Takamitsu, Konoha's New Lightning Rod (Training)

Takamitsu softly drew the scroll from the hands of his old instructor, gazing at his smiling face. "I never thought you could do it, kid."
"Do what, Sensei?"
"Become a genin. all of the times I've seen you go in to take that test, and all of the times you happily snoozed as your classmates passed, I never thought you'd be able to make it if you kept going down the path you were going... What changed?"
Takamitsu's face turned red for a split second as his old instructor started his sentence, and he suddenly became more serious as his instructor asked the question. "...I need to become a shinobi to truly understand what my father and brother felt."
"Listen, and listen carefully. Give up on them, Takamitsu. Kurushimi is gone. Your brother is gone."
He sadly looked towards the ground, slightly embarrassed. "Hey, I'll tell you what. In that scroll is instructions for a new jutsu. It's a lightning technique, and very few genin can achieve one at its level this early, but... I believe in you, I have always believed in you, kid."
"Didn't you just say that you thought I'd never pass the exams?"
"Oh! Did I say that? Must have misspoke."
"Yeah, sure you did."
"...Do you want to learn this jutsu or not?"
"Yes, Sensei, you've always believed in the skill that I have not yet fully discovered in myself!" Takamitsu said sarcastically, giving the man a small grin.
"Much better." He said, ignoring the blatant sarcasm. "Now, this is a C Ranked technique, and I won't be surprised if it takes you upwards of a month to complete. It's called Lightning Rod, and it can be very dangerous."
"That sounds up my alley, care to explain it?"
"Of course. It's a very simple technique, requiring no hand signs. It involves grabbing your hand, wrist, or arm and raising it towards the air, while using Lightning Release to create a bolt of electricity that you let bolt through your hand and arc into their body through your connection."
"That sounds..."
"Scary?"
"Cool." Takamitsu said, leaving a smirk on his instructor's face.

They began the walk to the training field, Takamitsu taking the instructors arm every few minutes and raising it to the sky,
"Feel anything yet?"
"Nope."
"How about now?"
"Nada."
"Not yet?"
"Not even close." Takamitsu dropped his wrist, staring forward for several minutes before repeating the process, once again raising the instructor's arm. "I'll get it this time."
"Takamitsu, can I tell you a secret?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't get it."

After several minutes of banter and failed attempts and shocking his mentor, Takamitsu arrived at the training grounds, the sun high in the sky. "You're going to need to work on changing the nature of your chakra as you do this. You have a natural affinity for Lightning, which can give you some powerful jutsu, but you'll need to actually be able to produce potent chakra in order to actually create said jutsu." Takamitsu firmly grabbed his mentor's hand, swinging it skyward. He felt the power begin to build inside of his chest, wrapping and traveling through his body as he began to make the change in chakra nature. Something about it made the boy feel powerful for a second, he wasn't used to moving as much power as he currently was, and it made him feel like he could do anything. A cool wind blew through the field, tightly moving stray hair from Takamitsu's face as he intensely focused on his instructor's hand. He had a meeting with his team in the coming days, and he wanted to impress his new teammates and leaders with his ability, and the boy thought that his jutsu would do a very good job at doing just that. He glances around the grounds, noticing a large pond full of pristine, blue water and a set of dummy that looked like they saw more battles than most of the Leaf Village's ninja had. "Lightning Rod!" Takamitsu yelled, the noise surprising his instructor, who was quietly watching the boy focus. Suddenly, the adult's hand started to shake in Takamitsu's weak grip, which he quickly pulled his hand out of. "...Already?"
"Hah, I got you, didn't I?"
"Yeah... Not a strong as it should be, but that was amazing progress for your first day of training something like this."
"Maybe you should believe in me a bit more, huh?"

The boy stood in a tall tree's shade, silently moving chakra throughout his body. He enjoyed the cool air, a departure from the intense heat that he had been subjected to during most of his training today. Takamitsu was eager to prove his instructor wrong, and that he'd be able to learn the jutsu in less than half a week's time, though this was proving to be a far bigger hurdle than he originally thought. As Takamitsu's mind, as it commonly did when he was training, wandered to the subject of Kurushimi, who Takamitsu distinctly remembered using this ninjutsu before. He remembered the sheer force that was produced in his hands, and how it quickly traveled to his opponent, shocking, incapacitating, and sometimes gravely wounding them. Kurushimi was a skilled ninja, and if Takamitsu was even half as skilled as his brother, he would easily become chuunin within the next two years. Takamitsu planted his hand against the tree and let the chakra he was charging loose, which blew a sizeable chunk of the bark off of the tree and skittering across the pond that Takamitsu was resting close to. He hoped this hadn't been some sort of sacred leaf village tree, as getting chewed out by his instructor wasn't very high on his priority list today.

He moved back into the sunlight the heat now fading away as the large orb fell farther down into the sky. He tried to channel his chakra once more, producing lightning energy, which he temporarily stored. With each passing seconds, the chakra churned harder and harder in his midsection, trying to force its way out of his arm. He didn't resist this urge, instead pressurizing and directing the chakra through his palm, a small bolt of electricity arcing from his extended hand down to the ground below him. Despite what felt like immense energy that had came from his hand, the grass below him was lightly browned at best, giving off a slightly singed smell. He intended to fully learn this jutsu before he had left, and there would be little that would get in the way of this goal. Once again, the boy began to gather chakra, leaving it to once again churn in his midsection before he felt he had the appropriate amount to attempt the jutsu again. He began to force the chakra to make its way through his arm, this time applying much more pressure behind it to give it the extra push that he thought he needed. Takamitsu felt the energy shape and reform in his body, it beginning to give a slight tingling feeling as it quickly rushed through his extended arm. He could almost see his brother's reaction, staring at him in slight surprise as the progress he had made since becoming a genin just a couple of short weeks ago. Takamitsu could imagine the pride his brother would feel, pride that Takamitsu had finally become a ninja, and he was making as much progress as Kurushimi himself had as he progressed through the genin rank, slowly approaching higher and higher ranks. Who knew where Takamitsu would end up, a jonin? A member of ANBU black ops? He was maybe even the next Kage in the making. The bolt of lightning erupted from Takamitsu's arms, traveling through the ground and leaving a smoldering pile of burning embers where a patch of grass used to lie. "Maybe the trick to learning jutsu is to inflate my own ego." Takamitsu said with a slight laugh as he took a deep breath. It smelled faintly like sulfur, and the grass seemed to have burned much hotter than it would have had it been set on fire through regular means. The boy gave a slight smile to the spot where his jutsu had struck. Now, Takamitsu thought, it was time to try on his instructor. He assumed the instructor would be strong enough to take the full hit of the jutsu, but just in case, he wouldn't use the same amount of chakra he used in his last attempt.

Takamitsu made his was over to the body of his sleeping instructor, delivering a swift kick to his leg. "Sensei, it's time."
"Time for what?"
"Time for you to see the full results of my training!"
The instructor took his sweet time rising, and during the wait Takamitsu began to prepare his chakra, changing the nature and letting it run through his arm and midsection.His main goal during this jutsu was not to cause harm to his instructor, but to instead maintain complete control of his chakra in order to perform the jutsu with little to no waste. Takamitsu began to stretch, preparing himself for another burst of energy. The sun was almost setting now, and Takamitsu was almost fully prepared to demonstrate his new skills to the older shinobi. He calmly grabbed his instructor's wrist and raised it to the orange sky, staring at the clouds above. "Lightning Relase: Lightning Rod!" Little happened at first, leaving the instructor to form a slight smile as he began to pull away his hand. Takamitsu's grip around his wrist tightened, not allowing his instructor to move an inch. He forced the energy to travel through his body, feeling the electricity begin to arc from his midsection. A soft, calm breeze came through the training grounds, providing a stark contrast to the internal chaos that was happening within the body of the young shinobi. Electricity could be seen flying off of Takamitsu's arm as it traveled through his palm, the energy being strongly forced by the young boy, into the unsuspecting hand of his instructor. The older shinobi grated his teeth as the lightning traveled through his body, doing some damage despite the boy's attempt to constrain much of his energy. He could tell Takamitsu held back, which led to even more surprise because of the sheer power that the lightning jutsu had coming from such a new genin. The instructor shakily gave a small smile to the boy, beginning to walk towards the village. "I guess I owe you an apology, looks like it took you way less time than I thought it would, huh?"
"Sure did!"
"Come on, let me get you a couple of plates of some food before you head home, yeah?" Takamitsu, not one to turn down a free meal, happily accepted.

The pair quietly walked down the thinning streets of Konoha, older shinobi looking at the young boy. Takamitsu reminded him so much of his older brother, and it was almost painful to see how much that Takamitsu tore himself up over what happened all those years ago. He turned to enter the small food place's eating area, letting Takamitsu order whatever meal he wanted. The instructor simply smiled whenever the boy looked towards him, doing his best at hiding the thoughts that were flowing through his head. "Hey Sensei? There are stronger moves that I'll probably be able to learn, right?" The shinobi nodded, "Yeah, much stronger. I trust that your new squad leader will be able to teach you almost anything you want to know. I have high hopes for you, kid. You'll be able to learn or do anything you want to as long as you dedicate time to it... Time you spend away from searching for them." Takamitsu didn't question who 'they' were, as he already knew full well who he was referring to. He wouldn't question it now, as he had already made up his mind as to how he would handle his family situation. He would one day travel to the Land of Lightning, and then he'd learn the truth.
(Exit)

WC: 2019 +Lightning Release: Lightning Rod, +10 Skill Points