Grey awoke super early, ready to go out and train his ninjutsu to the limit! Before he entered a ninja squad, he wanted to be able to compete with the rest of them in order to be the strongest of the bunch and impress his sensei. He remembered in the academy learning about Hatake Kakashi, the sixth Hokage. He couldn't help but think to himself that he wanted to be just like him, grow up more powerful than the rest and show his dominance over all the lower leveled shinobi. He wanted to be the very best, like no one every was and he would not stop until he reached that level! He would grind until he died if that's what it took.
"Utsukushi, are you up yet?" Shousha would call from the kitchen. Grey's eyebrows would furrow as he had asked his brother so many times now not to call him that. He just never listened to the will of his younger brother however. Shousha was now a Jounin and still moving up in the ranks of the village. He constantly talked about wanting to become the Hokage and Grey admired his dream and would encourage his big brother every step of the way. However, Shousha had been unable to complete a surplus amount of missions due to the fact that their grandfather, Moki, had come down with an unidentifiable illness. He generally had to tend to the man's wounds, though Grey liked to think he helped out as much as possible. He often sat in on lessons from his grandfather and enjoyed listening to the man talk about his days as a ninja.
Grey hopped out of bed and took a shower as fast as possible before rushing out of his room to his older brother. "So are we still going out for training today? I need to improve my ninjutsu!" Shousha laughed and nodded his head as made his way to the door and left it open for Grey. "Make sure to close it behind you." He would say upon his exit. Before leaving, Grey took a moment to look into their Grandpa's room and make sure he didn't need anything. The old man was sleeping and all was well. He kissed the man's forehead and walked out of the room. As he made his way out, Moki would open his eyes and smile, though Grey would not see this. The old man was quite proud of his grandsons and would never impede their work, despite the pain he was in. He felt like a burden at times.
Shousha stopped the two of them in the training field. It was time for them to begin. Without warning, he turned around and poked Grey in the chest, knocking him to the ground immediately. "What the hell as that f-" Before he could even respond, Shousha had already poked him in the back hard enough for the wind to be knocked out of him. He hadn't even seen the man move. The difference in the abilities present within the each of them was obviously larger than Grey had been aware of. He blinked and it seemed Shousa was right in front of him once more. "Do you understand why I have done this? I want to show you what you could be capable of after a bit of training. My power is great, but not nearly the greatest. You could easily surpass where I am now, just as I will in time. So lets get this started. First, you're going to master your chakra control abilites." He extended his arm fully, pointing to a massive tree that was easily one hundred meters into the air. "That will be your first test. Once you can climb that, we will begin learning Jutsu." He smiled and like a flash he was gone. Though, Grey knew he would be watching at all times. He would do his best to impress him. His brother wasn't aware of it yet, but he could already focus chakra in his feet, but he was unsure if he would be able to climb the massive tree that shadowed over him. He gulped and focused his chakra in his hands before reaching out to grab the tree. He could feel the rough bark against his hand, mocking him, telling him he would never be able to make it to the top. He still had twelve hours before the sun set, and he would not let this tree beat him.
He soon realized the tree was too thick around to climb like a normal tree. Not to mention the lower branches were halfway to the top. It would be impossible to get to them without using chakra. From nearly 10 meters away from the tree, he broke into a full sprint and ran for the tree. As soon as he was in reach he lifted one foot onto the bark and began running vertically. He was doing it! He was actually able to walk up the tree with little issue! Though, that was when he realized he had lost attention to his chakra and felt himself falling backwards. A rock dug deep into his spine as he gasped for breath, finding each inhale short and painful. With the wind thoroughly knocked out of him, he reached into the air for something to grab on to, half expecting his brother to be there to grab his hand, but he was not. Instead he had to slowly pick himself up off the ground and think of what it would be like to be powerful, able to ignore pains like that. But that day seemed far away when he couldn't even climb a tree. This was like level one stuff!
He stood up once more and looked at the goal before him. He had to bend his neck all the way back to see the tip of the tree as the sun shone down into his face. He winced as he began running once more, full speed at the tree. His foot gripped the tree and he began placing one foot after the next, rapidly until he was about twenty meters up. He felt his chakra loosen at his soles and panicked, allowing himself to slide down the tree once more, this time much more gently. "Come on..." He would say aloud. "I know I can do this..." He brushed himself off before walking backwards, his back now against the tree behind him. He sprinted forward, faster than before. His foot caught the tree once more and he ran faster than ever before, vertically! He pushed with all his might as if he was just climbing a hill. He made 25 meters in little time, taking only about four seconds on the way up. He reached 50 meters before running out of fuel, though he was able to grab a branch and found himself hanging on for dear life. He managed to do a pull up and put his full body onto the branch while gasping for air. Now he just had to do the same without a head start. Putting his hands on the branch he was standing on to balance himself, he slowly stood and reached for the bark in front of his face, the full trunk. Using his chakra to focus into his hands, he climbed vertically while putting th rest of his physical energy into his feet, allowing him to push himself up. He made it another twenty meters by doing this. He was about pooped and felt like he couldn't go on even if he tried. However, the branches were now closer together than they were before. He would slowly climb them once by one, until there were three branches left above him. His soul felt as if it was about to collapse and so he simply laid back on the branch, staring up at the sun, resting his energy as much as possible. The heat beaded down onto his skin as he felt the cool breeze immediately fill in the cool void he felt he was missing when it was gone. He couldn't understand how people did it so easily. He was having such a hard time that he could barely stand. He opened his eyes to see the clouds moving slowly above his head. He put all of his might into standing and putting his hands on the branch above his head. With both hands, he gripped the branch and lifted his feet to wrap around it and pull himself up above it. One less branch to climb now. He had to jump to the next one. He took a single step back and leaped with all his might, grabbing the branch and nearly slipping, gripping it with only one hand now. "Oh hell.... I'm not dying here." He pulled himself up slowly, though he could feel the branch begin to creak as his did so. All of a sudden, it snapped and he reached out his hand, gripping the trunk with all his might and chakra focused in it. He was practically clinging to the tree as he continued his climb to the top as fast as possibly. However, that sudden occurence had allowed him to make it... all the way to the top. He looked at the branch below him and saw his older brother Shousha standing with a smile on his face. "Not bad, but we've only just scratched the surface Utsukushi." Grey immediately had the smile that was on his face erased as he was called by his birth name once more. The two would then slowly make their way home to see make sure their grandfather was okay while they were gone. Grey's body ached the entire trip home, but his heart knew that he would now be much stronger than he ever was before.
WC: 1654
