Haru was wearing her armor today; as she moved through the Land of Wind. It matched the color of the sand itself, so she decided to wear it on this occasion. She was going to find the perfect spot, to train. To get in tune with the land itself and the chakra that naturally flowed here. Her earth style had become weak, much too weak for her liking.

She knew that coming here could be dangerous, but for now she hoped that no Sunagakure ninja found her. Some of them could be....very irritating as the lady would think to herself upon past encounters. Most were alright though; but, they did have some fanatics who simply loved war. The leaf was much the same; as one of the major countries it had it's history of bloodshed to be sure. Haru wanted to guide the Leaf out of such methods of thinking. They needed to acquire power; but not for the sake of having it. To secure a peace that would go unchallenged. So that folks would be able to live their day to day lives without fear of an attack or some kind of terrorism.

With a sigh, the wind swept a little bit of sand through her hair as she held only her ganbai fan and a small bag with mostly beef jerky in it. She knew the way to this lands village well; better than most since an old flame of hers used to live here. While it would normally take days to get there; she would get there in just about one herself. However, the village wasn't her destination. It was a grotto her old flame used to take her to; where they would....do things. She smiled at the thought; but then made a distastful face after thinking upon the Wind ninja for too long. "Damn cheating bastard....." she said to herself as she continued to walk. Eventually; she spotted the large canyon she was looking for.

While it was by no means a 'grand canyon' it was huge. With a river running through the middle of it. At it's end; a grotto with palm trees and a natural spring grew; so she would need to get there for the training that she wanted to put herself through. It would be grueling training; as she planned to put herself to her limits to unlock her earth chakra's once more. She purposely brought little food and water with her to make her body and mind stronger when all of this was said and done. It would not only build her stamina, but her mental toughness as well.

She thought all of this while standing over the canyon itself; arms crossed. The canyon was about 1,000 ft across in either direction and the river at it's base was larger than it seemed since she was at such a great height. With a single movement, her 'Body Flicker Technique' would go off several times as she appeared on one rock lower; then another even lower; then a third about one hundred feet off the ground. With a single front flip; she would rocket off of the canyon wall toward the river in the middle.

Landing on the river itself in a display of grace; she would land at a kneel before rising and walking on the water itself. It was very clear, considering it's location. But upon further thought; since a waterfall oasis provided it's waters. It wasn't that strange.

As she walked up the waters of the river between the canyon, Haru could only think back on her past as she wondered how much she'd grown in the eyes of those in the village. As one of it's Elders she hoped they looked up to her...no...that sounded, way to vain for her own mind. She hoped they liked her, yes. That was it. She hoped that they didn't hate or detest her in any way. She wasn't completely unbearable was she? Even so, she hoped that she would be able to do what's best for Konoha. No matter the cost.

The sound of her feet hitting the water was all that could be heard. As she looked up; she could see the blue of the sky and the two sides of the canyon she was at the bottom of. It was a hell of a view, a small smile passed her lips briefly as she looked to the side, left, and then right. She wondered how many times as a younger girl; maybe ten years ago that she walked these canyons. At 26 now; that was about the right timeframe. Sneaking off to another village with a boy...if only she could have a word or two with her past self. But who was she kidding; she probably wouldn't listen anyways.

The sand, the earth, the dirt. Just being here she could feel the flow of chakra that she'd long since been slacking off on using. The rocks themselves held energy; if one could look closely enough one would find this out. She slipped into a kind of meditation while she walked on the river, feeling the energies of Earth coursing through her. Eventually, she began to hear the sounds of running water up ahead. Opening her eyes, as they'd been closed during her meditative walk; she could see it. The same waterfall she'd been under with him. It thundered loudly in this bleak, bleak desert. Kicking up a plume of mist and creating a little reservoir of water that was almost like a lake. She would then see, past images of herself and the handsome Wind ninja. Him with blonde hair, sort of spikey, tan skin. His white-ish uniform and headband clear as day. The green of his eyes. The image of them embracing faded as she shook her head. Just another one of his girls. That's all she'd ever been. How foolish he'd think he was now if he could see how far she'd climbed in her own village.

Walking up to the edge of the lake; she saw the big rocky landmass in the middle of it with the waterfall behind. "Perfect." she said to herself and with a single leap she would land on the rocky mass. Standing with a deep breath, she would close her eyes and make her first attempt at the jutsu. But first, she would kneel and put two fingers on the ground. "Work with me here ok...." she blushed a little, looking around embarrassed that she'd just spoken to the ground itself. With that, she would stand to her feet.

The 'Tiger' handseal would fly out quickly as she would then slap the ground with one hand. Infusing her chakra into it; the ground began to rumble and rumble. But nothing happened. Frustrated, she would furrow her brow and stand with a sigh. "Of course...it's not going to be that easy." she began to repeat this over, and over again, with only the sound of the waterfall and surrounding water to keep her company.

Nearly an hour had gone by and Haru was breathing heavily now, not from chakra loss but from frustration alone. She used to use this element with ease, and now it seemed like the ground wouldn't do more than rumble for her. "Damnit....this is more difficult than I expected." although, she could feel herself more attuned to the element than she'd been in over a year it wasn't giving her any results. Maybe a break was in order.

Grabbing from her bag nearby some beef jerky and a bottle of water; she would sit indian style and begin to drink and eat. With a satisfied smile; she wondered why she hadn't brought any seafood. As a tumbleweed rolled by; she let an 'oh' slip out. Realizing that the fish would've gone bad long before she'd gotten here in these conditions. With a small grin, she would continue to munch away at pack after pack of beef jerky.

The next time she went for a drink however, a her sense of being in danger would skyrocket as a kunai literally whipped through the air as she caught it without looking at it between her fingers...all while continuing to drink her water.

Opening one of her eyes, she would look over at a group of five Wind ninja from the village obviously; their uniforms seemed semi well kept; and their headbands seemed to fit nicely. They weren't imposters wearing someone else's clothes.

"That was very unwise, is this how Sunagakure treats guests these days?" she said, standing to her feet, lifting herself up by her huge ganbai fan that was just about as big as she was.

"Leaf bitch...what are you doing here?!"
"We followed you down that canyon and you seem to be up to something..who comes to a place like this anyway?"
"Is there something at this waterfall that the Leaf is after?"

"Actually....I came here to relax." she said, lying, but it was a white lie. With a small smile; she would close her eyes, and then open one of them; her Sharingan activating with it's signature ping as several illusions of giant sharingan eyes would spin all around the ninja; causing them to panic. All but one, he seemed to know what was going on and started yelling at them to calm down and that it was only a genjutsu. By the time they had been calmed down; Haru chuckled at the boys, enraging them further.

"At least one of you has some brains....but if you want to keep it on your shoulders, I suggest you leave. I'm not an enemy of the Sand so please.....leave now before you boys get hurt." as she said this they looked at one another and laughed.

"Maybe we'll hurt you, bring you in, and let the Elder's deal with you." one of them quipped.
"Or maybe we'll have some fun with yo----" as soon as he said this; Haru had used body flicker to be right in front of the Sand ninja who had naughty thoughts.

As he stared into her sharingan, he got an image of himself being impaled through the back of the stomach as he freaked out and screamed; swinging his own sword sideways as Haru merely ducked; causing him to literally slice his own comrade right in the neck. As she backed off briefly, unbothered; the other three charged as she literally began to parry with her hands and feet both while backing away. She stepped out onto the water, as did they; surprised that Sand ninja were taught to walk on water she would get an idea but keep it to herself.

As they both backed off, they drew kunai. With that; Haru would just step back and perform a wheel kick; her hair flipping underneath her as her foot connected with the water, scooping it up and throwing the kunai off of it's path while also splashing the sun ninja and getting them soaking wet.

A sound like bird whistling went off; as Haru was shown with her right arm surrounded by lightning after three hand seals went off. With a 'Body Flicker' forward, she literally slashed the two right across the chest as lightning seemed to rip not only from their open wounds; but all over their body from being soaked in such a manner. As they screamed and fidgeted; one of them in the back who had yet to move seemed to be gathering chakra.

He would let off some form of wind jutsu that literally sent the waterfall parting in half; and Haru flying back into it. She would land with her shoulder hitting the wall behind the waterfall as she would come leaping back out of the waterfall with two fingers crossed 'Shadow Clone Jutsu' went off as three of her would with the element of surprise; literally fly out of the water and engage the remaining sand ninja. The real her would step out, back onto the middle platform of land in the center of the lake; walking calmly even though she was wet and had just walked out of a waterfall. Thinking to herself; it was 'now or never'

She performed the hand signs for Rampart; and stomped on the ground this time instead of hitting it with her hand. Instantly, a jutsu like noise hit the air as the ground began to shake like an actual earthquake. A rampart that was easily three hundred feet in height would rise from beneath her as she would be lifted with her arms crossed while looking down at the Sand ninja.

"W-WHAT THE?! SHE KNOWS EARTH STYLE LIKE THAT?!"
"Just who is this chick........"
"N...no way!"

As they were distracted by the might of her display, the rampart stopped rising...and three blades pierced through them in different areas from behind. Non-lethal areas. She didn't want to start a war for no reason here. Two in a state of electric shock; three bleeding out. Sighing and putting two fingers on her nose's bridge in frustration she would make sure to head to Sunagakure as she infused more chakra into the rampart; making it raise her further, and further into the skies until she literally could leap out of the canyon.

"Guess I should head to their village...and not leave em out to die." with a small smirk, she could only think that it served em right for interrupting her training. However, she was older and wiser and more responsible now so, she decided to indeed head to their village and inform their own Elder about the situation before it went from bad to worse.