It was dark. nearly pitch black. the moon only shown a sliver, and as such there was hardly any light shining over the village this early in the morning. Azumi locked up her apartment, and pulled her coat on tight over her typical ninja outfit. she hadn't done much since she had gotten back from takigakure, and the relaxation was beginning to bug her. She hadn't spent enough time training, or really doing anything that physical, and as such her night were becoming more and more restless up until tonight where she couldn't sleep at all. So here she was, at 2 in the morning heading to the training grounds in order to get some actual training done...

She reached the training grounds not long after she had set out from her house, and so she set her backpack of supplies down next to a training post, and began setting in on the vigorous work of repeatedly hitting the post in front of her. Right plam, left palm, right plam, one after another. one would hit then as she pulled it back she would hit it with her other one. she would repeat this endless times, hitting it over and over and over again, without slowing down, or even thinking of it. she didn't even know what this was accomplishing, but she knew it was helping in some way, even if it was just to burn off energy. so she kept at, one after the other, back and forth, easily finding her groove, and equally as easy creating a groove from her hits on the log. it would be a long day for her, because she didn't plan to stop until the sun rose in a little over 24 hours.

WC:295

Spoiler:

He was so ready for some sleep. It had been quite the long day, with more than one situation simultaneously occurring that he would have preferred to avoid. His late afternoon training had been cut short upon receiving notice that his younger brother had gotten into a scuffle at the Academy, much to Kōrin's exasperation. The form of emergency contact provided to the Academy for Kōta had been for them to reach Kōrin first, as opposed to his parents. But unlike what most people would automatically assume, it wasn't because they were siblings raised without their parents present. It was because their parents were a healthy, happy, loving couple who completely lacked an affinity towards the shinobi life. That didn't mean their parenting paled in comparison to other parents, but it did mean that situations like dealing with the Academy fell on their eldest son instead. And so he spent an hour or so apologizing to the teachers while attempting to scold his younger brother, torn between playing the strict sibling role and the affectionate side that just wanted to ruffle the younger boy's head and tell him how well he did in holding his own in the fight.

It was several hours later that he finally dropped his brother back home, spending more precious time explaining the situation to their parents. Family was important, but family was also a major distraction. It was dark by the time he slipped back out to do some training, heading to the all too familiar training grounds to seek out a quiet place for some time alone. The training grounds were vast, with a large range of different terrains (both natural and simulated) and a variety of equipment to go with it. But all Kōrin needed was a small clearing to himself, borrowing a dull wooden blade to swing around. Here and there he had picked up some sword skills that he managed to replicate, but it definitely needed work. He had the natural skill, but no one to truly coach him through the art of swordsmanship. Three hours later, at approximately two-thirty, he was ready to head back home and sleep off the rest of the night. Kōrin knew he was due to meet up with his new squad soon, but since no official notice had been sent out yet, it was simply a matter of waiting it out.

Replacing the wooden sword back to where he got it, he began searching for the exit, seeking light through the darkness. It was relatively quiet, but that was to be expected. Not many people would still be at the training grounds at this hour. The thought had barely crossed his mind when he heard the sounds of a poor training post being pummelled repeatedly nearby. More curious than anything, he wandered closer, pupils dilated in an attempt to identify who the other person was in the low light. A girl...? Upon getting close enough, he would lean against a nearby training post to observe her actions, not at all attempting to hide his presence. It was a public training ground, after all.

"It's pretty late." The short comment was meant to be both a greeting and a general observance about her training at such a late hour. But of course, being as skillful as he was at starting awkward conversations, that was the best he could do.

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Word Count: 575

Rippa had taken to tailing his would be students from a distance and watching them. The idea of having a squad seemed odd to him. With his other side always being held at bay by a thin layer of skin it was only a matter of chance and time before it was unleashed upon the world. Putting children in his care was a concern. Even trained children as these two were. The third was no where to be found for the time being so that wasn't a priority. Shinobi had no time clock to punch into after all. They simply took jobs when they were assigned or requested. He himself hadn't been ordered to do a mission in some time so it was only natural that he would be given a squad. It was as if they were softening him up by keeping him off the battle fields. None the less he had made it a point to observe them himself. His blue eyes watched from rooftops a decent distance away. He was after all not too new to the concept of being tailed. He had picked up a couple of evasion tricks and tracking tips since then due to his time in Takigakure.

Still he stood on the roof tops watching diligently. His boots covered his feet but still made little to no sound as he moved. He didn't seem to be held back in the flexibility department due to his black jeans either. His black tank top may have been cold had it not been for the red long coat he was wearing over it with the sword saints division captain symbols on the back. A silver necklace that appeared to be angel wings hung from his neck. His symbol as head of the Angel branch in the Chi house hold. And to top things off now he had a squad to look after. His responsibilities seemed to be piling up around him. Still the dark circles under his eyes were barely visible. White stubble showed around his face from a lack of shaving and his hair was a white, wild mess. Still, crossed on his back with a handle over each shoulder was a loaded pair of crossbow blades called Cain and Abel. Tucked into his belt was eight bolts. The weapons were one of a kind in Konoha and perhaps the world. While on his left hip he had two wooden swords and strapped to his right hip he had one scroll neatly rolled up with his medical supplies within.

Still he new one of them already. Azumi had been rather aggressive in their last meeting. As well as the meeting before that. If anything she liked the sound of her own voice and had a punch first and don't bother with questions solution to virtually everything that didn't fit into her world. She was certainly a handful at times but her aggressive nature meant she trained hard. So with having gotten to know her a little his concentration for the day was on Korin. The incident at the academy had been interesting enough but dull after a time. Typical family matters. Still the boy broke off from that to go train at the training grounds for a time. Practice with a wooden sword made him raise an eyebrow. Perhaps that was why the kid was getting tossed at him, dedication to the sword and a sword saint teacher made some sense. Still the hour drew late and he had taken to studying their files when he heard the boy packing up. He had remained out of site until then when he too heard another practicing early morning. He rubbed his face and pocketed the files to follow Korin only to discover Azumi was there as well. When they met before Azumi could reply Rippa dropped down to a section of wall to take a seat. Before he began speaking.

"Indeed it is. Don't mind her though. Azumi has some anti social behavior she enjoys exhibiting when she can. Do try and avoid letting her deck you. As for you, Korin, family type, enjoys training as well and seems to be just out of the academy. Welcome to squad two. You may call me Sensei."

714

Thump, Thump, Thump...

Azumi hand hit the log one after another, in perfect rhythm without missing a beat. one after another, back and forth, left and right. She was hitting it with all she had, putting all of her strength into her blows. she could feel the post beginning to get a groove in where she was hitting. a visible marking on the wood where the bark was already completely gone for her excessive beatings of it. the world around her was empty. Silent. the only noise was her hitting this log. She knew she could do it faster. use her jutsu to enhance her palm speed, and hit this log at blinding speeds. it would tear this log apart in a matter of seconds. completely and utter destruction of the log. she would break the log in two in no time at all, but that was just her problem. if she did that, she would be out of logs to beat on before mid-day, and then what would she do for the rest of the day? lounge around and do nothing? no she had done plenty of that in takigakure, and she was motivated to training for a while. so she figured it would be best if she simply just kept at this pace. that way it would take her longer to get through each log, and not be left hanging mid-way through training. yeah she figured that was the best way to go about this, and so she did.

Then suddenly, she heard a voice. "It's pretty late." Azumi let out a sigh, and she felt anger well up inside of her. Damn it! this was suppose to be a time when no one was around. everyone was suppose to be asleep so she could do this in peace and quiet. she whipped around to face the boy whom had decided she was a good person to strike up a conversation with. he was only about 5 meters away from her. not a gap she couldn't cross in a decent amount of time, and mess up his pretty little face. teach him a lesson or two about why she wasn't some one you interrupted when they were in the middle of something. She dashed forwards, or at least she was about to... when she heard another voice. she recognized it instantly. Rippa. Her sensei. she bite her lip in anger as not only more people showed up, but her sensei called out all of her behaviors. that frustrated her more than the kid being there. when he was done talking she let out in a defiant tone "I wasn't going to hit him in the face..." she said while glaring at rippa who's figure she could just barely make out in the dark. Well at least she wasn't going to know. As much as she wanted to hit the kid, she couldn't stand letting rippa be right, so she figured she would let this one slide. then she turned around and angerily hit the post, this time adding chakra to her blow, and an explosion burst out, exploding the post into several tiny pieces.... she had to let it out somehow. then she turned back around, to face her new squad mate and sensei. why where they even awake?

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WC:560
Chakra: 135/150
-15 for chakra burst (in jutsu list, which is in signature)