Board Thread:Konoha Logs/@comment-26510601-20160314132554

The sun would rise soon, for now the world was cloaked within abject darkness given the new moon. Within the great Land of Fire, and deeper into its grand forests that teemed with wildlife: There was a village. This village hidden behind the great and protecting trees of the forest was Konohagakure, the hidden village of the Land of Fire. Some people, but not many were beginning to move about throughout their homes as they prepared early on for the coming morning and the bustle that usually came with it. Somewhere within a small lane of houses, one such of these people was about to wake up. This was Ieyasu Akimichi, a new and recent addition to the shinobi forces of Konoha. This genin woke with a loud scream, of his own as he suddenly sprung to life from the small bed mat he was laying on.

In doing so, he rolled off of the bed and onto the floor which were nearly at the same elevation given the kind of bed he was sleeping on. With him, he took his sheets. He laid on his stomach for a few seconds before suddenly pushing himself off the ground, his green eyes were open in panic and his features contorted as some sort of abstract horror was realized by him in the delusions he perceived while still waking up. In his mind, he first felt something cold being gripped in his left hand as it pushed against the ground, looking to it he gasped as his whole palm and hand were bloodied and just beneath the cold steel of a similarly bloodied kunai rest there.

The warm feel of blood staining his hand was so strange, its metallic smell was quite familiar. Just as he looked down he then saw the decrepit, rotting face of his own mother as he lay on her body. Her eyes glazed over and drifting upward, her body awkwardly stiff from rigor mortis settling in years ago. Ieyasu screamed again and flung himself from the body, hitting the wall before throwing the kunai away. For five minutes he just sat there, crying into his hands as memories came back of the tragic night.

These sort of things happened often, the memories of that night some years ago played back in Ieyasu’s mind. Some parts even corrupted and twisted as this child still blamed himself for the act rather than his own father. In his mind, he drove the kunai into her neck and twisted and turned it on purpose, with a grin that even Judas himself would be proud of.

A sharp rap on his door was heard in the middle of this before a cold, stern voice called out.

“Ieyasu, it’s in the fucking wee hours of morning; shut up, boy!”

After a moment of silence and Ieyasu doing what he could to conceal what sensitive emotions he still held deep within his heart, the young lad spoke up, “Yes dad, by the way…”

“What is it?”

“I wanted to ask if I could go out and train.”

“After breakfast, you’ll need some protein down that gullet of yours if you want to get bigger muscles.”

Afterward, a brief silence came about before Hirotada’s heavy footsteps could be heard traveling back down the hallway. Ieyasu exhaled sharply, looking around the room to see his delusions were still untrue. Just like a nightmare, the body, the blood, and the killer’s weapon were gone as though they were never there.

The boy drew himself up from the ground, Ieyasu looked around his room before lighting a small candle under the hood of a lamp. His room quickly was filled with this dim, flickering light, but it was enough to clearly see what was around. Aside from a simple dresser, and some framed paintings displaying vibrant scenes of past wars and battles during the Sengoku Jidai, there was nothing else in this small room. They were fascinating to the young boy, inspirational even as poetic words written in kanji told of these warrior’s tales and how they won the battle on those very days. Best of all, they held a sentimental value to Ieyasu as they were the last momentum of his mother’s work. The last good memory he had of her, through these paintings.

The boy stood there for some moments, frozen as only his eyes moved, drifting from one painting to the next. Becoming indulged by the little moments he had left with what innocence he had in his macabre life, Ieyasu went over to his drawer and began to pull out the kimono and split hakama he commonly wore, quickly putting them on and tying his obi around his waist to make sure none of it came loose.

Then, he picked up the tools he had been given since his graduation before he grabbed his door and slid it to the side. Stepping out, Ieyasu’s eyes met with the thin walls of his hallway. With haste, Ieyasu headed down the hallway and turned off to the right to come into the kitchen where his father was busy making breakfast for the two. Ieyasu set down his bag near the table he sat down at. It was rather low, but with good reasoning as instead of chairs there were cushions which Ieyasu and his father kneeled on to have a proper seat.

On the table, there were already some appetizers set up and two empty plates, one for Ieyasu and the other for Hirotada. What wasn't empty were some small bowls which had potato pancakes, broccoli and pork; etc. Grabbing just a little bit because there wasn’t much else, Ieyasu ate small portions of all bowls before Hirotada brought down the main course. Despite being a rather abusive father and bad person in general, Ieyasu always knew from the beginning that his father could make the best of food.

They sat there and ate some steaks with a side of string beans and other delicious foods. The two quickly devoured their plates, both with big stomachs and appetites for good food and that alone. After all was said and done, the two give a quick goodbye to one another before they both headed out from the house, but each on their own separate path.

<p class="MsoNormal">Ieyasu walked at a steady pace, enjoying the quiet and solemn nature of the village at night when there weren’t others hollering in the market and whole swaths of people changing the current of the street. Moving further and further down the streets, the buildings around him soon began to grow less dense and the forest more apparent. Eventually, Ieyasu was entirely in a forest on a simple trail. In truth though, Ieyasu was not far from Konoha, in fact he was still in it; he simply picked up one of the less developed areas of the village that led into the woods.

<p class="MsoNormal">The boy walked off the trail after some time, heading deeper into the forest until he found a small clearing between the trees where a large patch of dead grass was. This was Ieyasu’s special place, where he trained by himself, still incorporating the strict regimen his father had taught him harshly of while he was still in the Academy.

<p class="MsoNormal">Setting down the bag he carried with him before, the young boy undid his obi and slid from his clothes where he could be seen wearing a black pair of pants and a shirt, much tighter and firm on the body than the loose-hanging fabric of the kimono and split hakama he had been wearing before. Ieyasu walked around for a bit, stretching for a bit whenever he suddenly dropped to the ground. Catching himself with his hands in front of him, he got in the position perfect for a pushup. Back and hip straight, Ieyasu began to dip down and push himself back up.

<p class="MsoNormal">This continued twenty times over before he switched forms, bringing his hands in closer and then spreading them out to give more work to different muscle types. The young boy only understood this from Hirotada drilling these exercises into his mind from years before, constantly doing this and much more to become a strong boy.

<p class="MsoNormal">At the end of doing the 60th pushup, or rather the 20th for his widespread pushups, Ieyasu was breathing a little hard but he persevered as he dropped onto the ground and flipped over. He sat there for a moment, a lapse in movement before he began to furiously move the upper half of his body up and down. Stressing movement or power in the abdominal region to get in these sit-ups. His breath became more labored as he progressed, even sweating a little bit as he continued up until the 15th sit-up. Ieyasu let go of himself and laid down on the ground after the last sit-up, breathing heavily as he recovered from working so quickly and without a break like the one he was taking now. This didn’t hinder him for too long though, as eventually Ieyasu picked himself back up and walked over to one of the low hanging branches of these trees. Beneath was a small rock that had been placed there in the past month or so, around the time Ieyasu had graduated from the Academy.

<p class="MsoNormal">Using the rock as a stepping stone, Ieyasu jumped off shortly from the ground with his arms up in the air. He quickly latched onto the branch just above, where he hung from it. Quickly but with graceful movement, Ieyasu switched the positioning of his hands and arms until they were facing inward. Now in proper position, Ieyasu began to slowly pull himself up, up until his chin met with the branch. Now just in reverse, he slowly relaxed until he was back where he had been. This process repeated around 20 times or so, this repetitive process going on and on. Each time was nearly the same, except as time drew on the process became slower and slower for Ieyasu as he used what energy he still had from this rigorous workout that had spanned around 20 minutes or so.

<p class="MsoNormal">After finishing, he nearly dropped off from the branch entirely but with a short burst of quick movement to save himself, Ieyasu landed decently. Exhausted from his work, the young boy sat down before bringing his bag over to him and opening it up where in a light piece of cloth some dried pieces of steak and pork from before were hiding, along with a bottle of water that was plugged so none of it spilt out on the way to this little area.

<p class="MsoNormal">Ieyasu snacked on the decently portioned meal he had before relaxing and laying against the firm and resolute wood of a tree. He closed his eyes for just a moment, stretching a little bit as he regained his breath. Looking up from the clearing of trees, his green eyes looked to the sky and noticed a faint, orange light coming from the east. The dawn was coming soon, and Ieyasu still had a lot of training to do on this day to complete what he usually did on a regular basis… <ac_metadata title="Just Another Day" related_topics="Ieyasu Akimichi"> </ac_metadata>