(Training Taijutsu C --> B)
Morning light sparked over the Horizon as Solstice rose up with it, pulling herself out of her familiar bed every morning seemed to be getting easier and easier as the days went on. Looking to her clock she realised it was still 5am. Enough time to get some training in before the day ahead of her would become too demanding, she knew today was going to be eventful, you never knew when things would go horribly wring in Kirigakure, where any number of missing nin could be hiding out, waiting to spring on the village causing hell enough for the anbu to dive in and collect some heads. But, she doubted today would be one of those days. Moving to her closet, she had begun to adorn herself in a new attire, grabbing her clothing her mind dwelling on just how much she had change as a ninja since she was little, though her reason for becoming a ninja still very much remained the same. Grabbing all of her equipment, she made her way for the forest for some early morning training.
The walk there was reasonably long, she saw all of the early morning ninja tooling up and getting ready for the day, she'd noticed just how much her physical body changed as well, as a Genin she was not able to spot the black shimmering darts of figures which shot across the rooftop amongst the mist. It was fascinating to know that her senses were now keen enough to keep up with something that was so ludicrously quick. The trees around her as she began to approach the outskirts of kirigakure she could see the stalwart ninja of kiri doing their duty of guarding the town. Moving past them Solstice came into the forest, walking down the long and narrow trail until she managed to find a suitable training spot, leaping up toward the nearest tree, she felt secure knowing that after this training, she was going to be stronger...
Standing upon a branch, light shone through the canopy of the trees surrounding the hidden mist village, though the fires had gone out, there was little more which could be done for the lost, other than rebuild their homes. Perhaps it was the lives lost to the amaterasu flame which had allowed other Kiri ninja to escalate in rank so quickly, so many shoes needed to be filled, and so many duties needed to be carried out. But here Solstice stood, now wearing a long black hooded coat, adorned with her black and white mask, she stood amongst the trees as a stalwart spectre of magnificence. Her eyes through her mask were fixed on only one task, which was the increasing of her own speed. Taijutsu were skills which speed was a great part of. Reaction times were also important for the user to be ready for, putting her mind into combat mode she took in a deep breath, before steeling herself for what was yet to come. The trees before her were her training field, surrounding the area of the old well, she had recieved word by now that the Kage wanted her in his squad, such was an honour and they had training later on in the afternoon. Somewhat proud of her achievement she thought it was about time for her to begin with her warm up ritual. So, she pounced.
Vaulting from her stand-still stance, she exploded into motion leaping for the first tree. Her posture clean as she let the wind force carry her upper body back only a little, but it was a little too much. She undershot it, whipping out an arm she grabbed the branch with a single hand, swinging up into a back flip to land upon the wooden platform with poise and finesse. Her steel gloved hands protecting her fingers and palm from the grazing of the bark, gripping deeply before finally rolling around the branch as an axis and planting her feet on top of it... close to having fallen to her doom... Something she did not want to happen again. But now, she looked onward, to the next tree, not about to make the same mistake, she leapt once more but threw her weight forward in follow through, almost bulleting through the air her foot met the branch with success her hand reaching out to the trunk of the tree and stopping her momentum.
Laughing at her success, she looked to the labyrinth of trees and branches beyond her. Ones of which to land on, and others which needed to be avoided, and even others which would not hold her weight. nor the force of her leaping off. But it seemed the trick was to commit to the jump, and allow your body handle the rest. Timing was everything. And so, stepping to the edge of the tree, Solstice looked down to a long branch below her, opening her arms to become a cross, she let gravity do the work for her, letting it push her forward as the axis of her body changed and she began to fall. The timer was gravity, the starting line was impact. Solstice's body rotated gracefully and perfectly as the wind cascaded around her form, but such was a temporary state.
Her feet touched the branch, and he body folded to brace the impact of her landing, her fingers reached down to meet the ground as her landing in a heartbeat drew parallel to the stance of an Olympic sprinter. And like a gunshot her legs thrusting forward propelling her hard enough to drive her through gravel, the wind pressure bend around her as her momentum shifted into forward, leaving behind her downward slick-stream as she began to sprint down the branch. The wooden beam didn't even last seconds as Solstice already leapt from the edge of it toward her first destination, landing and being forced to duck another incoming branch her next leap was lower than the first, kicking off the branch and diving head first for her next stepping stone.
Her hood fell back and her crystal blue hair expanded out behind her like blue flame. Overshooting her next step, she coiled her knees and kicked out at the branch beneath her coiling up and spinning her hand caught one of the branches and her feet moved to meet it, bounding off it she saw a path open up in front of her, low hanging branches in a row she bounded and met each one of them one after another. some of the branches snapped as she leaped off them, but the surface tension was enough, Solstice was moving faster than the surface tension ripple effect, moving faster then the physical reaction of her steps... The feeling was fantastic, powerful.
Jumping down to the forest floor she quickly found her footing once again as her speed took her to a nearby lake. Her legs were tiring, this was the final stretch. Her legs moved faster and faster, approaching the precipice of the lake, she had to picture the water as a solid, her mental barrier approached.
this is water, this is crazy, all that's going to happen is a big splash.
Her speed for a second faltered, but she shook it off, regaining her lost velocity she hit the water with sheer speed alone. The chakra in her body and the potential itself augmenting her speed rather than herself entirely or actively. She charged the water, and as her first foot hit what should be a liquid, it was like walking on steel, the fine flat substance before her seemed to take an eternity just to ripple, and she left them long behind her with each forceful bound. But running on water was hard, and she quickly found herself beginning to sink, the lucidity of the water causing her heels to dip in, with the added traction she began to slow, as she slowed she sank deeper with each step and the cycle continued until her ankle hit solid dirt.
Solstice blinked and slowed to a jog, then to a halt, looking at her feet at the shallow dirt, then behind her at the at least 200 foot wide lake. Laughter bubbled up in her throat, and exploded out of her mouth. She could not believe it, it was amazing, though her feet were now wet under her shoes. It was a small price to pay for what she had gained. She had trained daily for this, though she had never thought her potential could have been this high. Looking to meet the sky, she saw what she felt was the eyes of her father looking over her, warmth wrapped around her and she felt like she had truly achieved something worthwhile in her career as a ninja.
But this was only the start of today's training for the Kage and the others not too long from now would be waiting for her, her speed and reaction times were warmed up, now was time to begin some 'real' training. Jogging off the negative tiring effects of the sprint, she made her way back to Kiri, passing the trees and looking up at the path she had taken and the obstacles she had swept past at such speed.
When she arrived there, She could see the place was well guarded, far too well guarded for the black, white and blue clad figure to dart in past security and land within the confines of the area, part of her wanted to fight her way in, though she saw one of them men guarding the area was Anbu, which began to sew seeds of doubt in her mind leading to the fact there could probably be a few more of them, finally confirming that such an act might not actually be the best idea in the world. When she was approached she removed her mask showing herself as a Kiri ninja, entering the bathhouse, Solstice looked to and fro to see two people already standing, talking lightly to one another, one of them, was the current mizukage, the other, was a genin she had already seen on the site of a mission she had undergone recently... The mute Hisae.
Solstice waved as she entered the room, thinking that AT LEAST out of any man she had ever met the MIZUKAGE would not prove to prove lecherous. unlike ever man she had seemingly met in Kiri who, the instant they saw her, her body, her chest, hips, and rather effeminate, toned and womanly features, seemed to turn into dogs. Save one, and the thought that HE probably had the best shot at her so far was by far the funniest joke yet. Approaching the small group, calling out to them in greeting. Greetings Mizukage, Solstice bowed to a knee, until she was told to stand up. As a representative and heir to the Aisu house in kiri, she needed to pay some proper respect to the person who let their clan live here. Ultimately standing, though not after too short a time, she smiled at Hisae, she'd gotten the hang of her signed language. Attempting to communicate through it to her, to show that she had been working on it a little as well, simply on the side. It was fun, and could more or less be useful on missions where not making noise was a priority.
Hello H-i-s-a-e. It's good to look-at you again...
She didn't get it quite right, but she hoped that the general idea was gotten across. Needing to spell Hisae's name from individual letters, and not quite getting the word 'see' right, which Hisae could correct. Solstice waited for the others to respond, planting her weight on one leg and shifting her hips to one side to do it, folding her arms and looking between them, the leather strap of her steel mask hanging from her belt, so they could see her near ivory white skinned face.
(Taijutsu C>B 2030/2000!!!!)