Shoto trains to gain Wood Style (nk, Jason Senju)

Shoto thought about Jason's words as he felt that the best way to latch onto the nature of the water flowing from the river in front of him then maybe the best strategy was to actually concentrate on the water while in the center and as a whole. So he felt that he'd need to meditate and concentrate on taking on the properties of the water into his very being. At least that's what he thought he heard from Jason so he formed the tiger seal as he gathered his chakra into the soles of his feet as he walked out onto the water and kept walking until he felt he was in a good position in the center of the river. He then brought his hands up and formed the tiger seal once more as he closed his eyes and began to meditate all while allowing his chakra to run freely through his network.

As he did this he put the majority of his focus on the river itself, drowning out the noise of the outside including the chirping of the birds and buzzing of the insects, as his ears perked up to the sounds of the flowing river and his mind was focused solely on the water on which he stood. As he concentrated his chakra more, fine tuning it to allow it to start flowing out of him and latch onto his immediate area, he felt it course through his feet and into the water as it spread out into a circle around him and caused the water to part itself in a perfect shape around his feet. As he felt his chakra spread out in the water more and more he could feel a change in his chakra taking form as he felt a different sensation from what he was used to feeling as his chakra seemed to become one with the water and began to take in a bit of it's properties.

He wondered if this is what was supposed to be happening as he kept his eyes closed and his focus maintained as he subconsciously felt the water continue to spread itself out around him as it soon began to float upwards around his body and also began to coat itself in certain places along his skin. He felt the cold of the liquid and the properties of nature in the water as he could feel what seemed to be his chakra combining it's natural earthly properties with those of the water as the unfamiliar yet satisfying feeling only intensified as he felt he was accomplishing his goal. He then felt the sensation of his chakra relaxing itself suddenly as the water stopped flowing around him and slowly floated back down to merge with the river as he opened his eyes and looked at his hands. After his chakra had died down he honestly didn't feel any different but perhaps that was just a sign that his body took to the water so great that it was only natural for his body to take in the properties of a new element. He wondered if that was the case indeed as he walked back over to the edge of the river, stepping back onto the grass, as he looked to Jason.

"So?... How'd I do? I feel as though I succeeded in taking in the water nature. I don't know, though, as it was an unfamiliar sensation to me while I was out there. Do you think I did alright?" Shoto looked back to the water and to his hands again as he moved his body to see if he could notice anything different in either if it was easier, or harder, to move or otherwise. He was relieved to find that he actually felt slightly lighter but that may have been just from his chakra meditation as he could feel it still coursing through his network as though ready for him to launch a jutsu.

(WC 663)

In a surprising fashion, Shoto had managed to make a good amount of headway with his training to use water nature chakra. It wasn't an easy thing to do, even for accomplished shinobi, so Jason couldn't help but praise his fellow clansman with this feat. Whether the boy knew it or not, the way the river had reacted to him when concentrating his chakra was much better than Jason had expected for his first try.

"Actually, Shoto," he began, "you did really well. Learning to use a new elemental chakra nature isn't easy, but you definitely made it look like it was. The way the river reacted to you, very impressive," he said, truly happy to see the boy's improvement so quickly. "Now, I want you to remember the feeling you just had while on the river, and try to manipulate it so that a small sphere of water is summoned to you." Jason made the Tiger seal then, and demonstrated to Shoto as a sphere of water no larger than his closed fist slowly rose out of the river and floated over to him. It flew through the air, making a circle around Jason's head once, and then returned itself into the flowing river. "Now you give it a try."

(211)

Shoto watched the small ball of water, his mind in thought as he did so, as he thought that maybe this way of him controlling the water in such a way was the same way Shoto could control the Earth. He tested this by forming the Ram seal as he concentrated his chakra to a point in the ground around them as his chakra bore into the earth and cut out a small circle of the ground. He then gripped it with his chakra as it floated to him and floated before him being held by nothing more than his chakra. He smiled to this as, since he was originally in tune with the element of earth, it felt easy for him to control his chakra crafted rock in any way he chose. He knew, however, it might not be so easy with the water as he let go of the earth and it fell to the ground with a clatter.

Feeling as though he knew the trick to it with his earth practice he formed the tiger seal as he directed his chakra out into the river. His assumptions turned out to be correct, to his dismay, as the fact that his chakra wasn't used to the water element it just learned to become attuned to became painfully apparent. He sighed as he concentrated and tried to, instead of using his chakra to cut into the water in order to form a sizable portion, he decided to try and see if he could merge his chakra with the water instead as he did previously. The results were what he hoped for as the water suddenly halted in the place where his chakra was forming in the river and he felt a small portion latch onto the end of it.

With it attached he focused his chakra to draw out of the river as water followed like a fish on a hook. He had to really concentrate as it wasn't something he was incredibly accustomed with as the water shook as it floated to him as though any moment it would fall. He kept up his resolved however as he kept it latched on for as long as possible, feeling it slowly getting easier, as he then directs the water back into the river and sighs from his efforts. "Well... I did it, more or less. How was that?"

(WC 401)

Shoto was indeed talented. Every task that Jason had given him so far he managed to accomplish, albeit not completely the way Jason had done them. Still, the results he had given far surpassed the expectations of a beginner. "That was great, Shoto. Don't worry if it took more effort with the water than it did with the earth. Your natural affinity is earth, not water, so it will take a little while for your body to really get used to it." It was true, the same thing had happened with Jason when he was learning to control and utilize the earth elemental chakra nature. "You should be happy. It isn't perfect, but you can use water release now as well as earth. Both the fundamental elements in using wood release are at your disposal." he said, obviously excited for his clansman. "Why don't we take a short break now? I'm sure straining your body to use water release has taken a toll. We can start back on wood release in a little while."

If Shoto was in agreement, Jason would take a seat right where he was and pull out a bento lunch from the bag he had brought with him. Hopefully Shoto was smart enough to pack a lunch too, but if not then Jason would share with the boy.

(222)

Shoto was happy to hear that he had accomplished his goals of attaining another chakra affinity as he looked out to the river to revel in his accomplishment. He knew he still had much work to do but at least he was one step closer to learning what he ultimately had set himself out to do. Maybe with a bit more effort in a short amount of time he'd be able to dominate the element of water to where he could utilize it as easily as he did with earth. It would only take Shoto a little practice as he knew it would.

He looked at Jason sitting down and pulling out a bento lunch after suggesting they take a break from the training. He had a feeling Jason wished to talk for a little bit and hopefully get to know Shoto a bit better through this method. Luckily for Jason Shoto had also brought a lunch of cup ramen that he'd already preheated as he pulled the cup from a jacket pocket and opened the cup to reveal still steaming noodles. He then took a seat as he looked to Jason. "If you believe a break is necessary I'm not going to argue with you. I'm in a good mood from learning how to control water so this helps a lot."

(WC 224)

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds being that of the flowing river and the slurping and chewing of food. It wasn't like Jason didn't want to talk, he just didn't know what to say. He wanted to be friends with Shoto, for them to share more than just this brief moment of training, but was he worthy of that friendship? He wasn't sure he was worthy of much of anything anymore. He kept telling himself that he was forced to take part in Salzem's death. That he had been caught off guard and that was why he was taken down so easily. That everything would have been fine if Xyxer hadn't shown up with an army like a storm. But, was that really true? He had a choice back then. He could have refused to take part in killing Sal, and lost his own life instead. Was he a terrible person for choosing to live? After all, Salzem's fate had already been decided. Choosing not to take part wouldn't have changed that, it would have only made him lose any chance of ever getting vengeance.

"Shoto," he said, almost in a whisper. He didn't say anything after that, not immediately anyway. He hadn't come fully back to himself just yet, but it was only a brief pause before he continued. "Shoto," he said again, a bit louder this time. "What, what do you think of Risako?" His eyes were trained on his food until then, but in that moment his gaze locked with Shoto, the look on his face an obvious sign that it was a serious question, the meaning of which went deeper than the surface. "What do you think of our Hokage?" he re-phrased. The title of the Leaf Village's leader coming out almost as a hiss, as if it were a farce that Jason couldn't stand to utter.

(317)

Shoto had been eating his ramen, his focus and mindset on other prospects such as to what he'd do once he learned the wood element, as his eyes were out on the river. Within him he held a history he wasn't keen nor accustomed to revealing to most anyone he didn't know well enough to deem worthy of the knowledge. However he could tell, just from presence alone, when something troubled others and this led him to focus his attention from the river to Jason as he could see he seemed to be lost in thought. He could see hints of sadness and traces of anger flowing through the Senju's face and part of Shoto wondered what could be troubling the young Genin's mind.

He didn't have long to think about this as Jason then asked the question about what Shoto's thoughts of the Hokage were. He could detect the malice behind Jason's words which told Shoto that, more than likely, Jason seemed to show a sort of resentment towards the Hokage in some way and this led him to start forming new questions within his mind. His face remained nonchalant as he considered the question as he thought of the best way of answering before he decided he'd just tell his feelings truthfully. "Truthfully, Jason... I share a deep hatred for the Hokage as well. I don't know her personally, she's possibly someone completely different when it comes to her duties, but the way they treated my family and me in times of need was atrocious. I didn't have a very happy upbringing and the Kage is in partway a reason for that. If you were looking for a bit more of a happier answer I'm afraid I don't have one for you."

(WC 285)

It...wasn't what Jason had expected. But at least it was honest. It seemed like the boy had misunderstood Jason, taking his words to mean he hated Risako. That wasn't the case at all. At least, he didn't hate her. Sure, she had intended on bowing down to that monster straight away without a fight, but when her ninja disobeyed and fighting broke out anyway she was right there with them. She hadn't ran and left her people to die helplessly on her own. That was something to remember, something that added to her merit. Still, Jason had questions for her. He wanted to understand why she had taken a knee so easily, why she still was allowing this to happen to her village now. 

"Risako did that?" he asked, the confusion obvious on his face. "That...doesn't really sound like her. Though, I can't honestly say I know her very well. She didn't seem like the type when I first met her, at least." He remembered their first interactions. Risako was only the Deputy Hokage then, not real deal. She had helped him to train, taking on the duty of teaching when she didn't need to. He had liked her then, even respected her. Now he didn't know how he felt. 

"The way she handled everything with Kirigakure, with that monster...I'm not sure I ever really knew her at all." His eyes were fixed on his lunch again, the chopsticks he held in his left hand above the box were all but forgotten. His mind was beginning to wander back to places he'd rather not go, struggling to hold on to the reality in front of him. "I, I'm sorry, Shoto. The battle, the battle at the gates took its toll on me. There are some scars that haven't fully healed, that might not ever heal." His voice was solemn, eyes watery as if only a thin layer of some clear fabric was holding back a raging river ready to spill out at any moment. His words were lost now, as he sat silently. The depressive side of his internal war seemed to be winning out at the moment, something the optimistic side of him silently hoped Shoto would be able to quell.

(373)

Shoto looked over to his fellow clansman, his eyes unnerving and seemingly without emotion, as his thoughts wandered to the battle that had been commenced at the gates. He could recall the damages that the village sustained during the invasion as he continued to eat his ramen. In a sense some part of him deep within his heart felt sorry for Jason and what he had said to him about the whole incident on the matter of his past and while he had some inner negative feelings towards the Kage he felt he didn't need to inject such feeling into others. Especially not to those who was in the process of helping him in growing stronger.

"Jason, in times of crisis, peril, and war there are often plenty of times we'll constantly look back upon such... nightmares and memories and focus on how helpless we may have been within the whole situation. We'll constantly try to think about things that may have gone differently if we willed ourselves to be stronger and more efficient with our worth as shinobi. Unfortunately war will bring such pain to you no matter what the outcome of it all was. Win or lose losses are unavoidable and all suffer scars within their hearts and psyches. That's how much of a hellish place in history war is. It sticks to almost everyone for the longest of times even after history books stop remembering it...

But one thing that also carries on within us is the hope that, win or lose, change can come at any point in time in history and usually it will be caused by those who find the strength within themselves to pursue such changes. Even though we may have suffered a loss in the war we're still alive and we're still able to make such changes. We can continue to remember about what had happened that brought us to the points that we're at now but, from those memories, we can also find strength and hope that someday we'll be able to make new memories... happier memories in the place of the bad ones. It'll take time, of course, but sooner or later that time will be able to heal any wounds we suffered. We just have to be willing to learn to stand up after whatever life has tried to hit us with, dust ourselves off, and continue to move forward with the objective of becoming stronger from it all. Once we achieve that... almost nothing can stop us. And we can often times make things right again, right back to the way they were, even if others consider it all impossible. We'll have the power to make the impossible possible no matter what."

Shoto stopped his speech as he took another slurp of his noodles as he slowly chewed to savor the taste while thinking of what he had just said. He didn't know if it'd serve to help Jason but he mainly had said it as an apology for possibly bringing his mood down in the first place. He closed his eyes as he continued to eat and began to have memories of his own past.

(WC 530)

He looked up at the boy as he spoke, his eyes drawn to his clansman by his words. They had struck a chord within Jason that he wasn't expecting. In fact, everything Shoto had said was unexpected, but surprisingly helpful. When the words stopped coming, Jason began to eat again. He let the two sit in silence for a moment, digesting what he had just heard from his...friend? He thought he could consider Shoto a friend, anyway. He hoped Shoto felt the same way. 'Even in these dark times we can find hope. Hope for the village to be born anew. Hope to make new memories and rebuild after such a tragedy. Yea. Shoto was right. I shouldn't be so focused on the negative. As long as I'm alive..No. As long as we're alive, we can move forward. We can bring Konoha back to it's former glory, back to a point where no one would dare attack us again because they knew if they did that they would be the ones wiped out, not us.' 

It was a lot to think about, and definitely encouraging. He couldn't help but feel grateful to Shotomoru for saying what he had. New tears began to well up in his eyes then, tears of joy this time instead of sadness and pain. "Shoto," he began, "Thank you. I really needed to hear that, even though I didn't know I needed to hear that. I just, I just want you to know that I appreciate it. You've helped me in more ways than one. You're right. Even though we have gone through a tragedy recently, it doesn't mean we can't rebuild. It doesn't mean it's the end of the world. After all, the village is still standing and we're still alive. We can grow and make changes, just as you said. I was struggling before, and I'll probably continue to struggle going forward, but I think you might have just helped tip the balance for me. You, my friend, might have just given me the hope I needed." 

He was smiling then, a true smile that hadn't come across his face in what felt like forever. Things were going to get better. Things were going to change. And he was going to be the center of it all.

(385)