Damp, Soggy, Moist Training [Tutor w/ Maikeru]

[Santaru Kaede]

Danii walks through the Forest of Death with quiet ease. She seems to be unworried by the dangers that could lurk around every corner trusting not only her own skills, but those of Maikeru who should be right behind her. The simple clothes of her childhood had been replaced with white bandage dress and a purple corset. A purple leather corset outlines her midriff. An unzipped hoodie hangs off her body. A close inspection would show that the jacket is custom made to avoid getting soaked in water. A dark leather belt and harness combo finishes the look and carries her longsword on her back. While still large compared to her size, it no longer seems comically so. She has grown into it over the past couple of years. Other than her sword, only her long hair wrapped tight in a messy bun remained constant over the years.

“This looks like as good a spot as any to set up. Hopefully Maikeru will be here soon.”

As she finally comes across the perfect field, she slides out of the jacket and hangs it from a tree branch along with the belt and her sword. Her training would not call for either today. She unclips the bottle of water from the belt and takes a long pull from it. Filling her mouth a second time, she begins forming a set of hand seals she had been practicing for a while now. She spits the mouthful of water straight up while channeling chakra into it. The chakra guides the drops up into the air where they seem to hang briefly pulling in more water from the surroundings to form a small downpour in the immediate area. With the training field prepped, she smiles and sits cross legged on the ground in a meditative stance to wait for her teacher. She had asked for help in her ninjutsu skills from Maikeru. He owed her for the time that Reicheru and her had helped him pick up on kenjutsu. Although he had shown way more potential with the sword than she does for ninjutsu, so this might not be an equal trade.

She listens to the falling rain and feels each drop as it hits her skin. While meditating, she reaches out towards the water with her chakra and her natural affinity for water jutsu. She focused on how the water felt pooling and flowing down her skin in little rivulets
She listened to each drop hitting the ground around her and the light thumping eventually gave way to splashing as the water gathered on the ground around her. She noticed the slight chill that fell with the rain and filled the training grounds. The water seemed to pull new smells from the forest around her as the plants opened up to absorb it and the water gave way to mud. She even occasionally stuck out her tongue to catch some of the drops and taste the refreshing water. She sat with her eyes closed for a little while just feeling the individual drops and contemplating how to incorporate the natural ebb and flow of water into her fighting style. Occasionally, she would take another swig of water and restart the the rain. Each time she did, she made an effort to pull the chakra from deep within her and add a part of herself to the jutsu. She took a deep breath and addressed Maikeru who had finally arrived.

“For once, you are the late one. Who would have ever thought I would beat you to a training session?”

A smile crept across her face as she sat with her eyes closed still enjoying the rain falling around her.

WC: 616

 

[Maikeru]

Unfortunately for Danni, she hadn't actually beat the older Uchiha to the training grounds. He had been watching for a while, using his kunai to keep larger creatures that had been creeping up on her at bay while she did her warm up practices. The young Nanjirou had always been like a little sister to Maikeru, and it was hard to keep himself from filling the over protective older brother role, even if he had been too busy to really spend much time with her lately. This was something he deeply regretted, but, being a chief medical ninja prevented him from that.

After a few moments, he re positioned from the tree he had been sitting in, moving to behind the girl before dropping from the trees. It was best to let the girl keep her small moment of victory. He held up his hands in a defensive, joking fashion as he walked towards her, waving them dismissively.

"Yea yea," He said, giving her a small smile. "You beat me for once. But, one of us has a mountain of paper work they took a break from to help the other, so cut me a little slack here Danni."

Like Danni, Maikeru had gone a massive change in the past two years. He had grown another inch, probably hitting what would be the end of this growth spurt. His hair was now quite long, even in the high pony tail he had it in it fell to his scapula. He wore an open chested hakama top, which was cinched with a red sash. The sleeves of it were long on the end, allowing him full movement while using his blade. He wore baggy black pants to match the top under neath, and on his hands were fingerless black gloves with the Uchiha crest emblazoned into them. The scroll for Kusanagi was held safely in a pouch hidden under his Hakama.

"Now, you asked me to help you with your ninjutsu?" He asked, activating his Sharingan as he finally stood in front of her. "It seems like you're messing with water style, so, tell me. What are you struggling with?"

 

[Santaru Kaede]

Danii celebrated her little victory quietly. She opened her eyes and jumped up, spinning to face Maikeru with a big grin on her face. She gave him a big hug like she did when they were little. It had been too long since the two had time to train together and the tight squeeze might catch him off guard if he wasn't expecting it. She takes a step back with an even bigger grin on her face.

“Well, glad you can put aside your paperwork for long enough to come help me out. Oh, and Gramps says hi and to not be such a stranger. Said come get a home cooked meal sometime that will remind you of “back home”. Well, his home at least, don't have any memories of the Stone like him to compare it to.”

The rain continues to fall, filling the leaves with little puddles until the weight pulls it down and pours off onto the ground below. Despite the usual cliche of rain being a downer, it calms Danii and is something she enjoys being in. To her, it seems to wash away her bad memories of lost friends and reminds her of the rebirth brought by spring time. She begins making some practiced hand seals to show Maikeru the improvements she has made and what she hopes to accomplish today.

“Well, I know I don't have the best of control, but I've improved alot since we were little. Even practiced enough to get good enough to add a bit of your preferred style in with mine. I've gotten pretty good at using it for battlefield control.”

She mixes fire chakra in with her gathered water chakra and causes the water pooling at her feet to steam and rise into a thick fog around the two as she talks. She holds it briefly and focuses on maintaining it around them. She pauses and holds it before releasing and letting it fade away.

“But, when I try to use it offensively, I still struggle to hit my target.”

The rain continues to fall on the two and Danii goes through the ritual of restarting it again. Done showing off for the moment, Danii looks to Maikeru for advice.

Total WC: 988

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru watched the girls demonstration with pride clearly evident on his face. He crossed his arms across his chest, a wide, beaming smile on his face as she even displayed the ability to use an advanced element. Sure, it wasn't plasma, but, Maikeru could certainly settle for something like that. As she finished, he reached into his pouch on his waist, pulling out a small, thin scroll. In kanji on the front was written the words "advanced water jutsu", and Maikeru began to slowly unravel it before setting it on the damp forest floor.

"I'm very impressed Danni, you've certainly grown on your own. I'm sorry I haven't been around more to aid in that, I really am." He said, placing a hand on top of her head and ruffling her mess of white hair. "But, I come with gifts to make up for this. I.. borrowed this from the library. Totally didn't just take it.. but maybe don't get caught with it, yea?"

He smiled down at her, before crouching down and placing his finger on one of the jutsu listed.

"This one, Supreme Aquatic Realm, this is the only water jutsu I can really use. I saw it once, two years ago when.." He trailed off, clenching his teeth for a moment before continuing. "Well, I saw it with my Sharingan. But, I do understand the basics. Where fire style is all about raw power, water is more controlled. With fire jutsu you can get away with just pumping as much chakra into it as you can, but water you have to.. hm. How to explain this.."

He looked around to one of the puddles, before moving over to it. He gently pressed his finger against it, causing waves to ripple out from it until they hit the edge, and gently faded into nothing.

"See, with the right amount of pressure, water flows naturally. The waves flow out, before being consumed by the next ones. However.." This time he pressed harder, the waves flowing to the end, before crashing against the hard ground, and spilling over. "If you apply too much, it will overflow. So, try this. Channel your chakra into the puddle and disturb the water. However, if you spill any of it outside of the puddle, you fail."

 

[Santaru Kaede]

As the fog faded, Danii returned Maikeru's grin, proud to be showing him her improvement.

“Thanks Mai-chan! So, what did you bring me?”

Danii kneels down over the scroll as Maikeru unravels it and lays it down. She listens as he explains the gift and her smile briefly fades as she understands the time that Maikeru is talking about. She places a hand on his shoulder and gives him a comforting squeeze. She didn't hear him talk about it often, but she remembers it well. She reads over the scroll carefully as he continues. From what she sees, it is a powerful one, a larger version of a jutsu she had already mastered. It would be a good one to add to her arsenal as a combination offensive and battlefield control jutsu. But first, she had to work on her ninjutsu skills.

“So, I need to focus on control more than raw power?”

Danii remembers back on one of her more informative classes when Kenshin had given her similar advice on her kenjutsu. She wonders if a similar technique could apply to this as she followed Maikeru over to the puddle. She watches in fascination as he disturbs the surface of the water and continues his lesson. When leans back from the puddle, she steps up and kneels at the edge. She takes a deep breath and holds her hand out over the water. She begins channeling chakra in her hand and tries to release it in a short, steady burst. Instead it hits the water and pushes deep down into the puddle. Instead of rippling out smoothly, the water gets shoved out of the way and then collapses back into the void causing the water to bounce back up and splash her in the face. A scowl crosses her face as she stares at the puddle.

“Of course! This isn't going to be that easy, is it?”

She pouts and stares back at the water trying to think of a better approach.

Total WC: 1,321

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru smiled down at the girl as she showed her usual enthusiasm towards training. Giving her a pat on the back his Sharingan spun in slow circles as he watched the girl begin her training. His eyes were very helpful in situations like this, situations where he would need to monitor ones chakra flow. He paced behind her, his hands behind her back as she continued to stare down at the water. Her chakra flow seemed natural, and undisturbed, which worried the Uchiha slightly. Sure, techniques above D-rank were something that couldn't be easily mastered, and required a great deal of chakra control, but, Danni had always been a natural talent in his eyes. Should she be struggling this much?

"It probably will not be easy, no." He said firmly, a slight frown coming onto his face as he stood behind her. "But, your affinity is one of the harder ones to master. It's part of the reason I have stuck to fire and lightning, both allow the user to channel raw power into their jutsu to get similar results to those who had greater control. If you're struggling with this though, I would stay away from genjutsu."

He teased her slightly, but, it was really to hide up the fact he was thinking of some small amount of aid to give to the girl. He had zero experience in water style, only able to use jutsu he had stolen with his Sharingan. Still, as a Jonin level shinobi of the village, it was his job to help out people in Danni's position. The fact that he thought of her as his little sister just added to the pressure on him.

"Visualization, can help." He said, kneeling down next to her. "Although it's a shitty thing to do in combat, for training purposes it's rather useful. Imagine the water doing what you want it to do, rather than focusing on putting the exact amount of chakra needed to complete the task. If you do it enough, your chakra network will adjust and it will become like second nature. Think of it like kenjutsu. You didn't know how to perform a quick draw when you first picked up that longsword of yours, but, with time and practice it become second nature. Your chakra network is just like one big muscle, and needs to be trained like one. Now, come on. Try again, and don't rush this time."

 

[Santaru Kaede]

Danii looks up when Maikeru gives her a pat. His confidence in her reassured her that she could do this. Danii looked down more determined this time. She takes a deep breath and places her hand just above the center of the puddle. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes as she tries to center herself. Listening to the water drops around her, she gathers her chakra and pushes down on the water with it. The water ripples out this time, but with a bit too much force. The ripple speeds off and overflows at the edge of the puddle. With his fancy eyes, Maikeru would notice that when she pushes out with her chakra, Danii pushes down ever so slightly with her hand. For someone with fine chakra, it wouldn't really affect much, but, while Danii can gather her chakra fairly easily, she releases it all at once as opposed to in a steady flow.

“Come on, you got this. Remember what he said. Control over raw strength.”

Danii mutters to herself as she recognizes the improvement of this attempt, but also that she could do better. As she thinks about his words, she remembers the advice she once received about her kenjutsu in an informative class she took in the academy. Momentum was nice, but she needed to work on muscle control. Maybe she could treat the water chakra she gathered like a part of her muscle group. And one thing she learned about during her studies was how the better it was to use a group of muscles instead of a single one when working on a task.

“Ok, I think I can do it this time.”

She takes a deep breath and gathers her chakra again. This time when she pushes down with the chakra, she purposefully pushes down with her hand and uses her finely trained muscles to guide the chakra with movement and when she feels like she has pushed enough chakra into the the water, she pulls some back while ligting her hand away from the water. The ripple flows out smoothly with a secondary, opposite wave following behind it from the pull away. The waves meet right at the edge of the puddle and briefly negate each other before reflecting off the ground and heading back to the center of the puddle.

“I know it wasn't exactly how you wanted me to do it, but…”

She looks up at Maikeru to see what he thought about her work.

Total WC: 1,739

 

[Maikeru]

The training was coming along nicely. Although the girl hadn't mastered it, the progress she was making was rather impressive. Maikeru placed his hand over hers, channeling a bit of his chakra into her own to help the water reach it's intended effect, the waves stabilizing before disappearing as gently as they started. He smiled down at the girl, before giving her a thumbs up. Standing, he moved to the scroll they had left unwrapped, rolling it up and handing it over to the Nanjirou.

"Now, Danni." He said, deactivating his Sharingan. "Next time I see you, I want you to have mastered two of these jutsu, do you understand?"

His tone was firm, but still held a tone of care in it. As much as he wanted to see her succeed, he wasn't going to come down to the methods that he had seen in the leaf growing up. It wasn't like he wasn't going to kill or maim her if she failed.

"It's gonna be difficult, but if you put the time in, it should be no problem for one as talented as you. I truly believe you can surpass me one day if you really put your mind to it."

There was a smile on his face while he spoke, whether due to the pride of an older brother, or a friend, he wasn't quite sure. Not that it mattered all that much. Danni was going to be an amazing shinobi, of that he had zero doubts in his mind.

(253 words)
(TWC: 1,401)

 

[Santaru Kaede]

Danii nods and takes the scroll. She carefully tucks it away in her pack before shouldering her harness and sword. The rain peters out and she lets it fade away. No point in keep it going as it seems their training session was wrapping up. She was happy with the time spent out here with Maikeru, but she knew that his work was probably piling up while he was out here.

“Thank you for your help today. I hope you didn't fall to far behind on your own work. I'll make sure that next time you see me I'll have these mastered and more! But, I don't think I'll ever be able to pass you up!”

Danii wraps him in one more hug before turning to leave. She yells out over her shoulder.

“And Gramps wasn't kidding about dinner. He expects you to stop by soon!”

Total WC: 1,885

 

[Maikeru]

"Of course, I will always be here to help you Sis." Maikeru said, returning Danni's hug tightly. "My work is nothing compared to you."

Maikeru truly meant those words, now more than ever. He had experienced loss, great painful loss. It was something he never wished to experience again, though with his lifestyle he knew he would. He had come to the perspective that it was important to hold onto the people you loved for as long as you could, because they could be gone tomorrow. With a small smile, he watched the young Nanjirou walk away with a pep in her step. Shaking his head, he gave a small leap into the tree line, making a b-line right for the hospital. He was sure that the place was going to burn down without him.

[topic left]

WC: 135

TWC: 1536

 

[Santaru Kaede]

Danii arrives at the edge of the forest and pauses for a moment. She wants to test out one more thing before she leaves. Combining the lessons she learned from Maikeru and Kenshin. She begins making simple hand seals to use one of the simplest water jutsus. As the water condenses into her hand, she closes her fist around it. Holding her hand over her shoulder, she steps forward and pulls it down as if she was making a vertical slash. She releases her chakra and opens her hand at the same time. The water flies out in a short arc shape and hits the trunk of a nearby tree. Danii nods as her new technique seems ro show promise. She leaves the forest thinking about new ways to use her practiced style to guide her water techniques.

WC: 138

[Topic Left]