Training for the young

Ryuu was only recently granted the rank of gennin and he wasn't going to slow down his pace of development in his ninja career. He had met with his mother only a few hours after his promotion to gennin. "How do I get stronger?" he had asked and she gave him a simple reply "Improve your body and the speed you use to execute your jutsu and movements..." Ryuu pondered the rest of the day wondering how he could improve his speed and quickness in general. He was pretty fast already but for his own mother to say that he needs to improve his speed suggests that he was nowhere near where he needed to be at the moment.

Then it hit him. He recalled watching the chuunin academy teachers who specialized in taijutsu. They usually used leg weights to increase resistance in their movements allowing them to become faster and even stronger when the weights are removed. Ryuu being over eager to get started rushed to one of his former instructors in the wee hours of the morning; waking the poor man from his sleep to find one of his recently graduated pupils harassing him for training weights. The instructor was used to Ryuu's will to become stronger so it came to no surprise that when he handed Ryuu the weights, a thank you wasn't ushered, not even a good bye; Ryuu had already bolted off without a moment to spare.

Ryuu received little sleep before heading to the mountains. He was walking for a long while until he came to a clearing. The area was fairly big, the ground wasn't smooth but coarse and hard. The ground was a mixture of gray and brown. There was a large boulder at the center of the clearing with several rocks around in no perticular pattern, they were simply scattered here and there. Ryuu stepped into the area at 8 am. He walked around with regular strides, though he was carrying the weights in a back pack making his strides much slower than usual he covered most of the area.

Ryuu had come with simple camping equipment because he intended to stay a while in the moutains in solitude. He had brought simple things, like a tent, sleeping bag, water jug, and of course his ninja equipment with a scroll containing all the techniques Ryuu hoped to train. He emptied his bag and began to set up camp but with a twist, he strapped the weights onto him. A 200 pound weight on each arm and each leg. A simple chore became the hardest thing in the world in a second. Setting up the tent he would sleep in that night took Ryuu a little over 3 hours to perform, finishing at around mid-day. He was sluggish moving around, using all of his energy to make one simple gesture such as moving his right leg forward to walk. Even his arm movements were limited entirely. He was sweating profusely but could not muster the strength to even wipe the sweat from his brow.

He had been there an hour now trying to make 2 simple steps but the difficulty was very apparent, then all of a sudden Ryuu's strength left him, he could not continue. *No I can't pass out now with so little achieved* He thought to himself. With tremendous effort Ryuu inched his right leg forward, with the appropriate arm movement with the corresponding arm. All that was left was well his left leg. He tensed the muscles all around his body trying hard to pull this weight on his leg. Slowly but with great pain and effort his leg and arm began to inch forward. Sweat was draining down his face an awful scent was perspiring from his body. His clothes were drenched in sweat now, he looked exhausted. Then finally with a final jerk his leg came forward completing the two steps. With little resistance Ryuu collapsed onto the ground. The weights being so heavy impacted the surface very hard leaving craters where they impacted sending dust and debri into the air. Ryuu was resting until his next session.

Several hours had passed by. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon. Ryuu's eyes opened abruptly. He looked around trying to recognize his surroundings. He was laying on his side looking at the boulders littered throughout the area. The weights still strapped to him, aches and pain was felt through out his body. Then his memory came back to him "This weight training...I must have collapsed in the middle of it." Ryuu rolled over on all fours. Initially it was a struggle forcing himself to stand up at the beginning of the training but now he just got up sluggishly. Even though he was fully rested and had energy to expend he had gotten up as if he were tired. He moved much more easily than before but far slower than he usually does on his own. He brought his right arm to his sword hilt and slowly but successfully drew his blade.

He staggered over to a fairly large boulder. His walk was much faster than before, and he covered far more distance. Ryuu stopped in front of the giant rock

*I hope this works* he thought to himself. He brought the sword over his head now. The sword was fairly light but the weights attached to Ryuu's arms made it an incredibly difficult task to perform. Then he brought the sword down on the boulder. The blade left a fairly deep cut, enough to get itself stuck within the impact zone. Ryuu gripped the hilt, and put one foot on the boulder and the other on the ground. He then tried to pull backwards to retrieve the sword from the boulder.

He gave several tries but the sword would not budge with these weights attached to Ryuu. His training revolved around kenjutsu but he took the next best thing. Taijutsu. He changed his position from pulling the sword out of the rock to a standing position. He then turned away from the boulder and broke off running. It shouldn't be classed as running because of the lack of speed but for Ryuu he was surely trying to run. He would change direction when a boulder came in his way but found this very difficult. He would buck into boulders shoulder first but refrained his pain and carried on. Sometimes he even tried to jump over the boulders resulting what some would call epic fails. But after his thirteenth or fourteenth fail he began to clear the boulders as he hopped over them. He could feel his body adjusting to the weights ever so slightly but not dramatically as some would think. His speed was still slow in its entirety with such great resistance. Ryuu looked up at the sky with exhaustion from the routine he just performed. The sun had set, it was growing dark. Ryuu hung his head low now looking at the ground *Only a few more days of this and I'll be stronger in no time*. He then removed the weights from his limbs and chucked them next to his tent. Bad move. As the weights hit the ground they left a fairly large dent in the ground "That's what I have strapped on my arms and legs?!?!" He then gathered his sword and headed for the inside of his tent. In the tent he opened his sleeping bag and found his way inside of it. He pondered what he would do next and how he would strive to better himself further. He lied there just thinking of all the techniques he needed to learn and the steps he would take to learning them. With his hands behind his head looking at the stars glowing brightly in the sky, he could see them easily through his tent; then slowly he drifted off into sleep after a hard days work of training.

Several days had now passed since Ryuu's training had initially started. He found with each passing day he became more and more accustomed to moving with these restraints. In fact he had become so used to it, he was capable of moving at near normal speeds which was fairly quick for him and a massive improvement from whence he started. Ryuu woke up eager this morning. The sun hung over the area in a clear blue sky, the wind blew gently throughout the clearing. The boulders now had chunks knocked out of it from Ryuu's long and hard speed and strength training.

Ryuu exited his tent to begin another day of training. He was wearing black trousers and simple black shirt both with red linings and of course his standard ninja sandals. As he came out of his tent, he let out a loud yawn and stretched his arms out wide. Then began to walk to the center of the clearing whilst scratching his head with his right hand and holding a scroll in his left reading it.

"Alright...so today I'm training techniques. Hikari Kiritateru...."

Ryuu pocketed the scroll. He had already read the requirements to execute and master this jutsu. It was the Hikari Kiritateru, one of his clans favourite B ranked techniques. It was a truly devastating and deadly when performed properly. The instructions on the ninja scroll granted that if the user charges up heated hikariton chakra into their hand or weapon, and once there is enough they will simply swing it horizontally causing the hikariton chakra to fly off their hand or weapon in a crescent shaped blade. The blade is very sharp, and is powerful enough to cut through stone. Also due to being made of light this jutsu is even said to be very difficult to see during the daytime.
Ryuu holds his right wrist and begins to flood it with the precious chakra from his clan’s bloodline. His hand began to glow a pristine white colour signifying the presence of the light chakra, more so of the combination of fire and lightning chakra. He stares at his hand in awe as it charges amazed by the tingly sensation running through it. Then his vision switches to a boulder roughly about five meters away from his current position. He looked at the rock for a few seconds then he made a horizontal swing, attempting to slice the boulder but there was no crescent blade travelling to his target the chakra in his hand had dispersed not focussed as a blade at all.
Ryuu stared at the boulder in disbelief. He had down everything that was required for the technique to work. The prerequisites such as focussing the chakra into his hand, and the swinging motion of the hand which should have resulted in the chakra flying off his hand in the form of a sharp blade which should have cut clean through the boulder in front of him. Ryuu would focus chakra into his right hand once more, and then swing it so that a blade would be formed but to his dismay he ended up with the same previous result.
“What the hell is going on here?” He says this as he raises his right hand to his face. “This can’t be…what is wrong with me. Why can’t I perform the jutsu?”
Ryuu was beyond bewildered, this was the first time that he wasn’t able to learn a jutsu on his first attempt. So he did the typical thing he would do when a problem was bothering him, he meditated on it. He sat on the ground, crossing his legs, his back straight and his hands making the goat hand seal, with his eyes closed.