The Smiths Tools (Akihana)

Another day had passed after the young males eventual learning of many jutsu at the hands of his new friend and teacher Akihana at the Hoshi Academy and even at the Water Gardens, which is where this tale would take place. Before that would occur however we pan over to the main blue hero of this story: Dusk. The young male had just awakened from his slumber hearing his mother in the kitchen cooking, the still young looking Senju clansmen had been up since God knows how long tending to the house and practicing within their own private training room in order to keep herself fit. While she had not been an active "ninja" of Hoshi she prided herself in staying fit in the eventual case the village needed her.

His father had been out since the wee hours of the morning doing whatever he had been doing for work (mostly because things of that nature flew over Dusk's hyperactive head and his father had been a ninja in the village) so he usually woke up to mom cooking. Now the young male would don his white wraps, pants and blue vest with the sandals and sauntered over to the door where his head band had been. Stuffing it into his ninja pouch he made way down to the kitchen for an hour long conversation with his mother before hugging her and leaving out to head to the water gardens.

Now back at the main story, Dusk had arrived into the Water Gardens where he had waddled over to the fountain and put his Hoshi headband on before clapping his hands lightly onto his cheeks and smiled," Alright now its time to learn something new today!," as a case in point he pulled out a small scrolled labeled "The earth and you: An introductory course to the Element Doton". The author was unknown though he had found it for a relatively cheap price while heading home from the academy. Never the less he cracked that bad boy open and began to read its contents on the fountain, blue eyes staring intently at the scrolls etched belongings .

The Gazebo, Akihana had found, was not a place she could face of late. Once upon a time it had been her favorite spot at the water gardens. It's rich history and cultural value only adding to its aesthetically beautiful structure. That morning, she was supposed to be at the Gazebo, the royal representative at a small upscale wedding ceremony taking place in the structure but for the first time, the blonde had refused her instructions. Queen Shiera had been so surprised at Akihana's polite insistence that she would not be able to attend the ceremony that she had completely forgotten to be disappointed, only asking if her chief healer was feeling alright. Never one to lie, the kunoichi had honestly said that no, she was not alright, specially not at the idea of visiting the Gazebo. Her Grace had politely let the matter rest, for the time being anyway.

Still Akihana found herself in the water gardens regardless, hoping to catch the wedding party after its departure from the beautiful structure. After all, she meant no ill will in her refusal, and any sign of happiness within Hoshi should be celebrated en masse. With that in mind, the blonde had waited quietly for a long while, hidden out of sight and practicing creating lightning through her fingertips to pass the time. Chakra control in small things was still a little difficult for the kunoichi but going back to the basics helped. With Kozai Yuki's new system, one could find books on almost any topic with ease, something she was sure most shinobi starting out would appreciate as a free source of learning material. Due to her continued growth in chakra and power, her jutsu tendency towards healing or massive effects was hard to reign in but at least the young woman was trying. Like right now, as she attempted to focus the spark of lightning only on her little finger. In less than a moment, her entire wrist was covered in lightning chakra, making her start all over again.

Akihana sat there a long time, listening with her enhanced hearing the couple pledge their life to each other, the priest who bound them in holy matrimony an the cheers of the crowd as the union was officiated. In another life, she too would have had a wedding, even if hers would have been quite different. Akari weddings were a more somber affair but one celebrated by the clan nontheless in their own unique way. She wondered if her sister had gone down the traditional route. Marriage, husband, children, all the things they were raised for since birth. Getting to her feet, the Kunoichi dried the moisture from her golden eyes before meeting the couple on their way out. A few brief minutes of congratulating them on behalf of the crown and she was off once more, making her way to the fountain where, much to her surprise, she found a very familiar blue colored head buried in what looked to be a scroll.

"Oh my, I guess it must be my lucky day," she greeted the child with a grin, walking over to take a seat next to him and reaching out to ruffle the child's blue hair. "Did you come to look at the water again, Dusk? How are your mommy and daddy today?"

With anxious eyes he studied the small scroll intently, his mind grasping the smaller concepts though for the bigger and more practical uses of the element slowly escaped him. With a soft sight he folded his arms mentally rolling what he knew in his mind around, trying to get his chakra to work with him in order to use the jutsu. The scroll had included a low ranking Earth jutsu to start his training with but his issue was grasping the element as a whole. Water came naturally to him, it felt as normal as breathing for him but Earth was something he was not sure of. His father could use Earth like it was a second part of him as well as water, but his mother had actually been the best with water out of the three of them. Sometimes he wondered how his father did what he did with the plants back at their farm, but that was far from his mind. Little did he know that his family could produce plants of exceptional types, but his family did not explain this to him.

As he sat there he laid ignorant of Akihana's presence but soon after she spoke to him the young blue haired males head snapped up and smiled instantly waiting for her to sit beside him before hugging her and crossing his legs underneath him," Hey Akihana! I came to do that and to also learn a new element," a smile on his face he continued to look at her before slowly closing the scroll," Mom and Dad are doing fine, Dad went with some people to do some work and mom is at the house doing her thing. Though if I could ask you something..." he paused for a moment to think of a better way of saying it. To be careful he jumped up off of the fountain and zoomed over to the opening of the garden looking around for a moment before zooming back over and sitting by Akihana as if he was going to whisper in her ear but instead leaned on her.

"What is a Senju? That's what mom and dad say we are but I don't know what that is...Is it like our family lineage or something??" the young male honestly didn't know what exactly he had been, though he had only heard his parents talking about still keeping their family ties a history for his sake and their own lives. Sitting there he wondered what all Aki would tell him about it, whether it had some secret meaning or was in some super person. Whether or not she told him he would open up the scroll and continue reading," This earth element...I really want to learn how to do it and the jutsu is easy but...Do you want to help me learn it?," another request from the male, it seemed he trusted the blonde more than anyone else.

A small smile tugged gently at the corner of Akihana's lips as the child noticed her. It didn't matter how somber her mood was previously, it was simply impossible to be anything but cheerful around little Dusk. As he leaned in to hug her, the kunoichi smiled radiantly. Perhaps she should take him to the palace. Oh, a new element," the blonde inquired, eyebrows raised as he continued to tell her about earth nature. The blonde was disappointed that she couldn't teach it to him but she could help him the best way she knew how.

"Well, I personally can't use earth element jutsu, but I can tell you how to familiarize yourself with an element. Like when we did with water, you always knew water was a part of you. Try to think of earth as an extension. Imagine a dry, parched bit of land, and you and your chakra is the water that nourishes it. That way you can focus on both elements of your nature, earth and water," she tried, hoping it would help the young ninja understand more.

When he leaned in to tell her a secret, Akihana's golden eyes went wide to humor the boy. She had been party to quite a few secrets in her time but since the boy zoomed off - presumably to make sure no one else was listening - and then zoomed back up to her to ensure her complete attention, Akihana felt she had an audience. It was like playing with Arata when he was younger, she had to show her reactions in bold instead of simply reacting. The idea made her giggle internally. Though her good spirits faded slightly when he did reveal the secret.

"Dusk sweetheart, Senju is a clan and a family," she began to explain, taking his hand in both of hers to now ensure she had his undivided attention. "They hail from a really far away village called Konoha and they claim they build the ninja village. They're very powerful and if you're a Senju, you have that power too? It's a very big responsibility to be a Senju, it means it's your destiny to grow up big and strong and protect the people around you. Even our Hoshikage has Senju powers, he used it to build and stabilize all the buildings that were falling apart in the city so now our people have homes."

Imagine it as a barren field and his water nourished it...sounded like a relatively good idea. For that single reason he took his sandals off and touched the ground feeling it upon his skin made him smile and wiggle. For a moment he allowed his chakra to flow within his body for a moment as he imagined himself as a single wave on a barren plane (a single drop if you will). In his mind he pictured feeling the earth become one with him almost allowing him to use the element, but as of course the hero began to lose the feeling of it pulling to him and thus he sat down with a small huff. In his left hand he could feel the pull of water, his birthright element flowing through him and through the right he could feel the small pull of something though as he continued he shook his head and returned his thoughts to Akihana whom he would simply smile at.

As the blond told him more about his family heritage and where he was from he smiled softly, wondering why his mother and father had decided to live in the lands of rice. When she further went into saying that those of his clan had the power to protect everyone around them and in time he would come into that power. With a smile he looked at his hands for a moment and nodded knowing that this was what he wanted to do. His smile grew as he leaned into Akihana looking up at her with those sea full eyes," So do you think the Hoshikage will teach me how to use my power better? I want to begin to help people right away and if I can learn how to use this super power my clan has to help faster then I can become strong and kind like you right?," without even waiting for an answer the small male jumped from his seat and zoomed over to the middle of the gazebo.

Waving over to her he would begin to stretch and strap on his Hoshi headband with vigor," Come on slowpoke let's do some training!! I'm ready to become strong so I can..," pausing for a moment he blinked losing his train of thought before running over to her and grabbing her by the hands softly as if leading her to where he had been if she had allowed him to. He had wanted nothing more than to become someone who could protect his friends and family. Because of her telling him of his heritage he now wanted to strive to become one of the strongest to protect, not to cause harm or ruin. For now however he would wait to see what she would do hopefully they would have a fun time while training as usual.

At the question of whether Denkiteki would teach little Dusk to use wood release, Akihana shook her head. "I wouldn't know, you'd have to ask him yourself," she said simply before her face broke out into a smile once more. "But I hear he's super friendly, especially to little boys who want to learn and protect the village." Den had been locked away in his office more often than not lately, dealing with his loss in the exact opposite way as Akihana. If anything, Maku's disappearance had drove the two ninja closer rather than apart in that she was finally getting to see how the raven haired doctor dealt with grief. She had never known him well enough before now to understand that whereas she tried to drawn out her internal sorrow by mingling with as many people as she could, Den did it by seeing no one at all.

"You wuill become strong Dusk," the blonde reassured him comfortingly. "Stronger than me one day. But strength alone is never enough. Along with it, you need to know what you're fighting for. Protection" is a very vast and vague subject. What i I told you to protect a mouse from a cat? Would you let the cat starve? Or prefer to have the city be overrun with rats?" It was simple riddle Akihana had invented years ago along with a few others to test growing children's cognitive capacity. And while few ever reached an answer, it was how they reached a conclusion that mattered more. The riddle was to gunge the reasoning of the child more than a good answer they could come up with.

Instead of answering her though, the blue haired shinobi had vanished in a minute, reappearing right into the Gazebo that had been vacated earlier. How the child moved so fast without shunshin, Akihana did not know but it seemd Dusk simply ran on boundless energy alone. At his invitation to train, the kunoichi hesitated slightly, not wanting to near the Gazebo - a place that would no doubt leave ehr feeling more alone than ever before.

"I like your hair like this..."

The medic shook her head, trying to stave off the memory that had tried to take over for a second before Dusk returned to tug at her arm once more, ushering her to train. Instead of joining him though, Akihana held him back. "Okay but for the technique I want to show you - and its super cool - we need to be outside where there's open sky above u," she explained, letting go of his hand and hoping he would stay in place. If he did, she would bring her hands together for the combination required for Rain Tiger At Will.

"This jutsu is super cool because it ensures you are never without water. Imagine, you can take water with you no matter where you go, and it will be extra special water because it will be layered with your chakra." With that, the sky above them darkened and the first drops of rain landed on top of the duo.

The male couldn't believe it...Maybe he truly had a chance to learn more about his heritage from the leader of his new home himself! The male was so excited about this that a fire lit in his eyes and a rather serious pose was struck by him almost saying "Challenge Accepted." Now the only thing for him to do was to simply find the male and speak with him, but for now he relaxed with his teacher," I cannot wait to meet him and learn all I can in order to become better! Though he will never take the place of my favorite teacher," of course he had meant Akihana since she had helped him get through his genin exam, teaching him all of the jutsu and even taught him other things in class. He had been extremely indebted to her and didn't know how else to thank her except to be happy. Looking at the woman for a moment he hugged her as a silent "thanks" for all she had done for him thus far, and wondered if she would become his teacher until a time in which he was smarter in the ways of Ninja.

When she had asked him the riddle along with some other stuff it caused Dusk to furrow his brows and think hard, and when Dusk thinks he pokes out his lip in a rather comical fashion. As he did so he walked around the garden for a moment, often making circles around Akihana as he came up with an answer. The question was definitely a mind boggle as if in the case of both the mouse and cat. If either one went without eating then how would both be kept in check? Without the cat to eat the mouse, then they would overrun as she said, but if the cat ate what would become of the rat? This caused the male to think for a moment before scratching his head in surrender and would finally give his answer," Well...If the mouse is going to become a problem, then it would be better to feed it to the cat, BUT...If there was a way to keep the both in harmony then that would be the answer. The cat can always get other sources of food but...in the end to keep the mouse from turning into mice i'd have to feed it to the cat...As sad as that is sometimes there has to be a balance...even if it comes from a tough situation," though the answer would have probably been wrong he did answer to the best of his ability.

With the invitation to train underway, Dusk airplaned after Akihana to head outside to learn this jutsu that she had wanted to show him and of course he always liked to learn. When they had stepped outside and she had made the hand seals, he stood in amazement as it rained, his bright blue eyes widening as he ran around almost a peace as the rain touched his skin. When his mind finally had gotten on track he slowly formed the hand seals of course saying their names aloud before clapping his hands together and closing his eyes to hope for the best. After a moment he could feel a few drops of rain hitting his face, but somehow he could tell the difference... His rain felt almost like his chakra fluent and small while Akihana's was more pure and abundant. With both of the rain clouds coming down, he smiled and allowed the rain's embrace to take him in," What else can we learn today?"

His answer was very well reasoned, Dusk seem to understand that sometimes things had to be done for the greater good, a concept Akihana herself struggled with at her age and status most times. For her, the tipping point was always her children. The things she wouldn't do for a village or master, she would do for her boys, and by extension all the children of Hoshigakure including the blue haired male lost in thought by her side. His answer however pleased the blonde, making her smile softly. "You'll find that this question is a magical one," she explained, trying to introduce the boy to the mercurial nature of the concept of justice. "As you grow up, your answer might change. It might become more rigid, or more lax, or you might be one of the rarest shinobi who finds a completely new answer. But always remember, you can't go wrong as long as you consider the question first before deciding on an immediate course of action. As long as you take the time to think about the solution, you can't go wrong."

As they began their training, the little bundle of hyperactivity was anxious to began as always, Akihana wasn't at all surprised how quickly he picked a complicated A ranked jutsu. Her choice to begin his training in water related techs had paid off, those came to the boy with absurd ease, outlining his natural talent and affinity with the element. "Well, now we play tag of course," the golden haired medic laughed, both their combined rains pelting down into the garden and replenishing the dry grasses beneath their feet. It had been a while since it had rained anyway. Akihana refused to think of the last time it had. "But first, we need some friends of course." With that, she performed first the clone jutsu like she'd taught him last time, then added the variations needed to make it a water clone. Akihana created five, one after the other for him to follow.

"But anyone can tag," she added with a wink. "So how about we make it interesting. Let me show you a few ways to really make the game fun." Raising her fingers once more, she performed the water replacement technique, watching one of her clones disappear completely. Another clone made the signs for Hidden Mist, triggering the effect quickly and covering the area in Mist. "Now you'll have to use your chakra to find us. How about you try to find the real me, and I try to find the real you?" she proposed, hoping he would have followed and created the same number of clones alongside learning the same hiding techniques.

More jutsu? The young males eyes watched intently as she made the hand seals for the clone technique (assuming shadow clone) making five of himself although a little...odder than usual. One of them of course ran up to Aki and held onto her for a moment before running back over to the group of Dusks who had been conversing among themselves until Akihana had caught their attention again. With the game of hide and seek all of them watched a different Aki perform a different jutsu in which they tried to do a couple but decided that when the mist came about they panicked and then the real one had stepped up," We can do this me! All we have to do is find and hug the Aki's, but first? Hide!!!," and just like that the others would scramble about to hide and look for the other Aki's.

Meanwhile he had looked around the area and he couldn't actually see anything, but then he remembered...his rain had been still going! In that moment he could see the tree by its basic outline through the rain and climbed up it though as he did so he began to look around. Through the rain's own effect he could make out a few signatures, those of his and a few of the Aki's but he could not figure out which one was which. At that moment one of the clones (his) came up to the tv and looked around for a moment before shrugging and going through the area while still staying near the tree.

Akihana let out a happy giggle as the child conjured up his own set of clones, one of which came to quickly hug her first and foremost, as if that was an imperative part of learning the jutsu. The blonde held on to the clone tightly, not tight enough to disperse but definitely enough to convey warmth and affection. She knew shinobi training often came at the expense of a lost childhood but this magical little boy seemed to have discovered the perfect balance, and for his sake she hoped he would never have to abandon his happy attitude to fight in wars he was no part of.

His little speech of encouragement to his clones had all of the Akihanas sporting identical grins, the little batch of Dusks seemed just as erratic and hyper as he was, following the original's instructions in the best way they could. Her rain allowed her to pinpoint each and every clone plus the real Dusk but this game wasn't about ehr, it was about him."Alright ladies," the medic said, taking ehr cue from the little boy. "Who run the world?"

"Girls!" the other five blondes chorused before disheartening from view. one simply transformed herself into a rose plant, hiding in plain sight, another one grew wings and flew to the top of a nearby tree, hiding her bright faerie wings behind the mist. A third turned incorporeal using the disperse jutsu while a fourth simply hid behind the Gazebo. The original raised her fingers in a new seal, creating a small thin whirlpool of water around herself. She would be the easiest to find but the hardest to get to unless Dusk found a way to disable the miniature whirlpool that defrauded the real Akihana.

This was shaping uo to be quite the game.