Good, you've generated your first burst of wind. But, tearing a leaf in half shows only one aspect of wind. Not only is Wind able to cut things, it is also able to create immensely powerful gusts. These gusts can be caused and used to create shields, walls, and tools.
Wind release focuses upon sharpening your chakra, and using it to create sharpened currents. The great thing about wind is that it is so hard to see. So you can use it in a more sneaky way than other 'flashier' elements like lightning and fire. Additionally, wind has the reputation of being the fastest canon element so you can use it to devastating effect in close range.
Now here are some critical thinking questions - if it's so hard to see a wind jutsu how can you see that it's coming at you?
How would you use a wind Jutsu in conjunction with your environment? Say if you were in a dessert.
How would you combine wind with another element, any element?
There is no such thing as elemental ninjutsu. You simply mould chakra in a particular way, so that it takes on certain characteristics of an element. For example, by making your chakra vibrate at high speeds, you get raiton chakra. It's just simply manipulating your chakra in advanced ways to create elements.
Chakra is the combination of spiritual and physical energy which exists in our bodies. This physical energy exists within every single cell of the body, and can be honed through general exercise. The physical energy, is like the yang. The life giving physical energy that is required for life, the first side of the coin so to speak. On the other side, is the Spiritual energy that comes from within. This energy, like the Yin, is dependant on the user's own imagination. Thus, it can be honed through study, and meditation. All living things contain chakra, although Shinobi can manipulate it and have weaponised it. This chakra constantly flows through the body, through the chakra circulatory system. This chakra circulatory system is, to a certain extent, connected to our own vital organs. This was shown when Neji Hyuuga attacked chakra points near the heart, yet did a lot of damage to the heart itself. It's somewhat based on the circulation of blood in real life.
Chakra itself is rarely seen, although when performing extremely powerful condensed jutsu (like Raikiri), charka can be seen to an extent with the naked eye. In most other situations however, it requires someone to have a sensory, which will allow them to see the chakra quite clearly, even being able to distinguish between different people. In addition, as pointed out by Karin chakra seems to have a reliance upon the user's own emotions. For example, when Sasuke was angry and upset, Karin described his chakra as 'Dark' and 'Intense'.
Now as I've said before, our spiritual energy is dependant upon our own imagination and knowledge. While the Physical energy, depends strongly on our bodies' phsycial condition. So in order to use Ninjutsu, these energies must be in perfect balance. The user uses the Spiritual Energy to think and envision what he wants to do, and then use his Physical energy to give it shape and actually make it happen. By using handseals as a medium, we are able to then perform feats which are normally extremely difficult to do or even impossible, such as walking up a wall. This is called Ninjutsu. Now, Ninjutsu stems from Ninshu, which was what the sage wanted to use in order to bring people together, connecting them. Instead, it was used to bridge the physical and spiritual energies, and weaponised by people who became known as Ninja or Shinobi.
There are two ways to mold chakra in order to perform Ninjutsu techniques. Shape Manipulation, which manipulates the form of raw chakra in order to aid us in battle, and to accomplish basic things. This can also be applied to objects, through the principle of chakra flow. That is enhancing the properties of ninja tools, and weapons by infusing them with our own chakra. For example, Asuma Sarutobi uses this in order to enhance the properties of his knuckle knives. By infusing them with chakra their reach, cutting power, and durability are all increased. The other way of molding chakra, is nature manipulation which acts to change the actual properties of chakra itself through various means. For example, by causing your chakra to vibrate at high frequencies, you create Raiton chakra which has various numbing and paralsying properties. One can even mold two elemental natures at the same time to create a new elemental nature with some of the properties of both elements, an example would be lava release which is a combination of earth and fire.
Questions?