Training of the Mind and Body [P]

Kirito sat down in his new office, he had to work on improving himself if he were ever to improve the village. He had already done some training in utilizing nature chakra, but had yet to actually master the ability to draw in and hold senjutsu chakra in himself in order to enhance his own strength and jutsu. He knew that this would prove to be a vital part of his training and his day to day life as the newly inducted ANBU Commander. While he had always been a hard working prodigy, he was also what one may consider to be an over-worker. He would always push his body and mind to well beyond their limits in order to achieve what he wanted from techniques to solving puzzles. He took a moment as he meditated to think of all the changes his life had been through these last few years. He found it almost hard to believe that nearly two years ago, he was still in training to become a samurai, but now he was sitting behind a desk in the Land of Water, leading their Black Ops organization. It was such a big leap, but he was so happy that he made it.

He felt at home in the water nation, able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu if he wanted, not having to rely solely on a weapon. He also thought of how lucky he was to have found those who were like himself. He knew they needed to stick together and stand up for themselves as he was aware that some villages would use their Jinchuuriki as weapons during times of war or crisis, but he had faith that Satomi wouldn't do such a thing. Though, Kirito was more than willing to put himself on the line if it meant protecting his home. He had grown very fond of the village he was currently in and considered it the home he never had as a young child growing up. It felt more like home than even the Land of Iron did when he was there. It was something truly remarkable that the people here were so accepting of him, an outsider, that they even treated him as one of their own. He felt true joy and happiness at the thought of these people who he had come to love and cherish as though they were his own family, these people who he would put his life on the line for in a heartbeat.

He could feel himself breathing in the air around him, feeling for the nature chakra that he had learned to utilize for certain jutsu, but this time, he simply focused on pulling it into his body. It was slow going as he was more accustomed to charging and releasing it in bursts, but with Isobu helping him, it all became easier. He decided that while he focused on drawing in the nature chakra, he would go to visit the giant turtle to see how he was doing. He closed his eyes and when he opened them he was greeted with a mist covered snow field. Looking out through the mist, he could see Isobu plainly. "Isobu, I suppose it would be in our best interests to discuss current events and make plans on what we should do. We share this body after all, so we should plan together accordingly." The giant turtle 'hmmed' "Yes, I agree Kirito. This Black Sun business is not looking good, apparently two of the five major vilages have lost their Kage's and from what your reports told you, the Land of Iron was attacked as well, but we are still unsure of the collateral damage. My thought's are that we should bide our time, gather our strength and prepare for an inevitable attack." Kirito had to agree with his companion.

3/8 (-2 for GM in Senjutsu)

There was wisdom in making preparations and then waiting for the opponent to make the first move. If they set things up properly, they would be able to at the very least thwart any attempts at attacking or destroying Kiri in the manner that Konoha and Kumo were attacked. Their biggest concern should be to guard their borders and bolster village defenses as that would prove to be the most vital i defending from Black Sun based on the information they currently had on the group. Nodding to Isobu, Kirito would fade back out of the seal, it was time to focus completely on his training. He could feel the senjutsu energy flowing into him, slowly but surely. He could still feel that it wasn't yet balanced with his current chakra reserves and as such wouldn't be sufficient to enter the famed "Sage Mode" but it would be to that point soon enough, he just had to focus and be patient. As he meditated, he glanced over the reports on his desk, they varied from operations reports, to potential candidates for ANBU and to reports that their informants had gathered regarding Black Sun and the condition of the other major villages. All were important things on his list of things to do, but for the moment he focused inwards.

4/8

He could feel a warmth growing within himself. It was slowly growing to match what he could feel of his own chakra. Thinking of chakra and nature chakra, he knew that the body naturally produced yin and yang chakra, physical and spiritual, that mixed inside of the body to form the normal chakra reserves. Then, for one to enter sage mode, they had to gather enough nature chakra to balance out the equation so to speak. He could feel that his nature chakra that he had gathered thus far was at around two thirds of his maximum chakra levels. This is what he could estimate anyways. Next, one had to remain completely still, which was much harder to accomplish than drawing the chakra in on its own. It was in a human's basic needs to move and be in motion of some sort at all times. This fact in and of itself was what made sage training as difficult a task as it was. This is why most people learned from animal sages or didn't learn it at all, simply because it was such a difficult form to learn and even more difficult to master.

5/8

It was the moment he achieved the delicate balancing act within himself that he felt it. A calming aura spread around him and he felt at one with everything around him, the air, his office, the building. He could sense all the people going about their daily lives and he could feel their chakra, in both quantity and the elemental affinities aligned with them, he could sense the ANBU training below him, and even out to the Kage tower at the edges of his senses. He also felt his body was far superior to how it had been before. Much like a rush of excess energy that empowered him and gave him the tools he needed to defeat almost any opponent. He felt almost as strong as when he used his Bijuu Cloak mode, but this was just much more connected to everything. He felt at one with the world, and this granted him strength and insight into the inner workings of a grander picture than he would have ever imagined had he not attained sage mode. So sensing was a major part of this ability, next came the physical enhancement, then there was the strength he could feel, he felt that his chakra had been supercharged and that any jutsu he used would show this.

He could also feel that his Medical Jutsu had gained insight. As he could now feel the inner workings of a body that he was working on, he would be better suited to healing than he had been in his original form. He could only imagine the ramifications of combining this ability with his bijuu chakra mode and the strength and power he would have then. He looked out the window, observing a bug fly about around a window that was nearly 100 meters away. It had improved his senses beyond that of what was normal for even someone as powerful at base as he was. Looking at his own hand, he could feel his chakra was surging with excitement of how he could use this form to help himself grow stronger and faster, to help him act as the guardian of his village that he longed to be. He was not power hungry by any means, but with this power, he knew he stood a better chance of defending his village of any threat that he came across. Isobu seemed to have gotten somewhat excited too, if the feeling he was getting from the seal was anything to go by. The big turtle was a peaceful animal and no doubt the calming aura this brought about had an effect on him.

By the time Kirito had gotten used to the feeling that sage mode had given him, he had to release it as there was an intrusion into his office. The blue markings faded from his face as the mantis masked ANBU stood at attention in front of his desk. He carried a report on some suspicious movements in Iwagakure. It appeared they had somehow found some traces of the elusive organization known as Black Sun. He would need to take this to the Mizukage to find out what exactly he wanted to do about this information. He considered that possibly he would want to wait for another nation to attack first, possibly even tipping them off to the information, or hand select an attack unit of his own shinobi to sent to check the waters so to speak. He personally felt that the first option played out better for Kirigakure in the end, allowing them to either weaken Black Sun or weaken another major village. Either way, that plan worked the best for them and they wouldn't be able to argue against the pro's of that plan. But, that was up to Lord Yondaime to decide, so he wouldn't worry over it too much, he trusted his leader to make the right call.

8//8 Sage Mode