Round 4

Ten was starting to feel like the advanced training facility was where he lived when he was not on missions. He had spent more time here by far than the little rundown apartment that he called home! He was debating just moving his possessions over here since he was spending so much time training lately. It would save trips back and forth between missions and be more efficient in the long run. His comfy bed,shower, and meager kitchen was the only thing preventing him from seriously just making the switch.

He had come a long way in his development since he was here not so long ago practicing his wind release. Since then he had not only mastered wind release, but he was also able to incorporate the basics into his Total Concentration Breathing Style. It needed perfecting but it was definitely another step in the right direction. He was pleased with how far he had come, but he couldn’t afford to let up on the gas pedal now. He needed to keep all the momentum moving forward so he didn't slip backwards. So to keep pushing forward, he was going to practice something today beyond the scope of what any normal genin should be capable of, an Advanced Element known as Dust Release!

Ever since Ten set out to master the wind release he had been toying with the idea of learning Dust Breathing. From what he had heard h in stories, the Dust Release consisted of combining fire,earth,and wind nature chakras into one flawlessly destructive element. This perfect fusion then produces the dust release which is capable of disintegrating anything in its path that can't match its power. As a swordsman Ten found it difficult to think of anything more powerful than a sword style that can destroy everything it touches with ease! Its tantalizing appeal was too much for the young swordsman to resist! It would by far be the hardest challenge he has taken on to date, but he was looking forward to pushing himself further than he has ever gone!

He wished he had a Sensei to teach him how to do this but unfortunately he would have to figure this on his own. He had spent the majority of his free time lately trying to figure out how to mold his chakra evenly between all three elements. It was a real challenge avoiding one element completely overpowering one of the others and causing the whole molding process to get out of hand but he was slowly getting the hang of it. He had really just started to find a feel for it before starting his training today. It may be because he is a Sarutobi, but he found learning Dust release to be almost easier than learning the wind release. The problem was using it effectively with his Total Concentration breathing. Trying to breathe when your lungs are full of dust was such a pain in the ass! His lips were chapped and his tongue felt like he had been licking sand for hours straight.

This was his first real time trying to put that element he had been working on in theory into practice. He took his stance in the middle of the field and embraced the wind that violently whipped around him. Tenizen stood with both hands firmly gripped on just one of his seven katanas, the other six remained sheathed on various parts of his body. He held his out in front of him in a meditative statuesque-like stance while he mentally prepared for what came next. He let every cell in his body fill up with the three required chakra elements. It swirled within him and mixed together into Dust. He inhaled mightily and amplified the chakra’s existence with each breath using his Total Concentration Breathing. Just when he felt like his lungs were about to burst with dust chakra he pushed the chakra out of his body through the tenketsu in his hands and poured it into his blade. A cloud of black dust began to envelope his blade and swirled around it in a ghastly looking way.

Tenizen swung it around a few times trying to control the movement of dust to match the movement of his blade. Small chips were appearing in the metal of his Katana from his lack of control of the dust’s disintegration effect that it was having. Ten was constantly forced to readjust the amount of chakra he was putting out to avoid his blade from completely getting eaten up by his own infusion. His control over the skill was so feeble he had trouble preventing the damage. After just a couple moments he was forced to switch katanas to avoid completely ruining his weapons.

The length and power of the dust infused weapon was challenging to control and numerous parts of Ten’s pants and shirt had begun to have holes in it from where stray strands of dust release ate through them. At this point he was more likely to injure himself than his opponent if he tried using this jutsu in combat. Multiple times he lost control of the technique all together and the force from the three chakra elements going out of sync would send him flying across the training field.

This just won't do! It's going to take hours and hours to be able to do this without thinking. I need to speed this up if I want to be able to use the dust breathing style on my next mission or I'm going to run out of time.

Tenizen made the hand seals required and a shadow clone appeared on each side about two meters away. The clones each drew one of their swords and took up the same meditative stance the original had been using. Without further instruction the three Tenizen’s began to perform the dust infusion on their Katanas. In perfect unison their blades were surrounded by the wisp like smoke that was dust release chakra. All three Tenizen’s concentrated on perfecting the feel for both the infusion and just dust release in general.

The next couple hours consisted of Tenizen releasing his clones every fifteen minutes or so to absorb the experience they gathered and to catch his breath for about five minutes. Once he had reflected on the information the clones gathered then he would summon new ones to start all over again. The rate at which he was improving with this clone training style was much faster than it would normally be. His control grew strong enough that he stopped disintegrating his clones and could now mold the dust release into his breathing style pretty flawlessly and without much thought.

When the sun started to set Tenizen decided to finish out the day's training with a free for all three way spar between him and his two clones. Each clone used the dust infusion on their katana. Ever since he learned the clone jutsu, these little spars had become his absolute favorite way to train. There was no one better to push him to be better every moment constantly than himself. His desire to be great was a guarantee that his opponent would always be giving him his best! Ten maybe young, but he was already an incredibly skilled swordsman! His technique and ability to use multiple different breathing styles in battle made him a formidable foe. His clones could also help reveal the weaknesses in his technique and tighten up his style. It really was just the best way for anyone to train. Training in live combat with the dust release was also incredibly dangerous. One wrong move and he could lose a limb or even worse…his life! The power of an advanced element was on a whole different level then anything he had worked with previously!

The three Tenizen’s started their battle slowly to avoid any accidents. The battle quickly warmed up though and all three of them were parrying blows while switching off attacks between opponents. All three of them had a ridiculously wide grin across their face as they were all having the time of their life. A few times one of the clones would slip past his guard and cause a nasty slash along with some disintegration of skin and tissue. He would probably have a small collection of nasty scars from this but he didn't really care. He was glad, just glad to finally be able to do it! The road getting here was short, but it was full of bumps and struggles that he was proud to have overcome!

He didn't know if there was a single other person on the entire planet that self taught themselves how to not only use the dust release, but all three of the elements that make it up, and be able to use them all in conjunction with the Total Concentration Breathing style before the age of eleven! It was probably safe to say that he was probably some type of prodigy or something. He wasn’t about to slow down though, not for a single second! He needed to go further, faster than anybody ever had before him! He needed to be the best! The pace of his sparring picked up to his match his overflowing levels of determination.

As predicted on his arrival here, Tenizen skipped going home and trained all through the night. He got so caught up in sparring his doppelgangers that it just never really occurred to him to go to the little hut that was his home. This late night training was nothing new for him. Ten had found himself being more of a night owl anyway as of late. Luckily he was always bursting with child-like energy otherwise his missions would really start to suffer from his lack of rest! He just wanted to be confident that when he left here he could use at least one of the dust breathing forms and the dust breathing enhancer. With at least those in his arsenal on future missions this whole venture today would be considered a success.

His chakra levels were considerably depleted by now. Even with his breaks he took his whole body trembling from the exertion. It was really trying to learn the First Form: Fission Crescent that really took its toll on him. It was the most basic form but it required him to fire arc shaped blasts of dust chakra at high speed. Trying to improve his control and accuracy absolutely killed his energy reserves. Just standing now was agonizing! His nice kimono was in tatters and he looked like a homeless guy that was just violently assaulted. A thin film of dust and blood mixed together and coated his skin causing him to look way worse then he actually was!

When it was finally time to leave Tenizen had to limp his way out. He had a splitting headache from the lack of nourishment and constantly absorbing massive amounts of information at once from his clones. He felt like his skull was going to split in two while his muscles seared and pulsed with pain! He didn't know when his next would be but hopefully the village would not call on him too soon. He may have overdone it just a bit with the training, so hopefully he could make it home and clean up real fast while snagging a decent sized nap! Some rest and a decent meal was a necessity at this point after such an intense session!

WC 1922

claims:

Ten wrote:

WC 1922

claims:

Approved!