[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    It wasn't unusual for unsavory emotions to bubble up to the surface at times, but being able to slice them in half with a blade made things easier. Daredemo sheathed his blade for now, though. It was nice to have in his hands, but he needed to get straight into his work for now. 

    He was working fairly simple for now, he just needed to find some good logs to slice through. It was a good way of practicing the power behind his strikes, and to practice some of the new tricks of this blade he now had access to. He had never known his brother's blade was able to draw in katon chakra, so getting the chance to practice with that skill was a major benefit.

    It didn't take long to find a few nice logs to carry back to his corner of the training field. Placing that out and about around the area he'd leave a black mark on each one, the place he was going to be aiming with his blades. For now this seemed the best way to practice, at least until he could find an actual partner to stand across from him. This had been a rather spur of the moment outing, so it wasn't as if Daredemo had planned it out properly. 

OWL

[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    With Daredemo's preparations completed, the boy stood in the center of a group of 5 logs, all stood up on their ends, each marked at varying heights. Some were about his height, some were much shorter. Daredemo had given himself a semi-circle of targets to pick between, and he let his hand lie on the tsuka of his sword.

    He focused his mind on the blade in it's sheath. Trying to push everything else from his mind except for the act of pouring fire into his blade. As if he was lighting the blade alight with his mind. As he pulled it out he could see it glowing a shifting flame like mix of red and orange. He let out a smile as he brought it out to it's full length. Taking the blade into both hands he let his mind bring back in the world around him. As much as he could he tried to tune out all noise and simply think of nothing more than the positioning of the logs.

    He would take a quick step forward, putting his weight behind one fast slice. He didn't fully know what he was expecting when he felt the blade connect with the hard wood of the leaf village trees.

OWL

[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    He certainly expected to feel far more resistance than there was. His blade tore through the log like it wasn't even there. He saw the singed edges of both halves as they collapsed to the ground below and he slowly realized what was going on.

    His blade was so hot that the logs were burning up to the touch. His blade could slice straight through them because by the time the actual tip was making contact the wood was already burned to a weakened state. Daredemo's eyes went wide at the realization. He always knew that his brother's sword was good, but he hadn't actually been expecting something like this. He could see why his brother loved this blade so much.

    Daredemo was starting to think he was falling in love with the sword as well. The young shinobi couldn't help but start to swing the blade into the other logs as well, watching as each and every one simply faded away at the touch of his sword. The edge barely effected because it wasn't truly the part causing the most damage. It was an exhilarating rush to put it mildly. 

    He realized after a few moments that he had, far too quickly, gone through all of the logs he had collected for himself. 

OWL

[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    He did at least, in part, feel a lot of pride in the fact that he had gotten so good with his strikes. Well, he wasn't sure how much was the skill of his strike, and how much was the skill of the blades craftsmanship and abilities, was up for some debate in his mind. He watched as the blade returned to normal, as he felt the flames of his chakra dissipate. Daredemo took in a long breath as he thought of what this action represented. It seemed a little, easy. When he was in the academy this would have seemed like such an accomplishment but here it felt empty. 

    These weren't enemies, they weren't strong, they didn't have the skillset necessary to actually fight back or give him a challenge. He needed something more. Something that tested him further. 

    A lightbulb went off. Daredemo cleared the field of the logs he had destroyed, and went about searching for more, searching for rope, searching for the right angles and places to tie things. Daredemo looked like a little engineer looking for more and more tools to put his idea into practice. It wasn't a simple expenditure, but he wasn't going to waste time. Finding a way to get this all together was his top priority. 

OWL

[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    Daredemo looked around the little clearing at his worse. A rube goldberg machine of ropes and logs Daredemo stood in the center of what he hoped would be a project worth his time. At least getting it set up was the worst part, and he didn't need to do that again.
    
    Daredemo got ready in the center of the arena. He drew his blade and held it straight in front of him, staring at the rope that was slightly to the right of the center of his vision. Cutting that line would put everything in motion. 10 logs. Each one set up on a different limb and set to drop from their perches at varying times and speeds. It was a perfect way to ensure that he had his timing down. Much harder than just slicing at some stationary logs. He formed a small grin before his blade sliced at the rope.

    The first log was falling in front of him. Often he needed to worry about the results of the angle of his swing, but as he felt his flames pour into the blade he remembered how easy the slices were before. The rolling, smoldering colors of the blade easily carved through the log that came before him.

    Daredemo let out a cocky chuckle at the sight.

OWL

[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    Then Daredemo felt the thunk of a log hitting him in the back of the head. The boy clutched the back of his head letting out a large groan of pain and discomfort as he dropped to his knees to avoid any of the following falling logs. 

    When he heard the last of the strings pull taut he looked up to ensure that they were truly done before standing up and letting out another groan. A much louder groan of frustration and disappointment at the realization that this had been a failed attempt. He didn't know what was worse, the fact that he had been hit in the head, the fact that he had failed, or the fact that he was about to have to set this whole thing up once again.

    His eyes darted to the hanging half of a log that had been singed in half. He looked at what he realized was a slowly burning rope.

    Burning rope!?

    Daredemo quickly went into action slicing off the flaming end of the rope, burying it in dirt to put out the flames. No more fire sword, not the time for it. That was a good note. One more log, one more rope, set it all up again. What a drag.

OWL

[Daredemo]

DaREDEMO

    Having to search for another rope, another log, it was annoying. It was honestly more annoying than the process of putting the entire training set-up back in place. The boy went through the pain staking process of getting all of the ropes set up again. he had to take extra care to make sure that each would be falling in the same pattern as they had. He could worry about training against varying patterns after he got one down. 

    With that set he found his way back to the center of the clearing. his eyes looking down at the singed remains of the last rope he had used. He let out a slight groan as he made a decision. No flame sword. It looked cool, but it wasn't worth the clean up. He would find another way to practice with that particular technique. 

    Daredemo took in a deep breath before his sword found it's way through the initial rope. He saw the first log coming down, he took the swing he was sure would cleave it in two. The rope bent, the log was bent, his sword was stuck about half way into it.

    He once again felt a log thunk against the back of his head before he thought to duck beneath the falling debris.

OWL