Round 2

Ten was back at the training fields for another stint.He was feeling confident about how things were going so far since arriving in Kirigakure. He made it past the academy way earlier than anticipated. He now had a shiny new Kiri headband to call his own for his efforts. He tied it securely around his neck to protect his throat and it just felt right there. The combo of his headband and shiny black new Ronin robes had him feeling sharp and official.

His new appearance and status was a far cry away from those rags he grew up in. Things were finally looking up for the young swordsman. He was finally free from his master's clutches with a new sword on his back, and his faithful Katana returned to his right hip. Tenizen was standing on cloud nine right now and nothing could bring him down! It was weird for him to constantly feel so happy. It was not a feeling he was accustomed to! His whole life had been nothing but harsh training and killing! Nothing about his childhood had happy vibes

Things are changing now. Things were trending in the right direction but he could’y get complacent. Now that Tenizen was a Genin, he needed to be prepared for anything. The village would eventually assign him his first mission soon and it was important he did well on it! Failure was not something he could tolerate. To get stronger he needed to pick up where he left off in his training and push his boundaries further than he ever had before. Last time he was training here, he started to tap into a state of mind and rhythm that greatly increased his combat effectiveness. His master used to call this enhanced state Total Concentration Breathing.

Ten had been taught the basics of controlling his breathing ever since he was a baby. It was the most basic principle to mastering the sword. His master would have him spend hours just doing breathing exercises. His lung capacity was pretty good but he could just never get the feel for the actual technique the way it was meant. Now that he knew what it felt like he was sure he could replicate and perfect the Total Concentration Breathing again.

He started his training with a quick warm up session. He began with some meditation and light breathing exercises to relax his body and open up his airways. He tried to let the oxygen permeate into every cell of his body. He could feel it flowing in his blood and energizing his very being. He worked on taking deeper and deeper breaths to expand his lungs and take in more and more air. His little chest puffed out and made his small frame look way too muscular. It was borderline comical. After an hour of these warm up exercises he felt like his breathing training was complete. At this point in time he was the most comfortable and under control of his breathing that he had ever been in his entire life. A couple quick stretches later to warm up his body and he was finally ready for the real training.

In order to achieve Total Concentration Breathing, Ten needed to replicate the feeling he had last time when he was training. So the young warrior did as he did in the previous training session and conjured up a mental image of his old master. The muscular giant looked fierce and noble, his hulking frame hard as steel.  The assholes long curly blonde hair was flowing around him with a certain type of style, making him look wild and unhinged. His presence radiated the same unstoppable aura that it did in real life. Ten got apprehensive for a split second even knowing that it was an imaginary opponent. Ten quickly shook it off and drew both of his blades.

The fight started with the two warriors circling each other for what must have been a good five minutes straight. Each was carefully reading their opponent and just relaxing into the groove of the moment. With unspoken words the warriors decided that was enough and charged forward with blinding speed. Ten weld both of his Katanas firmly in each hand to meet his master's own Katana Steel clashed against steel with blinding sparks going in every direction every time the the blades made contact. The ferocity at which the two exchanged strikes was ludicrous.

The battle went back and forth for what seemed like ages. Ten contorted and twisted like a tornado with strike after strike. His small and nimble frame bounced around as they exchanged attacks faster than most eyes could see. It was hard to tell how long the battle went on for. To Tenizen it felt like each passing moment was playing out in slow motion. Nothing existed but the dance between the two swordsmen. Each move was carefully thought out and well executed. Tenizen basked in his own improvement. He couldn’t wait for the day when he would get to fight his master for real.

His technique was more refined and his control over his body had improved greatly since joining Kirigakure. He felt a sense of calm and confidence with every move he made. Ten was improved, but he felt guilty for the lesser version of his master that he created in his mind. His real master would have beat him the moment he picked up his blade if he was being serious about it. The gap in skill, experience, and raw power was just too great between them. Tenizen was skilled but his master was pure genius with a sword. The two were not even in the same league. The reminder of how weak he was in comparison to his master  was infuriating to Tenizen,though not as infuriating as feeling guilty for the man who tortured him in the first place.

This newfound aggression seemed to fuel Tenizens movements. It coarsed through every fiber of his being. He didn't let the anger overwhelm him, but instead empower him along with the oxygen in his lungs. As the fight raged on, Tenizen began to enter that familiar trance-like state. Things seemed to slow down even further for the boy. His movements became more graceful and fluid. There was almost zero wasted energy or actions in his movements. His mind was completely blank, aware of only the fight that was unfolding in front of him. He almost felt like his body was not his own anymore. He was a puppet and his fighting spirit was controlling him from behind the scenes.

The imaginary duel carried on throughout the day. Neither side could defeat the other or even land a clean strike. They just continued to press each other from one side of the training field to the other and then back again. Each passing moment he understood his body better and better. He could feel and control how his breathing affected his entire body. Thanks to the academy he had a better understanding on how to utilize his chakra now also. It was during one particular clash where Ten had a breakthrough. He finally understood how to harmonize his breathing, chakra, and mind. Once he achieved this the three melded together into a new energy source. The result was an incredible boost to his speed and chakra.

The level at which his speed increased was nearly immeasurable. It took a lot of practice and adjusting in his movements to compensate for the differences in his speed. It wasn’t long before he got the hang of it and when he did he couldn't be more pleased with himself. He was so fast that he was zipping around and causing havoc for his fake foe. This version of his master couldn’t keep up with Ten’s twin blades and agility. His small frame and rapid movements made his attacks unpredictable and hard to follow. During one clash Ten parried one of his master's blades to the side in a decisive moment with one blade, and with the other he was able to leave a thin slash across his cheek with the other. Ten unfortunately knew his real master wouldn’t be marked with even that level of attack. Still, Ten was pleased with this awesome new level of power. It was intoxicating and left him craving more.

Ten could only hold Total Concentration Breathing for a few minutes at a time. After that his lungs would start to feel like they were going to burst and he would immediately want to pass out. A few times he started to see white spots and was forced to take a knee to stop and rest. Being pushed to his limits and constant repetition of the jutsu unknowingly began changing his body. A new skill manifested and permanently altered his physique for the better! His body was just operating differently now. He recovered unnaturally quickly between clashes and moving around just took less energy in general.

His improvement could be measured every time he used the Total Concentration breathing Technique Each successive time he used it he felt like there was less strain on his lungs and he could hold it for longer durations. His body adapted to the technique quickly and it became and wielding it became simple for him as regular breathing. Total Concentration Breathing just felt so natural to him now, It’s like his body was designed for this one sole technique!

A few people had come and gone during his training but it was mostly quiet throughout the training facility. Every now and then some Kiri ninja would stop and gawk at how someone so young was so fast and skilled before making their way to their own training field. He hated the thought of putting on a show so he tried to pretend like  he didn't notice them staring at him. Tenizen decided to give up his duel all together for now and return back to the basics.

He used his newfound Total Concentration Breathing  and started to practice the forms  and stances his master taught him. To his surprise they just felt different now! No longer were the forms just basic sword movements, they were so much more than that! It was a marriage between his mind,body, and chakra! It felt like until this moment he never really understood the sword techniques he had been practicing his entire life!

Tenizen instictively began to infuse his blades with fire chakra. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing, it just felt right! When he combined fire chakra with his new breathing skill, the true and magnificent power of flame breathing was revealed to him. It was uncontrolled and limited due to his inexperience, but was still extremely potent. He felt like he could destroy small armies with just his swords and his flames. The raw force of flame breathing was something to behold!

His lack of control over this new power reminded him just how far he still had to go to being the greatest swordsman. His lack of skill and control of chakra was made painfully obvious. This was clearly his greatest weakness as a ninja and a warrior in general! His poor control made it incredibly difficult for him to maintain the flames throughout his different forms. More than once he lost the technique altogether when attempting it. He would have to refine his control and relearn how to fight all over again with these new skills.. Hundreds if not thousands of hours of training laid in front of him to achieve this. The task was daunting. It reminded him of when he was a child first learning how to wield a sword all over again.

He went down the lines on the different forms he knew to test his proficiency in each move. Each form had a different weakness he would have to improve upon to make them viable. He couldn’t use any of them in combat nor was he trying to fully master each one at this moment. Instead he was just getting comfortable with flame breathing as a whole! He wanted the action of molding fire chakra and infusing it into his techniques to be as natural and seamless as possible. He needed to be able to do it subconsciously and at will even under the most stressful of circumstances. Only then would it actually be suitable for a life or death battle.

Control was something he was really struggling with. He was inexperienced using chakra and he was paying the price for that now. Multiple times he would lose control and cause the flame to explode out of control and spread out violently all across the training grounds. He was collecting multiple burns all across his hands and mouth, and his new robes had already started to get charred and tattered around the sleeves from the backlash of the flames. The blades of his katanas were now glowing cherry red from repeatedly being heated up.

Tenizen embraced the minor injuries he accumulated with pride. He had tried for almost ten years to mimic his master's flame breathing technique to no avail. He was reminded every day just how inadequate and unworthy of the technique he was. His lack of flames was the greatest barrier between him and further improvement as a swordsman. He could go through all the forms in his sleep but he could never get the actual flames to manifest. He felt like he had plateaued before, and for the first time in a long time, he could finally see the path to getting stronger!

When the sun started to set, Ten made the command decision to stay at the training facility overnight. He was utterly exhausted from training all day but he just wasn’t ready to call it yet. He felt like he was on the verge of something special. His body was close to a new pinnacle of perfection. He kept telling himself that he had to train even harder if he was going to be the best in the world! There was no time to relax or get complacent! He was a Genin of Kirigakure now! There was not a second to waste if he wanted to survive the missions to come! More importantly, he had to be strong enough to kill his master! He had to make that bastard pay for his sins no matter what! That is all that really matters in the end!

Since he was staying all night, Ten took a quick moment to heat up some stew and calm the burning pit of anger that had just started to form. He instinctively used his new flame breathing to light the fire. A giddy smile came across his face at using his new skill. This small act alone made him feel a lot better about life. He wanted to be efficient with his time so he took a quick power nap while the food was warming up. He hated wasting this time but he would need to rest at some point anyway. His body's newfound ability to recover automatically could only carry him so far. By recharging now he should be able to train all through the night without needing to stop. His body needed a quick respite from the vigors he put it through all day anyway.

Tenizen awoke when the food was done and enjoyed a quiet and peaceful dinner. He made sure to hydrate and return his body and blades back to peak performance. At this point  everybody had left the training field and Ten was all alone. When he was done eating he resumed his image training in peace once again. The quiet made it that much easier to enter tht familiar meditative stance.

His control with Total Concentration Breathing had come a long way since he first started practicing earlier this morning. His practice of flame breathing all day had unknowingly increased his overall lung capacity drastically, Breathing in general felt easier and seemed to just naturally energize him now. He felt like he could now fight for weeks without getting tired. The difference from when he got here today and now was astronomical.

Ten resumed his imaginary duel with his old master. This time Ten tried his best not to mentally nerf his opponent. He wanted to be challenged and pushed. One day he would have to face his master in battle so it would be beneficial to portray him accurately. He had hundreds of ruthless one sided battles to draw upon. He spent every day of his life just trying to survive his master onslaught, and if it wasn't him then it was one of his four generals!

When the fight started, Ten’s body felt so light and free. It was like he had been carrying a bunch of weight his whole life that he was finally set free of.  He nimbly wielded his twin blades with lightning quick attacks and impressive swordplay. As the two swordsmen exchanged blows he struggled to gain any headway in the match, but thanks to his breathing, he felt that he could evade rather effortlessly with his enhanced agility. Tens acrobatic and twin blade approach was able to keep his master off balance enough to continue to prolong the fights. He wasn’t strong enough to win but he could survive! That would have to be good enough in this test of endurance.

The full benefits of using Total Concentration Breathing in this fight were made apparent to the young swordsman right away. He never could have trained this hard for so long before this morning! Ten quickly realized that if he really wanted to advance from here, he would need to greatly increase his stamina and endurance so that he could breathe better. Everything about how he fights relied on his breathing. All of his techniques depended on the fact that he wasn't winded and his body did not fail him when at its most exhausted! The Total Concentration Breathing technique is the cornerstone move he trained his entire life to master. It was the most important move in his arsenal that every other technique builds off of. It was crucial for him to have a decent foundation to build upon.  

Ten decided that he would fight non stop all through the night to increase his endurance. It wasn’t going to be easy! Just avoiding this new and improved version of his master for mere moments was going to be a struggle. Fighting and avoiding him all through the night would be nigh on impossible, at least it would be if this fight were happening in real life! That was still the exact type of challenge that Tenizen needed in order to push his limits! He would much rather face a real opponent for a challenge but you gotta work with what you go! This mock fighting style was doing just nicely so far.

The fight would go in long stretches that tended to repeat themselves with varying differences. First Tenizen would attempt to strike, his master would block or evade, and then Tenizen would spend the next couple minutes dodging and parrying for his life just trying to stay alive. It would always end with his master finally getting through his guard in a brutal fashion and killing him in one decisive blow! If it were real, Tenizen probably would have died a thousand different times during the night. Ten mentally kept track of each time his master would have bested him.His pride hurt and he truly felt like he had died because the match was so intense. He tried to learn from every loss and was determined to never lose the same way twice.

He was improving quickly in terms of speed and technique, but his master was clearly the superior swordsman. It wasn’t even close really. They had similar styles but they couldn't be more different as fighters. His master used slow powerful strikes with his massive frame, where Ten was kind of like a mini pinball bouncing all around erratically with his two swords. They both used flame breathing through Tenizen’s was much less refined and perfected. It was an inferior form! His moves were not nearly as crisp as his masters and his timing wasn’t always perfect. This disconnect often put him in bad situations or ruined good situations mid fight. His master always capitalized on every mistake that he made.

He felt like he was always on the defensive in this fight. If he couldn't get stronger then this is how this fight would play out in real life. He would just end up getting killed and his revenge would be left unclaimed. He embraced this feeling of feeling weak and helpless. He knew those feelings all too well. He tried to shake the feeling but he couldn’t in this situation. His body was in full on survival mode like it always had been when he fought his master. It remembered the countless beatings it took at his hand. These bad feelings motivated him to keep going throughout the night. He relished in the challenge of trying to finally topple that monster!

The fight was so one-sided that he barely had time to think or react to anything thrown his way before it was already upon him! The fight was so intense that he sometimes forgot it was an imaginary encounter. To him it felt like it was actually happening! He could actually hear the sounds of the swords crashing together when they would clash. Imaginary sparks and flames mixed with real ones were sent flying everywhere. His muscles ached from fending off thunderous blows and blitzing all around. Just when he would start to get too comfortable he would keep ramping up the intensity of the training to not get complacent. He was training with everything he had!

The fight carried on all night as planned. To Tenizen it felt like an eternity creeping by. Time just moved differently on the battlefield. Every moment in each clash was slowed down in Tenizen’s state of hyper focus. The wear and tear from the arduous battle  started to accumulate across his body. After the first couple hours it became almost unbearable for him to continue. The high speed movements left his leg muscles cramping and spasming. Pain rippled through his muscles and they trembled from fatigue. His lungs burned from all the flame breathing plus natural exertion of moving around. Spots burned in his vision and he could feel blood bulging through a vein in his forehead. He may have taken more damage in a training session before, but this had to be the record for how hard he has ever trained in one session.

He wanted to quit multiple times throughout the night. He knew he could stop at any time and nobody would even know. All he had to do was leave and a nice warm bed would be waiting for him. Nobody was forcing him to keep training! For some reason he just couldn’t! He wanted to prove to himself that he could do what he challenged himself to do. Everytime he was close to his limit he would just dig deeper and push himself just a little further. He refused to quit! He told himself he would go the whole night and he wasn’t willing to walk that back. It was a matter of pride that he finished strong!

It wasn’t until he saw the first rays of light that he was willing to call it quits. When the morning light hit his face it warmed his body with sweet victory. He let the golden glow wash over him and  just allowed himself to collapse aggressively onto his knees. Relief slowly seeped into his aching muscles and he could finally relax and rest. A humongous grin split across his face knowing that he really did it, he made it all night! Tenizen must have laid there for what must have been an hour before he finally had the energy to pick himself up and get ready to go. He sheathed his blades and began his very strained victory walk out of the facilities.

As he made his way out he felt like he was a completely different person then when he arrived. His body was more efficient and he felt like his energy reserves had quadrupled. He was very proud of the progress he had made during this session! He had a long way to go for mastery of these skills, but just being able to use Total Concentration Breathing and Flame Breathing was a huge boost to his development. He still had a long way to go but it was definitely a step in the right direction

[Exit]

WC  4135

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