Tomohiro sat up from his bed and started to get dressed. He put on his traditional gear and tied his sword to his waist. The look on his face was that of anguish. Once again he didn’t know what he was to expect. Before he went to sleep, he had been given a note saying he was to meet at the Nakir Compound. The only reasons he would have to get up in the dead of night would be for clan training. His father was definitely a stickler for keeping him in good shape since he made chuunin. Though with these trainings, you never knew who would show up, what they were doing, or how long they were going to train for. They normally trained in extreme heat, which sucked for trying to go back outside after having worked up a sweat. Having adjusted to warmer temperatures didn’t help either. He knew that he was going to stay in his old room at the Nakir compound afterward at least. There was nothing changing that.

Snow crunched under his boots as he pushed his way through the waist high fluff. It took him while to get to the compound trying to fight the snow around him. He started to regret having moved to a remote corner away from everything. It had been somewhat of a struggle trying to force his way all the way to the compound. Sometimes you just had to bear the conditions. He sighed as thunder boomed. This had to be the only country where there was lightning and thunder during the middle of a snow storm. Tomohiro managed to make his way all the way to the Nakir compound which seemed to be absent of snow. He was glad that his clan didn’t like the idea of having to deal with snow either. It was truly a menace especially when you had to perform missions in it.

He knocked on the double doors to the compound and awaited an answer. It had been a long time since he talked with his siblings. His personal training kept him away from his family. There was a lot that he wanted to discover on his own. Though, time seemed to intrude in on him like a mother checking in on her newborn. It seemed like his schedule was packed with so much stuff now than it had been before. Missions were in no short supply and he had just completed the first one solo as a chuunin. Two chuunin missions in a row he had taken lives. Though, this time had been different. He maintained control of his inner emotions and didn’t let his desires control him. It was an internal battle that he had to deal with, but he felt like he was at the better end of it.

The peep hole to the compound opened as a bunch of latches started to open up. The door opened as he jetted inside to get away from the cold. He greeted the doorman and continued. It had been awhile since he had been in this place. There weren’t many reasons other than training to come here. The place of his clansmen had been held dear to them out of anything else in the village. The space around him was warm and relaxing. It was just like he remembered it warm and comfortable, but he didn’t stop to take in the nostalgia. He was here for training. The sooner he started he hoped the sooner he could get back to sleep. These things never went the way he wanted. There was always something getting in the way of it.

Tomohiro continued moving through the compound until he made it to a set of stairs. He began his descent and felt the heat increase. It was definitely worse than the last time. He continued until he got to two forks. One side was for men and one was woman. The locker room was pretty bland and dark. He reached into a container and pulled out a clean set of robes. After he undressed and put on the robes, he exited the locker into a holding cell. The cell was unlocked and entered into the next room. The heat felt like it was boiling his skin, but he needed to train. He thought that he better be able to train without passing out from the heat. His skin had already started turning a deep shade of red. He made sure to store his blade in the locker before picking up a bokken.

He walked out into the next room as it entered a large path. Once he emerged, he could feel the total effect of the heat on his skin. It was almost like putting a clothes iron near your skin. It was dark. Low lit flames passed a lot of heat into the large chamber. The stone on the ground emanated with heat as well. Sweat started to drip down his brow as his bare forehead stood out. He looked around to see mostly nothing. Chakra started to focus in his eyes as he activated his En Netsuagan. Things became a bit sharper as he was able to slightly see better.  He heard shifting behind him like someone had landed form a tall height. Tomohiro reached for his sheathed bokken as he spun around. The figure had charged him and stopped bokken from swinging.

“Whoa there, Hiro Hiro. You need to be more carefully,” the voice stated.

“I guess it’s good to see you too brother.”

“No need for the smart lip. It’s time to get started. It’s pretty much the same as last time, just don’t use any techniques over a C-Rank. B-Ranks are too dangerous. Even C-Ranks are pushing it. You did a lot of damage training your En Netsugan. We really don’t want any repeats of that this time. Training your Rain Netsugan is the next step.”

“Rain Netsugan?”

“Yes, Rain Netsugan. The Rain Netsugan is an ability that lets you see heat signatures of others. It also allows us to track to some degree, but you have to have trained yourself with your base eyes before that even becomes relevant. The training will commence shortly. We’ll be giving you and your opponent’s enough time to get adjusted to the heat first. Once the horn blows, you are to begin.” he said in a low tone before disappearing in the darkness.

Tomohiro crossed his legs and began to meditate having released the chakra in his eyes. He started to think of a strategy to deal with his opponent’s. It would have been better for it to be a battle royal style fight, but that may have been asking for too much. His mind had found a sense of calm. The heat started to become nothing more than background noise. His focus had become honed to calming his mind and body. Nothing seemed to disturb him. After a few minutes had passed, he started to hear drum beats. The beats then became louder. He opened his eyes as he poured more chakra into them. His vision started to become clearer in the dark recesses of the room. He stood up and gathered himself.

The low drum beats ceased. It was almost complete silence as he looked at the other clansmen that stood before him having already drawn their style of bokken. Tomohiro formed a hand seal and summoned three fire clones. The clones and him moved into a fighting stance. The tension in the room started to build as the horn blew. Tomohiro and one of his clones started to take a deep breath. The clone then released a gaseous substance toward his opponents as they rushed in. Tomohiro, himself, released a two fireballs from his mouth. The fireballs made contact with the gas and caused a giant explosion as him and his clones stood back and waited.

Once the explosion cleared, he could make out his opponent’s in the distance. One swung their blade releasing a katon wave of chakra toward them. Tomohiro swung his own weapon releasing a wave of katon chakra toward the opponent’s attack. The waves cancelled each other out. Tomohiro looked around to his clones before they all rushed in toward each other. Him and his clones took on the four clansmen. They fought hard against each other. One of the clones had been dispersed by during the clashing of their weapons. Tomohiro issued for his clones to jump back. There were now two clones left. He left one clone behind and charged in with just him and another clone.

They fought two on for about four minutes, but the heat started to get to all parties. The clones seemed to be a bit unfazed, but he was getting tuckered out a bit. The fighting continued to go on. Tomohiro had gotten the better of one of the clansmen and knocked them out with the swing of his bokken to a pressure point. The clansmen fell out as Tomohiro jumped back. His clone filled its throat with chakra before releasing it as a pillar of smoke. The smoke blinded all parties view from each other. Though, Tomohiro’s eyes started changing. A sharp pain went through his eyes. His clones even turned to him as he winced. The change caused him to open up an eyes one at a time. He could see through the smoke it was quite hazy, but he could see the heat signature of the people in front of him.

Tomohiro opened his eyes as the his opponents stood still. He could barely tell if that they were holding up weapons at first. The heat signatures were like globs, but it wasn’t that. He could see individuals standing higher up. Tomohiro assumed it had been other clan members watching the fight. Though, he couldn’t let himself get distracted. As his opponent’s stood still, he sought this as another chance to attack. He kept his clones back as he dashed into the smoke. The bottom of his foot made contact with on the remaining opponent’s jaw. He then leaped up and swung his weapon downward. The weapon made contact with his opponent’s gut. The Nakir clansmen gasped as they lost consciousness.

He took a swift kick to the back and toppled over. Through the smoke, he could see an image of a body. He lunged his weapon at them. They glanced weapons. There were only two opponent’s left and one had been damaged by his first attack. Tomohiro took on an overhead attack as he stood up. He locked weapons with his opponent before he swept his right leg behind his clansman’s knee. His clansman’s body went backward as he followed up with a strike to what he thought was there ribcage. Tomohiro picked up the bokken that they dropped. He jumped back out of the smoke as it started to spread around in the chamber room. He dispersed one of his clones and waited. It was now only one clansmen left to defeat.

The tension in the atmosphere had lessened as he had taken out three of his clansmen. The last one that had been damaged by the first attack didn’t move much. He couldn’t figure out what they were waiting for. The smoke finally cleared. He passed his bokken to the last clone that hadn’t used any chakra. They both held their bokken tightly in their hand. The last opponent moved slowly toward them. Now standing six meters away from them.

“We’ll only use bukijutsu techniques. No more ninjutsu,” she said as she shivered a bit from the pain.

“Agreed...cousin,” he responded subtly.

Both him and his clone moved into a fighting stance. They held their weapons in separate stances. The weapon the clone had started to flow with katon chakra which began giving off heat. Tomohiro’s weapon started to flow with katon chakra, but visible flames took form. His brother told him to keep it at a C-Rank, but he would dishonor his brothers wishes this once. The grey flames that surrounded his weapon started to illuminate the dark chamber. The flames moved as if they were ready to devour anything thing that stood in their way. Tomohiro moved in first as he attempted to strike his opponent. The opponent swung their blade to barely miss him as it released a sharp heatwave passed him. The clone moved in second as their opponent barely had been able to barely fend off both of them.

The tension in the chamber rose again as Tomohiro had the advantage. Both him and his clone jabbed at their opponent in unison. The blade of his opponent had countered both of their attacks by shifting her wrist to block Tomohiro’s blade and grab the wrist of his clone. She flipped the clone and struck down causing the clone to disperse.Tomohiro has already began sending a swift kick to her mid section. It was just the two of them no clones or anything to cause outside interference. Tomohiro reached down and felt around for the bokken his clone was using. As he picked it up, it came to life with grey flames. He flourished both bokken as the flames roared. This would have to be it. There was nothing left he had to give. His stamina was starting to give. He released his newly acquired doujutsu. As he returned to his normal vision.

The pain in his eyes remained as he stared at his opponent with great vengeance. He still seemed to remain calm. There was no bloodlust within him this go round. He released a battlecry and charged with his flaming weapons. They took a few blows at each other. The dual continued to go back and forth until Tomohiro leaped back and threw one of his bokken. The flaming bokken flew toward his opponent as he put forth the remaining amount of energy into a dash to his opponent’s left. As his opponent attempted to deal with the flaming bokken, Tomohiro swung his remaining bokken up at her with both hands. The weapon caught her in the back as she deflected the other bokken. She fell on all fours huffing and puffing. He dropped his bokken and walked away from her.

“I’m done,” he stated.

Tomohiro had defeated his opponents until heard a shift behind him. His opponent stood up with a bokken in her hand. She stood still in a fighting stance. He shook his head at her actions before turning around. The whole ideal was to unlock the next stage of his Netsugan, which he did. Tomohiro refused to fight her, but she charged forward anyway. Tomohiro looked back and side stepped an incoming attack before kicking toward her rib cage. She fell sideways as she rolled a couple of times. He stared at her as the room started to become cooler and the chamber started to lighten up.

“Enough, if you want a rematch then fight me later. If we continue, we both would be sorry.”

He moved into the holding cell heading into the locker room and changed his clothes. Tomohiro sat down on a bench and held his eyes. The sharp pain started throbbing on and off. He wasn’t sure if it was supposed to feel like this. The pain was ridiculous to say the least. His brother entered the locker room and looked at him. Shaking his head, he looked toward his brother in discuss.

“I see you learned some new tricks, but you were not supposed to use B-Rank jutsu,” he said as he sent kick that sent Tomohiro flying through the door of the locker room back into the holding cell.

The other clansmen started to check the vitals of the others. Tomohiro coughed as he pushed himself up of the ground. It was probably what he deserved for disobeying his brothers orders. He coughed again as he stood up. His knees shook as he collapsed back on the ground taking deep breaths. His brother picked him up by his arm and sent a punch to his gut which knocked him out. He woke up the next morning in his old room. The pain went through his body was an indication that he overdid it. Part of if had been from his brother’s kick. The kick seemed to be harder than usual. It felt like he almost got hit by a taijutsu strike. Though, his brother was just that strong. He didn’t try to move too much. Tomohiro had remained still as he slowly went back to sleep.

Once he woke back up, there was a young girl standing next to him with hot tea. The girl slowly poured tea down his throat as he slowly and painfully sat up. The little girl sat there and said something, but he didn't hear her. She repeated it though he still couldn't comprehend. The girl then looked upset and hopped on top of him. It took him a moment to realize that he had stuffed bandages in his ears as he slept. He looked at her as the pain within his body started to spread from her jumping on him. He sighed as he tried to adjust her off of him.

"Hey big brother, your match was awesome," she praised, "when can you teach me those moves?"

"I can't teach you that at your current level. You'll still need to make it through the academy. You're still only eight years old."

"Mother says that age is nothing, but a number when training is concerned."

"Mother is also missing an arm from that same line of thinking," he mumbled under his breath.

"Don't let Mother hear that, she scary when mad."

Tomohiro sort of chuckled as he patted his sister on the head. He looked toward the door as he started to lean back a bit. He started to drift off again as he sat back. It was that moment that he realized that he needed more rest. Straining his body out all the time drained him beyond relief. Maybe he just needed to go out to the edge of the village and take in the sights like he used to. It was an idea and he would probably take his sister with him.

[Exit Thread]
3094

2500/2500 [Rain Netsugan (Stage 2) Training]

Stat Training:

SPD: 575/575 [C-0 -> C-1]

19 words unused