Solo training

Uchiha Ningyo adopted a new regimen. She decided she would need to develop workable techniques to be used in attack and defense to increase her level against ninja in the field. D-rank missions were a form of charity, a means of increasing the courage of adolescents before they became cannon fodder. No, better to prepare to meet death on it's own terms. Being born in a ninja village, as an Uchiha, she would fully embrace her fate. Her body must be trained to become a lethal weapon in the service of her retainers.

She sat in meditation on the floor before a candle, tying the freshly won headband around her head. She gazed into the candle flame motionlessly. She went over her regimen in her mind;

0500 - meditation

0600 - light breakfast

0700 - running

@ 0800 she would arrive within a secluded clearing. Using chakra enhanced climbing on the soles of her feet, she attached paper high amongst the trees. These pieces of paper would serve as targets for kunai. The chakra tree climbing would eventually increase energy control and utility.

0900 - Ningyo would pursue the time tested, ancient Uchiha training method of throwing shuriken and kunai gracefully at trees. Backflipping from the trees she even would throw while falling or spinning upside down. The paper served as smaller targets, necessarily increasing the accuracy required.

1100 - combinations of chakra climbing and projectile throwing, sloping from one tree to another to retrieve projectiles. More displays of acrobatic grace.

0100 - would return home for a lunch, a simple meal left by her mother, (out on her own missions), like rice and raw vegetables

0200 - back in a secluded forest clearing Ningyo would practice with wires attached to projectiles, threading, trapping and manipulating in midair.

0300 - Ningyo would practice basic replacement and clone combinations, feinting with a clone decoy and then attacking with a shuriken barrage or melee kunai slash.

0400 - Ningyo begin to enter a flow state, gracefully combining projectile tricks, wires, soles of feet climbing, and bunshins, to develop basic combos.

0500 - She would return to the repetition of simple thrown knife accuracy and aerial maneuvers.

0700 - Ningyo would return home to meditate again for focus, and then finally rest after a long day.

She pursued this course of training for a week, and though difficult, with constant repetition began to see improvement in her bukijutsu and accuracy. Ultimately, it was this sort of basically simple training that would serve as a fundamental practice. More frequently her parents had been on secret police and classified missions involving root ANBU, so Ningyo remained dedicated by her own efforts, knowing that the mastery of technique could mean the difference between her life or death against an adult ninja.

Uchiha Ningyo went to sit in morning meditation. Her family had built a small table, upon which the Uchiha seal and a few ceremonial objects lie. The fumigation of certain incenses aided the mind in silence, which made it a choice place to sit. This morning was different than the others, a single scroll lay on the altar, and the outside bore a peculiar message. The words, ("open me") 開けて.

A dim morning light creeped in, casting a shard of illumination upon the polished wood floors. Ningyo picked up the scroll and teased it open. The content were as follows;

"Orders, in care of; Uchiha Ningyo,
at 0713 on the path to the clearing look for a white flower painted red. In the hollow of the tree stump will be a scroll. This correspondence is to be delivered into the hands of a shinobi in the Intelligence division in the administration sector."

The message bore no signature, but she assumed it was from her father or Uchiha officials, involving either police or clan business, Suddenly the scroll caught small embers around it's edges and it burned itself into nothing. Probably the result of a subtle or sophisticated fuuinjutsu.

That morning as per instructions she found the indicated scroll and diligently carried out her simple task. Whatever the contents of this missive, perhaps encoded, Ningyo was a careful messenger. She could only guess what the scroll contained. Perhaps nothing.

Ningyo's limited knowledge of the Konoha and Uchiha Clan relationship was that the power struggle was of a symbiotic resistance. Either side had yet to learn from the consistent violence, coup d'etats, and shadow maneuvers perpetrated by both Clan Uchiha and the Konoha Loyalists. A tale of two opposing forces repeatedly at odds that somehow coexist to form one hydralike village, with one goal. Neither really having enough power to topple the other, or to live without the other. The story drove right to the core of the formation of Konoha, almost predictable. Uchiha and Leaf, a bad romance.            

This dialectic had already helped to give Ningyo a double mind. She wasn't sure if pressed whether her loyalties as a shinobi lie with her village or with her clan, and when responding to her superiors, would have to insinuate either allegiance depending on circumstance. If her assigned sensei was Uchiha they might be able to understand Ningyo's paradigm. Ningyo could already possibly be involved in subterfuge against her village. Alas, it was probably only regular intelligence correspondence.  

She put this out of her mind, as she had studied enough to hear of various mind reading, and thought perceiving jutsu and genjutsu. Her orders were only to deliver. She focussed on emptiness, or at least moved her mind to the itinerary of her regular combat practice for today.

Uchiha Ningyo studied from a book that she found, a piece of literature like one of so many that circulated amongst the academy libraries, Ningyo had borrowed this particular copy from the Uchiha clan texts available to Academy Students. It was a black bound folio with no title print on the cover.

The tome was so basic she wondered if it had appeared published in areas with populated by 'hylics' (as she had heard them called) or populations unaware of chakra or ninja jutsu, in short "civilians". The idea was sort of humorous to her, reminding her of the stories of famous ninja who hid while traveling by pretending to be charlatans. She read from the manual.

"Xanshin is a state of heightened awareness, a mental state cultivated by the ninja where they stay fully present and alert. This enables them to act quickly and decisively."

Ningyo agreed that concentration was one of the principle forces driving the mastery of all basic techniques, and she could already see the results of her own meditation training on jutsu and movement. Clarity was required to think and move precisely and swiftly.

"The ninja must learn to blend themselves with natural environments, using light, shadow, the surrounding foliage and terrain, make-up, disguise and special clothing. They must constantly be attuned to their environment...." furthermore "Ninja stealth is not limited to physical action but encompasses the psychological."

Ningyo naturally succumbed to her overwhelming impulse not to stand apart, and chose not to draw attention to herself even in such situations as school or training. Her clothes were a basic black, made for utility, her mannerisms and expressions unnoteworthy. Her personal ideal was to appear as typical as possible.  

"Endurance and patience, running, swimming, climbing and repetitive drills develops the physical stamina needed for prolonged periods of activity, maintaining peak performance even in the face of exhaustion."

She idly thumbed through the manual. The rest was on taijutsu, quick release of weapons, concealment and retrieval of packages or weapons caching, Kenjutsu and Iaijutsu, the different balance of shuriken, body language, art of distraction. Ningyo placed her head on her palm while reading. Besides the parts she already knew, the realization of certain techniques obviously couldn't be transferred through manuals but had to be practiced consistently. Every moment was a dynamic, changing, practice, even in walking.

"Many ninjas villages were thought to have existed, entire populations of watchers who seemed to be simple workers and merchants, but reported to their senior officers all that they saw or heard."

That certainty sounded familiar, yet it amused Ningyo to read about the panopticon which she inhabited disguised as "history". For now, her itinerary dictated that it was time for practice again.    

She entered the largest room of her parent's apartment, a sort of 'dojo' room. There she rehearsed the basic kunai movements. The universal stances which adapted to every weapon, spear, sword, or otherwise. These basic slashing and stabbing kata were simple, but Ningyo possessed faith that they were created by masters and that within the simple, contained the seed of the advanced.

She began counting from one thousand. After all, a motion repeated one hundred thousand times could be said to have been internalized. Therefore mastery of this kata would not be impossible to achieve within a the course of a week.

Thought she heard something outside. Remembering her stealth training she tip toed to the door. Slowly she looked through the apartment door's peephole. There looking back at her was one single massive eye. Opening the door quickly, she discovered nobody present. Only a few leaves, blown eerily by the wind, glistening beneath the light of the moon. She closed the door swiftly, hiding in one of the many secret trapdoors scattered throughout the apartment. There she followed a dark tunnel instinctively. She burrowed deeper and suddenly had the sensation of falling. She exited through a closet where a scientist shinobi answered pulling back a velvet curtain.

"Ah, Ningyo Uchida, how nice of you to join us."

She looked about the all white walls of the nearly blindingly electrically lit room. There, she perceived several lifelike copies of herself moving mechanically, operating machinery with blank stares. Upon an assembly line several motionless versions of herself stared as if into an abyss moving slowly. A mechanical copy of her pulled a lever, and a new Ningyo joined the clones on the assembly line. "Allow me to introduce you to your sisters." They stood at attention, like Stepford wives.

Ningyo, in terror, made a swift exit from the room only to find herself in an increasingly complex, mandala-esque white labyrinth. There geometrically complex pearl paths wound about the walls and ceiling in MC Escher like patterns. She ran, only to discover herself within a golden hamster wheel. She jumped off, racing onto a 4D logic defying upside-down staircase. Behind her the loud reverberating, clicking footsteps of the invisible scientist pursued her, casting a dysmorphic shadow. Seeing an ornate antique victorian door see quickly took refuge. Inside this new room alternating black and white tile stretched forward. The walls lay lined with a myriad specimens of exotic butterflies encased in glass frames.

At the far end of the room a large tan leather chair could be seen turned away from Ningyo, There, it seemed as though someone was sitting behind a desk, smoking, while facing a giant butterfly painting. A small cloud of smoke emanated from behind the chair as it slowly swiveled to face Ningyo, revealing the scientist shinobi who now was wearing a black eyepatch on his left eye,

"You were late in delivering your message, I don't remember tardiness being a part of your script." exhaled the scientist. Ningyo remained silent in shock. The scientist took a drag of his cigarette, his grey white smock was tight and sharp fitting. He removed a rubbery offensively green glove that snapped with a squeal.. "look for our answer in the hollow of the tree behind the rose painted blue, and deliver the response to a shinobi at the office of the Uchida internal affairs." said the scientist in an almost bored and offhand manner.

Suddenly Uchiha Ningyo sat awake sharply in her bed reaching for her kunai. But, she was merely on the lonely mat on the floor, in the empty, silent room where she slept every night. She had been the victim of another strange nightmare. She looked torwards the clock, It read; 2:54. She collapsed back down into her bed, sure that falling back to sleep after the vivid dream would be impossible.

She tiptoed to her parents room opening the door but the bed was empty. They were gone as usual, on their own extended operative work and special-Jounin level training. She crossed the room to shut the open window, whose dangling outstretched curtain fluttered in the night.

Wiping her tired eyes she moved to the fridge and discovered a post-it note from mom, with a small hand-drawn picture of a sunflower. "Eggs and rice in the fridge, don't forget to feed Toto! <3 Mom." as she opened the fridge fluorescent light poured forth into the dark room.

At this point she wouldn't be able to sleep. She strapped on her headband and secured her holster. She left the apartment and jumped gracefully over the railing. Making her way to a secluded area for some night practice with her shuriken.

Ningyo stood before a mirror in the bathroom. It was 2300 hr. She couldn't sleep. She gazed into the mirror intensely. She could swear her face had changed before her eyes. Some kind of face switch, what was going on?

The fluorescent light in the bathroom flickered. Ningyo turned on the faucet and let the water run over a cloth, dabbing the mirror and cleaning it. She loooked again to make sure, but the result was the same, her face had really changed. She had read in a ninja book that peoples expression could change by tone, with emotion, blood pressure, or the tightening and relaxing certain micro muscles. Perhaps something of this nature had happened.

Suddenly she saw a ghostly mannequin face overlay her face. Then, the mannequin face transformed into a feminine kabuki like mask of white, with red lipstick and a small mole. This face was her own except in white make-up. The face in the mirror spoke to her "We're late for a date."

Ningyo took a shuriken and quickly stabbed herself in the leg, the most basic trick for dispelling gengutsu. Her face had taken the form of her own again, yet somehow she wasn't comforted.

Ningyo wrapped a bandage around her thigh. Better to compress bleeding now. (Damn, I'm having visual hallucinations.) thought Ningyo. (I have to be sure I keep this to myself, otherwise it might effect my career in the Konoha military. Ningyo, like all child shinobi, dreamed of someday joining an elite black ops, special forces, assassination squad. She wouldn't want to mess up her trajectory over a little failed psych evaluation.

If she couldn't get any sleep the least she could do was practice her kunai technique until the hallucinations died down.

Ningyo ran through the wilderness. She had lost her was from the trail to the clearing where she practiced. As she was walking through the Senju forest, she noticed that when she walked she still sometimes broke several twigs and made noise. She wondered how the animals of the woods, like the fox, didn't rustle as many leaves and twigs.

She slowed down to catch her breath. She maintained a slow pace, walking on the outside edge feet and slowly rolling them inward this was academy level stuff but, she may as well practice quiet stepping always. As she dampened the noise of her steps to zero, using chakra, she then began able to move swifter.

After an hour of quiet moving she was able to move very rapidly through the woods. Each rock, fallen tree, or inclined hill had different angels, and for this reason no set method for silence was possible. She had to concentrate continually to remain unheard and unseen. She continued jumping forward.

Jutsu Training:

After some time had passed Ningyo rested on a tree limb, crouching with her arms on her knees. In the distance she could see another good clearing for training. She had brought spools of wire and projectile weaponry. She unspooled some wire and threaded it through the hole in a shuriken. With this done she leap silently to the clearing.

Once at the clearing she attached some pieces of paper to the trees with senbon. Taking the shuriken attached to wire she threw it, once it was thrown she tried to run her chakra through the wire to modify it's trajectory to a 90 degree angle. The shuriken fell and became tangled in a bush. Undeterred, Ningyo retrieved it and threw again.

After an hour or so of practice Ningyo could throw a shuriken straight and have it turn in a 90 degree angle. She had finally hit grazed of her intended paper targets. The process was difficult and sometimes the shuriken wouldn't respond at all. She had still yet to hit one of her targets with the technique. The trajectories and momentum were erratic and difficult to control.

Now she needed something more sophisticated. She set up various paper targets at various angles. She threw different shuriken simultaneously and attempted to have them hit targets in different directions while wrapping around a tree.

She wasn't perfect with her wire control yet, but she could already see several ways this jutsu could be useable in the field. She would continue practicing here until night and then try again early tomorrow, until she had mastery over the shurikens movements with the use of the wire.

Ningyo sat deeply in meditation. Her mind was empty as she breathed in and out. There were occasionally urges to get up but she resisted them. She was continuing the method of tempering herself she had began. She visualized her new itinerary of training.

0500 - Stillness before Uchiha ancestors, quiet mind

0600 - Chakra sculpting, soles of feet, tree climbing, silently

0700 - Silent running through forest, camouflage

0800 - Ningyo would arrive at the main training grounds. Here she would stand across from a tennis ball cannon, striking the tennis balls out of the air with kunai and shuriken. This would serve as practice for moving targets and deflection of enemy projectiles.

0900 - Continued target practice at training ground, including further training in wire manipulation and 'trick shots'

1200 - Using clone jutsu to set up for and to retreat out of attacks. This had the bonus of perfecting her hand seal form.

0200 -  After lunch, during the second half of her day Ningyo would train in one of several clearings that she had scouted out around Konoha. Training by herself she could be free of any laziness of the other shinobi. Her schedule was active, physical, mental, disciplined and rigorous. In the clearing she would train the same projectile weapon techniques, pushing the limits of her accuracy and coordination, creating deeply patterned muscle memory anchors and raising her ability to respond swiftly in a direct combat situation.
.  
0300 - Today at this time, Ningyo was sweating and breathing hard. At this point she would usually be somewhat tired from a day of her regular schedule of training. The intensity of exercise would push her body's natural fatigue threshold. Regardless, she would practice her wire manipulated shuriken, acrobatics, chakra control, and accuracy in a flow state. When she was finished the clearing of trees would look temporarily seem like a spider's web, with wire running through it.  

0400 - Ningyo would return to the apartment, leaping from limb to through the trees in the forest,       attempting chakra control and quiet. Once at the apartment it was kunai practice, both katas in single and dual wield variations.

0700 - She would end each day with an hour of stillness and concentration, with incense softly burning before the uchiha emblem of the family shrine.

When Ningyo opened the door she was shocked, her mother and father sat at the table eating. Ningyo's mother wore a floral patterned dress with an apron and two oven mitts. Her father, Onmitsu, wore a faded grey suit. He was losing his hair slightly at the temples, but was otherwise in great shape for his age. He wore spectacles and read a weathered newspaper, liking to keep informed about local and international affairs.

"Mom! Dad! You're home!" the twelve year old girl jumped into their arms. "Ah, Ningyo, my little cutie" said Onmitsu, Ningyo replied  "I thought you were away on mission for Root ANBU!" Ningyo's mother looked at her father with a strained, shocked look. "Root what? Just where do you get these fantasies?" she slapped Ningyo's hand with an oven mitt. "You stop these flights of fancy little miss, and sit down, you're just in time for dinner! I already made a great big meal, tofu beef stroganoff!." she took a bite "Mmmmm, It tastes so real I can't believe it's not meat!" Her mother smiled, her pearl earrings glistening amongst her pearl teeth. "Haha, it's probably people." replied Onmitsu wryly.

"Dad, why are you wearing a suit?" asked Ningyo "Suit? What else would I wear?" responded Onmitsu  "aren't you a ninja?" Ningyo pried "Ninja! Please, Ningyo. These fantasies are getting out of control. As you know. I have a boring day job at the police headquarters. Hell, they don't pay me enough to be a 'ninja' I work a damn desk job." Ningyo's mother laughed serving the two plates of all-most meat stroganoff "That's funny Ningyo, Ninja... your father is barely an Uchida, he's mostly crazy."

Ningyo's father squeezed her on the knee "How's school been there. little Ningyo?" Ningyo ate some of her meal. "Well I graduated!" she said "Graduated! I knew your grades were good but darn, that's impressive."  her father replied. What is going on? thought Ningyo, they're acting weird again. Toto came up and began licking the vegan meat off of her fingers.

Ningyo stayed silent as her mother and father intoned about everyday, boring little things. if they weren't on a mission then where had they been? She ate slowly. When she was finished her father sat up. "Well, into the closet then dear." said Onmitsu. "What?" responded Ningyo. "You heard me, into the closet."

Inside the closet was a small cage filled with different colored haired dolls, Ningyo crawled in and her father locked her in the cage. Her parents smiled from beyond the closet door. "Goodnight cutie!"

Diary entry Ningyo Uchiha, from the files of the Konoha Intelligence Bureau;

"Dear Diary, My name is Uchiha Ningyo, I am 12 years old and live in Konohagakure. I have a dog named Toto. I recently graduated to become a Genin Shinobi. At first I was really proud, but then my life became pretty weird. When I go to sleep at night I have a reoccurring dream, but when I wake up I forget it.

In the academy they trained me in stuff like how to kill people, how to be quiet, how to leave my body when I'm in intense pain, and a bunch of other stuff like how to make copies of yourself. It's hard to explain so I guess I'll tell you later, for now, alls you need to know is that I'm officially a bona-fide shinobi.

I guess I don't really have any friends at school, I have a hard time making friends. So for right now, I just practice alone. I go to the throwing range and I practice my accuracy shooting at targets. There's a few other people down at the range but they are pretty simple folk, just practicing with their weapons. I am practicing because I want to become the best ever! <3.

Today at the throwing range I threw a hole right through my target's third eye! I was so excited. For lunch I had pizza, I don't usually get that. It was pretty good, I usually eat simple stuff, just to keep my body going. I don't usually eat sweets or soda because I read  a book that said it's bad for you, and I have to stay in shape to 'serve my country' like my Daddy says. Uncle Leaf needs strong soldiers.

My inner twin sister Charly has been behaving, so everybody has been saying that I'm a doing a model job. If I keep down the yellow brick road then I can even go on a 'secret mission' for the village. I can't wait. Charly I know that's you in the mirror, and I know your there to help us but Ningyo doesn't even need to know you exist. Ningyo doesn't even need to think about you Charly.

Anyway, until then oxoxoxo. <3"

Ningyo walked around. It was a softly rainy, or at least damp day. She was just leaving the gym and put her hands into the pockets of her utility raincoat. She passed the Konoha clock tower and the time read about, 12:12. She played with a deck of cards, as she had begun practicing (as a hobby) shuffling, card and coin tricks. It was something that was amusing to her, and she had read in a book that the techniques of stage magic were as much a part of entertainment as they were a part of covert methods.

The same dexterity used to say hide a coin in the fingers, could also be used in the field. Ningyo shuffled her cards with one hand. Using techniques she had practiced, plus her affinity for handseals and kunai, she was able to precisely isolate different cards, using her fingers to persuade several of them to stick together, or to keep a thumb to identify their shuffled place in a deck.

She also practiced with coins and bills, and it was easy to change a bill into another that she had previously rolled into the small of a finger. She only needed to add the sudden accompanying 'razzle' or 'jazz hands' to make it appear as though something supernatural was taking place. Continuing this way she could pull coins out of her mouth and ears, appear to duplicate small items and the like.  

Ningyo walked towards the residential district. As she turned the corner of an abandoned street she made the handseals for her transformation technique (Dog,- Boar, Ram) and made herself appear as a more inconspicuous pedestrian, that of a middle aged man in basic attire.

Jutsu Training:

Upon reaching an underprivileged neighborhood of the residential sector, Ningyo espied a group of lean very short haired men doing some sort of job involving fixing equipment. She walked extra slowly so she could be allow to watch them but they didn't really notice her presence. The men seemed jittery and excitable as they worked with power drills and other tools. ..

Extending her chakra toward them, she began to feel out their chakra, it felt excited and distorted. Using the unconsicous chakra that the men posessed, she tried something new. Ningyo attempted to use the chakra to manifest images other than what might be represented in their reality.

As she walked very slowly, extendeding her moments of contact, she was able to feel into their shadows of their minds and twist them to alter the physical shadows before her. At first the men didn't notice. Ningyo smiled and focused harder manifesting an entire shadow illusion in the form of a silhouette.

One of the mechanics raised a knotted grease covered finger. "H-h-hey man, lookout." He said clenching his jaw. "I've seen these before man I swear, it's the friggin shadow people" hissed his friend. They stood frozen in silence as they perceived the strange faceless being lumbering towards them, it's wispy edges fraying in the daylight.

Sense gripped the men and despite their apparent shock they ran inside an incompletely remodeled house. Ningyo (in the form of a normal middle aged man) continued walking down the street. She marveled that the illusion had worked, and that they had really appeared to have seen the images she conjured. She supposed continued efforts were necessary to learn more, but how would she practice?

Ningyo arrived at the training grounds for another day of work. She went into the locker room she removed her clothes and entered a shower  The water was ice cold, she closed her eyes as it hit her face. Using a towel she dried her hair, and changed into a black track suit from her gym bag and some sneakers.

Tying her black Konoha headband around her head she entered the indoor stadium room and stretched. There were a few ninja that Ningyo recognized that came everyday to the training grounds to practice, sparring or working on jutsu, mostly shinobi whose rank was in the genin to chuunin range. Today Ningyo's training would take place in a shuttle run spot to the side of the others.

Jutsu Training:

It was a reaffirmation of her dedication. She was training one of the fundamental techniques that was widely known in the ninja world, the Shunshin, or body flicker. Many knew of the technique but only by training could it really be learned, and once learned, only by continuous repetition could it be mastered.

Ningyo set up intervals at ten meter intervals each with neon cones. She started at the first cone, running the first increment and then doing a single pushup, she would run back to the start and then do a single push up. Once done she ran full speed to the second cone, a total of 20 yards, doing two pushups.

An exercise that would first appear simple became more difficult as the distance increased. At 50 meters she was breathing heavily. She performed the half tiger seal (essentially one finger up near the chest) but as she moved nothing happened. She put her hands on her knees and panted, and then made her way back to the first cone starting line.

She began again, first 10m dash, one pushup, 10m dash back to start one pushup, 20m dash two pushups, 20m dash back to start two pushups, 30m dash three pushups, 30m dash back to start three pushups. 40, 50, 60. By the seventh dash Ningyo could feel a burning for oxygen in her chest. She completed the seven pushups as beads of sweat began forming between her shoulder blades. She forced herself through the 90 and then back to the 100. She did the ten pushups and then dragged herself up, forming the half tiger sign.

She felt a surge of chakra but there was no teleporting shunshin movement, she tried to will herself forward but due to the chakra imbalance, the surge having passed, she achieved no boost to her speed. She tripped and fell to the ground..(Damn) she thought, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Picking herself up, she continued, attempting her exercise several more times. At a certain point she came to the hundred meter mark again, and slowed down to do her final ten pushups. She was attempting to finish them but her body wouldn't respond, lactic acid welling up in her body she could not physically go any further. She strained, trying to push her body up. Then she tried another pushup, her arms not responding, she collapsed face first to the floor.

Infuriated she dragged herself to her feet, on the verge of tears. She bit back the tears and focused forward. She drank some water and sat down allowing herself to recover panting deeply to absorb oxygen.  

She waited a while allowing herself some time. After her heartbeat had returned to normal she sat up again.

She calmed herself and started at the first cone. She ran 10 meters either direction, leaving off the pushups this time. Then 20 meters there and back, 30 meters etc. As she ran she felt she was picking up speed. She started into a full sprint pushing her body as fast as possible. She turned to the 70, the 80. Suddenly she pivoted at the 90 meter line turn back towards a final 100 stretch. She flashed her full tiger seal up and the chakra seemed to lock in. She dropped one hand into half tiger and continued running, but nothing appeared to be happening.

She was confused (Fuuuuuck you) she angrily managed to think as she pushed her herself even to move even faster than her stop speed and with every last ounce of energy she had. Just as her legs were about to give out beneath her, suddenly, the shunshin energy clicked and she felt herself rocket forward a distance of over half of the stadium in a single second. Her legs looked like a blurred windmill, and she felt as though she were travelling through a vacuum tunnel. She was quite surprised and when the high speed movement stopped she lost her balance and fell tumbling forward, the residual inertia sending her sliding gently into the wall where she stopped.

She rolled onto her back, scratched and bruised. Inwardly she smiled. With a first success, she knew the feeling, and attaching herself to that knowledge it would be possible to recreate. Through practice, tomorrow, next week, next month, she would eventually be able to use it at will, from any position. (Too easy) she thought to herself and for an exhausted moment she felt mildly satisfied.

Ningyo arrived at school earlier than usual. In the morning she read some training material in the library and then made her way to class.  She took a spot inconspicuously in the back of the class. Besides excelling in her studies she was naturally silent and unassuming.

When she woke up this morning she had noticed that her belly was unnaturally large. She had tried to tuck in her stomach but it was to no avail. She had heard stories of tengu, goblins, and spirits coming from the wild nature areas to deliver children or take them away, and being young, her understanding of reproduction was intermingled with fantasy. Nevertheless her stomach was slightly rotund. (Am I pregnant?) Ningyo couldn't understand.

Suddenly the teacher called her in front of the class, to demonstrate something or answer a problem. She she hadn't been paying attention. Her fear of publicity, combined with her fear of her mutated stomach being seen made her feel uncomfortable. The teacher was beckoning her up, becoming stern.

She anxiously made her way to the front of class. Once in the front of class she began to blush. The children had noticed the difference and had begun pointing and laughing. "She has a watermelon under her shirt!" cried one of the children. Ningyo covered her face and ran out of class.

Ningyo sat up in bed. These dreams were agonizing, but this was at least a first for the pregnancy fantasy. Hopefully she wouldn't have to be continually subjected to it. She put on her shinobi gear and began her itinerary of training. She sat in stillness on the hardwood floors in the corner of her family's apartment beside the gentle fumigation of incense. She leap through the trees to a clearing.

Once there she used chakra enhanced climbing and attempted to shunshin from tree to tree. Her high speed movement was becoming more stable and she was able to use it without accident more consistently. She combined her movement with acrobatics and trapeze amongst the tree limbs. On a particularly graceful high as her body was all but suspended in the air from freefall, she reached towards a kunai as quickly as possible and threw it.

The kunai was threaded by to the smallest strand of hyper flexible yet ultra strong metal wire. The metal wire came tunneling out of her sleeve at the with the velocity of the kunai. The wire flashed, catching the right angle of sunlight through the trees. The point of
the kunai slammed into the tree with a thud and Ningyo instantly clutched strongly onto the wire.

She simply let her inertial weight guide her down as she swung through the forest attached by the kunai. She made a wide arc and the realized she would need another contact point. The momentum set her swinging upwards as she let go of the wire, floating towards the horizon. She quickly drew another kunai and threw back down towards the forest.

She repeated her technique, occasionally attempting a few acrobatic maneuvers like aerial somersaults. She remained in control of the adrenaline methodically swinging like spider-man, It was fun to be able to add this to other movement techniques like leaping from tree limb to tree limb and shunshin.

Ningyo decided it was time to stop by the arms dealer and pick up some supplies. She stopped by Ninjamaxx and was immediately struck by the sporty retail store smell. She looked up and saw the signs for the different sections of the store, looking for the shuriken. She shyly noticed the other ninja browsing through the selection of weapons. They seemed confident. She looked and saw an excited buff male ninja who seemed very excited talking to a sales representative about an expensive designer brand sword.

She finally found the projectiles section, the shuriken were in a humble corner, a sort of ninja staple. She picked up a box of shuriken and they rattled in the box metallically. There were several brands and, since this was Ningyo's first time at Ninjamaxx, she didn't which were the best. Maybe she would get a few different kinds and see which she liked the most, and then stick with her favorite brand. She read the box of shuriken "extra fast, striking power" one read, "2.2 oz matte black, surgical steel, 4 sharpened points per star" . They had varying slimness, weights and lengths, with names like "Deathpointe" and "Quicksilver" she would have to find the ones she liked the best.

Next she found the spools of wire and got those, since she ran through that pretty quickly. She also found some brand name smoke pellets and flashbang grenades in another section. They looked pretty cool so Ningyo picked up some of the smoke bombs. She tried to get all of the top of the line, professional quality gear. She didn't want any of this stuff malfunctioning on her.

On her way out Ningyo noticed a spring powered sleeve held kunai loader. It looked tricky and uncomfortable but it instantly armed and loaded a kunai right to your hand without having to draw it from a holster. It could be hidden in you sleeve. She couldn't wait to try it. She got to the checkout and a man in Konoha camo said "will that be cash or card?". Ningyo only used cash, and didn't really know what the guy was talking about but all the weapons and supplies ended up being pretty expensive. She flicked through a wad of bills and took the change from the clerk "Have a nice day" he said.

Ningyo walked home with two plastic bags full of armaments. She thought about how much she had just spent at Ninjamaxx, but Ningyo figured it was worth it. She couldn't take the money with her in a coffin.        

As she was walking home she an old Chuunin village guard happened to see her passing by. He was excited and really liked Ninjamaxx too, he shopped there all the time. The guard said that he saw on running every morning before practicing each day. He told her to hold on and went to the guard duty tower. When he came back he held a black tactical crossbow with scope, and asked Ningyo if she wanted it. He said none of the guards ever used it. Ningyo looked the weapon over and then glanced through it's scope. She put it in her bag and decided to play with it and see if she liked it. Saying thanks to the village guard, she bowed.

The weapon wasn't glamorous, it was a bulky, awkwardly angled, contraption. It was difficult to hide anywhere and it was difficult to move around with. It was black, not green, so it didn't camouflage well in the forest. However, it was capable of shooting projectile bolts at the pull of a trigger. so it's functionality might beat out it's aesthetic limitations.

Ningyo took her new crossbow to the gym to get used to it. It didn't take her very long to get a bullseye from long distance, thanks to the crossbow's scope. She followed it up with another crossbow bolt that split the first one with deadeye accuracy. It seemed to work, so Ningyo took her new swag to a locker in the gym and brought the rest of it home.

Ningyo set up a 360 line of targets in the woods at a range of 10 meters. She took a kunai by it's knife point and threw it into a bullseye, another in the left hand in the opposite direction into stuck into bullseye. She crouched forward drawing two more Kunai simultaneously threw them at two other targets, bullseyes. She did a somersault flip and guided the crossbow on her back into her hands and shot for an easy bullseye before reaching for two more kunai that she threw while spinning for two bullseyes.

She retrieved her equipment and glanced at the targets to the North, East, West, and South, and ones in between. She had made them of straw tied in circles and painted them with an outer blue ring, an inner red ring and an inner yellow bullseye target in the center. She began the routine again with three retrieved kunai in her hand.

Throwing an apple into the air she caught it with the kunai and pinned it to the straw target with a direct bullseye. She spun and shifted letting a kunai fly to the NE and SE targets which quickly found their bullseye marks. She spring loaded two kunai and crouched letting the missiles slip through her sleeves to the bullseyes on the E and SW targets. Drawing two more kunai she did a flip and spun in the air with her arms extended releasing two kunai in opposite directions that found their bullseye marks on the North and South targets.

She landed and rolled her crossbow into her hand by it's strap shooting a crossbow bolt into the West target which hit a bullseye. She looked at the remaining target as she struggled to load the crossbow with another crossbow bolt. She looked at the bolts that had scattered all over the ground from her flip and aerial work. The bolt finally clumsily clicked back into the crossbow. She shot off the last crossbow bolt and it hit the blue ring on the Northwest target.

Seven bullseyes for that round was pretty good, but she recognized that there were limitations with the crossbow and that she would need practice to get better. The ability to only shoot one crossbow bolt at a time before reloading was a major drawback but with some practice reloading perhaps she could find a way to decrease reloading time and make the crossbow useful. Pulling the mechanism back and getting the bolt in place took most of her strength.

Ningyo retrieved her kunai, practicing her knife throwing was very meditative, just when she thought she had it figured out she would need to have to try over again relearning some small part of her release or throw. This would break up the hours she spent throwing kunai repeatedly. She was never happy with anything but a bullseye and kept practicing until she could get accomplish bullseye streaks for her routines.

She was developing several deadly accurate thrown kunai katas with spinning and no spin throws at targets in 360 degrees. Tomorrow she would increase the distance.

Ningyo practiced within the secluded clearing again. Targets erected at 20 meter distances were engaged. She threw a kunai at the blade tip with her left hand formed the half tiger with her right, micro shunshining to another direction within the central eye of the circle. She quick drew two more kunai and threw one in the air, throwing another at just an angle that it knocked both into the blue rings of their targets with a metallic clink. She continued her dance of death, fusing her shunshin and kunai throwing abilities.

The accuracy was not 100% at these higher speeds and with her more dangerous tricks, she was after all limited to merely organic human eyes. In a seamless flow she continued. Pulling shuriken from a pouch she deftly isolated them between each finger. With a single movement she let a barrage fly that embedded themselves into the targets.

She unfurled a Fuuma shuriken that locked into place. She threaded the wire through it's hole while in midair and guided it into a target which was cut in half by the impact. She drew two kunai from hoslters and leap in the air, doing a backwards flip and releasing them. They softly landed in two bulleye targets.

Next she placed the targets before her in a straight line in the clearing. She threw two kunai and then performed a handstand backflip on the ground, moving as she drew more kunai between her fingers. As she stood up and let the kunai fly into their bulleye targets. She backflipped to 20m and attaching chakra to her foot, threw a kunai into a bullseye, unloading the rest of the kunai into a series of targets. She then performed several grounded backflips to 30 meters, drawing knifes as she flipped and throwing them into the targets.

She had placed a crossbow and bolts aside on the ground at 30 meters distance and hit a consecutive series of bullseye targets, reloading the crossbow with bolts each time. Ningyo practiced these routines several more times incorporating the crossbow into her repertoire.

She then patrolled the city streets of Konoha, scanning and making note of the ebb and flow of pedestrian traffic. As twilight descended she crouched atop telephone pole. She hopped from pole to pole, balancing momentarily and moving in flashes. From her various perches within the city she could not be seen. She considered the nature of the people and shinobi of city and the hidden hand behind the mechanism of Konoha.    

While patrolling she mapped hidden paths, easy cache points, alternate routes and hiding places. She looked out for abandoned buildings, places with high rooftops, vantage points towards other buildings or streets. She watched others, who followed who, who was shinobi, who unloaded what goods in what warehouses, what stores were selling what merchandise, what stores were covers for the merchandise they were purported to be selling. She began to build a mental map.

When it was finally night she headed home. Once house she meditated and cleared her mind.

Haze Clone:

Ningyo arrived at the clearing earlier than she scheduled. She already regularly practiced her academy clone technique for offensive use. Today she would apply her effort to mastering to the ideas of the jutsu to another level.

Ningyo did the Dog and Tiger handseals swiftly and focused her chakra. A bunshin appeared standing on the grass beside her. She mentally commanded the bunshin to move, and it responded. Good, she thought. She singled out a solitary tree in her line of sight. She imagined that the tree was a combatant and prepared her maneuver. She willed the bunshin forward and it responded wielding an illusory kunai. She followed behind the bunshin. When the bunshin passed, it's attack wasn't real, and it's incorporeal body passed through the tree with a whooshing effect. The real Ningyo followed close behind, striking the tree with her kunai.

Ningyo prepared to excute a more complicated attack pattern. She swiftly performed the Dog and Tiger handseals and created two bunshin. She charged the tree again in a staggered formation, the first bunshin attacked, then the second bunshin attacked to a misdirected area (baiting a defense) and then the real Ningyo rushed behind striking the tree with her Kunai.

She prepared again, using the handseals while crouching. Two clones were manifested shimmering on the grass in smoke. The two clones approached from different directions, passing through the tree swiftly. Ningyo approached from a third direction, completing the formation.

Ningyo practiced this technique repeatedly. Coordinating her attacks with bunshins at different speeds, directions, order, and angles. She tried to maximize the techniques versatility so that she would be able to improvise in a real situation.

Ningyo now tried to mix it up. She did her seals and summoned six bunshin, three on the right and three on the left in a staggered pattern. She influenced the bunshin on the left to move to the right and vice versa, creating a disorienting collapsing effect. She hid amongst them keeping her movement, expression and rythym exactly the same as the clones around her.

Next she willed the bunshin to throw illusionary kunai and shuriken at varying speeds towards their target. She mixed a real volley of kunai in which embedded themselves into the bark of the tree.

She repeated these patterns and variations until she was out of chakra. She had made steps in further understanding of bunshin jutsus and would be able to effectively use this technique in combat when necessary.

Demonic Illusion: Hell's VIewing:

Gazed into the mirror in the bathroom in her underwear. She was going to try to learn the Genjutsu: Hell Viewing technique, but she didn't think it would be ethical to practice it on innocents or civilians. This meant that the only choice however, would be to cast the illusion on herself. She read the preliminary jutsu scroll. "The shinobi forms the Snake -> Rat handseals," it explained. "drawing your chakra toward your opponent the jutsu will connect to the victim's greatest fear and manifest it before their eyes. The enemy will inhabit a realmscape of your control dominated by their own greatest fear."

Ningyo gazed at her own ghostly mask like face in the mirror. Alright, here I go she thought. She performed the Snake and the Rat handseals and stared at her own reflection.

At first nothing happened. Then, slowly, the mirror ebbed and flowed like a viscous metallic liquid. The reflection in the mirror smiled desyncing with NIngyo. "Nice to see you again" It said laughing. The reflections laugh echoed in a modulating timbre waveform. It's hair turned blonde and lips blue-black as it closed it's corpse-like eyes. Black flower petals seemed to descend around Ningyo slowly, reflected with kaleidoscopic effect in the mirror. The black flower petals turned to bats that screeched into her face and fluttered against her skin as they tried to force their way down her throat. Suddenly the inside of the fluorescent lit bathroom the walls became muscle, flesh, and bone. Several insects ripped their way out of the walls. Hundreds of worms and cockroaches emerged out of holes moving slowly as they made their way towards her. Moths landed and flapped on her skin and face, fighting to burrow their way into her nasal passage, fluttering uncontrollably. She tried pushing them out but she was paralyzed and out of breath. The small legs of the insects and spiders began clicking rapidly, crawling over her pale bare skin. Suddenly a spider bit her and began burrowing into the flesh of her stomach.

The worms and insects crawled into all of the orifices of her body. She tried to scream but she was captured in an icy agonizing silence. Her mind felt like it was tearing itself apart. She looked into the mirror again and the flesh of her face slowly began melting away. She moved her hands to clutch her face but they were the doll hands of a skeleton.

She stared in horror as spiders and colorful butterflies flew over the open wound of her skinless face. Flowers grew out of her skin and body. As the blood and muscle of her face were eaten away by the insects she saw the metallic exoskeleton of her skull, and realized she was nothing more than a mindless machine, a will-less toy, an automaton acting out the will of an invisible and omnipresent puppetmaster.

She scrambled to find something to end the meaningless agony of her pointless life, crawling through the rotten meat, worms, swarming insects, aborted children, dolls, and rats that covered the mucusy tissue that pulsated with life and filled ground as she searched desperately for a weapon. Her teeth melted out of her face leaving her with an empty rotting hole.

She looked up to the mirror, the edges of which pulsated with vine-like veins, that glowed and twitched with crimson-blue life. She screamed a helpless silent scream and punched the glass with all of her might.

She came to her senses collapsing into a heap on the porcelain tile of reality, within the confines of the off white bathroom, beneath the flickering fluorescent light. She clutched on to her bloody hand the shattered shards of the mirror lying on the floor.

She shuddered in fear in a fetal position, her hand began to emit a pool of dark blood. The illusion had seemed more real to her than her own life.

Uchiha Ningyo returned to update her regimen. She still ran off of military time to promote discipline. She never deviated from her objectives and never put off something that could be done now for later.

0500 - In the morning she always began with focus and meditation. She could sit her butt on her heels and her hands in handseal or mudra for hours at a time without moving. This promoted sharp focus and helped chakra circulation and awareness. Meditation was the foundation of the discipline, organization, and focus of training.

0600 - light breakfast. Ningyo was a vegetarian and was somewhat interested in practical diet. She made sure to get the basic nutrients and was very organized in her approach to eating. Eating unhealthy or dense foods could effect training, movement, and rehabilitation times.

0700 - At this time Ningyo would run every day rain or shine. She used small, long, easily secured 1 lb weights on the wrists and calves from Ninjamaxx. The style was very professional and the weights didn't slide around at all, she wore them under the clothes and barely noticed them. They weren't heavily enough to generate muscle bulk but designed to increase speed over time.

0800 - Ningyo would arrive at the shinobi gym or training complex A. She had a locker here and traded out whatever supplies she was going to be working with that day. She would enter the gym and do regular calisthenics and fitness training. She would practice high speed movement here, as well as gymnastic moves like flips, somersaults, and aerial pirouettes.    

0900 - She would train shuriken, kunai, throwing knives, crossbow, and wire manipulated throws at the marksman range. Here she was beginning to make small waves at her local shooting range for her phenomenally growing accuracy, her precise target grouping and ability to score bullseyes consistently.    

1200 - Ningyo would travel to one of her many secluded clearings, already scouted, to practice the execution of Haze Clone combinations, and intelligent bunshin tricking feints and attacks. Perpetual practice of the jutsu she could perform was necessary to making them the best.  

1500 - Ningyo would continue with solitary practice on targets in the clearing. Here she could practice against targets set up at 360 degrees, and work at the summit of her mastery of more the more elaborate bukijutsu combinations that were become a part of her repertoire.

1700 - NIngyo would make a pass through the metropolis of Konoha before dark. While this could appear superfluous, Ningyo kept it in her latest schedule so that she could practice tracking, hiding her presence and chakra as well as situational awareness. It could be seen as a sort of volunteer patrol. After a day of navigating wilderness terrain, it was important also to navigate urban terrain and know the differences.

1900 - Home, meditation, and her pre-planned evening meal, and a little bit of reading, always jutsu scrolls, tactics, clan history, jutsu information, or sometimes a Ninjamaxx weapon catalog magazine, where deals were advertised.

At the end of the day, though exhausted she always felt the desire to push her limits further, that there was an ability level way beyond the horizon that she was working towards at a turtle's pace. Sticking to the regimen everyday made it an easy habit and allowed progress.

Ningyo arrived at the gym and put her weapons and tools in her locker. She changed into an all black long-sleeved leotard. Trapeze could be a fun diversion from her normal practice, a way to perfect her balance, agility, acrobatic skills, and overall control of her body.

She began practicing on the trapeze bars. She spun around the bar, doing a forward barrel roll, and then kicked off, allowing the bar to swing. She warmed up with some straightforward passing, jumping from one bar to the other. And then making her way the the other platform. She jumped of again in reverse. As the bars came close to each other she was required to do 180 degree spin.to catch the other bar in the air as the two swung together. She passed from bar to bar as they swayed back and forth.

She pulled herself up with her forearms, the bar resting at her waist. Splitting her body in half at the waist she fell forward into a barrel roll around the bar. She slid down catching the corners of the bar by her ankles. Then she passed from bar to bar with an aerial somersault, catching the alternate bar in her hands. She fell into a swinging toe hang, and then did a perfectly balanced upside down abdominal crunch to bring her hands back to the bar, almost slipping.

In the midst of her routine, she envisioned the glittering world of a circus trapeze artist, feathered uniforms, shimmering lights, and the mesmerizing applause of an enchanted audience. From a above a stage light would funnel down upon her as her swaned arms spread apart, grazing the silk ropes and flying forward gracefully.

She landed back on the left platform powdering her hands with some grip powder. She leapt, jumping and grabbing the swinging bar as it came her way. She wasn't afraid to look down at material net between her and a gut wrenching plummet. She swung back and forth to get some momentum, straightening her toes aerodynamically forward. The bar was really swinging high now as she let go into an aerial twist catching onto the other bar as it swung within her reach at the last second.

She sat on the bar like a swing waiting for it to stop spinning. She then did some stationary aerial positions, half angel, spider, and a splits and other acrobatics.

She jumped up to a tight rope above the trapeze. Focusing chakra on the soles of her feet she walked across the tight rope slowly, step by step. She looked down again and saw the plummeting drop to the safety net. The tightrope was an excellent tool for exercising balance and chakra control. She stood in the middle of the tight rope and placed one foot into her inner thigh and placed her hands into the Ram handseal, focusing.

She then began somersaulting across the tight rope. Suddenly she slipped and fell, and was forced to catch the trapeze bar below which responded by beginning to swing earnestly.

"Ladies and gentleman, the magnanimous, the mysterious, the riveting, Ningyo!" Ningyo walked out onto the stage with a top hat, a sparkling black sequined tuxedo with tails, shorts with nylon tights, a white dress shirt and a red bow tie. She rolled up her sleeves and took off her top hat, removing a white rabbit, the audience applauded.

She threw a little bit of glittering confetti on the stage. She flexed her white gloved hands, and in her hand there appeared a red rose.  She threw the red rose into the air and it became a dove and fluttered away.

She grabbed an end table. Clutching on to the edges of a tablecloth on the small stool-like table. The table levitated, gliding through the air as she manipulated it with the table cloth.

A midget clown ran across the stage chasing the white rabbit.

She showed an ordinary red hula hoop, gesturing to it with a bedazzling hand and twirling the hoop around. She placed a curtain around the hoop and put the circle on the ground. She crouched and raised her body up quickly, pulling the hoop and the curtain up above her head. As the curtain dropped a beautiful magician's assistant in a red dress appeared.

The audience applauded and threw flowers as Ningyo raised the assistant's hand above her head and guided her to a large wheel of fortune. There Ningyo clasped iron bands around the assistant's ankles and wrists, securing her to the large vertical wheel and spun her around. As she spun a hypnotizing wheel turned.

Ningyo balanced a kitchen knife on the finger of her white glove. She began juggling kitchen knives. She threw a card out of her pocket, (the Ace of Spades) and it stuck to the spinning wheel right in between the assistant's fingers. She threw a card and as it floated she sent another juggled knife flying to stick it face up (the King of Hearts), another card was impaled with a knife between the assistant's legs (the Queen of Hearts), and finally a (One Eyed Jack) was stuck to the board.

She took a bite out of a juicy apple and threw it into the air. With one kitchen knife left she drew it back behind her ear and threw it catching the apple in the air and sticking it into the board above the assistant's head. She unrestrained the assistant and raised her arm above her head, the audience applauded.

Ningyo guided the magician's assistant to a magic table. She laid her down on the table and placed a box over her. She pulled the cord on a giant guillotine and it cut the magician's assistant in half. Ningyo wheeled her assistant's legs around to her head and the assistant watched as she wiggled her own toes.

NIngyo placed the pieces of the woman back together and drew away a cloth. Viola! Ningyo raised her hands and spread her palms up. She was in one piece. Ningyo threw some confetti out of her pocket and holding hands with the assistant they simeultaneously bowed. The audience threw flowers and applauded wildly.

Ningyo had made friends with enough chuunin village guards that a few invited her to the bunjikan to practice. Today they were practicing "non-violent" taijutsu compliance techniques. These techniques were more fitting for the guards to learn since they were involved in civilian arrests.

The instructor was an old man with his hair dyed purple. The students bowed on knees and prepared for class. Ningyo sat in the back and couldn't help but think that the room smelled like feet.

The old man taught the basic wrist locks. He explained that the wrist could be covertly locked even in the event that the enemy held a weapon. He took a much larger shinobi and threw him on the mat.

Then the purple haired man showed an arm bar. He explained that the body had basically hundreds of leverage points, and those joints, when manipulated, caused compliance and disarmament of the adversary. The old man seemed to have a magic for finding the certain angle or pressure point that inspired submission in the students. He said that these skills were used in special forces all over and were basic joint locking taijutsu.

The hunched over purple haired man then performed a forward wrist lock, bringing his opponent down to the floor. He could lock fingers and manipulate pressure points in the face neck and arms. These points instantly brought the students in the class to their knees, radiating in a special kind of pain.

He explained, shoulder locks, neck locks, and even showed how to break a neck by placing a hand on the head and a hand on the jaw and jerking swiftly in opposite directions. Ningyo made sure that she would practice it later.

He beckoned Ningyo up to the front of the class and he pressed her own thumb into her hand and she was guiding to the ground by the master by a finger lock. He showed how to do different joint manipulation with a baton or a sickle and chain, using the chain to naturally bind up someone.

After class he took Ningyo aside and showed her different hidden weapons, a knife hidden in a comb, a poison needle that popped out of a salt shaker, a necktie in which a small hidden scalpel was sewn in. He pulled out a small exotic box of blinding powder, which when blown through one end released it's contents. An exotic and well designed fan with senbon expertly woven ln the lining. A hollowed out walking stick with a chain inside that could be used for tripping or binding, or as a elastic missile.    

He had very small metal rings that went on the fingers to help climb and to apply piercing clawing pressure in compliance techniques.  

The old man blindfolded Ningyo and stood behind her with a wooden bokken. She was supposed to dodge the wooden sword by sensing it's presence alone. The old man brought the sword down and smacked Ningyo on the head. She had failed this time but the old man said she could come back next week and try again.

Ningyo took particular note of all of the hidden weapons and felt inspired to see if she could develop her own techniques.

Ningyo sat beneath the moon in the full lotus position at night on the hill above the waterfall. She had changed from japanese za-zen syle meditation sitting to full lotus sitting, and had tried sitting in nature in stillness. Here atop the tree filled hill she could hear the various fauna of the forest. Insects chirped, animals and birds made small sounds  

She had been meditating consistently and often. Now, not only could she control aspects of her breath, she was scanning the sensations of her body and internal organs.

Anywhere on her body with enough focus she could feel a sensation the size of a pinprick. Her micro-sensations gave her an understanding of her chakra circulation. This helped her develop sensitivity to the feel of chakra, she could feel energy, basically. The energy with this perception could be molded like insubstantial 'clay'.        

As her meditation had continued she received varying states of clarity, within the mind, will, and emotions. Tonight, meditating on a hill beneath the full moon, it almost felt as if moonlight was absorbing into her through her pores.

The greatest part of meditation training was to still the will and generate focus. She had begun not only sitting for longer but challenging herself not to move any parts of her body while she trained. Involuntary she would experience searing pain as her legs cried out, wanting to twitch. It felt at times like every second all she could imagine was getting up and quitting her meditation.

This pain like all the sensations must be tried objectively, felt but not responded to, to break free of the genjutsu of reality.

She breathed steadily feeling the air particles as she inhaled. A pressure developed in her forehead, and she saw sparkling object before the consuming blackness of her closed eyelids. Her eyes stuttered as she exhaled, riding the diligently cultivated psychic and natural energies.

Thoughts would sometimes bubble up and cause havoc, racing and wandering wanting to do anything other than be still.

The idea of meditation was objective observation of the five sensory states, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. These states were the points of entry for the data of physical reality. In some religions it was believed that reality itself was an illusion, Ningyo understood this as meaning that everything was a large genjutsu.  

In these scriptures it said also that the poor were blessed, and that material possessions were binding. In a sense, the heroes of shinobi history lived sometimes parallel to these instructions, for there had been shinobi who were by the world's standards in poverty yet masters in the shinobi world. Ningyo herself tried to only keep the possessions necessary for her career, her ninja tools, weapons, shuriken etc.  

Ningyo thought of all the time she lost to sleeping every night, and wondered if the bodies energies could be refreshed with meditation. Tonight she would attempt to meditate all throughout the night. Meditating for an entire night was difficult but if she could cut out the wasted hours with training she could increase the acceleration of her growth.

Ningyo left with Toto through the deep wilderness. the dog was amazingly good at scouting and Ningyo followed. Ningyo hopped through the angled ravine of a dry riverbed alternating legs. Toto hopped up a fork in the ravine, kicking his back legs and climbing as rocks trailed behind him. Ningyo leapt from foot to foot in a rhythmic pattern to follow.

Ningyo crouched to the ground examining the trail as Toto sniffed, they were trying to increase their tracking and awareness skills, to keep their sense of location and direction in the forest and look for the small clues that could indicate travel, like broken twigs, footprints and tracks, among other things.

Toto lept up going deeper into the woods. Because Ningyo didn't know where they were, she was following Toto. They ran up over steep hills, covered in leaves and lush wooded jungle like areas. Toto looked around and smelled trying to regain her sense of direction. I shouldn't have strayed this far away from the village, into the deep jungle. she thought petting Toto who smiled inwardly grateful for the attention. Toto ran off again, confident that he could lead them home.

The landscape around her began to swirl and meld, things really were different in the deep forest. It's almost like the normal world rules didn't apply. She wondered about the guardian nature spirits that were said to live in deep forest with goals unascertainable by mortals, who sometimes connected to the realm of humans via powerful shinobi. Just being in the forest she could understand just how different animal and nature spirits might be.

Toto continued kicking his back legs climbing up a leafy hill. Suddenly they could see tracks. Ningyo knelt down placing her arms on her knees and visually scanned the ground. She could see the impressions of movement in the dirt of the forest floor. They were either her's and Toto's from walking a circle, or they were other shinobi. "This way Toto." pointed Ningyo.

They leapt forth, jumping from tree limb to tree limb. They continued for a distance until Toto barked. Ningyo stopped and turned. The dog had become tired. Ningyo pulled a water bottle from her equipment pouch and let Toto drink some water which he slurped happily.

"Come on Toto, we're almost there" said Ningyo as she scooped him up in her arms and continued. She continued leaping through the forest, chakra enhanced jumping and climbing from tree to tree. In the distance she could see Konohagakure again. "I can see the village!" Toto barked happily. It had been a team effort.

Ningyo made it back to the village after travelling a distance and then navigated her way home through the rooftops. She Toto back in the house and filled his food bowl while she prepared for her next day of training.

Ningyo lay on her back, facing up. She was clad in a sleek black waterproof suit and her blue standard issue sandals. In her mouth was a reed, and as she looked up she could see the sun cutting through the surface of the water. Her body floated weightlessly. She had made her way to a lake to get practice in and around water.

She was breathing through a small hollow piece of of bamboo in the mouth. This was a classic stealth method in amphibious operations. The water cascaded over her body gently.

All movements beneath the water were separate than movements above the water. Movement was easier but the water provided more resistance making motion slower. She practiced handseals slowly beneath the water.

Ningyo raised her head up from underneath the water, pouring and splashing as she surfaced with the straw in her mouth. A frog jumped into the water off of a lily pad from excitement. She kicked her arms and legs to keep her head above water and maintain her position in the lake.

She ditched the straw and took a deep breath descending back down. Now, as she swam below the surface, her movements had to be controlled, as she only had so much breath. She exhaled a few bubbles inadvertently.

She made another dive and floated gently beneath the lake. Here she could see the subtle movement of fresh water fish and aquatic plant life. She practiced pirouettes and somersaults beneath the surface of the water. Again she surfaced for air.

Ningyo climbed up on to the lake and used the chakra infusion to the soles of her feet to balance on the surface. She spread her feet apart and formed her fingers into a seal for focus. Standing on the ever fluctuating water was much more difficult than climbing trees, as the chakra pressure had to be adjusted more precisely to stay afloat.

She took a single trepidatious step forward, faltering slightly as her foot fell below the waterline. Finally she found a steady footing but both her feet began to sink in the water. Not enough chakra? She made another step but began to slowly slip back into the lake.

She lifted her left foot up and, covering it in a dense layer of chakra, placed it just upon the surface of the water. She took the other foot and did the same. In this way she was able to correct her position and not slip.

She did the handseals for a bunshin and watched as her clone also floated on the water. She was just beginning and knew she would have to continue to practice training in water environments. She dispelled the clone and took a running start and then did an acrobatic dive into the water. Her dive was controlled in such a way that it made a minimal splash.

Beneath the surface of the water again she floated. She could serenely see her reflection in the mirroring pool where the water broke into air.

Ningyo visited Masaaki, the purple haired grandfatherly ninja. She had asked him what ways she could continue her own training so he had decided to help her. She showed up and waited, sitting on her knees. Masaaki began showing her the nuances of his house.

It was rigged with floorboards that slid out of place to reveal cached weapons. Masaaki also showed showed her a revolving wooden door, where someone could hide themselves. The whole house was tricked out and modified, with trapdoors, crawling spaces, secret attics, and weapon compartments, a hall of distorted mirrors, and rigged poisonous traps. What appeared to be a normal house was actually a deadly trick fortress.

Masaaki told Ningyo that every sensory ability of a ninja should be sharpened like and honed to a pinpoint. A ninja must have instantaneous reactions along with perfect intuition and awareness. He said that a hidden part of his house was an obstacle course. and today Ningyo's training was to pass through the obstacle course unscathed. He placed a blindfold around Ningyo's eyes and shoved her down a hatch.

Ningyo landed in a basement of total darkness. She put her arms before her wildly, unsure of where to walk. Her vision totally cut off, she crouched down finally grasped out as her finger that grazed along a wall. She used the wall to guide herself and crept cautiously forward. She could only hear the gentle dripping of water somewhere.

Suddenly she stepped on what must have been a trigger tile. The tile seemed to sink slowly and click. She heard a mechanical sound. A trap! Ningyo faltered, but leapt out of the way. She heard a volley of clicks as needles launched from somewhere and shattered against the wall. A single needle caught her in the leg.

Pain radiated through her leg. Ningyo winced realizing that the trial within Masaaki's trap maze had just begun. The basement seemed to extend endlessly, with only echo and footsteps to guide her.

Ningyo focussed her heightened senses. Despite the danger she felt that removing the blindfold would ruin her chance to complete the challenge the right way. She navigated through the pitch darkness. A wire was tripped and another dart trap was activated. Ningyo did several backward handstand somersaults, avoiding it.

She now became careful about every step and she crouched low and sensed around her. She moved her weight slowly feeling for pressure plates. She listened further and could hear vibrations emanating from within the trap maze.

She reached a place where her footing was unsure, as the floor ended abruptly. She felt for a rock or stone and threw it down the hole. There was a long pause until it finally landed in a hollow clunk. She determined it was a long drop.

Feeling above her she grasped on to several swinging circles attached to ropes and began to monkey bar her way over the crevice. She swung and landed on the other side.

As soon as she landed she tripped some sort of wire. Her whole body seized as she reached with every sense to determine from which direction she should evade. It was only by listening to the sound of the kunai flying through the atmosphere that she moved by a hair's breadth soon enough to save herself.

She finally entered what if she weren't blindfolded she would recognize to be the a hall of mirrors. Masaaki hid silently with a staff and began poking her. She was hit in the head.

With the blindfold and staff, Ningyo eventually learned to predict what direction the staff was coming from. Feeling the danger before it approached. Masaaki had her take off the blindfold and explained to her the exercise. He then smashed a smokebomb into the ground and disappeared. Only his echoing voice remained laughing.

NIngyo was forced to climb her way back up through a small vertical chimney like tunnel to his house.