The day was partially cloudy, the cotton candy white clouds provided a nice shade here and there as a green haired girl made her way to the library. The blue sky peaked through as the girl hummed a tuneless melody, and improvising a song about exactly what she was doing.

"Going to the library~ Gotta look up more plants and things~!" And so was her mission. It had been a month since her father had left for his mission and Tsuru still hadn't made much progress in her developing Justus, medical mokuton. The green haired Senju had been working her hardest to develop a way to recreate the aloe plant through a her family's famed kekkai genkai, yet she seemed to be missing something. So, when in search of knowledge there was only one place to go, the Library!

She entered the mentioned place of knowledge and quickly quieted down. The library was a quiet place after all. She waved a hello to the librarian and quickly made her way to the shelves of books.

The girl's only problem was that she didn't quite know what she was looking for.

Sure, she already knew everything about plants and the structures and the many varieties and which ones of medicinal value, so... what else could she need to know to develop her own jutsu based off plants? She looked up at the tows of books in front of her, The Botanical History of the Land of Fire, Medical Plants for the Mednin, and Plants by Pictures . While all looked interesting, the rows of books abput her most favorite things... were all books she had read before. The library had always been her answer when she needed more information for her plants, but what was she to do if she already knew it all? Tsu could only furrow her brow and put her hand on her temple, flustered at her new apparent predicament.

~331~

As the girl was flustered over what to do, another library patron arrived in her aisle of books. Though, Tsu was too preoccupied with trying to think up something she could look up. If she had cared to turn and see, she would've found a teenage boy with light silvery hair and relatively curious gray eyes. He found his own book while Tsu was still looking for... whatever she was thinking about looking for. Much to the girl's obliviousness, the teenage boy suddenly spoke.

"You're a Medical Ninja right?"


"Huh?" The green haired girl blinked, suddenly taken away from her thoughts by the sound of a stranger's voice. For the first time since he had been there, which was only a few moments, she had noticed him. "Oh! Yes I am! Sorry, I didn't notice you." She quickly regained her composure with a sheepish smile and a nod of her head.

" Are you a Medical nin too?" She added with a curious look to the book the fair haired boy had in his hands. She wasn't quite sure why he would ask that question if he wasn't one himself, or unless he was injured at the moment. He didn't seem to be the latter. The current section she looking in was mainly a focus of botany, leading to materials related to medical plants or other natural ways of healing. It might've also been her looking at the books that made him wonder if she was a medical ninja or not. "Or... do you need a medical nin right now...?" Even though she figured he wasn't injured, it was always better to be safe then sorry. She just hoped that in the far possibility he was hurt that it wasn't too serious because she herself... wasn't the most expert healer at the moment either.

~315/646~

The boy answered her questions both with no. First saying he didn't have the delicacy to be a medical ninja and then saying that he hadn't seen many medical ninja around. Which of course then Tsuru to wondering if she was delicate enough to be a medical ninja and if she had actually met any other medical ninja besides herself. The answer to both was probably a maybe.

"I was wondering how long you had been a Medical Ninja." The boy added, indirectly asking a question to her.

"Well, I've been training in medical jutsu since I first became a genin. That was around four months ago."  Tsuru answered with a friendly smile. "So uh... I've been a medical ninja just for about four months." It was a relatively short time, nothing too spectacular. The teenage boy definitely was older than her, probably only by three or four years her senior. And probably a Shinobi with that much more experience than her. It made her slightly nervous, especially since he was asking her questions. Her hand unconsciously went to tug at her Leaf forehead protector that hung around her neck. She used to wear it on her forehead when she first graduated, but later she decided to wear it around her neck like her father. She liked it better that way so it didn't get in the way of her hair. Her dark green hair matched the color or her eyes. Many a time she wished she wasn't so plain looking, but it was rather fitting to be a Leaf Ninja and have hair and eyes the color of leaves.

"Um... How long have you been a Ninja, mister?" She returned a question to him. Perhaps 'mister' might have been too formal, but it was always thoughtful to be polite. Besides, she was getting curious as to who he was.

~318/964~

The fair haired teen started to smile. A strange smile that didn't seem particularly friendly appeared. It was an arrogant smirk the young green haired girl didn't quite understand.

"Me? A few years." He answered with a shrug. His behavior was odd, but Tsu figured he was just odd himself, maybe. She had met plenty of odd people in her short time as a ninja and most Shinobi tended to be eccentric anyway. It reminded her of the upcoming chunin exams. With those she would definitely be able to meet plenty of new and just as odd young genin from other villages. It might be a big demand for such a young ninja to participate, especially with hardly half a year's experience. But, chunin exams were chunin exams and they came every year, so if she did fail this time there was always the next.

He introduced himself, his smirk then turning into a genuine grin. "My name is Joruri by the way. You don't have to call me mister." His hand was extended out to her. His cocky demeanor from earlier vanished, though his grey eyes seemed to stare into her.

For a moment, her leaf green irises just blankly met his grey ones. She herself wondering just what the Shinobi called Joruri had on his mind. The girl decided to be nice as always. He might have been odd, but Tsuru liked interesting people. She reached out her hand to his, grasping it gently. "I am Tsuru Shokubutsusou." She gave her name along with a small bow of respect and a friendly smile.

"It's very fun to meet you Joruri-nii, hehe." She giggled a little, there really wasn't a reason. Tsu had just liked the way that his name sounded when she said it. Maybe he wasn't as arrogant as he first put out to be.

~320/1284~

"Um. Well, okay then." He smiled, he seemed to be holding back laughter as the younger girl giggled away. Perhaps it was her name, it was always her family name that when introduced, many people had a hard time pronouncing. To be fair many a time when she was little she couldn't even say it, and her little brother sometimes had trouble. So it often enough came to point of just forgoing the last name, after all her given name was relatively easy compared to her family name. But that was always impolite in her mind to not give her entire name to someone. Besides, what if they ended up meeting another 'Tsuru' down the line? Then the only way they could remember her was by her rather mouthful of a last name.

Just as she was expecting, the teen mentioned about how strange her name was. "Your surname is quite the mouthful. " He added with a chuckle. He didn't seem to be laughing at it though, which the girl probably wouldn't have noticed either way. "I've never heard of the clan however. Is it a branch of a more well known one?"

"Sho-ku-bu-tsu-sou." Tsuru send it slowly this time, just checking to make sure it was still the mouthful that most others said it was. "Yeah, lots of people say it's hard. Even I've had trouble with it sometimes. I don't get why my family branch of the Senju clan decided to be strange that way with really long name. I like it a lot though, 'cause my given name's kinda short so I guess it makes up for that. Oh, I'm part of the Senju clan!"  She knew that to strangers it was slightly difficult to guess since she her last name was sort of funky and not specifically 'Senju.'

The fair haired boy called Joruri suddenly switched the topic. Perhaps it was better to move on from such uninteresting things such as names. "Well, Tsura-Chan, what are you looking for in this magnificent library?"

The girl had to blink a few times, giving it some thought before answering his question. She turned back to the shelves of filled with books about medical plants and plants in general and environments of plants, all of which she had already read. With a tilt of her head back to Joruri, she answered with a smile. "Ah...I don't really know."

~415/1699~

As soon as Tsu gave her answer, the teen made what the girl knew as a thinking out loud type of hum and then asked her a question. "Hmm. What sort of books do you usually get from the library? I'm assuming the ones in this aisle, correct?"

Oh, he's so nice! The girl couldn't help but feel elated that someone she had just met today was suddenly assisting her in her search for...something. He looked up and down the aisle. He himself probably already figuring out that many of the books were related to plants and then medical jutsu. She was a medical ninja and a part of the Senju clan after all, so it only made sense for her to be here; a place where information regarding plants and her medical specialization could be found.

"Uh..." She was still surprised that he offering to help her. "I usually read the ones about medical herbs or taking care of plants or anything about plants. I really like growing them 'cause I got a garden and a greenhouse at home. But, um! Lately I've been trying to develop my own jutsu!" She added with pride. She had been trying to come up with her medical mokuton for the past few weeks, but with seemingly less and less success each time.  She had read up on the structure of plants and the way her test plants, the aloe vera, were able to heal burns and quicken recovery, yet recreating that effect through a jutsu was  a challenge the girl couldn't seem to conquer on her own.

"I'm trying to use Mokuton jutsu to create medical plants. So I've been researching all different kinds and even growing them in my greenhouse. But.. I'm having a lot of trouble making the  same healing effect from a plant I make through ninjutsu." Her findings lately had been less than extraordinary. Perhaps the girl just wasn't good enough a chakra manipulation or transformation, just as Joruri had mentioned before being a medical ninja required delicacy. And Tsu was wondering if she had enough of that to even be a medical ninja herself.

~367/2066~

At first the girl wasn't sure of how he would respond to her proclamation of her making her own jutsu. It was quite the challenge for anyone to develop their own jutsu, nonetheless a genin at her level. He raised his eyebrows, for his gray eyes seemed to get to thinking of a way to maybe assist her. "Hmm." His thinking hum returned.

He ended up offering her some suggestions, like asking another member of the Senju. That seemed like a good idea, but the girl didn't really know anyone in the Senju clan besides those in the Shokubutsusou branch. Her grandparents were both too old and probably too senile. Her aunt wasn't a ninja, her uncle was just weird, and her little brother wasn't even old enough to enter the academy. The only possible one who could help her was her father. And he was away on a mission. She didn't want to shoot the idea down so quickly as to be rude, so she simply smiled and nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

He even offered to give some advise of his own, though admitting that he really didn't have a clue on how to make a jutsu. Tsu giggled again. This Joruri seemed to be getting rather excited, it was entertaining and also fun just to talk with him. She hoped that they would be able to see more of each other. Perhaps if, no when, she finally developed her medical mokuton, she could be healing him out on the battlefield as a full fledged shinobi.

"Hmm. Instead of trying to create the whole plant, you should start small... Or from a new angle. You should try and use your ninjutsu to help your plants grow faster and study it from there." He offered another idea, just as the girl was noticing he liked to hum in thought a lot. But the idea was actually a pretty good one. Starting with an actual medicinal plant and then using ninjutsu to superspeed its growth? That way she didn't have to recreate the entire plant on her own! It certainly was an idea worth trying and probably one of the best ones yet.

"I'm sure there are other things you could do too..." He added, before simply trailing off, probably trying to think of more ways he could help.

At the last idea of using already grown plants, the girl was nearly jumping with excitment. "Oh! All your ideas are amazing, I mean... after I've researched so much it's kinda funny that I can't think of things like that. I mean... starting with an already grown plant might be troublesome in practical use out on the battlefield, but really medical plants can be found everywhere. Really that way it's probably even more versatile or, or adaptable! I mean even if I'm in place like a dessert or with no plants, then maybe I could seeds with me too. Seeds that I could grow into a medical plant nearly instantaneously through a manipulation of Mokuton chakra. " So far all of it was conjecture, the young Senju wasn't even sure if controlling other plants through chakra was possible.  Yet Tsu really couldn't help herself, she quickly threw her arms around him in a hug-tackle. "Joruri-nii, you're really really smart!"

~563/2629~

It seemed that the older teen was in a little shock at the girl's sudden hug. He didn't out right reject it, so that had to mean he didn't mind it too much. Tsuru of course, was one who usually displayed excited thankfulness with hugs. With a gentle pat on her back, he slowly pulled her away and suitability telling her to calm down.

" Take it easy, we don't even know if it works like that." He gave a little laugh on his own, "Maybe not in this aisle, but I'm sure you could find a book that teaches you how to develop a new jutsu. Chakra transformations and natures... Things like that. Only the strongest of shinobi can do things like that though." He paused, the young girl looking intently at his grey eyes. A strong shinobi... A small determination was growing bigger in the young girl's heart. It was what every shinobi desired after all, strength to protect his or her village, people, fellow shinobi, clan, whatever they held close to their hearts. She wondered what Joruri-nii wished to protect, if that was what he wanted to do with his strength. She had already decided that as her friend, she would protect him.

"But I'm sure you can perfect it. And yeah I know I'm smart."] He added with another chuckle, lightening her mood. "I'm sure you would've figured that out, or maybe even something better." He seemed to have a lot of confidence in her, it made Tsu blush to think that someone she had just met believed that she could do something like make her own jutsu.

"Hehe, thank you!" Just as the girl was thinking about herself, she realized that practically their entire conversation had been centered around her problem. With a slightly frantic tone, she asked if she had been a bother at all. "Uh, Joruri-nii? I hope I haven't interrupted your time in the library! Maybe I could help you with something?"

~342/2971~

He politely said a "Your welcome." when she had thanked him. Helping the girl out seemed to make him very happy. That was natural after all because helping someone else would always make someone feel proud.

At her offer to help, he also politely declined, adding that he had already found what he was looking for. It was the book that he had found at the start of their conversation. "Besides, I offer you my help anyway."

Tsuru still felt like she needed to do something for him. It was just natural, one nice thing for another. But perhaps her nice deed to him would be better served on another day, for at the moment, he didn' t need anything in particular. Maybe they would see each other again at the chunin exams, if he was participating. He probably was and he was probably more ready than she was too. She really wanted to rush home to the gardens and test out the ideas that he had suggested.

"Are you sure there are no books in here that can help you with what you need, or even the suggestions that I had made to you?"

He was still being so very nice, which the girl appreciated very much. "Well... actually I was thinking about heading home so I could test out those ideas of yours. And I think I've got a few ideas of my own now. You've been so very kind, Joruri-nii." She gave a small bow of thankfulness for his help. The girl had come to the library in search of new knowledge, and though it wasn't in a book, she did find a new angle on how to make her medical mokuton.

"Um, maybe one day I can help you when you need it. We'll probably see each other again anyway." She smiled from ear to ear, glad to make a new friend. "Thank you again, and good bye Joruri-nii~!" Still with a smile on her face and along with a wave of her hand, she turned down the aisle and headed for the exit.

~Exit Thread~

~351/3325 Words~

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