Gotta start somewhere [Training-Please Approve?]

After having spent the night and subsequent morning doing nothing, but reading his history books Nietzsche was itching to do something…anything. History fascinated Nietzsche to no end, but after having spent a long while reading he felt like exercising. As he walked outside the sun shone brightly in his eyes. For once it was not raining, which Nietzsche felt rather bad about; he liked the cool weather of Kirigakure it was soothing. Regardless he started out on his run. His path took him through the village. The village atmosphere made Nietzsche really wonder why this land has been called “the bloody mist”. Everything seemed so peaceful and, well quite frankly not so bloody. The residents were out and about in the marketplace pedaling all sorts of wares to the public. Children were playing tag and hid and seek in the streets. But, deep down Nietzsche knew there was a dark side to this happiness-there always was.

This darkness was brought into full relief as Nietzsche passed by the posters of the missing-nin. He read some of the names as he ran by: Vash Nakamura, Nasuke Neuroki and the list went on. He knew none of them, but their listed crimes were enough to make Nietzsche hate them. Clearing his mind Nietzsche picked up the pace as he passed the Mizukage’s place. Nietzsche had never seen the Mizukage. All he knew is that he came to the village and took his title by force.

Running onwards he finally reached the outskirts of the village and the real start of his endurance run. The environment quickly changed from urban sprawl to a forest of sparse bamboo. It was pleasant as he ran through a series of torii and over a small stream that trickled its way towards the sea. The whole forest smelled of damp rotting leaves. It was a nice smell.

As Nietzsche neared the shore the landscape changed drastically. It began to become more rocky and uneven. This part of the shore was covered with hardened lava, which made the beach glint and gleam in the sun. By now he had worked up a sweat. The sun’s rays seemed to grow in intensity as Nietzsche worked his way into a harder terrain that only increased in elevation as he ran onward toward his destination.

The sweat continued to drip down Nietzsche’s brow as he neared his destination. At last he arrived. It was a cold water spring far secluded from the world. It was a place his grandfather used to go right after Nietzsche’s parents died. The area held special meaning for Nietzsche. It also happened to be the perfect place to stop and rest for his trip back to the village.

While soaking in the spring Nietzsche’s mind wandered. He had progressed far in his quest to become a medical-nin. But, he knew he could go further. From his readings he had heard of one called Tsunade of the hidden leaf village who was a master medical-nin in the times before the eruptions. The falling darkness brought Nietzsche back to reality and he quickly got out of the spring and dressed.

He returned to his run settling into a nice sloping pace and taking the long way home. His detour took him by the seaside cliffs. Looking out towards the sea Nietzsche saw birds soaring over the azure sea. He then took the path that led straight home through some dense bushes. Upon arriving home soaked in sweat he figured he should look at a map to see how far he ran. Upon looked at his map he found that he had run 28 miles, though it did not feel like that much. But, this realization brought a wave of weariness over Nietzsche and after reading a chapter of his history book and taking a shower he fell contently into a world of dreams. (647, Stamina)

It was an odd morning the mist that rose from the land like a ghost. And filtered spears of light glinted through Nietzsche’s bedroom window. Nietzsche dragged himself out of bed only to make it halfway across the room to hear his alarm clock next to his bed. ‘Oh it’s going to be one of those days again…” he thought. Bounding back over to the alarm clock Nietzsche slammed the snooze button and walked lazily into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

After a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon strips Nietzsche pulled on his shoes and jacket and walked out the door. He then proceeded to set up an obstacle course reminiscent of an earlier one he had made, but this time with a few twists here and there. Nietzsche had set up the course right next to a bog and in fact the course went at times through the bog. The starting point was marked by a tall old knotted tree that seemed older than time itself and equally more battered.

Letting the cool morning air fill his lungs one more time he took off into a full sprint. His first obstacle arrived quickly it was a hurtle that took the form of a large fallen tree. Easily clearing the first three hurtles Nietzsche came to the last one of the hurtle section and quickly dived beneath it. The wet mud of the bog spread itself all over his back making a sloshing sound as he slid. Executing a roll he managed to regain his footing and kept running.

The next part of the coursed involved a quick transition of chakra use as the course went over both swamp and dry land at this part. Therefore Nietzsche was mindful to reduce his chakra output on the dry parts so as to not get thrown off balance. At one point he came dangerously close to falling face first into the ground, but luckily his forward momentum somehow kept him moving.

Next up was the flat out sprint. This part was an cinch Nietzsche was able to clear the last sprint in record time and come full circle to the finish / start line. Breathing heavily he leaned against the tree knotted to catch his breath. That was a good run, but glancing at his watch he knew he could do it faster. The next time four times in a row he was able to beat his record from the previous run each time. After the fifth time around he thought of a new challenge.

This new challenge was a daunting and seemed a near impossible challenge. He planned to run the course blindfolded. Before he put on the blindfold Nietzsche did a walk around the course. Taking in the smells and sounds. He could hear the bubbling of the swamp and smell the rotting debris in the swamp he could feel the hard and soft ground beneath his feet. At last he deemed himself ready as he would ever be.

“Alright here goes nothing” Nietzsche said under his breath as he cut off his sight with his headband. At first the whole world seemed different all he could see was vague splotches of light and dark. He stood still for what seemed like hours and then took off. He heard sounds all around him: the rush of the wind the sound of his footsteps the bubbling of the swamp. Feeling confident he jumped and hoped he had just cleared his first hurtle. He hadn’t hit anything yet so that was a good sign. After jumping thrice more and sliding Nietzsche came to the swamp and instantly got stuck. Pulling off his blindfold and dragging himself out of the muck he looked back. It seemed he had passed the first couple hurtles, but he failed to feel the ground in its entirety. “No matter I will work on this later” Nietzsche reassured himself.

Slightly dismayed he chose to stop for a quick lunch break. Walking back the start line he smiled and looked into the grey unchanging sky. Reaching his pack Nietzsche retrieved the sandwich he had packed and the large water canteen. Taking a large swig of water and a huge bite of sandwich Nietzsche sat content chewing and thinking. His thoughts went from subject to subject, but finally rested on his run yesterday when he had seen the missing-nin posters. Nietzsche wondered what that had been thinking when they left their village. Did they think they were doing the right thing? Nietzsche doubted that he would ever do that, but it did hold some appeal he had never left the land of water and he lusted for travel now that he had no family holding him down. And then his thoughts drifted back to the world around him.

The clearing he was in presented Nietzsche with another brilliant idea he could postpone his speed in running practice and work on attacking speed. Blowing up some balloons to practice chakra scalpel strikes Nietzsche plotted where each one would go. Half would be up high and the other half would be down low in the bushes. After he was done blowing up the balloons he placed them and went to the middle of the clearing.

Moving his chakra into his hands Nietzsche felt as he activated his chakra scalpels. It felt like each finger had grown longer by about an inch or two. Then with a blur of movement he advanced towards the first target. Pulling his hand up he jabbed the balloon straight out of the tree it was nestled in. then in mid air Nietzsche slashed the balloon in half. He than danced towards the next low lying balloon and kicked it up and slashed with a cross chop of sorts. Falling into a waltz of slashing and cutting Nietzsche danced on until he reached the last target, which he struck down with a jerk from his left hand. Retuning to the middle Nietzsche looked down at his watch and smiled he had finished in eight minutes.

To top off his day he practiced some sprints that pushed Nietzsche to his limit. He could feel the sweat dripping all over his body. At last his sprint times started to decline and he knew it was time to pack it up and go home. Though instead of a leisurely walk back home Nietzsche chose to sprint back home. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins and the sweat running down his brow. He felt free and like he could run forever and ever. Then at last he reached his humble home.

Before going in Nietzsche stripped off his shirt and threw it on the ground. He really needed to wash his clothes sometime soon, but that would have to wait. He walked inside and made a beeline to the shower. Nietzsche turned on the shower and just lay down letting the water cool his hot body. After ten minutes he hauled himself up and towards bed. He could skip diner all together. Either way Nietzsche doubted he could keep his dinner down if he tried. As he lay down to sleep his insides were twisting and jumping still caught in a sprint. (1205, speed)

Nietzsche’s lungs filled with warm sweaty air and his nose filled up with a salty sweat smell as he entered the gym. He didn’t really like going to the gym much at all, but his strength was severely lacking; so he put up with it. He walked towards the locker room and sat down on the long bench that stretched the length of the locker room. While pulling on his workout clothes and putting his silver hair into a short pony tail Nietzsche felt rather self conscious as the men around him had huge arm muscles that were larger than his legs, while his arms were hardly as big as their wrists. Moving quickly he went over to find some open ground to do some training.

Nietzsche took a deep breath and started an out with a couple sets of pushups. In his head Nietzsche counted: “one two three…one two three…one two three”. He continued pushing out rep after rep. Each of his arms burned after having done one hundred push-ups so he took a break. After sitting for a bit and trying not to be noticed Nietzsche moved on to sit ups. His core tightened and untightened as he worked each sit up to the max feeling as a burning sensation started to spread over his stomach. Finally at one hundred and fifty sit ups with his core burning Nietzsche stopped and took a water break.

Weaving his way between various weights and people Nietzsche made it to the water fountain. Leaning down he took a couple quick sips and then threw back his head allowing sweat to drip down his neck and hit his back. Taking a long sweeping look around the gym he found his next workout regime.

Approaching a human dummy Nietzsche watched for a bit as one ninja used a dummy for kunai practice while another used it for an intense barrage of taijutsu attacks. Nietzsche had no intention of doing either of these; he merely wanted to beat up a dummy and use up his strength. He approached the closest dummy and got into a fighting stance spreading his feet evenly apart and putting his arms at the ready in front of him.

Nietzsche then threw a punch at the gut of the figure before him. The impact only pushed the dummy back a foot or so. As the dummy swung back he delivered a swift kick aimed at the head, which knocked the dummy up a bit, but it promptly fell back in place with a defiant PLOP. Meanwhile Nietzsche saw the other dummy next to him go flying from the final move of the taijutsu user. Frustrated Nietzsche put more power behind his punches and kicks. He sacrificed speed and agility for solid hits that sent the dummy soaring back.

After half an hour of just kicking and punching his hands and feet were hurting. He quickly wrapped his hands up and decided to reincorporate speed into his attacks to make some combos. Nietzsche quickly kicked the dummy up and while it was in the air he delivered one quick punch that pushed the dummy back making it horizontal with the ground. And lastly Nietzsche quickly fired up his chakra scalpel and sliced into the dummy, which partially sliced it open spilling sand everywhere.

Quickly distancing himself from the now ruined practice dummy Nietzsche walked towards the weights. Not being the biggest fan of weights Nietzsche shied away from the heavier ones opting to lift the lighter weights. Laying down on the bench he pushed out some reps of bench press. He could feel his arms pumping blood up and down and he could see his arms swell as his muscles contracted and loosen as they retracted. After five reps of ten Nietzsche put down the weight and went over to the wall for his last bit of strength training.

He pushed himself against the wall and started a ten minute long wall sit. At nine minutes Nietzsche’s thighs burned like an undying fire and at last the ten minutes was up he slouched against the wall and just sat there for a while. Ten minutes passed in what seemed like a dream. He got up and did another ten minutes of wall sits. As he finished his last set he stumbled back to the locker room.

Stripping off his clothes Nietzsche walked to the shower and turned it on letting the warm waterfall down him like waterfalls. He finished showering and dried himself off. Nietzsche then promptly slipped into some nice dry clothes and pulled on his jacket walking swiftly out of the gym into the cool night air. He made his way home with his legs stinging a bit and his knuckles still bleeding from punching. Not even bothering to heal himself Nietzsche feel into a deep sleep as he lay nestled in his bed. (814, strength)

It was the morning and the sun was just peaking over the land of water. Nietzsche had just woken up and was eating breakfast while deciding what to do that day. He could train some more, but that was boring and he could feel his body aching from continuous training. “I really need a change of pace,” thought Nietzsche to himself as he gazed into his backyard.

The backyard used to have a garden when Nietzsche’s grandfather was alive, but in the time since it has become overrun by weeds and a tenacious thorn bush that had suffocated life from the former garden. Sighing Nietzsche opened his back door and walked out into the lifeless garden. He resolved then and there that he would bring the garden back to its former glory. It would be his “training” for that day.

Retuning to his house Nietzsche pulled on some shorts and a short sleeve shirt. He also grabbed a pair of training gloves he had never used before. He had never gardened that much before, but he figured the first step would be to get rid of the noxious thorn bush. Gathering chakra into his right hand he ignited his chakra scalpel. Advancing toward the bush Nietzsche brandished his scalpel like a over glorified weed cutter.

He started from the top down, because the bush had grown so much that it was impossible to reach the roots just yet. With each slice small thorn laden branches fell on the ground around him. The sun at that point was beating down on Nietzsche’s back so he removed his shirt. To Nietzsche’s chagrin he found that the thorns had begun to get to him. Small droplets of blood formed on his skin. His right arm burned. There must have been a latent poison on the thorns that the plant produced. Luckily Nietzsche found that he could endure the pain and keep attacking the bush.

After two hours of hacking and bleeding Nietzsche reached the roots, which he quickly removed and promptly heaved the roots into his neighbors yard. “Hopefully they wont notice that that was me” hoped Nietzsche. The yard was one step closer to being cleaned up. At this point though it looked like Nietzsche had been punctured by thousands of needles, which he effectively had been. The points of blood all stung as Nietzsche worked but for the most part he kept working moving towards the snake infested pond area.

A small koi pond had become a residence for a nest of snakes, which had eaten the koi and now lived off rats and mice that happened to stray too close. Nietzsche took this on as his next task: clear out the snakes. He had no real plan to kill the snakes; it was unnecessarily cruel. So he grabbed his shirt and a canvas bag he approached the nest.

Getting closer he could hear a loud hissing. Nietzsche sincerely hoped the snakes were not poisonous. Holding the shirt so it covered his hands he reached into the den and retrieved one snake, which he hastily shoved into the canvas bag, “Ok first one out…only about a bazillion more to go,” thought Nietzsche dismayed. Reaching back into the dark den he quickly withdrew his hand with a snake hanging on it. “OWWWW” yelled Nietzsche “Fricking snakes!”. Nietzsche shook his hand up and down inside the canvas bag until the snake let go and flew into the bag with a hiss. Pulling the shirt off his hand Nietzsche looked at his hand.

The bite had gone in pretty far for such a small snake. He thought he could see the bone, but was not sure about that. Though he did not bother to heal it with his medical jutsu it would drain him too much. So he simply kept up on removing snakes. Forty-five snakes and ten snake bites later Nietzsche had removed all the snakes and released them deep into the forest.

The garden had begun to take shape after taking out the last of the thorn bushes and snakes. All that was left was some weeding and general tilling of the small plots of land. Before setting to work Nietzsche bandaged his bitten hands and stared pulling weeds. Each weed seemed more tenacious than the last one. Some had irritating pollen, which made Nietzsche have a long spell of sneezing, but finally after having accidentally pulled up a patch of nettles that now dug into his hands he called it s day.

Nietzsche stood up in the twilight air and looked around and saw he had done well. The garden had more or less been cleared out. He would plant it another day. For now he went inside and took a shower and slowly massaging his body, which hurt like no other from the various bites and bruises he had received that day. He went to bed laughing: who would have thought gardening could be so taxing? (words: 827, health)

(bump can someone approve the last five posts?)

Approved, sorry about the wait.

+7 Health

+3 Stamina

+6 Speed

+4 Strength

+20 Jutsu Points