It was time to begin his training, or more likely continue it, in earth style. “Ugh.” Ezra closed the door behind him with a grunt. He was beginning to adopt his mother’s quality of not being a morning person. A trait that he would have to break seeing as he often woke up early in the morning. Ezra walked down the hallway slash walkway onto the streets of Sunagakure. The sand underneath Ezra’s feet radiated cold as the wind ran frigid against his face. This was the coldest winter the Hidden sand had had so far in all of Ezra’s fifteen years. Winters in Sunagakure were the worst, according to Ezra. It never really snowed but the wind danced around like a sand baboon in heat, which was certainly one of the wildest sights to see.

Ezra zipped his tan and brown windbreaker up to his neck, threw the hood over his head and put his hands in its front pouches. It was a funny windbreaker as the color pattern and pouch location made him resemble a sand baboon. Ezra yawned into the air as he began to walk south on his deserted street. He turned the corner and made his way to the Dragon’s Tongue before he realized he had already had breakfast at home. On top of that Curry probably wasn’t the ideal breakfast for today; the contrast between some spicy curry and the weather outside was not a good one.

“Don’t I feel stupid?” Ezra questioned the universe as he turned one hundred eighty degrees and walked rather speedily north. After forty minutes of walking, give or take ten minutes to talk to some pretty girls along the way, Ezra reached the Tsumi Sand Grounds. His blood was a little warmer than earlier because of the walk and also his joints weren’t as stiff. “Ninjutsu man. Why?!” Ezra groaned. He still rued his lone training sessions maybe more now than ever before.

Ezra moved up to Jounin pretty quickly and had to train hard to feel that he had matched at least the Jounin level of expertise. Even though he didn’t have an amazing amount of combat experience out in the field he figured his expertise of the styles he could use would bring him far. His Ninjutsu and Earth Style came second to his Taijutsu and Lightning Style. Ninjutsu overall was something that he had devoted his training to for a little while now. Earth Style however was not such a priority until the day before when his mother had evaluated his skills and criticized him thoroughly.

At the sand grounds Ezra set up at the top of a flat headed slab slate boulder kind of rock. He stood atop it feeling pretty heroic. Something about being elevated always made people feel a little more powerful; more so heroic in Ezra’s case. He looked over the sand grounds watching the other children of his age training as hard as he was about to. They were most likely Genin or Chuunin. Ezra didn’t want to stand out as the youngest Jounin in Suna so instead of wearing his flack jacket he wore some of his dad’s old clothing to train. It was a sage green gi under his windbreaker of course, It was a little big but perfect for the free movements of a taijutsu training session. That didn’t matter though because it was time to train some Earth Styled Ninjutsu.

Ezra took off his windbreaker, set it down on the slab, and hopped off the rock when he realized the others kids were looking at him as if he were a fool. He had some open space in front him from the others so it would be safe to train his earth style without worrying about anyone getting in the way. Ezra bent at the knee and got into a horse stance. It was a stance that made Ezra feel strong, almost as strong as the Earth. It was always a good thing to have the mentality and feeling that a certain element gave you. The training would be easier and more effective if one reflected or complimented the style with their heart as well as their body.

Ezra began weaving a couple of hand signs that were common in most earth styled jutsu. His chakra began to flow and his body felt stronger, more in tune with nature. He let his chakra wander off as his mind did. “Wait a minute what jutsu should I start with?” Ezra questioned himself. “Decisions. Decisions.” He began to pace while stroking his chin. ‘Maybe I could be more decisive in my training methods if I had someone to spar with or motivate me. Yeah that is what I’ll do.’ He thought scanning the others across the entirety off the sand grounds. “My Earth Style is at least Chuunin level.” Ezra muttered under his breath as he looked at some of the Chuunin who seemed to be hanging out in a group. ‘Nah. They look busy.’ He said making an excuse so he wouldn’t have to display his subpar, for a Jounin, earth style to some possibly skilled Chuunin.

Ezra looked over to a Genin sitting down near where he was. He was very small, smallest Genin Ezra had ever seen. Ezra walked up to him with his hands behind his back. The kid looked up at Ezra who stood at six feet to his four foot five, well two foot three since he was sitting on the floor. Ezra wasted no time when it came to the talk about training. “Hi, I’m Ezra wanna’ train with me.” The kid looked at Ezra as if he threw a kunai at his face. “U-um sure!” the kid stammered as he stood up. “I’m Yusui. Genin” Ezra smiled at him. “Ezra. Jounin.” He said back. The kid, Yusui, laughed. He didn’t think Ezra was serious. Ezra didn’t say anything after that he just got into the same horse stance he had assumed earlier.

[1002/2000]

Yusui also got into a fighting stance. ‘So he’s a boxer. I haven’t seen that too much.’ Ezra determined by the looks of it. “I’m training Earth Styled Ninjutso so be careful. I wouldn’t want you to get all battered and bruised.” Ezra said knowing well the bit of Earth Style he did use was mostly defensive and supplementary techniques. “I’ll give you the first move.” Ezra said. Yusui nodded and ran toward as fast as he could. Stopping in front of Ezra Yusui threw three punches left jab, right jab, and then a left hook. Ezra wasn’t too knowledgeable about boxing but watching it at the Genin level was as easy as pie for a Taijutsu master like Ezra. Ezra more than managed to dodge all the hits. He shot backwards using the leg strength he had attained from the past fifteen years of training. Ezra smiled this would actually be way better training for Yusui than anything. Ezra was happy to oblige even though he should have been focused on his training.

Ezra weaved his some hand signs which ended with the boar. Once the boar hand sign was formed so were the semi domes that arose from the ground. The domes closed the boys in rather quickly and silently. It was proving itself to be a useful trap. Ezra was glad to have learned that jutsu. Yusui Looked at Ezra and smiled. He knew Ezra was tougher than he looked. Ezra dove into the ground with the aid of his Hiding like a Mole technique. He could feel the chakra channeling into the sand and could only think ‘Wow. This would hurt without the help of this jutsu. I wonder if anyone has ever burrowed without the aid of a jutsu. Eh. It doesn’t matter.’ He burrowed about four meters into the ground before he came to a halt. Ezra decided to relax for a second. He curled up into the fedal position like he sometimes did in his sleep. It was an adorable sight really.

Ezra decided to take a second to think about the idea of his Earth Style skill. He particularly didn’t like earth style, not as much as he liked his lightning style. ‘How am I supposed to train this?’ He thought starting his ascension back to the surface. He didn’t exactly have the right motivation but he would see his training through to the end. Ezra only decided to see it through because he noticed his earth style techniques however few were all useful, especially in a country like the hidden sand where the ground was made up mostly of earth just waiting to be exploited. Maybe made useful was a better way to say it. As Ezra rose to the surface he went on an angle to the edges of the doom dome. Using his hiding like a mole jutsu, still in effect, he crawled and penetrated his way into the domes rock. He climbed up inside of it until he was at the highest point of the arc connecting the two semi domes. He took another moment to relax. Earth Style sure was useful and it made him happier to know that even if he didn’t like it, it would be of use to him. If a shinobi needs one thing, it would be whatever tools he has at his disposal. One of those tools happens to be chakra and earth style is not the worst way one could spend their chakra.

Ezra stopped relaxing and popped his head out of the rock. He looked down to the surface where he was Yusui thinking. He looked as if he was trying to figure out a plan of action to find his way out. Either that or where Ezra was. Ezra climbed out from in between both semi domes and made sure to fix them back to the way they were. Ezra channeled chakra into his feet so he would stick upside down to the domes ceiling and be able to keep the high ground he had attained. “Hey Yusui!” Ezra called out as he weaved the hand signs necessary for the Rock Clone technique. Ezra created, meaning regurgitated, four of them. All the identical to Ezra rock copies landed on the floor unharmed. Yusui looked up as they came down. He had a look of shock on his face. He shouldn’t have been so shocked they were all C-Rank techniques that a Genin with knowledge of Ninjutsu could hammer out.

Ezra’s clones then surrounded the shocked Yusui and restrained him by grabbing his arms. Ezra didn’t feel too good about himself after sparring with a Genin. It was boring, uneventful and by no means a challenge. Ezra hopped down from ceilings domes as the began to retract. He flipped right side up in mid air and brought his left foot and his right foot smashing down on two of the clones heads freeing Yusui’s arms. Ezra could have just deactivated the jutsu but this way he could get a little enjoyment out of the training. “Destroy them.” Ezra flipped out of the way and ordered Yusui. Yusui did with a three punch combo on each. “Sorry Yusui. I told you I was a Jounin and I wasn’t kidding and I’m sorry but this training session is a little boring for my taste. See ya.” Yusui nodded as Ezra turned away and waved backwards. As Ezra made his way to the exit of the Tsumi sand grounds Yusui called out “See you later Ezra.” There was no hard feeling after all they were both practically children.

Ezra reached the exit of the Tsumi Sand Grounds and decided to burrow his way home. He tunneled about six miles with air breaks and taking time to make sure he had reverted the path behind him back to normal so there was no trace. Before Ezra knew it he was home and tunneled straight into his living room. Bad news for him though. His mom happened to be entertaining her friends. He thrust his head out of the ground under one of his mother’s friends skirts He looked up to hear a shriek and receive a kick in the face by his mother and her friend. Ouch.

[2045/2000]

(155/200):