Training in the Mountain

Age : 32 Posts : 35

Evasion

Spoiler:

By following the mountain down below the elevation of Kumogakure one comes across the treeline rather quickly. It doesn't take long before you find yourself in a dense forest filled with trees of various sizes and a mass assortment of plants. The one in particular that Tenma was looking for were bamboo groves. The clustered stalks filled a small area in densely packed poles roughly an inch thick. Some stalks lay on their sides or lean against others after being damaged by things passing through the area. Most would see the area as an annoyance to walk through, but an abundance of bamboo if they had a use for it. Tenma saw it as a training device.

The early morning sun barely fell through the thick forest coverage. It was about 5:00am on one of Tenma's days off from back to back team missions. He didn't mind the work, but he felt as though he was holding his team back. His hand instinctively went for his left thigh causing a pained expression to creep upon his face. He had to force himself to push the thought aside as he worked toward his goal of bettering himself. After seeing what Etorufuu-sensei could do, even Kanji blew them away, for Tenma to be so easily taken out was nothing other than pathetic. He was reassured that if he hadn't taken the arrow then the merchant would have suffered, but it irked Tenma none the less.

He stood at the edge of the grove silently soaking up the atmosphere. The light blue rays of light filtered into the area leaving many dark shadows hanging in the air. His eyes had long ago adjusted to the dim light making seeing easy enough. His mind attempted to formulate a plan to make it through the grove without delay. However, he furrowed his brow in frustration as his mind couldn't process that many movements ahead of time. He decided it would be time to test his instinct rather than his wit.

Tenma charged at the grove only having a few meters of clear area before bursting into the stalks. He managed to slip between two stalks to make it inward. A quick sidestep got him around another. One of the injured bamboo stalks forced him to duck. It seemed that getting through here would be easier than he could have expected. He straightened before sidestepping once more. A stalk rubbed his shoulder. Nothing serious. He continued to move through, but found himself being hindered more and more. His eyes couldn't keep up with all of obstacles before him. He slowed...and slowed...and finally came to a halt.

There the scarlet haired boy stood in the center of the bamboo grove contemplating what his next course of action would be. He certainly could not clear the area without either moving incredibly slow or damaging all of the stalks. His breathing returned to normal while his mind became more and more hazy. With his fists clenched and his teeth gritted, Tenma charged forward once again. This time his eyes were open, but so was his mind's eye.

All he could see were the immediate stalks around him. He leaned to the side while lowering himself. It was a fluid movement that required some flexibility, but he pulled it off. A quick sidestep with a half body spin got him around another group. His thoughts had slowed to a minimum as he focused only on making it through the grove. To an outside viewer it would almost appear as if Tenma were now dancing in the grove. The stalks surrounded him, but did not hinder him. A small smile spread across his lips as his eyes were dark from focus but a spark of excitement existed in that darkness.

Tenma flung himself from the edge of the grove. His breath was ragged and sweat rolled off his forehead down his face. It wasn't that warm out this morning, though his jacket wasn't helping at all, as a cool breeze blew through. The feeling of moving through that grove. The feeling of relying on ones instinct rather than reason. The sensation was burned into his memory. He would not forget the feeling. A flame burned within him. A blaze of triumph. Without another moment's delay Tenma faced the grove again. A confident smile showed he had nothing to fear as he rushed again to conquer the bamboo field.

737/600 Words

Age : 32 Posts : 35

Perception

Spoiler:

Tenma laid in a clearing further up the mountain from where he had practiced in the bamboo grove. His breath came out ragged. He reflected on his training in the grove and decided it was a poor choice to sprint up the mountain. He had become dead tired from his physical workout. Solid beams of yellow sunlight flooded the clearing suggesting the sun had fully risen into the sky. His eyes cracked open to see the thick leaf coverage swaying in the breeze that Tenma couldn't feel. The heat building under the trees was becoming overwhelming.

The genin sat up and tossed his jacket aside for now. His thoughts became clear after the exhaustion began to wear off. He wondered of another way to train himself, one that hopefully wasn't so physically demanding, when a falling leaf went by his face. His eyes lit up as inspiration washed over him. He immediately jumped to his feet and focused his gaze onto the leaf ceiling. Several seconds passed as he waited with an excited patience. He began to smirk as his patience paid off when a large gust overtook the tree tops. Just as he had hoped a large plume of leaves fell as the wind shook the tree tops.

With chakra enhanced speed Tenma leaped up into the air grabbing at leaves as they fell. He made several attempts at this finding that he could only get a few leaves with every leap. He tossed aside only a few leaves realizing he was barely making any progress. His mind began to race as the leaves steadily fell. He only had a few moments to do something before it was too late. No plan came to mind. His eyes moved from leaf to leaf as he tried to count them. Giving up he just started plucking leaves out of the air. His hands moved one after another grabbing leaves between his fingers and letting them fall. His eyes followed their every move straining himself to make sure nothing escaped his gaze.

A gentle breeze that somehow had made it into the clearing caused the leaves to shift lazily as if this exercise wasn't hard enough already. He scrambled with the cloud of leaves continuing his work with coordination only a shinobi could muster. Even as the numbers thinned the difficulty steadily became worse. The precision required for each pluck increased with every leaf. He leaned further and further down until he finally was forced to dive to catch the last leaf. He held it in his hand with a bright smile and a weary glean in his eyes. His silent moment of victory ended with a sudden sound of rustling brush. Tenma stirred quickly causing whatever had shown up to scurry away. He easily followed its trek through the woods as leaves and branches were pushed aside. His heart pounded as he realized that he was still hyper-focused on his surroundings.

The young man relaxed thinking it was only an animal. The final victory leaf now lay on the ground amongst the mass of other leaves, indecipherable from the others. He quickly forgot as he reflected on his training thinking back to how he was beginning to see a theme. Every time he tries to analyze a situation and come up with a plan he found himself without the time to come up with it. His instinct was being honed while his reliance on plans and control lessened. His mind moved onto ideas and plans for situations and the future. Just as he began to think another gust of wind came through knocking more leaves loose. Looks like nature wants Tenma to think less.

613/600 Words