OOC: Training Strength from E-> D; 750 words required. 802 words in the post.

IC: Oh, this was definitely some good training. One that Yasu in particular was enjoying, and wouldn't mind doing for the rest of his life. Indeed, as he comfortably laid back on the grass and contemplated the sky, it was questionable, to say the least, how the recently graduated Genin was spending his rather valuable time at the Training Grounds in such a non productive way, especially considering how the Chuunin exams were literally days away from happening, and how he had signed up for them. It was more than safe to say that passing them was going to prove a difficult task, considering how fresh Yasu was from the Ninja Academy, and... how he was preparing himself.

"Alright, alright... enough chillin'." He thought with a sigh, as he finally began to get up from the ground, still in his rather lazy mood. Finally standing, he cracked his neck, and started to jump a few times as a form of warming up, performing a small type of shadowboxing for the same purpose. After half a minute or so of this, he smirked, and approached one of the trees nearest to him. Without too much of a warning, he got into a makeshift fighting stance, and began to throw a few punches at it. It did not cause any sort of notable impact on the tree, yet Yasu himself had to abruptly stop and rub his right fist due to an overwhelming pain. "Agh! Damn it... how hard was it for my father to give me a sword?" He complained, remembering that even after having graduated, his family still wouldn't let him take any advantages, wanting him to "earn" everything. "Yeah, right... earn, my ass..."

The training grounds at that time were usually empty, even with the approaching Chuunin exams, and therefore, Yasu was usually left with nobody else to worry about while he prepared himself. Not that he cared, anyway. He wasn't an anti-social one, and in fact, he was the exact opposite. So nevertheless, with this, the youngster resumed his training, even despite the pain. He wanted to do this... he had too. He had been doing this for the past week, as he believed it was the only way he was going to learn how to decently punch somebody, and not hurt himself more than the actual target. With a combination of punches, he continued hitting the tree, his knuckles becoming redder by each contact. Eventually, he began to throw his own kicks as well, effectively using such a solid surface as a punching bag. He kept on doing this and doing this, eventually small cuts starting to become visible in the mentioned areas, though such a fact not being enough to stop his training. Further moments of the same process passed, and bleeding was already a constant in both his fists and feet. It was only when the pain was unbearable that Yasu stepped back, and allowed himself to sit down and take a break, at this point breathing heavily due to the obvious physical exercise he endured.

He was in no way worried, though as he glanced at his own bleeding knuckles, he did realize he should cover such wounds. So as he reached into his ninja pouch, he retrieved an extra pair of handwraps, replacing the old, now heavily bloodstained ones. More importantly, he also took the liberty of grabbing a small sake recipient, and taking a rather long sip. Whatever signs of pain his facial expression was emitting swiftly vanished, and instead paved the way for a prominent grin, something that seemingly motivated him and made him stand back up in order to resume what he was doing. With even more aggression than before, Yasu started, once again, to hit the tree in a succession of punches and kicks, the Alcohol having clearly helped in subduing the pain and allow him to achieve his goal. Soon, with all the force he was throwing, the tree that had seemingly been completely unaffected by the hits until then, began to shake notably at the impacts, even its leaves starting to fall in large portions due to the same reason. Even though the tree itself wasn't showing any major signs of destruction, such as breaking or much less falling, such happenings were already a clear demonstration of the increase in strength on Yasu's part, who until then felt like he was attacking a giant immovable rock. At this, he couldn't help but smirk; not a drastic, impossible change in what he could do, but definitely progress. And progress, he could do with. Still breathing heavily, he began to slowly weaken the force in his hits, having reached his objective for now and deserving a quick break.

OOC: Strength Training.

The recently recovered Nozomi of the Himitsu clan was once again on her way to the training grounds. Every second resting was a second not spent on training up her skills and advancing her progress. Nozomi figured that if she could train herself to the utmost potential of her body, then eventually her father would see that she wasn't a waste of space or a loser. So of course she'd have to go the full course and train herself. Compared to the rest of her clan, Nozomi was in fact a loser. She didn't have the natural skill that they all seemed to have with Taijutsu. However, a failure of taijutsu in her clan wasn't exactly the best description of failure. Compared to most others, even the weakest of Taijutsu users in the Himitsu clan were far above the norm when it came to combat prowess. Nozomi may be one of the worst in the clan, but she was by no means bad at it. She just could never prove herself, as the only opponents for sparring she had were in her clan.

With the up coming Chuunin exams though, Nozomi finally had a chance to prove herself. She wanted to show everyone, her father especially, that she wasn't a failure. If she could win some fights, it would show everyone that she was good enough and could hold her own in a fight. She could show them that she was good enough, even better than some others. As she approached the training grounds, she made note that she wasn't the only one there. Apparently the other genin had that same idea that she did: get some training in and hone her skills before the exams started. There wouldn't be time once they began to train after all. Heading to one of the training dummies, Nozomi positioned herself in front of it. She was debating using her clan's jutsu, Dance of the Misty Petals, but decided against it. To be completely honest, her clan was far too reliant on it. Besides, there was no need to use it on a practice dummy.

She started her training off, still fresh from the medical care that she'd been placed in after her last attempt to show her father her progress. Her back was a little tender of course, but that didn't matter. The lash marks were covered, and weren't in danger of ripping open at all. So with that, she began, pushing herself from the start. To see her lashing out at the training dummy, you'd think she had some personal grudge against it or something. She found herself falling into a rhythmic pattern of strikes and kicks as she pounded away at the dummy, unrelentingly. She didn't push herself to the brink of exhaustion though, as she knew that she'd need to keep her stamina up if she was going to have a fully workout. Strength, endurance, speed, perception, even her reaction time would need to improve if she was going to stand a chance in the Chuunin exams. She knew that she wasn't going to be good enough with just her taijutsu to outright win the thing, but she'd absolutely give it her best. And that meant peaking her power quickly and efficiently. She continued striking away at the dummy, sweat dripping from her brow more and more as the time passed by. She noticed that the other person she'd seen on her way in was pretty much doing the same thing, although his own skills in taijutsu were elementary. His strikes were crude and were little more than basic punches and kicks, not the refined strikes that Nozomi was used to seeing. Although it was interesting to see him striking away at a tree. Those were incredibly hard after all. The training dummies more imitated the soft flesh and bone that a human would be made out of, so at least for Nozomi it was more like striking an actual opponent.

She shook her head, annoyed that she'd let herself become distracted. If this had been a spar with her father, that would not have been tolerated, and she'd have been knocked flat in an instant. "Focus, Nozo." she muttered to herself. From there, she focued dead set on her strikes, and proceeded to continue on in her training. This went on for quite some time, dead set on beating down the mock opponent that was the training dummy. With one final kick, Nozomi staggered back a couple of steps, her legs and hands throbbing numbly from the constant pounding they'd had against the dummy. She wasn't really sore or anything, it had gotten on to the point that the strikes had started to numb where they'd been hitting. She simply sighed and fell to a sitting position, grimacing as she landed a bit harder than she'd originally planned on. She'd only allow herself a short break before beginning her speed training.

WC: 823
Strength Training: (823)750/750 E-D

Training Speed from E -> D. Words required: 750. WC: 779

IC: Yasu was so focused on his own training and place that he failed to pay any attention to the newly arrived girl, who was seemingly there for the same purpose. Surely, this was for the best; with his characteristic extroverted behavior, he would certainly attempt to conquer this girl's heart the moment he'd lay eyes on her. That, or, at the very least, he'd get distracted trying to show off how "cool" he was to her. Maybe later he'd notice her, and she'd notice him, and then they could live happily ever after as they benefited from a mutual relationship... right? Well, he'd hope. Otherwise, well, sparing with someone has been proved to be an effective training method, or so he'd heard.

But nevertheless, that's a subject for another day. Right now, though, the only thing on Yasu's mind was getting himself prepared for the Chuunin exams. If it wasn't for his extraordinarily cocky opinion of himself, he would've probably already quit from them a long time ago, knowing he'd be facing way, way more experienced Shinobis. Shinobis that had been preparing for this phase of their lives for years, not days. But Yasu had to be better than all of those pitiful, long prepared fighters, right? After all, he was Yasu! He could totally take on all of them by himself!

He sighed. Obviously, even with all of these optimistic thoughts, a part of him knew he'd have to successfully train early and in time, or he would never stand a chance. This part of him, he was obviously never going to admit. "So... I guess the punching and kicking part is more or less out of the way... what else is there for me to improve? What else could possibly give me a sizable advantage..." He thought, and the answer did not take long to come to him. What good would his punches do for him if he couldn't be able to land any? That's right, speed needed to be taken into the equation, and while even though Yasu had been training that mentioned attribute for the past few days as well, he knew he'd have to find a more radical method comparable to the one he used for his physical attacks, or else he wouldn't create any equally radical changes. And he knew just what to do for that purpose.

As he approached the tree yet again, he smirked while he briefly contemplated it. Then, with a sudden shift of behavior, he sent a violent and strong kick towards it, having it shake slightly, and several of its leaves fall off towards the ground. He proceeded to follow this up by jumping up towards the falling leaves and extending both hands towards several of them, in an attempt to grab as many as possible. Once this was done and he landed back on the ground, he smirked confidently as he was about to open his hands... only to find there was not a single leaf he had managed to capture.

"Oh God dammit!" he complained, obviously annoyed, but hilariously so to any witnesses. This was definitely not going to make him lose any moral or hope, though, as just in the next instant, he was already kicking the tree again and performing the same method. The result ended up being the same, and afterwards, the same, and then the same... becoming what would seem like an endless cycle. Nevertheless, Yasu would continue to do this for what would seem an eternity, gradually beginning to hone his skills. It was, after a retry that he had lost count of, that he found a single leaf in his right hand, at which he smirked confidently, but did not boost his spirit; for it had never been lowered. Indeed, that arguably one of his best traits. Even though it was possible, it was still significantly hard to demoralize him and move him off his goal, something that was clearly being demonstrated.

Nevertheless, after several more retries, it seemed as if Yasu had mastered this process. With another firm kick that once again sent the tree's leaves falling down, he "stepped" on the tree in order to jump further up, after which he once again sent his arms outwards in a rather impressive display of speed, as if he was fighting off several attackers. Once he landed back on the ground, he opened his hands, witnessing them filled with leaves, with not even one of them having been missed and having touched the ground below the tree.

OOC: Speed Training

Nozomi had been on her break for quite some time. In all honesty, she was taking a longer break than she usually would, in order to build back her full stamina. Indeed, she knew that she needed to be training right now, as the Chuunin exams weren't too far away. In fact, every second wasted was one that she could have spent getting better. She should be better than she was by now. However, she also knew that if she pushed her body to the extremes this close to the exams, she might not recover fully before then, especially with the illness she had. Her recovery rate was slower, and if she pushed too hard, she might collapse, unable to move while she coughed up blood. No, she'd have to take this slow and steady, one step at a time for now.

Standing back up, Nozomi proceeded to stretch out her muscles, now starting to get some feeling back into her hands and shins after the  taijutsu exercises she'd went through early. That should help out her strength after all. She'd done plenty with that for one day. Cracking her neck, Nozomi continued doing her stretches, warming up and loosening her muscles. After all, if she was going to do her best to train her body, then she needed her body in optimal training mode. That meant all warmed up and loose. She smiled to herself, feeling the rush she got when it came to training. Considering how combat focused her clan was, it was no surprise that she enjoyed physical activity. Her body had been worked to the point that she got an almost euphoric sensation after a lot of strenuous activity.

Of course, the feeling she got when she was training wasn't the only thing keeping her here. If she failed this, and disappointed her family by her actions in the Chuunin exams, then it was possible that they'd shun her completely. While she hated her father, she also knew that he at least acknowledged her, and that was enough for her. However, if he completely disowned her and kicked her out of the clan, then she wouldn't have anything. No clan, failed even to make a mark on the village, and perhaps even be forced to leave. With those fearful thoughts in her head, Nozomi's mouth drew into a tight line, determination on her face. She wouldn't let herself fall behind. She would show them all how well she could do if she put herself to it.

She looked over to the other person who was training on the field, and he seemed to still be going at it himself. It looked like he was doing some sort of exercise in kicking a tree and grabbing leaves. Fair enough, that would provide ample training of sorts. However, Nozomi, while admitting that was a good idea, would hold off on doing that for now. Perhaps she'd use that later to increase her reaction time or something of a related nature. For now, she'd focus on her speed, which required heavy sprinting and pushing her limits on how fast she could run. Not usually one for sprinting, as she tended to save her energy when training, she knew that the best way to increase speed quickly was to push one's legs as fast as they could go, and when you didn't think you could go any farther, push some more.

So, of course that's exactly what Nozomi did. After putting the guy out of her thoughts, Nozomi marked the tree he was at from across the field. And she took off at a dead sprint, pushing herself to go as fast as she possibly could. Her hair flowed behind her, and sweat drenched her face. Soon enough, she was wheezing for breath, but still she pushed herself to maintain her speed until eventually, she had made her way to the tree. That had probably done the trick easily helping with her speed, but as she stopped, she started to cough, having pushed her lungs a little too far. At least she didn't push herself into an attack by her illness, because there was no blood. It seemed she'd simply pushed a little too hard. She sat down on the ground heavily, catching her breath and wiping the sweat from her brow.

Leaning back against the tree, Nozomi looked over to the boy somewhat quietly and offered a small smile. "Nice work." she said, still catching her breath. "With the leaves... I mean." she said, panting slightly. Nobody could blame her for wanting a little bit of small talk. She was rather lonely after all, and her clan was more obsessed with training than it was with social lives. Nozomi figured that now would be the best time to make a friend, as she really didn't have anybody else. At the very least, he was someone to train with, and that always was a good thing.

WC: 826
Speed Training: (826)750/750 E-D

OOC: Training Charm

Suddenly, as Yasu was contemplating his achievement, a feminine voice came from behind him. "Nice work." she said, as the boy turned around and saw what was a beautiful but petite blonde girl, seemingly a Genin as well. "With the leaves... I mean."

Now she didn't seem like anything over-the-top, but more like an average, even if beautiful young female. However, for Yasu, she was still a decent girl, and that meant that she was already in his dirty, perverted crosshairs. As he formed a smirk, he began to slowly but casually step towards her, attempting his best efforts at being charming as he spoke with a soft and confident voice. "Why thank you... my name is Yasu, but you can call me Tonight. And you must be...?" He would ask ridiculously, but wouldn't even wait for the answer as he'd place his right arm around her in a... "romantic" way. Then, he would begin firing off his collection of extremely cheesy one-liners, all in an attempt to conquer this person's love. "Have we met before? Oh that's right, only in my dreams. You are so sweet you could put Hershey's out of business. If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? I'll cook you dinner if you cook me breakfast. Also, can I borrow a kiss? I promise I'll give it back." If this girl's patience was big enough to allow Yasu to keep on doing this for this long, then he would finally close his eyes and prepare his lips for a kiss as he'd begin to slowly lean against her. It's possible that some... questionable girls would find such a ridiculous, cheesy attempt flattering, but this one didn't seem like she would, so she'd probably find a multitude of ways to prevent the boy from doing what he was about to do, be it by moving away and leaving him to fall instead, or straight out slap him.

Such a ridiculous scene would probably annoy the girl, but needless to say, to any witnesses or outsiders, it would be absolutely and extremely hilarious.

OOC: Training Perception.
All of a sudden, the boy that she'd been sharing the training field with seemed to take notice of her. It was as if he hadn't even known that she'd been there until now. Maybe she was just more attentive that he was. Or perhaps she really wasn't important enough for anyone to take notice of. The thought kind of saddened her a little bit until she looked at the boy's face. With a smirk on his face and a confident tone, the boy began to speak to her, saying sweet little pickup lines. In all honesty, the attention made Nozomi blush a little bit, as she wasn't used to anyone even taking notice of her unless it was to criticize her form, or have her do some sort of task for them. Nozomi wasn't exactly the most social of people, so it was understandable that she didn't have much experience with people who hit on her, or even being hit on in the first place.

He started out with the usual introduction, as most people would. His name was Yasu, to which he cleverly said that she could call him tonight. She realized what he meant by that, and the first sign of blush could be seen on her pale face. It wouldn't go away any time soon either, as he just kept on going with the pickup lines. Of course, he asked her who she was, but she didn't even get a chance to tell him as he immediately wrapped his arm around her, something she'd noticed him starting to do. Not that she even tried to stop him, as to be honest, she liked the attention. His next one liner was him asking if they'd met before, only to answer his obviously rhetorical question with the cheesy answer of only in his dreams. The next one was kind of sweet as well, as it was comparing her to chocolate. Then followed up with one that made her blush even more, as he basically insinuated that she had a beautiful body. And then a somewhat vulgar one, which implied sleeping with her. And finally of course a question for a kiss.

Nozomi was almost speechless, unsure of how to respond. She quickly analyzed the cues that he'd been giving off in an attempt to understand the situation better. Using what her teacher had told her about reaction time and analyzing everything, Nozomi focused on cues. What had she seen from him? First off, was the smirk. It implied self confidence, and a sense of self, meaning he wasn't simply doing this because he wanted to make fun of her. No, if anything it just showed that he was interested in her, if only for a physical reason. The next clue she'd picked up on, when he'd went to put his arm around her. It was obviously meant to be slick and smooth, an attempt to seduce her with suaveness or something like that. All the pickup lines that followed served to further support the theory.

And finally his last clue. He'd actually moved in for a kiss. His eyes closed and lips puckered up, leaning against her. Nozomi's own eyes widened slightly and she blushed even more. Reaction time, she only had a limited window to decide what to do. Should she go on the offensive? It was obvious by the way he acted this was a usual occurrence and that she wasn't the first nor would she be the last girl that he hit on. But then, he showed interest in her, and Nozomi was quite lonely. She didn't have any friends at all, so how bad could it be, right? At least he was a person. A living being with whom to have pleasant company with. But then again, he was also obviously a bit of a pervert. Finally making her choice, Nozomi stepped up onto her tiptoes and kissed Yasu's forehead. Stepping back quickly she blushed even more. "Hehe, you're sweet and all..." she said shyly. "But we also just kinda met eachother." she said. "But I'm Nozomi, if you want to be friends. I don't really have any." she looked down at the ground, embarassed at having said that.

It isn't exactly best to be in the habit of telling someone you just met that you don't have any friends. After all, it was a show of weakness that could become easily exploited. But in the end, Nozomi's loneliness won out, and she's rather have an exploiting acquaintance than be alone for now.

WC: 759
Perception Training: (759) 750/750 E-D

As he was ready to give this girl a little smooch, Yasu instead received one on his forehead, as the girl then stepped back blushing in a cute manner, much to his surprise. He was imagining a lot of possible outcomes, ranging from compliance to full out rejection, but this one wasn't actually one of them. Calling herself Nozomi, she seemed to be an innocent, yet somewhat insecure and lonely girl, especially after having revealed that she did not have any buddies whatsoever. "You... don't have any friends? Why is...?" Yasu'd attempt to ask, finding such a fact strange. However, he'd quickly realize how she was seemingly embarrassed and saddened after having stated that, her gaze lowered and fixed on the ground. At first, all he wanted to do was to get to Nozomi's heart as much as he did with most other girls, but she didn't seem like your average teenager. She clearly had some issues with having been alone for a while now, and while it wasn't often that this happened to Yasu, he was beginning to grow fond of her, and even touched over her problems. So with a smirk, he raised his right hand and softly moved her chin up as to have her gaze up and focused on him. With a friendly smile, he spoke. "Hey... Nozomi. Don't worry about it, alright? I would love to be friends with you. And you can always count on me from now on, okay? Promise!"

At this point, Yasu was not saying this just as further means to fall into her love graces. He was actually being legitimately sincere, as he felt sorry for her and was realizing how pure and good of a heart she had, and how she could become a very good friend. "So anyway... are you training for the Chuunin Exams as well? I signed up for them a couple of days ago... hehe, it's gonna be fun, I bet!" He said with a grin, clearly not showing any intimidation over the exams, and finding a subject they could both possibly talk about. Maybe this way they'd be able to help each other out, maybe even train together, who knows?

Nozomi smiled as he said that he'd be friends with her. It was a start. She nodded at him. "Sure, sounds good!" she said and giggled. However, she soon grew more serious as he reminded her why she was here in the first place, by asking if she was training for the Chuunin exams. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm entering. It's a great way to test myself against strong peers and all that." she said.

"Besides that, I think it will be fun." Nozomi closed her eyes briefly. "I mean, fighting against everyone, people you don't know, and getting to know some of them? As well as seeing new things, different skills and abilities. Who wouldn't enjoy that?"

Yasu chuckled at Nozomi's statement. Her eagerness in participating in the exams over passing them actually came as a slight surprise to him. "Well... you sure won't see me disagreeing with you on that. Just remember the most important thing: you'll have to kick some ass there! I don't wanna see you come back out with any other title than Chuunin." He said casually, keeping the subject at a light tone.

He did not fully understand if Nozomi was confident enough or not to trust herself on doing what he said, though, so with that he added, "Tell you what. If we both manage to pass the exams, you gotta promise you'll go out with me on a date!" Yasu grinned, being playful yet serious on his words. "You'll have lots of fun, and you know it! Haha!"

Nozomi smiled back at him as he responded casually. She shook her head a little bit. "The important thing isn't to kick anyone's ass or anything, it's just about testing my skills and proving I'm not useless. I don't care about coming out of it a Chuunin, I just want to prove that I'm not a waste of space." she replied quickly. "I mean, sure, I'll try my best, but I know I'm not going to be the best that enters. I'll only be better than some that do."

Then she giggled slightly and again shook her head. "I can't promise you that. We'll just have to see." she said and smiled. "Anyways, Yasu, I really should get back to training soon. I mean, my skills aren't going to hone themselves, you know?" she asked, smiling.

With her first reply, Yasu further confirmed his idea about her lack of self-esteem and confidence. It almost even made him sad, and somehow, he even felt that he now had the obligation to take care of this damaged girl. "Come on now, Nozomi. Whatever happens, don't let anybody tell you you're that. You're not a waste of space. You're my friend." He confidently spoke, attempting to make her feel better.

Then, came her reply at his question about the date, at which he chuckled. "Oh, come on now, do you even know how lucky you'd be to go on a date with me? There are sooo many girls out there that would love to be in your place... like, tons!" His tone seemed both serious and playful, therefore it could be confusing to choose whether or not to believe in his words. "Haha, you better not think I'll give up on that!"

And finally, Nozomi brought her training back up, and how she had to go back to it, at which Yasu could understand. With a nod and a smirk, he replied, "Yeah, 'f course... I uh, I got some place else I need to be as well. I hope we meet again soon!" And with a quick turn, he began to walk away, soon raising his right hand with his middle and index finger raised, as a "peace" sign of sorts, while he spoke, "Catch you later!"

OOC: /left le thread

Nozomi nodded at Yasu as he finished speaking, saying that he had somewhere to go as well. She supposed that he probably needed to do some training of his own as well. Watching her new friend leaving, she smiled to herself. Standing back up, Nozomi sighed. She'd done enough training for the day herself, and now needed to rest up a little bit.
Total WC: 2724
OOC: Left thread.