A Swim in Parchment

Oda’s training session with Takashi was an eye opening one, and he was beginning to see the strength in calmness. Oda didn’t think he would ever totally change, but he was beginning to accept that if he wanted to truly reach great heights he would need to learn control in every aspect, his chakra, his elements, and his own internal energy.  

As Oda descended the stairs that morning he greeted his perpetually gardening neighbor, toast still in his mouth and a cold coffee in his hand. “Mfornin, flowrs looking excellent” he said as he swallowed his charred toast and washed it down with some coffee. The old lady looked at him briefly before setting her shears down and giving a look that can only be described as caring distaste.

“You know dear, you are a passionate and driven shinobi, a good community member, and an ok neighbor.” Oda’s smile faltered a bit at the last one but only briefly

She continued. “But you got the single most bizarre sense of taste I’ve ever seen.” Oda laughed, he’d heard this a lot but refused to believe it.

“Granny my palette is just ahead of the curve” He gave a cocky smile and another crunchy bite of his toast.

“You know ramen noodles aren’t supposed to be mushy, you know that right?” She retorted and clipped at some hedges.

“Bah, you don’t know what you’re missin.” He gave a friendly but dismissive wave and continued on. “Have a good day ma'am!”

She nodded and returned the goodbye in kind before returning to her flowers.

Oda walked down the road and thought about what he wanted to do today. He had been running himself ragged with missions and training, and he felt as if he needed a breather. He stared across the village from one of his favorite morning spots, his eyes resting on Bals Library. His mind felt clear and focused from the energy spent the night before at Shinada Springs, and he felt ready to tackle the intimidating shelves of the library.

First, lunch. He meandered his way through the winding pathways that encompassed Tsukigakure, stopping to make friendly conversation along the way. As he did so he made various deals with the food merchants, a chore here, a hand hauling a shipment there. Oda had begun to make some money from his missions and yet he still couldn’t help himself, maybe it was his merchant upbringing but he could never bring himself to spend his money when there was a cheaper option.

He munched on an assortment of foods, mostly appetizers, while sitting on a bench and watching the citizens of Tsukigakure live their lives. He soaked in the feel of community and kinship. He felt at home. He conversed with some citizens more, helped a family find their lost dog, and meditated for a brief time in the park before finally making his way to the library.

He took a moment to appreciate the grandeur of the place before getting down to business. He was determined to at least understand how this library organized itself. As he traversed the rich wooden floors and weaved through countless shelves he kept an eye out for the name Terumi, or anything related to advanced elements.

He hummed the tune that, if whistled, could activate his great fireball technique. It was a tune that stuck in his head, but he kept his lips shut tight out of fear of what could happen if he whistled it, he had yet to fully control that part of it yet.

As he hummed the tune and looked at the shelf in front of him a parchment caught his eye. “Advanced Elements and their Clans Vol 7. S-U” His eyes lit up, and he grabbed the small unassuming scroll. As he was doing so, he spotted another “On Advanced Elements and DNA”, and then another “A Study on Advanced Elements and the human body”. By now a small pile of parchment lay in his arms. He held it carefully- they all seemed to be very old- and went to a small table.

He slowly laid out the scrolls on the table and grabbed the first one closest to him, “A Study On Advanced Elements and the Human Body”. The language of the text was incredibly boring, made up of scientific terms and research words that Oda barely comprehended. The Text was clearly out of his knowledge range and he struggled to even slightly grasp what it was getting at. He read and re-read it for almost an hour. Finally, something caught his eye in the footnotes that he had been ignoring. He looked at its source “Studies indicate that a statistically significant portion of shinobi will only ever know one Advanced Element” He traced his eyes down to the bottom of the page where the footnote went, hoping that this would mention his clan and maybe give some insight to his history.

Instead what Oda found was even more intriguing. And he moved the scroll closer to his face in rapt attention.

“However, rare shinobi have been found to possess two if from certain bloodlines” Oda briefly beamed in pride at that before it changed to shock and wonder “Furthermore, even rarer than that are clanless ninja who have achieved 2 Advanced Elements, implying there is theoretically a Clanned shinobi who could potentially know up to 3 Advanced Elements, more research required.”

Oda stared at the page with a blank expression as he processed what this meant. It morphed into excitement after a few seconds as he processed the fact that he could eventually know an extra Advanced Element. He carefully set the old document aside before reading the next, this one with more anticipation as he hoped the book would have some information on his clan. The Terumi lineage was an old clan, and unfortunately a lot of information on it was lost to time. That was only exacerbated by the unfortunate war they had been involved in, Oda shuddered briefly as he remembered that time in his childhood.


“Advanced Elements and their Clans Vol 7. S-U” was a sturdy and thick scroll. He opened it with anticipation and considered skipping to Terumi, but decided to at least take his time and skim each clan. He began skimming each clan and their info, some were scarce and had barely any information, some were filled to the brim with lineages, abilities, traditions and so on. He finally came to one that really piqued his interest, the Senju clan. He read about the history, the traditions. They were admirable but not what interested him most, what Oda was fascinated by was the Advanced Release they used.

Oda had always loved the woods, and the things this book was saying the Senju could do with trees and forests amazed him. He read on in rapt attention as he learned about the Wood Release and its capabilities. He began to become disheartened though, as the final line of the chapter read “The Senju clan is in particular very powerful because they are the only ones who can take advantage of the Wood Release, their DNA seeming to be the driving factor in this…” He looked up from the book, it hadn’t even occurred to him that these things were cut off from other people, even his own Advanced Release he thought he could eventually teach to anyone he wished.

His thoughts were broken as he excitedly turned the scroll until he was at the T section, forgetting all about the Senju. Oda was hungry for any info he could find on the Terumi clan. As he got to the end of the scroll he furrowed his brow in confusion. The section on the Terumi clan was sparse, only noting their advanced releases and their current history of service in the war and subsequent dispersal. All things he already knew, he sighed and rolled the scroll back up, only reaching for the third out of a sense of duty.

“On Advanced Elements and DNA” was an unassuming scroll about twice the thickness in size compared to the first scroll, Oda was not encouraged, half expecting to be told the same thing in many more words. But, as he began to read he found this researcher to be much less verbose and much more straightforward. It read more like a manual for something than a research topic, and Oda realized as he read more that it felt that way because it was. His eyes widened a bit “No.Way.” He said out loud. This scroll seemed to be an instruction on how to transfer DNA from one clan to another person. And, it seemed to have no limits on who the recipient was. Oda began to feel excited as he could sense the pull of an obsession, something he was known to fall into. He wondered if he could perhaps one day control the Wood Release in the way a Senju could. His thoughts were interrupted by a slightly shrill but whispering voice.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be in here..” He looked around confused before seeing a sign that clearly indicated only higher up shinobi were allowed. He grinned sheepishly and set the scroll down.

“Er…Sorry? I could leave immediately, I had no clue. I’m new” He said all this in spurts of nervousness as he cleaned up

“Yes, please do your best to observe the signs placed about” She said in a polite but terse tone. Oda gave a polite smile back.

“Yes, will do- absolutely - sorry bosslady” He said in return, slipping past her and back out to the main area of the library. He did a giddy jump as he left the library. He had never appreciated learning in that fashion.

As He walked to the Shinoda Springs he had a bounce in his step and his head held high. He was determined to learn more about advanced elements, and he felt like he was onto something with the wood release. If he could combine 3 advanced elements he could truly bring notoriety back to the Terumi name. All of that would require patience though, something Oda was sorely lacking in, for now he would need to get better with his mastery over one element, the fire element. He made a game plan in his head on what jutsus he would be attempting today, making a note to check his pack for the note cards that described each hand seal. He decided on two particularly difficult ones and scanned the training grounds for an open spot.

As he sat waiting for a spot to open up he watched the other shinobi train, some used wind for their jutsus. Some earth, and there were a few lightning users amongst them as well. But, what Oda felt a kinship with was the water users, ironic considering his affinity.

Oda didn’t believe Fire and Water had to always be in direct contention with each other, they were after all two elements essential in the Boil release, something he would have to learn one day. He thought they were 2 sides of the same force, they simply enacted that force in different ways. Fire and Water to Oda were the forces of change, they were fundamental, heat and cold, entropy and order. They fed off each other and complimented the other. The way that fire was fickle and quick, spreading with great power but ultimately ending. Water was its foil, it persisted and flowed, gradually shaping mountains and valleys. They both had their upsides and downsides, but nonetheless Oda felt a profound calling to the two elements, with the third being a nagging trace of earth affinity.

The feeling of new knowledge gave him a drive and passion to train hard. Oda had learned that he could do something that he had thought impossible. And with that knowledge, he knew how to do the rest in his training, determination was his specialty.

---

Claims:

Oda Terumi wrote:

---

Claims:

Approved