Private From Where I Stand: More to the Forest [Tutor Req. Senju Aria]

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Standing outside of the Konoha Academy about an hour after all of the class dismissals, Shusuke would be waiting for yet again another Tutoring Assignment that was given to him. This would be the fourth time the child was asked to assist an Academy Student since his graduation. While he was glad the village acknowledged him as skilled enough to help the current student class, he was always hoping for an assignment with a little more thrill. He was assigned to meet up with another Senju Child, and if this student was anything like the last, he would be excited to see what they could do.

Once Aria would arrive the child would see Shusuke wearing a long black cloak with a scythe in hand. He had tutored in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu, and this time he felt like addressing Taijutsu again. He was curious what kind of training this Senju Aria already possessed, but he was certain he could not go all out no holds barred less he injure them. Spinning the scythe around like a color guard's flag, he would warm up his arms as he waited and would find the center of gravity for his conjured weapon. Throwing it into the air and catching it with a hand behind his back before flipping forward in a slice he would practice some of his basic strike formations to keep himself busy.

The afternoon sky was slowly coming to a close and evening was approaching rapidly as the crisp blue sky was beginning to darken and dull in vibrance. The scattered clouds would slowly begin to shift from their regular white and grey coloration to more of a pinkish orange. The sky was truly beautiful, and it seemed like looking up was always a sight of beauty within the walls of Konohagakure.

1/5: 302 - 302/1500

 

[Ayeka]

Once again Aria had been assigned a lesson by the academy and once again Aria had been assigned to a very unique ninja or at least that what was the instructor had said when she had been sent to go find her tutor after class. Threading her way through the halls Aria looked out of the windows which gave her view of the academy gates which was disgorging children and their parents into the village after a long day of studies and for a moment Aria felt a strange pang. It wasn't sadness it was just a vague awareness of lonely this village felt for her but she soon shook of the momentary sombre mood and slapped both her cheeks with her heads.

"Snap out of it. You've been spending too much time with Akio."

Grumbling to herself Aria picked up the pace into a job as she headed for the front gates to meet her tutor. Arriving at the gate Aria looked left and right before noticing a figure practicing on a nearby training field, silhouetted in the dwindling lights and pinkening skies. Walking up Ari was met by a blond 'girl' with a large scythe wearing some pretty cool gear but the one thing Aria found most shocking was that this person was prettier than most girls which was kind of unfair. Letting it go Aria walked onto the field and much like with her sensei Asuka planted her feet squarely.

"Hey! Pretty Onee-chan that looks really badass! I'm looking for someone called Shusuke do you know where he is!?"

Unfortunately Aria had zoned out with the academy teacher and didn't know what Shusuke looked like but truthfully wanted to taught by this person with the scythe since she loved people with what she dubbed as a cool aesthetic and Shusuke was one of these people.

[WC: 305 1/5]

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shusuke's brow twitched some as he heard what this girl said. It was in that moment he contemplated either murder or suicide. This topic has never come up before and now here it was for the world to see. Shusuke stood still, the wind blew his hair as the gusts hit him in the face like the brick of comment she said. Taking a fleeted step forward Shusuke was almost teleported directly in front of the young Senju girl with his hand in the air before slamming it down in a chop on her head

"I am Yamanaka Shusuke, and if you wish to continue to breath I suggest you never say that to me again." He let out a sigh. It wasn't her fault. He took a couple of steps away and turned around at the girl. Pointing his finger at her he would begin the lesson. "I am of the understanding that you're of the Senju line, is this correct? If so, I have something that you could utilize much more effectively than other Shinobi thanks to your natural proclivity to sensing and using Natural Energy."

The ANBU in Training made a few handseals before placing his thumb in his mouth and taking a bite to slightly puncture the skin. "Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!" With a massive burst of smoke the field of view the young girl had would be blurred out for a few moments, but as the breezes push the summoning smoke away the image of a two meter tall turtle with shrubs growing from his back would become apparent. Shusuke was sitting on top of the turtle, cross legged, but his appearance appeared to be altered. His eyes were underlined with green markings and a diamond like symbol now rested upon his forehead. "I will be teaching you how to summon a companion today. This here is Shida, and he is a Ninja Turtle that I have known for a few years. As you train with your summoning contract and truly begin to synchronize with their energies you could potentially unlock Sage Mode. This skill is something that will not only synchronize with your Senju Bloodline well, but it will have stronger results than someone outside of your lineage could ever imagine. Even stronger than mine."

As he finished Speaking the turtle would walk towards Aria. "Hello, I'm Shida, it is nice to meet you!" The turtle would say with a smile.

2/5: 404 - 706/1500

 

[Ayeka]

Aria closed her eyes for a moment as blast of wind picked up in front of her showering her in dust from the ground before she opened them again only to look up at Shusuke with his hand raised in the air for a karate chop. Knowing she wasn't fast enough to dodge Aria quickly clenched her teeth to avoid biting her tongue as the blow slammed down on her head just above the forehead which was thankfully one of the tougher parts of the humans skull as the little girl was sent crashing mercilessly down to the floor.

"I take it back.... Your not pretty."

Aria grumbled to her self through clenched teeth as her head rang with pain and her head seemed to steam from the impact she had just received but after awhile the latent regeneration of the Senju kicked in downgrading the pain from high to low enough to stand while still leaving a nice goose egg on Aria's head as she stood back up in time to catch Shusuke's Jutsu demonstration. Nodding in affirmation of her status as a Senju, Aria watched in interest as the older boy bite his thumb and began to execute a string of seals she hadn't seen before.

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

Aria's vision was obscured by an explosion of smoke that was quickly cleared away as the evening breeze blew across the training ground leaving Shusuke sitting on the biggest turtle Aria had ever seen in her life, with what looked like plant life growing out of it but that wasn't all as the air changed with subtle hints of natural energies as it began flowing off her teacher gently much like the trees and plant life around them. She hadn't ever seen a Jutsu like this before nor has she seen anyone outside or inside her clan for that matter, to utilise Natural energy and infuse it within themselves. Aria couldn't tell what this did but she could tell it made the air around Shusuke feel more intense as that small survival instinct in the back of her brain warned her of danger on a primal level.

"Hi Shida."

Aria said as she stepped forward with an excited grin at meeting a cool animal like this.

"Nice to meetcha!"

Then Aria looked up at Shusuke.

"I dunno what sage mode is exactly but it feels diffrent...in a way I can't explain. Just that you feel stronger than you did a moment ago. So sign me up Sensei I'm ready and willing to learn all you got to teach! How else am I going to become a Sage that can equal heaven otherwise."

Aria said happily, her prior injury forgotten in favour of learning the bad ass technique she just saw only for the turtle to then begin speaking leaving the young Senju just staring at the turtle with stars in her eyes.

"He talks too! You are officially the coolest person or er animal, I have ever met Shida. Let's be buds!"

Aria gave a big cheesy as she held up a fist for a friendly bump completely forgetting that turtle didn't have a way to bump

[WC:827 2/5]

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shusuke grinned as the student mentioned that she didn't know what Sage Mode was. "As you know Natural Energy is the purest form of chakra that exists in the world and atmosphere, and Senjutsu is the practice of combining and shaping it with ones own chakra to produce effects grander than either could create on their own. Those who have learned this ability have earned the title of Sage within their contract, and by interacting with Natural Energy, can undergo a special transformation that enables them to gain features and skills normally limited to contracts themselves. Just as there are many types of contracts, there are also many types of Sages in the world, and while the basics of Senjutsu may be learned by many with enough time and effort, it can only truly be mastered by few." He took a moment to sigh before continuing. "All of that meaning, I am a Turtle Sage and a Slug Sage, but as a Senju I believe you would be able to most easily learn the Turtle Senjutsu and make a bond with the Turtle Contracts if you would be so obliged."

He positioned himself on Shida's back before tapping the turtle's shell as if inviting Aria to climb on top of Shida as well. "The first thing we need to do is to see how well you can synchronize your Natural Energy with Shida's own Natural Energy. Once you accomplish this step we will continue to move you along the path to become a Sage."

3/5: 253 - 959/1500

 

[Ayeka]

Aria listened intently to Shusuke with a focus she had never given another person in her entire life as his words basically boiled down to, learn this, get stronger and have better fights. For Aria higher levels of strength translated directly to how much she could enjoy fighting someone so it was no brainer to drink in Shu's words like a man stranded in the desert after finding a puddle but at the same time the stuff he was talking about was a bit high level for Aria's tiny fight obsessed brain so she did what she always did. Wing it with only a partial understanding of what she was doing. Following Shusuke's gesture Aria quickly but carefully so as to not hurt Shida, climbed up the large turtles leg and clambered on to a perch in front of her teacher where she sat cross legged facing the more experienced ninja. For a moment she just stared up the older boy not sure what to do when he said she needed to synchronize her energy but after a moment of thinking she decided to try and work with that second source of chakra she had naturally created within her own body over the time she had spent living in the woods.

"Ok Focus and breath"

Aria said to herself as she closed her eyes and then went dead still. It was always so easy to enter this state for the young Senju to the point she would take a nap in the woods and people would wake her since they were worried she was dead or something but this stemmed from the fact her body was already In sync with nature due to her body automatically collecting natural chakra from the environment. The next part became a lot harder though as she could feel her own burning sun of natural chakra deep within her own body and could even access it to cast ninjutsu if she wanted to but anything else proved tricky. Standing beneath Aria could also feel the gentle undulations of the turtles natural chakra as well but there seemed to be a space between these two energies that formed a massive gulf that Aria could not seem to cross. Every time she moved her chakra from her body across this seemingly vast expanse to meet Shida's it seemed to just drift away into the environment. Meanwhile back in reality Aria's body was experiencing this problem by sprouting a few bluebells in her hair as the skin beneath her eyes seemed to flicker to a red pigmentation for a second before it bled completely away until finally the girls eyes snapped open.

"Ow, ow ,ow My head!..... What the heck, why is this so tough!"

Aria began to hold her head as she had quickly given herself a headache trying to manipulate her natural chakra in ways she had never though to before.


[WC: 1313 3/5]

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shusuke watched calmly, he had been here before. He has had to sit on Shida's back before and try and connect nearly on a spiritual level, and unlike this Senju child, Shusuke had no Natural Energy of his own. He let out a sigh. "I wonder if it is because I am already synchronized with Shida. Let's try something a little different. I am going to create a summoning jutsu formula for you. It may take you some time to fully be able to use it, but I will help you until something can be summoned. Perhaps you need to have a distinct connection with your summon to bond with them."

Shusuke would hop off of Shida and make a handseal to cause a puff of smoke and out of it came a large scroll. Making a few more handseals while dropping to his knee, he would grab his right wrist with his left hand. The palm of his right hand began to drip with black ink that poured out like a thick tar. The puddle of ink would slowly grow and become serpent like form that would slither over to the scroll and begin to right with it's tail. He would stand up and look back at Aria. "There's no guarantee that this will work, but if it does it make it a tiny bit easier that's what matters. I formalted another scroll for a boy named Akio, and I don't know how well he has done with it, so let's see if it is something that can work for you."

The snake finished writing the formula and as it did the snake itself coiled in the center of the formula before melting into a spiral onto the papaer. Shusuke gestured for Aria to once again join him. He slowly showed the handseals required for the jutsu. "To summon a creature, or more specifically a turtle, to your aid you must make these handseals, offer some of your blood, and place your hand on this spiral. Once the summon is successful at least once, this formula will appear each time you try and cast this jutsu to summon your specific ally."

4/5 360 - 1319/1500

 

[Ayeka]

Aria's headache subsided as her chakra found balance with the natural energy within her body again while Shusuke theorised that the reason she couldn't get this right was because Shida was his partner and that she couldn't harmonize with the turtles chakra because his was some where in the mix meddling with the process. It made a strange sort of sense to Aria as it would stop enemy sages from charging up from your own partner every time they clashed. Shusuke jumped off Shida and started to create some black snake thing that was being used to write a formula of some sort on to a scroll. Her tutor also mentioned doing this for Akio which made her perk up because she was confident enough to say that she could keep up with her fellow Senju so if Akio got this then Aria would as well.

"No problem! If Akio can do this then I won't fall behind him even if it kills me."

Aria jabbed her thumb to her chest for emphasis as the snake finished the formula and melted in to a circular formation that Aria found enthralling to stare at. She had always been fascinated by the sealing arts and getting the chance to see the sealing art being used was always a treat for the young girl as she vowed to redouble her efforts to learn it for herself one day. Jumping off the turtle at Shu's gesture Aria stood in front of the boy as he carefully cycled through the hand seals for the summoning Jutsu which Aria parroted her way through until she had a feel for the Jutsu. Following the instructions carefully Aria bit down her thumb maybe a little too zealously as blood began oozing down her arm but it would be handled by her regeneration after a moment so Aria ignored that and instead allowed the blood to flow down to her fingers as she then started to perform the hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu"

With a yell and a following burst of smoke as her palm made contact with ground, Aria eagerly looked around for the turtle she must have summoned but didn't see anything as the smoke slowly cleared away. It wasn't until the smoke was blown away and a angry hiss filled the air did Aria see a very small Softshell turtle with an evil gleam in its eye sitting at her feet. It swung its head around in annoyance as it took in it's surroundings as if trying to decide who to bite first.

"I think I did it?"

Aria said in slight confusion as she carefully watched the little turtle with a bit of apprehension.

[WC: 1757 4/5]

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shusuke began to laugh as he saw the tiny softshell turtle staring at Aria with a hissing mouth. "Technically, yes! You did perform the jutsu correctly, the only issue is that you did not supply enough chakra into this jutsu formula. Summoning a strong enough turtle to aid you in combat that would be worthy of you synchronizing with takes a lot of your energy. Keep practicing this jutsu and when you apply your hand to the scroll push in as much energy as you can muster. After a few times of using this seal and jutsu formula with a full success you will find yourself not needing this scroll any longer! As you may have noticed when I summoned Shida over here there was no scroll needed. View his as a sort of training tool that you will one day no longer need! I think you can handle it from here Aria-chan. Good luck, and if you need me don't hesitate to come and find me okay?"

And with that Shusuke would hop back onto Shida's shell and the two of them would make their way out of the training grounds and into the main roadway ahead. Shusuke wanted to get some more of his personal training completed afterall, and he wasn't about to spend all day watching some kid try and perform a jutsu he taught her. He did do his job today, he taught her something new.

5/5 wc: 1500+
[Topic Left]

 

[Ayeka]

Aria watched as Shusuke left on his turtle a little unsure of what to do after his explanation of what she did wrong but as the sun finally set leaving the village in the gloom of the evening. Aria looked at her bloody hand and clenched her first as she smiled.

"Just got to practice this then and turn it into a strength!"

Aria wasn't flustered by Shu's laughter as people had always laughed at her for her general lack of talent but that wouldn't stop the little Senju getting stronger. After a moment she looked down at the little turtle.

"Your not gonna bite me right?"

She asked the small creature but all she got was a hiss as burst into smoke leaving the girl alone. After just staring at the spot Aria decided that home sounded good right now and began walking back to her tree for a rest.

[WC: 1807 5/5]
[Topic Left]

 

[Kakihara Shirokouu]

Congratulations! You've learned Turtle!
Do you accept?​

 

[Ayeka]

Accept!