Genin Days [TRAINING - P]

Jutsu: Chakra Sensory
Rank: Skill
Requirement: 2000 Words

A few years after her mother had taught her the basic medical technique, Saya was once again out in the fields for another training session. She sat on the dewy grass, surrounded by opaque wisps of mist. They weren’t that tall as it only reached up to her shoulders, but it did give off a slightly mysterious feel so early in the morning. Light breezes brushed up against her as if an otherworldly being hovered her small frame. Saya shivered and shook her head to wake herself up before looking up and around her surroundings.

Only the sounds of early morning bugs buzzed in the air. Chirp! ZzzZZz! came the noise around her. When was her mother going to arrive? Rika, a renowned chunin healer, had left earlier to run a quick errand at the hospital so it shouldn’t be too long. Unless… Saya sighed and stretched out her body, flopping onto her back when she came to the conclusion that her mother had simply been caught up. This would give her a bit of time to take a small break and catch up on some precious sleep.

Her eyes fluttered to a close as the young girl began to regulate and concentrate on her breathing. Everything was dark, effectively cutting out her vision yet strengthening her other senses. She could smell the earthy musk, listen to nature’s melody, and feel the softness of the mist’s caress. Saya controlled her inhalation and exhalation a few times before she could feel the tendrils of sleep coiling around her consciousness. However, before the academy student could fully delve into the abyss called sleep, an uneasy feeling settled onto her.

It was like a heavy weight pushing down onto her prone form. Her brows scrunched together as she tried to think of something else to focus on. Sleep had been a commodity the little girl was unable to afford the past few weeks. Or was it months? She wasn’t quite sure anymore as her schedule was jam packed. Time was just a continuous stream, where the line between night and day blurred together.

”One move and I’ll slit your throat.”

Cold steel pressed against her exposed neck, biting into the soft flesh but it surprisingly did not draw any blood. Not yet at least. Saya felt her breath hitch, her body stiffening at the weapon, and her eyes snapping open. Above her was a cloaked figure and she could see nothing but their dark orbs, glinting in the darkness of dawn. Her mind had gone blank, shock and fear locking her up. How could she have been so careless?

”Constant vigilance, my daughter.”

What? Saya blinked again. The beat of her heart slowing down when she began to recognize that it was her mother’s eyes she had been staring into. Her body trembled with relief before slumping onto the ground, not at all minding that the blade was still resting across her jugular vein. ”Sorry, Kaa-san. I… Nevermind.” She couldn’t tell her mother that sleep continued to elude her. ”Mind taking off the kunai from me now and tell me what we’re training today. More running? Or are we going to the hospital again today?”

It was basically routine for the young girl now to either be running around the village or shadowing her mother at the hospital and tending to the patients. However, Rika only shook her head as she drew back the knife and pocketed it in one of her many pouches. Pulling back the mask and hood, and shaking her hair free, the older woman replied, ”No, not today. But I do hope you have warmed up - ” Saya winced, knowing that she hadn’t. ” - Since we’ll be learning something wholly different. You have graduated from the academy after all.”

They both stood. One waiting on the other to reveal their plans for the day.

”Though I am disappointed that you weren’t keeping aware of your surroundings, this skill should help you.” Rika sent her daughter a side-glance, clearly displeased. ”It’s called Chakra Sensory. You’ve heard of it at least once in your classes, right?”

The term was familiar, yes, but Saya had no idea what it was or what it did though the name itself seemed pretty self-explanatory. Sensing chakra. It sounded easy enough to learn. She nodded and hoped that her mother wouldn’t be quizzing her on what she remembered about the jutsu, which would have been little to none. And it seemed as if her wishes were granted. Rika simply returned the nod and gestured for her daughter to start warming up her body as she lectured.

”All you’ve learned so far is to work the energy within your body,” the older woman started as Saya started to pull her arms up and over her head. Her eyes were on her mother, listening to every word that would pour from her lips. ”With the medical technique I’ve shown you years ago, you should be quite in tune with your chakra. What we’re going to do today is to understand how to use your chakra externally out of your body.”

At that point Saya paused in her stretching. Her brows furrowed together, unsure of what her mother meant by “external.” Rika smirked, arms akimbo over her chest.  ”What? Do you really think that once you expel the chakra from your body in a jutsu, there’s nothing more to it? Don’t be daft, my daughter. Chakra can do whatever you want it to.” A short pause. ”Just as long as it’s within certain laws and boundaries, or you can make loopholes around them. The same goes with the chakra sensory technique. Instead of keep your chakra inside of your body, you can push it out in the area around you. Do you understand what I mean now?”

Saya did. She really did. It all made sense to her now that it was thoroughly explained as well as acting a refresher of sorts. While the genin did hear about it during her academy days, the days had passed so quickly that she had nearly forgotten all about it. With her muscles finally warmed up, Saya looked towards her mother in askance. ”So, I should… How…? There’s no seals to it, Kaa-san?”

Rika clicked her tongue, producing a “tsking” noise, and shook her head. ”There’s no hand seals, no. Now get to it, Saya. You have to figure it out for yourself, remember? Now, I’m just going to go sit over there and rest. Call me when you can feel my chakra, alright?” The chunin pointed to a seemingly comfortable spot at the base of a tree before flickering over to it and leaving Saya to her devices.

To say that Saya wasn’t frustrated was a lie. She was beyond that, really. Feeling embittered and upset at the notion that all the information she had to work with was what her mother had given her and, if it was possible, the knowledge from way back when in the academy. There was also a dumbfoundedness lining her face before she huffed and turned away from her mother. She bit her lip, still annoyed at the lack of guidance she sought, before her eyes fluttered to a close.

Already, like Rika had stated earlier, she could feel her chakra coursing through her body. But how was she suppose to use it to sense out a shinobi’s chakra? Saya’s fingers twitched. Calmly, she reminded herself that this skill required zero hand seals. Her chakra network flared as if it sensed her agitation. The first thing that came to her mind was to make a dome of chakra around her figure and expand it out. While it was plausible in theory, attempting to execute it was going to be a doozy.

Saya’s lips pursed into a thin line as she tried to push chakra out of her body. It fluctuated within her, confused at what it was suppose to do. They had no real direction nor did they have a specific command to follow. Still, it moved and erupted around her person as it tried to comprehend her instructions. Close to an hour later Saya had not made much progress in figuring out the jutsu worked. At least not until her mother made a comment about it.

”You’re suppose to be looking for someone else’s chakra, not exhausting your reserves. You can do better than that, Saya.”

The young girl shot her mother a glare over her shoulder, muttering grievances under her breath. Nevertheless, Saya took her mother’s advice and recalled the wild energies flickering around her. Instead of the rushing waves of a torrential ocean, it calmed and settled into the soft whisperings of a running creek. She was tired, physically and mentally. But for some reason a part of her mind felt clear, like seeing the crystalline blue surface of a lake kind of “clear.”

That was it! Maybe if she imagined her chakra as some kind of water that was spreading out it was possible for her to pinpoint her mother by the tree. Saya breathed deeply, imagining and trying to push out her sense of hearing, smell, and touch. She was even trying to pull out her sixth sense (which every shinobi had developed over time and training). The image in her mind had the pool of water expanding out from her body, spilling out like tumultuous wave and splashing across every blade of grass, animal, and tree.

There!

She could feel the foreign yet familiar chakra thumping in the distance. It wasn’t stranger her senses told her. The other chakra was warm and inviting, sloshing against its vessel.

Her mother’s voice suddenly cut in through her concentration, ”Not bad, Saya. You managed to figure it out before lunch. Good.” Saya opened her eyes to see her mother standing up and brushing off whatever dirt clung to her clothes. ”Now onto the second phase.” The girl tilted her head with a questioning stare. What was her mother going to make her do now?

”Tag!” Rika suddenly shouted, squeezing her daughter’s shoulder for a quick second before disappearing into the thicket of trees in a blur but not before she could leave Saya with a few parting words. ”I’ll be suppressing my chakra so make sure to keep an eye out.”

What…? Saya blinked several times before it dawned on her. They were playing hide and seek. A childish game for civilians. However, with her mother using it as a training method to help her get used to the skill, Saya supposed that it wasn’t so bad. A small smile graced her lips as she sprinted to the trees, jumping and landing on a sturdy branch before continuing on.

This was where it began to get dangerous. Saya knew her mother wasn’t just going to sit around and wait for her to figure out her position. The hairs on her arms stood, awaiting for a sudden --- zing! A kunai embedded itself right onto the branch she had just landed on, a few inches away from her foot. Saya froze, her head whipping towards the kunai’s initial trajectory.

She quickly tried to push her senses further, hoping to catch a glimpse of her mother’s whereabouts. There! It hovered in the middle of space, probably on a branch as well. Saya created a clone and sent it ahead to act as a distraction before jumping down to the ground and moving her way towards the swirling mass of chakra. She kept her steps soft and light that it barely seemed to graze the ground.

Her mother, to Saya’s disappointment, had already seen her coming. The smirk on her lips told her that much. Rika threw a barrage of shuriken at the incoming blur, making sure that it was at a speed that her daughter could deal with. And Saya did with a bit of difficulty. The young girl came out with a few minor scratches on her arms, thankfully, and they weren’t that hard to heal.

”Was that necessary, Kaa-san?” Saya asked, her senses still active. At this point it the young genin was becoming accustomed to her mother’s chakra signature. If she had to describe it to someone, Saya would have said that Rika’s energy was like a warm blanket under a the cold night sky, smelt like freshly baked cinnamon rolls, and tasted like crisp sweet tea.

”Hahaha!” Her mother’s chortling echoed slightly around them. ”How many times do I have to tell you, Saya? Of course it’s necessary. Any ninja worth their damned life would attack anyone they know to be an enemy. Especially if they’ve been found out. And in every training session we have, my dear daughter...” The teasing tone was gone, replaced by a certain hardness that Saya knew she had to take seriously. ”... I will always be your enemy. Keep that in mind. Okay?”

Though it did kind of sting her a bit, Saya nodded with determination. ”Yes, Kaa-san.”

”Good! Now, let’s run through the exercise again. We’ll do it until dinner.”

With that Rika disappeared once more, leaving her daughter to sigh and shake her head. That was her mother alright. Always pushing and pushing her until she too tired to move.

WORD COUNT: 2239
CLAIMING: Skill: Chakra Sensory + 11 SP

Approved