A cold sweat was what he woke up with, the past continuing to come back and taunt him. The peeks at the future showing something he'd rather want to avoid. Opening his eyes, it was still too early for the shops outside to begin opening up. In fact, the stores possibly wouldn't open for another two hours. Waking up at 5:00 am, the birds chirping, yet the rest remaining silent, Ryouichi knew he would not be able to go back to sleep. If he did; or rather tried, he knew the nightmares would continue and it wasn't likely that he'd be able to forget about them anytime soon. Rather than wanting to get up and about at this moment, the Nara continued to lay in his bed, trying to dissolve any negative thoughts before he could even register them in his brain. The solace that the comfort of his own home brought was nothing special, in fact it didn't seem to alleviate any negative thoughts that haunted him for the past few years. Then again, there aren't any places that could do as such, so Ryouichi had to rely upon just trying to clear his mind completely, a task that could only be completed by doing a simple task known to most shinobi; training.

Time continued to pass, what felt like hours was just merely half an hour that passed by. Knowing it would be useless to continue laying in bed all day, Ryouichi got up to his feet, clad in only his boxers at the moment. Knowing that he didn't need to pull out a new pair of clothes due to the activities he wished to partake in early in the morning, he grabbed the clothes that he wore the previous day; clothes that would be washed after his training session would be completed. Taking a few quick moments to get prepared, as he would wash up later on when he would take time to stroll through the village, Ryouichi was finished getting dressed and doing his quick version of his daily morning ritual. Deciding to forgo breakfast today, something that could be fixed when he was finished, probably at noon, he would eat for the meal he decided to skip.

There was no hesitation as Ryouichi left through the front door of his living quarters, his own personal apartment, even forgoing to lock the front door. There really was no use to the lock the door as a shinobi could easily enter the premise and most civilians had common sense not to enter a shinobi's living place without their permission. Instead of using the Body Flicker Technique to get to the grounds faster, Ryouichi felt that he may as well walk, there were no crowds; or even people, out at this time, so being able to run through the streets was no problem what so ever. Knowing that the more time he spent getting to his locations, the more time his thoughts would try to get the best of him. With a quick shake of his head, he blasted off at full speed towards his intended location, the Coliseum.

The place held a bit of significance to Ryouichi, though none too pleasant, as it was the place where the final rounds of the Chuunin Exams were to take place when he took the exam, a round where he was unable to participate in due to his health. He knew that if he ever wanted to rank up, he'd have to do it through other means rather than that of the Chuunin Exams, knowing that he'd probably be told no anyways. As he ran at the fastest he could manage, Ryouichi also tended to have a habit of bending his shadow, a small form of exercise for developing his skill in ninjutsu further, along with improving his affinity with the shadows which would apply to fuuinjutsu and ninjutsu as well.

The empty stands of the coliseum were synonymous with how Ryouichi tended to feel as well, feeling emptiness, as if he was missing something he needed desperately. Still, he remained a genin when there was certainly hopes prior; his days in the academy, when things where looking great for him. Where some could say he could fight for a spot as one of the strongest within the village, though all of that was shot down due to one event, an event that made him feel resentment for the past seven years. Knowing that he'd have this place solely to himself for a few more hours, Ryouichi discarded his jacket and coat, leaving him solely in his sleeveless green top, pants, and boots. along with the sleeves that he only took off in his apartment. To begin with, Ryouichi decided to sharpen his basic taijutsu skills, something he was average at, all the while continuing to bend his shadow to his will.

Chakra:

Hatred. No, it couldn’t be called that. Envy. Jealousy. Those words fit better than any other. He had been the one to be restricted, been the one tied to a monotonous life. Restricted to limited amounts of activity. And for what? Concern over his health? No, that wouldn’t do at all. It wasn’t in his blood or brain for him to remain sitting at home, working as a civilian. No. He’d be a shinobi. It was in him. The clearance for training had already been given. The clearance for partaking in missions he had given to himself, though there was just so much he was lagging behind on, all due to the one thing he couldn’t change about himself. The one thing that constantly reminded him of the limitations that were placed upon his body, but he would overcome those. One day, they wouldn’t play a factor into his being, into his prowess. He’d be what he wanted to be, what he aspired to, maybe - possibly - even more. For now, it was small steps. Small baby steps. He hated it.

Where would he have been now if none of that ever happened? If he had been born healthy. If he had never passed out; blacked out, in the second round of his chuunin exams. Those were all situations that would never come to be. He’d always be stuck within the walls that couldn’t be knocked down until he hit his stride; whatever his stride would be. Time was working both for him and against him. For him in the sense he had time to achieve what he wanted to achieve, to make his aspirations come true, though on the same side of the coin, the more time that passed the more likely his life would be halting or being further restricted. The second side, he decided, would be completely ignored, thus making sure he’d be pushing himself even further than he already was.

A light sweat, that’s all that developed after roughly half an hour of shadow fighting; practicing his movements in fluid motions, not once bothering to stop and catch his breath. Speaking of his breathing, there was hardly any labour, something that was unexpected, though greeted warmly. It was the first step. The first sign of making improvements. He didn’t understand why it took so long, but that time was already wasted, the most of what he had in the future needed to be made the most of in any possible way he could. It was refreshing, to say he was unique in a sense. If he could be on par with those above him, and in the highest possible realm; a reality he believed would be the most difficult to achieve, with any of the Kage, it would be possibly the only thing that truly meant he had lived. Lived to his fullest. But, that was a longshot, and considering his past historic events, it would be much more difficult of a task for him to complete, but not one he would never attempt. No. It had to be given a shot. And one was all he had and would need. Success or failure. It would be one of the two.

Now, it was time to begin the true task he had set before himself; well, rather it was more so just to see what he could conjure up at the moment. Aside from his expertise with fuuinjutsu, which reminded him he needed to purchase a series of scrolls; a few wouldn’t do, he’d much rather expand upon ninjutsu. The two specializations he utilized, one more masterful than the other, were only just one of the areas he needed. They shared similar properties, yet at the same time vastly differed in their possible usages. His clan’s kekkei genkai, freely manipulation shadows, was something he definitely wanted to improve upon, since that was the sole alignment he could use besides those techniques that were universally known as ninjutsu that required no other alignment.

Looking down at his right forearm, after rolling down his sleeve, there remained the faint traces of the reminder of what happened to him so many years ago. The reminder that he was set years behind of where he should be. The empty colosseum around himself, another reminder; this one stating of his failure to even be considered to partake in the last portion of the exam, the one portion that would have enabled him to be in his rightful position. At least, the scar itself had faded away, though it was clearly noticeable if a person looked at it closely, something that would always remain visible to the Nara’s eyes, as much as he hated it.

Walking off the the location where he left his jacket, he quickly rolled up his right sleeve, covering his right forearm, and therefore hiding the scar itself. It was superficial of him, but he didn’t need those thoughts right now. Even if he had just recently rolled it down, it would always be something lingering in his brain, continuing to display a what-if scenario in his mind.No. He needed to further himself now, not linger. Get someplace where he would feel comfortable, and at the moment it was covering up that one reminder of the event that occurred seven years ago, and by connect the event the was prior to even taking the Chuunin exams.

Allowing his shadow to slither along the ground, Ryouichi allowed it to move underneath his jacket, just blankly staring at the piece of clothing instead of reaching down for it. Without any movement on Ryouichi’s part, a tendril of his shadow darted directly upwards, bringing his jacket up in to the air as well. It was convenient that with just a little bit of chakra and willing his shadow, that such an action could performed. It was one of the few thing he did over the years, especially when he couldn’t outright practice ninjutsu, so he diverted to this simple method that he still enjoyed using as well. It could be considered laziness, though he didn’t care a bit. Any amount of chakra he could expend without placing himself in a difficult situation, such as now, he’d take. Reaching down and grabbing his coat with his left hand, Ryouichi slung it over his right shoulder deciding it would be pointless for him to put it on when he’d end up taking it off once again when he had arrived home. It appears that that person wouldn’t be appearing today, thus why he decided to go back. A sign, that’s what it was to him. He’d have to take his own steps, there’d be no help along the way, there would be nothing along the way to help him in his quest. That was fine with him. Deciding to take the easy way home, Ryouichi decided to utilize Shunshin no Jutsu in order to speed up the travel to his home.

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Chakra: 120/150: