Sasijimi stepped onto the field he would be training in for the day, in his normal shinobi attire: the black netted and sleeveless shirt, matching black tights, as well as his white tabi and black sandals, he made a dashing ninja if he had to say so himself. He had his hair pulled back into a ponytail with his bangs pushed over out of his face, the sides of said bangs being left to hang, framing his face elegantly with its jet black splendor. His green hues with golden flecks surveyed the area he was in at this moment as the sun shone down on what skin of his was showing, giving the tan peach color a nice and warm glow. He wore a soft smile upon his soft peach colored lips, which didn't falter in the wave of immense heat the village normally had over the training field that was suited for genin, chuunin, and academy students.  He had heard of the Chuunin exams coming up and wanted to prepare himself for them, so he had come to an old favorite hangout of his to train and develop his skills in order to be on par with the rest of the genin that would no doubt be entering the fray at the exams. He didn't want to be shown up and there was no way he was going to allow himself to be beaten easily, now all he had to do was train himself to back up that sort of thinking.

He started off laying on his stomach, putting his palms into the sand on either side of his torso. He looked straight ahead, keeping his breathing steady as he began to push himself up from the ground, then down, and up continuing this string of motions. He wanted to master his physical limitations then surpass them, as well as his mental and emotional ones. To be a true master of jutsu, you had to be a master of mind and body, and if he couldn't do this, there was no hope of him eventually becoming Kazekage. He would not let anyone take that away from him, no matter who they were. This was his crowning moment: the time that he could show that no matter what clan you have, or where you come from, that you can be something great if you work hard and set your mind to it. Nobody had their mind set as hard as he did when it came to becoming stronger and protecting those closest to you. He had begun to sweat a bit, his muscle toned biceps gleaming in the sunlight as he continued to push himself up, then down, counting off the number in his head. Before long he had reached one hundred push ups and he had reached a limit for that. He sighed and heaved himself to sit upon his buttocks, breathing a bit and regaining his composure before moving on to the next exercise. He was going to do everything he could today, and make this a daily regiment so that there would be no question of his strength, or of his determination to be the very best.

After he had rested enough, he immediately laid upon his back in the sand, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes, breathing. He counted down from five slowly, then began to pull himself up using mainly his core abdominal muscles, to touch his chest to his knees, then going back down for a moment, returning to that position again and continuing this string of motions. To any who might look in on him, he was doing very simple exercises. This wasn't the case. Doing many of something simple eventually got harder and harder, and the more you did, the harder it would get. This wasn't a problem for him, for the more you did, the more you gained from it. Experience and training are what makes a ninja a ninja. You can not be strong if you don't put the time in to make yourself out to be that way. As he continued his sit ups, he counted them to himself. His current record was sixty but he was determined to beat that; to push the limits he had and excel past them, to soar to new heights. His mind was made up, and he wasn't going to allow his body to quit until he was sure he had done just enough for it to feel tired. The sit ups continued and he opened his eyes, staring straight ahead as he came up, looking towards where the Kage's manse was. That was the end goal: the one thing he desired more than anything. He was going to reach that through training just like this every single day if he had to. After a few minutes of pushing himself and forcing his body to do more after it wanted to stop, the young man fell onto his back, arms sprawled out, panting. He had reached eighty-two sit ups. It wasn't the best, but he was making progress. He waited a few moments to catch his breath before he forced himself to stand, walking over to a pull up bar and looking up.

Sasijimi smiled to himself. He remembered doing such things during the academy days. Telling himself and others that he'd keep training till he could beat every one of them and crown himself the strongest ninja. He remembered the smirks and jeers, their laughing faces when he'd fall onto his ass from trying too hard, or from not being able to do more than three pull ups. "Weakling!" They'd jeer at him, laughing and walking away, talking amongst themselves about the failure that they assumed Sasijimi to be, that he always would be in their eyes. His mind went back to the months spent on this bar, turned to a couple years of him pulling his weight more and more until he had surpassed all his classmates and broken a few of the records for the academy. He was quite a bit taller now, and looking at the bar, he'd always remembered having to jump up to reach it, where as now he simply raised his arms up, and gripped the bar tightly in his hands, so the his finger nails were facing his face. Sasijimi pulled himself up, lifting his legs and crossing them as well as bending his knees up to keep from touching the ground. As he pulled his chin up over the bar, his legs raised while still crossed, in an effective crunch for his abdominal muscles as well. He felt a slight bit of fatigue and pain but he was adamant on doing this to become a better ninja and so he kept pulling up and pushing himself to do better. He had and example to set not for others, but for himself. To prove to himself that it was possible for him to surpass his own expectations and limits. He kept his mind on other things as he continued the strenuous exercise. He thought of his parents and how proud he would have made them if they had seen him working so hard to become the best shinobi he possibly could be. He thought of his old classmates who he would make it a point to move on and surpass even more, keeping them from having a single hope of catching up to him. Sasijimi also thought of the Lady Kazekage, and how she too would come to recognize his strength of mind over body. She would have to, especially if he actually passed the chuunin exams.  No, he would pass those exams and not stop there. As soon as he made Chuunin he would make it to Special Jounin, and after that Jounin. And should he be unable to take the position of Kage, well he'd find a way to make his name known as the strongest in the land at another position. Whatever he had to do, he was going to do it, he was gonna be there, at the top. This pep talk kept repeating itself over and over inside of his head as he pulled up that eventually he had lost count of how many pull ups he had done. He sighed putting his feet on the ground and released the bar he was holding tightly on to before moving to sit upon his buttocks once more, letting his body fall back into the soft sand using it as a cushion. The sun was directly in his face, and the genin pulled his fore arm from the left over his eyes to shade them and closed them quietly contemplating his life thus far.


He had a fondness for Fire and Wind, and it was only fitting that when he discovered his chakra nature, those two had come together hand in hand. It was like a dream come true for him! Two of his favorite things were able to be manipulated and controlled at his will! As for his training, he had decided ninjutsu and bukijutsu suited him the best out of everything else. He was familiar with many of the ninjutsu they had learned in the academy and didn't mind using them from time to time, regardless of their impractical uses in some situations. As for his bukijutsu he had taken a fondness for Gunbai war fans after studying them for a few hours in the academy. He couldn't explain why, but the thought of wielding one into battle always sent  shivers down his spine. It could possibly be because of the great Gunbai users from years ago that wielded the powers of wind and fire together so expertly, almost as if Sasijimi himself were connected to them, somehow. The applications of using those giant fans were endless and always a good idea. He hadn't seen one bad jutsu that utilized a gunbai and fire chakra. Of course, he had other reasons for like them. One being that if he could find a way to control his chakra more perfectly, he'd hopefully be able to find a way to use the gunbai to ride the wind currents and fly through the clouds themselves. What a thought that would be. To fly among the clouds on a giant war fan; not a care in the world. Sasijimi was smiling from ear to ear now and had found a renewed vigor for his training and exercises.

He stood and walked over to a training log that was set out as a substitution jutsu practice dummy, or a supplemented weight that would help genin and academy students get used to carrying the weight as well as building muscle. There was another just beside it that had numerous holes left in it, probably from training days with kunai and shuriken. The other was relatively untouched, but upon looking closer, it still looked weathered and somewhat beaten up from years of usage. Crouching down quietly, Sasijimi leaned forward, placing the logs a bit closer together, before he put his head between them, wrapping his arms around the to have his fingers latch onto the inside, just inches from touching either shoulder. With that done, he leaned back, struggling only for a moment with the new added weight and stood, then squatted, and stood again. This motion would continue on until Sasijimi felt he was happy with the progress being made. It was no easy feat to do all this training every day until he made it where he wanted to be, but he was not about to give up on his dreams at this moment, no sir. He gritted his teeth and continued the lifting process, thinking to himself over and over how sweet life will taste after he's worked so hard to surpass all the others he knew. How it would feel to be on top of everything instead of at the bottom of the totem pole. He continued his pep talk from a few minutes ago, renewing his vigor with each thought out scenario of besting other ninja in contests of strength, or speed, or intelligence, or determination. He'd swim miles out to sea, if it meant getting stronger, if it meant being the best. He'd done something similar before back in his academy days. A kid had challenged him to a swimming race in a lake near the edge of the village that was said to have been wrought with all manner of nasty beasties. Sasijimi was unafraid and took the challenge, complete ignoring the possibility of him being able to lose. The day of the race, the other student hadn't shown and his friends were trying to cover for him. To show them he meant business, he dove into the water and swam his fastest towards the other side, touching and swimming back. Once he climbed out, the others were astounded. Aside from a few leeches, Sasijimi was completely untouched and unfazed. There was seemingly nothing the young aspiring shinobi couldn't do, and showing up his classmate like that had earned him some respect from the friends of his enemy. When he questioned the boy about it the next day, he had gotten defensive and it took the boy's friend telling them of Sasijimi's bravery to make the kid bow his head in defeat.

A chuckle escaped the genin when he finished doing his squats and threw the logs down. He sure had come far since those days. From winning races against others, to sparring matches between he and two others, to simple card games and chess games. There was nothing he hadn't put his entire being into in order to become the very best at everything he chose to do he wasn't going to let that change now either. He was the only one out here training on one of the hotter days this year, there were no clouds, no breeze, and as such there were no other genin getting ready for the Chuunin exams with him. Which was just as well, he didn't need others slowing him down, and he preferred the heat over training company or a sparring partner. The genin quietly put his hands onto his hips and looked around the area he was currently in. There were still more exercises he could do if he really put his mind to it. There was a rope with a small boulder tied to it, supported on a pulley system for people to test their strength and even train up to the medium boulder and larger boulder just a bit away from the initial one Sasijimi would be training on today. He was really ecstatic about the various ways one could better themselves on this field. There was no end to the possibilities if one put thought into it. After another few moments of looking on, the genin wiped his hands upon his tights and shirt which were no both dirty from having lain in the sand and moved over to the smaller boulder, looking up at the rope just a few inches above his head.

He moved his arms up, hand over hand onto the rope, gripping tightly. He was feeling fatigued at this point but that was not going to stop him from achieving what he knew he could do. He then began to pull down on the rope, the mechanism it was attached to creaking, and straining with the weight of the boulder. It was no easy task, to be sure and he wasn't able to lift it as easily as he hoped. In fact, it had only started to begin lifting a few inches off of the ground before he had to release the rope and catch his breath. This was gonna be harder than he had initially thought. He shook this thought from his mind, clearing it, and looked back up at the rope. He smirked to himself, grabbing the rope once more, and began to pull, straining on the weight and putting his weight into the pulling. He had begun to be able to move back from his starting point, and little by little he was moving the boulder up and off of the ground. Sand was falling from the bottom of the large stone, which was now six inches from the ground, but still not at its maximum height. Sasijimi was not pleased yet, and he told himself and his body to push harder, go farther, do it for everything he wanted to be, do it for those he would want to protect when he became stronger. No, not just stronger, for when he became the strongest shinobi his village had ever know. He gritted his teeth, pulling it harder, moving his body back inch by inch, going a foot after a minute or two, the boulder rising to a few feet off the ground. It would go its highest at five feet and Sasijimi was going to make it rise, so that it would make a great impact upon his release of the rope. Again he continued to pull, pulling with all his might, backing up as he did so. The boulder would rise, higher and higher. The pulley straining more and more and he began to get it up towards its highest point. A few minutes of pulling and it was at four feet high now, just about where he wanted to have it. He couldn't rest, he couldn't stop, he couldn't fail, not when he was so close to his goal. With his last bit of willpower he made a ferocious and guttural growl, pulling it back another foot to have the boulder hit the metal of the pulley, finally reach its maximum height. With an exasperated laugh, he released the rope, and instantly the boulder fell, using momentum of its height and the weight of the boulder itself. It crashed back into the sand, and leaned over quite a bit instead of being in the upright position it had began in. He had done it. He'd surpassed one of his limits and lifted something not even his classmates could have lifted. He grinned and fell back onto his back, breathing heavily and watching the sky. It took a toll on his body, his muscles aching a bit as well as his mind racing. He had opened up a whole new world of strength for himself and now that he had a taste, he wanted more.

But he couldn't get his body to obey his commands. He had used up so much energy just then, the last of it actually. He could only lay there in the sand staring up at the sky and going over all he had accomplished that day. All of what he had done were feats to him, surpassing his limits and reaching goals he had set for himself, to accomplish. And he had at that, even surpassed those goals themselves with sheer willpower. He kept his mind on his greater aspirations and forced his body further than it normally could have gone and that made him happier than anyone could ever understand. Sasijimi laid there, counting the moments he had wanted to give up but knew that he would feel better about himself if he kept pushing. As he had pushed, he thought to himself, did he feel better about pushing the limits and continuing even though his body was in the condition it was now? Yes, he did. He knew that there was only one way he wanted to go: UP. And he was one step closer to making his dreams a reality. He was already surpassing all the other genin, and soon he would be working his hardest to surpass the other chuunin, then the special jounin would meet their match, and the jounin would have to watch out for the up and coming genin. Even the Kazekage would know her match before too long and who know? Maybe all the kage would grow to respect how hard he was working and he had the mindset to take on the world once he'd gotten stronger. He would not stop until there was no one stronger than he, till he was the one standing at the top, crowned as the supreme shinobi: the one to beat all shinobi. He would be a role model for the young genin he was in the same class as now, he could even eventually hold his own chuunin exams. Nothing was out of his reach at this moment, for at this moment he was on top of the world, he was unbeatable and invincible. After twenty minutes of laying upon the ground and trying to regain his strength, the genin sat up, breathing in and out slowly and deeply. He was finished for today, but who knew what tomorrow would bring? Maybe even more training! Maybe a day of rest. He wouldn't honestly know how he felt about anything of that nature until he made it home and took a bath, and rested his sore muscles. Maybe ate something or got a drink. Whatever he could possibly do to reward himself he was going to do, because he had done exceptionally well. Sasijimi stood slowly, his legs a bit shaky from the intense training he had just undergone and he stretched out his muscles, grinning widely from ear to ear. Definitely more training tomorrow if not later tonight, he was going to be the best after all, and that meant more hard work than he could ever imagine. Sasijimi yawned a bit and reached his right hand back to have his hand push his fingers into the back of his neck, allowing a scratching to occur as he took one final look around the place he had just been training at and all the object he had used for such training. With a sigh of utter bliss and a wide mouthed smile, the genin turned from the training area and began to walk back to the village for some much deserved and needed rest. If he felt up to it, he'd come back later that day for more training. He still needed more proficiency with his wind element and his gunbai usage. The genin happily made his way into the village and went on to his shabby little apartment.

Training All Stats To D-Rank:

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