The day was warm, the wind blew strong through the thin foliage at the edge of the forest line. It was a glorious day to train; one of the rare days that was neither too hot or too cold for the picky Inuzuka male. His golden hair shone bright like flames in the gentle mid-winter, mid-day light; golden eyes a molten ember that warmed anything he looked up, rather then freezing it as normal. Kenta was in an amazingly good mood for once; a stark change to his former and long standing over-stressed and nearly psychotic depression and anger. Moodiness; it came with the territory. And how. But; the great weather and massive reduction in workload from the end of the exams had lifted his spirits; and watching his children grow and thrive and race far ahead of their peers in skill and intelligence was enough to make him outright happy for the first time in a long time. Hell; he'd even decided to take a couple of days off to celebrate. The time with his kids would do him good; and with Yuki about ready to pop any day now; it was better he was home to watch her then stuck in the office bored stupid. Yes, definitely better.

And for once, home was his clan's lands; not the apartment he keep in town. He was staying in his house with Ashi for the weekend; letting the kids play with their cousins and the pack dogs acclimate to the new puppies that where coming. It was... weird; sleeping in his childhood room again; even for a few days; but Hiro and the girls enjoyed it, and given his old toys where still stashed there; they where mostly having a blast. New toys? Instant happy. A gaggle of familiar dogs and half grown puppies to play with? Instant joy. It was a good time. They could just enjoy themselves for a few days, yep. He couldn't deny the urge to come back to his pack lands was strong... but he knew better then to give in. After a few days he would start to go insane again; so best to leave it as a visit before going home, yep.

His aunts and uncles had taken the kids off to show them the kind of chores they would be tasked with once they where a tad bigger; or at least able to drag the bags of food and hold the hoses that they used to clean the kennels with. They might not live with the packs; but that didn't mean they wouldn't have to help take care of them, eventually. This gave Kenta most of the afternoon to himself; and as he wasn't particularly fond of anyone in the compound at the moment; what with Ashi off with Amaya and Kou nowhere to be found; he figured he'd squeeze in some training. Something he'd once seen his mother use... and wanted for himself now that he was older and able to recreate the jutsu properly.

He's never thought it was a difficult jutsu; his mother had made everything look effortless; especially jutsu that where of clan nature. He'd never once thought; growing up; that the jutsu was something that only she could do; a skill of her own creation. It was not until he'd approached his clan elders and asked of the jutsu that he was told this. But he knew... deep down he knew; he could recreate it. He would share this with his mother; he would prove to himself that he could be just as good as she was. His mother, a perfect Inuzuka. His mother; the master of the clan's skills and abilities in a way that hadn't been seen in generations. He would be too. He had to; for his own sense of pride. He had to; because he knew he could; and he wanted to honor her with it. Carry on the legacy of his family. Carry on her legacy; just like he was with his father's. The outsider that became one of them. The outsider that became Kage. Now it was time to become what he was; but never truly owned up to. It was time for him to honor his Inuzuka heritage.

Alright... he needed to get to work; or else he was going to end up standing in the shade of the old oaks that managed to remain standing on the edge of the pack lands all day. And he could; he really could. Or even just wander the half a mile into the forest and to his personal little area; take a long swim in the cold water and just lazy the day away. Maybe tomorrow... take the kids; Yuki if she felt up to it... and just get away for the day. Yeah... that would be his reward for this training. Just him and his kids and his dogs; Aki would only come with if Yuki did, the giant was glued to her side right now, waiting for the birth of his newest litter of puppies like the proud father he was. A quick shake to clear his mind; strong and hard like a dog clearing water from it's fur. Yeah. That did it. Focus, Kenta. Focus.

The jutsu. Sonic Heavenly Fang. A modification of something his clan had done for years upon years. More powerful for the addition of the Fuuton chakra; but less accurate. That was okay though; because the extra effects made up for it; and really, who needed extreme accuracy when a spinning vortex of pain and death was racing towards you at several dozen feet per second. A light giggle left the blond as he thought about it; remembered his mother destroying entire swaths of forest when she trained the jutsu. Or it's variants. This one... this was a fairly well contained jutsu; it only destroyed a small area really; leaving only a single crater versus lines and scars across entire acres of land.

It would do him some good to warm up with the base of the jutsu; Piercing Fang. He rarely used the jutsu; and that was a shame, honestly. He could do so much damage with it; but given his relative weakness when it came to physical attacks; he shied away from it to a degree. It was just easier to flood the are with icy water and watch his enemies drown out of sheer shock. Oh well. He would have to work on this jutsu without the boost of the Four Legs Technique though. Kenta knew full well that he lost much of his control of Fuuton while in that state; and although it would give him a massive boost in power; he was better off teaching himself without it for now. He could always incorporate the jutsu later; after he'd refined the base technique.

It didn't take long for him to warm up; a light stretch for a few minutes; then running the same drills he used on his children across the open field. Aiming; turning; the basics of learning to control Piercing Fang properly. The same drills he'd run hundreds, if not thousands, of times himself. He was getting a tad rusty; it was time he started working on his Taijutsu and physical skills more often. The Kage had binged on his Suiton and Ninjutsu training so much lately that he'd gotten a bit soft; a tad slow to react. This was not good; and would have to be fixed soon. Oh well... the jutsu didn't call for either; but they would need to be a priority for later trainings.

The basics of the jutsu where simple enough. Use Piercing Fang to position yourself above the target; then aim straight down. Charge the point of the vortex around you with wind chakra; which was then forced outwards in a rather nasty explosion at the point of impact. Direct hit or not; unless you managed to get several dozen feet away in a split second; you where going to get hurt; and badly. That made his life much easier as well; because working against the drag of the extra wind in the vortex was going to destroy what little accuracy he ever had. The burst of wind from his hands was easy enough; he didn't even need to practice that. It was integrating it into the spin of Piercing Fang without countering his rotation; or over rotating himself into a spin out or a snapped spine.

Fun, fun, fun.

His arms where lifted then; placed into the proper positions that where to be held to create the cone of the Piercing Fang vortex. Hmmm... maybe if he flattened the angles of his hands... He'd try it. Arms dropped back to the position that preceded bringing his hands together; the shift of his arms shifting his stance to allow him to use his arms for the leverage needed to get into the spin. Alright... time to try this. Arms where swung around and he slipped right into his normal spin; only this was... slow. Ew. He wouldn't be able to hold that spin for long. Not enough momentum to properly move.

Maybe from a run; and with the wind actually being used. Yeah. That.

Switch to the Four Legs starter... and into a moderate sprint. Arms where thrown around and into his spin; releasing the Fuuton chakra from his hands with significant pressure.

Oh yeah... there was his speed. Definitely a good idea to try this with his hands flatter. He was actually spinning faster then normal now; more then enough that when compensated for by the moved hands; his entire back felt like it was going to spin inside his skin. Yay. He broke out quick enough; not wanting to hold that least he did actually sprain something.

Flatter hands... little less wind. He ran it again; spending the better part of the afternoon working to get the placement of his body and the flow of the air properly. Most of the time he was overcompensating; leaving his spin too slow and weakened to levels that would make the jutsu useless. It was pure lucky that he fell upon the solution. A ball of wind between his hands; just behind the point of the spin. It would give him the blast he needed; while allowing to infuse the vortex but not fucking with his spin. Sweeeet.

But to be sure he was right.... he went until the sun was nearly down. Over and over he ran the drills; making sure to adjust his aim as he relearned the targeting. Heavy, slow, but that was fine. He just needed to get the basics for now.

Alright... now... to start in the air; the way it was supposed to happen. Quickstep into the air; VoidStep straight up until he was a good 50 feet in the air. Aaaand.... falling. Weeeeeee!~

Flip mid-air; throw his arms around the ball and into the spin... and aim straight down. The wind from the ball diffused into the vortex; leaving a howling sound he recognized instantly. That was it... THAT WAS IT! He knew that sound; that was the same howl of his mother's technique.

The ground was nearly in his face by then; all he had to do was flip the ball into his hand and smack it; that would give him the burst of air. He'd worked on that earlier; figured it out before ever trying to do anything. He knew the omnidirectional blast would push him back into the air; enough for him to get away unhurt.

And boy; was that a crater. The blast from the ball exploding alone was enough to uproot small plants nearby. The earth was bowled out a good 5 feet deep and wide; leaving a muddy hole as the groundwater began leaking into the new pond.

He couldn't believe it... He'd done it... he'd really done it.

“Thank you... Mother...”

He needed to go see them... site at the grave for a bit. They'd love to hear about this...

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