At what point in life do you realize you are no longer a child? Is it when you learn what responsibility really is? Or maybe when you first lay in bed with your lover? No, you stop being a child when reality hits you so hard and unexpected that it shakes away that illusion full of dreams,hopes and desires called childhood. Reality kicked in for the young man at a very early age, too early for anybody to keep his sanity enough to die of age, however it seems that right up until now that "hit" showed no effect on him. As a matter of fact the boy seemed very healthy to outside sources , more than fit for his age. As for his mind, he managed to trap those bad feelings and memories deep inside his skull at some point in his life, only the ghosts of a past too shady for him to keep him company.

Usagi stood inside the caves, his legs crossed meditating right near to the water. What i mean by meditating of course is a flask full of sake and a little bit of those "medicinal" plants turned into a smoking stick apparently called a cigar. He looked down at the lake, seeing his reflection, behind him a boy with looks very similar to his, but much more younger. He knew who the boy was and what he wanted, but he learned these past days to ignore him. Nobody else could see him, so why would he act like he did, after all, acknowledging his existence would also mean giving him what he wants and that was a thought Usagi despised with all his heart. The boy however was unmoved by Usagi's cold shoulder, watching him trough the reflection in the water with a warm smile and worried blue eyes just like his.

DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!

Not two days ago it rained around the caves, allowing even more water to make it's way into the deep underground corridors, there was something peaceful about the place, serene... wrong. He threw the empty flask into his reflection and raised up from the ground dusting off his clothes. His gaze then turned upwards at a huge natural hole in the ceiling of the cave, with a nice view over the cloudy sky. That's where all the drops were falling from, disturbing him. "Shut up.." he muttered, loud enough for it to turn into an echo, oblivious at the fact that there may be tourists or other people mongering trough the caves. DRIP!... Usagi moved at a spot where one of the water drops kept falling and opened his mouth, devouring the next three drops but then realizing it was in vain. He just stared upward, drops falling into his face, his eyes not able to blink as he was fixated on the stone above him. "Troublesome.." he sighed finally, frozen in place like that.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

The sound resonated over and over again within the caverns. It was rhythmic, repeating a pattern over and over again without fail. Fists collided against the wall, shaking the very foundation of the caverns themselves, making water drip from the ceiling in further parts of the area. A thin layer of sweat covered Gin Kuroka's forehead. She took a deep breath. She was almost to the point where she would begin panting. Her fists, despite their constant contact against the wall, had yet to start bleeding. She had been exerting all of her strength against the solid rock that made up the cave. It was a testament to her durability and endurance that her knuckles were only slightly reddened after about two hours of training. It was a good way to warm up.

The pounding against the walls would stop suddenly. It was time to move on to the main reason why she was there - there was a technique that she wanted to develop and train. Its nature was deadly, to the point where she had been hesitant to try to get anyone that she knew to help her train it. She had yet to figure out how to disable the seal that she intended to use in a way that didn't cause permanent damage. Nevertheless, not having a solid test subject would render this practice session quite useless. She supposed a clone would have to do in order to have this go anywhere. Troublesome, yes, but there was really no other choice, was there? And trying it out for the first time in battle was risky and idiotic. One misstep could mean her own death.

The former Kazekage ran an hand through her hair as she sighed in frustration. She placed her hands together nevertheless, forming the hand seal that she needed - a sort of cross using the index and middle finger of both hands. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" she yelled, hearing her own words echo throughout the caverns. A puff of white smoke revealed an exact clone of herself, standing in front of the original. She didn't need to explain the purpose of the clone's creation. It was implied and ingrained into its brain already. They stood several meters apart, each mirroring the other's fighting stance.

To think that this was the first actual taijutsu technique that she had thought of developing. Sure, she had become an expert at hand to hand combat over the past few years, but this was, in a sense, different. She had never really seen the need to infuse chakra into her raw strength. But this was different, seeing as it provided her with a much needed increase in speed and the added capability of using a seal to literally choke the life out of her opponent. It was geared to single combat, which was, in truth, both her favorite and her specialty. It was something that would likely leave her open to attacks if she were fighting more than one person.

It was a bother, really, when people thought that numbers gave them the intrinsic advantage in battle. It was a cowardly move - albeit, one that she admitted was sometimes necessary in order to prevent the end of society as they knew it. The Fourth Great Shinobi War was a perfect example of that. Props to Madara Uchiha for facing down all five villages put together. It was hard to believe that such a person had ever existed. Gin sometimes had her doubts.

In any case, she wasn't there to reflect on world history. Gin had never been much of a scholar. She was first and foremost a fighter, nothing else. With a large concentration of chakra in her legs, she sprinted forward, testing out the limits of her own technique. Her clone was too slow to react, which means that she would likely be caught off guard as well. She would have to work on that later. Her knee connected flawlessly and perfectly with the clone's stomach. She felt a crack that signified the breaking of several ribs. A rough exhale let the former Kazekage know that the wind had been knocked out of her clone successfully. She proceeded to extend her hand and place it inside its mouth.

A soft and steady stream of chakra made contact with its tongue, thus placing a seal on the targeted area. The jutsu was done. Her goal had been reached. Nevertheless, she would realize the hard way that the jutsu let her in a difficult position to counterattack. The clone's fist connected with her face at full strength. It sent her flying several meters backwards. She fell on her back and tumbled backwards, breaking the fall with her own arms. She got up swiftly nevertheless.

It was time to test the exact extent of damage that the seal could do. Gin placed her hands together in the right position, in order to form the tiger seal. "Heaven Style: Earth's Holy Strike!" she yelled. The seal activated, flooding the clone's mouth with copious amounts of dirt. It slid down to its throat, slowly making the intake of air an impossibility. Less than a minute later, the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, its chakra pool returning to Gin once again.

[Training Heaven Style: Earth's Holy Strike: 893/2000]