Michi woke up early in morning just after the sun had risen over the horizon. As he wanted to raise himself and get out of the bed he was held back by his sore muscles. He had been pushing his muscles way to hard by far. The training he was putting himself through was possibly not that much from his memory. He seemed to not do much different then when he was a child, just scaling it up appropriately according to his size. Though it was perhaps the years in which he didn't keep his body in tip-top condition that had made him unable to keep up the rigorous training. He wondered if he should take it slow for a day, maybe not train his physical capabilities but instead train his mental capabilities or perhaps his touch with nature. Those were still two options in which he could train so he wouldn't have to spend a day not training.

After having contemplated a little bit in bed it was finally time to get a move on. It would be better to decide upon the training he would do on the go than do it whilst lying in a bed. Once outside of the inn he was staying at he'd first need to grab a bite. No training could ever be successful on an empty stomach after all. Diversity was key in nutrition and so like all the other days he'd eat at two different places. He'd first get a big bowl of salad and vegetables, it didn't matter that a 'normal' person wouldn't put half of the things that were in the salad together. All that mattered to Michi was that he'd be getting the biggest variety of vitamins. Once finished eating the big bowl he'd hop on over to the store next door and get him a decently sized bowl of pasta. To give him enough energy to get him through the entirety of the day.

Having finished his preparations for the day Michi headed out, but this time not to his usual training spot. He was sure he'd be too tempted to do some physical training if he were to go there. He did enjoy physical training over mental training after all. It was more active, you had an easier sense of progression when you do physical training. Which in turn is a decent motivator to keep on going, but it was important to train the mind as well, even if it's not as enjoyable. Slightly dreading today's training session it was time to start. Having arrived at a small number of trees not far from the villages training grounds, Michi decided to climb into one and sit on one of its branches. Meditating whilst in the vicinity of other that did physical training, resisting his urges to join them in their physical activities.


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The sun started to rise as the rooster crowed. Samuru, though, was already wide awake. He forewent sleeping in his rented room to staying up half the night on the roof of the building. The cool morning air blew on his emotionless face. The wind got caught under his sleeveless hoodie blowing hair on his torso underneath. He sat straight up from lying back on the roof tiles. It was any other human, their back would have probably been a bit tense. Samuru forcefully stretched his arms trying to stay aware not to overstretch them. He stood up and listened for the sounds of his body while he continued stretching. This morning was about the same as all others outside of not getting any sleep. It was a rare occurrence that he didn’t sleep. When it was time for him to sleep, it was almost instant. He had spent most of his life letting his body lead him. It also took many a medic to correct his damaged body over time.

He wasn’t sure about what to do about food. The fact that he couldn’t feel hungry would change up how often he would eat. Sometimes he would forgot while other times he would eat too much. Today he figured that he would just settle for eggs and bacon. He was taught that protein in the morning was good for the soul, but he wasn’t sure how true that was. The meal would of been subpar as it was poorly cooked. He was able to smell and taste at least, but he would eat anything he put on a skillet regardless of how well it was cooked. The meal wasn’t great in size or anything. It wasn’t even well balanced, but he finished taking while he took his time.
There was a great number of things he wanted to do today. One of them was check to see if the craftsman finished his bow or not. It had been awhile since he wield his bow. He lost his previous one before he traveled to the land of fire. He hated not having one especially since it balanced him out in long range offense. Without the weapon, he was just a close range specialist. Samuru sort of shifted his thoughts elsewhere. It was too early for the craftsman to be open. He would have a couple of hours before the craftsman opened his shop. He would need to find something to do during this time. He thought about training since it had been a couple of days before he tried to do anything that burned a lot of energy.

He walked his way around the village trying to find something to do. There was a good bit of time that was spent just wandering around. That was until he approached a training area that was a bit distant from the village training grounds. He didn’t care for using the village grounds since he wasn’t even a part of the village. Samuru sought out training usually in the wilderness on the far reaches of the village. There was others nearby doing physical training as he walked up. He noticed another man in a tree and kind of wondered what he was doing. Samuru didn’t mind training alone, but he didn’t mind training with others either. Training with others allowed him to judge his abilities versus others. It allowed him to be able to judge how much of his body to move in combat and adjust himself there after.  He looked up to the man in the tree before saying something.

“Are you going to sit up there or are you going to train? You’re not accomplishing much sitting in a tree.”

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Michi was patiently sitting in the trees, his legs crossed, eyes closed and the back of hands resting on top of his knees. Taking a deep breath and holding it in before slowly releasing the air through his nose. Bringing his heart rate down and focusing solely on his hearing. Silently taking in the sounds of his surroundings. The sounds of training could easily be heard. The youngsters throwing their shurikens at the practice targets, making a very distinctive thud sound when the mark was hit, followed by cheering of some other youngsters when the bulls-eye was hit. The sound of someone repeatedly kicking against a wooden dummy or the sound of training swords clashing against each other. From where Michi was and his current frame of mind he was able to clearly tell the sounds apart that came from the direction of the training grounds.

With his attention so much focused on the training grounds Michi had failed to notice that someone had been coming up from behind. Even if Michi did not really have to fear anyone coming up to him and causing him harm, it was still an unsettling feeling that ran down his spine. Not that long ago, when he was still hanging out with a group of, what could best be described as, thugs this would never happen. Because everyone would instantly jump on you for your valuables were you to show a sign of weakness. It seems Michi had already quickly unlearned his old ways of not trusting any moment in time. Where any moment could be your last moment.

After having silently judged himself for his idiotic behavior, it would be better if he were to answer the fellow's question. "There is more than one way of training you know?" he said with a know it better tone. Michi wasn't one to carefully pick the words to speak and often, if not always, spoke the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm training the mind. No matter the strength of the structure, if the foundation is weak, it will still easily fall over. No matter the shape of my physical body, if I can't mentally handle my line of work it means nothing." Michi had at this point still not bothered to look at whom he was talking, trying to keep up his focus, but it was to no avail, he had lost the concentration he had build up to that point.

After letting out a small grunt of annoyance Michi had decided to come down from the tree. He wanted a match, he had to get rid of the build up annoyance the man that spoke to him had given. There was no need for weapons or jutsu's just a simple sparring match using their fists and feet. Having come to a conclusion of his next act, Michi finally jumped out of the tree close to the person that spoke to him. Michi turned towards him and looked straight at him in the eye. They were the same height, but the other guy seemed to have a bit more weight to him. This didn't scare Michi off though, no when Michi had set his mind to something he'd carry on through with it. "I wasn't planning on doing any physical training, but since you seem so eager to, I might as well. Fight me, just a simple sparring match, no weapons, no jutsu's. Just our fists and feet."


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Mental training? He wasn’t sure what that even was. All of his life he just moved his body and almost destroyed his muscles to get stronger. This mental training was totally lost on him. There had been many types of training that he knew of, but that wasn’t one of them. Training the mind seemed like for someone who couldn’t make their body work they way they wanted. That wasn’t something he had trouble with. Not being able to feel pain had its advantages. Though it came with a bunch of disadvantages too. He didn’t know when it was to stop training or to take a break. Though, it was nothing he considered too serious.

“I’m not sure of this mental training you speak of. Not sure what this line of work you speak of either.”

Samuru spent most of his teenage life as a criminal. The fact that this guy wanted to fight him was a bit laughable. What guy casually wanted to fight someone they didn’t know. Though, he had seen and experienced worse. Not many people challenged him to anything. He wasn’t one for pride or honor. They were things he cared not for. The thing he cared for the most was strength. It didn’t matter what kind of strength it was. He had seen men die and corpses raised around him. Battle and combat was mostly what he only knew. The fact that the guy wanted to fight him was nothing personal to him. He actually welcomed the chance. This would give him a chance “feel” himself out a bit.

“A spar, huh? I’ll indulge you. I don’t mind crossing fist with you for the sole purpose of bettering myself. Too bad I won’t even feel it. Don’t mind if I remove my axe. I may accidentally draw it out of habit.”

Samuru reached back removing the behemoth weapon on his back and stuck it vertically into the tree. The axe’s handle sat a couple of feet off of the ground as the blade rested an inch into the tree’s bark. He stretched his neck side to side and put his fist up in a basic fighting stance. It would have excited him to be able to launch his fist at something. Samuru was curious about why the man was so eager to fight him. The last person he fought was some kid who had gotten a little too big for his breeches. He had easily dominated the kid, but there was nothing to it. The only reason he would indulge himself in this fight because he would get something out of it. If it had been under different circumstances, he may not have even bothered.

“So, show me something good. Better be glad I have nothing better to do with my day,” he stated as he moved slowly away from his main weapon of choice, “Don’t waste my time.”

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After standing for a bit in front of the fellow Michi wasn't sure what it was, but this feeling inside of him told him they were the same. Maybe not exactly the same, but very similar. At least part of this feeling got confirmed the moment Michi got a response to his sparring suggestion. He was arrogant, full of himself, just like him. But at least Michi could back up his words, he wasn't sure about the man. Michi clenched his fists at the statement that was being made. "He wouldn't feel it? How full of himself is he? I'm definitely going to make him feel my fists. And to follow it up with such a statement, he's definitely not going to intimidate me with that. Who does he think he's fighting some little kid that still needs diapers? He better guess again."  "How so not feel it? Are you saying that I won't be able to land a single hit onto you? Or are you saying that my punches will be too weak for you to feel?" Michi stated with an aggravated voice.

The follow up statements that were made by the man didn't help to Michi's mood. He was too arrogant for his taste, too confident. It was as if he was defying Michi's strength without having seen an ounce of it. Michi's blood was startling to simmer, he could feel some of his old ways rising back up where he wouldn't stop until he was satisfied, despite him already being the clear victor for ages. But on the surface he remained fairly composed, maybe a hint of aggravation, but nothing that would give away his true feelings. Michi was done talking with his mouth, his fists would do the rest from here on out.

The man had been standing ready for a lil' bit while Michi was weighing his options. He could go for swift sudden jab, maybe throw the guy off foot because he hadn't taken up a stance yet. No that wouldn't work, you could tell from his body language he was used to cheap tricks. Michi would need to do it without tricks and punch him like he was further back, make his fists still gain power if when they had already collided with his face. So Michi slowly took up his fighting stance, mirroring that of the other guy and slowly circle around a little bit. Wait with the moment of attack, keep his opponent guessing. After a few moments passed he'd make a quick jab with his right arm, followed up with a left hook aimed at his face. With having made his moves there were only a few ways the guy could retaliate in Michi's mind. He'd either try to block the hook, in which case Michi would use the momentum he gained from it to keep turning his body and go in for a kick with the back of his feet to the guys side. He could counter attack, in which case Michi would be rather vulnerable. If that were to happen Michi would completely lower himself towards the ground while keeping his momentum and just go for a leg sweep instead. Or he wouldn't block the punch at all, in which case Michi would quickly back off and play it really defensive, because in his mind there would be no one so crazy to just freely take a blow to the head.


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Samuru studied the man’s posture as it seemed to be pretty solid from what he could tell. This guy had some experience at least. If you were going to start a fight, it was probably the least you could do with have some fighting capacity. Samuru twisted his mouth in an awkward way. He started circling with the guy. Moving his head side to side, he tried to figure out how he would attack. There were plenty of ways he could attack, but it was always a guessing game on how his opponent would react to it. Samuru wasn’t the guy to just stand around and watch. Patience was a virtue that was lost on him.

“Like I said, I won’t feel them. You can try, but I won’t feel your blows land. It sucks, but that’s just how it is,” he responded calmly.

The look on his face was a slight small or what he tried to make a smile. It wasn’t like he stood in front of a mirror and practiced facial expressions. Facial expressions were never his forte. It was part of the reason why he always kept a straight face. Maybe it was something he would work on later. He was already an oddball to society, but he didn’t really care what society thought about him anyway. Samuru was definitely growing soft as he started to get around more people.

Samuru had started to notice that time was wasting away standing around and decided to make his advance. He started with a low leg sweep with the back of his left leg trying to carry the momentum back around for another sweep to his opponent’s midsection. It would be a start, but he was a bit curious. The fact that someone was willing to challenge him without giving a second thought kind of drew him into the confrontation like a shark to blood. Fighting seemed to be the only thing that kept his mind in constant thought. Everything seemed to be blocked out when he fought. Fighting seemed to keep him going to push him to new heights. It was the only thing that made sense to him. It could be that the sight of blood interested him or the fact that he couldn’t feel his own blood flowing through him. He wasn’t sure which it was that drove him. Most of his life, he spent searching trying to find himself and who he truly was.

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[Thread Exit/Inactivity]

TWC: 1528

Stat Training:

Reaction Time: D-0 -> D-3 [1175/1175]
Endurance: D-0 -> D-1 [325/325]

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