Suddenly, Five Years!

Five years ago...

Kozachi began her day with the average regular ritualistic behaviors. Hygiene, refreshment, and food. Even a shinobi with her temperament, unique as it was, needed the rest and nourishment to knead chakra and perform well over the course of the day. Besides, she was looking to do some training. There was a specific jutsu that she wanted to learn, one that needed a great deal of practice and control. Therefore, she needed to make the correct preparations. Grabbing a small bag of tough water balloons, she headed out to fill them up and train. She knew how to disturb the water sure enough, It wasn't that hard to simply blast water over and over again with energy. It was harder, through, to bring order out of the chaos that was liquid molecules... or at least, so she'd been told. Stepping over the threshold of her home, she almost tripped and dropped the pouch, but recovered just in time. Oops. She was clumsy at the worst times. She kept trying to improve, working on her dexterity and precision, but for whatever reason, the fruits of her training only showed up in combat. Well, that was where they were really needed, but wouldn't it be nice if she was less of a klutz?

[1/10]

Either way, she had work to do. She headed out of the door and blazed a trail across town, heading toward a more clear area near the beachfront. The air was misty, as usual, something she'd been accustomed to since birth. The Tyndall effect scattered light through the suspended drops of mist water in the air, creating a sort of luminescent feeling out of the midday sunlight. Surrounded by the soft glow of the village's coating of suspended droplets, she made her way west, thinking on how she was going to do her training for the day. The depravity eating away at her soul was slow and quiet today, so she felt like things would be safer than normal. Sometimes, she tried to avoid going all out in order to prevent herself from falling into a rage of emotion and fury. It didn't happen much, especially now that she had grown. Well, either way, she was practicing control today, right? So it's not like anything bad could happen. She reached the beach, and removed her shoes, walking down to the water's edge. Placing the bag gently on the ground (not that it mattered, the balloons were tough as hell), she would stretch and get ready to start.
[2/10]

She rolled up her sleeves and trouser legs (it wasn't like she could wear dresses to the beach, unfortunately) and stepped into the water, just a little bit. Focusing the rather active energy within her, she stretched her hand out toward the water just below her, and began to exert her chakra just a bit. There was a brief disturbance, then the flow of the water around her became just a bit more calm and controlled. Good. This was the expected and desired result. She increased the power of her chakra just a bit more, and the water became completely flat as her control was extended over it. Okay, not too bad.

Next, she tried to mix the water. She was rewarded for her efforts as she watched the water around her slowly move in a spiral shape. Great! Now that the basics were over and done with, she could move on to the real training. She retracted her chakra, the water returned to its normal lapping form, the waves influencing the liquid once again. Well, she was ready, she thought. She reached down, and grabbed one of the water balloons from the satchel. Lifting it up, she cheerfully examined its surface.
[3/10]

During the first few months, Kozachi trained hard. And I mean REALLY hard. It wasn't the foreigner she had met with, by any stretch of the imagination, that had caused her to do this. It was that all of a sudden, the taint upon her soul began to grow with alarming ferocity. Well then, she just had to become stronger, right? The first thing to do was to find some kind of summoning contract. This was the easiest way to do it without the taint reaching her soul too quickly. If she failed, she knew the consequences would be quite dire, so she resolved to succeed.

To be consumed by that berserk rage would be eternal shame to her, who aspired to be a warrior of justice. She went forth in the second year of her training, and signed a contract with the jackals, who were opposed to her idea of justice. To them, it meant nothing. The law did not stop them from scavenging from the dead. Still, she hoped she could teach them a lesson. One had already decided to follow her and listen to her and teach her in turn. As it turned out, this might not be so bad after all.
[4/5 jebaited]

She began to strain herself, the difficulty of learning a fourth elemental affinity taking its toll on her. As it turned out, though, the added bonus of hunger, stress, and pain kept her discipline up and the corruption down. If she was hungry, if she was in dire straits, if she was hurting, only a true maiden of the light would have the power to resist the temptations of the world, and she was quite convinced that she was that very maiden. There would be no compromises to the darkness!

She then realized that she was woefully inadequate at her swordsmanship, despite being one of the best in the village. She could name at least three others who were far better than she. Knowing that she was outclassed, she decided to seek guidance elsewhere. Leading Kenra with her, she decided to set out for the Land of Iron in a few days. There were master class swordsmen there, who would be able to teach her how best to defend the innocent and protect the weak, a philosophy that her village certainly didn't seem to agree with. It was something that had always clashed with her, but now she was free from it.
[5/5 omegalul]