[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

In the heart of the forest surrounding Konoha, where the poets claimed the trees whispered secrets to the wind and time seemed to slow (which was a load of nonsense, but it sounded cool in his head), Itsuki made his way to the abandoned shrine that he and his friends had claimed as their own private base, the hidden location a perfect place for training away from the prying eyes of anyone else. His goal was audacious, but he was driven by a burning determination—to master the art of performing jutsu with a single hand. He had learned it was possible on his mission with Koujirou-nii, and had tried to figure out its workings since, and now he was determined to try and put it into practice.


Settling himself beneath the shade of one of the shrine's many overgrown trees, Itsuki's journey into this unexplored realm began with a simple act, meditation. He felt it was important that he try and figure out just what was happening when he tried to mould chakra if he ever wanted to hope that he could push himself even further in such a way. Allowing the sounds of nature to overwhelm his physical senses, the young Yamanaka focused his attention inward, seeking the feeling of his chakra as he began to move his hands through the basic seals, hoping to find some sort of inspiration.

Word Count: 232
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Training Count: 1/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Itsuki's brow furrowed as he concentrated on the tenketsu within his hands, his precise chakra control mixed with his sensory abilities the main reason he was even able to figure out rougly where they were. These intricate nodes, he believed, held the key to shaping his chakra flow, and thus if he could understand how they interacted with one another then he might be able to figure his way through the trick to single-handed seals. With a controlled exhale, he initiated the flow of his chakra, feeling it move through his palms with a warmth that resonated with familiarity. It was a delicate, intricate dance of intention and precision—a bridge between his own determination and the essence of chakra.

Slowly but surely his fingers danced through the seals for Fūton: Shinkūgyoku, one of the few jutsu he knew with a relatively complex handseal chain. He tried to focus on the way that his hands moved and the impact that it had on his chakra as he made his way through the jutsu. There was something, some sort of tugging within his core even as he shaped the seals, could feel the chakra welling within him and preparing to be released, but he just couldn't quite figure out what it was that he was missing.

Sighing, he let the jutsu fizzle in his body, a few more breaths in and out to calm himself as he thought further.

Word Count: 228
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Training Count: 2/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Long hours of meditation passed as he moved through various handseals, feeling how they might influence his chakra flow and even begin to manifest depending on what he was trying to do. It was difficult to really pick up the details of why they worked the way they did, but he could feel the way that the physical motion tugged at his chakra from a spiritual perspective without any real input from himself.

Why was that? Was it about the alignment of his tenketsu? His own mind telling him it should work and so it did? He knew that people were able to reduce handseals down to bare bones if they were very familiar with a technique, so perhaps it was a matter of recreating the feelings of each handseal and then training himself to naturally use his chakra the same way even when he did it with just one hand?

It seemed silly, ridiculous even, but he knew that one handed seals were possible, Kojirou-nii had been using them, even if poorly. That meant that there was some method to it. It also probably wasn't a single specific ability, since the older Genin had simply talked about imagining a mirror against his hand... so it had to be some sort of mnemonic device. The mirror trick wouldn't work for Itsuki because he was too doubtful of its viability? 

He should probably test it...

Word Count: 234
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Training Count: 3/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Sitting cross-legged within the shrine, Itsuki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He allowed the sounds of nature—the rustling leaves, the distant chirping of birds, and the gentle babble of a nearby stream—to fade into the background. His focus turned inward as he began to visualize the concept of a mirror.

In his mind's eye, Itsuki saw a clear, silvery mirror hovering in front of his left hand, which was poised for jutsu. He tried to make this mental image as vivid and real as possible. The mirror was pristine, reflecting his hand with perfect clarity.

With the mirror firmly fixed in his imagination, he slowly began to form the seals for a basic wind jutsu. He focused on the sensation of his fingers moving, almost as if they were pressing against the surface of the mirror. As he went through the motions, he tried to replicate the feeling he would have if the mirror was there in reality, touching his left hand and forming the complete seal. He was starting off with the boar seal, as it was the one that actually could be properly mirrored without his mind getting in the way.

Something like Hare, or Ram... well, it was hard to imagine a mirror of those working.

Word Count: 214
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Training Count: 4/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Itsuki continued to visualize the mirror as he formed the boar seal. In his mind's eye, he could see the reflection of his hand in the clear, silvery surface. The sensation was strange at first, as if his mind were playing tricks on him, but he persisted.

As he completed the boar seal, he moved on to the next one in the sequence—the tiger seal. This one was trickier to imagine mirrored in the invisible reflection, but Itsuki's determination kept him going. He focused on the feeling of his fingers moving through the air, as if tracing the shape of the mirrored tiger seal.

To his surprise, as he visualized the mirrored tiger seal, he felt a subtle shift in his chakra. It was as if the mirror in his mind was serving as a bridge, connecting his intent with his chakra. The flow of energy seemed to follow the path he had envisioned, moving through his tenketsu just as it would with two hands. But it felt wrong somehow, off, and his left hand fell to his lap as he opened his eyes and looked around once more.

There was definitely something there to what he was doing, but something had also been incorrect.

Word Count: 206
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Training Count: 5/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Itsuki couldn't ignore the feeling of something amiss. He knew he was on the right track with the mirror visualization technique, but the subtle disconnection between his intent and his chakra flow left him perplexed. He decided to take a moment to analyze what had gone wrong. Closing his eyes once more, he retraced his mental steps, attempting to pinpoint the source of the disconnect. In his mind's eye, he recreated the image of the mirror hovering in front of his left hand. He visualized the boar seal, crisp and mirrored, just as he had done before.

As he moved on to the tiger seal, he paid careful attention to the sensation of his fingers tracing the mirrored symbol. That's when he noticed it—the discrepancy lay in the details of the mirrored seal. The tiger seal was awkward and out of place to his mind because it wasn't really the tiger seal at all. It was close, but the fingers didn't sit right when mirrored, and that was causing the problem.

It seemed that while the mirror technique that Koji-nii had mentioned was a good starting point, it wasn't going to get him all of the way to where he wanted to be in regards to effective use of the one handed seals. He would need to figure out just how to proceed to the next step alone.

Word Count: 229
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Training Count: 6/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Itsuki started with going through the seals for Fūton: Shinkūgyoku, the Vacuum Sphere technique, which he had practiced extensively with both hands and could do without any thought at this point. With his left hand extended, he formed the first half of the hand seal. In his mind's eye, he visualized the other half of the seal—the complementing motion that, when combined with his own, would complete the full seal. That felt better, more understandable.

He focused on the sensation of his fingers moving as if they were tracing an intricate pattern in the air. His chakra was somewhat sluggish in response to the action, not responding nearly as quickly as it normally did as he forced himself to picture every seal of the jutsu in its entirety while only forming half of it. But he persisted, allowing his imagination to fill in the gaps. In his mental image, he saw the wind chakra gathering, forming into a swirling vortex that was shaped by the movement of his 'hands'.

As he continued to visualize, Itsuki felt a subtle shift in his chakra. It responded to his intent, aligning with the imaginary hand seal he had created in his mind. It was as if he had bridged the gap between his own actions and the missing elements of the hand seal. The jutsu was coming together, and his chakra flowed more smoothly, harmonizing with the envisioned seal.

It seemed he was getting closer to his goal.

Word Count: 246
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Training Count: 7/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Itsuki couldn't help but feel a twinge of frustration as he struggled to figure out the next step in his super important, very high stakes quest. He knew he was close; he could sense it. Yet, something eluded him, preventing him from even the most basic malformed jutsu that he had seen coming from Koji-nii.

He decided to take a different approach. Instead of focusing solely on mirroring the seals or trying to force his chakra to adapt to his visualization, Itsuki shifted his attention to understanding the essence of the chakra itself. Maybe the key to performing one-handed seals lay not only in replicating the physical gestures but in grasping the fundamental flow of his own energy? It was worth a shot.

"Maybe," he whispered to himself, "I've been too focused on the 'how' and not enough on the 'why...'" after a few moments pause he pouted slightly, "that sounds stupid. Like some cooky sage offering dumb advice. But everything they tell us in the academy is about how handseals shape chakra... then again, eventually you can cut down your seal count... so maybe it's a similar mindset."

The boy sighed slightly, thinking on how he could perhaps reach a level of understanding that made this whole thing at least vaguely useful.

Word Count: 213
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Training Count: 8/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

With this new perspective, Itsuki closed his eyes once more, blocking out the outside world. He began to visualize his chakra, not as an abstract concept but as a living, flowing energy within him. He focused on the sensation of his chakra, trying to feel its essence. It was like trying to grasp the essence of wind or water; a part of the natural world that was as fundamental as the earth itself.

Itsuki thought back to his earlier attempts at one-handed seals and how he had struggled to replicate the intricate hand movements, it was obvious that this approach was still too been too mechanical, too focused on the external form rather than the internal shape. If he wanted to succeed, he needed to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual. He was still trying to think of the physical form of the seal, rather than the overall effect of using it.

As he delved deeper into his meditation, Itsuki focused far more heavily on the flow of his chakra, that gentle stream of energy that coursed through his body. He could sense its fluctuations and nuances, like a river responding to the terrain it traversed. The basic principle of chakra manipulation was about molding one's chakra to a specific shape and form. Rather than trying to mimic the intricate hand seals of traditional jutsu, he should focus on molding his chakra into the desired shape with a single hand.

Word Count: 243
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Training Count: 9/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

In his meditative state, he started to break down the wind jutsu's chakra structure. He felt the flow of chakra in his body and envisioned it moving towards his left hand, which was still poised in the incomplete boar seal. The chakra coursed to his his tenketsu with deliberate intent, and he couldn't help but wonder at how much more focused he needed to be to make this work, it really required his attention. Were all handseals so hard once? Perhaps before he had the childish belief that they would work, whereas now he was fighting his own prior knowledge.

Itsuki's forehead creased with effort as he mentally willed the chakra to take on the characteristics of the technique. He visualized it compressing, spiraling, and gathering in the way it should for Fūton: Shinkūgyoku. It was like coaxing a stubborn river into a new course, or directing the wind itself to be more accurate. For a moment, he felt a flicker of success, his chakra responded, and he could feel the way that it had taken on the attributes he desired.

However, he couldn't maintain this state for long. It was mentally taxing, and his concentration wavered. The chakra he had shaped dissipated, leaving him feeling drained.

He let out a slow breath and opened his eyes, staring at his left hand as if it held the answer. The solution was right in front of him, and he knew he was on the cusp of a breakthrough. 

Word Count: 247
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Training Count: 10/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Itsuki was almost there, his intense focus honed on that elusive connection between his movements, his chakra and the jutsu he sought to perform. His earlier attempts had shown him the potential, but now he needed to actually reach the first step of completing a jutsu this way. Then he would be able to start working on making it combat ready.

Slowly but surely he worked his way through the seals, envisioning the rest of the seal forming beside his left hand as it tugged at his chakra in the familiar way of the technique. One seal after the next, each painfully slow shifting of his chakra made possible only through the fact that he was able to remember how it was supposed to feel. It was sluggish, awkward, but he was doing it, he knew that.

Eventually though, he reached the end of the seal chain and managed to spit out a malformed but vaguely recogniseable orb of wind!

With the taste of success still fresh on his lips (or was that blood from a slightly too sharp wind blade?), Itsuki couldn't wait to further refine his newly acquired skill. He knew that mastering the art of one-handed seals required not just one partially successful attempt, but a level of consistency that would make it a dependable part of his ninja arsenal. Determined to at least successfully perform one jutsu today, he intended to try again and again and again until he got it right!

Word Count: 246
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Training Count: 11/11

[Yamanaka Itsuki]

Yamanaka Itsuki

Closing his eyes once more, he returned to his meditative state. Itsuki wanted to internalize the moment when his chakra transformed into the jutsu's essence. This time, there was less struggle, less uncertainty. He knew he was going to be able to do it because he had done so before! With a deep breath, he channeled chakra once more, bringing it up into his mouth.  The wind chakra surged forth, a powerful whirlwind that sliced through the air. at least, that's what he'd like to say, but all that came out was a slightly less deformed version of the jutsu.

Still, it was progress! Again and again, he repeated the process, honing his ability with each repetition. As the day wore on and the sun began its descent, Itsuki's determination remained unwavering. He knew he was pushing his limits, both mentally and physically, but he was fueled by the desire to at least use the jutsu somewhat successfully, and he couldn't afford to lose the momentum he had gained.

With each successful attempt, Itsuki's confidence soared. He continued to practice pushing himself to the brink, seeking to finally get the jutsu out correctly, even as his muscles burned and his body became coated in sweat. As twilight painted the sky with shades of orange and purple, exhausted but elated, Itsuki finally allowed himself to relax. He fell backwards until he was looking up at the night sky, his chest rising and falling with each tired breath.

Across from him was a round indent in the trunk of a tree, a sign that he had managed to complete the jutsu enough for it to do damage.

It was a great start.

[End]

Word Count: 281
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Training Count: 12/11