ninjutsu for the majority of their knowledge on techniques. That was just something that the young Shinkou ever did and he really would rather and dice an opponent then to use ninjutsu all the time, it was just his style of doing things. As a matter of fact, he knew that his clan specialized in ninjutsu, which was something that he took great pride in because ninjutsu was a very important piece of any shinobi's tool belt, but that was a piece that he had yet developed to its fullest extent, at least as of yet. 

He got into his bedroom and he began fingering through the items of clothing that hung within his closet. He wasn't too concerned with just what it was that he was going to be wearing underneath his armor, but he still wanted to make sure that he looked presentable just in case the suit of armor needed to come off for whatever reason. He decided that he was going to wear a regular old t shirt, it was slightly faded, but he would look good enough should the need to take his breastplate off and have people see him. He then grabbed a pair of athletic shorts, he knew that this was not the typical choice of outfit for a person of his desire of being presentable, but he knew that he didn't want to have too much stuff underneath his armor, making him weighed down or having all of his body heat trapped. The armor was going to hold in plenty, so he didn't want to help it in that process. 

As he was putting on the clothes, he thought for a moment about what he was going to eat for breakfast. He got his shirt on over his head and he pushed his hands through the arm holes and he pulled his athletic shorts up, tying the drawstring tight to his waist. He went back into the bathroom for just a moment to make sure that he was still looking as good as he could in just the boring outfit that he was wearing today.

He got into the bathroom and he gave himself a long and hard look at his outfit, ensuring that there wasn't anything else that he was forgetting to do that morning. He looked at his hair and he remembered that he had still not brushed his hair today, and it was slightly wet from when he ran the water over his head. He grabbed his brush and he began to hold small amounts of his hair and ran the brush through it, feeling the brush grab onto the knots and tangles that had gathered within his hair from the sleep he had the night before. After he spent about ten minutes brushing his hair, he put the brush down and he ran his fingers through his long red hair. 

He walked out of the bathroom and he headed for the kitchen, being excited that he was going to be eating his favorite meal of the day. He knew that he was likely going to have the same breakfast that he had pretty much every single morning, but that was nothing that hurt his excitement as he was happy eating the same thing every morning, it was something that he viewed as a thing that he could control.

He opened up his fridge and he leaned down to see just where his ingredients were inside the fridge. He grabbed the ingredients and he set them all down on the counter. He reached for the sausage and he cut a slice off of the log and he set it down next to the log on the cutting board, remembering that he still needed to grab the pan and get it preheated before he was going to be able to get any cooking done for his breakfast. He grabbed the spray on coconut oil and he turned to face the pan rack in the center of his kitchen.

He grabbed his frying pan off of the pan rack and he turned the gas on, watching it ignite instantaneously. After the gas ignited, he placed the pan onto the stovetop, and gave it a few moments before he would begin cooking, making sure that the pan had plenty of time to warm up. When the pan was hot, he sprayed the coconut oil onto the pan and then he immediately grabbed the sausage from the cutting board and plced it directly onto the pan, listening to it sizzle. 

He browned the sausage by chopping it to pieces while on the hot pan with a wooden paddle, breaking it up into small pieces, encouraging it to cook more evenly. The smell of the sausage began to fill the air, and it was a great smell, one of the young Shinkou's favorites. When he saw that the sausage was done, he cracked a few eggs into the pan and he started to stir the two together, allowing the eggs to begin to set. He had been eating sausage and eggs for the passed few mornings, and this morning he was going to change it up slightly by adding a hot sauce onto the top of the mixture.

The eggs began to set and the sausage was all cooked, so the only things that were left to add was the cheese, and then he was going to add the hot sauce outside of the pan. He poured the cheese onto the mixture, and it began to melt the moment it touched the mixture on the pan. Once the cheese was melted and it all melded together, he poured the mixture onto a plate that he had just beside the stovetop. He grabbed the hot sauce that he had in the cabinet and he poured a little bit of the hot sauce onto the mixture, then he stirred it gently with a fork. He grabbed the plate and he walked over to his living room so he could lounge on his couch, and take his time to eat his breakfast in peace for a few minutes. 

As he ate his breakfast, he looked over to his suit of armor that he had laid out on the other side of the couch. Once he was done eating his breakfast, he was going to get that suit of armor on and get his day started.

WC: 6515
+65 AP
+1500 towards Shade Release: Dark Pulse (completed)
+1500 toward Shade Release: Dark Whip (v7) (completed)
+1500 toward Shade Release: Chakra Blade (Completed)
+2015 toward Corrupted Dragon (2015/2750)

Approved