My Strength... [Closed, SC Training]

Age : 29 Posts : 3640

Improved Endurance SC; 500 words needed:

With great power came great responsibility. Kimiko was highly aware of that, as she had been ever since becoming a Chuunin of her village. Since then, an expanse of at least six years had passed, and now she was at the most coveted rank aside from Hokage, Sennin. Such was her strength that she was on par with the Hokage, being S-Ranked and one of the strongest on offer within the village. But could she stop there? Goodness no. She had to withhold her great position in power within Konoha, and keep getting stronger because of that. As such, she had requested a small period away from her duties in order to train in seclusion to better herself and become an even better shinobi capable of so much more.

That was how she found herself in the Fire Country, in the middle of nowhere, stood in a clearing preparing herself to train. For a long time, she was aware that she was able to take hits much better than most other shinobi of her rank and power level, and as such she had decided to specifically train her body to become even more immune to such things. That would require a great amount of physical training for her to be ready, and a great amount of endurance work to get her heart pumping to toughen her body from the inside out. She started her routine with a brisk jog around the clearing, controlling her breathing and letting every muscle work itself in this little warm-up. She didn’t wish to go pulling a muscle before her training could well and truly begin now, could she? She continued this circuit of the clearing, whose radius exceeded a mile or more, for an hour until she felt like she was well and truly stretched out. Or rather, her legs were well and truly stretched out. For the first step of this training, she wouldn’t need any assistance; only her own determination and physical exercise. When she wished to take it to new levels, however, she would need someone to try and wear her down, to continue pushing at her until she could take no more. She wished to fight when nobody else could, being able to go on beyond a normal human’s capacity.

The jog had not taken that much out of her, but she felt a little short of breath. This was nothing that a quick breather couldn’t fix, and she did so readily, taking deep breaths and focusing her gaze at a spot ahead of her, a particular tree to help gain her centre and her focus. ‘This won’t be too hard… no… all I need to do is stay focused and keep doing this… the physical exercise will help get me ready for everything else there is to come.’ She told herself, a miniature mental pep talk of sorts before she jogged to the other side of the clearing, where her gaze was fixed. From there, she started doing shuttle runs across to the opposite side, and back again, repeating this exercise until she felt her lungs burn with the over exhaustion. But she didn’t stop there. After returning from the umpteenth shuttle run, she started on a number of cardiovascular exercises, focusing also on her strength, utilising push-ups, crunches, sit-ups and lunges.

She wasn’t alien to such exercise, especially since her father had put her through all of this and more after graduating as a new Chuunin. During that training, she had learnt a lot about her body’s physical condition, and about how she seemed to be able to do more than most would. She wasn’t unbelievably physically strong, nor fast, but her body could take a lot more punishment and continue on for much longer than others. This was one of the numerous factors that separated her from the rest of her breed, from the rest of the shinobi crop. She resumed her sprints again, only this time she made it more difficult by stringing two large sections of log together over her back, holding onto them on either side while she pushed herself to run faster, to run further, and to push her limits that would have otherwise broken.

She dumped these logs and replaced them with heavier ones, continuing her exhausting workout in spite of her body long since telling her to give up the ghost, have a drink of water and chill out for a little while before continuing. She couldn’t do that in a real life or death situation, so she wouldn’t shirk her training until she was satisfied with the way she had progressed. Eventually, after hours of the intensive physical workouts she pushed herself through, the shuttle runs, sprints, long-distance runs, weight lifting and strength exercises, she collapsed back onto the cool grass below, chest rising and falling. Much to her delight, her stamina was already returning, and a small grin plastered itself on her face.

“Time for the next level…”

Word Count: 829/500

Age : 29 Posts : 3640

Greater Endurance; 1000 words needed to train:

She groaned as she lifted herself up from the ground, feeling her muscles already beginning to ache… which didn’t bode well for the rest of her training or the previous days. You knew you were in trouble if it started aching before the day after. Kimiko took a deep breath and surveyed the clearing once more, taking in its dimensions and finally nodding to herself as if she had found a solution to her earlier problem. Not the aching problem, but the issue of how she was going to push her limits even further for the sake of her endurance. She had decided to train in seclusion for a reason, and hadn’t brought anybody along with her. So who else could help her aside from the creatures that she had at her disposal at hour of every day? She flashed through a string of hand seals, ending with exposing one of her sharpened canines to slit the pad of her thumb and slammed that palm down to the ground. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!” She called out as a black seal weaved its way onto the earth from her doing. A large poof of smoke appeared over the seal, and as it dissipated, it was revealed that her only female Lion summoning at present was stood on the spot. The lioness was composed and calm as usual, and Kimiko was left wondering whether there was ever a bad time for the female lion to be summoned. Somehow, she wished to catch the lioness in the middle of a shower or something. But she was always ready for duty, which was an admirable feat.

“You called, Kimiko-hime?” Miwa bowed lowly before her summoner, emphasising the skilled craftsmanship that went into her burnt orange kimono that she wore as of late. Her tail swished gently, the green material of her Konoha headband flapping in the slight breeze. Although the ebony-haired young woman was always so irritated by the use of such formality, she let it slide for now as she smiled at her lioness companion. “I have a request for you, Miwa-chan. As you know, I’ve recently become a Sennin, and well, I need to train more in order to uphold this title of mine.” She paused, letting all of this sink in thus far. Upon seeing the nod from the lioness, she took a deep breath and continued. “I’m aware of my endurance being slightly more advanced than others, and I want to build on that. So… you come into this equation by coming at me with all you’ve got, and I’ve got to fight through all of it.” Explanation done, she let her body relieve some of the tension that had built up while speaking. She didn’t like asking for the aid of anybody when she was training, but at least with her summons she couldn’t hurt them like she could hurt any other human training partner. This was of course a huge bonus for her. She was always scared of hurting those she trained with, and this way, she wasn’t able to hurt Miwa.

The lioness nodded slowly in understanding, offering a small fangless smile as she bowed once more. Through this non-verbal motion, she had accepted everything and took it calmly in addition, turning and walking a fair distance away from her master. She narrowed her amber eyes on her new target, the new prey that she would have to aim to take down no matter what the cost. It had been asked of her, and she would comply no matter what the circumstances. Although Kimiko had a new resistance to Katon and the nature of fire, there was only one level it could extend to, right? Miwa had to be able to wear down her summoner and cause injury that would have to be fought through, correct? The Katsumi hoped so, as she sunk low into a fighting stance, showing that she was prepared for whatever was to come at her. She couldn’t dodge, she could only accept the hit head-on and see how she would deal with it. So that was how it all started.

One after another, fire jutsu came barrelling at her. Kimiko stood entirely still, her body immune at first. Slowly, however, with the more heat that was applied, she could feel the effects getting to her. From the midst of a huge fiery explosion created by her summon, Miwa charged straight for her, fangs bared and claws out ready for a close-combat fight. The ebony-haired Sennin raised her arms to counter the first strike, aiming to rake a claw down her face. Instead, she was left with a gash weeping blood on her left arm. She wheeled backwards to avoid a strong animalistic kick, grabbing hold of her summon’s leg and aiming to punch the lioness square in the jaw. Instead, she had her whole fist caught in the lion’s deadly jaws, fangs sinking down painfully into the skin and nearly reaching the bone. Kimiko raised a knee to the lion’s ribcage, forcing it to let go of her fist without tearing anymore flesh than was absolutely necessary. She puffed and panted, already worn down by her earlier training to get her warmed up for this fight. The bleeding didn’t faze her, and nor did the burn wounds that were already solidifying across her body and making it hard for her to move. She simply ripped them open with a huge surge of strength, aiming to combat Miwa in close proximity and still come out on top. The pair of them fought, firing off jutsu and using close-combat strikes for the good parts of three hours straight.

The ebony-haired woman gasped for breath, eyes wide as she focused on her current opponent, otherwise her companion in normal fight situations. She had gained yet more scratch and bite wounds, more burn wounds and strikes caused by blunt impacts. Yet, somehow, she was still standing. The wounds didn’t seem to bother her as she continued ploughing ahead, crying out as her fist broke past the lioness’s defences and caught her unaware, sending her spiralling back. Miwa laid sprawled out on her back, catching her breath as she chuckled a little to herself. “So how was that… master…” She breathed, slowly righting herself and sitting up on her hindquarters just as her summoner collapsed in a similar fashion, raising her head to the sky while panting to try and catch her breath. “Perfect…” Kimiko smiled in spite of the pain she was experiencing, one eye closed as blood dripped from a wound inflicted on her cheek. After chatting some more with the female lion summon, she returned her home once more and then started making preparations for the night, having decided to call it a day. There was no way she could fight in her current achy state. She bandaged herself up roughly, using the quickly fading light as a guide in order to do so. With that, she passed out for a long sleep, repairing herself ready for the morrow.

Word Count: 1174/1000

Age : 29 Posts : 3640

Iron Endurance; 1300 words required:

Tenacity was one of Kimiko’s greatest strengths; the ability to keep going no matter what the circumstances that arose. This would be greatly aided now she had started down the path of endurance training, she knew it. It was a good sign that, when she awoke the next day, her body wasn’t aching all over like it been previously after her workouts. The wounds were still present, of course, but they weren’t painful. Just merely there. She spent a short amount of time re-doing the bandaging on every wound she had sustained, and after that was done, she went to prepare herself properly for the day. Washing her face and the rest of her body with great care, she dried herself off on a towel she had brought with her, and dressed in comfortable loose clothing that would aid her in her training; nothing more than a basic red tee, a pair of cropped grey slacks and basic dark blue shinobi sandals. Her long ebony locks were tied up in a high ponytail to keep them off her face and out of her way in the same fell swoop, and before long she had started her routine all over again. This time, she summoned out Tadashi to aid her. He was the biggest and burliest of her summons, and he would most likely be able to help her in this training now that she was so set on it. She could feel that she had managed to surpass two imaginary levels and was slowly getting better, so why should she stop now? She was ahead and she wouldn’t quit, not until she was satisfied with the results.

Tadashi comprised a very physically taxing workout for her to complete, starting off with sprints and a whole circuit of strength-based exercises. Using his weapons and other hastily thrown materials, he made up some weights and the like, and brought some of the equipment he used from the Lion Realm to aid them both. “FASTER! STRONGER! BETTER! NO SLACKING!” He bellowed at her in his deep, manly voice every time he saw her to be ‘taking a break’. He used his chain whip to motivate her, cracking it at her feet and earning a startled yelp every time. She quickened her pace, making five circuits of the training ring that Tadashi had set up for her. Only then was he satisfied and allowed her to rest briefly, drinking some water but otherwise not doing a whole lot. She wasn’t allowed to sit down for she wouldn’t get back up again, so she stood drinking clean water from the springs in the area. She knew it well; after all, she had been here first to train with her father when she first graduated as a Chuunin. “So… how am I doing?” She asked between breaths and sips of water, eventually unscrewing the top from the bottle and pouring it all over herself instead, liking how cool it was and how it cooled her down pretty well.

He gave her one of those looks that were hard to read, his amber eyes narrowed and his strong jaw set in a small frown. That initial look of distaste turned into one of satisfaction quickly, however, as he barked with laughter and smirked. “Not bad for a human.” He commented, patting her on the back briskly with one of his huge paws. She almost fell over if it wasn’t for her balance being regained at the last second, and she laughed weakly along with him. The manly lion was enjoying this far too much, she decided… There wasn’t much time for rest, as not long after she had emptied the contents of her water bottle over her forehead to cool herself down, Tadashi decided that her slacking should cease and she should get back to a new circuit. This time, he set up an entirely cardiovascular circuit. She had to make rounds of the clearing, first power walking to regain her breath and warm up again slowly. After two laps of power walking, she had to jog slowly for three laps, jog quicker for three laps, run for four laps and sprint for five laps. Just when she thought she had finished the hell called cardio, she was given Tadashi’s chain whip and ordered to skip for half an hour straight. So not only did she have to do the exercise, she would be punished physically for failing as the whip was full of sharp notches. With a small whimper of annoyance and pain that was sure to come if she got tired, she got started, controlling her breathing as best she could in spite of just completing five laps of flat-out sprinting. This was ridiculous, surely? She was first told to keep count of the number of jumps she completed, but she had lost count very quickly indeed. Her lion summon reclined lazily on a pile of his makeshift equipment, occasionally shouting encouragement.

“GO ON! PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT! YOU CALL THAT SKIPPING? I CAN SKIP BETTER WHILE SLEEPING!”

If it could be called as such… eventually, she finished the gruelling exercise and threw the chain whip at her ‘instructor’ rather violently to express just how fed up she was with this part of the endurance training. At least with fighting she could get rid of the pent up irritation she was feeling for her summon’s absolute lack of care for those he was training. Tadashi grinned as he dodged the flying chain whip, grabbing the handle with one huge paw without even looking at it. “That’s good. We need that fire!” He claimed with a loud booming chuckle, allowing Kimiko a quick break before their fighting started. While she was stood, drinking from another bottle of spring water, he gave her a run-down of how she had been doing. He actually went as far as to compliment her endurance already, and that even he would struggle with a training exercise this ‘manly’. She wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or irritated for her being likened to a man, but she decided to let it go… for now. Instead, she focused on catching her breath and rehydrating herself. She had been completely unaware of her wounds while doing the numerous circuits set up for her, which was a good thing. She could ignore pain and continue functioning, which she was very proud of. She actually finished this bottle of water, feeling as if she would need the extra hydration for what was to come. She was fully aware of Tadashi’s exemplary performance in close combat, and that meant she would have to be ready for everything and anything.

They stood a few metres apart, with Kimiko once again having to go on the defensive. This was for her training, after all, and she had to learn how to deal with wounds that would otherwise incapacitate other shinobi, so she would have to take a lot of hits for this to happen. She stood ready regardless, watching as the huge lion charged at her on his hind legs, wielding his huge Claymore sword. He possessed a great amount of strength, able to wield the thing with only one hand if he so wished, but he always used two for double the power. He swung down at her with the flat of the blade, striking her right shoulder quite hard to say the least. She took the hit and rolled with it, falling down to the ground to avoid gaining any extra damage. She rolled across the floor, springing up and grabbing hold of the huge Claymore blade, swinging herself up and onto the flat of the blade. She used it like a plank of sorts, running down it and leaping at Tadashi, aiming to strike his face. He threw his blade away, using his arms to shield himself and then lashing out with his claws for his block to be even more successful. The ebony-haired young woman was caught across the chest by a slash, but she ignored it and continued in her assault, utilising her limited Taijutsu knowledge and close-combat expertise to effectively floor the huge lion. He tried another weapon next, bringing out his simple katana. He slashed at her quickly, cutting at her upper left arm, her lower right leg and numerous other places, all which she managed to entirely ignore and continue fighting.

At some points, she could see the literal surprise on his face after she took a particularly bad slash in a vital place and come at him, managing to counter perfectly well as if she was entirely unhindered. The training session ended with her standing over him, reversing his Gou blades to sit at this throat. She was puffing and panting, her wounds were bleeding excessively, but she was otherwise unaffected. Tadashi chuckled, and then burst out into full-blown laughter. “Gahahaha! Looks like you’re a lot stronger than you let on!” He grinned, his fangs standing out against his dark-maned jowls. He gathered up all his weapons, numerous ones having been scattered across the clearing as their fight had been waged, and Kimiko reverse-summoned him back to the Lion Realm. She collapsed to the ground, breath heaving as she did so. She may be exhausted, but she had fought to win and had done ultimately, even if she was heavily wounded in the process.

What didn’t kill you made you stronger, right?

Word Count: 1573/1300

Age : 29 Posts : 3640

Monstrous Chakra Capacity; 1600 words required:

The day after her intensive Endurance training, Kimiko awoke rather surprised. The wounds on her body were healing and weren’t causing her any grief whatsoever, in spite of the blood she had lost and the severity of some of the injuries she had sustained. She didn’t feel achy from the ridiculous circuit of endurance that Tadashi had prepared, and this was a tell-tale sign to her that the training had all paid off. It gave her a satisfied determination to continue and finish the final portion of her intense training today, in order to head home and share her success with everyone… after paying a visit to the Hospital, no doubt.

Another thing gifted to her through birth was the immense amount of chakra she was able to pack away in her slight body. Already her chakra capacity was larger than most of her rank, but she knew that it could be pushed even further to the limits. She prepared herself for the day, breaking her fast on some of the ration bars she had brought with her for the training session and drinking some fresh spring water. She made her way down to the spring and washed herself in the freezing waters, shuddering as she dried herself vigorously to avoid catching a chill. After her hair was dry, she shoved it all back in a high ponytail, pushing a headband to remove the bangs from her face so that she would have the ultimate capacity for concentration today. She dressed in a comfortable outfit yet again, consisting of a loose brown shirt, a pair of full-length black slacks and a pair of dark blue shinobi sandals. She was already well aware of the procedure for expanding her chakra capacity, as she had already done so numerous times before in the past. It was one of her signature trademarks, that and her affinity with so many elements. She was planning on calling upon more help for today, and who better than the summon at her disposal who was the most conservative with his chakra as a Genjutsu user. Eita was still new to her pack of summons, but he was proving himself thus far and she couldn’t complain. He utilised a skill set that she had always despised, and it was able to bring about a better advantage in her battle strategies, so for that she was grateful.

She seated herself cross-legged on the ground, closing her eyes and working through a familiar string of hand seals. As per usual, she raised her hand up to her mouth and sliced one of her sharpened canines along the pad of her thumb, slamming the palm of that hand down to the ground in front of her. From where she made contact with the earth, a large black seal started to expand in front of her and beneath her. A large poof of white smoke exploded and travelled into the air for a few feet, and when it cleared the form of the large, gangly teenage lion was left sitting on his hindquarters looking startled at his summoner. Eita was still getting used to being summoned out, which explained his shocked expression and stutter when he began speaking. “K-K-Kimiko-sama!” He bowed lowly before her, almost losing his balance and falling flat on his face. He straightened up again and looked at the bemused figure of the Sennin before him. “Good day to you too, Eita-kun.” She greeted him in a much more casual manner, such that befitted her more casual approach to being around people. He seemed to reprimand himself for being so stupid and getting so flustered so quickly before chuckling softly, using one of his large paws to scratch the back of his head where tufts of his developing mane were ruffled. “What can I help you with?” He asked curiously, noting the destruction in the clearing around them. It truly looked like a bombsite of sorts; huge craters had been made in the ground, scorch marks had burnt away a lot of the already sparse grass, trees had been knocked down and goodness knows what else. It didn’t take an expert to realise that Kimiko had been training. That was why she always left the village when it came to such times, because her abilities were enough to destroy whole areas and leave them in ruins. “As you can probably see, I’ve been training. Miwa and Tadashi have been helping me up until now, but it’s your turn to help out now.” She smiled at the summoned lion, and began to explain in detail what she wished to achieve. Eita listened intently, nodding his head every so often to show that he was understanding what was being asked of him. She needed the Genjutsu specialist to bombard her with chakra-based attacks so that she would need to resort to such a tactic as well, expanding on her chakra capacity through force. He would also be needed to help her meditate when it came to that.

Because of the nature of meditation (basically not as hard-going as combat), they decided to go with that first. The male lion instructed Kimiko to close her eyes and breathe deeply until she was in a trance-like state, and watched as she did as he had asked. She held both hands on her knees, eyes closed serenely while she focused on ‘going under’ so to speak. She had done this numerous times by now, and as such she wasn’t a stranger to the procedure. It was nice to have somebody to walk her through the steps every now and again, however. It didn’t take her long to fade to blackness, and she was visualising her chakra pool as if she was looking at an Academy diagram. At her centre, the main pool glowed a visible blue, fanning itself like flames as it spread throughout her body. There were other smaller points, but she didn’t pay any attention to them. The main pool was her focus, and she started to push at the boundaries confining her raging chakra. She could tell that it was trying to expand already, and this would hopefully make her job much easier. She visualised pushing the confines of the pool at her centre, one hand at either side and pushing as hard as she could. Outwardly, she still looked quite serene and Eita watched on patiently, his amber eyes never leaving the form of his master. She started to struggle mentally, however, with pushing the boundaries any further than the tiniest of bits. That was when she started to look physically strained too. Her eyebrows furrowed and her jaw was set tightly, her muscles became tense and it looked like she was physically exerting herself even if she was sat completely still.

“And stop.” The lion stated calmly, watching as Kimiko’s eyes fluttered open in surprise. Why had she been told to stop so soon? This wasn’t what she was used to at all. She gave him a questioning look, and he simply smiled slightly at her. “Over-exerting your mind can over-exert your body by the same token. Now that you have focused on your chakra pool, we should aim to expand it through force.” He got to his feet, standing a couple of feet taller than his summoner. Without another word, he walked a fair distance away on the other side of the clearing, leaving the ebony-haired woman to get up and prepare herself. ‘He’s right. Now… he uses Fuuton as his element… that means my Katon jutsu will have no effect and make his attacks stronger. So I should focus on my Doton jutsu instead.’ She prepared herself quickly, hands raising to her sides as she gave Eita a nod of confirmation that she was ready. He used a jutsu that she had taught him, Kamikaze, and sent four tournedos of wind hurtling straight for her. She was quickly making hand seals, and she spewed a large line of earth from her mouth that, upon making contact with the ground, grew into a full-sized earthen wall. The wind made impact with it swiftly, but the wall managed to hold as the jutsus cancelled one another out in rank. She dashed straight at the wall, dispersing it with a single hand seal and jumping over the pile of crumbled earth, preparing herself for another strike. This time, Eita expelled a huge gust of wind that separated itself into separate spheres, each one hurtling straight for her. She dodged a few and then started making more hand seals, summoning forth thickets of rock from the ground that provided her enough cover to continue her charge straight ahead.

This time, she was the first to move, hands racing through some slightly unfamiliar hand seals as she kneaded a great amount of Katon chakra around her body, expelling it into a huge towering inferno. It created a huge wall of flames around her and her lion summon. This jutsu was one that she had recently learnt, and it was one of Konoha’s Kinjutsu; providing no escape for the enemy until they were defeated. The great amount of chakra needed to cast it made her a prime example of who should utilise it, and that was why she had chosen to use it now of all times. It would exercise her chakra pool, of that she was certain. Her hands were already moving again, summoning forth a lion made entirely out of flames. It went charging at Eita, body-slamming the bigger lion and leaving a few scorch marks across his fur. Within her mind, Kimiko imagined pushing at the boundaries of her chakra pool, rushing straight at her lion summon and preparing yet another big jutsu. At her hands, a huge blade made entirely out of wind formed, and she swung it straight for Eita with the very sound of the air being sliced apart. It came into contact with the great lion, and it caught fire with the forbidden wall of flames surrounding them, ensuing in a huge explosion. When all of the smoke cleared, the ebony-haired kunoichi was stood panting with her clothing having mostly burnt away. Eita mimicked her state, with one of his eyes closed as if to try and handle the pain better. In amongst it, he grinned and padded towards his summoner, stooping down to nuzzle the side of her neck affectionately. “I think that just about did it.” He stated teasingly.

The Sennin reverse-summoned Eita back to the Lion Realm for him to rest, feeling terrible for injuring the feline so badly. But she knew that he would be okay after some rest and being patched up by the others there. Just to make sure, she closed her eyes and focused on her chakra, feeling it churn at her centre point. And, sure enough, its boundaries had been pushed, and it raged bigger than ever. A small smile touched her lips as she opened her eyes and gazed up at the sky, knowing now that it was her only limit.

Word Count: 1844/1600