Tobetsu strolled down the village street, dufflebag slung over his shoulder.  The polyester that made up the material of the back rustled softly against the durable cotton of his signature jacket.  His eyes were focused forward, scanning over the denizens that crowded the village streets.  His destination on this day was the training field.  He was tired of being so scrawny and weak.  Though he could obviously handle a civilian in combat, he was nothing compared to his fellow shinobi in terms of strength.  He wanted to be at least average, it wasn't a hard goal to reach, and it wasn't difficult to ask.  It wasn't long before his journey concluded, his feet treading upon the training field's grass.  It seemed thinner than last time, no doubt being trampled underfoot by the other shinobi who came here.  It was dinnertime for most though, meaning he had the field all to himself.  He tossed the dufflebag aside, extending his arms above his head in a stretch.  Stretching one arm across his chest, and then doing the same with the other.  Stretching wasn't important, he wasn't exactly physically active.  He had to make sure he wouldn't cramp, the pain of it would probably cause him to cry out.  He couldn't cry out, he needed to maintain the illusion that he could handle himself physically.

Tobetsu walked over to the dufflebag he had dragged along, taking hold of and unfastening the zipper.  He placed his jacket inside of it, leaving him wearing nothing but his loose white pants and his sarashi.  He would take off his shoes, pulling out a pair of shoes made with a better tread.  He would place them and tie them upon his feet, preparing to workout.  He would swiftly roll over after finishing tying his shoes, placing his toes into the dirt and his arms outstretches to his sides, hands planted in the soft sand of the training field.  The most basic of exercises to start, the push-up.  He lowered himself, releasing his pectoral muscles before contracting them and pushing himself back up.  It was a basic resistance exercise, though also the key to good upper body strength in the arms and chest.  Perhaps if he was strong enough, the girl from his class would forget about his fantasies of cutting her open and removing her organs in order to create a better version of herself, a puppet version of herself.. a durable, perfect rendition... so much better than what she was now.  She was good now but if she was made of wo-- No.  No, I can't.  The ANBU told me if they caught me talking of this again that I'd be more severely punished.  I'd shame my family... these thoughts interjected, guilty thoughts, worried thoughts.  Thoughts he had to push out of his mind.  They weren't beneficial to his goal.  Humankind would be better as puppets, it was obvious.  There would be no war, no more hate, no more worry.  Everyone would be flawless, perfect, happy... wooden.. These thoughts were getting distracting, his pushups coming to a slow as the smirk spread across his face.  He rolled to his back, crossing his arms across his chest and beginning curls.  He couldn't let his mind wander, it was ruining his training.  He had to clear his head and remain efficient, but the thoughts continued knocking.  Maybe he was schizophrenic, but he wasn't about to diagnose himself nor did he plan to allow some doctor to make the diagnosis either.  They had no business telling him whether he was normal or not.

He rolled from his curls back onto his feet.  Extending his arms out in front of him, he would begin to squat down and up, working on some lower body strength this time.  He wasn't about to look like those shinobi who put all their work into their biceps and abdomen and walked about looking as if they were puffed roosters, he wanted to be well rounded, versatile, prepared for any situation.  He had to be strong all around rather than just in one half of his body.  He had to be this way if he wanted to properly defend himself, anyway.  He stopped suddenly, wiping his brow of sweat.  He heard chatter up the street, the other genin were coming to train.  Ever since the girl herself had found his illustrations, it was common knowledge amongst his peers that he was some sort of freak.  They'd no doubt try to gang up on him and beat him in order to impress her.  She was the prettiest girl in the class, after all.  He gathered his dufflebag, not taking the time to put his jacket or street shoes back on and began to jog off the back trail of the practice field.  He knew this trail very well, this wasn't the first time he made an escape from encroaching adversaries.  He knocked branches aside as he ran, clothes and polyester rustling together and ryo clanking around one another.

Time to head home.  His parents didn't exactly think of him as normal, but at least they didn't get physical against him or openly talk about him.  He had no doubt, however, that he was a popular conversation topic amongst the two of them while behind closed doors.  He was pretty indifferent to this idea honestly.  At least he was left wondering rather than being directly insulted.  It was possible they even praised his ingenuity.  That was the ideal situation, though one he knew was false.  The trail opened up into the central street of the village again.  He continued his jog home, his legs burning from the workout they received at the field today.  Home was in sight as he turned a quick corner.  He slowed to a stop, opening his front door and heading inside to sleep.


TRAINING STRENGTH WC: 975/1925

(Continuing my E-0 to D-3 STRENGTH journey.)

It was a tiring day yesterday.  Tobetsu stared at the ceiling of his room, the wooden beams overhead flickered orange with the light of the candle that sat at his bedside.  He heaved a heavy sigh, already feeling a plague of stiffness overwhelming his muscles.  He wore an expression of annoyance rather than indifference.  He threw the blanket off of himself, it settling to his right.  He now lay uncovered, pajama bottoms were the only thing that adorned his young body.  He sat on the edge of his bed, grabbing the roll of tape from his bedside and beginning to wrap his forearms and waist.  Round and round, layer after layer of sarashi lay across his skin.  He originally wore it as an athletic accessory, but it had since become a necessity after he developed tan lines from the tape itself shielding his skin from the rays of the sun.  Tobetsu took to his feet, soreness overcoming him and landing him directly on his face only a couple moments after he found his balance.  He sighed on the floor, parents entering the room and looking at him with a sigh.  They shook their heads and walked away, having thought something was wrong when instead it was their son being a fool again.  His hijinx were something they somehow weren't used to despite them being a near daily occurrence.  Getting his jacket and shoes he entered the kitchen and grabbed an apple from a bowl that sat upon the countertop.  He began to eat it as he exited the house, dufflebag in tote once again.

He, in contrast to yesterday, wore his athletic shoes to walk to the training field in order to avoid having to change after he arrived.  Tobetsu groaned as he exited his house, still somewhat drowsy.  The sunlight pounded his skin.  It was oddly warm out today, and for some reason the sun seemed even brighter than usual on his pale skin.  The young boy looked around the street, observing the village scenery that, while didn't vary much, had slight changes in it from day to day.  Rather than the normal shopkeeper at the general store, his assistant was in his place.  Maybe he was ill, maybe he just needed a day off.  The unpredictability of humanity made Tobetsu somewhat sick to his stomach.  Every living being was made up of cells, organs, tissues, muscles, all things that worked independently to form a living breathing human being.  The village worked the same way, everyone having their own role.  The entire world had its own anatomy, and while that put things in perspective, it showed Tobetsu just how mortal he truly was in this situation.  In the scale of the world, he was a single irrelevant cell that spattered the landscape, though the genin as an entirety played a role, he played none.  He yearned for significance, for importance, he wished to play a role in this world, even if that meant an overhaul of the entire anatomy.  He wished these people would just hollow themselves out and willingly allow their own conversion to mechanical beings, though he knew such would never happen.  Humans had an overwhelming sense of self-importance, despite the fact they were all just as irrelevant as he was.  How can humans that mean so little believe they mean so much?

These were the thoughts that filled his head as he neared the training field.  He listened closely for other genin or village children that often used to area to play.  Hearing nothing, he pressed on.  The heat had dried out the field from the previous training session, the grass being a browned color and the ground itself being dusty.  The breeze that blew through caused the dust to stir up.  This minor detail caused him to ponder what exactly living in the sand village would be like.  Perhaps he should visit there some day soon, though his plot to abandon his village hadn't quite come to fruition.  At his current level the ANBU would find him in a day and have him back home before the sun set.  He needed to complete his training to even have a chance.  Today, he had a new workout plan.  Pure still resistance exercise would help balance out the soreness from moving so much the day before.  He walked up to the log in the middle of the trio, leaning into it and pushing.  Muscles solid with effort, he lay there pressing into the log.  Though it wouldn't budge in the slightest, the tensed muscles were working their ass off to keep up the effort output by their owner.  He wasn't exactly happy, but he kept pushing regardless.  Sweat rolled down his brow as his arms began to shake.  Giving out rather quickly.

He collapsed onto the ground, sitting back against the log and wiping his brow with his already damp shirt.  He really was in shitty shape, and it was worth than he knew.  Perhaps he should work on his endurance later, once he had the muscular definition needed to impress his peers.  He couldn't have everyone in the village looking at him as the kid who desired to create human puppets, he needed this as a new gimmick to help improve his image, again making him the friendly neighborhood kid that always won at hide and seek.  He jumped up to his feet, a small hop later he would find himself atop the log he was just pressing against.  He bent down, placing his hands on the top of the hunk of wood and pushing himself up into a handstand.  This would serve as not only a resistance exercise, but a form of meditation and a practice of his balance as well.  He'd never seen anyone train like this, but he'd never had a superior tell him that it was a bad idea either.  He'd never had a superior tell him anything, even, outside of his teacher from the academy.  It was odd how alone students were after their graduation, especially in a village that prided themselves on their organization in a past.  In fact, it was somewhat odd that these powerful villages seemed more like hordes of people wearing the same headband.  There wasn't a real infrastructure as far as he knew.  Perhaps he simply wasn't chosen for a squad and his parents were sheltering him from how much of an outcast he was.  He didn't mind, though, most of his classmates and he were estranged now, and many of them he couldn't stand even when they were forced to practice together.

He flipped off the log with a lunge of his now even more exhausted arms, landing on his feet on the ground.  He stood up, placing his arms straight out in front of him as he had the day before and beginning to do his squats.  Down, up, down, up.  The exercise was so monotonous but it was also a necessity to him.  He needed all around body strength, just as he had told himself the day before, not only to not look silly, but to increase his overall effectiveness.  A puppeteer and a machinist, Tobetsu was obsessed with efficiency, whether it be mechanical or anatomical, he desired perfection.  A perfect self, a perfect world, a perfect image.  He finished his squats, leaving the training field after a short break.  He took the actual exit this time, disregarding his fellow academy students.  Seiteki was there, though, leading his pack of flea-ridden mongrels that he called his friends.  He held a hand out, stopping Tobetsu.  They only stared at one another in silence, until Seiteki took an eager swing at Tobetsu's face.  Tobi knew that Seiteki and his former crush were romantically involved now, though he didn't think that his fellow student would grow the nerve to attempt to physically attack him in the middle of the village.  She was attractive, no doubt, but she wasn't that attractive.  Tobetsu simply ducked the punch.  Seiteki wasn't ever the fastest student, though strength was certainly his strong suit.  Tobetsu, after ducking the punch, just continued his stroll past the gang of hooligans.  He was out in the middle of main street before Seiteki could turn back around.  If he dare attack another student here where everyone could see him, he'd be taken in.  Both of the boys knew this, and they both smirked out the other with a sense of mutual grandeur.

Tobetsu continued walking toward his house now, shaking his head in disbelief at the scene he had just experienced.  At least his colleagues would stop calling him a coward, but it was also a possibility that they would call him this more frequently giving that he may as well have fled.  He stopped inside one of the shops close to his home, the general store that he had noticed was instead being managed by the assistant shopkeeper before he left, and purchased a couple of rice balls.  Though he payed for two, he had three when he left.  His pocket was slightly more swollen than when he entered as well, serving as a shelter for the stolen goods.  He ate them as he re-entered his home.  All this training should cover him for the next while, at least ideally.

[Thread Exit]

TRAINING STRENGTH WORD COUNT: 2520/1925
1925/1925 words - E-0 -> D-3 completed