Early birds chirped their morning tunes amidst the canopies of the forest that surrounded the Senju clan complex. The pink and gold hues of sunrise cascaded through the tree line in soft rays that painted young Akio's room in the color of the beautiful morning's sunlight, causing the nature-loving Senju to awaken from his slumber. Sitting up in his bed, Akio's face immediately beamed as he donned the bright smile that he'd become known for throughout his time at the academy. Things were changing. The exam was coming up, he'd learned dozens of new jutsus and strategies in preparation, and most importantly to Akio, he'd bested Shida in a one-on-one battle and acquired a scroll that would summon a turtle contract beast. "This... this is gonna be amazing. I'm gonna have an animal friend just like Shusuke and Hoshirei-sensei and Nao-sennin. He's gonna be my best buddy ever! I can't wait!" The early adolescent called out to himself in a tone of affirmation and glee. He'd waited for this moment ever since he met Kayo in one of his first classes at the academy, and he felt determined to make the most of what would come of it. Little did he know, what he would find when he finally read that scroll and performed the technique was unlike anything he'd have expected.
Walking out of the clan complex and into the woods, the massive scroll that Akio carried seemed to dwarf his lanky torso, and he carted it with both arms wrapped most of the way around the massive rolled tome. Upon finally reaching a spot that he deemed peaceful enough, and far away enough from the prying eyes of his clanmates, Akio unfurled the massive ream of inscribed paper so fast that it floated in the air in a waving swirl around him. He looked both ways, making sure that no one was watching. After all, the boy wanted what was to come to be a surprise to his cousins and parents and especially to Grandpa Itsuki, whose health had been declining in recent days. Then, when he was sure that he was alone, he drew a kunai and pierced his palm. The feeling reminded the boy of the first medical lesson he'd had with Shishiwakamaru, when they'd both cut their hands and he'd learned to mend those wounds with a healing jutsu the Nara had taught him. To Akio, today was going to be the same kind of thing, the first step in a long path of learning. He couldn't have known, however, just how right he was. The bright-eyed young boy looked down at the scroll, then eyed his now-bleeding palm. "It's now or never!" He exclaimed, pumping himself up for the meeting to come, then quickly preformed the hand seals he'd been taught and slammed his palm down onto the sheaf right where the circle of seals headed the scroll.
In a flash the area before the young Senju was covered in smoke, and with his well-trained senses he could immediately smell something. 'Fire?' The young teenager thought, then noticed the smoke spreading far larger than he'd imagined. "Oh man! My contract beast must be huge like Aria's friend Yousai!" He said aloud, remembering the massive baseball-field-sized creature that his relative had been able to manifest. However, much to the boy's chagrin, the smoke didn't dissipate to reveal the manifestation of his completed contract. Instead, the plume only seemed to darken and spread, wider and wider with each passing second. Furrowing an eyebrow, Akio steeled himself and stepped forward towards the unknown. From the billowing and curling clouds, he could just barely make out a slight glow of orange and red, only visible when tiny breaks amongst the churning smoke allowed the light through. "Heyyy! You must be my new buddy!" Akio called out with joy and continued pacing towards the source of the light. However, his eyes widened as the light grew and from the smoke a hyper beam of superheated flame erupted towards him. With only a split second to dodge, Akio quickly used Kawarimi and watched in shock as the log that was left behind was completely disintegrated by the powerful ray of molten energy. The beam seemed to even blow a hole in the smoke, displacing a cylinder of it and making the blast's origin finally become visible.
Akio stared through the smoke in awe at the sight of the supernatural turtle that stood proudly within that cloud of smoke. The massive tortoise almost looked regal with its eyes nearly closed and two billows of smoke pouring from its nostrils in a shape that somewhat resembled a moustache. "Who has summoned me?" The imperial tortoise inquired, unmoving and steady as smoke billowed from holes in his shell like a volcano nearing eruption. "Akio Senju has!" The boy called back in response, trying to sound as stately and powerful as his new contract just had. As he looked on at the chelonian, his eyebrows still furrowed from having to dodge the prior attack, Akio shored up his courage and stepped towards the creature that had nearly incinerated him just moments prior. "And what is your name, mighty turtle?" He asked, noting how odd the attempt at a husky tone sounded even to himself considering his usually sunny disposition. "I am Kazan of the Tephra Tempest. Are you worthy?" The turtle replied, his gruff voice sounding out without an inch of movement aside from his mouth. "I dunno, but I'm willin' to put it to the test!" Akio called out, dropping the over-dignified demeanor and deciding that if his new friend wouldn't accept him as himself, then he wouldn't accept him at all. "Hmph~ A mere hatchling." Kazan replied, his eye opening to a slit that revealed his striking amber irises. The great tortoise paused, the silence palpable in the air as he looked the young Senju over, seemingly considering whether the boy was worth his time. "But very well, prove yourself you shall if you wish to call upon me in battle." Akio nodded, that look of determination burning like fire in his emerald eyes. The boy would not be seen back at the Senju clan complex for several days following this fateful encounter.
Over the next week, the boy got little rest, and even less sleep. Kazan, in his ancient wisdom, tested the young Senju relentlessly. They battled, the tortoise throwing superheated plasma around the battlefield like it was nothing and deflecting or healing from Akio's attacks with the finesse of a wise and experienced expert. They trained, Kazan working the adolescent to the point of near exhaustion as he forced him through rigorous and difficult physical activity while super-heating the area around them to swelteringly hot and certainly dangerous levels. And they studied, Kazan teaching the boy to harness the natural energy that flowed so naturally through him as a member of the Senju clan. With each task, Akio barely scraped by, managing to accomplish the arduous goals set before him by his companion-to-be through sheer determination. Even if he was still growing, he would prove that he had what his grandfather always taught him to revere: The Will of Fire. In the days that followed, Kazan's lessons would become more and more pointed, moving on to mastery of the mystical technique that shinobi had come to call 'Sage Mode'. And young Akio took to this part of the lesson like a fish took to water. Relying on his attunement with nature as well as his innate Senju aptitude with natural energy, the boy manifested Sage Mode the very first time he tried it. And though the aged tortoise didn't let accolades fly aloud, the way that Kazan's eyes opened near-fully at the sight of the boy immediately picking up a technique that some trained for weeks, months, or even years to master.
Day after day, the sagacious turtle pushed Akio to his limits, having him nearly empty his entire reservoir of chakra into his pathways, converting it all to natural energy, then expending it in heaps of holy-infused attacks and defenses. The boy was beat, exhausted, and nearly broken by the end of every session, but none of the fatigue wiped away the smile that adorned his face as he accepted task after task with a grin and a "Yes Kazan-sensei!" It was unlike Akio to use honorifics unless he was in the presence of someone he deemed to be a grown up or authority figure, but the ancient tortoise made every one of them, even Grandpa Itsuki, seem green and inexperienced by comparison. Finally, after more than a week of training without more than the most spartan amount of sleep and rest, Kazan relented. "Enough Akio. You have proven yourself worthy." The grand tortoise said with dignified pride in his tone. Akio was on the verge of passing out, as exhausted as he'd ever been as a shinobi, but his summoned companion finally giving him the approval he sought shot through him like a bolt of lightning, energizing the young boy and bringing that characteristic bright and toothy grin back to his face. In fact, Akio nearly jumped for joy, and would have if his body wasn't so tired it was made impossible. "Yes!! I knew I'd prove myself to you Kazan-sensei!" He said, dropping out of Sage Mode one more time. With that final act, Kazan's eyes went the widest he'd seen in the days that they'd been training. Despite not being in the state where he could perpetuate that flow of natural energy, Akio had maintained a reservoir of it that was far larger than even a Senju should have been able to manage. 'The boy is... an Archsage?!' The tortoise thought, not daring let such high praise reach his pupil's ears. "Yes, young Akio. You have proven yourself and learned quickly..." He huffed as he spoke. There was an almost indignant and gruff tone to the way he conceded these laurels. "But it will take years of training like this before you're a master like lord Umashiashikabihikoji." The long name caused Akio to quirk an eyebrow, but even Kazan's gruff tone couldn't wash away the pure joy that Akio felt in this moment. "Then I'll prove it to him too! Just like I did to you, Kazan!" He said with a smile. "Let's go find him!" And with that, pupil and sensei trudged back to the complex, ready for whatever came next for the budding young prodigy of the Sage Arts.
[WC: 1750 .:. Topic Entered and Left]
Walking out of the clan complex and into the woods, the massive scroll that Akio carried seemed to dwarf his lanky torso, and he carted it with both arms wrapped most of the way around the massive rolled tome. Upon finally reaching a spot that he deemed peaceful enough, and far away enough from the prying eyes of his clanmates, Akio unfurled the massive ream of inscribed paper so fast that it floated in the air in a waving swirl around him. He looked both ways, making sure that no one was watching. After all, the boy wanted what was to come to be a surprise to his cousins and parents and especially to Grandpa Itsuki, whose health had been declining in recent days. Then, when he was sure that he was alone, he drew a kunai and pierced his palm. The feeling reminded the boy of the first medical lesson he'd had with Shishiwakamaru, when they'd both cut their hands and he'd learned to mend those wounds with a healing jutsu the Nara had taught him. To Akio, today was going to be the same kind of thing, the first step in a long path of learning. He couldn't have known, however, just how right he was. The bright-eyed young boy looked down at the scroll, then eyed his now-bleeding palm. "It's now or never!" He exclaimed, pumping himself up for the meeting to come, then quickly preformed the hand seals he'd been taught and slammed his palm down onto the sheaf right where the circle of seals headed the scroll.
In a flash the area before the young Senju was covered in smoke, and with his well-trained senses he could immediately smell something. 'Fire?' The young teenager thought, then noticed the smoke spreading far larger than he'd imagined. "Oh man! My contract beast must be huge like Aria's friend Yousai!" He said aloud, remembering the massive baseball-field-sized creature that his relative had been able to manifest. However, much to the boy's chagrin, the smoke didn't dissipate to reveal the manifestation of his completed contract. Instead, the plume only seemed to darken and spread, wider and wider with each passing second. Furrowing an eyebrow, Akio steeled himself and stepped forward towards the unknown. From the billowing and curling clouds, he could just barely make out a slight glow of orange and red, only visible when tiny breaks amongst the churning smoke allowed the light through. "Heyyy! You must be my new buddy!" Akio called out with joy and continued pacing towards the source of the light. However, his eyes widened as the light grew and from the smoke a hyper beam of superheated flame erupted towards him. With only a split second to dodge, Akio quickly used Kawarimi and watched in shock as the log that was left behind was completely disintegrated by the powerful ray of molten energy. The beam seemed to even blow a hole in the smoke, displacing a cylinder of it and making the blast's origin finally become visible.
Akio stared through the smoke in awe at the sight of the supernatural turtle that stood proudly within that cloud of smoke. The massive tortoise almost looked regal with its eyes nearly closed and two billows of smoke pouring from its nostrils in a shape that somewhat resembled a moustache. "Who has summoned me?" The imperial tortoise inquired, unmoving and steady as smoke billowed from holes in his shell like a volcano nearing eruption. "Akio Senju has!" The boy called back in response, trying to sound as stately and powerful as his new contract just had. As he looked on at the chelonian, his eyebrows still furrowed from having to dodge the prior attack, Akio shored up his courage and stepped towards the creature that had nearly incinerated him just moments prior. "And what is your name, mighty turtle?" He asked, noting how odd the attempt at a husky tone sounded even to himself considering his usually sunny disposition. "I am Kazan of the Tephra Tempest. Are you worthy?" The turtle replied, his gruff voice sounding out without an inch of movement aside from his mouth. "I dunno, but I'm willin' to put it to the test!" Akio called out, dropping the over-dignified demeanor and deciding that if his new friend wouldn't accept him as himself, then he wouldn't accept him at all. "Hmph~ A mere hatchling." Kazan replied, his eye opening to a slit that revealed his striking amber irises. The great tortoise paused, the silence palpable in the air as he looked the young Senju over, seemingly considering whether the boy was worth his time. "But very well, prove yourself you shall if you wish to call upon me in battle." Akio nodded, that look of determination burning like fire in his emerald eyes. The boy would not be seen back at the Senju clan complex for several days following this fateful encounter.
Over the next week, the boy got little rest, and even less sleep. Kazan, in his ancient wisdom, tested the young Senju relentlessly. They battled, the tortoise throwing superheated plasma around the battlefield like it was nothing and deflecting or healing from Akio's attacks with the finesse of a wise and experienced expert. They trained, Kazan working the adolescent to the point of near exhaustion as he forced him through rigorous and difficult physical activity while super-heating the area around them to swelteringly hot and certainly dangerous levels. And they studied, Kazan teaching the boy to harness the natural energy that flowed so naturally through him as a member of the Senju clan. With each task, Akio barely scraped by, managing to accomplish the arduous goals set before him by his companion-to-be through sheer determination. Even if he was still growing, he would prove that he had what his grandfather always taught him to revere: The Will of Fire. In the days that followed, Kazan's lessons would become more and more pointed, moving on to mastery of the mystical technique that shinobi had come to call 'Sage Mode'. And young Akio took to this part of the lesson like a fish took to water. Relying on his attunement with nature as well as his innate Senju aptitude with natural energy, the boy manifested Sage Mode the very first time he tried it. And though the aged tortoise didn't let accolades fly aloud, the way that Kazan's eyes opened near-fully at the sight of the boy immediately picking up a technique that some trained for weeks, months, or even years to master.
Day after day, the sagacious turtle pushed Akio to his limits, having him nearly empty his entire reservoir of chakra into his pathways, converting it all to natural energy, then expending it in heaps of holy-infused attacks and defenses. The boy was beat, exhausted, and nearly broken by the end of every session, but none of the fatigue wiped away the smile that adorned his face as he accepted task after task with a grin and a "Yes Kazan-sensei!" It was unlike Akio to use honorifics unless he was in the presence of someone he deemed to be a grown up or authority figure, but the ancient tortoise made every one of them, even Grandpa Itsuki, seem green and inexperienced by comparison. Finally, after more than a week of training without more than the most spartan amount of sleep and rest, Kazan relented. "Enough Akio. You have proven yourself worthy." The grand tortoise said with dignified pride in his tone. Akio was on the verge of passing out, as exhausted as he'd ever been as a shinobi, but his summoned companion finally giving him the approval he sought shot through him like a bolt of lightning, energizing the young boy and bringing that characteristic bright and toothy grin back to his face. In fact, Akio nearly jumped for joy, and would have if his body wasn't so tired it was made impossible. "Yes!! I knew I'd prove myself to you Kazan-sensei!" He said, dropping out of Sage Mode one more time. With that final act, Kazan's eyes went the widest he'd seen in the days that they'd been training. Despite not being in the state where he could perpetuate that flow of natural energy, Akio had maintained a reservoir of it that was far larger than even a Senju should have been able to manage. 'The boy is... an Archsage?!' The tortoise thought, not daring let such high praise reach his pupil's ears. "Yes, young Akio. You have proven yourself and learned quickly..." He huffed as he spoke. There was an almost indignant and gruff tone to the way he conceded these laurels. "But it will take years of training like this before you're a master like lord Umashiashikabihikoji." The long name caused Akio to quirk an eyebrow, but even Kazan's gruff tone couldn't wash away the pure joy that Akio felt in this moment. "Then I'll prove it to him too! Just like I did to you, Kazan!" He said with a smile. "Let's go find him!" And with that, pupil and sensei trudged back to the complex, ready for whatever came next for the budding young prodigy of the Sage Arts.
[WC: 1750 .:. Topic Entered and Left]