Growth and Development(Training)

Age : 33 Posts : 718

This is the training topic for Mugen's SCs

Training for Chakra Capacity
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Kumogakure, the village hidden in the clouds, was living up to its name today as a heavy mist settled over the Kousen clan compound. The air was damp with moisture and humidity from the cloud of water molecules that lazily drifted through the air. It was heated to an uncomfortable warmth by the sun shining brightly in the sky above however those same rays of heat brought with them beams of light. Light that refracted off the water in the air creating a few rainbows here and there for the eye to enjoy. Mugen opened the sliding door of his home and peered out into the world with his golden haloed teal eyes and took in this magnificent sight trying to ignore the fact that he was already starting to sweat from the temperature. Yes, he would focus on the beauty in life instead of the negative things. That meant stopping for a moment to take in the colors of the electromagnetic spectrum expressing their glory on full display within the rainbows.

Time slipped on without Mugen keeping track of it and before he realized it he had been standing there watching the light long enough for clouds in the sky above to cover up the sun thus sealing both its light and the rainbows away. A small smile came across Mugen's face and he closed his eyes while taking in a deep breath that would be exhaled slowly before he said out loud to himself, “Today should be a good day...” With that said the young genin hoisted the pack that was slung over his left shoulder and set out to the clan training grounds where he would begin his new training. While within the compound he simply walked however once he reached the cliffs he rolled the pack around his body to his front and then took hold of it with both hands. He didn't want its contents falling out due to what was to come next.

The training grounds were at the bottom of the valley at the rivers bank however the clan compound was on a plateau located near the lower parts of Kumogakure. Despite this it was still a good 50 meters up from the training grounds and while stairs had been carved out of the rocks, that was the slow way down. The way Mugen was about to take was not only faster...but much more fun anyways. The 13 year old Kousen Genin looked over the edge of the cliff and began trying to predict his way down. Simply jumping would surely lead to broken legs however there were plenty of rocks sticking out from the cliff face that he could use as stepping stones to reach the bottom safely. With his route planned out the smile on Mugen's face widened a bit to the point of showing off his pearly whites and an involuntary short laugh escaped his vocals. Adrenaline was beginning to rush through his body in anticipation of the fun he was about to have.

Mugen's legs took action and with a simple step he was off! The air rushing past his slightly sweaty skin was cooling him off and felt great however the truly amazing feeling was from the sensation of free falling. It sent tingles over his skin and a wave of serotonin surged through his brain triggering all kinds of joy nerves...or maybe that was just the adrenaline? Mugen reached his first stepping stone and used it to slow is descent without actually stopping and then kicked off to change his trajectory so he could make it to the next one. He repeated this process four times, only three more stones to go. However as Mugen landed of the first of those three his heart jumped. He felt his foot hit stone however he did not feel his momentum stop. Fear washed over the young boys face as the stepping stone was looks and broke free from the cliff face, it had collapsed from the impact of his fall and now both the rock and Mugen were going to be tumbling down the rest of the way. “Wowowowowowoaaaaah!” Mugen cried out as he fell forwards and rolled down the rest of the way getting all kinds of bruises from crashing into rocks, his voice wobbling all the while.

Mugen's fall ended without any serious injuries as he had already made most of the descent however when he did hit the ground it was with a sickening dull thud that knocked the wind out of him. “Itetetete!~” He expressed in pain slowly opening his eyes which had clenched closed instinctively only to see a larger rock about twice the size of his head bouncing off the cliff face headed straight for his head. Mugen's eyes shot wide open suddenly as he scrambled to roll out of the way pulling the sack he had with him just in time to avoid the danger. The rock smashed into the ground and shattered into several smaller stones, an event Mugen watched with a gulp realizing that could have been his skull breaking into pieces.

Sighing relieved that he had survived the ordeal Mugen looked around making sure no one else was there to see his embarrassing ordeal. Luckily there wasn't. The genin got up and checked himself for wounds, he was sore and hurting in a few places which would probably worsen once his adrenaline rush wore off but for now he was still in good enough shape to begin the “secret” training his mother had told him about. Mugen dusted himself off and then made his way over the to river bank eager to forget about the tumble he had just suffered through.

The rivers flowing through the mountainous area of Kumogakure perhaps could not even be considered rivers. It seemed more like the mountains were popping up in the middle of a giant lake however specifics aside Mugen had finally arrived. He moved to the waters edge and let go of the sack allowing it to drop in front of him before dropping himself into a cross legged position. ”Now, lets see here...I just take of these right?” Mugen asked himself as he searched through the sack for the instructions that came with the dosage. It was a special medicine developed for expanding ones chakra system. His mother had created it for shinobi who had been out of commission for periods so long that their chakra system became shriveled from lack of use. A rare condition, but one that existed nevertheless and needed delicate treatment. Mugen was right that his mother prescribed one of the pills he had stolen for her patient, however that was a grown man of large stature. The dosage for a child such as Mugen would be less than half one of these pills however he wasn't aware of this and popped on of the gumball sized purple spheres into his mouth.

With a crunching bite Mugen broke the capsule-pill open releasing a foul tasting liquid inside his mouth. He remembered he was supposed to chew it thoroughly to allow the liquid and mushed form of the shell mix until they made his tongue tingle. So that is what he did and as he chewed Mugen closed his eyes and straightened his back as he began to enter into a meditative state. Once the tongue tingling began Mugen swallowed the concoction and began focusing on his breathing. The instructions said that following consumption one could expect a warm sensation flowing through their chakra network to set on in about five minutes during which time they should meditate and mold their chakra. The idea was to manipulate the chakra inside your own body and slowly over time expand it to reopen closed chakra pathways throughout the body.

So the meditation began. Mugen took in deep natural breaths that filled the lungs making his stomach raise first and then his chest. Holding the breath in for a few heartbeats he would then exhale naturally emptying the lungs only to hold the breath out for a few heartbeats. He repeated this process mentally chanting the mantra, ”Breath in relaxation....breath out tension...” With each cycle of breathing his muscles would begin to further relax and let go of all tension, even that which was caused from his wounds. Slowly Mugen began to enter a trance-like state where he focused to become more aware of his chakra flowing trough his body. Slowly it started to warm and he wondered if that was the effect mentioned in the instructions but it was getting warmer still so perhaps he had to wait a bit longer. Over the course of a few minute the warmth was beginning to become hot and uncomfortable however and it was showing no signs of ceasing the increase in temperature.

The heat soon turned into a burning sensation and it took everything Mugen had not to start screaming and writhing around in pain. Tears streamed down Mugen's face uncontrollably as he diligently maintained his posture and the temperature of his chakra finally evened out. Or perhaps it was just to the point where he couldn't feel it increasing anymore? Either way without the knowledge that he had just severely overdosed Mugen was cursing his mother for using the word “warm” in the instructions as it would have been an extreme understatement! The pain was making his mind wander, why was he worried about his mother? Mugen needed to be concentrating on manipulating his chakras!

It was hard to maintain his breathing and ever few breaths were coming out shaky now but Mugen stuck with it and started to constrict his consciousness to focus only on his chakra system. He started to try taking control of the violently burning chakra in his veins willing it to spread outwards and expand...this was a gave mistake. The pain this action caused was far too much as chakra literally exploded from his pores on his right arm causing a bit of blood to spurt out where only sweat should be escaping. ”Gaaaagh!” Mugen let out an agony filled scream of suffering and broke his meditation stance to roll on the ground grasping his bloody arm. He laid there on the ground groaning and writhing in pain for a few moments before he worked up the gall to get back into position and try again with more gentle finesse this time. Mugen would fail like this four times before he got the hang of controlling his wildly burning chakra subtly enough that it did not explode from his body in such a violent fashion. It still caused an intense amount of pain as his chakra network was forced to stretch and expand however considering the pain caused from the bloody bursts it was bearable.

Mugen soldiered on through 6 hours of this torturous training afraid that if he stopped the chakra would go out of control and lead to his death. A fear that was quite possibly not entirely baseless. However at last the burning died down as did his chakra until it was almost entirely gone. Mugen would collapse as he lost consciousness and faded into a near comatose state. He would not wake again for another 48 hours to find himself in his bed. He had been discovered and brought home where he was cared for and given an immediate blood transfusion as he had lost quite a bit throughout the ordeal. Mugen's true suffering was only just about to begin however...His mother came into the room and he immediately tried to pretend he was still asleep however she had already seen his eyes open. The following scolding he received was unlike any he had experienced before. Not only did he steal, but he took a medicine he knew almost nothing about and had nearly died for it. Needless to say she was absolutely furious.

Age : 33 Posts : 718

Training for Improved Strength
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Mugen was bedridden for the next three days and during that time his chakra remained at deathly low levels and were being replenished at an extremely slow rate. If he had to guess he was only getting about 5% back every day even though he was eating well and resting aplenty. It was troubling and whenever he tried to mold what chakra he did have a debilitating pain would shoot through his nerves and render him incapable of doing so. It only took two occasions of this for him to decide it was best he didn't try again until his reserves were back to full. But then again there was great worry from both his own thoughts as well as from this mother that they might never reach full again. Mugen's foolishness may well have cost him his career as a shinobi. However he would not despair for it. Even if he couldn't mold chakra he could still train his physical body.

Once he was able to move around freely again Mugen began helping his father out around the smithy carrying raw materials back and forth as punishment however he decided to look at the bright side of things. Instead of seeing it as a punishment Mugen decided to convert and transmute his perspective of the situation and instead saw it as an opportunity to train. Instead of carrying ores closer to his center he intentionally held them with arms fully extended for as long as his muscles could bare it. When he was to swing the smithing hammer for his father he did so with all the force he could muster and when he was asked to bring buckets of water from the river he would take the long way using as many stairs as possible to train his legs as well as his cardio.

His father noticed that Mugen was not only turning his punishment into training, but he was actually enjoying it. Mugen enjoyed the smell of hot metal and smoke from the forge as he had grown up around it after all. After a few days his parents decided to just let him get back to training as his inability to mold chakra was consequence enough for his actions. Upon being set free to do as he pleased Mugen spent the next few weeks focusing deeply on improving his physical strength. One way he pursued this training was by finding long stones smoothed by the river and securing them to his body on his legs, arms, lower back, and abdomen.

He began going about his daily life wearing these weights and volunteered to continue helping his father with the forge. When work at the forge was done for the day he'd run 5 laps up and down the long staircase leading down to the training grounds carrying backs full of rocks and stones in his arms as he did. This continued for 3 weeks until finally Mugen felt his chakra had returned to normal however he still couldn't mold it and for the next few days it kept growing further still beyond what had been his previous maximum. As wondrous as this was his chakra could grow and expand every day for the rest of his life and it would still do him no good if he couldn't mold his chakra. He asked his mother about it and she theorized that they would simply have to wait until his chakra stabilized and that the pain he felt when he tried molding it was his body telling him that it wasn't done healing yet.

Mugen continued his physical training and pushed his body to its limits daily save Sundays and Wednesdays which were used to rest and let his body rebuild muscle. There was no point in working himself into an early grave after all. When Mugen's chakra finally evened out and stopped growing he was able to lift at least 50 more pounds of weight than what he was previously capable of. His strength had benefited greatly from the training but as a shinobi who had already spent much of his life training in ninjutsu and kenjutsu that wouldn't mean very much if he couldn't use his chakra.

Now that his chakra system was stable he decided to give molding his chakra a try again. First he began with something simple, the bunshin technique. Almost effortlessly the chakra molded and a poof of smoke plumed next to him as his clone was created. Next he made sure he could still mold elements by using D rank ninjutsu...then C rank...then he tried using his kekkai genkai by molding both suiton and raiton at the same time. It all worked just as well as it had before the chakra medicine ordeal. The wave of relief that then washed over Mugen was the greatest he had ever felt before in his life. Tears began to form in his eyes as it was clear that he was back to full form once again. He could not have been more thankful as he knew his foolishness deserved much worse results. But now at last he could return to training his ninjutsu skills and more importantly, progressing the Ranton element. Mugen promised to himself that he would never take his chakra for granted again and that he would push Ranton farther than anyone in his clan had ever managed to do before.