The ground beneath him shook as he walked. The vibrations of thunder seemed to rapture one’s soul with each resonance of nature’s power. Tomohiro had been here many times to test himself. The lightning flashing across the sky gave peace to his warring mind. His meditations helped to soothe his mind, but there was nothing like nature to keep your mind off of your sorrows. The Thunder Grounds had been one of his more favorite spots as of recent. A good number of shinobi would occasionally come here to train, but not as often as he recently did. Dusk had begun to settle in and he was ready to start his own personal training.

Tomohiro had pulled on the sleeves of his trench coat. The rain had been dripping off of his leather kasa and his physical being. If it hadn’t been for his coat and head piece, he would definitely be drenched. The cold air had started bite his nose. Tomohiro had a intuition that it may snow in the next few days. He thought that it wouldn’t bother him too much. One would get used to the snow, ice, and rain if the conditions persisted enough and went almost unchanging. Training in extreme heat was something his clan preferred, but the heat was something that you didn’t have to deal with in Kumogakure. To train in a climate that you normally had to endure was probably less detrimental to his overall success in climbing the ranks of a shinobi.

At times, he thought that his clan was short sighted when it came to training in the natural elements. Though, was it truly his place to continue to question the working of his clan? His clan were mostly well known for mining and their swordsmanship. Not many of them rose to find honor or glory. That was what he believed he wanted. He wanted honor and glory, but it seemed like his actions seemed to say otherwise. His training started to become short sighted of his goals. Yet, here he was trying to fix that. Tomohiro had started to see some progress over the last few days. There was definitely a lot more energy to him than there previously was. There was hope that he wouldn’t let himself down this time. Spending time with family was fine, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made to find your goals.

Tomohiro reached a mostly flat area that had been covered in small spots of vegetation and some light mud. There were large protrusions of rocks that were scantally spread across the training ground.  Lightning cracked the sky and brought some additional light to his somewhat private training area. He looked around and noticed a group of individuals that seemed to be having a good time. The figures looked to be drenched in rain and didn’t seem to notice him. For all he knew, they could be anyone. Normally, he didn’t like to cause trouble. He would distance himself from the strangers and keep his distance. There was no need to cause any disturbances to them or disrupt him trying to find peace within the thunder.

The young Nakir drew his Kenmei. The beautiful blade shown its beauty as it reflected the lightning. Tomohiro would hold the weapon with both hands and perform slow stances. He took on various basic stances that he learned growing up. The thunder continued to shake his very soul. Though loud and rambunctious, he was able to maintain his focus. Each flick of his wrist, each graceful slash, and each shifting of his feet, were made with precise fluid motions. He moved like blade of grass in the wind. Tomohiro’s strokes made him look like he was fluid dance. His consistency in his movements would make any beginner swordsman stare in awe.
Tomohiro swung his blade down one last time as he started to hear voices behind him. The shinobi then flourished his weapon and sheathed the blade. He turned around as he assumed that these guys were the figures that had spotted when he first arrived. Tomohiro looked at them without speaking. There was some curiosity that about who they were. He knew that bandits would occasionally find their way here, but he wasn’t sure if they were friend or foe. This was something that was to be expected. These guys probably were looking for some genin to pick or were just intrigued by his talent with the blade.

“So, are you going to stand there or are you going to say something?” Tomohiro inquired while not letting his hand off of his blade.

“Well, the four of us were just taking interest in that katana of yours,” one of them responded.

Tomohiro didn’t appreciated the tonality of how the first individual stated their response. The response had a hint of sarcasm that made him think that “interest” meant to lift from his being. The lone shinobi gripped tighter on the hilt of his blade. His teeth started to grind against each other as he wasn’t about to have anyone attempt to take his weapon from him.

“Was that supposed to be a threat? You would know better than to threaten a shinobi of Kumo,” Tomohiro stated after a brief period of silence.

“Maybe, there haven’t been too many visitors up in these parts. Though, we do prefer to take our time with those we find interest in,” the figured said slightly.

“I do have time for your antics. It’s time for you to leave,” Tomohiro responded in a threatening voice.

“We’ll just take your weapon and begone then. We thieves have to make a living too, shinobi. There’s no way one shinobi can best the four us alone. Your little fancy swordplay won’t help you here,” another voice stated.

“All of you will salt the earth,” Tomohiro retorted in a low tone.

Tomohiro loosened the grip on his blade and spread his legs in a basic fighting stances and motioned for them to start their assault. One of the figures nodded his head and two of the figures started toward him. The first was a man of medium build that started to throw a series of punches toward Tomohiro’s face. Tomohiro handled the man’s fists pretty simply with swift deflections to his opponent’s inner forearm. Tomohiro then leaped backwards as the other a woman with a small build came at him with what seemed to be a old rusty axe. The lightning that struck across the sky helped him get a better view of his opponents. This was probably the most ideal training for him if his opponent’s weren’t so bad.

Taking on the two thieves had been exciting in a way. The woman with the axe proved to be a bit of a joke that he wish was better introduced. Though, he wasn’t interested in getting cut by that thing. Who knew where that thing had been. For thieves, they seemed to be decently fast, but not fast enough. The fight was at least not a total bore fest. He would have definitely struggled with them if it had been fresh out of the academy. The only thing that made them a bit of a problem had been that they fought without a rhythm. It was sporadic and almost unorganized. Their fighting was quite typical of basic bandits. The amount of openings they presented were atrocious.

Tomohiro started to find this fight was getting a bit too prolonged. There was no longer for the two of these thieves to continue to be of use to him. He grabbed the woman with the axe by the wrist and twisted downward. The axe fell to the ground as he sent an upward thrust to her nose. Blood oozed from her nose as she started to lose her footing. The other man threw a point blank punch toward his chest. Tomohiro used his free hand and knocked the man’s fist upward which left a large opening. A swift kick plunged into the man’s gut knocking him back a few feet. Tomohiro then chopped the woman in the neck knocking her out cold from hitting her pressure point.

There was a brief pause as his first two attackers were laid out unconscious. Tomohiro didn’t even crack a smile. He just stretched his arms a bit and just watched to see what the other two would do. They seemed to hesitate, but continued their assault anyway. Another heavy set individual holding a large mace stepped forward. Tomohiro just raised an eyebrow at the single man. The young chuunin wondered if this guy thought his bulk alone was going to be enough to take him on. Tomohiro slightly sighed as he started to draw his blade, but then set it back into its sheath. He instead quickly formed hand seals and released a breath. The air in front of him started to have quite an obnoxious smell.

While jumping back, he then formed hand seals with one hand while drawing his blade with the other. The heavy set guy started to run at him as the rain started to let up. Tomohiro exhaled deeply as a large gray fireball had formed from his lips. The heavy set man paused in place as the large fireball started to travel toward him. Then the gas that Tomohiro and the great fireball jutsu collided. A large expansion of flames covered the man the two lying unconscious on the ground. Minor third degree burns covered the large man and his other two accomplices. Tomohiro smiled as the flames continued to consume his target.

The young shinobi then began running around the mass of flames that now lit the closing darkness. The Nakir was finally to see the body of his last assailant. It was an older man with long hair that was watching with a combination of shock and fury. While he was distracted by the explosion, Tomohiro jumped into the air and landed a spinning kick that landed on the man’s shoulder. The man tumbled to the ground as Tomohiro landed on his feet. Tomohiro then flourished his blade as the last man was tried to gather his senses.

“Filth. You cowards should have jumped me altogether. That would have made things more interesting, but you got cocky. I hope that your deaths were worth it,” he taunted.

“Just let me take them and go,” the man said while he sat on his knees.

“I rather not. You are a threat to Kumogakure. If I let you go, there’s no promise that you would attack some genin the way that you attacked me. Fade into the void,” he responded.

Tomohiro then rushed the man while swinging his blade. The cold steel found brief refuge in the man’s neck splitting one of his carotid arteries. The now neutralized man held his neck as he started to bleed out. Tomohiro then looked to the other three targets. He knew that they would die slow deaths if they were left out here. Someone may even find then a heal them not knowing what they truly were. He wasn’t going to take that chance. If these guys were willing to take on someone out of their leagues, who knows what would happen to some poor child or academy enrollee. These thieves deserved to die and he would make sure of it.

Each body visited had their throats slit with his sword. He shook his head that they really interrupted his training over nothing. It really grinded his gears that they didn’t put up a better fight. Tomohiro sheathed his blade and sat down on top of on of the protruding rocks. He crossed his legs and looked at his work. There was a scenario that was playing through his head of things he could have done differently. It was a mental training exercise that he started to do after his fights. The thunder helped him hone in his thoughts better. He started to wish that he just fought all of them at once bare handed. Though it was over, Tomohiro started to meditate within the mist of the rain that lightly touched his soiled hands. He started to find a sense of calm within himself. This was just another day that turned interesting. Though, not interesting enough to truly make him appreciative of these guys giving their lives. It almost seemed like a waste.

WC: 2098

Chakra (275/300):

Another thunderclap shook his very bones, but was yet to even cause him to flench. The rain started to pick up again as he sat undisturbed. The dark had finally set in as he stayed in place. The kiss of lightning across the night sky was mesmerizing. The storm had a firmness of power and delight as it started to swell to something greater. Tomohiro was engulfed in the rain and his meditation as he slowly opened his eyes. The rain was pelting his clothing with a loud thud. The air around him was heavy as fog started to envelop the terrain. Tomohiro closed an eye and looked up the sky before standing up after a couple of hours.

Tomohiro performed a stretch to get the blood flowing through his body. He locked down at the litter of corpses. There was not much need to clean them up. Though, he figured that he would need to file a report with the Raikage’s office. An investigation would be a waste of resources for the village when all he had to was fill out a statement. This place was pretty far out of the way of the village. There wasn’t much he had to do. If he stayed too long, he would have a hard time getting back, but he decided he could at least burn the bodies if he wasn’t going to bury them.

The young shinobi began stacking the bodies on top of the large bandit. It just made things easier that way. He also threw their weapons into the pile as well. There may have been last rites that needed to be performed, but he cared nothing for their souls. The preparations were almost ready outside of them being mostly wet. Seem like mother nature didn’t care for one’s efforts. At least he wasn’t going to their bodies rot and eaten by crows. He definitely thought about it and changed his mind. The scavengers didn’t even need to be disrespected. With high up in elevation they were, he suspected that birds wouldn’t even travel this far up. There had yet to be a sighting by him over the years. It may be something he could find in a library book.

After Tomohiro had finished, he tilted his head and scratched his chin. He didn’t want to waste his chakra on them, but it wasn’t like it would be a lot of chakra anway. The Nakir sighed a bit as he stopped scratching his chin. He inhaled and released slightly before doing it again. The last time he inhaled while converting his inners of his mouth with chakra. The chakra then bellowed out into a large flame projectile. The projectile then consumed the pile of bodies and started a large fire. The pile lit up the night like a small village. The rain sizzled within the flames as it continued to melt away flesh. He was actually quite proud of himself. These guys may have lived if they had decided to mind their own business. Now, they were a pile of ashes going up into the heavens.

Tomohiro figured that he would need to wrap this up. It was time for him to leave. His training for the most part was complete for the day. All that was left for him to do was run back to the village. Good cardio helped the heart. Tomohiro sort of longed for his old friend Zeref. It had what seemed to be ages. He knew that Zeref was one of the few people he actually admired. Tomohiro sort of cast his thoughts aside as began sprinting from the thunder grounds. Hopefully, his next training would be unaffected small hindrances like these. Bandits really ticked him off. He still harbored a bit of disgust that they were too weak to be much of a challenge. Regardless if they had families, they had only brought this upon themselves. Like they said since the beginning of the founding of shinobi, curiosity killed the cat. Tomohiro figured that he should probably train some with his family within the next couple of days. His clansmen would at least made the fight a task that worth getting injured. There was going to be a week or so until his brother returned home from a mission. He may just have to find one of his cousins to train with. There were a few shinobi in the clan that would totally decimate him, but he knew that they wouldn't try too hard to kill him. He wouldn't care if he won as long as he got something out of it that would make him more powerful. Kumo wasn't built in a day.


[Thread Exit/End]
WC: 794/2892

Chakra 260/300:

Jutsu Training:
[-25% WC: 1125/1125] Fire Style: Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame (火遁・豪龍火の術 ~ Katon: Goryūka no Jutsu)
[-25% WC: 1125/1125] Fire Style: Burning Ash (火遁・灰積焼 ~ Katon: Haisekishō)

Stat Training:
Perception: C-1 -> C-2 [600/600]

40 words unused