Branching Out Haha get it, cuz wood cutting

After both cutting down a tree and spending the night searching for a young boy lost in the woods, and coming back to your house at about 4 AM one might say they were tired. For sento he most certainly was. When he got home he had slumped into his bed tired from the rigorous day of exercise and began to recount his day. “2 missions in a single day isn’t bad” He’d think to himself slightly impressed with himself. However one mission he took more pride in then the other. Cutting trees was all well and good, but the look on that moms face when he brought her kid back to him had been one of the greatest things the young senju had ever felt.

As he thought about how nice it had felt his eyes would begin to close, slowly fading from the real world and enveloping him in a world of black. His breaths would slow to a peaceful and rhythmic pace, as his body began to rest for the night and his thoughts subsided into nothingness as he slowly drifted into sleep.

He’d awake the next morning with crusty eyes at an early time than he would have liked, rubbing his eyelids together he’d take a glance at the clock mounted on the wall to see that he had only been able to sleep until six. “3 hours!? THREE HOURS!” He’d shout as he threw his pillow at the wall. But hell, he had a schedule to follow, and he had to be up early to follow it. After throwing the pillow both of this hands would move towards his face, giving his eyelids a quick rub to remove the previously mentioned crusty eyes. After doing so he’d merely throw his hands down to his side and sit staring at the blank white ceiling well above him.

Every Once in awhile it was just hard to get up you know. He wanted to sleep but his real world responsibilities outweighed his needs. I mean his apartment didn’t pay for himself and his brother sure as hell wasn’t paying any bills in the academy. Someone had to do the work, so reluctantly to say the least he’d place his hands onto the mattress and push off. Grunting as his sore body reacted to the force it was exerting. Making him wince in a slight amount of pain. This whole waking up sore thing was becoming a bit of a routine which he supposed meant he was just kicking ass in his training. So he kind of took a bit of pride in it.

Now the boy stood on his own two feet, and he stood eye level with his mirror. The sight of his own yellow eyes greeted him in the reflection in front of him, and he took notice of the baggy eyes. They were no doubt from the lack of sleep. Giving another quick rub to his eyes he’d slip his shirt on over his bare chest use his fingers to rearrange his hair. The senju had never owned a hair brush or comb in his life and he certainly didn’t intend to start now. His fingers would guide the snow white locks of hair into a position that he fancied before he let them come back down to rest in his pockets.

“Alright… Time to get started” He’d say as he turned towards his front door and let himself out of his bedroom. He’d then walk down the hallway passing his little brothers room, sure that the little guy was still asleep. Which was strange, Hiei used to be an active person, up at an early hour and sticking to a strict training regiment. It seemed that that phase of the senju academy students life was over however. And instead he had been replaced with a lazy snob. Sento silently chose not to disturb the boy and to let him rest. After all the kid was his brother, and still an academy student. It’s not like he needed a whole bunch of responsibility in his life at the moment.

Reaching his front door he’d turn the golden brass knob to reveal the contents of Konoha, and the dirt roads that stretched across it. The familiar sight of the lively streets came back to him as he became one of the many bodies in the massive blur of many. Pushing his way past some slow moving pedestrians he’d find himself at the street corner where the library rested. Pulling a book from the pouch he had grabbed on his way out. The book was the one he had “Borrowed without permission” from the overly hostile woman that resided in that god forsaken building. And despite how much he hated the woman, he was no thief, he had every intention of returning it.

At this moment the senju would walk up the elegant white marble stairs. The masterfully built structure seemed to reflect in the sun, bright splotches of yellow beaming towards him as he continued his slow place up the long staircase. When he reached the top he found himself standing in front of the large wooden doors he had been thrown out of several times and took a deep breath as he pushed through. He figured it was about time to settle things with this woman and made no attempt to conceal his identity or sneak in like the last time. When he went through those doors his body and face was his own.

Finding himself standing confidently in the building he’d turn to face some civilians confused as to why the librarian wasn’t standing at the desk as she usually was with her harsh beady eyes, as if she was just waiting for him to walk through that door. Still quite confused as to why he hadn’t seen her yet he figured he should drop the book off at the desk, it would probably work out better if he didn’t have to see the woman anyways. And as he thought this his body would obviously begin to take a few paces forward, positioning the yellow eyed gennin in front of the fine wooden desk that housed a notepad with checkouts and return information listed on it.

Although since he hadn’t checked the book out officially in the first place he doubted there was an official process for returning it and simply left it on the counter. Tapping his fingers rhythmically against the wooden desk the boy would begin to make a steady beat as he waited for the woman to show up. This was strange was all he could think, as much as he hated the woman even he had to admit she was typically great at her job. As a couple more minutes passed he’d scratch his head in frustration before turning to face the shelves. If he was gonna be here a while he might as well check out a book.

Slowly walking over to the Senju clan section a smile would appear on his face as he looked at the familiar wooden shelves, stacked with several leather bound books. The section was small, which was pretty much a give in with the extremely narrow topic that the section covered. Senju where only a small clan and surely it would be ridiculous to have an entire row as long as the earth release section to cover something with only a few books. There were currently three shelves for the senju clan, each holding about ten books. The first was simply books covering the science behind the wood release techniques. Most over them covering the woods abilities to absorb and deplete large amounts of chakra. The second row was a bit more informative, covering the history of the senju clan, dating back to their rivalry with the uchiha clan and the founding of the hidden leave several hundred years ago. A smile would find itself once more as he thought back to his clan's noble history. He was needless to say… Proud of it, for a lack of better words.

However as much as he treasured his clan’s history and important leaders. Today he was focused on his own self betterment, He wanted to be stronger so that one day he may find himself listed in that second row of shelves. Powerful and strong like the great senju before him. So his focus fell upon the third shelf. The senju jutsu directory is what he liked to call it. Each book a detailed bundle of information for each of the previously established wood techniques. There was no need to keep the techniques a secret, as the senju clan was the only one that possessed the dna to effectively use the techniques. It wasn’t simply a cheap trick like the Naras shadow possession, but instead laid somewhere in the senju's dna.

Running his hands against the shelf he’d feel his fingers run against the leather bindings of the beautifully designed books, feeling his fingers drop in the engraved words as they continued to run along them. His index finger would stop when he came to the B rank section, landing on the engraved text that labeled the book as wood cutting. Letting the rest of his fingers join the index finger in order to create a grip on the book he’d lift it to reveal the cover. On it was a masterfully depicted drawing of a boy with several branches exploding out of his body, with razor sharp edges.

The cover was eye catching and so too was the name. More than enough to dazzle the mind of the young yellow eyed senju who now had the pleasure of holding it. As he thought about the possibility of learning the technique he would turn to face the exit only to be met with the ferocious and familiar gaze of the librarians beady eyes. “Jesus christ” He’d gasp as he did so. The woman would stand with her arms crossed clearly displeased with him and would begin to tap her fingers on her own arm while looking at him as if to show she was waiting for an explanation as to why he was back in her library. “Well that’s an improvement… She didn’t immediately grab me and and lug me around” He’d think to himself sarcastically.

Not uttering any words the boy would simply point towards the front desk of the library in the direction of the book he had placed on the counter before testifying on his own behalf to the woman. “I told you I’d bring it back” A smile would flash across his face as he hoped the woman would understand that he was really trying not to be her enemy here. He usually got along with people if they’d allow him to and personally thought that the two had just gotten off on the wrong foot. A mistake he was currently trying to fix. “Look I think we got off on the wrong foot, can we start this over… I’d like to check out this book.” He’d say lifting the book he had picked off of the senju shelf to eye level.

The woman would seem to think over his peace treaty for a solid ten seconds letting out a frail sigh as she said “Fine, but next time you run out of my library with a book I’ll report you. Do you understand me!” She’d say with a clearly serious tone. Sento would scratch the back of his head while letting out a laugh saying “Yah I got it… Sorry about that by the way” This conversation seemed to be going well so he figured an apology would work well. The woman merely nodded as she motioned for him to follow her, while her frail body made its way towards the front desk of the library. “Give me your library card and we will get you checked out. Late fees are enforced so you better bring it back” sento of course listened to the woman as his hand fumbled through his pocket in an effort to find the plastic card that held the entirety of his library information on it. Finding nothing in his left pocket, he’d let out a nervous laugh as he moved his hand to his right and thankfully found it resting there. “Here you go” the gennin would say as he extended his arm with the card in hand.

The librarian would reach out to meet his hand and complete the exchange placing it on the desk and copying the information onto the checkout and return document he had seen earlier. “Sento Senju huh? Guess that explains why you’re always in the wood release section anyways” She’d say clearly in an attempt to start small talk. As he realized this he was taken aback by it. Just last week this woman had manhandled him and thrown him out of a building and now they seemed to be building a friendly relationship. Of course he welcomed such a relationship, as checking out a book without getting thrown down a hard marble staircase seemed to hold a certain allure to him.

Obliging her attempt at conversation his lips would begin to move and his voice would make itself heard. “Yep… I’m a senju by birth. I just graduated from the academy and made gennin a couple weeks ago. I’m trying to advance to chuunin as fast as I can due to the fact that I already had a pretty late start heading into the academy at fifteen years old.” He’d wrap up his sentence as he observed the woman continuing to write down his information. She would let out a quick chuckle as she said. “Thats nice” and placed the pencil down. Shed reach over to the book and extend it towards him before saying. “Good luck with learning the technique” Surprisingly sounding genuine with her request.

Still not completely believing the woman's apparent 180 in attitude Sento would thank her for her wishes of good luck before turning to leave the library in disbelief. Had it really been that easy to win her over this entire time. Nearing the exit to the library he’d rest the book between his arm and armpit while pushing to open the massive wooden doors. Now standing at the top of the marble staircase he’d take pleasure in the fact that he’d be able to safely descend them this time.

Reaching the bottom was a simple and and relatively painless task when one wasn’t being manhandled by a librarian, and he found himself descending it in no time at all safely reaching the dirt road that rested at the foot of the marvelous marble stairs. Taking notice of the unusually hot day he took note of the fact that it would probably have to be a short day of training or he was quickly going to find himself suffering from heat exhaustion, something he’d rather not have to deal with at the moment.

He also took note that he should probably buy something to drink at the market street, which he had to pass on the way to training ground three anyways, which meant he wouldn’t have to go out of his way to get it. Walking down the dirt road he’d decide that he was going to do just that and found himself walking at a steady pace to do so.

In no time at all he’d find himself rounding the familiar street corner that lead to market street, and the breath taking site of the lively vendors and customers interacting met his yellow eyes. For as far as the eye could see exchanges and conversation filled the streets with life. Sento smiled at the sight of it and began to walk into it scanning through the crowd looking for a food vendor that would no doubt be selling bottled spring water, freshly gathered from the nearest body of clean water.

His walk wasn’t long as he found himself standing next to the catfish vendor he had gone to when learning his first real jutsu, suiton suidanha. This time however he didn’t seem to be nearly as crowded and there only seemed to be two people standing in line in comparison to the usual ten plus. Deciding this would be as good a place as any to stop sento would find himself standing behind the woman that currently occupied the end of the line. He didn’t have to wait more than a minute and a half before he found himself at the counter, as two people wasn’t a heavy workload for the well oiled machine that was this vendor's shop.

Already visibly sweating from the hot rays of the sun Sento would simply ask for a bottled water, having already eaten earlier in the day he saw no need for any nutrition at the moment, doing so would just be wasted ryo. But after some thought he’d change his order to two waters. One for now and one for the training grounds, learning this technique would obviously take a bit of energy out of him and he expected no less, so it was better to prepare for such an occurrence then to disregard it like an idiot.

The man was nice just as he was the last time, and gave him the waters in exchange for the ryo required. Forking over the cash sento would say his thanks and the man would turn to say. “Good luck with your training sento” Surprised that the chef had recognized him much less remembered his name from a single encounter Sento would give a nod before following it up with a smile and turning away. He had work to do and he intended to get it done.

As he walked he’d carry the two water bottles with one in each hand, lowering the second one into his weapons pouch in an effort to shield it from the hot sun and keep it cool while he raised the first one in his right hand and untwisted the cap with his left.  Clearly thirsty and demanding the liquid that he needed his body would almost chug the water like a frat boy at a party. And would quickly find the bottle to be empty, and feeling slightly refreshed.

His walk came to an end when he ended up centered in the patch of grass he knew to be training ground three from repeated training exercises. The place felt almost like a home away from home for the young senju and he always felt at ease around it. His motions becoming more fluid, and his actions more instinctive. The whole feel of the place made his training feel significantly easier, especially when vacant.

Withdrawing the book from the same weapons pouch as his water bottle he’d flip open the contents of the page, looking for the hand symbols that this technique might require. This particular method of training was always where he prefered to start, it was the simplest and easiest part to get down which got him into the hang of doing things. A small victory went a long way in learning a technique, and it was something he had learned through repeated trial and error. When he failed he often got frustrated and it would cloud his thinking. The seal was actually extraordinarily simple for a B rank. Much like suiton suidanha, it was a single seal which was good because it meant it could quickly be used. The seal was of course one he knew as the hand seal were covered so intricately in the academy that even the worst of shinobi knew them by heart.

Quickly he’d form the ram seal, not allowing any chakra to spark from the combined fingers, this was a simple victory and he felt no need to repeat the symbol repeatedly as he would with a multiple combination seal, as he already instinctively knew how to perform the ram seal. Instead he’d release his fingers and pick the book back up to read further into it. He still hadn’t read about the tech and had just judged it off the cool content of the cover. Which he supposed was stupid considering the whole “Don’t judge a book by its cover” phrase that literally every mother ever told their child.

Flipping through the several pages he’d find a brief description on what the jutsu could do and was relieved to see that it was exactly what the cover seemed to portray. The main point of the jutsu was to provide ninjutsu users with some sort of advantage in a close range fight. Something Sento wouldn’t honestly mind having, most of the ninjutsu in his arsenal where long range or wall like defenses. Aside from the rasengan he really had no close range support, this technique would surely be a nice addition to his arsenal. Now he just had to focus on the whole idea of manifesting the jutsu. Which would be relatively easy considering the experience he had gained with the wood release technique thus far.

Finding himself to be a bit of a senju prodigy he’d clasp his two hands together to create the ram seal once more this time instead of suppressing the pulsation of chakra that it was supposed to create he’d allow it to spread. Feeling the wood release technique begin to find its way throughout his body and envelop him. With the vast control of the invisible chakra that surrounded him he figured it was about time to put the technique into action and much like with the wood clone technique would let the wood sprout out of him, this time not allowing it to detach from his body and change form but t instead manifest itself in the form of a pointed spear sticking straight out of his back.

Surprised at his ability to create the technique so fast he’d try it again several more times recreating the process from different locations on his body, allowing one of the branches to extend from his shoulder and then trying it from his chest. After creating a grand total of about eight different branches however he became confident in the fact that he had learned the technique and allowed the long and destructive branches to recede back inside of him.

As he did so he’d take note of the heat again and would once more realized that he was becoming dehydrated. “Jesus christ why is it so goddamn hot” He’d think to himself as he used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe off the drenching sweat that seemed to be pouring down from his hair and into his eyes. Wanting to get out of the sun he decided it was about time to wrap it up and ended the training session by closing the leather bound book shut and placing it into his back left weapons pouch before reaching into the back right one to remove the water bottle that his pouch had managed to keep cool for so long.

Visibly tired the white haired senju would slowly lift the bottle up so that gravity would allow the liquid inside of it to descend into his mouth, and bring hydration to the rest of his body and quench his thirst. While he did this he decided that while there was still plenty of daylight, and thus plenty of time to continue training, that continuing in this heat would be a bad idea, and that it would be best to continue another day under better conditions. Taking that into account the young gennin would pack up the rest of his equipment,picking up the kunai and shuriken he had left from a previous training session from the day before and began his journey back to his apartment, that rested well beyond the dirt roads, knowing it would take some time to reach the destination where his younger brother most likely awaited his return.

WC: 4000 exactly
Requesting:
3000/3000 for wood cutting
1000 towards mastery of wood cutting
20 Stats
Link to Wood Cutting