A Stroll through an Abyss [R/Solo]

Alex's daily training regimen continued as she moved to the Shinobi-iri training course. As she took off sending a plum of dirt into the air behind her. Her memories went back to her formal training with her father. Alex had woken up early and arrived to class in time to follow the instructor down the stone path. They continued to walk for a while, both of them silent. Alex began to wonder where exactly they were headed. There was a perfectly good dojo behind them. She didn't understand why they couldn't have just trained in there. She began to figure that maybe this whole "walking to a secluded area to train" was part of her act. She had been trying to be mysterious, or at least that's how it appeared to Alex. It seemed that even the awkward silence that had ensued was even part of it. Soon enough though, walking up to a mysterious dojo all the way in the back of the academy further cemented Alex's thoughts on her "mysterious" act.

"Ok Zazi, go inside. I'll be in shortly..." Alex nodded and walked up the stone steps that lead to the doorway. As she made her way to the door she began to inspect the dojo's exterior. It seemed to be fairly ancient. It wasn't as if the dojo was decrepit in anyway, it just had a rustic feel to it. As if it had been here for several centuries. Alex made her way through the entrance. The interior had the same feel as the outside. There were many decorations adorning the walls. The floors were a hardwood, and a dark brown color. She began to look towards the floor a bit more and noticed the visible wear of it. Seemed a lot of training had gone on in the history of this dojo. While Alex admired the room, the woman walked in silently. "Ok Zazi, it's time to commence your training" Alex nodded, "So when do we star--" Before she could finish her sentence a fist was flying towards her face. Alex quickly jumped back, her feet sliding across the wood floor.

The woman slowly pushed her glasses up from the bridge of her nose once again. "I'll be seeing how fast you are at the moment. The best way to do this is to see if you are able to evade my attacks. If you succeed, next class I'll teach you Shunshin. If not, you'll have to train for on increasing your agility each class until you can pass without being hit." Alex narrowed her eyes. The test made sense to her, but the sucker punch she almost got hit with seemed to be out of dislike for her. "Ok then, I'll make sure to do exactly that." The woman nodded and disappeared from her sight. She waited for a while, until she appeared in front of her and began to throw a flurry of punches and kicks. Alex began to evade. Ducking, sidestepping, and jumping back as much as she could. Soon the woman ducked down and sent a sweep kick towards her, trying to flip her up. Alex let herself fall backwards, her legs coming off of the ground and her sweep kick missing. Alex then threw her arms back and caught herself in a handstand. She then bent her elbows and pushed downwards, which pushed her into the air.

Alex landed quite a ways from the woman, but this made little difference. Once again she had disappeared, putting Alex on the defense. Alex nervously looked around herself until a foot flew towards her face. Alex ducked and evaded the foot, only to be met with a fist aimed once again towards her face. She leaned back and let herself fall onto the ground once again, which helped her to avoid the fist. Alex was now laying with her back on the floor. The woman raised her leg and quickly came down with a kick aimed for her midsection. Alex rolled to her left and the woman's foot crashed into the wood floor, causing splinters to fly every which way. Alex quickly scrambled to her feet and began to stare the woman down. She turned towards Alex and began to laugh. "You're not bad at all. You have great reaction time and your body is conditioned so you're able to meet the demands that you place on yourself when reacting. You've passed!" Alex nodded lightly. "Thanks...So now I get to learn the Shunshin skill?" The woman nodded, "In the future you may learn to Shunshin, but for now you must prepare for your future. For it will be one that takes into account all of your training here and it will culminate all into your future life in the Gensei " she said as Alex sighed "I see, well thank you for your time and understanding.....If this is all I have left to learn may I have your permission to leave now?" The woman nodded and Alex began to make her way out of the dojo.

"Wait a minute!" Alex stopped. Turning back to the woman. "You know of a student named Kaori, right?" Alex nodded, "Yes....why do you ask?" she responded as the teacher quickly replied "Genji recommended that she take this class as well. Said she had some potential as well, but disagreed with her curriculum choice....but anyway....Would you give her this?" The woman walked forward and gave her a letter. "Inside is an invitation to learn Shunshin. I've read her transcript and it says that she has already taken a Shinobi-iri Class, so she won't have to take the same test that you did. Would you be able to deliver it to her?" Alex looked at her questioningly, "Why you'd assume I'd know where she was?" she asked curiously "Genji informed me that you two became pretty "friendly" outside of class..." Alex's face began to heat up. The woman began to laugh, "I'll take that as a yes to delivering the message then." The woman then disappeared, using some kind of technique. Alex placed the letter into the lining of her katabira and walked out of the dojo. Looked like he'd be able to see her again earlier than he thought. Unfortunately, a few weeks later she was slain in her first confrontation with the hollow.

Day 107

When the teacher spotted her she called Alex over to join a group with only one other member. “You two stay here, once I dismiss class I'm going to teach you how to increase your speed” She whispered to them. They both nodded to her in a silent response. She nodded before she turned and spoke “Time for drills, this will help your speed increase over time.” She said before she went and placed two cones on the floor. The cones were 20 meters apart. “I want you all to sprint from one cone to the next. Then slowly jog back to the first cone. Do this five times in a row. No stopping even one time.” she told them as she did an example for them before stepping to the side. She was going to watch them. As Alex waited for his turn, sweat dropped from the woman's cheek as she watched a particular male genin keep stopping then being punished to do it over and over again. “This is a lot like my training with my Father” she whispered lowly to herself. “You’d think he'd understand to not stop after the first three times of doing it wrong and being punished for it.” she whispered some more to herself. Right when she was done whispering to herself, the male genin was finally done. Soon after, it was her turn to do the drill. After she was done the drill, it continued on and on to the guy who just finished. “Good job. Now time for another drill. Jog for 10 meters before sprinting. Do this five times. Then do it running backwards. Do that five times. Finally, sidestep the whole way. Do that five times as well.” She called out to them. The whole group of students groaned out loud as they heard what she wanted them to do. Alex sighed. Alex knew what this drill was for. It was to help enhance their acceleration. It had nothing to do with speed, at least not off the mark. In any case, she and the other students did the drill. This time, no one messed up. “Okay! Take a five minute break and get some water, ya know? I have more drills for us to go through before this private session ends.” The instructor said as she smiled at them. The student shook his head and mumbled and groaned as he took his rest.

Alex squatted down some to catch her breath. “Hmm, this woman isn't playing games she's clearly trying to push me to a newer limit.” she said to herself. She then stood up and walked around; stretching her legs and body some. She glanced up to a clock. She wanted to make sure that she had enough time to get some water. When she saw that she had no more than two minutes left. "Hmm, that's enough time.” She rushed to where she could find water and filled up a small cup with water to the brim, she drank the water slowly. As she turned around, she saw what the instructor was up to. It seemed as if she was setting stuff up for the next drill. “Hmm, more cones. I wonder what she'll be adding to the fray.” she thought as finished the cup of water. She sighed narrowing her eyes “Oh well.” she said before throwing the cup in a waste bin. The five minute break was about to be over.

As the last few seconds passed, the break for the two was over. The young male student next to her didn't seem very excited for this drill. It had to be done and they knew it. They stood in a line once more. Waiting for what the instructor was about to tell them this time. There were now five cones out on the ground. The cones were in 30 meter intervals. “Okay, This is how you will perform this drill. Sprint 30 meters to the second cone. Jog 30 meters to the third cone. Sprint 30 meters to the fourth cone. Finally, jog 30 meters to the final cone. Walk back to the start and repeat this five times.” She told them as she pointed to each cone. The student sighed and groaned at the directions. “Aw. Come on. You only got two more drills to do then we’re done for the day. You guys can do it. Now get going.” She said as she let out a chuckle. The student looked at Alex for a moment before their gaze turned back to the teacher. They then shrugged before they started doing the drill. They wanted to get this drill done and over with. The faster they did it, the faster Alex could move on and the student could return to his room.

Once it was all said and done, the students were panting and sweating. Alex shook her head some as she rubbed her temples. “Ugh.” She just said as she was getting tired and annoyed at this. She wanted to sleep the rest of the day away, she'd been through so much but she couldn't give up now. The instructor just smiled and nodded as she looked at them. “Good, good. You guys are getting faster. See? The drills are doing their magic, ya know?” She told them. Alex blinked as the info sank in. She was right. She indeed was moving faster. Granted it was slowly happening, but it was happening all the same. The instructor took away three of the five cones. She moved the second cone about 100 meters away from the first. She turns back to her students. “Now then. I want you to gradually accelerate to reach your top speed at the 60 meter mark. For the final 40 meters, go out on a full force sprint.” She said as she pointed to the 60 meter mark. Alex blinked some. “Huh. Doesn't sound so bad.” she told herself. “Of course, she hasn't said on how many times we have to do this. I hope only a few more times.” she continued as she waited to hear how many times they must do this. “You will just do this drill twice, as it takes longer to do than your first times” She told them. She then laughed as the one student cheered with that news being delivered. The student didn't wait to hear her tell them to go on and do it. He was happy to do these drill. The drill was done quickly, since the students were moving faster than before. Unfortunately, once they were all done with it. Their bodies started to feel as if they were made out of lead instead of bones. The hype she had gave them awarded them the adrenaline to do the work, but now it was gone. The instructor knew this would happen and wanted it to happen.“Now for the final drill.” She called out to them as she got out more cones and placed them on the ground. All in all, there were eight cones. The cones were set up in a straight line and were about a meter apart from each other. “For this drill, you merely move around these cones as if you were a snake. You weave through the cones. Turn around and weave back. Do this three times then you can go.” She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. The instructor turned to them and told them what their advantage was. The students smiled and nodded, obviously happy with what they have been told. The instructor then waved to them before she left. The male genin followed right after her, which left Alex alone in the room. Alex practiced the course a few times and realized her speed had greatly increased since the last time she was here. One less obstacle in her way, but she still had a long way to go.