Meeting with the King of Snakes (Den)

Another day had passed for Dusk as he finished another beautiful day of training with his teacher Akihana. With her he had learned quite a bit about the more advanced water jutsu, some of which he had been training in secret. Today he had been going to the unseen university where he would attempt to see the Village Leader, someone who Akihana had personally recommended to see in order to train his clan bloodline who he still had not unlocked. For now he went to the door of the building outside in order to wait for passage, not wanting to cause trouble on his first impression. Smiling brightly as he waited for the guards to address him.

The guard would look down at the boy as he approached the entrance of the university.

"Do you have some business with the Hoshikage?" The man's voice was relaxed, normally the guard was wary of people who approached the university unannounced but it was just a teenage boy.

Inside his office Den would have detected the presence of a somewhat powerful chakra signature. He tried to always be on the look out of chakra signatures, even ones such as this that normally couldn't be passively sensed. Wondering if it was a gifted genin or a chunin that had come to visit him, or perhaps some jounin with no gift for chakra control, Den would monitor the situation from his office using his superhuman hearing and chakra senses while he worked on some paperwork.

The young male stared up at the guard for a moment, his blue eyes seemingly staring at him for a moment before answering. It was one of those slightly intimidating moments though with a smile he began to slowly explain his situation," My teacher Akihana told me to come and see the leader because he could help me learn more about my family bloodline. I can come back another time if he is busy or something," at the current moment he had been rocking forward and backwards on his feet, of course taking in the situation as it is. Though he didn't know what kind of person the Hoshikage had been, Akihana had given him a pretty general idea of how he was. None the less the male had waited for the guards response unknown that he was currently being watched by the male himself.

Well if Akihana sent him that was good enough for the guard. Opening the door the guard was about to give the boy directions to Den's office but was surprised to find the Hoshikage walking down the stairs into the foyer, clearly visible also to the genin who was waiting outside the building if he looked through the doorway.

Den had heard that Aki had sent the boy and immediately left his office, at first unsure as to what she would be sending the boy to Den for. He heard something about learning about his family bloodline as he moved to the stairs. Den wondered which bloodline did this boy possess.

Dressed in his brothers robes, which had been refitted in Sanctuary, The Hoshikage looked more formal than he preferred to dress. His blue serpentine eyes would look down at the blue haired boy, "Akihana sent you, what for?" Stopping at the bottom of the stairs Den would wait for the boy to enter the building.

Well the guard was nice enough to here the Genin out which made him happy and when the door opened he could see the silhouette of a male before seeing the full body and smiling- This must have been the Hoshikage. Waving a bit before the male had spoken he listened to his words carefully, slowly walking in providing the door had shut behind him and offered to shake his hand," Well she had told me that you could help me unlock the Wood Release and understand my family a bit better. My dad and mom haven't spoken much about it, but I know its to protect me but I want to learn so I can help protect our new home. So here I am!," pausing for a moment he was clearly forgetting that she had also told him something else," Oh she also said that you would be super nice and help me if you weren't busy or anything. Oh I'm Dusk by the way," the boys bright smile radiating from him as he stood there in the presence of Den.

Another young Senju seeking knowledge of Wood Release? It seemed that the element was taught to members of the clan later in life, every Senju Den had met that was a child either didn't know Wood Release or didn't even know they were a Senju.

Shaking the boys hand Den listened as the boy explained the situation, at the end adding that his name was Dusk. "Well it's nice to meet you Dusk, if you want to learn Wood Release I'll first need to know what elements you can control. Can you use Water and Earth Release?" Den gave the boy a polite smile to return the one Dusk was giving him.

"Likewise."

All the boy said as he listened to Den ask him what his elements had been. While the boy knew Water all his life, Earth was the only thing he had been so close to learning. Tilting his head for a moment he thought about the question for a moment before answering," Well i've been practicing learning Earth for a while, but Water was my first element so i'm almost there! I bought a book and everything in order to learn Earth, but I guess I learn better from actual people. Do Water and Earth make this Wood release?," of course he had not known the elemental components of Wood release so he was thankful that Den was telling him all of this from the get go.

The boy was already learning how to use both elements which was good, even if he didn't know they were needed to create Wood Release. how odd it was that Den found himself, for the second time now, explaining the ways of Wood release to a Senju despite him not being a member of the clan. It made him wonder just how many Senju were able to use the element, and made him curious how his skill with the element compared to others.

"Yes, Earth and Water are used to create Mokuton. If you're experienced with Water Release already then I suppose I can help you finish your studies in Earth Release. Let's go to the courtyard so we don't destroy my floor." Den chuckled as he finished speaking, making an attempt at a joke. If the boy followed Den would lead him out of the mainroom and down a hallway before taking a door that led outside. They'd be in a courtyard surrounded on all sides by the walls of the university which was built around it.

Walking into the center Den would turn and face Dusk, "I suppose we'll start with something easy. I found that with earth and water it's easier to practice using these elements with a pre-existing source rather than trying to create it with your chakra. So pick up some of the dirt and just try and focus your chakra into it for now."

Kneeling down Den would pick some dirt off of the ground so he could demonstrate. Focusing his chakra into it Den would have the dirt form into a solid ball in his hand help together by the energy.

So he really did need both Earth and Water to make this Mokuton. Well that only made his resolve to learn it even stronger. With a fire in his eyes he nodded and followed Den closely to the outside area where he could feel the air blowing through his hair. With that he smiled and began to watch Den diligently, his eyes watching over every small detail that the male said and did. Instead of learning how to manipulate earth through a jutsu, he was instead learning how to use his chakra to mold raw earth, a concept which proved to be the best route for the young hyper ninja. After Den had successfully created the ball out of the dirt, Dusk leaned down towards the ground itself and patted it for a moment, putting his hand into it slowly to remove a small handful from it.

With a small amount of dirt inside of his hand he began to allow his chakra to flow throughout his body, at first being water chakra since it was the only thing he had known. This had caused the dirt to become water-like and soggy which had caused the male to frown and furrow his brow in defeat. Cleaning his hands of the small amount of wet dirt, he picked up a bit more and thought on the task at hand slowly. He needed to turn the dirt into a ball, molding it with his chakra so that it fit the form he was trying to give it. Changing his chakra nature had been hard, though Akihana had given him a secret tip to this. With that he nodded and sat the dirt down, tightening his head band a bit before picking up some more dirt and smiling," I'm going to do this!," determined to do this he allowed his chakra to once again flow into the dirt. Instead of water he imagined the earth, coarse and dry. Imagining what had only been the earth around him, he began to envision a place filled with nothing but earth. With this he slowly began to change the nature of the dirt into that of a small ball maybe a meter in radius. While it wasn't as big as Den's, he had successfully replicated his new teachers technique. With that he looked up to Den wondering what he would teach him next to pick up how to use Earth more efficiently.

Den watched as Dusk attempted to emulate what Den showed him, noting that the dirt got wet at first. It was always difficult learning a second element. Den remembered back in Kiri having to practice with his father for a while to learn the water element, he had been in the opposite situation of Dusk as the Hoshikage had an affinity for the Earth element himself.

It didn't take long for Dusk to replivate Den's demonstration, however rather than making a ball of dirt in his hand like Den had done Dusk went and made a large ball that was a meter in diameter.

"Well I think it's safe to say you've mastered this exercise. Next I'll show you an actual jutsu. Like with the exercise you'll be moving existing earth with your chakra. Rather than shaping it though you instead use your chakra to move a whole section of earth upwards or downwards." In order to demonstrate Den would perform a single one handed sealAs he finished a section of ground 3 meters in length and width would move upwards a meter, this section of earth being 6 meters to Den's right.

"I want you to try and move that section of earth back to where it was before." As he spoke again Den would start to walk over to the section of earth, moving around it so that it'd be between him and Dusk before turning to face his new student once more. As he walked Den would continue to explain the technique, “Like with the exercise I just showed you I want you to focus your chakra into the earth. Instead of forming it together though I want you to push it down.” Den was slowly having Dusk learn different movements with earth chakra. The exercise had helped with learning to control the shape of the dirt, this one would be to move an already existing shape.

“These are the hand seals for the technique, though if you can do this exercise with a one handed seal I’d definitely be impressed.” Den would show Dusk the hand seals to the Moving Earth Core Technqiue, a simple clap and then touching a hand to the ground. After demonstrating the seals Den would wait to see what Dusk could do.