Breaking Him Down (Solo Training :Strength, Endurance, Dexterity or Intelligence. X2)

It was now afternoon and Enja was now in for a change of things. He was now more cautious of where he went and what he did under the eyes of the village. Had he the ability to use more complex jutsu, he would of slinked away easier but he couldn't do that. So he was forced to just be cautious of how he acted around others. Enja had crept carefully out of the main Asakura estate house, and kept an eye out for anyone he knew. The old man, Aki, anyone who would question his more reclusive behavior. After all he had a secret to keep now. It would cost him and possibly his new friend if anyone found out.

IN a recent night, Enja had done something both stupid and got some thing good out of it. He had spotted a rogue ninja with a huge price on his head and tried to catch him. Obviously, anyone could imagine how Enja's rash thinking would of gotten him killed. It almost did. However, turned out the rogue ninja had been more generous and understanding than the wanted poster made him out to be. It was now why that Enja was here...

Telling the Asakura clan he was a part of he was out for a walk among the wilds of Kumo, he went for the mountain sides further away from the village. He had approached a part of a nearby mountainside. A waterfall ran down from the top of it and moved through different parts of it, forming a stream. Trees grew around it, making it an ideal place to meet someone for a private meeting.

Enja jumped from different mountain tops, using his chakra to enhance his physical jumping and land about from place to place. Finally, after he was satisfied no one had seen him slip by the estate and down the main trail, he reached the place he was intended to meet his 'friend'.

Landing on the nearby side of the river, he was positioned near the water fall. He looked up, seeing the large falls splash as the water fell from the summit of the mountain. Cautious, Enja kept his senses open and looked around. He had suspected to find his new mentor here but so far, he didn't see anyone. The only sounds were nearby birds and the babbling of the river. Off the edge of it was yet another cliff, leading down and spilling more water further down its riverbank.

He waited for about 15 minutes, and looked around for any sign of him...

However, he was already there and appraoched. The large man with the white hair and beard crept up softly and soon reached out, a large hand quickly covering Enja's eyes as if he was about to kidnap him.

"WAAAH!!" Enja shouted and tugged away, pushing the arm off him. The man had let him go willingly and just let loose a billowing laugh.

"Bahahaha! What got you so uptight, kid?" Augus replied, the rather muscular and tattooed man said. He grinned with those wide white glowing eyes and the markings on his face. Augus, the rogue ninja... supposedly wanted for many accounts but despite his criminal status, he had taken on Enja as a student to teach him ninjutsu-- since the academy in Kumo was suspended for several reasons!

Irritated and fixing up his now messed up hair from the man's grab, Enja scowled at him. "Very funny, old man!" he retorted and calmed himself down. He crossed his arms against his chest and waited. "Can't you just say hello like a normal person?"

"AH but I am not a normal person, am I? Otherwise I wouldn't be worth training you," he retorted, shutting up Enja's comment. He just grunted and looked around. The place was a bit cramp for training. The entire space was probably less than 50 meters of space. Likely he wouldn't be intending to do too much training that involved a large amount of space. Then again, it was isolated and secluded enough that no one would bother them and they could train without issue.

After all, Enja did agree to be taught by a Rogue Ninja. Augus was from the Land of Heaven-- or something like that. He didn't know much about him, the crimes he done or the nation he was from. But one thing was clear-- any ninja that voluntarily leaves their territory is branded a rogue ninja. As such, no one could easily travel between the nations. Enja found that concept stupid and sickening!

Apparantly, so did Augus.

"Why did you want to train here?" Enja asked him.

Augus shrugged his shoulders as he reached behind him and took out his massive golden sword. "Seems promising enough. Not to mention a good view. Kid, you gotta live in the moment more and enjoy the things around you. " he replied as he put it near a tree and turned to face him. "Alright, so tell me just what have you done up till now."

Enja gave it some thought as he tried to recall his previous training he had done on his own. "Well... I have exercised physically to build up chakra but lately I spent far more time working on my chakra control and working on Chakra Nature training." he explained.

After Enja had explained, Augus paused and rubbed his chin, thinking things over. "Hmm... you do have decent chakra control, at least for our fight we had the couple of nights ago," he said, but realized an obvious thing that should of been handled. "For now though, I think we should increase your chakra pool. To do that, you need to train physically for a while." he stated plainly.

Feeling confident, Enja grinned and put his hands on his hips, trying to come off as cool. "Hehe.. Bring it on. I don't back down from any training." he said.

Augus grinned at this. "Good to hear, cause you'll be lucky if you survive it..." he said, possibly just to freak out his new pupil but nothing more came after that.

Augus was determining to see Enja's physical capabilities heightened. He was a decent fighter but compared to him or other shinobi of similar caliber, he was no stronger than any citizen. That had to change. ANd Augus was going to hang him up like a piece of meat.

Augus first ordered Enja to do several exercises: Sit ups, Push ups, and further stretches. Enja was eager to do so, as he had done these but not to the number that he was told to do. Augus considered sitting on his back to make the weight appropriate... but no he would save that for later. A goofy smirk on his face at that thought. Also he had Enja fight a tree-- rather he told him to practice blows against it. He had to build up the strength in his hands and arms, so sparring against it were the best. Realizing the harm it would cause, Augus provided Enja with bandages to wrap around his hands and wrist, aiding the punches and preventing too much injury to them.

The red headed youth took to the punching exercise like an animal. He fought with fire and fevor in his movements as he struck the tree, and surprisingly to Augus, could see clear indentation in the tree's bark. This round of training was not just to bolster Enja's physical abilities, as well as his general knowledge of training-- but for Augus to assess just how strong Enja was. So far, he could see the clear potential in him.

"Not bad. Keep your shoulders up and your arms extended!" Augus encouraged, keeping an eye as how he 'boxed' with the wood. "Don't give any pause in the attacks!"

He would encourage a more vigorous attack and Enja replied, striking harder and bruising more. At one point, Enja's hand was now bloody red but he didn't notice. He was determine to keep going. There was a clear fire in Enja's eyes as he fought. He was born to brawl hand to hand it seemed.

After about an hour of that, and Enja's hands now rather bloody with scratches and scrapes, Augus proposed new training. Goal now was to run laps around the mountain, both through the parts of it but also via chakra-- to strengthen their endurance. "Now," Augus said as he rolls his shoulders. "You are going to run around this mountain range about hmm... 20 times for a start. You are going to scale around certain points, both on land, and vertical along this peak. You are not to stop till you complete that! "

His order was very clear. With that, he reached up his hand and using his teeth, bit the skin of his thumb. Enja watched with interest as he had seen such a gesture. It was used for summoning. Augus weaved the signs quickly then pressed it to the ground fast. "Summoning Jutsu!!"

A flash of smoke appeared and beside Augus, a figure emerged. There was a loud caw as wings flapped the smoke away. It revealed a rather large eagle, at least as big as Augus but higher by a head in size. "I shall be watching you from the sky on this fellah. So don't you even think I will see you stop to catch your breath," he replied .

Enja frowned a bit. "Don't you think that is a bit excessive?" he said, observing as Augus reached up and straddled the bird. It was surprising to see Augus easily sit on the bird considering he appeared so much bigger and heavier for an eagle's delicate structure to lift.

"The training means nothing if you don't fulfill it properly! " AUgus said loudly. "NOw get going and if you stop--- I'll drop rocks down on you to keep going."

Perhaps taking training from a rogue ninja might not have been a smart idea, Enja thought as he quickly took a breath and then started running!

The trail outlined was not as bad length wise, but it came with obstacles that Augus had 'neglected' to inform. It turned out that Augus had marked the trails by kunai for the direction to travel. From the starting point, Enja had to hop down a large hill of rocks and boulders, then run around the small island that the mountain was around, surrounded by water. After which he would have to climb back up a purely steep incline, to a small cave entrance half way up! That would require his own chakra to run up... unless he expected him to physically climb it like how someone normally would. At the top of the place the cave, led to several stalactites and stalagmites. He had to hop from each one , and the place shook-- which he could only guess was Augus pummeling the place with his rocks to make sure Enja was not slacking off out of sight.

On another note-- Augus flew overhead the mountain and even when Enja was not out of sight and moving along, Augus moved with a sadistic idea of humor. Using a style of summoning, he summoned rocks and would let them fall upon Enja while he sat on the large eagle that kept him airborne.

Finally, the cave continued to the opening of the main waterfall-- which there was no way down except via the water fall. So... Enja had to use trial by fire-- and run on the water's surface. That took a bit of doing cause it was the flowing, falling momentum of the water! And led back right ot the starting point.

After the simple fourth lap, Enja was already feeling tired, but Augus continued to drop the rocks as obstacles in his path. As he was climbing up the cliff wall-- using his chakra to continue to hold himself up, he saw the rocks falling for him. He weaved out of the way in time and continued up, but he could see his master up above and he had been moving this whole time. "What the hell?! You blind?! I am moving down here damnit!" Enja shouted in aggravation.

With everything Augus did to make his little exercise harder, it was a miracle the mountain didn't come down from it all.

Things got harder after the tenth lap and now Enja was starting to lose steam. It took more enrgy than he had to keep up and that was when Augus dropped more boulders on him from the eagle. Where he got them, Enja had no clue. He was really losing his steam and patience with the man as he continued to bombard him from above.

"Trial by fire!" Augus laughed from above. He conjured another boulder and held it with his chakra before slamming it back down. "The best way to learn."

Enja felt the boulders brush by him or graze him as he moved to try and get out of it. Perhaps THIS was the reason why Augus was a rogue ninja. His training alone would kill a man. At that point, he entered more free falls going down than actual running. He was really feeling the drag on his muscles and it was starting to hurt. Even from that far below, he could hear Augus' laugh.

His irritation, his anger and frustration-- it made him furious and it what was what spurred him forward!

After much running and now that the sky was now dyed orange and red from the sunset, Enja finally completed the task. As he emerged from the cave, he hit the waterfall and skidded down using his chakra. He jumped off it into the stream as if it was a finish line and he flopped unceremonally to the water. SPLASH!! 20 laps done and he dove into the water of the stream. It wasn't strong enough to drag him off to the next water fall but he felt it tug at his muscles. The water cooled his now overheated body as he rested. He could drown happy.

With the laps done, Augus decided to come back down from his large bird. Standing on its back, he had the bird hover, then as he drew closer to the ground, the bird erupted with a poof of smoke-- being recalled back to where it was summoned from. Augus fell to the ground and landed with a large crunch on the ground. On his feet, he easily strolled to the water where he saw Enja with his face in it.

"Haha! You really do need help if that tired you out! Kumo Ninja must not be as great as they claim to be," he joked, looking over Enja. Reaching down, he splashed water at him, as if trying to stirr him away before he would drowned.

Enja of course was very much alive and tired. Tilting his head so he could breathe, he emerged and sighed a huge breath. "Oh give me a break-- who trained YOU?! Wolves?" he retorted.

"Actually, tigers," Enja replied almost with such ease that it would come as a matter of fact. Pulling away from the water, Augus turned his back to Enja. "I'll give you five minutes, then we are on to the next part of our training."

"Great..." Enja replied with grief and rolled over to his back on the shallows of the river.

The water did soothe his aching muscles and cuts. After the small break, Augus splashed Enja once more, as the warning of the time being up. Still deciding to soak, he sat up and listened to what AUgus had to say. " Come on, look alive. This time, we are going to be praticing movement and awareness." He said as he urged Enja to pay attention! "I am going to cast a jutsu over this area obscuring objects. You are to use your awareness and dexterity to dodge, block or catch the objects I throw at you." he explained. He reached into the nearby river and fished out a handful of small stones.

"OH come on... haven't you had enough fun throwing rocks at me?" Enja sighed in exhaustion, not liking where this was going.

Augus tossed the pebbles up an down in his palm. "What? You afraid of a few pebbles... if this is how you are going to act, you should turn tail now and go home. I don't train weaklings." he mocked. In truth he was purposing stoking the flames of his ire.

"Alright, alright... I'll do it," Enja said as he finally stood up and shook water free from his hair. "Just don't overdo it this time. I'm reaching my limits."

This Augus knew and was not gonna put so much force into this. With the pebbles in hand, he took his hands and weaved a few more hand signs. "Fuuton-- Spiral Gale Jutsu!" A soft wind suddenly picked up around them, and suddenly erupt full force. With the gust, Augus' body vanished from view, and into the wind. Leaves spun around inside it. It was a concealment jutsu as the wind circled him.

Enja couldn't see much from inside the wind funnel, the leaves bathing things in a shade of green and the movements of Augus nowhere to be seen. Suddenly there was a 'zing' sound and something struck Enja in the back of the head! "OW!" he shouted, and turned. No one was there but one of the pebbles was shot from somewhere. The speed at which it was thrown felt like a pellet shot from a sling shot. "What the--"

TWIP!! YOUCH! Enja shouted once more as he felt the shot to his arm. None of the stones pierced flesh or injured, but they sure did sting to be hit by them. He was stuck in the confine space of the funnel, and soon... more sounds of incoming pebbles came through the wind barrier!

From the outside, Augus was moving about from around the barrier, changing directions and moving fast. As he did he could see Enja through the barrier and would aim in a fraction of a second. With the pebbels in hand, he merely flicked it with the tip of his thumb and the rim of his index finger. He launched it skillfully, the speed unrealistic for such a method. When he ran out of pebbles, he merely scooped up some from the riverbed nearby and continued to shoot at him!

Enja felt the assault around him and it was starting to sting. In the 5 radius area of the barrier, he quickly moved to get out of the way of the assault. The stones struck him in the leg, ass, back-- several places save for his face. He now had to move fast and move swiftly to avoid them. Irritated after what seemed like 10 minutes of the pelting, Enja moved out of the path of one for his head, and grabbed it!

The pebble stung in his hand thanks to the injuries he had taken from punching the tree, but he had indeed caught it. There was not much time to recognize it as seconds past before the next attack came. This time, Enja flipped back and avoid it . Wherever Augus was, he moved at irregular speed and directions, shooting the stones. Gritting his teeth, Enja pushed himself to the limits of his speed and reflexes. Which stones he saw, he dodged. The ones nearby, he blocked with his hands and arms. Soon enough he could see the path of each stone as it traveled through the wind. He tracked them quickly, spotting them and moving to the best place to avoid them!

After exactly 10 minutes afterward, Enja was now moving within the wind barrier and evading the stones. Shooting them from outside, Augus grinned, seeing how he quickly took to it. "Not bad, kid..." he said to himself, realizing he did indeed have potential he hoped for. After which, he stopped shooting stones, and ended the jutsu. The wind soon calmed down and faded.

Enja appeared from within the gale, looking around as he now had a series of the stones in his hands and many of them around his feet of the water. Looking around, he spotted Augus nearby. "Very good, Enja... you have some promise after all," he commented. Enja smiled as he turned and let go of the pebbles in his hand.

However, for good measure, Augus flicked his finger-- launching one more pebble at him. TWAP! "YOUCH!!" Enja shouted, the rock landing squarely on the forehead! Enja grabbed the spot and rubbed it, it stinging like a bitch. "You son of a --- Grrr!!" he swore, feeling dooped.

"Never let your guard down, pup," Augus said as he walked past him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. The man had a strange way of praising his students, it seemed. Augus soon moved out of the area of the river and back to the trees, where he awaited Enja.

After he had recovered from the head shot to the forehead-- which made ENja really want a headband for his head-- he returned to the shore where Augus was waiting. "Alright... you suffered enough for today," He said with a sigh of contempt and sat down. He flopped to the ground and crossed his legs. Reaching towards his sword and pack nearby he pulled out a goard no bigger than his hand with the words Sake on it. He took a good chug of it before he looked to Enja. "Want some?" he offered.

Oh what the hell, Enja thought. "Sure," he said. Without tricks, Augus tossed him the goard and he caught it with both hands. Enja didn't care if he had drank it and took a swig of it. It had a kick but it sure took the sting to his wounds. "Thanks..." he replied and handed the drink back to him.

He chuckled in his throat and looked up to the sky, the darkness of night starting to cast over. "Never in a thousand years did I think I would take on a student. Karma is a capricious mistress," he commented as he talked.

Enjua took interest in this. "Well, I never considered you a teacher but still... you must have done enough to become so strong a shinobi." Enja commented.

"I been around. This isn't the face of a child." Augus commented, "But yes... I have been around for quite a while. I taken that time to polish my skills. It be a sin to deny someone struggling to learn a chance to learn from a real warrior." he said that with a bit of a boast.

Enja rolled his eyes, but he had to admit, AUgus was strong. As the cold air brushed against him, he could have sworn he saw steam give off on his body from all the training he had endured. It chilled him but felt good at the same time. The man was prideful but he had a reason to be. Though he was a rogue, ENja really admired the guy as a strong example of a shinobi.

"Well, we covered all the basis if you ask me-- but hmm... "Augus said, mulling over something. Finally he snapped his fingers. "Alright, Enja... tell me, what do you know of your own chakra?"

"My own chakra?" Enja asked.

"What I mean is you know about Chakra nature right?" Augus corrected.

Enja nodded as he sat up. "Yeah I know it. I figured out mine a while ago. I have Fire Chakra nature... its great but um... hardly anyone in Kumo has Fire Chakra of their own." he said.

A sound of disgust came out of Augus' mouth and he spat into the grass nearby. "Damn... these Cloud Shinobi are really slumming to let your training go this far untouched. " he said. As insulting as it sounded, ENja had to agree with him there. "Well, you are in luck. I happen to know a variety of Katon style jutsu. Chakra nature is divided into 5 elements but it is not strange that some natures rare in other parts of the world. ANyway, I think I can help you perfect your fire training ... but that will be for another time. "

Enja understood. It was getting late and he trained his ass off thanks to him.

"Come back here same time tomorrow and we can discuss more..." he said as he saw Enjua stand up. "YOu better get plenty of rest. If you thought today was rough, its just beginning! Hahahaha!"

Enja groaned as he limped his way back home. Training with AUgus might very well be the death of him...

(4134 words)

Following training results: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity or Intelligence. X2

The following role will count to: 1,2-- Str. 3,4-- End. 5, 6--Dex. 7, 8-- Int. (plus 2 with quick learner to all rolls)

The member 'Enjin' has done the following action : Dice

'Training Dice' : 10, 6, 7, 4, 1, 10, 7, 5