Kei was skipping through the reconstruction of Kirigakure. Everyone was busy, working on new areas and new buildings to get the village up and running once again. At this rate, it wouldn't take long for the village to go back to its former glory. Kei looked forward to seeing it rise from the ashes and created anew. It was a beautiful sight to behold, really. It was practically history in the making. At least that was the light that the young girl saw it in. She knew that many disagreed, that this was still a tragedy and nothing to be proud of. Kei thought that that was a stupid train of thought, for lack of a better word. Her childish vocabulary was sometimes limited, though Kei didn't think much of it. This side of her was quite care free in that sense. But despite the fact that she looked happy and joyful as she made her way down unpaved road, Kei had a purpose. She had decided that she was going to train today. She needed to become stronger.

It had become a personal goal of hers to catch up to Sero. She didn't want to burden him; she didn't want to be considered his only weakness. Quite the contrary, she wanted to be someone that he could completely rely on. Therefore, she had no other choice but to learn new jutsu that could increase her strength and abilities. She already knew what she wanted to train. She had a couple of ideas in mind for jutu that she wanted to develop. Of course, this being the more innocent and peaceful side of Kei, these jutsu were centered around mere illusions, not techniques that could actually cause physical damage. Nonetheless, that didn't make them any less effective. The way she saw it, if she could make her opponent fall asleep in battle it was essentially the same as having knocked him or her out. The result was definitely the same: the person would be unable to move, unable to fight. That was enough for Kei, though her other half considered such thoughts cowardly and pathetic. They often argued about such things in Kei's head. Needless to say, the poor young girl suffered from terrible headaches from time to time. Two souls sharing a single body could become a troublesome ordeal. But such was the fate of any of the Niidashi Clan.

It saddened Kei that so many of her cousins, aunts and uncles were lost in the fire and the events preceding it. Her mother, Utau, was responsible for the deaths of many of her own daughter's family members. Albeit, Utau wasn't actually her mother. She had married Kei's father when the pink haired girl was still a toddler. Hence, the woman had practically raised Kei. It was because of Utau that Kei knew how to utilize water and mist to place people under a genjutsu. She had taught Kei most of the Suiren Clan's basic techniques, she had cared for Kei, she had been kind to her. But it had all been a lie. Without noticing it, Kei's posture had slumped, her gaze was now fixed on the ground. She sighed. The whole ordeal saddened her greatly, which was why she never thought about it. She tried to avoid the memories leading up to that day with all her strength of will. The feeling that resulted from reminiscing was an acute depression, a heavy feeling in her chest and a void in her stomach. Once again, the young girl sighed. She was now in the outskirts of Kirigakure, in the swamp.

It took her a while to remember why, exactly she was there. She looked around the place. As always, the weather was dark and somewhat gloomy. Heavy clouds rolled overhead. Usually, that didn't mean that rain was coming or anything of the sort. And just as clouds covered the skies, mist covered the ground. It made it slightly more difficult for Kei to see. She had grown too used to Konohagakure's cheerful and sunny skies. But Kirigakure was home. Kei had to admit that she had missed being there, despite the fact that there was practically nothing left for her there. But she didn't want to dwell on such thoughts. Now was not the time. She had a purpose for being there. She looked around once again before remembering the train of thought that had led her to that particular place in order to train.

The swamp was full of living creatures that she could test her new jutsu out on. Then after she was done with her little bit of the training, she could switch personalities and begin to train her new fire jutsu. The fact that the swamp was evidently full of water made it easier to control any collateral damage that might arise from, well, setting things on fire. Now all Kei needed to do was find a few animals – preferably some that were less harmful – in order to begin practicing.

It took the young girl a few minutes of pacing around and walking to find what she needed. A beaver, wonderful! That would work perfectly. She had to chase the small thing down a few meters before she managed to catch it. She held it tightly to herself as it flailed and tried to get out of her firm grasp. Kei only smiled, congratulating herself for a successful start. Now she just needed a way to keep the little thing from moving. She reached into her item’s pouch and pulled out some rope. That would be enough for her to hold the small animal down for a while. She tied its legs together and set it on the ground. Kei rubbed her hands together. It was time to her to work, now.

Kei concentrated for a moment, focusing a thin layer of chakra around her hands. She modified the chakra itself so that she was able to create the effects that she wanted. Like she mentioned before, she just needed to put the beaver to sleep. That was all. She meant no harm to it. Extending her finger tentatively, Kei touched the animal’s fur. She checked to see the results. Nothing. Great. Kei sighed, had she done something wrong? She didn’t think so, or at least she couldn’t quite tell what was missing. She poked the beaver repeatedly, which made it snap at her. Hm… Ok, time to reformulate the jutsu itself.

Kei cracked her knuckles and concentrated once again. Maybe she hadn’t used enough chakra. Yes, that sounded about right. She covered her hands with chakra once again and attempted the same thing. She checked to see if it yielded any results. In effect, the beaver was now sound asleep and would remain that way for a while. Kei clapped her hands together, celebrating her small success. She beamed brightly. This certainly deserved a reward afterwards. She would go buy candy once she was done with the whole training session.

Untying the small animal Kei stood up from the ground. Her hands and knees were covered in mud from laying down on the ground, not that she cared. She would have used the same animal for her next jutsu, but seeing as is was sound asleep, she needed something else. Plus, she didn’t know how to tell whether or not a beaver was behaving like a small child, which was what her next jutsu centered around. What better way to make someone defenseless than to make them act like a toddler? Kei found the idea funny. Now she just had to find a larger animal, one that was likely aggressive. She frowned. She wasn’t quite up for fighting at the moment. Then again, she never was. She looked around her for a while. Not finding anything in the immediate area, she set off to look somewhere else where she could train her Water Style: Regression.

Walking around for hours was a hassle. Sure, it let the young Niidashi explore and think for a while, which was something that she rarely had a a chance to so unless she was meditating. And even then she would only put herself in a blank state of mind that let her be one with her surroundings. She didn't wonder about herself, or at least she rarely did. This side of her, pure childish and innocent as it was, hardly ever dug deeper than what she saw. It wasn't that the young girl was superficial, but rather that she had a habit of not questioning the things around her. She took things as they came and appreciated them for what they were. She saw beauty in the simplest of things - the stars decorating the night's sky, the light breeze caressing her skin, the way a smile looked across Sero's pale features. And in these things, the young girl found joy as well. As she walked through the swamp, a place most people considered depressing and dreary, she found the amount of wildlife there amazing. Sure, none of these animals quite fit the profile of what she was looking for. She needed something that she could modify the behavior of and actually notice that it had worked. Regrettably, she didn't know much about animals and their natural attitudes enough to know whether a bird thought it was an adult or a child. At these times, she really needed a training partner. But alas, she was alone. The young girl sighed and carried on, seeing as she had no other choice.

There were woods nearby. She could probably search there. With that in mind, Kei set off towards the trees at the other end of the swamp. She concentrated, using chakra in the soles of her feet to keep herself afloat as she walked on water. It had become a mindless technique, now. She remembered trying to do the same while she was still an Academy student and failing miserably at it. She had no confidence at all back then. Of course, her other half would execute the technique perfectly. It was for this reason that her grades dwindled so much. One refused to fight while the other enjoyed it with passion and fervor. This made her father like Yin better than she liked Yang. In his eyes, the young little pacifist was nothing short of a failure. She had made it a goal to try and get his approval, to show him that she was strong in her own way. But... But he was gone now, murdered by her own mother. Images of his death - an almost unrecognizable body, covered in blood and hanging from the ceiling, nailed to the surface by a set of katanas that were without a doubt Utau's. Utau... the woman had escaped Kirigakure and hadn't been heard from since. There were reported sightings of her during the Chuunin exams with an Uchiha that went by the name of Hao. She knew the man. After spending a few months travelling with him, she had gotten a bit of an insight as to who he was. He was cold and cruel, the type of person who saw everyone else as pawns. Now that she thought about it, he wasn’t too different from Utau herself. Kei's fist clenched. Normally, her breath would have gone heavy, she would have started hyperventilating and would have probably passed out eventually. But not now. She had grown stronger in the past few months. She owed it all to Sero.

The young girl was snapped out of her thoughts by the bushes around her rustling. She looked at the source of the noise suddenly. She hadn't noticed that she had already wandered into the woods, much less into a bear's territory. This was her perfect opportunity. She would easily be able to tell the difference between a bear acting like an adult and a bear acting like a mere cub. In a normal circumstance, she would have tried to run away or climb a tree. She was usually a coward. It was something that she couldn't really help. She had to make a conscious effort to try and overcome her instincts. And even then, she couldn't just do these things with her own survival in mind. She needed to think of someone else, someone that she could make happy by becoming stronger. Of course, she would think of Sero.