Yams was in a semi deep REM sleep. Lately he'd been having nightmares of nothing but his fears. What were those fears he had? They were of what would've happened had his Father, Lagos, succeeded in murdering his very own parents. After meeting Big Boss Gato, those fears had been alleviated. Those fears had now been replaced by images of good and wondrous things.

This particular dream placed him a in underwater kingdom. Yams stood at a intersection. There was a bright blue bulb glowing above his head. It's light magnified in the deep blue tones of the waters. A small school of fish swam around the bulbs shine. It was a awe inspiring sight. If only Yams could remember what he thought in that moment. "DODGE!" Aoi, wielding a wooden katana, smacked Yammy on his stomach with enough force to make his grandson wake up and vomit.

"Just in case you think you'll get a chance to have a full stomach in the middle of War." Yammy, who  had thrown up his digested dinner on the floor, began gasping for air while holding his stomach. "After you clean that up meet me in dojo for the real stuff." Aoi was laughing slightly as he exited his grandsons room. "Damnit...Gramps..." Yams said through his gasps of air.

Feeling a pressure and tight pain in his gut, the young man pulled his cover off of himself. Right hand holding his stomach, Yammy shifted out of his bed begrudgingly. "Really wasn't expecting training to start like that." He went to the dirty clothes hamper and grabbed two large towels. One of the towels normally meant to dry yourself off. Yams used one of the towels to clean up the vomit and used the other to clean the access.

All the while feeling the lingering pain of his Grandpa Aoi's earlier attack. He threw both towels away then proceeded to the hallway closet to retrieve some floor cleaner and paper towels. Yammy was rubbing his stomach, as he walked through the threshold of his room. Aoi was hidden in the shadows of the hallway with a smirk on his face.

Just as his grandson walked out of the room he'd aimed the the wooden katana directly at his chest, with just as much force. Yammy noticed the surprise attack slightly to late. The strike connected with his chest making him fall back, almost doing a full on back flip, landing on his shoulders. "Your enemies may be hiding around the next corner. Never be to focused on in front of you." Aoi said stepping into the doorway.

Yams who was to occupied on breathing almost missed everything his grandfather had said to him. "Yes......Grandpa....."  He said in between exasperated breaths. "Get up or I will show you what your enemies will do while you are down." Yammy struggled simply to sit up. Aoi walked up to his grandson and held out a hand. "However you will not always be alone on the battlefield." Yammy took his Aoi's hand. Using the strength Aoi lent him Yammy was able to stand despite the pain he felt.

"There is nothing wrong with relying on others. However..." Before Yammy could react Aoi pulled him in and punched him in the gut, causing spit and a small amount of blood to fly out the mouth of his grandson. Yammy's body went limp for a few seconds. Aoi allowed his grandson to drop to the ground. Yammy was on his knees hobbled over in pain. Both arms across is stomach.

"Now pick yourself up." Aoi took a step back. "This is also a lesson to watch some of the ones who call themselves your ally. This may not always be the case. You must always be wary of the snakes who don't hiss or show their fangs and the wolves whom are in the wool of a sheep." Yammy's mind and ears retained the what Aoi had said, but he couldn't feel his limbs. "Yes Grandfather." Yammy willed his arms to move. Punching the ground with both fists.

"Do you think your enemy would allow you to be in the position?" Yammy, with his forehead on the floor, shook his head. "No sir." Aoi looked down at his grandson readying another strike. Yammy began slowly standing up. Once on both feet Yammy wobbled. His body trying to balance itself out. "Have you had enough,or can you continue?" Aoi asked in a stern manner. Yams looked directly into Aoi's eyes. The golden tones of their eyes shinning brightly in the low light of early morning. "I'm standing aren't I? Yams said with a slight smirk. "That's what I wanted to see, my son." Aoi turned and walked towards the Dojo, with Yammy following behind him.

796|750 [Endurance Trained D0 → D1]

The two shinobi moved through their moderate sized home. Yammy began to wonder what and where that scroll was that his Grandfather had held that day. He pushed the the thoughts in the back of his mind; mainly because he still felt the pain of Aoi's assault. That in itself made Yammy not want to know of anything he wasn't ready for. The two of them reached the screen door; Aoi slid it open, from there the two stepped out of the home into the back yard.

There was a small walk way that led from the backyard to a path that led from the home. The path led up into a small mountain pass, which is where the dojo was located. At the top of a hill, with a rock face behind it. Once the two of them reached the walkway Aoi's pace quickened. He said nothing to Yammy, he wanted to see if his grandson was paying attention.

Yammy was halfway paying attention, however he had been looking at the shoulders of his Grandfather, while thinking of that blasted scroll. Before Yammy knew it Aoi was sprinting up the path. "Keep up! Slothfulness could mean the end of your squad or yourself."

Yams increased his speed trying to catch up with his Grandfather. Aoi, was holding a constant speed, looked over his shoulder to see Yammy slowly gaining on him. A small grin appeared on his face. Using a technique unknown to Yams, Aoi disappeared from his sight.

Yams was taken back, from what he could see there was no residual, so it was not the body flicker technique. "How the-" His sentence cut short by a surprise attack from Aoi, who appeared on the side of him. Attacking him with the wooden katana. Yams saw him and reacted just in time to block by holding up both his forearms.

The strike connected with enough force to knock Yammy off of his feet. "This is about to hurt." Yams hit a full back flip. He slightly panicked, while he was in the air. Aoi planted his foot in the stair case that led up to the dojo, and cut back towards Yammy. Aoi did a small leap into the air and roundhouse kicked Yammy too the left into the tree line that encased the path.

"Shit." Yams blurted out when the kick connected with his side. The force of his movement was so powerful that Yammy couldn't change his body position or even attempt to catch himself. He slammed into a branch, causing the branch to snap. It slowed him down enough for him to drop his weight. This allowed Yams to fall from the air landing in a large bush.

Aoi appeared next to Yammy. "Some of the fastest shinobi in history have been killed. It is not always about your speed, but your awareness to your surroundings. You couldv'e evaded my attack, but you made the wrong decision. Stand up grandson. I'm sure you can tell by now your goal is to get to the dojo, without taking to much damage."

Yams took a deep breath and nodded. His body starting to bruise. Aoi disappeared from Yammys sight. "Gramps said this was going to be light. I don't even want to think of what his serious training is like..." Yams laid there for a bit before standing. "Now dodge Grandpa and get to the dojo. How am I going too evade him when he probably's watching me right now."

Yams sighed as he racked his brain. A small thought told him to not just stand here. It was more than likely the words of his grandfather mixed with his own thoughts. This training was getting realer and realer; when that thought crossed his mind a switch flipped.

"He's preparing me for Lagos. I mean Father." When he said that, Yammy could hear a slight whistling sound. Not only that but it sounded as if something was cutting through the tree line, striking leaves on its way to Yammy. The golden eyed boy focused his attention too the direction of the sound. His ears twitched slightly.

"Damnit I can't tell where it's coming from." Yammy got low feeling a sharp pain in his side, as he got down on one knee. Just as he did a kunai struck a tree behind him. "Come on Gramps! You're already banging me up, now you want to use Kunai?!" Yammy said as loud as he could, the pain in his side debilitating his ability to talk to loud.

Though he wasn't sure if that was a bad thing. In a true combat situation like this one, being loud could lead to his death. "Guess that old mans ways are opening my mind to a lot." Yammy stayed low for now and continued up the through the tree line slowly.

809|750 [Endurance Trained D1 → D2]

Bruises, bumps, and scrapes were starting show themselves more. Yammy's new pace caused his adrenaline to slow, which made all his injures begin to ache. He moved slowly at a constant pace, stopping when he thought he heard movement from Aoi. Yammy wasn't sure where Aoi was within the tree line or if he was at the dojo using one of his many skills to attack. Either way a few minutes had passed without any sign of his grandfather. "Maybe he's actually letting me get too the dojo." Yams said in a low tone. Ha! The thought was laughable to Yammy. His Grandfather didn't give up on the hunt from what he'd told Yammy.

Obviously this lack in concentration is when Aoi choose to strike. Yams wasn't so in his mind that he was out of it; he was fully aware of his grandfathers approach. The upside for him was the almost dead silence of the tree line. No it was more than that. The little side of the mountain was secluded, so much so that even the birds barely ventured through it. However, there were some that found their way from there from the bird houses Rena had placed in the backyard. Due to the recent commotion caused by both Aoi and Yammy they had made sure to leave this part of the mountain to them for the time being.

Yams heard something coming his way. It sounded like the whistling sound of a projectile cutting through the air, however slightly different. "That sounds..." Suddenly bursting through the tree line was a moderate sized Glavie. Yammy quickly rolled to the right avoiding the weapon. From his viewpoint Aoi smiled. "Well done, however it won't always be that easy." Aoi tugged on what looked to be thin air, when in fact it was a chakra string invisible to the eyes of Yammy. The Glavie swirled around and back towards Yammy's mid section. He could hear it coming from his crouched position.

Yams pressed his weight into the ground, before springing into the air. "Not good enough Yammy." The voice was coming from below him. Yam's eyes jolted down to see his grandfather reaching from the Glavie. "Shit, it was a transformation." The clone Aoi gripped Yammy's ankle and flung him higher up the tree line. Yammy crossed his arms in front of him and prepared for what was next.  As he flew through the air like a rag doll he hit several trees, before gravity ultimately stopped his momentum. Again a large bush saved him from hitting the ground to hard. It was almost as if Aoi was systematically attacking him. Indeed he was only to make sure Yammy had all his basses covered for any future battle.

Yammy, who was sprawled in the bush, clung to consciousness. His endorphens doing all they could to fight off the pain. Aoi appeared before his grandson. "Well I will give you this Grandson. You're far sturdier than your Father was. By this point he'd lost consciousness. Looks like you all are becoming weaker through the generations. I made it to the dojo, of course I was in a worse condition." Aoi turned his back to Yammy. "You won't be able to beat your Father from what this tells me. Even he at least managed to land a blow against me." As Aoi spoke Yammy's mind returned to him.

He hadn't used a single grain of chakra and now would be a good a time as any. Yammy had all but lost the feeling of pain, his body in complete shock. Limply Yams managed to sit up on the bush he had been sprawled out on. In all honesty it was a surprise he could even move at the point. "Well Gramps..." Yammy said in a tired manner, as he swayed from the damage he had taken. Aoi turned to look at Yammy once more, who was bloodied. Yams blinked slowly and breathed as best he could without falling asleep. "Let me prove how I am better than you both." Aoi laughed at his grandsons statement. "And how pray tell do you plan to do that?"

Yammy looked his Aoi directly in the eyes and smiled. "Just...like...this..." Without a hand gesture or body movement, besides his sway, Yams disappeared from sight. Only a single leaf fluttered in the wind where he had sat. Aoi was shocked; not at the fact Yammy finally decided to use a jutsu but in the fact that he was able to. Honestly the elder man thought he'd beat any notion of that word out of his grandson. "Guess I was wrong or I talked to much and actually motivated him to try." Aoi let out a boisterous laugh. Once Yammy reappeared he was inside of the dojo. "Now I'm going to sleep." Yammy said to Aoi, the real Aoi, who been waiting in the dojo the entire time. "Good job my boy. Let's get you to your Grandmother, so she can heal you up." Aoi picked up his grandson aand vanished from the Dojo, returning to their home.

| E X I T |
850|750 [Endurance Trained D2 → D3]