Off Duty

Sento stood at the top of the large red wooden wall that surrounded the entirety of konoha white his pale white hair blowing in the wind. His eyes fought to stay open as he entered the final minutes of his watch. Unfortunately guard duty seemed to be one of the many monotonous tasks that Konoha seemed to give to its gennin and he had drawn the short straw today. He let out a yawn, seeing that no higher ranking officials were around before slouching his back and leaning against the banister on the top of the wall.

The day had been a relatively uneventful one, as was usual for a konoha guard. Afterall it wasn’t like many people dared to attack one of the strongest villages in the world very often. He had seen maybe two people come near the wall today one of which was obviously a traveling merchant and had merely pointed him towards the gate, one seemed to be a child from one of the outlying villages just playing around in the woods with his little brother.

As his mind replayed his day he’d be tapped on the shoulder from somebody from behind and would turn to face him. Or her… Apparently. The girl was about sento’s age and said that she was here to take the next shift. Sento nodded and flashed a quick smile before thanking her and hopping down from the wall into the grass below. “It’s a boring job!” He’d say as he ran back towards the inner village, eager to finally get some training in.

He hadn’t been to the training grounds since his mission with the shinobi Ashi Inuzuka the other day and had been itching to get back into his routine and learn some more senju techniques before he got called onto another mission. After all the last one had brought about circumstances he had been more than unprepared for. Albeit non combat related, I mean seriously, how was he a 16 year old boy supposed to know how to deliver a baby in a wagon. That was just not fair.

He made a slight Hmph sound as he crossed his arms and continued to walk down the dirt roads of konoha his glazed yellow eyes appearing slightly above the crowd due to his immense height. Ever since he had become a gennin he had been getting a better layout of the village he had grown up in. Where he had once gotten lost he could now recognize as the market street, and use that to guide him to his destinations. If you could relate it to something it would be much like when you get your driver's license and you seem to have a much better knowledge of the road than when you were simply a passenger.

Turning onto market street he’d be met with the familiar smell of Salmon and Ramen, two of Konoha’s most popular food selections. The smell slowly drifting away from it respective vendors lighting up Sento’s sense of smell and causing his mouth to water. He was a growing boy and was always hungry, his body constantly demanding nutrition to complement its growth, but he had been trying to hold back on his impulsive eating habits so that he wouldn’t over feed himself. After all he WAS a senju, no an Akamichi clansman. He had to keep a fit figure if he wanted to be effective in combat.


Turning his nose from the surely delicious food he’d continue to walk onwards with his confident stride. Pushing his way past the dense crowds of people that lined the market place he’d finally find himself turning onto the next street corner where large stone buildings stood in place. These buildings were significantly nicer than the other parts of the village because, well it was the center of the village. This is where tourist and other ninja would often venture. Seto's eyes would lighten up as he passed a playground watching academy students almost half his age playing on the swingsets.

It was strange to think that he had gotten out of the academy at such an old age. But in all reality he had his dad to blame for such matters and could hardly blame his own lack of abilities, especially at the rate he had seemed to fly through the ninja equivalent of a preschool. He and his brother had been star students of their sensei ken, which he later found out was probably due to their bloodline. It seemed that the senju clan were usually born with the natural gift of chakra control, and it made them much more likely to succeed in the ninja world then those born of nameless clans.

A smile would form on his face as he thought of how far he had come in the past couple of weeks, He had already learned two A ranks before even touching on the C ranks or B ranks. It seemed that even for a senju he was above the average shinobi in terms of skill. And he couldn’t wait to see the heights his new training might take him too. His thoughts would seem to come to a sudden and rather abrupt stop and his feet would immediately mirror that same loss of momentum as he found himself standing in front of a familiar marble staircase.

His glazed yellow eyes would seem to climb the stairs as his head lifted up vertically to view what building they belong too. As if he didn’t already know. He had come here on purpose after all, it would be absurd to travel to a place without knowing what it was. The building was the grand Konoha library and he intended to conduct further research on the senju wood release bloodline while he was here. The slap of his sandals could be heard as the young gennin began to climb the stairs this time taking special care not to look at the sun while doing so. He didn’t want to end up in another disastrous situation like last time.

Upon reaching the top he’d be standing in front of the familiar giant wooden doors that marked the entrance to the building and his small sixteen year old hands would press firmly against it, allowing himself entrance into the well build library. Stepping in his feet would land on the green rug he had noticed the first time he had found his way into this building. It was a soft surface as opposed to the marble footsteps that existed behind the large wooden doors currently to his back.

His young face would swivel from the left to the right making direct eye contact with several random civilians awkwardly as he did so. Finally the golden eyes would rest on the wooden shelf he had seen the other day, and a smile would come to his face as he read the words etched into the oak sign above it. “Senju Bloodline and History”. It appeared he’d found what he’d came here for and it was within mere feet of him.
Pacing himself forwards he’d quietly pass a group of jounin who seemed to be studying ninjutsu as well giving a slight and polite nod to them, recognizing them as his superior officers as he continued onwards. After all he had a lot of work to do if he ever wanted to be at jounin level like them.

As he entered the shelf area his fingers would run against the covers of several of the books, his eyes scanning each one for a title. He had checked out a book the other week that had been particularly helpful in learning the senju technique known as the wood clone tech, and he desperately wanted to find it again. But he just couldn’t seem to locate it. Frustrated he’d scratch the back of his head and step out of the aisle letting his head swivel from side to side trying to find a librarian.

Seeing an old lady with glasses and a name card on her shirt he approached her and asked her if she knew where the book may have gone. “Um.. Excuse me.. I’m looking for the senju wood release book? I checked it out last week and return it and I can't find it on the shelves? Do you happen to know where it might be.” The lady paid him no attention at first and Sento quickly gathered that she may be hard of hearing. It was a reasonable solution, and he figured he better speak up, so he raised his voice abnormally loud for one in a library to be talking.

“EXCUSE ME! IM LOOKING..” His sentence would be stopped short as the woman turned around and slapped him in the face, at was a considerably alarming speed for someone of her age. “I’m not deaf you idiot! She’d say, before holding up the typical shh sign and reaching down on the cart in front of her. “Here’s your damn book! Now get out of my library!” Sento was still understandably confused from the precision speed and skill of the frail old woman's bony slap. And rubbed his now bright red cheek with his free hand while reaching out to take the book.

“Thank you?” He’d say confused, this woman had just beat the hell out of him and he had thanked her for it. He really needed to work on appearing tougher if he was going to be a shinobi by profession. As he turned around to the wooden doors he’d see the same group of jounin he had passed by earlier now laughing at him. Presumably from the scene that had just happened. “God dammit” He thought to himself as he walked with his head facing down so he didn’t have to look his fellow ninja in the eye on his way out.

With his shame now behind him he’d walk back into the Konoha sun this time taking note not to look directly at it as he stepped out onto the grand marble steps of the konoha library and marched downwards until he was back on the busy streets of the village. It was the middle of the day and a large amount of people were now moving to and from several places. He’d take a right at the bottom of the steps turning away from market street and heading in the opposite direction towards a place he knew as training ground three, it had been where he learned the suiton suidanha technique and where he intended to learn another senju technique.

Although he had yet to decide which one, considering the wood clone one was the only one he had ever even heard of. But the book he was carrying was thick and he was at least decently sure that he would get a reasonable amount of choices to select from upon reading further into it than he had the last time he checked out the book. After All the senju clan was once renowned as the strongest in the village and had even founded it. He was sure that with there unique kekkei genkai they had developed countless techniques that he could pick and choose from since the founding of the village which had happened so long ago.

His pace would stop as he came to the end of the road and found himself standing at a dead end. Yah remember that earlier part about how he felt he was getting a better understanding of the layout of the village. That had been horseshit, his head would again swivel from side to side as it often did when he was confused, he could have sword training ground three was supposed to be here but that was obviously not the case at all at this given moment. Scratching his head he’d turn back the way he came giving one last look to ensure he wasn’t just imagining the dead end. But alas it was real, and he was an idiot.

When he finally reached the staircase again this time he would take a left towards market street ensuring that he not get to close to the plentiful vendors, so that he would not catch a whiff of their delicious food because he honestly didn’t trust himself to have the strength to turn his nose at the food yet again. So like he said he kept his distance, masterfully avoiding the seductive smell of the fish and ramen emanating from the street, simply by cutting through a back alley to get where he wanted to go.

Now walking past some more buildings he’d eventually finally see the training ground he had been looking for over the horizon. A wave of relief would seem to wash over him as he found himself in the center of the patch of grass he had trained in just the other week. He often found that he felt at his best while training. The pressure of the missions, and guard duties were now far behind him, and all he had to worry about at this moment was his own self betterment. And that was a huge weight off of his shoulders, as much as he loved the promise of adventure that came with the title of a shinobi, he certainly hated the added responsibility.

Taking a deep breath he’d pull the ever so fancy leather bound book out of his pocket and begin to flip through its withered pages, the years had run it’s toll on them, and some were almost transparent on the corners from where people's hands had continuously gripped them in order to move from page to page. Based on the evidence provided it wouldn’t be unfair to guess that this was a relatively popular book among the senju clan shinobi of Konoha.

His yellow eyes would scan from page to page, carefully transcribing the text into his memory, page by page and chapter by chapter he’d learn more about his kekkei genkai and the capabilities that came with it. After the first 10 pages or so he quickly gathered that the techniques where listed from weakest to strongest and was surprised to see that there were no senju techniques below the rank of B. which was odd to say the least. But probably due to the fact that the senju wood release technique was often potent in chakra, and couldn’t be condensed into smaller and weaker attacks.

Taking into account his recent observation on how the techniques where listed from weakest to strongest he guessed that the A ranks where in the middle of the book, which was what he was looking for. Even ass gifted in chakra control as he believed himself to be he would not make the mistake of believing himself of being capable of getting the hang of an S rank just yet. Such a task was that of a chuunin, and he’d save his S rank for that day and that day alone.

As his fingers allowed the pages to pass through at a fast rate he’d press down when he guessed the pages to be about halfway through, simply eyeballing it of course. And landed on a technique listed under the A rank category. It was labeled the “Wood Release: Foo Dog Head” Technique and upon reading it he was astonished by what it was supposedly capable of doing. According to the text describing the technique it would allow the user to summon six wooden pillars that they could manipulate with ease, in order to defend or restrain an opponent.

The wood was of course of the wood release technique and as such held the capabilities to drain chakra, something the senju clan was infamous for. A smirk appeared on the white haired gennins face as he thought of the concept of taking his opponent's strength away from them. It seemed to be an incredibly useful technique that could be used in several different ways in combat, and certainly worthy of his time to train for it.

The downside appeared to be the handsigns, it used an entirety of five total seals and would take some time to use in a fight, being a whole two handsigns longer than any of the other techniques he had learned so far. Because of this he decided it would be smart to focus on making the handsigns somewhat of a second nature to him before he continued so that he could use it instinctively and as fast as possible. Taking a moment to memorize the order of the seals he’d begin to repeat over and over in his head the words that went with them. “Boar, Dog, Tiger, Rat Snake, Boar, Dog, Tiger, Rat, Snake!” He’d continue to this for about five minutes in total before he began to actually incorporate the movement of his hands.

The seals themselves were easy enough to do as the konoha academy taught the signs to them at a young age, almost as intensely as they had taught the alphabet. It was just something every academy student knew instinctively, and after memorizing the order the signs followed easily.

Now that he felt confident in his own ability to recreate the handsigns pattern on command he would begin to concentrate his chakra in tandem with the patterns his hand had been continuously making for the past fifteen some minutes. This time however he’d allow them to spark the chakra so that he could actually attempt to create these wooden structures he had been striving so hard for, instead of going for the extremely complex attempt of six pillars however, he’d simply focus on one. He was not so naive to think he had such fine chakra control he could master an A rank in its entirety in just one go. No this was going to take a bit of trial and error and he was ok with that. It was just something that naturally came with learning ninjutsu.

As the spark of chakra traveling from his mashing fingertips down his forearm, and towards the ground he could feel it create a large pulse of chakra, now came the hard part. He’d have to use that pulse to find and extend the roots in the ground into his own wooden weapon, with plenty of forestry nearby he figured that shouldn’t be too hard of a problem but he had never tried something like this. The only wooden jutsu he had tried so far, he had created from his self and not the earth.

But he could feel the chakra in the ground and knew that with enough concentration he could do this. With all his might he’d pull his chakra up and a somewhat unpleased reaction would appear on his face as he saw what happened next, the wooden pillar that he had been expecting did not come out, but instead a small almost leaf like stem would appear in front of him, barely passing past his ankles. He was going to have to work on his technique if he wanted to turn this small and pathetic plant into a large wooden block like the text from his book had described to him.

He let out a dismayed sigh as he lowered his arms that he had dramatically risen into the air while pulling up his chakra to create this glorified house plant, and went back to the practicing of his handsigns ensuring that he had gotten nothing wrong. After all, he had to have gone wrong somewhere, to get such a drastic change in results. After careful inspection and cross referencing with memories from his academy days however he came to the conclusion that the fault had not been in his hand signs but in his chakra control, perhaps he had been to excited or too distracted. Either way this would have to be corrected, he was often a clutz as demonstrated by the falling down the stairs, and the being slapped by an old woman for falsely assuming she was hard of hearing so it wasn't far out of the range of possibilities that he wasn’t as good at chakra control as he thought himself to be.

Getting ready for attempt number two sento would stand in a rigid position before slowly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, taking great care to clear his mind of emotions that may interfere with his chakra control before beginning the process of the handseals he had worked so hard to get the hang of. The five signs would mash together as follows, first boar, then dog, followed closely by tiger, and rat, before finally ending upon the final collision of his flesh that created the snake seal. His chakra would spark upon that last formation sending an abrupt explosion of chakra down his arms and towards his torso, which would immediately drop the chakra and disperse it into the ground as if it was a lightning rod for chakra.

Once his chakra was in the ground it would act as a seed for the wood release to be activated. And he’d lift those seeds up towards him with the chakra control he was working so diligently to keep control of, this time not allowing the promise of mastery over a new jutsu to cloud his focus, and treating it with seriousness that a shinobi should. Luckily these increased efforts on his part to maintain his concentration seemed to instantly pay off as a large chunk of wood sprouted from the ground at an alarming speed and created a large wall in front of him.

Taking a moment to appreciate what he had just done instead of instantly toying with his creation Sento’s mouth would gape open in shock. “Holy shit did I just do that” He’d think to himself before he recentered himself and remembered that he still had to test his ability to maneuver the wood. He instantly attempted to do this by manipulating his own personal chakra that was already resting inside the wood release technique, and forcing it in certain directions watching in awe as the wood wobbled back in forth in response to his mental commands.

Testing the range of this technique he’d notice relatively fast how limited his range was and quickly came to the realization that this would hardly be an effective long range technique, he couldn’t move it more than six meters away from him before it came to a complete halt. A small frown would appear on his face before he decided that at the very least it could be used as a powerful shield in the event of a surprise attack and he shrugged off it’s lackluster offensive uses upon this realization. Besides, he was in need of a defense anyways.

Still curious as to how good this technique would work defensively however an Idea would pop into the young gennins head, and he’d form the handseals for the other senju technique he had spent the other day mastering. The wood clone techniqe. He’d watch as a mirror image of himself began to sprout from his shoulder and fall to the ground forming in all fours before raising its body and looking him square in the eye.

If it was a normal clone Sento would have had to speak but he had discovered quickly in his last training session that the senju wood clones had the advantage of a mental connection with their creators. “You see this big old wood pillar thing” He’d point to the wooden structure in case the clone didn’t, in order to direct his attention. “Yeah I’ma need you to try and break it real quick if at all possible ok?” He’d ask but he knew his clone would know it was more of a command than a request, and trusted it to obey.

The clone would simply nod before he could hear his own voice in his head, which would have been strange if he had not recognized it as the telepathic connection between him and his clone. “Sure thing just don't stand behind it, If I can break it that water streams gonna hurt like hell.” Sento laughed at the clones concern for his safety but acknowledged that it was a valid statement. He didn’t know the capabilities of his defense yet and treating it like it could tank the destructive force of his strongest jutsu would be a foolish mistake.

He nodded to acknowledge his clones warning, and created another clone in response. “Alright, He can take my place” He’d say taunting the clone. It was weird to think that he took such joy in irritating his own creations, flaunting the fact that he was so willing to put them in harms way. Both clones simply raised a clearly annoyed eyebrow in response to his taunts however appearing to be bigger men then he himself. “Chop Chop” He’d goad them on as he clapped his hands together in a mocking manner and took a couple steps backwards.

As he gained space between the two mirror copies of himself he’d watch as the first sento also took several steps backwards and the second sento took cover behind the wooden structure hunching over so that his whole body was protected by the wooden wall, the second clone would then flick Sento off as the first clone unleashed a torrent of water in his direction. And to the gennins surprise the wall held. Pleased with the results he allowed the clones to dissipate and return to their natural state of nothingness as well as releasing the wood release technique. It seemed that using three A ranks in one go was more than exhausting for the young boy, and it was about time he wrapped this up.

As sweat began to drip down from his forehead Sento would drop to the ground allowing the exhaustion from the amount of chakra combined with the amount of energy he had spent standing on the konoha walls in the early morning to finally take a toll on his body. As he landed in the grass on his butt he’d allow himself to catch his breath, he had earned it after all, his third A rank had finally been completed. And he had no more responsibilities today, the least he could do was allow himself to rest, but he should probably do so in a more appropriate location and not in the center of a training ground that people were probably waiting to use.

Reluctantly he’d use his arms to lift himself back onto his feet before walking back down the main road of the village. Happy with himself for what he had accomplished today he’d celebrate as he walked home whistling an uplifting tune he had learned as a child. All the while thinking about his ever so comfortable bed waiting for him at home, and watching the bright konoha sun fade as it set behind the numerous buildings in front of him.

EXIT

WC: 4506
Requesting: 22 Stat Points, + Wood Release: Foo Dog Heads

Approved