Gin was told once upon a time that she would never master the art of concentration. She didn't quite remember if it had been her mother or somebody else that said it. Quite frankly, it could have been any adult figure present during her time as a child. It could have even been some of the kids she grew up with. That definitely sounded like what one of her deceased teammates - Uisuki Sake - would tell her. God how she missed the boy. During the times that they were together, both as friends and as so much more, he had been a constant ray of light and a source of happiness for her. It was all kids of sad that such a genuinely good person had no room to exist in this wicked world. Gin sighed, closing her eyes so that she could focus on the stream of chakra inside her body. She stood poised and ready, with her sword in hand. It was a regular sword that had been given the name of Sabaku no Bara - The Desert Rose. That was about the only thing that was special about its raw features. In truth, it was a memento of a past life.

It was only when she actively thought about it that Gin realized exactly how miserable her life had been and pretty much still was. Another sigh escaped her lips unwillingly. Her past was stained with death and blood. It couldn't be helped. No matter how she tried to change her fate, things remained the same. Of course, that didn't mean that she would stop trying to hold on to the good things in her life nor looking for now ones that she could treasure. Such was her nature. She was stubborn as all hell which made things like this - concentrating and staying still - a challenge for her. She held her sword gently in her hand, letting it rest in her palm. The stream of her chakra was steady and strong. She timed it with her breathing, letting herself feel the air around her caress her skin and ruffle her hair. She moved the wind with the sheer power of her will, making it twist around her and bend to her every command. So far, it was a simple task requiring very little control of her raw energy.

Chakra seeped from her skin and into the air, slowly and steadily. She focused on locking it with individual strands of wind, making them a sort of extension of herself. However, unlike letting them move around her to their own accord, this required more focus. She slowly let go of her sword and let it drift into the open space before her. It shook slightly initially, but soon became still as it moved. Gin manipulated the wind so that she could effectively position the sword where she wanted it to be. So far, it went smoothly. The problem wasn't simple movements like this, however. Gin needed to be able to move the wind as if it were her own arm while focusing on her opponents and their movements. Not only that, but the technique was meant to be able to wield several weapons at once. She had a long way to go before she could do that. It could require several days of training. Such a bother, really, but it would be a useful skill to have in battle once it was perfected.  

Gin worked on moving the sword to perform simple cuts and basic movements that she herself had long since mastered. She started off slowly before picking up speed. A harsh rustling from the nearby bushes led the sword to clatter onto the ground, her momentary focus broken altogether. Her eyes snapped open. Gin scowled for a moment, turning to look at the source of the sudden noise. She had no real reason to be angry. After all, there would be plenty of distractions like this during a fight. It was her fault alone that she couldn't hold the technique despite them. Nevertheless, she now knew that there was someone watching. "You can come out of there. I can't imagine that it's comfortable to watch with branches in your face. Besides, you get a better view from over here," Gin said, essentially extending an invitation to whoever it was that was watching.

[Training Gale Sword Style – Pride: 735/1500]

Riss had been walking throughout Kirigakure most of the day. Having finished household tasks early, she decided to explore the village and possibly get into a bit of mischief. Eventually, she made her ways to the Shore. Having been here multiple times, she knew there had to be someone training nearby that would be of interest watching. Then again, people she watched generally didn’t enjoy audiences. As she wandered, a bit of movement off to her right caught her eye. Glancing around for a moment, Riss quietly moved to where she witness the motion. Listening carefully, she could hear the movement of feet, as well as a quiet howl of wind. Seeing as something that would be interesting, she stealthily moved to a few large stones, but noticed she was a bit too far to notice what was going on. With a quick look around, she saw a much better hiding place that much closer to the woman training.

Riss moved towards a small bush and crouched down slightly. Leaning to the left and right, she tried her hardest to adjust her position and get a better view of the training session. Slowly reaching a hand forward, she gripped one of the branches, not realizing it was ready to snap off at the lightest of touches. The branch gave away with a loud crack and Riss quickly ducked down. Unfortunately for her, in her attempt to conceal her presence, she made even more of a noise than she did snapping the twig. Cringing slightly, she hoped that she wasn’t caught by the woman. Her hope was quickly crushed when the woman called out to her. Riss had barely paid any attention to what Gin said, being more focused on hiding. Staying still for a moment, she waited to see if the woman truly knew she was there. Realizing she had been caught in the act of spying. With a defeated sigh, Riss stood up and poked her head out of the top of the bush. With a slight blush of embarrassment, she maneuvered her way out of the bush and towards Gin. Brushing a few of the leaves off of her robes and picking a few twigs out of her hair, she walked forward and stopped a good few meters away from Gin.

Her eyes glancing at Gin’s sword, then back to Gin herself, Riss bowed her head down. “I-I’m sorry for spying… C-Curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to watch.” She stumbled on her words a bit, hoping that she wouldn’t get scolded for being an unwanted spectator. She had gotten away with watching private training sessions before, but seemed to get the same result whenever caught. With a deep breath, she put her hands behind her back and prepared for the worst.

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Gin tilted her head to the side as she looked at the girl coming from between the bushes. Hm... she was relatively short, even for her age. She seemed to be around sixteen years old or so. That seemed to be the standard age for Genin nowadays and given the fact that she was found out so easily, Gin supposed that that was what she was. After all, she was dressed in clothes that suited combat and the insignia of Kirigakure was sewn onto the belt that she wore. She was definitely a kunoichi, in other words. "Curiosity isn't a bad thing to have," Gin began as the girl apologized profusely. Looking at people from your own village wasn't the crime that this kid made it out to be. Gin chuckled, calling up an old memory that she had forgotten about for a time. The fact that Kuroka Gin was now a shinobi was due to a similar incident, where a man that would later become her sensei caught her spying just like this.

"You could learn a thing or two by just watching if you pay enough attention," Gin said, giving the girl a mischievous look that spoke of encouragement in a very odd way. The young woman went over to her fallen weapon and picked it up in one graceful motion. Despite the fact that she had some curiosity of her own towards the girl, she didn't have much time to spare - at least not until she mastered this technique. Once again, the silver haired woman resumed her previous actions, this time taking less to complete each step. In fact, the sword drifted away from her hand almost instantly and began to move on its own, manipulated by the currents of wind, which were in turn controlled by the former Kazekage. Standing perfectly still, she made it slash in every direction in very quick succession, so much so that the naked eye would have trouble keeping track of every movement.

Gin had never had a reputation of being fast. In fact, quite the contrary. However, that was only when it came to running speed. In matters of swordplay, she always made sure that her weapon moved with as much speed and skill as she could muster. Her actions now reflected that. The movements and technique had become much easier to handle now. Maybe she had been over thinking the whole ordeal before and had only needed to let her instincts take over. Yes, that seemed to be what was happening. Time to add another weapon to the mix. Which one, though? A kunai seemed underwhelming while Soul Cutter was overkill, to say the least. Really, she had very little in between. Deciding that using a kunai would really make very little difference, Gin decided to summon one of the weapons that she forged with her Kekkei Genkai. A sword of pure white color soon joined in the dance of blades that the woman was crafting.

Yes, this seemed to be doing the trick. One of the trees in front of her was soon rendered to small pieces in barely a second. Gin smiled at herself, satisfied. And to think that only moments ago, she thought that this would take days. All she had to do was keep things simple. She deserved a pat on the back for figuring it out so quickly. Good for her.

In the same way that the white sword - Yajirushi, "The Arrow" - had appeared, it now dissolved into thin air. The currents around the young woman stopped moving to her will and drifted towards their nature once again, though not before returning the other blade to Gin's hand. She sheathed it with one simple motion before turning her attention to the girl once again. Gin supposed that she could give herself some time to relax now and talking to this kid was as good of a distraction as any. Gin sat on a nearby rock, a few meters away from the shore. It had been a while since Gin had come all the way to the beach. As strange as it sounded, she often forgot that Kirigakure even had such amenities. The smell of the ocean was a nice change of pace, however.

"What brings you all the way here, kid? This part of the beach is pretty secluded - hard to get to, even. Did you get lost or something?" she asked, genuinely wondering how the kid had gotten there in the first place. Gin laid back on the flat surface of the large rock, placing her hands behind her head and taking a deep breath. She let go of a pleasant sigh as she momentarily closed her eyes. Yes, this beach was quite nice. She made a mental note to bring a bathing suit the next time she gave herself a day off.

[Training Gale Sword Style – Pride: 1500/1500]
[49]

A small wave of relief rushed over Riss when Gin assured her that the spying wasn’t a big deal. She knew some people didn’t mind being watched, but due to the secluded part of the beach she was on gave her the impression that people came here for privacy. As for what Gin said about her curiosity, she grinned slightly and relaxed her shoulders.

The moment Gin told her she could simply watch, Riss smiled with excitement. Though it the look Gin gave was somewhat off, Riss could tell by her tone that she wanted her to watch. She wasn’t quite sure where she should be to spectate Gin. After glancing around, she noticed a pile of stones that were close enough for her to get a good look. She made her way to the rock formation, sat down, and leaned back slightly. Planting her hands behind her, she simply waited till Gin resumed her training. She sneakily looked Gin up and down, trying to guess rank, age, and many other things. The most obvious was her sword. She was no doubt skilled in Bukijutsu, and just from watching her manipulate her sword in such a way gave Riss the impression she was proficient in Ninjutsu as well. On to some of the tougher things to guess, Gin looked as though she was merely in early twenties. Little did Riss know, Gin was much older than she expected. Quickly snapping out of her study of Gin, she waited and watched as Gin swung her sword. Gin’s talents with a blade were rather impressive, and seeing as Riss had never witnessed a Shinobi of high rank before, it made her even more astonished. As Riss continued watching, she could barely make out the rippled motions of wind surrounding Gin’s sword. Only when squinting and looking closely could she see the thin shards of gusts circling the blade.

As the training came to an end, Riss adjusted her position on the stone and silently watched as Gin took a relaxing position on a separate boulder. Nodding while Gin asked her a question, Riss sighed and attempted to respond with a calm tone. “Well… Like I said, curiosity tends to take over now and then. And I’m not lost, just kind of wandering around Kiri.” Riss sounded a bit unsure of herself. It was true that she had been walking around Kiri for quite some time before happening upon Gin’s training, but as for finding her way to her, she couldn’t really explain herself. “I heard you while I was walking along the beach, then I just followed the noise. It was kind of tough to hear, but once I noticed what you were doing, I tried to spy.”  With a small smile, Riss brought her hands up and rested them on her lap. Slowly but surely, she began to bury her head into her crossed arms. Looking away from Gin and focusing more on the ocean, she took a deep breath. “I’ve been trying to go to the training grounds as often as possible to try as skilled as some of the other Kiri ninja, but I tend to do more watching than practicing…” Riss looked down slightly. Suddenly lifting her head up, she bowed her head in apology once more. “Oh, my name is Riss Uzumaki by the way. I’m a Genin.”  Her tone sounded somewhat panicked, seeing as she felt like she was being disrespectful for not mentioning her name and rank earlier.

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