4 Am
Kashiki had started his daily training earlier then normal on this crisp peaceful morning. The chunin exams were coming up fast and Kashiki knew that if he didn't hone his body to its peak before then he didn't stand a chance. He had always made up for his lack of ninjutsu skill with his physical abilities, and he wasn't going to change that now. He had started today's daily training off by doing a brisk run through town and into the southern forest, to the grove he normally trained at. Of course the warm up run wasn't as simple as just a normal run, he had worn ankle weights, took the longest route through town, and performed various other exercises during the run. After the run he spent some time stretching his arms, legs, and back to make sure he didn't injure himself during what he had hoped to be an all day training session by himself.

After the run and stretching he began to work on his strength and muscle endurance. He did high reps of all sort of pushups and crunches, then hung from one of the branches of a nearby tree. He hung there doing pull ups for a while before starting over with pushups and crunches then following those up with some more pull ups. After that he took a quick breather and drank some water.

After his first set of strength training came another run, this time on and through the trees of the small south forest. Kashiki ran through the canopy of the forest, working on his agility and balance but also his speed. As he ran he scoped around, looking for anything interesting or out of place. He past many birds' nests and started them into flight, on more then one occasion he angered the insects that call this forest home and was rewarded with stinging bites. He even past two other people, probably in their late teens, who were lying under a tree together holding hands and looking at the clouds. The lovebirds made Kashiki think of his parents and how they had fallen in love at a young age even thought his mom's parents didn't approve. "I wonder if they laid under a tree together holding hands" Kashiki mused to himself in his head. He returned to his grove and took another small breather and another gulp from the canteen he brought with to training.

After this breather he went back to strength training, this time holding a log over his head and doing squats. After doing squats he went back to the tree branch and used it to hang from by locking it in between his feet. He pulled himself to the top of the tree branch using his legs then began to hang again, repeating this multiple time until his legs were sore and aching. He sat down on a stump and began rubbing his sore muscles and took another sip from the canteen, hoping to distract himself from the aching in his legs. This was gonna be a long day...
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WC: 512/8350 (Reaction speed, speed, endurance d-3. Weapon style)

...Kashiki stood from the stump he had been sitting on. He couldn't wallow in his pain and exhaustion just yet. He had never given up before and he wasn't going to start today. The chuunin exams were coming up and he needed every advantage he could get even if it meant grinding his bones to powder while they were still inside him, maybe not that far but you get the point. Kashiki lifted the huge log he was using as a dummy and placed it upright. Kashiki lowered into a fighting stance, one foot behind the other, legs bent. His father had called this stance kokutsu dachi, the back stance, when he had taught it to Kashiki. The stance was made to be balanced, not excelling in offense nor defense, but not bad at either. The stance was also great for using a sword and allowed lots of mobility. Kashiki was silent. Then, like lightning on the horizon, he struck. He punched the huge log with everything he had, first with his right hand then with his left hand. He did one thousand basic punches with each hand then moved on to assorted extra punches like hooks and open hand attacks. Punching the solid log hurt like hell, this part of his training was as much of a mental workout as it was a physical one. In addition to helping his punching strength and form it also helped strengthen his hands to resist pain and wear.

After working on his punches for a long while he moved to kicks, firstly basic straight kicks with the heel and sole. Some of them for injuring but just as many for creating distance between your opponent. Then he moved to side kicks, this time only with the heel. These kicks were focused on taking your enemy out using the heel of the foot. Kashiki targeted his kicks to 3 painted areas on the log, each one representing part of a person's body. The first was at the top and represented the head, kicks to the head could take an enemy out in a single blow if they landed. The second was in the middle of the log, and represented the ribs. Kicks to the ribs hurt like hell, and even if they didn't take you opponent out they made sure your opponent couldn't fight at their fullest potential due to the pain. The third and last area was the knee, painted near to the bottom of the dummy. Kicks to the side of the knee could cripple your opponent making it incredibly hard for them to move. after working on side kicks for a while he moved on to spinning and ground based kicks. both of these kicks were powerful, but spinning kicks were easy to see coming. He worked on those kicks for a while before taking another chug from his water canteen, draining the rest of it's contents. Guess he's have to head to the little spring nearby for a refill, right after he caught his breath...
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1018/8350

Kashiki ran through the forest, leaping over logs and dodging branches and brush. After a short run he reached a nearby freshwater spring. A small rock wall had been erected by Kashiki and his dad to keep the water in forming a small watering hole. Kashiki held his canteen over the spring and filled it, then he took off his shirt and hopped into the watering hole. He swam around for a while, letting his muscles recover and relax. He swam for a little but got out pretty quickly because the water was too cold. Kashiki climbed up on a nearby rock and laid there letting the sun dry him out. He lay there basking in the heat and dozed off.

Kashiki's dreams took him back to his childhood. Kashiki's father, Rikuto, stood before Kashiki with a warm smile on his face.  Kashiki had just finished his warm up and ran over to his father. "Papa, are you here to teach me how to be a ninja!? I wanna be just like you Papa!" Rikuto rustled Kashiki's chocolate colored hair and nodded. "I thought you could use some special training. Get into your fighting stance." He said to the young Kashiki. Kashiki bent is knees and slid one of his feet back, while simultaneously raising his hands to protect his face. "Now hit me" Rikuto said to Kashiki. "But.. I don't wanna hit you Papa, you're my Papa." "Don't worry, your won't hurt me, I can take it, this is to make you better." "Ok Papa" Kashiki threw a weak punch to test what his dad planned to do. Rikuto back handed the punch way with no effort. "Oh. If that's all the harder you can punch maybe we should do this when you get a little stronger." "N-no I can do better." Kashiki lept to the side of Rikuto making sure to keep his stance right and his hands up. Just as he landed he threw another punch, this time with everything he had, but Rikuto ducked to the side dodging it. "Better, you get the idea." Kashiki dipped to the side and threw another punch followed up by a side kick. Rikuto knocked the punch away and ducked under the kick. Kashiki spun around throwing another kick with his other leg. Rikuto raised his arm and blocked the kick before flipping away from Kashiki. "That was pretty good, you're getting better Kashiki." Rikuto said. "That's all the time i can spare right now but i promise we'll train together again as soon as i'm not so busy. ok champ?" "Thanks Papa, good luck on your mission."

Kashiki woke from the dream and finding his clothes dry, returned to the grove to train. It had to have been about two hours and that meant he should head home to eat before he started training again. The run back the grove was pretty boring, but Kashiki's refreshed and relaxed muscles meant that the up coming training would at least be a little less painful.
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WC: 1522/8350

Kashiki ran through the woods; the noises of the forest the bird chirps, the crickets, the swaying of the leaves calmed him. He arrived in town jut before midday, and walked through the door to his home. His dad was here, he could hear him talking with his mom. Rikuto, Kashiki's father, was rarely home and his fathers presence was a thing for celebration. "Dad!" Kashiki yelled as he ran to his father, his father standing to hug Kashiki. "Long time no see Kashiki, How's your training going? I heard you're gonna be in the chunin exams this year." "That's right I'm gonna make you proud dad!" "You always do" Rikuto said with a warm smile. "How bout we go have some ramen, its not every day I get to talk with you Kashiki." "Sounds great, you wanna go now I'm starving" "Of course you are, lets go." Kashiki and Rikuto walked to the ramen shop, talking about Rikuto's missions and Kashiki's training all the while. When they arrived at the ramen shop Rikuto ordered whatever the two wanted and the two began to chat, this time mostly focused on Kashiki. "So... any new techniques you've learned since last time? I heard you've gotten pretty good at Chakra Flow." "Yeah I'm working on a new technique right now actually. It suppose to stop people from recovering in combat as quickly." "That's... interesting. How has you're swordsmanship skills coming along?" "Crap, I forgot about working on my sword i was so busy working on my taijutsu. I better start now, thanks for the food pops but i need to get back to training, see yah later." "Have fun and kick some ass."

Kashiki ran back to his house and up to his room, he grabbed a few wooden training swords which he got when he was younger. He ran off for the grove in the small south forest, bag and swords in tow. Once there he sat up his dummy again, stacking a huge log on an even bigger stump. After getting his poor punching bag ready for another beating, he grabbed a wooden training sword and lowered into his fighting stance, the kokutsu dachi or back stance, which he was taught so long ago by his father. He held the sword against his side as if it were in a sheath, then with swiftness and precision he drew the blade and in one fluid motion struck the dummy with a vertical slash. He slowly circled the dummy making many slashes with the blunted blade. Vertical up, horizontal, vertical down, horizontal, vertical up, horizontal, vertical down. After circling the dummy a few more times at the slow pace he sped up his steps and attacks, circling the wooden dummy like a whirling dervish, striking in the same way again. Vertical up, horizontal, vertical down, horizontal, vertical up, horizontal, vertical down. After doing that for a little he stopped circling and moved on to thrusts and spinning attacks. The sword training was calming, a melody of Thwaks and Thumps. After striking the dummy with the blunt wooden sword for an hour or so, he dropped the sword and took another sip from his trusty canteen.

WC: 2055/8350

Sweat dripped from Kashiki's brow as he struck away at the dummy, the forest was silent aside from the thumps of wood on wood and the occasional bird chirp. It was late, the sun had started its descent behind the mountains and the air began to grow cool. The sunlight painted long shadows of the trees. Kashiki had already broken one of the swords he'd brought with, it snapped after a particularly strong strike to the wooden dummy. After another slip from the canteen Kashiki placed the other blade down with his bag and rolled the dummy to its normal resting place. After returning the dummy to the tree it rested on Kashiki did a brief cool down where he stretched and massaged his muscles to ensure they didn't get injured. Kashiki shuddered at the thought of an injury now, this close to the chunin exams. Even something minor like a pulled or sprained muscle could ruin his training for the coming exams or even take away his chances of participating in the exams them self.

Kashiki grabbed his bag and wooden training sword. He finished stretching and took another sip from his canteen. "I should head back" he said to himself as he made his way back to Leaf Village. "I hope dad's still at home, I wanna ask him if we can spar tomorrow morning before I head out to the forest to train again tomorrow." Kashiki ran through the forest before getting to the Hidden Leaf Village. He ran to his house and went inside. "Mom, is dad here still?" "He's in the other room honey" "Thanks" Kashiki went to the living room and sat down by his dad. "Hey pops, you wanna spar tomorrow before you head to work?" "I think I can make that kiddo, be up early though I'm not waiting for you if you sleep in." "Ha, I'll be up before you old man." "Good night champ." "Night dad, night mom" Kashiki said as he went to his room upstairs. He sat his bag against the door and put his wooden training sword back in the closet. Kashiki fell into sleep quickly, probably due to the exertion of today's training. Kashiki's sleep was filled with dreams, the first of which was a memory of when he was given the family sword, a blade pasted down through Kashiki's mother's family. It was a cold winter day, Kashiki's birthday, his 10th birthday to be precise. Kashiki slept in, the academy calling off lessons for the day due to the weather. Kashiki lumbered down the stairs, not fully awake but enough to know where he was going. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. He turned the sink on and filled the cup before taking a sip from the cup. "SUPRISE!" Kashiki dropped the cup and lept away from the unexpected shout. "AHHaahH!" Kashiki's mom and dad were standing in the doorway to the kitchen holding a long wrapped package. "Happy Birthday!" "For me? thanks mom, thanks dad." Kashiki said as he grabbed the package and began opening it. Inside the box was a beautiful ornate odashi, a great katana. The blade was made of a dusky metal which glittered in the sunlight that streamed through the windows of the kitchen. "Thank you so much!" Kashiki cried in sheer happiness as he sat the sword on the counter and gave his parents a big hug.

WC: 2629/8350

Kashiki woke, the sun not yet over the horizon. He put on a sweatshirt and rolled the sleeves half way up his forearms. He slid his shoes on an tied them. Then he grabbed his belt and bag and headed downstairs. Kashiki ran to the kitchen and grabbed an apple to eat before heading outside to get stretched out. "Took you long enough" Rikuto said, he was sitting on the roof of the house overlooking the small backyard of Kashiki's house. Kashiki didn't say anything, he just continued with his stretching and finished the apple, chucking the core to the edge of the yard. "Lets get this started." Rikuto said as he reached into a pouch strapped to his leg and threw a kunai at the ground in front of Kashiki, signaling the start of the sparring match. Kashiki grabbed a kunai from his pouch and lept backwards and Rikuto jumped down from the roof and into the yard. Kashiki threw the kunai at Rikuto who slapped it out of the air with his own kunai. The point of Kashiki's attack wasn't to hit with the kunai, that was more of a distraction. Kashiki ran in a dead sprint towards Rikuto and right before reaching him, Kashiki fell to the ground and spun his foot up to strike Rikuto square in the face. When Rikuto say Kashiki running at him he readied a punch and was about t hit him when Kashiki ducked under the attack and landed a kick right in his head, well his clone's head. The water clone splashed into a puddle and from behind Kashiki Rikuto threw 3 shurikens aiming right for him. Kashiki pushed himself off the ground and over the shurikens before throwing his own volley of shurikens. Kashiki followed up his volley by sprinting towards his father and thrusting his fist out in a straight punch. Rikuto ducked under the shurikens and blocked Kashiki's punch and attacked with his own flurry of blows which Kashiki attempted to block. The punches battered Kashiki's arms but didn't it any vital part of his body. Kashiki threw his hands Rikuto while simultaneously pivoting to throw a kick. Rikuto threw his hands up to block the punches but took the kick straight to the gut. "Not bad Kashiki, you've gotten much better since we sparred last time." "Thanks dad, you almost got me with that clone and the shurikens." The two went back inside and grabbed a drink before Rikuto had to leave for his newest mission, Kashiki and his mom waved goodbye to Rikuto as he left, then Kashiki left for the woods for his daily training. He ran threw town, waving to the regulars, mostly elderly folks and young children. He played a game with a group of kids for a little while he made his way to the grove in the small south forest. He ducked under the branches and dodged the brush and spiderwebs that littered the forest. Once he reached the open grove he propped the dummy up on its stump and cracked his knuckles.

WC: 3142/8350

After getting to the grove and getting the wooden log dummy ready for a beating Kashiki spent some time stretching his arms, legs, and back to make sure he didn't injure himself during what he planned to be another full day training session. Just like the day before, Kashiki moved onto strength and endurance exercises after stretching. Today he spent a much longer on this part of his training than the day before. He did basic pushups then moved on to tight hands pushups, wide hands pushups, one handed pushups, side pushups, and lastly pushups on his knuckles. After the pushups Kashiki moved on to crunches. After doing basic crunches he moved onto reverse crunches and finally roll out crunches. His core burned already. Kashiki took a sip from his canteen as he climbed a tree. He hung from the branch of the large tree and did pull ups

fifteen minutes later.
998... 999... 1000... Kashiki fell out of the tree, landing on the lush ground of the forest. Luckily he caught his fall and wasn't injured. Kashiki shuddered. "That was way to dangerous and stupid, even for me." He thought to himself. "I could have really messed myself up if hadn't landed right when I fell, an injury now would ruin his chances at the chunin exams. Kashiki stood to his feet and took another sip from his trusty canteen before moving on to Leg strength and endurance training. Kashiki held the log dummy up over his head while doing squats and lunges in all directions and styles. He did squats and lunges until his legs ached and felt dead. His legs strained from the countless lunges and squats of every possible variety and style think able. For squats Kashiki did not only normal squats but also one legged squats, squats on his tip toes, and even one legged squats on his tip toes. When he moved onto lunges he did front lunges, side lunges, back lunges, then he did all of those again but this time standing on only his tip toes. After doing lunges and squats Kashiki climbed the tree once more, but this time he straddled the branch with his feet and used his legs to bend his knees as far as he could before lowering himself slowly. He did 100 of these before moving on to flipping himself from the bottom of the branch to the top. He did 100 of the branch flip exercises before dropping to the ground. He grabbed his canteen and took a sip before stretching his legs out a bit. He felt like shit and his daily training for today had just started, but he needed to keep on going if he planned on having any sort of chance at the exams. After catching his breath Kashiki moved onto agility training to improve his speed, balance, and mobility.

Kashiki's agility training consisted of stacking logs of varying height around the grove. After stacking the many, many logs upright around the grove, Kashiki lept onto one of the upturned logs. He leapt from log to log in random directions, working on his speed and leg strength but also balance. He dodged and jumped from upturned log to upturned log until he couldn't anymore. After taking another sip from his canteen he sat down on the stump to let his muscles recover a little bit from the vigorous exercising and the beating they had taken over the past couple weeks. He took another deep sip from his canteen and took a deep breath, massaging his leg and arm muscles a little as he sat on the stump.

WC: 3747/8350

After many more hours of training Kashiki returned home, worn out and so tired he was thinking about sleeping in the woods. Kashiki clambered up the stairs of his house and flopped onto the bed, quickly falling in to sleep. Kashiki's sleep as devoid of dreams, probably because of how tired he was. When he awoke he changed, putting on a tshirt and a forest green sweatshirt. He slid on a pair of pants and tied his shoes, then he grabbed his bag then after a short minute of thinking, put his belt on and attached Gyakusatsu's scabbard to his belt. Gyakusatsu is a family heirloom that has been pasted down through his mothers family for generations, it first belonged to Kashiki's great great great grandfather who was a powerful ninja from Sunagakure. After getting ready he headed downstairs and to the kitchen. In the kitchen Kashiki grabbed a some food then left, setting out for today's training.

Today Kashiki decided that he wanted to do something new, the repetition of his previous training sessions had bored him and made it so much harder for him to progress because he didn't enjoy the methods he was using to get better and improve his strength and speed among other things. For today's training Kashiki decided he'd do something pretty special and a lot different then what he would normal do for his typical daily training. Instead of heading to the forest he'd normally go to to train he instead went towards the hokage monument. He Went to the side of the cliff face, beside the heads, and began to climb the sheer stone wall. The climb was long and strenuous, but completely safe due to the supernatural walking technique. He used a watered down version to make sure he didn't fall but the watered down supernatural walking technique was not strong enough to make the climb easier. He climbed for what felt like hours.. actually it probably was a while at least a couple hours, the cliff the the Hokage monument was carved into was quite tall and treacherous. Finally, Kashiki reached his first resting point, a tiny little ledge that jutted out from the side of the near flat cliff face. After pulling himself onto the ledge he sat, resting his muscles and allowing his chakra reserves to recover the small bit of energy they lost. Kashiki took a sip from his canteen and wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked out over the huge village that was the village hidden in the leaves. He'd never seen the village he'd called home for so long from this angle. It looked magnificent, you could see the entire village from here. The tall buildings and the short residential ones. There was the ramen shop his father had took him only a day ago. There was his house, it looked so small from this height, compared to the size of the leaf village his home seemed tiny, but it fit, it was part of the greater picture, just like every leaf ninja was a part of the greater picture that is the leaf village!

WC: 4270/8320

...Enough awing over the beauty of the village hidden in the leaf, even if it is the most magnificent sight Kashiki had ever saw. Kashiki stood on the tiny ledge, he checked all his gear and extra belongings he had brought with on his fun little adventure. HE checked that he still had his canteen, sword, bag, and the rest of his items like his belt and leg pouch. After taking a check of all his belongs to make sure they were still where he'd left them he began his ascent once more. He began to scaled the near cliff face but found it to be much harder from here up. It was almost completely flat, worn almost smooth from decades of wind and rain eroding it to a flat plane. The only hand holds were ones made by trickles of water, small indents in the near completely sheer cliff face, and the occasional rock jutting from the cliff. After scaling for the better part of the day Kashiki's arms and legs ached, its quite common to hear the phrase "No pain, No gain" among buff body builders and more physical shinobi, but Kashiki was living it right now, he was begining to have trouble moving his limbs in their full range of motion, and he nearly slipped more than a hand full of times just since leaving that ledge. After a grueling climb he finally crested the top of the cliff, his hand gripping onto the edge as much as it gripped the green grass and weeds that grew at the top of the cliff. He pulled himself to the top of the cliff, arms and legs aching like never before. He practically drug himself across the ground before standing up. He stumbled over to a large rock and stat on it while he took another sip from his canteen. After recovering from his hours long climb he stood up and stretched out a little before picking a direction and setting off. He wandered around for a bit more before deciding to set up camp. He had told his mom he'd be gone for a while because he was going to go camping with a friend whic was a huge lie, but it didn't matter much. She knew he'd stay safe. Kashiki rolled out a blanket on the ground to keep his body off the cold ground and went to sleep. In the morning Kashiki searched around for a stream or some bit of water and found one, a little spring. Kashiki filled his canteen and washed his face off before heading back to his camp and grabbing his bag and other belongings which he'd left there. He rolled up the brown blanket he'd used as a bed last night and put it in his bag before slinging it onto his back. Just as he was about to leave he heard the tell tale sound of shuriken whizzing threw the air and leapt, dodging 3 shuriken which were aimed for his back. "its not very honorable to attack someone when they aren't looking y'know." Kashiki said to his would be attackers as he turned, hand on his sword. standing before him were at least five bandits, armed with short swords and daggers and all sorts of throwing weapons. Their leader stood in the front of the group, a huge wooden club resting on his shoulder. "Looks like this punk wants a fight!" The leader said with a chuckle, which was met by a hearty laugh from his gang. Looks like they weren't going to back down easily like Kashiki hoped...

WC: 4871/8320

Kashiki drew his sword, the odachi Gyakusatsu, from its scabbard as the bandits leapt towards him. The bandits' leader threw a punch which Kashiki ducked under as he brought his sword up to strike the leader. The leader blocked the strike with a swift movement of his kunai, then he backed away from Kashiki as his gang began their assault on the young genin. The first bandit dove at Kashiki's leg but Kashiki lifted it and the bandit ate dirt. The next threw a punch at Kashiki's face which he batted away with his forearm. Kashiki performed a half dragon hand seal and vanished, an eerie gust of wind blowing through as he did carryign a scent of brimstone. Kashiki chuckled as he moved, moving behind the two bandits that had just attacked him. The scent of brimstone dissipated as Kashiki reappeared behind them. With a short chuckle he ran one of the two through, his body going limp as his blood painted the dusky metal of Gyakusatsu crimson. The second rolled over just in time to see his fellow criminal being impaled on the now red blade of Kashiki's odachi. "W-w-what, H-how'd you get there, you were right here a second ago.." Kashiki smiled at the bandit. "I'm a shinobi, and one day, I'll be one of the strongest shinobi the land of fire has ever had." "Not if we kill you here" the leader said as two more bandits ran at Kashiki. Kashiki threw a kunai into the bandit on the ground's back, making sure he wasn't getting up any time soon. Kashiki jumped in the air and spun around, unleashing a spinning kick into the face of one of the bandits before lashing his other foot out into the other one's chest. The two bandits stumbled backwards as Kashiki landed, sheathing his sword and stepping towards them. The bandits caught their balance and began their assault on the genin once more. Kashiki ducked under the first punch and blocked the other before sweeping the bandits legs out from under them. The bandits pushed off the ground with their hands and flipped backwards. They were nimbler than Kashiki had thought, landing on their feet after their flips. The bandits threw a volley of shuriken which Kashiki dodged, they were good, but not that good. Kashiki drew his blade as he dashed towards the two bandits, running one of them through before spinning and striking the other in the head with a hammer arm strike to the gut. The bandit doubled over ad dropped to his knees as he clenched his stomach. Kashiki stepped uo to the bandit and stabbed his sword down through the bandits back, he pulled his sword out and kicked the body back so it lay on its back. Kashiki felt the aura of fear that the rest of the bandits put off, he could hear the cowering, hear the panicked whispers. The only one that Kashiki didn't sense fear in was the leader, the brute of a man lifted his wooden club to his shoulder and dashed at the blood splattered genin standing among the bodies of his underlings.

WC: 5396/8350

The brute of a man that was the leader of this gang of ruffians and robbers charged at Kashiki, he lifted his club over his head and brought it down in a crushing strike with enough force to shatter bone and break skin. Kashiki dipped to the side dodging the attack before drawing his own sword. With a single downwards movement the blade bite in to the wood of the club's handle, a sickening screech emanated from the wood as Kashiki's blade cleaved straight through it. The brute had already taken a hand off the club when Kashiki slashed at it, the fist connecting with Kashiki's face. The crack of a nose breaking filled Kashiki's ears as his tumbled backwards, dropping his sword and falling to his back, gripping his nose. The bandit leader gave a hearty laugh and Kashiki fell backwards, and one of the gang members ran over and grabbed Kashiki's sword and took it back to the rest of the gang. Kashiki snapped his nose back into place, letting out a shout of pain before looking up at the brute. While Kashiki snapped his nose back into place the bandit leader had grabbed the hunk of wood which was once his clubs head. The huge log sized lump of wood was spiked at the top and it looked like a single blow from that bad boy would end the fight in an instant. Kashiki lay their, still in a daze from the hit to the head, while the bandit lifted the club head up and begun to bring it down towards Kashiki. Kashiki vanished once more, the scent of brimstone filled the air of the area once more. Kashiki reappeared moments latter with a kunai to the thoat of the bandit who held his sword. With seething hate Kashiki severed the bandits spine and removed his head. The bandit's now headless body fell to the ground lifelessly and Kashiki's sword Gyakusatsu clattered to the ground. Kashiki grabbed the sword and stabbed it through a nearby bandit before dashing towards the brute of a leader. Kashiki brought the blade up over his shoulder before slicing it across the leaders body, leaving a greavous wound across the bandit leader's chest. Gyakusatsu's blade gleamed as sunlight struck it, the edge of the odachi coated in thick red blood. The brutish bandit leader threw a punch, but Kashiki side stepped and brought his blade down, lopping off the brute's arm from the elbow down. With his primary arm gone from the elbow down and a critical wound to the torso sapping at his strenght, the leader of the gang stood no chance against the swordsman. "I-I yield." the brute said as he dropped to his knees due to his wounds. "Oh course you do, its not like you had a choice either way..." Kashiki said as he flourished his blade, the blade dripped blood as Kashiki stared the man down. "Sadly its a little late for that don't you think?" Kashiki said as he lifted the blade. With a swing of the bloody blade Kashiki ended the bandit captain's life. Kashiki turned to finish off the rest of the bandits but they had already fled when they saw their boss give up. "Fucking bandits." Kashiki said before picking up the stray projectile weapons and his bag. After grabbing his gear Kashiki set off in continuation of his journey.

WC: 5963/8350

Kashiki trudged along, the wear of the fight finally getting to him. He was winded and his muscles were in knots, His chakra reserves definitely felt the drain of the jutsu he had used in the fight against the brute and his gang of bandit lackeys. Kashiki looked down the road and saw a small wooden building, probably a tavern or inn of some sort. The sun was nearing the end of its arc through the sky, it drew nearer to the horizon every minute. Kashiki's stomache grumbled, his food had been infested with bugs while he slept and we probably inedible, he wasn't up to risking it this far from the hiddden leaf village, especially because it would ruin any more training he planned to complete for a short while. Kashiki walked up tho the building, a sign hanging over the door labled it as the Sleeping Tiger Tavern. Kashiki pulled the heavy wooden door open. Inside was a collection of gruff looking men, working class people of minor villages in the area, probably more than a few bandits. Kashiki stepped into the tavern, the warm air radiating from the hearth was a plesant change from the cold of outside. The tavern goers gawked at the blood covered genin, he ignored them as he moved to the corner of the room and sat down in a booth. A short while later a young lady came over to the booth he was sitting in. "What would you like. Today for dinner we have braised duck and beef stew. you look a little young for anything alchoholic but I can bring you a cup of water." "A bowl of stew would be nice." Kashiki said as he fished a few coins out of his belt pouch. He handed the money to the serving girl and she walked off, returning a few minutes with a bowl of stew and a cup of water. Kashiki drained the cup before moving on to the stew. He ate quickly, and the bowl was empty within a few minutes. Shortly after he finished the lady came back over and took the empty bowl and cup. A comotion thundeedr through the tavern as tables and chairs were pushed to the side making a big ring of chairs and tables. A big group of men congrigated at the ring and two of them hopped in. After a short pause they began to fight. It was the kind of brawl you'd see on the streets, each of the men were ruthless and used every dirt trick in the book to win the brawl. In the first fight alone there were atleast three shots to the testicals, atleast two attempted eye gouges and more than a handful of gut punches. In the end a burly hairy man had locked the other guy in a headlock, winning by submission when the other man tapped out. Kashiki stood and walked over to ring and found a spot where he could see the fights. As he approached the ring the men began getting roudy, cheering and whispering to eachother. The victor of the previous fight pointed at Kashiki, a kid like you doesn't belong here, what are you? some kind of assassin? walk into a tavern covered in blood thinking it makes you look tough? Show me what you got little boy!" the gruff man said as two men lifted Kashiki over the tables that made up the ring. Looks like he was gonna hvae to shut this guy up whether he wanted to or not..

WC: 6556/8350

"Actually, if you must know dumb ass, I am a shinobi. I'm sure you've heard of them before seeing as you live in the land of fire, home of some of the most powerful and most determined shinobi in the world."" Kashiki said with pride and he raised his fists. "Now I'm gonna show you what a shinobi from the village hidden in the leaf can do." Kashiki dashed forwards, unleashing a full strength straight punch right towards the gruff man's chest. The man raised his hands to block it and the punch battered his arms. Kashiki dipped to the side, ducking under the man's elbows and kicking him in the knee, crippling his leg. Kashiki continued his spin ending up behind the man. He threw another kick, this time to the back, which sent the man falling to the ground. Not one to give up easily the man stood up, throwing another punch at Kashiki before moving in for a grapple. Kashiki ducked under the punch but looked away for a split second, getting caught in the grapple, which was more like a bear hug than the grapples he'd been taught at the academy. The man's gruff arms wrapped around Kashiki and he squezzed, crushing the air out of Kashiki and making it next for impossible for him to move his upper body. Kashiki brought his knee up, strinking the gruff man right in the crotch. The mand dropped Kashiki as he keeled over for a second. Kashiki thought the man was done,, but to his suprise the man brought up his fist in an upper cut, the man had tricked him into thinking he was actually in pain. "Got a plate added to my pants to protect that stuff after my first fight. good idea though" the man said as Kashiki flew backwards from the force of the uppercut. "Alright i'm done with you." Kashiki said as he flipped to his feet. Kashiki ran at the man head on and fell to the ground right before reaching him. The man punched at Kashiki but he dodged the punch when he abruptly dropped to the floor. The man turned to look at the floor, a shit eating grin on his face, but he looked a little to late and Akshiki had spun on to his hands and brought his foot across the mans face. The kick connected, knocking one of the man's teeth out and sending him stumbling backwards. Kashiki used his lack of balance, continuing to spin and bringing his foot into the mans legs, sweeping his feet out from under him. Kashiki lept on the man as he dropped to the floor with a thud. Kashiki began punching the dazed man's face in with reckless abandon, until one of the men pulled him off the burly man. "looks like we got a new champ eh boys?" one of the men said. A cheer rose up from the group as men began patting Kashiki on the back and fist bumping him. If being a ninja fell threw Kashiki could always be a professional tavern brawler...

WC: 7072/8350

Kashiki hopped over the ring of chairs and tables. The men were patting him on he back and putting their fists out for fist bumps. Kashiki smiled as he gave the brawlers each a fist bump. The man who had pulled Kashiki off his opponent, the same one that announced Kashiki as the new champion of this ring, wrapped an arm around Kashiki's neck and shoulders. "good fight kiddo, here you earned this." the man said as he reached to a colorful poncho sitting on a nearby table. He handed the short cloak woven of colorful string and fabric to Kashiki, who took it and put it on. When he put the poncho on the group of men standing around the brawling ring let out a hearty cheer and some of them clapped Kashiki on the back once more. Kashiki waved to the men and said his fare wells to the group of brawlers as he headed out the door. Kashiki strolled down the road on his way back to Konoha, he had won two fights in one day and wasn't afraid to show how strong and tough he felt, and hey, if he was lucky it'd at least scare off the bandits. Kashiki kicked a stone down the road as he walked, watching it skip and clatter across the cobble stones of the road. Kashiki felt cozy in his new ponch was made a mental note to be sure to go back to that tavern to brawl with that group again, they were pretty cool for a group a grizzly old men. Kashiki decided to set up camp after only a few minutes of walking since leaving the cozy tavern. He walked off into one of the small wooded areas on the sides of the road and sat his bag down. He took off the colorful woven ponch and folded it before putting it in his pouch, he wanted to keep it nice. Then he pulled out his blanket and laid it on the cold dirty groundhe planned on sleeping on. Kashiki dreamed of the bandits that had attacked him earlier that day, he relived the killing of each member of that wretched band of ruffians and crooks. He impaled the first, his dream version laughing an insane evil laugh all the while. Next he through a kunai into the back of one of the bandits, blood pooling in the small of his back from the wound. Time skipped forwards and he stabbed his sword through the next bandit's back, kicking the body over after removing the sword from the newly dead corpse's back. He appeared behind the next, kunai to his throat. The blade bit into his neck's soft flesh, blood spilling from the gash as his lungs futily tried to get the oxygen his body so desperately needed. The blade cut the rest of the way, finishing his drastically shortened life. The blade of the kunai cleaved through a chink in the spinal cord, severing his body's nerve center, the thing that controlled everything in his body. Next he slashed through the leader's chest, Kashiki's blade, the odachi Gyakusatsu, whistled at is swung through the air, a chilling haunting laugh seemed to emenate from the blade making this attack seem even more ruthless. Time sped once more, and Kashiki had lifted the blade up and brought it down on the bandit leader's arm, lopping half of it clean off. Dream Kashiki chuckled an evil laugh as he lopped the leaders head off, severing the leader's nerve center just like he had to the brutish bandit leader's lacky. Kashiki awoke and packed his stuff, putting on his colorful poncho aswell, before heading off to return home. He forced the thoughts of the dream out of his head. 'had he really been that evil sounding' 'did he really have that red tint in his eyes, was his grin that evil' 'did he really seem to enjoy murdering his would be attackers?' He didn't have time to think about the past, the chunin exams were on the horizon and Kashiki couldn't allow any weakness, he could not give anyone an advantage they didn't need. None of them needed any more of an advantage against the swordsman...

WC: 7778/10800

the cliff side watched over the village hidden in the leaves, the hidden ninja village of the land of fire. Kashiki looked at the carved stone faces, taking in their details, thinking about the eternal legacy that the faces represented for each of the hokages they were made to look like. Kashiki imagined his face on the cliff, remembered for ages by the people of the leaf village. Kashiki smiled at the thought. Kashiki finally reached the ledge he had onced rested at days ago, but he didn't stop. He continued his descent, reaching the bottom within an hour, going down looked like it was alot easier than going up. Kashiki ran off to his home, and when he walked through the door he was met by a tackle hug from his mom. "WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!" she shouted in an angry but mostly concerned tone. "I thought you were dead, or worse, that you had defected. I got so scared, i thought those mist ninja had found you. Where'd you get this poncho... and why are you covered in blood." The worried words were a blur, Kashiki's mother talked so fast it was almost, but not quite, impossible to understnat what she was exactly saying. Kashiki sighed "I just went for a walk and ended up spending longer than I thought. The ponch I won at a road side carnaval that had set up on the road i was walking on. Kashiki lied, not wanting his mother to know he had been part of a tavern brawling group, especially not that he'd most likely hospitlized a grown man who'd spent the better part of his life working as some sort of laborer. "as for the blood all over me and my clothes... I got attacked by a bandit, he thought i'd be an easy penny or two, he didn't expect me to fight back. The blood is from him not me mom I promise I'm fine. I'm sorry for scaring you and lying about where i was going." "Oh I love you son, just don't ever, EVER scare me like that again ok?!" "Yes mom" Kashiki replied in a guilty tone. "Now you must be starving, lets get you something to eat, I made pork. Kashiki followed his motheri nto the kitchen and sat at the table while his mother put a slab of juicy tender pork on a plate and drizzled a spicy gravy over it. Kashiki dug in, rushing but not so to look like a pig. Kashiki and his mother talked while he ate. The food was delicious just like everything else his mother made. Like that time she'd made homemade spicy ramen, or when she made those amazing steak dumplings. Kashiki gave his mother another hug and said that he was beat and was headed to his room to go to sleep. "sweet dreams, don't let the bed bugs bite" his mother said as Kashiki trudged up the stairs. Kashiki went into the bathroom, he got cleaned up, taking a shower and making sure he was clean. Then he brushed his teach. Finally he spashed some cold water in his face, last night's dreams had left Kashiki thinking. He couldn't let himself get out of hand in a fight again, He didn't want that to happen to someone he didn't want to hurt, especially someone he cared about.

WC: 8367/10800

Kashiki stood in the darkness of night, The familiar trees of the battleground he had fought the bandits on surrounded him. Kashiki held his blade and standing before him was the first bandit he'd killed. Kashiki's arms moved by themself, The blade finding purchase in the stomach of the bandit. The odachi thrust through the weak flesh of the stomach, slicing through it like a butcher would slice cold cuts. The bandit cried out in pain and images flooded Kashiki's brain. A beatiful woman and two little girls, the man's family. The images shifted into a fire, the mans house had burnt down, someone had killed what was left of this mans family. Kashiki moved on his own, grabbing a kunai and throwing it into the back of the next bandit, like the day he had really done it, blood poured out of the wound and pooled in the small of his back. Just like when he killed the last bandit, images flooded kashiki's head. A baby on a door step to an orphanage, the only thing other than the baby was a small turqouis pendant that the baby clutched. The image's spun and now Kashiki was looking at a young boy sitting on the shoulders of the brute of a man that led this grou of bandits, this was the leader of this horrid collection's adoptive son. Kashiki moved one more, lopping the head off of a bandit with a kunai. Kashiki braced himself for the oncoming onslaught of images, but only one appeared. A picture, a man and a woman with a small boy inbetween them. The woman had been ripped off the picture and lay beside it. This was a married man, his wife divorced him and left him with their son and no way no way to support hi. The bandit turned to crime to help pay for the child's school and all sorts of things he needed like food and clothing. Kashiki once again moved with out even thinking, lopping off the arm of the bandit's gruff and brutish leader. A few images bored their way into Kashiki's mind, A childhood of training to be a swordsman, only to get rejected the role as a samurai for his village because of who his family was. Kashiki moved one last time, killing the bandit leader in a single swift blow. Images once again, for the last time in this dream, flooded Kashiki's mind. Kashiki's dream self fell to his knees and began sobbing as the images showed the leader's downward spiral into a life of crime even thought he started off a man of virtue and determination. The man began his training at age 4, with nothing but a wooden switch. After years, he finally got his own real blade, a katana forged in the very town he grew up in. Dream Kashiki sobbed harder as the next images flowed into his conciousness. The man was turned down for no reason other than that the daiymo didn't like his father. The bandit leader thought about seppuku, to bring back some of the honor he had lost when he was rejected. Instead he decided on revenge and killed the daiymo while his back was turned before heading into the forest. Kashiki woke with a start and started sobbing softly.

WC: 8919/10800

Kashiki wiped the tears from his face. He was filled with grief and regret at what he had done. He left for his daily training like he had for the past few weeks, setting out for the small grove in the small south forest that he used to train in. Kashki trudged through the forest, not quite up to his normal energetic run thought it. He eventually reached the little grove just as the sun was over the horizon, much later than when he was normally used to starting his training. Kashiki stretched out, his mind not really focused on today's training, he still pondered about the dream and the bandits. "They couldn't really have all fell so far... They were good men, how had they come to that, stealing from a child?!" Kashiki wondered as he continued stretching his arms, legs, and back. KAshiki dropped to a puc up position and bega to do some push ups, trying to take his mind off of the topic of those bandits and their pasts. Kashiki did one thousand basic push ups before moving on to the variety of specialized ones. He went down the list, mumbling to himself. "I have tight hands pushups, wide hands pushups, one handed pushups, side pushups, and lastly pushups on my knuckles. Then I have crunches, reverse crunches, and finally roll out crunches." Kashiki said almost in disgust at the beating he was about to endure. Kashiki's core burned evne thinking about the strenuous training he had come back to after his days of wandering across the land of fire. Kashiki finished up his puch ups before rolling on to his back and burning through the various crunches that came next. After finishing with the normal, reverse, and rollout crunches Kashiki sat up and took a drink from his canteen as he caught his breath. Kashiki placed his hand on his sword's blade, this was his biggest advantage; the damage a single slash from his odachi, Gyakusatsu, could do. Kashiki focused for a second and performed a few hand seals, channeling insane amounts of chakra onto his sword, the most chakra he'd ever used in his training before. After channeling the vast amounts of futon, katon, and ying chakra into the blade, Kashiki stepped forwards. A chilly wind blew through the trees of Kashiki's training grove, carrying with them the sickly scent of brimstone and smoke. Kashiki appeared behind the training dummy in an instant, his blade already unsheathed and his swing already begun. The blade bit into the wooden dummy, slicing halfway through it and making a myriad of small cuts around the area of the actual attack and sending tiny chips of wood flying every where like a crazed beaver. The dummy began to rot around the area of the attack, the life that the wood once had being sapped from it. Kashiki spun and sliced again, hitting the same gasgh once more and slcing clean through the dummy, sending half of it slding to the side. Kashiki sheathed his blade and terminated the jutsu he had used, feeling the drain of half of his chakra reserves vanishing in an instant. "Now that was an attack" Kashiki said proudly, checking out the damage on the wooden log he used as a dummy. The slice was clean, as if the dummy was made out of butter not wood. The only real damage on display was the chips that had been sent flying, and the rot that had spread a few inches up and down from the cut. "Thats what I can do to a wooden log... What would that do to a person?!" Kashiki wondered in amazment as he began to take another sip of his canteen.

WC: 9541/10800

After working on his swordsmanship a bit more, Kashiki moved on to training his skills in taijutsu. Kashiki placed his odachi back in it's scabbard and propped it up against a tree where he had sat the rest of his stuff. Kashiki lowered himself into the back stance, the fighting stance he had learnedd years ago when he used to train with his father. Kashiki lept at the dummy, bringing his foot down on top of it. Kashik followed up his overhead strike with a spinning side kick, followed by a flurry of punches which evolved into his typical punch training. The chained punches were rythmic, like the drum beat in a song. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Eventually Kashiki's knuckles grew tired and achey from the assault on the wooden dummy, and he moved on to kicks. KAshiki kicked the dummy, starting with a curcit of 3 straight kicks, high, midle, and low. Next he worked on spinning and side kicks in both directions, perfecting his form and also the speed and strength of his techniques. Kashiki lashed his foot out, splintering the wood of the dummy over and over again. The wood shattering and sending slinters and chips fly thtought the air and falling to the ground. After kicking the dummy until it was more splinters and dents than it was wood, Kashiki took a break. He sat on the stump, leaning his back against the wooden dummy as he chugged gulp after gulp from his canteen, savoring the cool water. Kashiki's mind filled with thoughts of the bandits and the dream he had had last night. The images of the bandit gang's previous life floodd his head, making him feel overcome with grief and regret at ending their short lives. They had had family, they had had friends. Tears welled in Kashiki's eyes as he stood, walking towards the nearby spring. Kashiki sat on a rock near the spring, legs crossed and eyes shut. He meditated, thinking about the dream, until he fell asleep. In his dream he as once again faced with the gang of bandits. Each stood, clearly living, but their fatal wounds still marred their bodies. The leader was headless and lacked half of his right arm, his torso marked by a huge scar across it created in the fight with Kashiki. One of his lackeys shared the same fate as the leader, his head resting near his feet. Kashiki moved to the next, this bandit had an obvious wound in his stomach, a hole going through it from where Kashiki had impaled him with his sword. Kashiki looked at the next, no obvious wound maked this one, it must have been the one Kashiki had thrown a kunai into the back of. Kashiki bowed his head to the bandits. "I can't believe I did this to you. No matter what you did to me it didn't deserve what happened to your family, to your dreams. What I did was increadibly foolish and selfish, I'm so sorry. I know my apology doesn't help you feel better, but I hope it brings you and me some form of closure." Kashiki said to the bandits, the heavy sorrow and guilt at his actions was clear in Kashiki's voice as he did. The bandits stepped forwards, One of which put out a hand for Kashiki to shake. Kashiki shook the specter's hand and the bandits smiled as they faded into nothingness.

WC: 10114/10800

Kashiki awoke from his meditation, a sense of peace and closure overcame him as he imagined the bandits fading away once more. Kashiki lept to his feet and headed back to the training grove. Once there he grabbed his stuff and left, finished with training for the day. Kashiki leapt throught the trees of the small south forest, jumping from branch to branch as he moved thought the canopy of the south forest. Kashiki ended up at his house after a long time, flinging open the door to his house. Inside stood Kashiki's mother, and his father Rikuto. Kashiki walked up to his dad and gave him a fist bump. "How'd your mission go?" Kashiki asked his father after giving him the fist bump. "Pretty well, we took down some missing nin that were causing trouble in the minor villages around the edges of our territory. How'd you training go while I was gone?" His father asked. "Pretty well, I think I've mastered my swordsmanship up till now, and my taijutsu is better than its ever been. I also think I'm in just as good physical shape as any other genin, maybe even some chunin." Kashiki answered, a bit of pride clear in his voice. "Well thats something to celebrate, me and your mother decided we'd go get some ramen tonight and that settles it." Rikuto said as he clapped Kashiki on the back. "Where'd you get this poncho? it looks nice on you" Rikuto asked curiously. "I won it at a game booth while you were gone." Kashiki sai, sticking to the lie he had used with his mother yesterday night.

Kashiki and his parents left for the ramen shop, the three of them chatting and laughing all the way there. Kashiki and his parents sat down in the small ramen shop, the busy streets of Konoha began to clear up as the evening went on and Kashiki Watched the passer bys as he waited for his ramen. Kashiki had ordered teriyaki pork ramen, his father had ordered chicken and veggie ramen, and his mother had ordered spicy ribbon steak ramen. The three of them ate as Kashiki told them about his training the past couple weeks. He told them about the couple he had seen sitting under the tree holding hands and watching the clouds roll by. He told them about the time he went swimming in the natural pool. Kashiki's parents ordered sweet dumplings for the three of them and they ate them while Rikuto told them about his missions this week. After they finished eating Kashiki and his parents left the ramen shop, the three headed home to play some games and go to sleep.

WC: 10563/10800

Kashiki played some games with his parents, before headed to bed. After climbing into bed Kashiki slipped into sleep. Kashiki dreamed like he did every night, but tonight's dreams were different than the past couple days. Instead of dreaming of the bandits from a few days ago, Kashiki dreamed of the chunin exams. He stepped into the arena of the first round of the exams, a circular arena with various vents that blew powerful gusts of air, allowing the genin to use them to lift themselves off the ground. Kashiki looked across the arena, his opponent was a young girl, maybe a year younger and a quarter foot shorter than him. The instructed waved his hand, signalling the begin of the fight. Kashiki dashed across the arena while his opponent leapt into one of the vents, launching herself into the air. Kashiki jumped at the girl, but cam up short. As Kashiki fell the girl released a barrage of kunai and senbon, most of which missing but a few stuck into him, making minor wounds. Kashiki fired back, throwing a barrage of 5 shuriken back. The wind from the vent knocked his shuriken off their path. "Damn it! come down here and fight me!" KAshiki shouted at the young girl. THe girl listened and dropped down at Kashiki in a powerful falling kick. Kashiki ducked under her and when she landed he was behind her and struck here with his sword. Kashiki awoke from his dream, feeling a sense of success and power. The exams were going to be fun....

WC: 10823/10800
End Thread

Speed, Endurance, Reaction, Strength: e-0 to d-3

Training: http://www.narutosaga.com/t28765-hattori-kashiki-stats

1523 towards Katon C->B