Makoto had been busy reading a small book on anatomy as it did not seem to hold much he did not know, besides some really fancy words. He walked looking down on the ground at his ten toes, his two feet at the bottom of his shins with ankles that bend. He noticed he knees so small, so weak as he wondered what he could do to improve on his own weakness deep down inside. His hips and his waist that could barely twist as he knew he needed to stretch some more as he had been slacking off for jutsu practices. He twirled around checking out his abs and only found an emptiness that was without flabs. He did not need to be told that he had a chest so flat, since for boys that was the end of that. He felt his small shoulders and his biceps in hopes of muscle, however what he gained was strength that no one could understand, an understanding of what it is he lacked the understanding for understanding. Makoto looked at his elbow, then bent it over to watch how the arm will flow. Like this he gave it a little twist, and then he showed off his wrist. From there he looked at his hand, then checked out his fingers from the top to the bottom knuckles to the edge of the finger tips before making a fist.

Makoto decided he would need to train his body so that he could handle the flow of chakra better and so that one day he would be able to complete a jutsu like the one he saw that day. The destruction was amazing and at that time he felt it was the artistic arts of an explosion as he would try to imitate and then retaliate with a jutsu only he could create. This was the beginning of Makoto's studies as he would one day in the future get lost in his path, the day that Makoto unlocked his forbidden art.

Words = 399

Makoto now made sure he was ready for his studies and his training as he made his way into the hot springs, they were rather empty around this time of the day so he found himself a nice peaceful spot behind a rock. Free from other people he got himself ready then jumped in as if it was a swimming pool as he soaked himself in the warm waters as he began to think on what he had been learning in the library.

Makoto felt the best way to get in touch with his two natural elements was a hot springs, with the heat making him feel the intensity of fire release, and the water itself helping him to feel the wet and weighted nature of the water release.

Makoto knew that chakra flowed inside of him and that one of the things he had to master was the ability to manipulate it. He was not too sure on the details, but for the time being he was focusing on the art of transformation in terms of chakra. While his ability to perform shape transformation was rather limited as he found he was only really good at spreading it out, and had trouble focusing it more as his jutsu did not seem to hold together too well. This was one of the reasons he was able to perform the phoenix fire flower technique, but still had trouble learning the grand fire ball technique.

There was a time when Makoto did a paper test to find his chakra affinity, which happened to be fire at the time, and later he found himself able to grasp the concept of using the water element as well. Makoto understood that there were five basic elements as he began to wonder what element bugs fell under. He learned the hierarchy of elements in which Water was able to douse Fire, Fire was able to consume Wind, Wind was able to disrupt the flow of Lightning, Lightning was able to destroy Earth, and Earth was able to endure the force of the Water. This was the general law of a chakra's natural element, as he also realized you could potentially combine two elements in a jutsu. However Makoto still did not have the skill for that yet as he sat still in the warm waters of the hot springs.

Beneath the water Makoto was busy splashing around a bit as he formed hand seals beneath the water. As the splashes occured he then tried to perform that new jutsu he was trying to create as he raised his one hand out of the water, he had a small orb that was bluish in color that looked like a giant droplet of water as he looked to be successful, until it simply burst apart as he ended up splashing his face with the water, nearly knocking himself out in the process as he sunk beneath the surface and laid on his back looking up towards the sky. The warm water felt nice, it was not like the burning hot heat of the desert that made you feel like dying as he began to wonder if he could create a jutsu that could become like its own little hot spring. Makoto thought to himself that jutsu could do anything if you put enough training and chakra into it as he just lay there enjoying his warm bath inside the hot springs.

Words = 399 + 574 = 973

The water flowed like a river so serene and peaceful as he just lay there enjoying the relaxing moment as nothing could bother his life here in the calm waters of the warm bath that he was taking. It was so peaceful, no shinobi, no wars and no conflict. The calming and soothing warmth that made him feel at home, not that he even understood that in the first place as he just took his time. The water flowing and seeming to bubble beneath his feet as they traveled between his small toes. The cleansed gaps that may have been full of wounds and painful blisters were no more, he spent time in the hospital as well where they helped him with his recovery after the events that had occurred in Sunagakure, the former village hidden in the sand and the now barren land of wind that was no longer a country of independence.

Makoto brooded about the weight of his responsibilities as he wondered how long it would be that he could enjoy this peace for. He had witnessed strength he could never compete with, he was too weak to even perceive the magnitude of speed and the vibrant velocity that swiftly splashed upon the battle field as he moved his small toes in the water. He found it so calming as he relaxed his arms moving his fingers so slightly as the water calmly traveled all over his body. His knuckles that had bruised and broken have already healed and the wounds he had on his arm was also gone, not to mention the deeper wound he suffered on his shoulder in that encounter that had not left his mind.

He was relaxing for so long he began to feel as if he was entering the gates of heaven as he felt like he never wanted this calming relaxation to ever end. The lights were so bright as he began to feel this strange sensation as his heart was beating ever so slowly, yet there was hardly any sound as he could not perceive it anymore as he began to wonder how things were.

Makoto's hair flowed in the river as if it were weightless as the bubbles brushed against his cheeks and raised some of his long hair that had been growing out lately. As the hair flowed up unto a place on high, he began to feel something he could not describe. This feeling tingling between his toes and then his entire body like pins and needles. After that it finally struck him as his cheeks puffed up and his eyes that were closed opened wide beneath the waters as he rose up the huge splash that was seen by no one in the secluded time he had here as he raised his head out from under the water and took a deep breathe grasping for air. As he was a bit too shocked he began to choke on some of his hair. He was struggling to catch his breathe as he coughed a bit as some water snuck in, his throat felt a bit sore and his heart began to race as if a shinobi running fast at an incredibly unbelievable pace. He did not understand how he could be so lost in thought that he nearly drowned in the bath as the panic did not leave him as he felt ice cold in water so warm it was near boiling. Makoto had to recover and he had to get out of this place as he stood up in the water as the water was still around his waist area as he felt this end was either really deep or he was really short. He got a bit bothered and then he thought he saw some people and performed the hidden mist technique to hide himself as he calmed down. He then proceeded to move towards a shallower area near to the edge and leaned against it to be safer as the trauma was still there, shaking with the fear of death or perhaps the fear of regret that he could never accept.

In the end Makoto knew he had to get done with his bath and return to his studies as he thought to himself that he would need to find a way to mimic the hot springs without the unnecessary risk of drowning as it finally occurred to him he made water clones from some of the water in the hot springs and had them rotate and take turns watching over him as he began to relax again. He felt safe with someone watching over him, though being watched over by clones was a bit strange to say the least as he began to wonder if he would ever achieve what he set out to achieve as he decided once he was done relaxing here he would get back to studying again.

Words = 973 + 820 = 1793

Makoto was relaxing after having undone his clones and then some guy walked over to his spot and said. "Hey kid, this spot is for real men, go run home to your mommy" as the other guys were also laughing as they flexed their shiny muscles at the boy. Their arms were strong, their muscles were glistening with the shiny sweat of muscles within muscles hidden deep within more muscles. It would not have been a problem, if those muscles meant anything in the first place. However the way these men were flaunting themselves meant nothing to Makoto, however they were not shinobi and they certainly were not as strong as they looked as he sighed. The men were still giggling until a cry was heard as he punched the man as hard as he could in the gut. The men stopped for a moment, it looked like Makoto was trying to kill the guy however the impact was so weak that after regaining their senses they began to laugh out loud as the ladies were also being annoyed by this.

Makoto was not sure what to do, but then he remembered an incident from before where a guy was caught peeking on the girls, only to suffer severe beatings and bruises as he decided to do the only thing he could do. He took a deep breathe and shouted out loud. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" as the sound startled everyone they were not so sure what was going on and not having the manliest of voices made it even more confusing as they rushed towards the sound the boy fell against the side hitting his head on the edge as he was bleeding slightly as some staff showed up witnessing the five muscular men and the poor boy they did not figure it out until one of them went flying as Makoto's eyes lit up as he began to wonder how could a lady so thin have so much strength as the men went flying she went over to him and asked. "Are you okay?" as he looked down, "Yeah, thanks..." as he blushed a bit before leaning back and relaxing again not even interested in the lady anymore as she tilted her head feeling the boy was a bit weird. However those guys had all ran home naked before being arrested by local authorities for indecent exposure, this was nothing for Makoto who did not want to give away his nice secluded spot to anyone but himself, at least he would not have minded sharing the spot. He then proceeded to relax and enjoy the warm water as he looked up towards the sky.

"Muscles are stupid..."

Words = 1793 + 447 = 2240

Makoto was tired as he began to dry himself off in the changing rooms before putting on a loose t-shirt and some nice running shorts as he decided he needed to head out to the university library from some proper studying now that he had cleansed himself and felt more clean then a brand new pair of shoes, which was another thing that Makoto was taking note of. He needed some new shoes since he had no shoes anymore after that last major training session in which they got burnt to a crisp, not counting the socks that got so wet he could not dry them out without them having this strange damp smell.

He began to make his way as he waved and gave thanks to the hot springs staff before heading out to complete his studies.

Along the way though Makoto would have to take note of not neglecting all facets of studies, while theory was good and practical was also rather practical. He had to remember to train his physical body as well, all the theory in the world could not help you if you had too little chakra. In other cases there was also the issue of not having enough skill, or being untrained as well as not having the skill to complete tasks as well as one should have. Wasting chakra to perform a mission that could be done without ninjutsu is not always a bad thing, as one should do what makes the mission easiest. Conserving chakra was important for difficult missions as the duration could be long and the requirements a lot harder, in the end one had to make sure not to waste anything in making the mission get done as efficiently as possible.

Makoto really wanted his heart not to fail him now as he began to sometimes waver in his decisions, in the end all he could do was prepare for the worst and expect the best or was it the other way around. He would have to undertake more studies soon and one of his new studies would be revealing his new jutsu as more then just an idea.

[exit]

Words = 2240 - 60(miscount in first post) + 361 = 2541

Training 2 C-Rank Jutsu (Water Gun, Mist Form) = 1750
Training Reaction Time E2 - D = 225 + 300 = 525

Total = 2275