Cut your teeth youngin' [Training/Solo]

Kazumi sat alone in a quiet, rocky clearing. Her legs were crossed, one over the other, while her hands were clenched into fists and held together a few inches in front of her chest. She took slow, deep breathes, and had been doing so for a good hour or so. She came out late in the afternoon and hoped that it would start to cool off. It felt like she could only focus in the cold, it was calming, it made her feel at ease and more comfortable. But today, the weather seemed to be stubborn. Instead of cooling down with the setting sun, it only stayed warm while the air grew humid and muggy. While patience was a virtue and a weapon greater than any other, patience in the name of waiting for the weather to be just right was a fruitless and picky endeavor.

The Yuki's eyes shot open with her decision having been made. The only question was where to start with her training. For the moment, she decided she'd start small with the simplest of what she wanted to learn. Her hands began to shift from fists to a string of hand-seals. Ram, Snake, Tiger. She'd continue this pattern until it became a fluid motion. Ram, Snake, Tiger, Ram, Snake, Tiger. She wanted it to be second nature, something she could do under stress if the time came. She wouldn't be satisfied until then. Ram Snake Tiger, Ram Snake Tiger, Ram Snake Tiger. After a while, she'd put it to the test. She'd focus her chakra this time as she strung those three hand-seals together once more before releasing the energy. Before her, a visage would appear. Just as she intended, it was of her likeless, mirroring her position.

Sitting just a few feet in front of her, holding the Tiger seal. The likeness was stunning at first, though, Kazumi met eyes with her own clone, her gaze narrowing as if scrutinizing it. It was close, but her eye color, it was off. Her green eyes appeared amber on the clone, it wasn't enough. She let down one hand, leaving the other to make up half of the Tiger seal as she released the clone, the visage fading away just as it had appeared. Perhaps a clone with a slightly different eye color would be fine to settle on, such a parlor trick wouldn't matter in most situations. But she couldn't give in to that willingness to settle. First, she'd settle on her clones not looking just right. Then it was settling on how often she trained, it'd never be enough. Then she'd settle on how few missions she went on, then it'd be how few people she helped, then it'd be how few people she could've saved. She had to do all she could to squash out the habit to settle before it worked its way into her.

Once again, the kunoichi strung together the three hand-seals and created another clone. She'd do this again and again, but each time she found something about what she made that she didn't like. Sometimes the eye color was still off, other times the hair was too different, the clothes weren't right. An hour-long process of this cycle went on before she'd do once again make another clone. She took long breaths, constantly making and then releasing basic clones seeming to have taken a slight toll on her. She looked over the illusory copy of herself, inspecting its likeness to herself. The eye color was the same, hair was styled the same as her's, clothes were her's. After these key details, she'd take a bit longer to look over everything else in terms of outward appearance. As far as her novice eyes could tell, it was a pretty nice replica. If she didn't know better she might've thought she had a twin. The corners of her lips curled into a satisfied smile, her clone mirroring the smile before Kazumi herself would once again dispel it. She would've like to have intentionally spent a bit more time on making the hand-seals, repeatedly doing the technique over and over seemed to hammer the pattern into her more than sufficiently.

WC: 700

Clone Technique: 50/50

There wasn't much time left in the day, and she still had some more things she wanted to practice. She wasn't expecting to have to dedicate so much time to such a simple technique, let alone have it take so much energy out of her. She stood up from the ground and dusted herself off before reaching to her left hip to undo the zipper of her hip pouch. She reached inside and pulled out a small, dark grey tablet with a grainy looking texture, which she'd swiftly pop into her mouth and begin to chew. Her expression morphed into that of a grimace as the pill touched her tongue. It was so bitter, but she figured it'd help her to get through the rest of her practice. She swallowed the pill, letting out a sound of disgust mixed with an exhale of relief upon doing so.

"Ugh..."

She wasn't prepared for just how bitter those ration pills were. She would've brought something to help it go down if she knew they were that bad. Well, at the very least, she felt a bit re-energized. Those pills didn't taste like rotten grain for nothing at least. With her newfound burst of energy, the Yuki girl would begin her next bit of training much like she had with the clone technique. She'd begin to slowly weave a short string of hand-seals, this time in the pattern of Ox, Rat, Dog. With each successful pattern, she'd pick her speed up little by little, until she felt the pattern was adequately imprinted into her mind. Then, she'd channel her chakra, this time focusing it into her right hand. Once she made the Dog seal, she'd very quickly draw her arm back and go through the motions of throwing something towards the young night sky. After a short delay, there would be a loud POP coming from the sky, causing Kazumi to jump and wince in reaction.

God, that hurt her ears, the girl thought, covering them up with the palms of her hands, rubbing them in circular motions to try and soothe the ringing pain. She was kind of hoping she wouldn't have gotten that one down as quickly as she did. But, it seemed to work at the very least. Though...she needed to be sure. She couldn't quite see the visible result of her efforts, and she couldn't settle on just thinking she got it down just because she didn't want to use the technique again. Kazumi exhaled a sigh through her nose before she'd string together the three hand-seals once again, Ox, Rat, and then Dog. This time, she'd wind her arm as if to pitch a baseball, and instead of throwing the small sphere of chakra in her right hand into the sky, she'd throw it in front of her. This time, however, she'd quickly cover her ears and clench her teeth, still hearing the sharp POP after a delay. She managed to protect her ears, but she still didn't know if she was getting jutsu down.

There was of course supposed to be a deafening pop to it, and she was getting that down just fine. But she couldn't see if she was getting it right. The technique was supposed to disrupt the area where it detonates, even if only slightly. She didn't quite know how she'd test that out though. She glanced down to the dirty ground she stood on, and an idea popped into her head. Not one she liked, but an idea nonetheless. If she threw the orb at her feet, and it kicked up dirt, then she'd know it was working. She'd just have her ears ringing and aching for the rest of the day if she did. She bit down on her lower lip as she thought it over. She had no other ideas, and she couldn't very well settle on just thinking she had the technique down. She took a moment to keep her breathing still and calm before once again making those three hand-seals. She felt it once again. A volatile, yet small sphere of chakra and wind in the palm of her right hand. Like quickly tearing off a bandaid, she threw it at her feet, giving herself little time to react to the resulting explosion. Like the last two times, a loud POP went off, this time right at her feet, her ears were ringing, nearly covering up the sounds of the wind idly whistling into the night, or the nocturnal wildlife bustling about. A cloud of dirt kicked up from the ground and into her face, causing her to quickly clench her eyes shut. It wouldn't save her from going into a coughing fit as the dirt entered her lungs.

Another thing the genin failed to take into account was the physically damaging aspect of her technique. Between her coughs, she'd curse in pain, and eventually lower herself to a single see while holding on to one of her shins. Small and shallow cuts now ran down her lower legs, tearing a bit at her clothing and drawing a bit of blood. It wasn't harmful, and it wasn't going to make her cut all of this short. But god damn if it didn't sting like hell! With her coughing fit subsiding, she'd switch to clenching her teeth and verbally wincing, sharply inhaling and exhaling through her teeth. Note to self, she thought, make sure to plan ahead for training, and pick a more suitable spot for what she wanted to do. At the very least, for the moment, it seemed like she had the Concussion jutsu down. Though she wished she had saved it for last. There was still one more thing she wanted to try out. She'd just have to do it with ringing ears and bleeding papercuts. It'd be a test of her concentration at the very least.

WC:985

Wind Release: Concussion: 100/100

Pushing off the ground with her hands, Kazumi brought herself to her feet once more. This next technique should be a bit easier to control, at least she hoped. She didn't exactly want to go home and tell her dad about how she managed to beat herself up with her own jutsu. She brought her hands together again, once more weaving a set of three hand-seals together in a repeating pattern. Dog, Horse, Bird. Please don't blow up in her face this time. Dog, Horse, Bird. She'd be fine with having to keep practicing it, just please don't end up backfiring on her. Dog Horse Bird, Dog Horse Bird. The kunoichi held the Bird seal as she took in a deep breath, simultaneously molding chakra in the pits of her stomach before exhaling a powerful gust of wind. Once again, it'd kick up dirt off of the ground, though thankfully away from the girl this time. It seemed as though she had done it on the first try, for a moment, she was even excited! But...something felt off, even if she did manage to get it down on the first try, she shouldn't be satisfied with a one and done practice segment. What if there was something she missed? Just because a powerful jutsu was powerful didn't mean she brought it out to its full potential.

Taking a deep breath, she'd once again string together the Dog, the Horse, and the Bird seal with her hands, focusing chakra in her stomach while doing so. Then, she'd expel another gust of wind from her mouth towards the ground just a few feet in front of her. Once again, she'd kick up a cloud of dirt, though this time, it seemed to be a bit bigger than before. As the cloud cleared, the ground itself looked as though someone had just dragged a log through it for a few feet. The Yuki looked towards the results of her attack with a quizzical expression. That...came out better than last time. Maybe it was the fact that she had to focus chakra into her stomach, it felt like an awkward place to concentrate so much of it. Maybe if she tried it again...

Over and over, the genin repeated the process of making seals, and expelling gust after powerful gust of wind towards the ground, kicking up more and more dirt into the air each time. As taxing as it felt to constantly use the technique again and again, she felt like she was getting the hang of it with each use. After another hour of repetitive practice, Kazumi was left feeling exhausted, sweat dripping down her temples as she made three hand-seals once again. She took in a deep breath, her chest puffing out. A large burst of wind would escape from her lung, visibly distorting the air before it'd impact the ground before her, crashing and kicking up a column-shaped cloud of soil that would travel with the wind. The girl leaned over, hands on her knees and panting. So, it seemed like she needed to synch her breathing up with the seals, empty her lungs as she made the Bird seal, and then take in as much air as she could before expelling all of it. That was interesting to note, she would've never guessed breathing patterns would end up being crucial.

The Yuki girl tilted her head up, gazing at the starry night sky. She didn't expect to spend so much time out here, but it wasn't all for naught. She felt as though she had a pretty good grip on some new techniques for her arsenal and a bit of a better understanding of ninjutsu. Now she just had to get herself home, exhausted and still having trouble standing. She looked back down towards the village, letting out one more, small sigh before beginning her trudge back home, thinking on how she most likely wouldn't even eat. Immediately laying down for the day and going to sleep didn't sound half bad.

WC:672

Wind Release: Breakthrough: 100/100