Determination(Training)

(while on the way to hoshi)

Kaori had wandered a distance from his group, though still close enough that the group would easily be able to find him, so he could train himself in peace. He wanted himself to grow stronger for Takumi's sake, so that he wasn't still that same weakling that he had been 5 years ago when he last saw his love. Sighing, he set down his bag, and got himself ready to practice a simple water jutsu he had heard of. It wasn't very powerful, but it was a start, so, readying himself, he prepared to make the correct handseals.   Monkey → Rat → Tiger → Dragon → Horse → Dragon were the signs, and as Kaori made them, he attempted to focus himself, in order to better be able to do the jutsu. He did it slowly, as he was in no rush, and to better allow himself to ingrain the seals correct order in his mind. Monkey. He took a deep breath. Rat. Tiger. Dragon. Another deep breath. Horse. Dragon. As the final sign was made, a small spinning column of water would be expelled from Kaori's mouth, not nearly as impressive as the full jutsu, but a definite start. It didn't quite take the form of a snake, but looked more like a worm, which moved at Kaori's intended target, a large branch he had seen on the ground, and decided upon to test this jutsu on.

True to the descriptions Kaori had heard of the jutsu, the water "snake" swallowed the branch. As it swallowed the branch, it turned into a small stream of water that would carry the stick away. Kaori attempted to direct the flow, but he could not, and it ended up flowing straight past him, turning into a puddle once the distance had exceeded 20 meters. The stick floated in the puddle, and Kaori sighed. It wasn't a bad start, but he could definitely do much better than this. Making up his mind, he walked over to the puddle, picked up the stick, and tossed it about 10 meters away from where he was currently standing so he could try again with the water he had used before. He stood before the puddle, preparing himself with several deep, calming breaths, eyes closed. He did his best to clear his mind, because the less he was thinking of the better he could focus. He grimaced, thinking of his own inability to focus, which completely ruined his whole plan to focus. Regardless, he opened his eyes, and with yet another deep breath, he began to make the signs. Monkey -> Rat -> Tiger -> Dragon -> Horse -> Dragon, slowly and deliberately, doing his best not to mess up and make the signs wrong.

Once more, the water became whirling column of water shaped like a snake-ish creature, with a gaping mouth. It was smaller this time, since the ground had soaked up a tiny bit of the water, but it looked more snakelike this time, which made Kaori grin as he attempted to steer the "snake" towards the branch. His attempts worked better than before, and it semi-obeyed him, but it was still very wobbly, and swerved madly. It eventually managed to make it to the stick, with Kaori's persistant patience, though it still would not obey him when he tried to guide the direction of the flow of the water. Once again, consistently, it flowed to the same location as before, turning into a puddle. Annoyed by this, Kaori walked over to the puddle and looked down at it. Sure, it was progress, in a way, but he wanted to master this, and he wanted to master it soon. It wasn't ridiculously powerful, but it was certainly helpful, and even if it used water, he needed to master it in order to grow a bit stronger. If he could master this, he could finally say he knew a jutsu that wasn't a basic academy skill. Making up his mind, he stood firm, he would do his best to completely master this jutsu. He hated water and he loved it, but he knew what he had to do.

He placed the stick a bit further away this time, maybe 12 meters away. He then returned to his previous spot, and instead of preparing himself for it, simply began to make the handsigns. Monkey -> Rat -> Tiger -> Dragon -> Horse -> Dragon, faster this time, and his signs now more forceful than before. The spinning column of water made a snake once more, the gaping mouth open wide as Kaori attempted to guide it to swallow the stick. This time, he purposefully made it zig and zag, testing his control, which seemed to be holding up so far. The snake was moving at a decent speed, but it seemed to be pretty well balanced in terms of how powerful it was and how fast it moved. Finally, when it reached the stick, it swallowed it, and turned into a small river of water, which began flowing in the same direction it had the previous few times. But as a test, Kaori attempted to guide it slightly off-course, and to his surprise and delight, it's course was altered, though it only went a few inches to the left. It ended up in the same spot anyhow, but Kaori was more encouraged since he had been able to guide the course of the flow a bit.
Silently, he celebrated in his mind for a minute or two. He had controlled it a bit better this time, which made him happy, though it wasn't enough to satisfy him. He wanted- needed to master this. He wanted to be stronger, learning new jutsu would help with that. He intended to train his butt off until he could get to Takumi, in case he needed to do anything besides talk. He would likely have to sneak Takumi away at best, and steal him away through fighting at worst. He didn't want to have to do either, but knowing Takumi's parents, he would have to. After his silent celebration, he paused for a moment to rest himself. he had already expended a fair bit of energy, so he didn't want to push himself too hard.

After he had rested a bit, he took one long look at the puddle. He would make this work no matter how long it took him to do so. Firmly taking a fighting stance, he began making the handseals once more. Monkey -> Rat -> Tiger -> Dragon -> Horse -> Dragon. Over and over, just practicing the handseals, never once did he let himself expend chakra until he was satisfied he could do the handseals in his sleep. Knowing he was fine with the handseals, he got to work once more. Quickly forming the seals, this time he actually expended some chakra, and the water snake burst forth from the puddle. Towards the stick it moved, even more snakelike than before as it's wide, gaping maw swallowed the stick and it turned into a small river of water again. The river flowed a different direction this time, firmly controlled by Kaori, though it cost him extra effort to pay attention enough to control it.

It flowed it's course, having gone the complete opposite direction from whence it had the first few times. Finally, once it had gotten 20 meters away it turned into a puddle, and the stick was floating in the center. Proud of himself, Kaori raised his fists into the air and did a victory pose, though he knew he had to continue training for awhile longer yet to completely master his control over this jutsu. So far, he had only gotten it right once. Sitting down heavily, he decided to take another break, pushing his sweat-soaked hair out of his face. The scarred side of his face stung a bit, the salty sweat getting into his old wounds. He rested for a few minutes, closing his eyes and just laying on the ground, before he eventually got up. Back to training it was. Having stood up, he got ready, and made the handsigns for what felt like the thousandth time. The water snake exploded from the puddle, towards the stick once more it travelled. It swallowed the stick in a single movement, and flowed the direction Kaori wanted it to, though it was still a bit unsteady. He wasn't going to celebrate quite yet, as he was a far cry from mastering it, but he felt as if was getting easier to use the jutsu, even if he was getting more tired the more he used it. He made the handsigns faster than before, he could control it better, but it still wasn't enough. He hadn't perfected his ability to use it, so he still had work to do.

He launched into the handsigns once more after placing the stick about 15 meters away, doing his absolute best to keep himself and the jutsu under control. The jutsu stayed in control, if wobbly, as Kaori aimed it in another completely random direction. It went in the right direction, though the movements weren't fluid enough due to the imperfect control Kaori had over the jutsu. It wouldn't take long for him to gain better control than this, though for now it wasn't anything to scoff at. He had, for the most part, gotten down this jutsu, and being able to control a jutsu was always a good thing in Kaori's mind. The more jutsu he knew, the better, because the more jutsu he knew, the better prepared he would be to protect Takumi. Or so his logic went, anyhow. The stick floating in the puddle was like a sign to Kaori, a sign to keep going. A sign he was doing something right, that all this training wasn't a complete waste. He was doing his best, and in the end that was all he could do, right?

Sighing, the scar-faced genin got back to business. Over and over again, he made the signs, practiced controlling the water snake, and did his best. He would not allow himself to fail. He had to take several breaks whenever he had gotten tired, which was often, but he kept pushing through. His control was getting better, although now he pondered the problem of a different type of control: he was getting tired too easily. Was he expending too much chakra each time he did it? Or was it simply that he didn't have a large reserve of chakra? Either way, it posed a slight problem to Kaori, who stood and thought about it. It was probably a little bit of both, he thought to himself, before he got ready to do it once again. He made a mental attempt to better control how much chakra he was expending, and to work on chakra control training at some point. Monkey -> Rat -> Tiger -> Dragon -> Horse -> Dragon. Again with the signs he went, and again the snake formed itself from the small puddle of water that seemed to have evaporated a bit. That was only to be expected though, it was a rather hot day. Again the snake moved at the stick as directed, again it swallowed the stick and dissolved into the same river of water. Again it flowed as Kaori directed it, and again it made the same puddle 20 meters away from himself. Overall, it seemed to have gone smoother than before, to his delight as he looked at the same puddle.
Maybe his training really was paying off, because it had seemed fairly easy to make the handseals and perform the jutsu. The easier it got, the prouder he would be, because that meant he had been doing it right and that he had actually managed to learn this jutsu with a fair bit of hard work. Smiling, he took one look at the puddle, and this time tried the jutsu on something bigger, a large rock he had seen nearby, about 12 meters to his right.
WC: 2018/2000
[Exit]
Claiming the below linked jutsu and 10 stat points.
http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t23967-water-release-snake-s-mouth

Approved