The sound of the water splashing with the waves and the gentle hum of the breeze was all that could be heard on the lake where the blue haired man stood. The morning sun just barely cresting over the horizon giving an orange and red hue to the sky. With the slowly rising temperature from the Sun's ascent into the sky the surface of the lake was fogging. The shoreline was barely visible and the air and water was still cool enough to send shivers to most. The birds and insects remained silent still in their slumber. Tashima stood channeling his chakra into his feet using the Water Walking Technique he had learned as an academy student, a jutsu that would prove to be fundamental for almost every mission. In addition to the chakra emitting from his feet to maintain the jutsu, another much more refined and slower flow of chakra was pooling around him. Tashima lacked the ability to ‘see’ chakra like those talented with special doujutsu, but he could feel and even sense his chakra leaking out of his soles pooling like a can of oil on the ground with a small puncture wound. His eyes shut and his mind focused only on controlling his chakra flow. At this point, the Water Walking Technique was next to second nature to him. His hands rotating between 6 handsigns slowly as he molded the chakra that flowed through him. The water around him was kneading beneath him causing surface ripples that accelerated slowly but enough to start making it evident that chakra was being infused into the water around him. On closer inspection, Tashima didn’t look as well as he did from a distant. Beads of sweat were covering his body falling like tiny raindrops from his brow. His breathing wasn’t nearly as calm as his body stance was either. Labored breaths escaped through his nostrils between the calming rotation of inhales and exhales from his mouth.

Chakra, the combination of physical and spiritual energy required for all jutsu, something that varied in each person. Some had a relatively low chakra pool while others like the kages seemed to have huge reservoirs that made even the most skilled of shinobi look like fresh genin. It could be said that while some had a naturally higher or lower chakra pool, one's chakra limitations are not set in stone. Like a muscle it too could be trained and grow larger. Tashima’s old teacher had a rather large pool even for a jounin, and for a genin it could be said Tashima was blessed with a naturally large pool as well, but it still was nowhere near the size he needed to rival his idol. Training like this, pushing the body and mind towards its limit would reward him in time. Each day he attempted this training, it yielded a slightly improved result.

The chakra infused water began to collect around Tashima. Small rises in water around Tashima began to shape slightly. Only a few inches, not even past his ankles, the water began to shape and rise like if one pressed their hand against a sheet held tight. The water bulged in four smaller pools as something was trying to break through the barrier that was the surface of the water itself. Unlike the typical jutsu where chakra is molded as it’s being channeled this chakra was specially kneaded and dissolved in the water being fed a constant flow from Tashima. The four bulges of water began to rise just a few centimeters in unison. Tashima’s hand seals began speeding up slightly his brow furrowed some with the strain this level of chakra control was taking on him. The difficulty here was letting enough chakra flow out of the soles of his feet into the water chakra mixture that pooled around him feeding the technique all while maintaining the proper balance of chakra required to use the Water Walking Technique. The slightest change in chakra flow could either ruin the Water Walking Technique, causing him to sink into the water suddenly, or worse it could disrupt the fine control required to move and shape the water he mixed with chakra. Wasting all that chakra was neither ideal nor was it good for training. It would take him much longer to restore that chakra than it would to spend it. Though this dilemma in itself was training. There would be no possible way to develop a jutsu like THAT one, without being able to properly handle the basic steps like this.

Tashima squinted his eyes harder as the flow of chakra became harder to keep control of. The bulges that were once raising in total unison, now were rather different in size and height. One hand passed his ankle but still had taken no true form and two others actual shrank in size, and the last bulge had not gained size or height in the last few minutes. Tashima tried to calm down some and focus on balancing out the flow of chakra to each pool. Too little chakra and the pool would shrink, too much chakra would cause an explosion in one of the pools fizzling out the chakra flow and making that pool useless, this was all about proper balance. Tashima’s breathing increased now orally rather than through his nose. The labored breathing take in long exhales and short inhales that coupled with even more sticky sweat that dropped from his body.

Rather than taking solace in the fact that he had already began to figure out how to properly disperse the chakra outside of his body through the soles of his feet and control the mixture of water and chakra enough to keep it from completely dissipating in the much larger body of water, Tashima began to get frustrated with the fact that he couldn’t give it the shape he desired. Day in and day out when he wasn’t training with a team or on a mission, he spent on this lake in an attempt to fully create this technique. He knew how to go about learning this jutsu. Though that didn’t mean he could. The practice of doing everything he knew he had to do to make this jutsu work was far harder than he had anticipated. The concept however was rather clear. Step 1 release a vast amount of chakra into the water and begin to knead it into a fine mixture. From there, while still kneading chakra into the mixture, shape the mixture into the desired form. After achieving the form desired, reduce the rate of chakra being fed to the form and tether the chakra flow to your person. From there simple chakra manipulation should allow you to adjust the flow to force movement of the water. Those were the major steps in refining this technique, of course even if Tashima managed to complete all the steps, he’d have to train to the point that his chakra manipulation for this jutsu became near second nature to use it effectively in battle. Another task that seemed herculean given his current progression.

Tashima wanted to have this jutsu ready for battle in just a few months. Since his recovery, it had been four already and he only just recently got the hang of molding the chakra. Was this level of control what his old teacher had, or was he able to do so easily because of a rare bloodline trait? Images of his teacher using a similar technique repeated in his head. Tashima had saw the jutsu he was trying to mimic well over a hundred times and yet with this, he couldn’t even shape the water yet alone control it so freely as his teacher did. The frustration became harder to ignore, so much so it began to distract him from his jutsu. To compensate Tashima increased the rate of chakra flow trying his best to contain it so that instead of breaking the jutsu’s shape it finely molded it faster. If he were stronger it may have even worked but at his current level that much finesse drained his chakra reserves far faster. Tashima began to get light headed, his hands and arms became heavy and his knees began to lock up, a sign he was exhausting too much chakra and nearly running out.

Within just mere seconds, the jutsu dropped. The water falling back into place with a loud splash. Tashima’s hands quivered as he held the hand seal for ram before he began to tilt backwards. A look of unconsciousness came across his face as his body went limp falling into the lake. Tashima’s eyes squinted as he opened them under the water only fainting for a brief breath. The cold lake water swallowing him gently as he drifted towards the bottom of the lake. Tashima did nothing as his body drifted slowly his long blue hair floating around him freely like seaweed dancing in the lakes bed. ‘So it always ends the same… and yet. Tashima let a soft grin as his mind wandered think of a special person who trained him years ago. A water element master, who could easily see through Tashima’s bitter glare and cold nature, the person Tashima wished he could become. I feel… nostalgic. The cold water suddenly wasn’t so cold, it was as if the water blanketed him providing him a familiar warmth he was so starved of. The sensation of drifting in the water felt more at home to him. The man was his most comfortable when his element bathed him. I hate that a blade so dull is idolized. I can’t even help but feel sorrow knowing you’re gone. Tashima’s mental monologue continued as he tightened his fists in the water. ‘You were supposed to be stronger. You were going to teach me, train me, condition me to be a sharp enough weapon that I could wield myself with no master. Now I’m shamed and left drifting to the bottom of a lake. Tashima frowned frustrated with his own weakness. The emotions he repressed venting to the surface in his mind. ‘Perhaps a dulled blade belongs here at the bottom of a lake…. Lost and forgotten. Tashima thought to himself. He had sank enough he could feel the seaweed tickling his back.

It wasn’t long in his reminiscing and his frustrated loathing that his thoughts became more primal. Air. That was all his body screamed for. On top of fatigue and letting himself slow drift downwards. His body reminded him of something no one was immune to, self preservation. Tashima began to swim up towards the surface of the lake guided only by the bubbles of air that escaped his mouth. In mere moments the surface of the water broke with Tashima’s head erupting out of it with a loud inhale followed by coughing. Oxygen filled his starved lungs as he waded towards the shoreline. Tashima beached himself against the lakeside. His soaked hair wrapping his body like a blanket with his head into the dirt and grass. How could he be so weak? What was the point in all this training if it yielded such horrible results? Tashima turned over slowly on his back looking upwards at the sky. Perhaps it was time he sought the help of someone stronger. Lady Solstace had offered her aid in shaping him, but in pride he made no effort to push the note. Their spar ended with him humiliated. An expected defeat but it only served to educate Tashima in the vast difference between a genin-level ninja and a jounin. He replayed the fight over and over in his head. Trying to think of what he could’ve done differently but it was no use. She was simply stronger in every category. Though there was something of hers that truly intrigued Tashima. The jutsu she used to freeze the air around her. In combination with her taijutsu she utilized the ice element expertly and to the point she could freeze Tashima’s hand by just connecting with her. That was a power Tashima wanted for himself. Though he knew very little of his Clans elemental jutsu. Tashima had made up his mind, he’d search the clan for a user of the ice element stronger than himself and learn their jutsu. Then when he felt comfortable with the ice element, he could simply ask Solstace to teach him, or use a similar imitation.

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