Doton on the Horizon

Otoko woke suddenly gasping for his life. Another night and another nightmare to keep him from a good night’s sleep. Something that eluded Otoko for a few weeks now. He wasn’t sure what brought the nightmares back as he had gone a few months without so much as a dream. The nightmares were almost always the same and usually showed Otoko visions of his parents’ deaths. He looked around the dark room and grabbed the glass of water he kept next to him on his night stand. After a long gulp he breathed a sigh of relief and let his head fall back on to his pillow. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before realizing he was wide awake and probably wouldn’t fall back asleep even though it was 5 in the morning. He was ok with that though, today was going to be a big day, he had a lot of work ahead of him and starting the day earlier than he had intended would give a little more time to accomplish his goal. That goal being learning earth release the next step to unlocking his clan specialty of wood release.

If Otoko was going to be training in a new element today he was going to need to start the day right with a hardy breakfast. He scrambled up two eggs with a couple sausage links and made a couple pieces of toast as well. After he finished his breakfast he got dressed, put on his signature cowboy hat and headed to the hoshi training grounds.

WC - 261
TWC - 261

On his way to the training grounds Otoko took in his surroundings, enjoying the perfect day it seemed to be as far as weather was concerned. He was going to need to clear his mind thoroughly before training and try to separate his nightmares from his current state of mind. He wanted to ensure he was in a place of zen before training. He knew he would need to get some meditation in before training to help clear his mind and focus his chakra to learn a new element and what better way to do that then just enjoying your walk and taking in the sights. As he rounded the next corner he could see the training grounds up ahead and he started to get excited. He had to reel in his thoughts and try to keep his mind as calm as possible. As he neared the training grounds he began takings deep breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth. He found a nice spot underneath a tree to begin his meditation.

Otoko placed his belongings next to the tree and took a seat under a nice shady branch. He crossed his legs put his wrists on his knees and opened his palms to the sky. Otoko focused on his chakra network and following each and every pathway of his network from his center to each fingertip and down to his toes. He continued his deep breathing that he had started when he was approaching the training grounds, in through his nose and out through his mouth.

WC - 260
TWC - 521

Otoko continued this style of breathing for about 15 minutes focusing on his chakra network the entire time. The next step was to work on his chakra control, his favorite version of this was running up and down trees, he never felt more free when amongst the trees, Otoko always figured it was genetics. He stood up from his nice shady spot and did a couple stretches, bending down deep to touch his toes and releasing the stretch slowly as he came back up. He felt great and that his mind had been cleared, it was time to begin his training.

Otoko began moving extra chakra to his feet, once he felt he had moved the appropriate amount he took his first step up the tree he had been meditating under, as it was the largest in the training grounds. He decided to start slow this morning and just walked up at a nice relaxing pace, just to get the blood and chakra flowing. Once he reached the top he took a moment to take in his surroundings, he closed his eyes as the breeze rustled the leaves around him. The white noise of the wind and leaves together was very serene and helped him to focus on his chakra control. Otoko turned around and walked back down the tree at the same pace he walked up it when he started. He continued up and down the tree at this pace for about 5 minutes before he picked up the pace.

WC - 251
TWC - 772

Otoko’s new pace was a jog, he made sure each step struck true before kicking his speed into high gear. He was now in an almost all out sprint up and down the tree. He felt the wind blow under his hat and past his ears, he came to a sliding stop and had to quickly grab his hat before it was blown off. He put his hat under his arm and wiped a bead of sweat that had formed at his brow. He took a deep breath and looked up the tree through the leaves and to the sky with a smile. He knelt down on the trunk before launching himself backwards to do a backflip off the tree and landed softly on the ground.

Otoko was feeling pretty great right now, his meditation had eased his mind and now his chakra training had ended he felt like he was in complete control. He looked around the training ground for some loose gravel or rocks. He found a few of varying sizes, some as small as the tips of his fingers and others that fit almost perfectly in the palm of his hand. He walked back over to his training tree and started making a pile of these pebbles and rocked next to his personal items. He went back to the wall and found a few more pebble sized rocks and then one that was about the size of a baseball. He added the new rocks to his collection and then carved a target into the trunk of the tree. He grabbed a handful of the pebbles first and then placed himself about 10 feet away from the base of the tree.

WC - 283
TWC - 1,055

Otoko rolled the pebbles in his right hand like he was getting ready to roll them at the tables, he was trying to get a feel for the pebbles and see if he could mold his chakra into them. He continued fidgeting with them and moving them all around his hand, he could feel the dust from the pebbles starting to cover his hands. He felt like he wasn’t getting a good feel on them and he could feel his chakra forming into his hand but not into the rocks. He wondered if he was doing something wrong or if there was some better way to get the results that he wanted. He remembered his father’s words in the back of his head, “be in the moment”. He looked down at his feet and he still had his boots on, he rolled his eyes.

“How am i supposed to be one with earth and really get into the moment if i can’t even feel the earth between my toes? What was I even thinking?”

While Otoko wasn’t typically one for jokes, especially during training, he couldn’t help but chuckle a little at himself, in light of what he found to be a moment of brief stupidity. He sat on the ground and removed his boots and socks, he walked over to the spot under the tree with the rest of his things and placed the boots down next to them. He turned and headed back to his spot in the middle of the training grounds.

“Alright, now we can begin!”

WC - 261
TWC - 1,315

Otoko closed his eyes and refocused his mind on the task at hand, molding his chakra into the pebbles and sending them into the target he made. While his eyes were still closed he widened his stance and sunk down a bit into a semi squatted position, he then began to work his feet into the ground digging into the earth ever so slightly. When he could feel the earth start to take the shape of his feet he very gently wriggled his toes, letting the dirt make its way between each toe. He opened his eyes and moved all the pebbles except for one from his right hand to his left hand. He continued to roll the pebbles around in his left hand and shift his feet in the dirt all the while maintaining his focus on the single pebble left in his right hand. He held his hand out so that his palm was facing the sky and the pebble was in the middle of his hand and as he focused on the pebble he tried moving his chakra into the pebble. The pebble kept from his hand and onto the ground.

Otoko smiled, “alright, now we are getting somewhere.” He grabbed a pebble from his left hand and again he started moving chakra from his hand to the pebble, this time though the pebble exploded. Otoko quickly closed his eyes to keep the dust from getting into them and coughed into his sleeve to get rid of the dust that he had accidentally inhaled. “Well let’s see if we can find that happy middle ground shall we?”

WC - 270
TWC - 1585

Otoko grabbed the next pebble from his left hand, he took a deep breath and focused solely on the pebble in his hand. He stopped moving his feet and toes and just held the remaining pebbles in his left hand still, he wanted to make sure that everything else he was doing wasn’t just a distraction as opposed to helping him. He began to move his chakra to his right hand and started molding his chakra into the pebble, while he was molding his chakra he kept the image of a perfect sphere in his mind. He then folded his fingers over the pebble and kept it enclosed in his fist, not putting immense pressure on the pebble but instead just letting it be sort of cradled. He rotated his fist so that the back of his hand was now facing to the right of him and his fingers the left, like he was holding a bo staff out in front of him. Some crumbs dropped from the bottom of his fist, he frowned as he thought he had destroyed another pebble, but upon opening his hand, he saw that he now had a pebble that was more rounded than it was before.

Otoko let out a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness! I thought another one disintegrated from too much chakra. I think I am starting to get the hang of this, I definitely need to get more practice on this though.” Otoko looked at the remaining pebbles in his hand and took note that there were three left. “Ok i got three more here let’s see how much further i can take this.”

WC - 274
TWC - 1859

Otoko took another deep breath, he smiled as he inhaled deeply letting the air fill his lungs, he stopped when he reached near the top of his breath and took a quick second deep inhale right at the top. This breathing technique was a technique his mother had taught him to help relax him and calm his mind. Otoko felt a wave of relief come over him as he released his breath and let himself sink into a relaxed pose. He grabbed one of the three remaining pebbles from his left hand and wrapped his fingers around the pebble in the same way he had done with the last one and imagined the perfect sphere again. He started molding his chakra into his fist again, this time instead of just letting the chakra flow to his hand he let it swirl around his moving in the way he wanted the pebble to be shaped. He could feel the pebble start to shave down to the shape envisioned in his mind, it became smoother and smoother as time passed by at what felt like a snail's pace. Otoko stopped molding his chakra into his hand and let his fist drop down to his side, he could feel the smoothness of the rock and as he let his fingers investigate the surface he couldn’t feel any kind of imperfection. He finally brought the rock up from his side and took a look at it to confirm what he already knew, it was a perfect sphere.

WC - 253
TWC - 2112

Otoko now had one perfectly spherical pebble, one rounded pebble, and two pebbles that needed to be shaped in his hands. He put the two perfect pebbles in his right pocket and separated the two imperfect pebbles into each hand, one into his right hand and the other into his left hand. He closed his fists around each pebble, trying to apply the same amount of pressure he did with the last pebble that turned into a perfect sphere. Chakra started flowing into each fist and he let the chakra again swirl around his hands enveloping the pebbles. He maintained an even chakra flow to each fist, focusing on matching the amount in each hand and moving it around at the same speed and in the same direction. He could yet again feel each pebble start to take shape, and when he reached what he felt was a good stopping point he opened both hands and evaluated each pebble. They looked almost identical however they were not perfect spheres, they more resembled his first rounded pebble, which Otoko was ok with.

Otoko let his hands drop to his sides and his shoulders relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief. “Well so far this has gone surprisingly well.” He moved the two newly shaped pebbles to his left hand and dug the other two pebbles out of his right pocket. He had two pebbles in each hand now and closed his hands into fists. “Ok let’s see if we can combine these pebbles together and make some larger rocks for me to mess around with.”

WC - 267
TWC - 2378

Otoko went through the same process he had multiple times previously during this training session, this time though instead of holding the rocks still in his fists he twirled them around each other. He no longer needed to envision a perfect sphere as the image was seared into his mind, staring at him from the inside out. He could feel the pebbles start to become one as they grew warmer and warmer from the friction. After about a minute he could no longer feel 2 pebbles; it was one solid rock in each hand. He didn’t stop molding his chakra though, he kept molding and trying to make sure the rocks were as smooth as he could make them. He finally got to a point where he felt it was ok to stop and he examined the rocks closely. Not a line or crack was on the surface of the newly formed rock and while the surface had some slight imperfections Otoko was happy with what he had accomplished.

He looked over at the tree where he had carved the target and looked back down at the rocks in his hands. “I feel like I accomplished quite a bit today and should probably stop at this point, but then what was the target for? Everything needs a purpose I suppose, I better not stop short.” Otoko rolled his neck around, moving his head in a circle. “What’s a little more training for today? No pain, no gain right?”

Otoko moved to be about 10 feet away from the tree and took a fighting stance with his right foot forward. He put his right hand out in front of him with one of his chakra molded rocks at the ready. He sent a force of chakra to his hand as quickly and strategically as he could to send the rock forward at the target. The rock flew forward toward the target and landed on the outer rim right about where you would find northeast on a compass. He got ready with the second rock but took a moment to get his bearings and figure out how he could direct the rock more precisely.

WC - 362
TWC - 2740