Keiji punched his alarm clock, ending the incessant noise that had driven him from a few pleasant hours of sleep. He sat up, yawning and stretching with satisfaction as his back popped several times. Standing up, he quickly made his way to the shower where he began his morning routine - taking a quick shower and washing the filth of yesterday off of his body using scentless soap and shampoo. He stepped out, drying himself off and throwing on a fresh set of clothes; the recent cold weather had forced Keiji to layer more than he was used to. Satisfied with his garments, he sauntered to his kitchen and opened his fridge. Mulling over what to have as breakfast for a couple of minute, Keiji finally decided. Grabbing two eggs, he pulled out a pan and quickly cracked the fragile shell on the edge, emptying the egg into the pan and placing it onto the lit stove-top. The eggs frying, Keiji rapidly began toasting some bread and frying bacon. Within minutes he had a quite appetizing breakfast in front of him. He devoured the food with gusto, leaving not a morsel. Delicious. Tossing the dirtied plate in the sink, he left his apartment, intent on his destination.

[207/9000]

So, it was finally time to give this Ninjutsu training a try. She'd been looking forward to this for months, if not longer. Hell, she'd been dreaming about it on and off for the past few weeks. More so after she met Keiji and he made it clear he was willing to train her.

She'd been keeping with her 'diet', which wasn't a diet in usual standards, but in fact taking in more nutrition and food; gaining weight healthy. She honestly was already to the point that she looked less like thin and more healthy. She even had a very small bit of color to her; but that could've also been from the insane hours she'd been spending outside eating while shoving her face into several books, always hunting down new techniques.

So, this morning was just like the past few weeks had been; she started out with a healthy breakfast. Some eggs, few strips of bacon, little bit of fruit, and a great big glass of milk... That was of course after she finally dragged herself out of bed. All this eating had her sleeping a little bit more then usual, and when her eyelids finally closed and her head hit that pillow - well, she was usually out for the count.

It took her slightly longer in getting dressed. She'd already pulled her hair up, placing it in a braided bun to keep it completely out of her way. She knew the length tended to be a problem, but had never been able to cut it. She knew it was chillier out, and the cold liked to cut through her like a knife through butter so she needed something warm. Several minutes of flipping through her closet, and then a minute later and she was dressed: black long sleeved shirt with a zipped up sweater with a hood over this, black pants with several pockets, and close toed shoes. The last piece of her outfit was her headband being tied securely around her head, holding her bangs back more than anything.

She paused long enough to grab the few supplies she'd recently bought and liked to keep on her at all times and then she was out the door. She barely paused long enough to lock the door behind her before she was on her way to the designated spot, running at full speed. It wouldn't take her but a few minutes to arrive.

Word Count: 403 / 3,000

Keiji soon found himself at his destination: the rolling hills. The hills themselves were vibrantly green and teeming with wildlife and various plants, but the section he was at now was freshly trimmed and clean of anything that could distract him of his training. 'Well,' he thought, 'I'm here to improve in ninjutsu so I might as well begin by learning new ones.' Keiji's mind flashed through very useful jutsu that he hadn't had the opportunity or motive to learn until now, and very soon one in particular stood out amongst the others - the Shunshin no Jutsu, also known as the Body Flicker technique. Keiji had seen it used among his peers, especially those whose job required rapid movement. He wondered why he hadn't trained it before now. He focused his chakra, manipulating it for his purposes. No shape or elemental transformation was required, so it made the process substantially easier. Keiji focused on the Konoha library and released the pent up chakra. His visioned tunneled as he traveled at incomprehensible speed, before slowing down to a still not a second later... a mile from the library.

'Hm. Seems like it needs some work.' Keiji thought as he quickly began running along the rooftops, tiles clacking as they met his sandal. 'Methodology was on point, but accuracy wasn't. Hopefully they'll have a book that details the actual procedure more in depth than just hearing about it in the jounin lounge.'

Entering the massive library, Keiji quickly made his way to the restricted section - an area sectioned off from the rest whose contents were limited to high ranking shinobi, as to not allow those with low chakra pools to learn techniques which could drain them in one usage. Keiji reached the S's, quickly finding the scroll he was looking for - the Shunshin no Jutsu. Many of the scrolls were taken already, indicating that many ninja were currently learning the technique, or that the previous copies had been lost. Keiji rapidly checked the scroll out for more in depth study - he hated learning new techniques inside. After saying his thanks, the man opened the scroll and read its contents. He had been correct to assume that his methodology as far as chakra collection and application was right, only a few minor tweaks - including a bit of nature manipulation to conceal the actual act of the "teleportation." However, his accuracy was complete and utter shit, and he now knew why. Whereas before he thought of Shunshin as simple teleportation, it was nothing of the sort. For that to be true, Shunshin would've been classified as a space-time ninjutsu, extremely complicated skills that had the capacity to create great destruction. No, instead of teleportation, Keiji found that it was merely and extremely swift movement.

Keiji's mind wandered, dwelling on the topic of space-time ninjutsu for a brief couple of moments. To have that kind of power would be indeed something awesome, yet terrifying. Only a few in the ninja world were known to have it, the most prominent being Namikaze Minato - the Yondaime Hokage, and Uchiha Obito, a man bent on the complete and utter dissolution of the free world. It was odd to think about really. Two people with similar levels of power that shared a personal relationship differed so largely in mindset. Keiji didn't know what he'd do with that kind of power. It was disconcerting.

Looking over the scroll, he studied its contents further, refining his technique over the next couple of minutes that passed, trying varying locations to flicker to, such as his apartment, on top of the Hokage monument, the forest of death, and finally back to the rolling hills. Keiji smiled, realizing he had the basics of the technique perfected. Next task was to try it with an elemental manipulation, and since his primary element was katon, he saw no issue in trying it at least once. He performed the technique again, this time kneading chakra before flickering. The result was fantastic, as Keiji literally disappeared, harmless flames flickering to life before dying not a moment later. The man smiled as he flickered back to the hills, satisfied at his progress so far. Not even an hour down an already a new technique learned. Marvelous.

He was so engrossed in his mental celebration that he almost didn't notice his friend Amaya arrive at the field. "You're a tad late." Keiji said to her, quickly flashing through hand seals. "Let's begin!" he said before bringing his index and thumb to his lips in a ring and blowing through it, a massive fireball seemingly roaring to life out of nowhere. The fireball closed in on Amaya at an astonishing pace for its size, the ten foot orb spinning toward her at thirty miles per hour. She would surely have no problem dodging it, and the heat she received from it's proximity would probably be welcome in this cold weather.

Word Count: 1032/9000
Shunshin Learned - 825/750

Her reddish gaze fell upon Keiji and a slight smile formed across her face. Late? Yup, she probably was. She just hadn't been able to wake this morning, not exactly normal for her. In fact, she hardly ever slept. Probably her new eating habits, and the fact that she was in fact getting healthy. Ah well. No time to dwell on that, now. Especially as her gaze took in exactly what Keiji was doing. Incoming! She actually giggled. Actually thought that was fun. Ah well, she wasn't exactly right in the head, but who was these days? She moved though, as soon as she had figured what was going on, which was about the time it took for Keiji's hand to get to his mouth; already in motion.

Her arms went up into the air, body turning to the side. She sprang herself up with her feet, sending herself soaring through the air. A good six feet from the air she'd been her hands hit the ground, and she used her momentum to spring herself back up into the air. Her legs tucked into her body and she rolled midair before stretching out; she landed on her feet, a good fifteen or so feet from where she'd once been standing. She giggled again, turning her form to face Keiji again. The lingering warmth from the fire was indeed comforting, and she glanced quickly at the sky, as if daring it to try to snow.

With her attention back to Keiji she smiled more. "I just couldn't wake up this morning. Must be all that food and then exercising with Ashi... the girl is twenty-four seven hyper, she doesn't believe in breaks." She was hardly complaining though, as her grin that had spread across her face showed. It had been fun, if nothing else. An eagerness took over her, evident by her practically bouncing in place. Either that, or she was waiting for Keiji to try again. Her eyes twinkled and sparkled, showing her playful attitude at the moment yet a seriousness deep down below that. She was going to take this as serious as she took anything else that was important, but she did hope to have fun while doing it.

Word Count: 371
Overall Word Count: 774 / 3,000