The Start of a New Journey Through Training

It was the start of another clear and beautiful morning in the Hidden Cloud Village. The air in the mountainous region was crisp and cool as the sun greeted the village and it's multiple homes and buildings especially the home of a particular man who was in the process of becoming a ninja. Waking up from his slumber Moyasu sat up in his bed, stretching his body out in order to get the kinks  in his joints loosened and straightened, as he took in deep and steady breaths in order to get his fill of oxygen before getting slowly out of bed in order to go to his bathroom. A quick shower later he stepped out of the room to go to his kitchen in order to cook for himself lunch meant for later that day. He had been given a training ledger by one of his teachers on how to better control and grow his chakra in order to be more efficient in his studies. His teacher was highly skilled in seeing where Moyasu was weak and where he was strong ever since his first day as he could feel the overabundant amount of chakra that was flowing through Moyasu that he could clearly feel and see whenever he practiced clone techniques and transformations.

After cooking himself a good and hearty lunch for later he packaged it all neatly into a few bento boxes before closing them and wrapping cloth around them and going to his wardrobe in order to get his training gear which was a white T shirt and black shorts as he slipped on his ninja shoes. He then walked out his front door and made his way across the bustling streets and busy shops heading towards the village's training grounds which was a little bit of a walk away from his home. He would stretch his body out as he walked, trying to make his limbs a bit more limber for the workout they were about to receive, as he carried his two bento in one of his hands making certain to be careful with them and not let his excitement for the day he was about to have cause him to drop them. After a few minutes of walking, his eyes roaming around at the many restaurants he passed as well as his nose picking up the multiple delicious scents that were hanging in the air, he made it to one of the village's training grounds and set his box lunches down in a safe place away from where the action was going to go down.

Taking in a few quick and deep breaths he then stretched out his legs in order to get them ready as he looked around his surroundings to see that the training field was at least a good fifty meters in diameter and due to the sun rising behind him where the entrance was the sun was blocked just enough by the mountain to cast a large shadow that covered a good majority of the grounds. He began to jog in place, taking quick and steady breaths in order to get his lungs ready for the exercise that was about to take place, before he then took steady laps around the training ground's perimeter. He wasn't trying to run at full speed just yet as he wanted to get his muscles warmed up and make certain they didn't break down too quickly. Every time he made a half lap around the grounds he would get a small sense of warmth from the sun shining through the top of the mountain before jogging into another shady section to be blanketed in the cool mountain air once more. This would help in preventing him from feeling too tired too soon.

After a few minutes of running he started to pick up the pace, his legs propelling him forward at greater speed, as he knew he was physically slower than a lot of ninja that he had been around in the academy. There were students who were literally running circles around him which had proved to be quite humiliating for him but he wasn't going to let it get him down as he knew he would eventually get faster and today was going to help him take those first steps. He knew that speed wasn't everything to a ninja when it came to combat but he knew it certainly wouldn't hurt especially when it came to completing a mission quickly and efficiently. As he ran his laps around the grounds he looked out over the cliffside he passed by to see flocks of birds flying along the partly cloudy skies, disappearing behind a few clouds every now and then, as he was wondering if there was a possible jutsu out there that was capable of allowing a ninja to fly. It would certainly help him out if he was capable of acquiring such a skill.

After a while of running a bit he felt it was time to give one last burst of energy in a sprint around the field. He started rushing as fast as he could while trying to keep his stamina in check in order to lengthen his runtime. It wasn't long before he was out of gas as he walked over to where his bento boxes were as he took a seat next to them and rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles while catching his breath. He had known he was pretty out of shape and not very physically strong but he didn't suspect that he was this bad in his stamina. He took a few moments to catch his breath while stretching his legs out once again before bringing them into a cross legged position and making certain his breathing was controlled as he brought his hands together to form the tiger seal and closed his eyes. His teachers had given him plenty of lectures on how to build his chakra up and he was about to put some of that training to good use as he focused on the chakra within him and called it forth.

Instantly he started to feel the air around him begin to shift and heat up as his chakra started to flow throughout his body and he could sense the extreme heat in his chakra as it flowed so intense it was almost like he could feel it in his very veins. His blood was circulating a bit better through his system and he could feel even his muscles and bones becoming a bit stronger as he continued to concentrate and focus. Soon it was as though his chakra had become fuel for a match trying to light as it eventually ignited as his body was seemingly engulfed in an aura that burned almost as hot as a raging fire. He opened his eyes and for a split second saw that the flames were dancing around his body before they fizzled out due to his concentration giving out. He looked around and saw that there were no scorch marks on his body nor on the ground he was sitting on. He didn't feel any sort of burning sensation on his skin when his chakra was showing outside his body as he touched his skin over certain areas and was amazed. He had controlled fire with his bare skin sometimes but what he felt earlier was completely different from what he was used to. It felt scary and amazing at the same time.

He decided thus to keep training his chakra control as he closed his eyes in order to get full concentration on his inner chakra once more before focusing on trying to keep it contained within himself in order to get it to increase in it's density. He could feel the chakra within him once again starting to circulate like clockwork, his chakra network fully going to work in supplying his inner systems with more energy than normal to grow stronger and better, as he focused on keeping the flames raging within his system inside rather than showing themselves outside like earlier. He was running into a challenge by doing this as he was having a tough time keeping so much chakra caged in as it tried to break out once again as before. Keeping his breathing calm, cool, and collected Moyasu continued to concentrate as the chakra within him flowed faster and stronger, growing denser in scale, until finally he had to stop before his inner strength gave out completely and he collapsed onto his back on the ground taking in deep breaths of the mountain air. He felt tired all the way down to his bones as his chakra settled down and he rested for a bit while looking up to the sky in order to observe the clouds that were passing by above him. He could see more of the sun showing itself over the mountain top as the shade was shrinking along the training grounds as he sat up and stretched out his body once more before standing up and forming a few quick hand seals.

With the activation of his chakra two puffs of smoke appeared to both sides of his body as he looked over to see two clones, made of no real form nor flesh, standing beside him as he examined them to find no imperfections to their copy forms. They looked exactly as he did from his glowing fiery eyes to his choice of attire as he relaxed his chakra and allowed the two clones to dissipate back into nothingness. He then brought his hands up again once more as he started forming many seals as fast as he could in order to practice being able to form them quicker and cleaner. It was a very hard process that required a lot of concentration and hand eye coordination as he made several mistakes here and there while forming such seals causing him to take in a deep breath before trying again and again and again. Repetition was often times, as he had been told countless times by his instructor, the best teacher for those seeking to learn and he was certainly going to do everything he could in order to learn how to form these seals as quick as possible. He knew there were ninja in the academy already able to form seals at a pretty rapid rate whether that was because they were physically more gifted than he was or just better at controlling their reflexes.

Moyasu had always managed to keep himself in shape through his cooking habits as well as hunting instincts but when it came to improving upon how he already was physically he was at a loss for physical exercise always put a damper on his mood. Having to subject yourself to the pain of physical strain seemed like something a masochist would do. However he had seen multiple students in the academy who had been much more athletic than he was that were younger than him. More than likely these were all kids that had wanted to become ninja from when they were little thus they exercised a lot growing up and played sports with people stronger than they were. Competition. A word that Moyasu wasn't really all too fond of especially since he wasn't really the type who felt he had something to prove. However due to the strict rules that were a part of the Kumogakure framework of Shinobi etiquette being competitive was something that he was going to have to get used to as the ninja inside the village were known for wanting to get a leg up on those they felt superior against and were willing to fight in death matches for it as well. Thus here Moyasu was making seal after seal as quick as possible in order to be able to compete with those that were faster and stronger than he was. If he couldn't compete with other ninja physically he would have to strengthen himself mentally in order to use chakra more effectively than others.

After a few minutes of him doing consistent hand seals he stopped slowly in order to get a look at his surroundings once more and saw that the shadow had now shrunken very near to the entrance of the mountain as he was standing right in the path of the sun's rays which was bearing down upon his naturally hot skin. He didn't really ever have to worry about being burned due to his curse but that made it all the more better for his training as he could tell it was about to get real hot real fast. He looked over to the training dummies that lined along the edges of the circular grounds and wondered how he could best use them for his training purposes. He didn't have any ninja tools on him. The practice ones he usually used for shuriken throwing training were locked away at the academy only to be used when he was taking classes. So tool training wasn't an option and he didn't really know any advanced jutsu or techniques that he could use against them. Plus there was his aforementioned low physical strength so using Taijutsu more than likely was going to be useless.

So he would have to start training in order to use at least a low level move and learn how to use it to his advantage if he was to come face to face with someone bigger and stronger and overall tougher than he was. At least he could train himself to be able to run as well just in case things were to get too dangerous for him. He thought of a few fire techniques that he had read about in the academy that he could practice in order to get his body trained in using his flames as weapons. He had always used them as a way of taking down boar and meat in the past but he had a feeling it would be ineffective in a shinobi battle so he needed to be able to train his chakra a bit in combat techniques. At best he could learn some menial type jutsu but at the very least he could learn something or some things that could be handy for him to use now. He then realized the perfect technique he could learn for his fight or flight strategy as he formed the necessary two seals needed to use it and concentrated his chakra from deep within.

Having formed the Bird and Horse seals he willed his chakra from deep within his abdomen and blew out from his mouth some ash and smoke that spanned outward and actually grew to be taller than him as he finished blowing and stood up straight to see that the smokescreen he had just created was covered to the point he couldn't see through it. He nodded at his artificially made cloud and thought of how he could best use it to his advantage as he knew that, if he was up against somebody that was a wind user or potentially too strong to be blinded by his cloud, this technique could only be used as more a distraction than a weapon. He fanned his hand over the cloud as it quickly flew apart and dissipated into the air and he stretched out his body and looked over to the training dummies once again. He had the feeling he wasn't going to be able to utilize them at least for this training session. He turned back around to the two bento boxes he had brought with him and walked over to them in order to sit beside them and unwrap the paper around them in order to open them up and reveal the delicious smelling food within them.

He began to eat some crispy BBQ with the chopsticks that he had brought along with him, the sun bearing down on him from behind, as he enjoyed some tea he had also brought along while enjoying the view of clouds floating by over the edges of the grounds. He ate his food quickly, his taste buds alight due to all the complex flavors he was tasting from within his food, until he was finished with it all and set the empty boxes back down on the ground and took in a few deep breaths while sipping on the rest of his tea. After finishing his meal he hopped back up onto his feet and cracked his knuckles and stretched out his limbs before doing a few jumping jacks along with some squats. After his post meal stretch he walked over to a nearby ledge of the grounds and sat down with his legs crossed as he faced towards the open sky that looked out across the land far below his position.

A good position for some meditation as Moyasu closed his eyes and focused on his chakra within his body once more as he felt the flames within his network begin to burn and flow through his system once more. He could hear the gentle breeze as it passed through his hair and he could also hear the birds chirping as they passed by him from above free and in flight to whatever destination they desired. His chakra spread out and moved all about his body as he once again trained in order to keep it within him controlled so that it wouldn't leak out of him again spontaneously. He continued to take in deep breaths as he focused, feeling his chakra continue to flow and grow inside him, as he also listened to the sounds of the mountain in order to keep himself calm, cool, and collected. This training session was proving itself to be quite the challenging morning he was having as he could feel the strain coming down upon his body from all the exercise he'd been giving it that it wasn't used to receiving. He couldn't wait to be done as he stopped focusing on his chakra control for a little bit in order to hop back up and get right back to jogging around the field.

This time he was going with a full burst of speed around the grounds as he could already feel his legs were tired and hurting a bit. He took that to mean his training was paying off in some way as his teachers had told him to fight through the pain as it will help him grow in the long run. If you wish to be fast you have to work for it and he was certainly doing everything he could in order to work for his speed improvements as he continued to run his legs out and run his lungs dry. It wasn't long until he was hunched over and sitting on the ground once more in order to catch his breath before laying down on the hot ground, not to him, in order to look directly above at the clouds once more. He tried to get a handle of his breathing as he watched a cloud that looked a bit like a dog pass by which made him give a slight chuckle at the humor of how deformed it was.

After a while of catching his breath he sat back up and tried out a few more forming of jutsus that he wasn't quite familiar with yet. He did some practice with the transformation technique he had learned in class and had some experience with as he was able to transform himself into people he had met before pretty remarkably. He also managed to blow out of his mouth a rather pitiful looking amount of fire, the size of which could most likely light a campfire but never actually hurt someone, as well as made fire appear along the tip of his finger and wave it around a bit before blowing it out like a candle. All of these felt pretty silly for him to train for but he never knew if he would eventually need such skills somewhere down the line. After a while of practicing such techniques he then decided to try other techniques that his teachers taught him he needed to learn right away for certain situations if he was to ever be caught in the center of them. One of these techniques he had been told about was the Genjutsu release technique which even he knew was going to prove viable if he ever had to fight a Genjutsu user.

He thus closed his eyes and took a few short yet deep breaths as he began to imagine himself trapped in a Genjutsu. He focused on his chakra in trying to halt it's flow as that was how he was told he would be able to release himself from a jutsu's clutches. He brought his hands up to form the Tiger seal as he concentrated while feeling his chakra seemingly rushing to charge up even further which was the exact opposite of what he was wanting to happen. Controlling his chakra was proving to be a lot more challenging than he expected as he could tell he had a pretty decent amount of it but that just made it harder for his untrained body to be able to control it all. Though still he pressed on as he continued to take his slow and deep breaths while focusing on his hands as his chakra was connected by them through the Tiger seal and started there for his focusing.

After a while he could feel his chakra around his hands begin to slow down before coming to a stop which in turn acted as a cork for other chakra still flowing around the halted chakra. He could feel the chakra in his arms next start to slow down to a halt and then his chest, his abdomen, his legs and feet, and then even his head. All throughout his body he could feel his chakra as it was still burning hot and fiery inside of him but stagnant in any movement as he then felt it expand outwards from his body and the air around him quivered as a small wave of air moved outwards away from his body and he knew that he had achieved what he was trying to do. Opening his eyes and relaxing his body he collapsed onto the ground as he panted from the strain and felt his chakra was once again moving along his body as if nothing had happened beforehand. He looked up at the sky and felt as though he had done a lot in the little time that he had been training which was a good feeling just as it was whenever he looked up and saw the clouds moving past above him. He was feeling like he was on such a good roll, in fact, that he closed his eyes once more and started focusing once again but this time without using the Tiger seal.

With his fists balled up he tried doing the same thing again while concentrating on the chakra in his fingers as he felt the same sensation of his chakra stopping and corking itself as it started to stop all along and throughout his body. He could feel his chakra coming to a stop before expanding out once again in a wave of air as he opened his eyes and his pants renewed as he sucked in as much of the mountain air as his body would allow over and over again. After a few moments of breathing in said air he slowly sat up and stretched out his limbs before standing up and stumbling over his weakened legs. He took a moment in order to find his balance once more, shaking the strain out of his legs in the meantime, before standing back up straight and thinking about what to do next for his training session. He felt that he was coming up on the end of today's training which made him feel relieved but he also felt there were still a few things he could learn to do in the time provided.

After stretching a bit more he decided to try his hand at Fuinjutsu next as he walked over to the edge where the dummies all were. He realized they would be perfect for what he intended to practice as he looked down at the palms of his hands and thought up yet another thing he could do to train his chakra control. He placed the index finger of one of his hands onto the chest of one of the dummies while with his other hand he formed the seals required for what he was about to do. Concentrating he could feel his chakra making it's way to the tip of his finger as a blue chakra ring extended from it onto the dummy and spread forming a seal and Moyasu watched with a small smile as he then formed a few more seals and brought up both his index and middle fingers together this time and placed them on the seal he had just created. Once more a blue ring appeared and expanded across the seal before disappearing leaving the dummy as blank as it was before he started.

He took a small breath before walking over to the ledge nearby and looking down to see that there was a cliffside to the grounds which seemed perfect for his next jutsu challenge... If not for the fact that failing it would've spelled his end. He thus looked back over to the entrance of the training grounds as it was coming out of a mountainside and he figured that would prove much safer for his training. He walked back over to the entrance and looked up and around the side while concentrating his chakra throughout his body into the soles of his feet. He then placed a foot onto the side of the mountain and tried to walk up it but he wound up tumbling a few feet onto his head as he hadn't put enough chakra into his feet to stick. He fell onto the back of his head as he rubbed the hurt area with a wince before standing back up and practicing controlling his chakra some more. He would keep getting failures as time went on, each time able to get higher and higher, as he would practice his reflexes by landing on his feet every time he fell from his practice.

He soon was able to run all along the side of the mountain face as he had perfect control over the chakra in his feet to the point where he could stand still on the side of the mountain for an extended period of time. He hopped down from the mountain face after training in his control a bit more and landed gracefully onto the ground now feeling he had a better understanding of the chakra that was within him and how to control it. He took a few seconds to catch his breath before thinking on how to end his training session and he figured that maybe that was a good place to stop and end the day as he could feel that he was running low on stamina and chakra. He thus walked back over to his bento boxes that he had left neatly on the ground by the entrance and reached down in order to pick them up for disposal. As he did he noticed that there was a picture on the ground right beside the boxes as he picked it up and looked at the faces of him and his father next to a picture of his dead mother smiling for the camera.

Moyasu felt a twinge of sadness go throughout his body before putting the picture back into his pocket and sighing. He wondered if the picture had fallen out of his pocket while he was eating his lunch and he just didn't notice until now which was stupid since the wind could have picked up at any moment and took his memento with it. He'd have possibly never seen it again if that was the case as this realization caused him to place a hand over his pocket just to make certain the picture wouldn't fall out again somehow. After one last look around the grounds Moyasu walked over to the entrance and made his way down the many stairs to the village and found himself on an even more crowded street than it was that morning. Made sense as more and more shops were starting to open up for the lunch hour and he could smell the sweet and delicious aroma of multiple meat dishes, ramen bowls, dumpling skewers, and even BBQ and dessert grills.

Becoming a ninja was proving to be a tough endeavor for the young Moyasu but he knew that he was making strides in his education little by little. If all else failed he could just dissolve back into his chef habits and possibly start up a restaurant that he could run and make a little money off of to live by. It didn't seem like a bad idea given how popular food was to the people of Kumogakure as he looked at all the happy smiles of people that were enjoying their dishes on the go. After standing on the side watching people walk by for a bit he decided it was time for him to go back home and study up for an upcoming test that his class would be holding the next day. He had been blessed with enough knowledge and patience to pass every test he had taken thus far in the academy so he had no fear about what was coming his way. What he wasn't looking forward to was when he would have to take his final examination into finally becoming a ninja. Everything would come down to that moment. Would he be ready for it? Only time would tell and the future would remain uncertain.

[Exiting]

WC: 5,026

Claiming: 67 stats, 37 to vigor, 10 to chakra, 20 to speed courtesy of the Academy of Martial Arts
Jutsu/skill claims: Gen Release (mastery included) = 500 WC

Transformation = 250 WC

Tree Climbing = 250 WC

Substitution = 250 WC

Clone Jutsu = 250 WC

Fire Stream = 250 WC

Smoke Veil = 250 WC

Candlelight = 250 WC

Mark Seal = 250 WC

Fuin Lock and Fuin Break (both E rank) = 500 WC

One Handed Seals = 2,000 WC

5,020/5,000 WC req

Badump bumping.

Approved