Ou Homem Falou [flashback]

It seemed like ages ago to him, but it was really only a little over a quarter of a century ago, not that long depending on your point of view. But at that point, he was almost an entirely different person. Ambitious, young, and eager to become more powerful, but not in the flawed way that he saw in so many post-modern youth. Needless to say, however, this is NOT Kozai's story. It's difficult to say whether this young man, now training in the chasms, had much in common with the Kozai of the present at all.

People never change.

__________________________

A roar of power leaped up from the large gash in the ground, the ravine within which a shinobi of the Cloud was training. It would be so simple, at this point, for the man to simply lose control of his power, leading to a rather untimely and shameful demise, but he kept it fully reined in. Whatever headway the chakra was making was solely provided by him, and him alone. Luckily, there weren't many people out here. He raised his fist and thrust forward, keeping his stance solid. The earth element wasn't that hard to master after all, he thought to himself. Well, many other members of his clan had done the same, so there was little to no issue there. Rather, he supposed that it was expected of him, which ruffled him slightly. He didn't really want to do much for his clan; it was most likely better off without him.

He swept his arm out to the side, and a large platform of rock formed from the ravine wall in front of him. Three strata down, and the earth was getting harder to manipulate already. Kozai scowled in dismay. Was he not putting enough effort into it? His control, as always, was flawless, or at least pretty close. Maybe it was just a matter of practice and acclimation. Naturally, this last guess turned out to be correct. Well, he'd gotten down into this gorge by just walking on the wall of it, like any decent shinobi would do. However, he now determined to get himself back up through some sort of mastery of earth release. A good resolution, to be sure, but one that might take him a while.

He touched his hand to the side of the ravine and sent his chakra into it. Rock first, then soil above. Soil was an interesting thing, a part of earth that was just as heterogeneous as the air around him, perhaps more, it could be argued. Sand, silt, hummus and ground up rock were merely the inorganic portions of the batch. Bacteria, plant life, protists... there were all kinds of things to be found there.

[2/5 posts]

He considered his options. He could just... well, walk up, but like he had mentioned before, he had already barred that option from himself. He could also create a variety of steps from here on up that he could walk on. Squinting at the gash of the sky above, he began to knead chakra. Might as well get started now, right? The sooner he began, the sooner he'd get back home. Releasing some chakra into the ground, he built a solid step. Not bad. Now all he had to do was repeat this process a few hundred times, and he'd be at the top.

A few days ago, he'd seen a silent play about something like this. Some rich vigilante thrown into a pit. The character had to essentially climb his way out, a task which had been supposedly done by only one other in the past. Well, whatever. At least he had ninja magic on his side, right? After another twenty steps, he noticed something odd. The rock down here was sedimentary, but there was something off about it. Huh, weird. It didn't seem at all like the rock that he had been messing around with at the bottom.
[3/5 posts]

Of course, that's when it hit him. Second strata was a layer of the earth that contained more clay. He stopped and groaned in frustration as the step beneath him began to bend under his weight. Luckily, he wasn't that far up yet, but he braced himself instinctively. The impact, of course, wasn't as bad as he had expected, but he was still angry. God, damn, of course he'd forgotten about the clay. Well, there was nothing to be done now but to devise some other method of getting to the top. What tools were available to him? Well, as he had mentioned before, the earth right below him was solid enough to support his weight all the way to the top, and being a Senju, his chakra was certainly powerful enough. Could he get to the top using just this packed rock underneath his feet? He reached down and inserted his chakra into the earth. Alright, this would do. All he had to do was seize control of enough material to bring him all the way up to the top of the ravine, where an easy jump would get him to the side and on the way back home again.
[4/5 posts]

He thrust his arms upwards, and a large burst of chakra shot out from him, rocking the ravine walls around him with noise. The earth began to move beneath him, lifting him up toward the sky. Not bad, he thought to himself, as he shot past the point where he had gotten to with the steps before. Not as efficient, and certainly drained more energy, but it did the job he needed it to do. To be fair, he didn't intend to go training here in the future if he had to get out like this. He wasn't scared of heights or of high speeds or anything, but it was rather distasteful to have to get out this way. It took him a few seconds, but he finally reached the top.

How did the old saying go? "When you're back on the rocks, it means you've been to the top"? Or something stupid like that. Kozai shrugged the dirt off of his shoulders, wiped his face with a spare cloth, and started his way back home. Not bad work for the day. He had already started planning out the next, and knew with certainty that he'd make headway on those special assignments waiting for him at home.
[5/5 posts to earth release, being the 3rd basic element, also 400 + 500 exp = 900 exp]

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