[Hatake Shinde]

Iruhi Shinde was a hard working girl, and she was expected to enter a career where she would be exercising greater teamwork skills and would be learning new things from not just seasoned shinobi across the village, but her own sensei in a proposed four man cell. That sounded exciting, if not outright thrilling to explore. However, considering she was aware that she was just a recent graduate while her own team members might have been there for a while, it filled her with the idea to train herself a bit in advance before meeting with them. After all, she didn’t want to hold anyone’s progress back, and she wanted to impress everyone. After all, wouldn’t it be cool if she said she came out from the academy and mastered some of the things they already knew?

Sounded like something worth working for. Besides, what she was training today was the tree walking exercise. It was said to be a technique that was great for training chakra control and was an almost absolute necessity if you were going to train in any of the higher tier ninjutsu or genjutsu techniques. Well, that, and water walking. If you could master both of those techniques, you were on a good path to be able to learn just about any jutsu in this ninja world. The best part was, the information was easy enough to get her hands on, and it was free to train. Definitely wasn't as expensive as accidentally lighting things on fire from her experience.

Resting in a small thicket within the village training grounds, she set up a small camp where she planned on being for the duration of her training. She felt almost a little bit spoiled by the luxury of being able to come out here, claiming she was a full fledged kunoichi, an adult in the village, and the ability to have her own freedom and choices. Silly as it was for a girl her age to refer to herself as an adult, it still made her feel somewhat more important? No, perhaps independent was the word she was trying to say. Right, so, here she was ready to press on her burgeoning steps into the Shinobi world. 

[Hatake Shinde]

"The tree walking exercise huh? Application of chakra to the soles of the feet to use as an adhesive property. Allowing me to walk on surfaces. I can see why they didn't teach us this kind of stuff in the academy." She could imagine the number of children running up trees and walls, getting lost, or just generally in all sorts of trouble where they weren't supposed to. She imagined a couple of her friends back in the academy would have gotten super mischievous with this kind of knowledge. However, she wondered how hard it could possibly be? If basically every ninja learned this as a sort of right of passage to reach that next stage, then she could to. Steeling her nerves, shutting the scroll neatly, and resting it along the soft grass, she looks upwards at a tree.

Not the tallest of the oaks, but one that she was sure she wasn't going to break her neck if she fell out of. "...You've got this right?" For some reason, she was starting to doubt herself. Forming the ram handseal, she tries to get her chakra in control, taking a deep breath as she dashes for the tree, to get some momentum as she prepared to run up the top. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk. Her sandaled feet make their way higher a total of four steps before she feels herself slipping. Or rather, perhaps the proper term here was propelled off the tree itself. "Ah-" She calls out before she lands on her back with an unceremonious bristle of the grass on her back as she rolls, feeling her equilibrium thrown off then. 

"Tch-cchht." She sucks inwards on her teeth, realizing that falling...especially like that wasn't exactly a thrilling experience. However, that only made her somewhat irritated and more eager to succeed than before. Especially since this wasn't a hard science and was instead a jutsu about "feeling" and getting the experience for it. 

[Hatake Shinde]

Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. The sound of her feet hitting against this tree repeatedly as she ran up along its length was met with two pretty common outcomes. Either she crashed and fell because she didn't use enough, or she was sent flying because she used too much. Sometimes she was able to catch herself. However, if she ever got particularly higher, the fall usually hurt more than she would have liked. The bruises along her arms and legs made that evident as she felt herself lightly caressing herself while seated in the grass. For a moment as she looked to see the squirrels clambering up the trees, or the lizards, she half felt envious at their ability to climb so well, and for some reason, she wondered if perhaps they had trained the tree walking exercise their entire lives. It was a silly thought, maybe a little childish, but for a while, she just stared at them.

How they skittered up the trees so effortlessly, resting from branch to branch. "Alright...let's go." Proceeding to steel herself, she half didn't want to run back up. However, clenching her fists, she dashes upwards. "Haaaah!" As she made her way upwards along this tree, she found herself trying to make sure she had as much surface contact between the tree and her foot as possible. However, as things go, she found herself going higher, and with her increased confidence, she ran slightly farther. Just ever so slightly with each attempt. As she slipped and fell, she found herself a little bit more able to twist in the air and slow her fall, or roll, or to catch a hanging branch. It was these little victories that got the girl more eager to press. Push onwards on the struggle.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. She was now up on the tree, and as the seeming minutes turned to hours, she realized how much time had passed when she realized it was becoming to become a little bit darker. The sunlight was fleeting and passing by. She had realized she had come to a limiting point, and already, her body was adjusting, learning the little lessons with every attempt she tried...and failed. "...I've never felt so tired and bruised." She whined to herself, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, her soft eyes gazing ahead. It was an effort, but she needed some rest. She could continue later.

[Hatake Shinde]

The rest she found was well needed, well deserved, and frankly a big relief. After settling and making a small fire for herself, boiling some water in a kettle, she found that the instant ramen she made couldn't have finished fast enough. A small bit of wild vegetables and mushrooms had made Shinde feel like she was in heaven. It was small moments like these that made her feel alive. The savoryness of the broth with the filling noodles. The only regret she might have had in these moments was that she didn't have more. Though that was just the body talking and being selfish, wanting to gorge itself more after a hard bit of work. She could feel the warmth spread through her body, and she felt herself sigh in relief as she huddled close to her fire and warmth. Fire seemed to consume, and yet from what it did? Life.

The ashes of that which was consumed was warm, and acted as something that could help grow. In a way, one could view it as sacrifice, and he supposed maybe that was why she chose it to an extent to represent her. After all, she was willing to put in the work, the sacrifice, and put in that effort to grow. She rested for just a bit, laying back along the ground on the crude bed of grass and leaves she had made for herself. She felt so comfortable then. For a moment, she felt lazy, as if she didn't want to get back up and continue the training. However, she swiftly snaps out of it and rises back up. She couldn't afford to let herself rest yet. If she felt like this now?

She wouldn't be able to get back up in the morning and continue working. She knew the bruises and the hurt was only going to get worse when she woke up. So, as she rises onto her feet, she steels herself to face her dreaded foe. The tree. "...Alright Iruhi. Do you think you're going to be able to get up the tree in one night?..." Looking at the foe that had bested her for basically half a day, for some reason, she was starting to doubt it. However, she was going to take her best shot. "Here we go!~" 

[Hatake Shinde]

Shinde when faced with a challenge was the kind of person to embrace it and tend to tackle it head on. Faced with this exercise, she'd admit it was the toughest challenge she's faced yet when it came down to learning jutsu. Jutsu. Jutsu theory, it was something that she was coming to face with stride. Step by step as her feet taps along the wood. She focused, and she found the more she practiced, the more attuned she was becoming with her chakra, as well as the overall feel of what she needed to climb the tree. It didn't mean that it wasn't challenging. No, she found falling broke her focus, but she had also found that since beginning her personal training that her hard work and dedication was going to bring her farther if she had the drive to do it on her own. In other words, she was determining that this was something she wanted.

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to be able to climb up and down walls and trees. She was more careful now in her approach, her senses a little bit sharper on how she felt internally. Trying to keep her mind sound, she made her way slower up the tree. She had to learn to walk before she learned to crawl, and she was beginning to make decent progress. She found herself closer, closer, halfway there, before then she takes a deep breath, wiping the sweat from her brow. She wondered why Kami made it so that it was so hard to learn things like this. Then again, if most every Shinobi was capable of this exercise, did she really have the right to call it hard? A question for the philosophers.

Slowly stepping her way upwards along the tree, she could feel it then. She was beginning to fall again, and she found herself rolling onto the ground, finding a break in her concentration. 

[Hatake Shinde]

She was beginning to feel the wounds accumulate on her person over time, and it was starting to wear down on her. The bruises, the feeling of soreness along her hands and arms. Taking a deep breath, she plants her foot along the tree, and she walks forth, deep breath after deep breath, her hands held in the ram seal to help her control as she closed her eyes, getting a feel for the chakra inside of herself. Making her way farther and farther, she found her feet were planted firmly, not yet slipping up once on her ascent this time. Thunk, thunk. thunk. Shinde found herself gradually rising to the top, and when she did, she paused, looking out into the night, into the moonlit sky. The young Kunoichi had actually made it. She wouldn't have believed it if she wasn't the one standing at the top, and as she did, she took a deep breath.

The sight was definitely worth coming all the way up. She felt as if she was in a brand new world. "...How do I get down?" It occurred to her in that moment that she was very much like a stuck cat, unless she felt just as confident about coming down as she was coming back up, or if she wanted to risk hopping from branch to branch. Oh Kami. "...I guess I'm just going to have to try my best here aren't I?" Swallowing, she couldn't help but notice that despite the beautiful horizon, it sure seemed to be a long drop if she made a mistake. It seemed that she was going to have to put some confidence in herself, and get more training in on this. After all, just because one is able to get up does not mean one will be able to do the opposite easily.

That, and she'd learned to walk. Soon, she'd need to learn to run. 

[Hatake Shinde]

Training, desiring to reach that level of perfection and excellence over a technique, at least in her perspective was nothing to find shame over. She proceeded to very slowly focus, making her way down, sticking closer to the branches, and she was getting a better, more in depth experience and feeling over the chakra in her body. She gradually hopped from branch to branch, careful to maintain her weight, and she would then eventually settle for one larger jump, down along the ground with a slight thud. It filled her with relief to be back on the ground, and for a moment, she considered if perhaps she was making the wisest decisions in her training. Still, the results didn't lie.

She was doing fairly well for herself. Looking back upwards, it almost seemed as if she had climbed a mountain instead of a tree, and she was proud of the progress she had made in her short endeavor. However, focusing her chakra, she proceeds to release the ram handseal, knowing she wouldn't always have her hands available to form that seal to make her way up. She was going to have to get a feel for it herself. So, with a bit more confidence this time, she takes a few steps backwards, and then begins to dash upwards, her feet thumping along the wood as she begins to rapidly run and climb her way forwards. Ascending, she feels the adrenaline pumping as she feels her equillibrium change, her body resting along the tree as she begins to make her way up along the trunk, her focus glued onto the tree. 

[Hatake Shinde]

Unfortunately, it was easy to lose focus, especially when you lost one of your crutches. She found it was difficult to get a feel for the chakra output without the ram sign, and so, as she began to fall, propelled off the tree, she shifted her back, trying to arch, and she proceeds to land on her arms, springing off of them before landing along her back, skidding lightly along the grass, wincing again at the feeling of the impact, even if it was softened. It didn't feel good at all, and that was putting it lightly. With a groan, she caresses her body, and she lays back down for a few moments, before slowly looking back to her small camp, the welcoming small flame that invited her to rest down beside it and call it quits or the night. Some part of her had considered it, but another part of her had come to realize that to do so would be a defeat.

She had already come so far, and she was close, she knew it. If she slept on it, what if she lost the progress she had made the next day? The bruises were a sign her body was learning, and it was a sign of her experience, even if that experience was painfully gained. Looking back along the tree, she looks upwards, brushing off leaves and pieces of grass from her clothes as she winced at the feeling of her body. She was close, she was really, really close, and knew she could make it to that next step if she had the will. She had to psyche herself up, and as she did, she slid herself onto her knees, before then rising onto her feet. "...I can do this." She speaks to herself, rearing herself, taking a few steps back as if to get a running start. 

[Hatake Shinde]

She ran. Ran again as fast as she could, her feet tapping along the wood in spades, and she didn't think of anything other than moving forwards. If she focused too much on how the chakra felt, she would slip up, and she would fall. So she had to have absolute confidence in herself as she ran forwards. Sometimes, doing something wasn't about having or lacking the amount of skill necessary, but instead the level of confidence in order to see it through. That was something she learned when she was beginning to play with her fire release techniques, and that was in part why she had no fear of getting burned. So, as she made her leaps upwards, she found her ascent was with stride, and with a sense of familiarity she was quickly getting used to. She was like a bird that was learning to fly.

She was beginning that trip to conquer tree walking. What was better was that she was accomplishing that feat all on her own. Her heart was a flutter and it beat loudlt as she made her way to the top of the tree again, and she felt the adrenaline rushing through her as she realized she had made it. She made it to the top of the tree, and it was because she believed in herself and her unwavering determination that she could do it that she had made it to the top. She now had that instinct in her, and now that she had a firm grasp on the technique, there was little left for her to do except experiment and play with her newfound ability. 

[Hatake Shinde]

Running up and down along the length of the tree, she played around with leaping from various branches, hopping from one spot to another, grasping a branch with her hands and flipping her weight along it so that she could rest along the top of the branch. She practiced standing upside down along the branches, and she then began leaping from tree to tree, to get a good and firm grasp of the technique and how she could use it to manipulate her position, and how she could best take advantage of her environment. She could understand now that this technique wasn't just about charka control. It was also about convenience, location, reconnaissance, and she had to admit it. It was an excellent way to get a measure for a Shinobi. She had a feeling that because of this, she was just one step closer to becoming a better Kunoichi, and she couldn't wait to pursue the next steps of learning the art of the Shinobi. 

All of this training, all of it was so that she could reach the next step of her training. All of it was so that she could press herself to learn the higher level of techniques so that she could show off her potential excellence. Now that, that was something she was more than looking forward to. Especially as she was looking to push herself all the time. After a while of feeling like a professional acrobat, playing around with the seeming physics defying laws of the tree walking exercise, she hopped down from the tree, landing down along the ground. She'd have a lot more time to play around with this technique another day. What mattered was that she had mastered its application. Practice and creativity were another matter she could come up with another time. 

[Hatake Shinde]

Calling it quits for the night, Shinde makes her way back to her camp, and this time, as she stokes her fire, fueling it, and her back hits her makeshift bed, she felt exhausted. There was nothing keeping her going in that moment, and she felt content. There was no nagging sensation hitting the back of her mind, telling her she had failed to do something, and she felt accomplished. As she lay back on that bed, she thought about the famous ninja all across the world with the night sky to comfort her, and she thought about herself. The Ashen Kunoichi. The idea to follow that theme was something else, and she thought about how she showed she had incredible prowess and potential if she applied herself.

To someday become a splendid Kunoichi that was revered world wide. That was something she desired. She began to close her eyes, thinking about the next steps and plans she had to fulfill in order to meet her quota, and what other techniques she was looking to get under her bet before eventually meeting up with her team and sensei. Still, that was sometime away, and she wanted to utterly impress everyone as a rookie academy student that had just been released. She slept well that night, a dreamless, and deep slumber as her body was more than happy and eager for the prospect of rest. Young Iruhi developed a little bit on her own today, and what was better was that she was striving for an even better tomorrow. If she paced herself and perhaps became a bit more ambitious, she could rise to greatness!

Right?

[End Training]