The Woods [P]

It felt like ages since Elixar had actively come and done something out in the open, training, sparring, even just having a friendly chat. Today he was going to make a start on rectifying this. He went to a clearing that had long since been left alone by the Jounin. Not much had changed, the grass was soft and low cut, there was the occasional hedge of green leaves and thin branches, and the single oak tree that stood tall and proud in the centre of the clearing was bearing great fruit. Elixar smiled, craning his head back to look up to the tallest branches of the tree. That would be his target for today, he wasn't particularly sure what he wanted to do as of yet so he hopped up about one third of the trunk's length and placed the foot down to platform his way up the tree's vertical incline. Once he was in reaching distance of the tallest branch he would break his dash and leap to it, grabbing the thick branch with his fingertips and hoisting himself up slowly with the slightest of strains.

From there he could see the luscious surroundings that had grown with rain and shine. The village had started becoming less disordered as the new chibi-kage rebuilt the village in her own image. He sighed, thinking back to the bijuu attack that had put it in its previous state of disarray. 'I must get stronger.'

Seconds became a moment, and a moment turned to minutes; the young Takoyaiba gazed over the surroundings, becoming increasingly aware of the rustling of the undergrowth that was little by little making its way over to the edge of the clearing. It looked like it was some small beast, perhaps a rabbit or a fox. He couldn't tell from his position up high, but the danger it posed was next to none, whatever it turned out to be.

Content with this mindset he stayed up upon his perch, waiting for a proper stimulus to get his creative juices flowing.

'I've been up here for a while, I should probably get down from here.' He hopped down with this thought in mind and dusted himself off once he was in stable contact with the floor. A chilly breeze blew through the clearing, rushing up his sleeves and breezing over his armpits and chest. He flexed them in response to the temperature drop and began pacing himself for a light jog around the area, focusing on keeping his breathing at a steady pace. One of the techniques he wanted to learn would require good breathing control in order to stabilise the technique, so the best thing to do would be to familiarise himself with breathing properly and efficiently when he was moving and when he was near the ends of his stamina. A lack of focus would render the technique useless so it was in his best interests to make the effort now rather during a life or death situation where a single mistake would be fatal.

He increased his pace momentarily in order to make his estimated time of stamina depletion come closer to the current time. 'Deep breaths. Deep, slow breaths.'