Rayne stood ready at a training area in sunagakure, wearing her mission clothing. Her desert camo and flak jacket marking her as a ninja. The flak jacket wasn't as common among genin, but it was Her mothers old flak jacket. She approached a training dummy and set her feet firmly on the ground. She stretched her legs, twisted and reached to her toes. Then she ran. She wasn't fast, being fresh from the academy. She had no real experience. She started slow but gained in speed. She was slow for a ninja, but was maybe as fast as a healthy civilian. She ran past more dummies, then slowed 55o a jog, giving her muscles a bit of rest, lest she wear herself out too fast. After a lap of jogging she picked up Her pace and ran again. That was her plan, to run a lap then jog a lap.

At the end of her running she Sat down for a minute to get some rest. Running wasn't the only way to increase her speed. After a minutes rest, she got up and stretched some more. First she did a few toe touches, followed by various other things to stretch herself. After several minutes she stood erect and began jumping jacks. A basic exercise, but exercise meant getting her muscles in shape. That would increase her speed. Soon she was sweating again as she counted. The Sun above her shined on Her as she worked. Rayne finished this with a stumble. After a moment she sat down and drank deeply from a water bottle she had had the foresight to bring. She gave her muscles a minute to cool down and wiped some sweat from her face.

Then, after standing, she began a series of squats. Her breath became somewhat laboured after a minute or two and the numbers sounded more jagged. She worked herself hard and picked up the pace with a struggle. She was a ninja she needed to train! She couldn't risk even sparing in her current shape. She needed to improve fast or She would never keep up with Li. So she worked. She sweated and worked, feeling the heat build inside her. Her muscles ached and burned. After nearly 50 squats she sighed and Sat to cool herself down. With another deep swig of water she sighed. This was getting boring and tiresome. She needed a new method. With some mental effort she got back up. She should finish her workout routine. She stretched some more and looked around. Then she ran again, running around the training area. She then cut through the training area, weaving around training dummies and others, jumping to the side and continuing on. She got back on the path and ran the opposite direction, completing a rather odd circle. She ran a full circle again, then started jogging around inside the training area, dodging posts and people in an attempt to her in no ones way.


Rayne was not covered in sweat as she ran and jogged, alternating between them. Her muscles protesting under the strain of maintaining this level of effort. She cut through the training area for more dodging and jumping aside so she didn't collide with anyone or anything. She stopped and drank more water, her shirt stuck to her skin with sweat. With more effort she started again. She pretended her boyfriend Li was ahead of her, jokingly teasing her about her inability to catch him. She smiled and sprinted as fast as she could. She ran in objection to her muscles. She had been running and jogging for long enough that she started to enjoy it. It was known as a runners high. the body secretes endorphins after so much exertion, which causes the feeling her mind 0+0 to itself. Considering she was training as a medical ninja she, after excepting all she had, she Sat and drank deeply once again. With only a third of Her water remaining she needed to push 55o end the days workout.

Rayne finally stood after a few minutes and ran again once more, before Her runners high could down. She ran some more, then started sprinting. She was almost done, she could do it. She once again visual3d Li running ahead of her, calling back at her, and teasing her for being slow. She picked up the speed in till she could go no faster. She could do this! Rayne smiled, still feeling well from her endorphin rush. She kept up the run, and at last she Sat and drank, finished.

Rayne was in a small training area with another genin today. She had asked him a rather unusual question. "Want to go to the training area and throw rocks at me?" After the inevitable "why" was answered, they had come here. The why being training. He got to improve his accuracy and she got to improve her reaction time. And because they were just rocks, no one would get hurt. So, with a childish grin, She beckoned him to start. The first rock flew forward and whacked her in the thigh. Then another hit her in the left hip. Rayne moved and sidestepped to no avail as rock numbers 3 and 4 both hit, the first in the right shoulder, the second in the left foot. Rayne dropped her grin and moved. The 5th missed, the 6th grazed her left calf. Just when she felt she was getting the hang of it, rock number 7 hit her in her left cheek. She sighed and began moving more erratically and randomly, which seemed to help in till he started throwing them randomly rather that aiming them at her.

Rocks 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 all hit her, although 10 just barely so. Rayne picked up the paste and dodged left, then right, then left again, turning her body in a more successful attempt to dodge. Rocks 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, and 22 all missed, though 15 and 17 hit her. After a solid hours work she was able to dodge 10 in a row without even being grazed. That said She was dodging rocks not senbon, shuriken, or kunai. As a result this wasn't as helpfully as it would be otherwise. However practicing with with sharp weapons was inherently more risky and as a fresh genin wasn't advisable. They talked a bit and departed with plans to train some more later that day

Just past 4 pm Rayne met her fellow genin, And she had borrowed something to train with, blunt weaponry. Her father had lent her multiple blunt shuriken and kunai. She grinned happily as she held the pouch out to the other genin. "I brought something more realistic." He smiled as he looked. Rayne took a step back and he got to throwing. It wasn't as easy as it had been with rocks. She had gotten the hang of rocks but these were weapons made for throwing. Even dulled she would hurt when they hit, and that was extra motivation for dodging. Shuriken 1 hit, but the second grazed her right thigh, She felt the sting of the small scratch it made through her clothing. Unfortunately shrunken 3 hit her full in the bicep. "Ouch!" she exclaimed and readied herself for more.

Rayne exhaled softly and closed her eyes how a moment, setting the mental picture she wanted to visualize. She opened them and stepped to the right. A shrunken went flying through the air She had previously occupied. Then a second! The next 2 both grazed her, the first grazed her left calf, but the second sized by, scratching her cheek. No on could say he was pulling his punches. She sighed and moved, right, left, duck, left, left. Hit, miss, graze, miss, hit. She wasn't fast enough yet. Then came 3 at once. The first whizzed by her face, and had it been sharp, would have given her a rather bad haircut, the second scratched her side, and the last missed entirely. Another batch of three, but he sidestepped and she dodged them easily.


Rayne smiled and went to retrieve all the shuriken. After making sure She had them all She returned and handed them over. "One more go?" She asked. When she was ready, he threw 2. She attempted to duck but sidestepped and fell, dodging in a rather awkward fashion. She blushed and stood up ready for another go. Shuriken 3, 4, 5, and 6 flew at her, and with effort She managed to, barely, dodge 3 of them, one having very nearly hit her in the eye. She blanked out her mind, concentrating as hard as she could, and dodged the next 2, but the third whacked her hard right across the fingers. She clutched her hand to her chest and inhaled sharply. She closed her mind off to her own thoughts, entering a blank state. She dodged another, then another. She was feeling great until she realised how far away they were. That was no doubt making it easier on her. With several steps forward and a sigh she started again. And the first shrunken struck her in the ribs.

PERCEPTION

Rayne was out again, in her mission gear. However this time, instead of heading to a training area, she was in the middle of the city, and she met Her friend in an alley. They were going to play hide and seek. While it sounds like a child's game, hide and seek can improve you ability to...well...hide and seek people or things. Rayne smiled and spoke. "Okay so the rules are simple. Stay switching several blocks of herein on these streets. No transforming into people, only large objects. Mind people's privacy, no hiding in houses. If I touch you and call your name, I win, and you dispelling it. If It isn't you... I keep looking.. You can move but once you're found its over. " Her friend sighed and nodded. These were the formal rules you generally already know but need said so no one could say you didn't.

With that, her friend ran off, and she set her face to a building wall and counted. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..." She continued on and on, wondering where he was hiding. Perception was a valuable skill for a ninja. A ninja must see through deception. But you can't see through deception if you are not as aware of your surroundings as you could be. "90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100!" she half yelled the last number, and turned to face the street.

So where would he be? She surveyed the street looking for anything obvious. Sometimes even genin have brain farts and don't think about how obvious something is. No big urns or trash cans in odd places. Nothing big and out of place pretending to be one of a merchants goods. Rayne walked on and stepped into a store. She had said houses, so stores were still fair game as long as they were in the designated area. It was a basic store, a furniture store. She looked around, using her peripheral vision to scan for movement. For a second she felt a rush, only to look closer and find a customer who looked nothing like the genin.

She made we way through the store, whispering as she placed her hands on various furniture, before leaving. There was nothing out of place. She Sat on a bench for a moment as she scanned again. She closed her eyes and listened. Walking, the scraping of shoes with a rock stuck in the soul, talking, all was normal. She opened her eyes and continued on. There was an exciting moment when she found a trash can in a very odd place, only to see someone throw some trash in It and realize she would never transform into such a thing, so It was unlikely he would. Besides it was dirty looking, and looked very much used and half full.

Rayne smiled to herself and moved to the next street. Nothing obvious here either. She walked down the street, and walked into a tool shop. She slowed her breathing for a moment, and scanned. First to the right, then to the rest. Customers, screwdrivers, shrunken, saws and toolkits. A big stand with nothing on it. "Aha!" she exclaimed and grabbed it, whispering her friends name. Then... Nothing. It wasn't him. "Dang" she sighed and left amid odd looks from a customer and the shopkeeper. There was a man walking on the street who looked familiar! She walked up to him only to find it was just a coincidence. She closed her eyes and listened again, just the typical street sounds.

Rayne smiled and continued on. Next was the clothing store. Rayne smiled again to herself and headed in. More customers. She looked around for anything unusual there was a rather odd. The first thing that struck her mind was the large chair sitting against the wall. Rayne grabbed it and whispered to it, only to find that no It wasn't anything other than a chair At all. She got up and began scouring the room, looking in clothing racks and under clothing. After a good 5 minutes she left the store starting to wonder where he could be. Next was a new street. Again, nothing obviously out of place. Customers and pedestrians abound though, that was clear. It was a bit more crowded than before. She headed into a new store only to find it was a weapon and armor shop, the village ninja were probably the only customers. She checked the racks, behind th r displays, all without finding her friend. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something. A shadow moving in an adjacent room. She walked in, nearly bumping into someone. She swiftly apologized and was about to leave the room when a suspicious suit of armor caught her eye. It was metal plate armor. No ninja would wear that! Sure it could be a display. She placed her hand on it and muttered. Nothing! She sighed and closed her eyes before hearing it. The tiniest of suppressed chuckles. She looked at the armor again, lifted it's visor, and grinned from ear to ear. "How did you get in there?"

<750 Words [E - D]