Mental Training Topic for bonus Chakra (private)

Posts : 191

The wind raged all about in the desert, hurling sheets of golden sand into the scorching air. It was what this desert was famous for, what kept it, and its great village, protected from those who would seek to destroy it. The heat, the sandstorms, the lack of water, all of it were the natural conditions under which- though somewhat removed from the full ferocity of the sandstorms, the village of Sunagakure not only survived, but thrived. However, even to the inhabitants, wandering out alone into a sandstorm was dangerous. Of course, the figure who sat atop a dune this day, legs crossed, had clearly ignored such warnings.

Hanikaro sat alone, unperturbed by the raging winds, possibly the only life form still above ground for miles around- all other creatures, the snakes, the birds, even the scorpions had no doubt taken refuge from the ferocity of the storm. The sun, bright even through the raging, stinging winds, scorched down on his tan skin. He wore a cloak, that billowed out behind hi as the storm blew it back. The sand bit at his unprotected face and neck. Despite the harsh conditions, the lone shinobi sat as still as he possibly could, his eyes closed in concentration. To an onlooker, in the vision-obscuring sandstorm it would appear as if he were a statue that someone had decided to place a cape upon. Hanikaro ignored it all. The burning sun, the painful winds, all of it. His focus was directed entirely inward, towards the recesses of his own concious. He had been sitting here, in this same spot, for nearly two and a half hours. The sandstorm had picked up about thirty minutes ago, and Hanikaro hadd nearly let it break his concentration, but managed to retain his focus, as he continued the deep meditation. He was no expert at this practice to be sure- he had never paid much attention to their jounin's teachings in general- he had been completely self-reliant up to this point, and he intended to keep it that way. However, once he reached chunin level, he had realized that acquiring the skills necessary to meditate, and in doing so, focus on one's own conscience in an attempt to increase their own mental energy, was just as necessary a skill as ninjutsu for a shinobi who wished to become the ultimate war machine. And so he had begun practicing the art of meditation relentlessly, until he had reached this level of inner attunement- where not even the pain of the sandstorm was able to break his inner focus. He knew that while seeming irrelevant, this training was vital to a ninjutsu user- mental energy being one of the two key components in creating chakra- something that was as valuable to a shinobi as their own lifeblood. For a long time, he had begun to grow impatient with the process, feeling nothing occur as he meditated, attempting to break down walls within the recesses of his mind that prevented him from ganing access to greater amounts of mental energy. It took him a good deal of time to realize that doing this defeated the purpose of the process entirely- his own impatience defeating his attempts to train his mind. But once he realized what he was failing to do with his meditation sessions, once he had sunken into the process of meditation, rather than try to direct it, had he truly gained insight as to the way meditation training truly must be used, and begun to make progress towards his tantilizing goal. He had let himself fall deep, deep into the ocean that was his own mind, and allowed himself to revel it, to allow it to flow through him and allowed his subconcious and concious to become a single force, had he truly begun to scratch the surface of the purposed of meditation. And within that meditation, Hanikaro walked through a world of bright white, one with his own mental state of being. As he walked, what he began to realize astounded him- that he could only walk within this mental state of being for a few hundred feet in any direction- before he ran into something- a wall, an invisible one, like a field of energy that was holding him back. Originally, when he had begun his meditation, and reached this plane, he had only been able to see distinctive walls of dense purple, but as he became more attuned, they became more transparent, allowing him to see through them, and to see the full expanse of his inner mind- and what he saw astounded him. While he could walk several hundred feet in any direction, the true depths of his psyche extended miles beyond what he could currently reach- behind those strong invisible walls. Beckoning. And as Hanikaro gazed of into the psychological expanse of thought, it became clearer and clearer to him what he must do- now that he had let himself sink through the deep ocean that allowed him to reach this plane within his mind, and become one with it, he must seize control, must manipulate his own mind- every synapse of it, into breaking down these walls. He marched steadily across this mindscape, attempting to gather as much of his mental energy as he could muster- feeling it channel through him- but here, what was invisible in the real world, became a visible, potent green aura that surrounded the young shinobi. The mental energy pulsated around him, changing through various shades of swirling green- what Hanikaro guessed must be the true color of his own chakra. The power flowed around him, becoming a veritable sotrm of energy that surrounded the young man- nearly threatening to consume him with its violence. Hanikaro stopped on his steady march towards one of his mental barriers and meditated- within his own meditation. He thought of the vibrant energies flowing all around him, and then, closing his eyes, he held out a single hand, and imagined the storm calming itself, and collecting on his hand as if pulled by a magnet. Gradually, but surely, the chaotic mental energy that he had summoned from within himself focused into the palm of his hand- but as Hanikaro tried to maintain control over it in a tiny area, he realized that at his current level of meditation, such pinpoint focus was impossible. Instead, he created a mental image of a cage like sphere around his entire right hand, where he had focused the energy, and having that cage retain it all, holding the power in place. He stood there for pherhaps several hours, pherhaps only a few minutes, until he felt the energy stabilize, and calm itself from its attempts to break free of the cage that he had created around it. Opening his eyes, but maintaining his focus he gazed upon his right hand where the energies swirled about, finally under- but he knew should he lose his focus, they would break free, and he did not have the strength left to reign them in again. He took another step forward, marching towards his goal, until, finally, he reached one of his inner walls. He ran his empowered hand over it, feeling the essence of the wall, gauging its power- and was thrown back with sudden, incredible force, nearly losing control over his energies. He quickly refocused his mind, regaining his concentration, and after several minutes- or god, who knew how long it really was, had soothed the energies once again into a controlled state. He looked at the wall, aghast- clearly this one was beyond his capability to break at his current level of mental strength- but, were all of them? He walked back towards another wall, this time, more cautiously testing the potency of the barrier- again realizing that it was too strong for him to break. He paced around the entirety of the mental room, testing each wall individually, most of them proving too strong- until he reached the fourth wall. It vyed against his power, but he could tell that it did not have the incredible potency of the other three. Deciding that it was now or never, Hanikaro placed his hand firmly, palm flat against the wall, and then opened a tiny gap in his energies cage, directly in the center of his palm. The swirling green light shot out through the openinig, slamming into the barrier. The green flowed up and down the entire surface of it, illuminating the entire wall, in a bright green light- Which then dissapated. Hanikaro gasped, and fell to his knees, and gazed up at the barrier- which remained unbroken. About to slam his fist into the barrier in frustration, he regained control over his calm, realizing that he was close to accidentally losing his meditative state. He breathed, inhaling and exhaling deeply several times, then scrutinized the wall once more. He probed into its energy's once again, seeing if there was any difference from before- and surely enough, there were breaches- small, subtle breaches, but breaches sure enough.

Hanikaro opened his eyes, to find that the sandstorm had long since died down, and that night had settled upon the desert- but relatively recently: it hadn't grown terribly cold yet. Rising from his sand dune, he turned, and began to walk briskly back towards sunagakure. His body felt tired, but he had a minor headache, and sense of sheer exhaustion. It had been a long day, but he had made true progress.

(If this hasn't started yet, fine, I'll save it for later, but in the mean time: Words required 1500, Words Written 1615)