Alexandra Kudo's Training

"Well then." Alex sighed, lying on a fallen tree branch in the middle of the village. "funny how hardly anything grows here but you find these... random trees. As if someone didn't want nature to flourish here. Like my parents."
Looking into the dazzling sun, Alex put her hands over her eyes.
"I hate being taught, but I love performing. I've been telling that to myself over the past few years but it seems no one has listened to me."
A small lightning blast flares out of Alex's hand, causing it to tingle. Slowly, she gets up taking her hand down. A small back alley behind a few sand homes is in front of her. As she carefully walks down in, she fires small shocks of lightning into the walls on either side of her, causing small explosions.
"It looks like... I'm accurate enough... Now where's the Academy..."

After a few minutes, she realised she had missed the deadline for the Chunin Exams. What a pain. That would mean she had to wait about half a year for them to happen again. For no reason except entertainment, she looked at the Sunagakure main gate which was partially obscured by buildings from where she was.
"Should I go to Konoha...?"

Suddenly, a memory panged in her mind, brought upon by seeing the gates again. She didn't know what it was but had the hunch it was about her parents. Anger boiling up inside of her, alex quickly set off for a deserted area of Sunagakure.

When Alex was sure no buildings surrounded her within fifty meters and only sand lay beneath her feet, Alex rose her hands gently, lightning flaring through her fingers.
She tossed her hand to one side angrily as blue lightning flared through the air. The lightning struck a stone monument, causing it to explode into smithereens. Slightly shocked and dazed but still angry, Alex slammed both hands on the sand and a large lightning wall rose in front of her. Leaping through the lightning wall, Alex took her chakra from it and a lightning pulse exploded from her into another stone momument.
The stone momument disintergrated.
Alex just stared. That monument was a gravestone for her uncle. It was amazing how the ground beneath her hadn't been affected by the sudden useage of lightning but stone had nought but vanished.
Stepping gingerly over to it, Alex gathered up the small fragments that remained and piled them on top of each other.
"At least it looks like the real thing." Alex joked, seeing the small pile of ash where the monument lay.
Looking at her hands, Alex realised she had untapped power. Perhaps even Rock Ninja would have to succumb to her someday?

But her parents were an issue.
That scroll she had found in their room... No. She wasn't to think about it. It was a distant memory, perhaps even a lie.
And how long until they noticed it was gone?
She looked at the scroll poking out of her Ninja trouser pocket but looked away again. It was going into her Jounin Jacket when she came of that rank and would be given to the first enemy that destroyed it.

Alex let out a huge sigh.

Toshi was walking around, eating a two stick piece ice lolly. Suna was such a sunny village...it was kind of nice to warm up. She sighed with happiness as the ice melted in her mouth. Then she heard a loud noise, almost jumping out of her skin. "Wha...?" She frowned, and started to follow the noise to its source.

Standing up slowly after destroying the family's beloved monument, Alex started walking down the main streets of Suna, waving at the passer-by's and people who weren't ninjas, frowning at how unaware they were of the dangers real Ninja had to face.
It was rather funny though. Alex was lazy but still wanted to be a good ninja. Perhaps this was because she was more for physical things and hated using her brain even though she was rather smart if irrational at times?

Someone caught her eye.
"Hey, you're not from here!" Alex pointed and shouted at someone running and eating an ice lolly at the same time. This caused many people to look at Alex with glares. She didn't care though.

At the sudden shout, Toshi dropped her treat, slipped on it and fell. "Owie!" She winced and sat up, brushing sand off her pained head. "Oooh, that hurts." But then she giggled and sighed. Oh, sweet masochism.

Trying to keep down a small smile, Alex thought that this person couldn't possibly be a rogue Ninja spy. No, this person was much too... Accident prone on first sight. Yeah, that was it.

Alex brushed past the glaring onlookers and walked over to this newcomer.
"Hi, I'm Alex, what's your name?" Alex asked, not giving her hand for Toshi to shake.

Toshi blinked the sand off her lashes and looked up at Alex. She smiled and got up, extending her hand for a polite handshake. "Hi! I'm Satoshi Kuroda, but people call me Toshi. Nice to meet you, Alex."

Reluctantly, Alex took Toshi's hand and shook it gently.
"Hi Toshi. Why are you here if I may ask?" Alex asked, looking back at the village of Suna and its mighty buildings. "This isn't really a safe place. It's hot here and many betra- things happen here. You looking for something?"

Alex skipped on the word "betrayal" because she felt she would be revealing too much to someone she had only just met. Something felt uneasy about this... person.

Toshi grinned sheepishly. "I just wanted to have some peace from life," she admitted sincerely as she started to brush the sand off. "If we don't take a break from reality, we might go insane."

"Peace from life?" Alex almost laughed. "This place is far from peace. Look past those vendors selling double sticked ice creams and others selling cute little pompom hats with the Sunagakure logo on... Look past how it's all a tourist spot and you look into the eyes of a country ravaged by war."

Alex touched the scroll in her back pocket.

"Actually it's better if you don't know what goes on. Come, let's do some training. I want to show you something." Alex hid the scroll as she turned back the way she came, walking in the direction of the area where she had shattered her uncle's monument.
"So... when are you coming? Now or next week?"

"I'm coming!" Toshi smiled and followed her like a little obedient puppy. She was innocent and harmless looking, and even her aura was saying, 'Look, I'm naïve!' She followed Alex curiously, keeping silent.

"Just so you know, I don't judge based on appearances." Alex sneered, looking back at the innocent-acting Toshi.

Minutes later, they came to the area where Alex had cast her powerful Jutsu.
Without waiting for a question, Alex channeled her chakra into the palm of her hand. It took the form of a lightning blade but Alex merely flicked it toward another monument behind her, this time of her Aunt.

It smashed into smithereens as it came into contact with the Lightning Line.

"Does Lightning normally do this?" Alex asked. "Ignore the monuments by the way, I'll find someone to put them back together."

"Sugoi, that was awesome!" Toshi said as she clapped vigorously, stars in her eyes. "I dunno, but it seems as if it were blown up by an electric bomb or so," she said, tilting her head in interest. "Wow, that's a dangerous jutsu."

"It is indeed." Alex smiled slightly evilly. What jutsu do you use anyway?" Alex asked, slightly interested. This person didn't have the signs of any chakra around her. If it was lightning, she would have been able to detect it easily but...

There was nothing.

"Jutsu? Oh, I rarely use jutsu," Toshi confessed shyly. "You see, I'm not much of good use in a fight or anything plus I'm very weak..."

No wonder.
"You're a Taijutsu user then?" Alex smiled. "Show me what you can do. With anything, even if you're not Tai." Alex pointed over to the last monument next to them, her Uncle's brother's. "As usual, I don't mind if that gets destroyed. go ahead."

Alex seemed to be unusually keen in determining what kind of jutsu Toshi used. Perhaps this was because she thought Toshi could be a possible enemy and have to be fought. However, she would avoid this where possible. It wasn't like her to immediately kill someone she had just met.

Though a fight was probable.

"Eh, but I- I don't know any destructive jutsu except my Suicide no Jutsu," Toshi said sheepishly, eyeing the monument. "I'm more of a defence, not offence."

"Defense?" Alex looked at Toshi quizically.
"Defend this." Alex quietly whispered, flicking her wrist discreetly in the direction of Toshi, blue sparks flying out of it and toward her.

Instantly, the ground in front of Toshi cracked into a small hole and something brown with a sickly smell swished up to defend the attack.

"What's that?!" Alex was instantly taken aback but it was too late to stop the lightning which was flying toward Toshi.
"Mud? Sand?"

The black creature thing moved again to push Toshi out of the way, and disappeared, well, exploded, when it was hit. Toshi sighed. "That was a creature, not element."

A creature...
"A creature?" Alex's mouth was agape. "You can summon creatures?"
That was interesting.
What kind of creature could it be though? There were so many possibilities but one thing was clear. It was vulnerable to Lightning. It exploded, much like the monuments, so that meant it could have been a rock sort of creature.

"What creature was it?" Alex asked, obviously interested in this new girl that had just come sauntering into the village.

Toshi shook her head frantically. "I don't summon it, it automatically comes to me depending on what happens and well, I don't know what it is."

"Interesting." Alex turned her head to one side. "Very interesting indeed. It's like Gaara, the vanishing boy. Even I don't know where he is anymore but... Never mind. It seems your Jutsu activates upon impulse..."

Alex turned around to look up at the sky behind her.

"When are the next Chunnin Exams? I'm looking to get to the rank of Jounin as quickly as I can. Find out what happened here..."
Alex suddenly went all quiet, her voice trailing off into the wind as she never finished her sentence. She merely walked past Toshi and the debris around the area, turning back onto the Sunagakure main street.

Toshi turned to her and followed, her steps feather light. She matched their paces. "The current exams are still on, so it's gonna take a while..."

Alex didn't seem to hear what Toshi said.
"It would be nice if there was a way to jump into the current exam, especially if there's an odd number of people. Unless the Forest of Death stage has already been passed of course."
Alex quickened her steps, pushing past the hustling and bustling villagers in Sunagakure.
"There are hardly any Ninjas here..."
Alex eventually stopped just outside her house which lay on the main street. It was an extravagant house made from mud, wood and sand. It seemed to be a reward for saving the village against a huge enemy. Or at least that's what she was told. Stepping in, she held the door open for Toshi. Alex then took the scroll out of her pocket and tossed it into the top right compartment of a wooden drawer and closed it silently.

"Be careful here. My parents aren't back yet but they'll soon be. By then, we need to be out of here." Alex warned.