Early morning. Bright sunshine. Too bright. Ashi cringed as a ray of light shined precisely in her eye, sniping her from more than 92 million miles away. Stopp... She rubbed her eyes and woke up, with Mitsu's face being the first thing she saw. She shares a room with her twin brother, and recently they've been sleeping in the same bed more and more often even if they have two. It's just more comfortable that way. For some reason Ashi felt wide awake, and already knew she couldn't go back to sleep due to the cursed sun. Ashi got up slowly and gently, trying her best not to wake Mi-chan up. Despite her razor sharp personality, when there's no one to see her she's often kind like this. She did her morning routine, apart from brushing her hair and decided to go for a walk: not much else to do, since her parents were still asleep as well. Plus, physical activity is important for a girl in development. Becoming fat was one of her worst nightmares.

Closing the door behind her, Ashi took off in a pretty random direction. She walked with her arms behind her back, a position she assumes subconsciously. The young girl wore a white shirt with a dark blue sweater on top of it, and a black knee-length skirt. She really didn't look anything like a shinobi, apart from the Iwa headband she wore like a belt, the weapon pouch strapped to her right hip, and the five kunai just hanging from below each of her knees, held by the leg bracelets she got from her pops. Back then Ashi decided she'd always wear them, and she's doing her best to keep the promise, even if the kunai haven't yet proven to be of any use. Her long, black, messy hair swayed in the gentle wind as she approached the waterfall point, a pretty place that didn't really mean much to Ashi. She played there a couple times as a kid, but that's more or less her only connection to the place. But bathed in early sunshine, the place looked more serene and relaxing than ever before; Ashi could feel something draw her in, and she didn't resist. The intense green strongly contrasted the pale brown of the rest of Iwa. She kept walking, up until she noticed a strange man just... sitting there. Completely still. The vegitation made the entire scenery seem darker and spookier, and for some reason Ashi found the person to be quite creepy. Like, why is his hair white? Ashi stopped in her tracks, and just stared at the mysterious person; she didn't expect anyone to be here at this time.

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The seemingly random man made Ashi's imagination run wild, and she just kept staring at him for a good fifteen minutes, not even noticing it's been that long. Could he be a stranger? A traveling merchant perhaps? Or maybe an undercover assassin, sent from Kiri to bring them back the Tsuchikage's head? Ashi ponderes, staring unintentionally, when the worst possibly thing happened: he noticed. HE NOTICED. Ashi felt impossibly embarassed. She blushed and looked away at the ground immediately. He noticed her! His eyes opened, and he saw her staring at him, though judging by his facial expression he didn't find it weird at all. His face shifted to form a cheerful smile and he spoke. "Hello, what's your name?"His voice was surprisingly calm. He wants to know what my name is...? Ashi took the man's inquery in a wrong way, only making him seem like even more of a creep. Her eyebrow flinched and she looked surprised, in a way almost disgusted: she couldn't stand perverts. Unconsciously, she took a small step back and looked at straight at him. Completely forgetting about her embarrassment from a moment ago, she bravely raised her voice "Why'd you wanna know? You a pervert? Ashi was almost at the point of anger: in her eyes he was really suspicious.

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Ashi's question seemed to devestate him. It's true though, that she may have been just a little bit overboard. Calling a complete stranger a pervert is just a tiny bit too much, even for someone with a temper like hers. The smile on his face crumbled away, and an awkward silence ensued. For a moment there, Ashi felt like just walking away, but the man was persistant: he tried again, with a noticeably firmer tone: "I want to know because I am a frequent visitor of this place, and I have never seen you here before. I appreciate that you are a shinobi trained to always be alert but assuming the worst in people, especially those in the same village as you, is very rude and frankly quite insulting." Ashi's raised eyebrow quickly lowered, if only for the other one to instantly rise up. The perv just called me rude, right? What nerve! The guy then decided it would be a good idea to throw a rock at a nearby pond while continuing. There were tons of bodies of water around: streams, ponds, waterfalls, you name it. "Since you are reluctant to introduce yourself as per customs, I shall go first to jump start your manners. I am Raishi Kanetsu, Jounin of Iwagakure. I now ask again, what's your name?" The way he- no, the way Raishi over here talked seemed quite passive agressive. And boringly long: a speech, almost. Luckily for Ashi, the stone skipped only three times: painfully average, or even below that. I can do better than that wearing a blindfold. Ashi smirked, and decided she should probably tell the guy her name. After all, she didn't really want to give him more reasons to think she has no manners. She was actually raised quite well. Plus, this Raishi Kanetsu guy stated his name, so not naming herself would actually be rude this time. Wait... Kanetsu... Wasn't that the clan famous for their Yoton? The mere thought spooked Ashi a tiny bit, but it didn't show on her facial expression. It only meant that she should be a tiny bit more careful from now on, that's all.

She responded out of courtesy, which could be seen from her face: not even a trace of a smile. "Fine, fine. I'm Ashi Yuryo, a genin..." Ashi looked to the side, and murmured something else, too. It was likely that Raishi couldn't hear her, but who knows what to expect from a jounin. What Ashi actually said was "nice to meet you", but she just couldn't face the fact that she gave in to his request. Though, Ashi had to show she had manners in some form at least. Unconsciously, she held onto her left wrist with the other hand. Who knew where this was going to go? It'd likely be best if she just left, but she had to at least get a reaction from the guy, so Ashi just kept looking at him with an awkward expression.

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As each word left his mouth, Raishi looked carefully at the girl. If not too carefully. He observed every twitch of muscle on her face and every insignificant shifting of her eyes. He wanted to make sure he got this right. Thinking back to the scenario that had occurred only moments ago, he started to think that perhaps she had valid reason to call him a pervert. He thought of this even as he spoke to her, wondering if his isolation from the rest of the village had indeed crippled his social skills. Perhaps he was the one in need of a jump start to his manners. After saying his first statement, he watched with alert as the girl's initially raised eyebrow dropped, as if in submission but the other eyebrow rose almost instantly, if not simultaneously which seemed like a sign of defiance to Raishi. Even as he picked up the rock, Raishi made a mental note about the oddly dressed girl that stood in front of him, who seemed to even been the offspring of sass. This girl is definitely stubborn...he thought to himself, just as the rock dropped into the water. Now beginning his introduction, Raishi also realised that she was right to be weary of him. No normal person, or rather a normal female, would not be weary of a strange older man who after seemingly drifting off in to meditation, requested for their name. If Raishi was a younger girl, he would definitely be at alert!

As he ended his sentence, once again requesting for her name, Raishi had a new understanding of the young sassy girl. She is just a childhe thought to himself as he awaited her reply, And children's imaginations must run wild. That's probably why she's being so defensive. Still waiting for the reply, Raishi hoped he didn't scare the girl too much because of his name. Kanetsu. Of course it was unlikely that the name would have meant the slightest to her, but from Raishi knew that the name held weight in Iwagakure. At least, it did hundreds of years ago. Once I'm done here, I need to learn more about my clan... he reminded himself once more, making yet another mental note about his self discovery.

"Fine, fine. I'm Arashi Yuryo, a genin..."

Raishi looked up at the girl from his sitting position. She was approximately 5 meters away from him but Raishi could clearly make out the blank expression on her face as she spoke to him. It was more than obvious that she responded purely on the basis of courtesy, not because she wanted to, which was good enough for Raishi. Although, Raishi could not handle the fact that she held such a blank, robotic face whilst introducing herself. Haruno had always told him to keep a smile on his face, as it could brighten people's darkest days and save them from oblivion. As a child, he didn't really understand this, but sort of unconsciously agreed with Haruno as he was a living testament to that. She had saved him from the darkness that had consumed him at such a young age, and she had used only the power of her loving smile. Because of that, Raishi always smiled at people he saw everyday, regardless of if he was acquainted with them or not. Because of this, the young girl's introduction seemed less than superficial to Raishi. Hmm... he thought to himself as she spoke, At least it is better than nothing I guess, taking into consideration her stubborn nature. He had figured out that she was stubborn just by reading her body language, and the first few words that he had exchanged with her. It was ultimately the young girl's eyebrow movements that gave away her fiery nature. Perhaps she could make a fine shinobi with proper training... he thought to himself, his mind drifting off. Of course, he himself was in no position to train the young girl, but who else would? A lot of the Jounin in Iwagakure were off on important missions, and with the announcement of the Chunin Exams, all Genin were left to train themselves for the events, which would most likely prove inadequate to compete. Unless she's a prodigy.. he thought to himself, looking more carefully at her as she was just about to say her name.

Arashi... he thought to himself, taken aback by the young girl's name. This had been the name of one of Raishi's oldest friends, before his untimely death several years ago. He had been the Tsuchikage right after Dengen, and at such a young age! Past memories of their adventures flooded Raishi's mind; from their little battle royale at the rock pit, to their exploration of the caves on the outskirts of the village. He couldn't help but smile as these memories came to him in a flash. Now dragging his mind back to the present, Raishi was surprised to hear the girl murmur a "nice to meet you", possibly thinking that he couldn't hear it. This made him smile some more because it proved that she was actually learning something.

"There we go, that wasn't so hard see? Nice to meet you too by the way."

He spoke cooly this time, the initial firmness now melted away.He then stood up, dusting off the dirt from below his trousers and stretching a bit before he continued talking.

"Arashi...Did you know that was the name of the youngest Tsuchikage? He was a strong man. Perhaps you too could become strong like he was"

He spoke to the young girl with a smile on his face, half joking as he said he could become strong like Arashi was. Raishi had only ever sparred with Arashi on one occasion, but he knew from stories that he had gotten very strong. How else could he have ascended to being Tsuchikage? Besides, he had always been an ambitious one. Raishi then walked over to the pond that he had skipped stones one, instinctively channeling chakra into his feet so he wouldn't drop into the water. Despite the hot, sunny day, Raishi as always one to keep as dry as possible, and the breeze that was generated by the waterfalls did just that. No need for a dip.. he thought to himself jokingly.

"I always come here to train and meditate. The coolness of the water generate a sort of soothing serenity for me. So why are you here? As I said earlier, I have never seen you here before and I always come here,"

He spoke as cooly as the wind, honestly curious as to why the young girl was there on such a lovely day.

Word Count: 1139
Total: 3481

PS. A little fucked up. Don't know how to fix o.o

The jounin look up at here, still sitting down, and replied. "There we go, that wasn't so hard, see?Nice to meet you too by the way." Eh? Ehh?? He heard me? How could he hear mee!? Ashi blushed violently, and a look of utter embarrassment formed on her face. It was now clear that Raishi was the „winner“. Though it didn't seem to matter much to him at all. He stood up, brushed the dust off his trousers and spoke again, with a cooler tone. "Arashi...Did you know that was the name of the youngest Tsuchikage? He was a strong man. Perhaps you too could become strong, like he was." What? Arashi? Did he just mispronounce my name? And then he calls me rude! Hmphh, what nerve. Or did I say the wrong name when I introduced myself? No, that can't be… Oh who cares, it's not like I'll see this guy ever again. Him mistaking my name is probably even better,  if he's a perv… And how would I not know who Arashi was?Ashi responded, with a tone definitely less agressive than before. Yeah, of course I know who he was. I'm not THAT young, you know. She even got to see him once, it was at his speech after being made the Tsuchikage. Looked like a bit of a twat to her, to be honest, but Ashi scoffed at the idea of becoming as strong as a Kage. No way in hell. It's not that she's that lazy, but she's just really not at all that talentented, barely average actually. But judging by the jounin's voice, it was more of a joke, so it didn't bother Ashi much.

Raishi then proceeded to walk towards the pond they were next to the entire time, and, to Ashi's surprise, he kept walking on the surface of the water. His voice was even firmer now: "I always come here to train and meditate. The coolness of the water generate a sort of soothing serenity for me. So why are you here? As I said earlier, I have never seen you here before and I always come here." Ashi instinctively started walking towards him slowly, since the distance between them grew a bit too large for a normal conversation. She put her hands behind her back, in the usual position, and actually looked quite innocent. Oh, so that's what he was doing. Meditating. Weirdo… The young girl looked up and answered his question. Maybe this guy wasn't a perv after all. I mean, he comes here to meditate? Perverts don't meditate. Besides, the question seemed harmless. Not like he asked her to show him her panties. Ashi's voice was now calmer than before. „Oh I'm just taking a walk. It's a nice morning and this is a nice place, that's all.“ Ashi would stop walking after coming right next to the pond, and look down awkwardly. It was no surprise for a jounin to be able to walk on the surface of water so confidently. For Ashi it still took  quite a bit of concentration, and even then she wasn't that good. It was likely she'd fall right into the water after less than a minute, so to not push her luck she decided not to follow Raishi further. There wasn't any point to it, either. Why would one just start randomly standing on water? But she still kind of wanted to… The sound of the crashing waterfall was surpringly calming, actually. It being loud seemed to, contrary to what you might expect, make it even more calming, especially when combined with the coolness that the water emitted. Ashi spoke, careful not to sound too friendly. „I agree with you about this place though… Really calming.“ The sun kept rising slowly, as she waited to see what would happen.

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Raishi looked at Ashi just standing on the shore, and seemed to see right through her. With a smile on his face, he calmy asked her a question. "Why didn't you follow me across the pond? Have you not learned the Supernatural Walking Practice?" The question obviously baffled Ashi by quite a bit: her cheeks puffed with redness and her opened slightly as she looked Raishi in the eyes. She responded immediately, but the words came out of her mouth unnaturally quickly. Of- of course I have! Look! She was suddenly determined to show the jounin that she could, indeed, walk on water just like anyone else could. The thing was, they only practised it in the academy for a little, and she didn't work on it all that much herself, so of course she might not be so confident in it. But she spoke ahead of herself, and now she had to do it. Seemingly panicking, Ashi tried to calm herself down at least a little bit before closing her eyes and moving their hands into the Tiger handseal; it was the one she liked using the most when controling chakra in general. Focusing some in her feet, on which she didn't waste more than 5 seconds, she lightly stepped forward. The success of the technique relied solely on focusing the right amount of chakra and creating exactly the pressure as your body does on the surface. In this case, Ashi didn't put in quite enough (or she got fatter than she was before?) which caused her foot to sink in a bit, soaking the bottom of her foot. She ignored it and took another step, at the same time realizing she should increase the pressure. And so took a couple more slow steps. She did her best to seem as calm and confident, but it was obvious she was still slightly wobbly: she wasn't standing on the surface of the water firmly, but very slightly swaying up and down as she did her best to regulate the flow of chakra in her feet. She looked up at Raishi and smiled in defeat. She was barely a meter away from where she started at, so Raishi was still quite far away. But she didn't really want to go any further: from this position she could safely return to dry land the moment she felt like she was losing control. And so she stopped moving and spoke, with a still-slightly-panicky tone. "See? I can do it just fine." She stood her ground and really tried her best to stay as still as possible. At least she hadn't broken a sweat yet.

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Chakra 150/150:

Judging by the flush of redness on the young girl's face, Raishi could tell that she was obviously embarrassed if not surprised by his chiding. Her cheeks had puffed a bright red, so bright that the the sun seemed to be belittled by it. Okay, maybe that's a bit too much of an exaggeration he thought to himself, mentally laughing at his own humour. He truly was a weird one. The reaction he had gotten from the girl only confirmed to him once more that she was in dire need of training and the fact that she was obviously embarrassed by her lack of skill, told Raishi that she was keen to learn and grow. All she needed was a push to let her spread her wings, until she could eventually fly, boring high in the blue skies. The young girl then looked Raishi straight in the eyes just as she was about to speak in response to his question. Raishi peered into her radiant blue eyes, innocence emanating from them. The world seemed to slow as he looked her in the eyes, her facial features now clear to him in much more detail than before when he gave her casual glances. Her blue eyes shone on her face, her jet black her emphasising on the blue sky for eyes she possessed. Looking at her face now, Raishi could now estimate just how young Arashi was, guessing that she was probably between 10 and 13 years of age. She's still quite young...more than enough time to still turn out into a great shinobi he thought to himself. His nurse and caretaker, Haruno, had taught Raishi that the path to greatness depended solely upon the foundations built as a child. This is because, all habits and attitudes started on as a child, ultimately determined how one would end up in the future. If as a child, you had a positive attitude towards life, always striving to do better and whatnot, then in the future, success would always be handed to you and vice versa. Childhood was the right time to start not just physical training, but mental and social training, getting the right habits and deleting the wrong ones from memory. The girl in front of him. Arashi, already possessed a very strong heart, as perceived by Arashi. All she needed was a push in the right direction.  

"Of- of course I have! Look! "

As much as Arashi tried to speak with confidence, Raishi could see right through the facade. Her statement was drenched in insecurity, and Raishi could even tell that she knew so as well. He merely smiled at the young girl as she made prepared herself to get on the pond. As he had guessed, the spark in her lighted just for a moment as the desire to prove Raishi wrong strengthened her, but the actual reality of what she had to do quickly lessened the the spark. She certainly has potential he said to himself, looking at the young girl as she closed her eyes and weaved the tiger hand seal. He was utterly curious as to why she chose that hand seal to focus her chakra. The tora hand seal is one most often associated with fire based ninjutsu, and her usage of this hand seal lead Raishi to question her possible elemental affinity. Perhaps she has an affinity for katon.. he thought to himself, critically looking at the girl now begin her advance on the water. For Raishi, it was sad to watch such a promising girl struggle with the most basic of techniques and all because of the unavailability of skilled shinobi in the village to train her. This shouldn't be.. he said lightly to himself, unheard by the girl. He watched as she took her first step, most of her foot getting soaked by the insufficient amount of chakra she had distributed in it. She took another determined step, this time making a bit of an improvement in her chakra to pressure ratio when on the water. He watched with an encouraging smile on his face, as the young girl took a few more painful steps before stopping totally. Despite trying to look cool, calm and collected, it was obvious that the young girl was not in control. She was not standing firmly on the water as Raishi  was, as she swayed up and down as the water rippled, making her look like a fragile decorative piece. She looked up at Raishi with a sort of defeated smile on her face, her confidence in her abilities having reached it's peak.

"See? I can do it just fine."

Despite being in such an uncomfortable situation, Raishi was impressed at the fact that she always wanted to be deemed as in control. Even when it was blatantly clear that she was far from in control. Raishi just smiled and nodded at her, before he started talking once more.

"Yes I can see that. Since you can do it just fine, I'm sure you wouldn't mind dodging a few shuriken without falling in the water?"

He spoke with a smile, bringing out 3 spare shuriken he always kept in the back pouch of his trousers. He was not trying to mock her or anything, but was merely playing along with her pretence of being able to sustain the technique effectively. This was his own way of trying to help her; training her to accept her faults and aim to overcome them by pushing herself beyond all limits, instead of just limiting herself to a specific range as she had done when she just walked 1 meter from the ground to the pond itself. Right after he finished talking, Raishi then gave a quick smile to the girl who was about 4 meters in front of him, before quickly launching the three shuriken at her. They were aimed precisely at her right foot, her stomach and the side of her arm. He intentionally didn't aim for any critical points, just in case Arashi couldn't dodge them.

Word Count: 1019
Total: 5527

The jounin nodded at her slightly sarcastically, and started talking again. "Yes I can see that. Since you can do it just fine, I'm sure you wouldn't mind dodging a few shuriken without falling in the water?" His hand reached into his back pocket, and before Ashi knew it the shuriken were already flying straight at her. Three of them, she could tell without counting, all of them heading in her general direction. He gave her no time to prepare, as the shurikens were shot out basically the moment that he mentioned them. There were likely many other things she could do to prevent the shurikens from hitting her, but without any time to think her reflexes kicked in. She jumped to the right as fast as she could and the shurikens flew past her. A "ploop" sounds could be heard, from at least one of them hitting the water. But how would she land now? There wasn't any time to think, but she wasn't confident enough in her ability to walk on water, so how could she possibly handle landing with this amount of momentum? Oh crap! She tried her best to regulate the flow of chakra in her feet, but there wasn't any time left. Her feet touched the surface of the water, about 2 meters from her original location... and sank through. She didn't apply enough pressure and fell right through the surface, losing her balance along the way and starting to fall face-first. She instinctively put her arms in front of her, to hopefully prevent herself from getting completely wet, but the water was deep enough for her to almost completely fall in before her arms could stop her. The sight of Ashi on all fours with her face in the water up to the ears would be hilarious for anyone to witness, apart from herself. She immediately jumped back up, but while doing so slipped on a loose rock at the bottom of the pond and fell in the water once again, this time on her butt, while loudly screaming. The look on her face was the one of a person who was dead inside. Tears almost came to her eyes, but even if she started crying it wouldn't be very noticeable, due to her face being completely drenched and all. She looked back at the jounin, expecting him to be laughing his ass off, and quietly murmured "help me." This was so embarrassing.

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The jounin extended his hand towards Ashi, offering to help her to get up. She took it, of course, and got up, this time being extra careful not to slip and fall down again. She could see that he was doing his best to hold the laughter in, and actually appreciated it. Him making fun of her in this situation would stomp her self-asteem into the ground. She did her best to focus some chakra in her feet again, and managed to climb up on the water. She was completely soaked and water was just pouring down from her. The cold came as a shock as well, but it was something she could deal with. While she was trying to wipe her face, the jounin spoke, once again with his already classic "cool and firm" tone. "You need to have more confidence in your abilities - this is the first step to gaining composure, which is useful in any battle and it subsequently leads to the unity of mind and body. With this unity, you could've easily dodged the shrunken as well as had enough time to concentrate and channel your chakra. Try standing now, and we'll try that exercise again if you want" He was right. Composure was exactly the thing she lacked: Ashi acted impulsively, not having planned her actions at all. In a real battle, doing this could prove to be fatal. Ashi kind-of-sort-of understood what he meant, and nodded. She was actually slightly determined now, or motivated by his words even. Deep inside, she wanted to prove it to him that she could do it, or more imporantly, she wanted to prove it to herself. She backed off, insecurely walking towards the center of the lake to create some distance between herself and the jounin. They were roughly 4m apart, just like before. She took a deep breath and focused, before finally giving the jounin another nod to signal that she was ready.

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