Perseverance and Control

The day had just begun. A calming orange light shined through the treetops, shimmering in the morning mist. The rains from the night before cleaned out the air, creating a clean, somewhat earthy smell. Yuichi pulled a blanket out of his backpack and he set it down on a tree stump.
He looked out at the obstacle course he had spent the last hour creating. He set it up so that it went in a relatively straight line so he could move as fast as he wanted.
If there was one thing that Yuichi had learned from his failed escape attempt it was that he needed to improve his control. He crashed countless times, and injured himself badly. He could have escaped if he just had more control.
While his goals had changed significantly, there was no point in his speed if all he did was injure himself. Yuichi didn’t want to be a shinobi, but it’s what he was good at. It was all that he knew. If he wanted anything out of life he would need to be stronger.
He set down the sky blue, round teddy bear he carried with him into the Konoha training grounds down on the blanket he put out and sat on the ground nearby. He looked up at Donut. One of his ears was slightly torn, but Yuichi realized he had no ability to sow when he tried to fix it. As a result, loose pink thread poked out from his left ear. Yuichi thought of maybe giving him a bowtie to hide it.
“Alright, Donut, you just watch. Maybe you could give me a few pointers.”
Yuichi stood at the starting line and counted backward from three, blasting off at full speed when he reached zero. He managed to avoid one obstacle, a stick around face height, just to trip over a stump and tumble. He ended up covered in dirt and scrapes and lying in the mud.
He stood back up. He was glad he wore training gear instead of something nice.
Yuichi made his way back to the starting line to try again, crashing instead at the first branch. Blood poured from his nose.
Every injury was punishment for his failure, he thought. He would keep going until he mastered the course.

Yuichi poured some alcohol onto a clothe and wiped down a wound on his knee. He winced at the pain. When he thought about it, he realized that he's had a pretty cushioned life so far. His memories were fuzzy, still, but not gone altogether. He couldn't ever remember being badly hurt. Nor could he remember ever really training much. His abilities suggested that he had some training before his memories were altered, but he couldn't remember a single thing about it.
The things he could remember were his old house, his name, some aspects of his personality, and all of his abilities and jutsu. He remembered entering the hospital and that they spent some time trying to brainwash him.
When he left the hospital, they had some clear goals in mind for him, but he neglected any duties they gave him. They took away any ties he had, any reason to bother earning money or doing missions. Their goals were pointless to Yuichi, so he worked on making goals of his own.
Goal one was to become more powerful. This tied directly into goal two.
Goal two was to find somebody strong. He was sure that following somebody capable, somebody with inner strength, strong will and drive, that he could become strong himself.
His third goal was to regain his memories, if that was even possible. Perhaps he could find somebody who could help, or maybe he could learn a jutsu that could help him. He knew that he would need to research
It all started with practice. Nobody would teach a student they couldn't take seriously, and with Yuichi smashing into everything the way he was he would never get a teacher.
With that in mind, he wrapped up his wound and stepped up to the obstacle course.

Crashing through the trees, Yuichi tumbled, feet over head, across the finish line. He held his arms in front of him to absorb most of the impact, and moved about ten feet after hitting the ground, tossing dirt behind him as he struggled to come to a stop. His hands were covered in scrapes and cuts. He lost a shoe somewhere. Still, he was on his feet, and he finally made it all the way through the obstacle course.

Looking back, Yuichi barreled through the last few obstacles, and didn't avoid any of them. This gave him an idea for a wind jutsu he might work on at some point, but it also left him a bit unsatisfied. He wasn't improving very fast. What was he missing?

Perhaps, he thought, what he really needed was some experience. Real experience. He needed to know what it felt like to do battle, to be desperate and fight for his life. As he saw it, he was short on time, too. The world was a chaotic place, and he watched it get more chaotic over the course of his life.

He watched his hero's die, or betray the village and then die. The Uchiha were just as isolated as ever, if not even more so, and they were the only community he had ever known. Then, he felt betrayed by Konoha. He was only a Konoha genin by name at this point. The Uchiha didn't seem to notice that he existed, but then he had nothing to offer them.

He truly was just Yuichi Ijirashi. Pathetic. Sad. Isolated. Perhaps he fit in with the Uchiha better than he thought. He used his abilities to overcome his personality failures. He was fragile, shy, and lacked confidence, but he was also capable. He had the potential to be much greater. Maybe someday, he would be truly strong. Until then, all he could do was keep working hard.