Raiu Dojo:

It was rather quiet today at the Raiu Dojo. The wind blew softly, a curtain of blossoms falling down from the jacaranda trees of the Raiu clan's walkway, but that was about the only sound to be heard. For being placed so central in the Kumogakure's Village, close to the Hospital, it almost felt like an oasis of rest within the usual turbulence of the city's hussle. The fact it rained, drips drumming gently upon the roof of the dojo which created oddly a rather soothing sound, was probably the greatest cause of that quietude - no one wanted to be outside with such a weather.

Mizuki stood at the door of the dojo, watching the rain as it clattered on the floor. Since there wouldn't be a lot of students and her mother had been resting peacefully for the last few days, her father had promised to supervise her ninjutsu training today. She had been working on a few ideas, trying them out little by little, but there seemed yet to be something lacking. Father would offer his insights, so she'd better not be disappointing.

As per tradition, Mizuki was wearing a black keiko gi - a training suit. Her trusted katana rested as per usual upon her hips, but for once she might actually not make use of it since she wanted to show off a ranton jutsu she had already mastered by now.

For this jutsu, which she had named 'Starlight Katana' due to the effect Ranton had on its appearance, she had been inspired by a wandering Kiri-nin that had been unfortunate enough to attract the attention of a Kumo. She had seemed rather friendly, however, so rather than to forge an enemy, Mizuki found herself now at the beginning of an early friendship with the horned woman. More so, Alwen seemed to be of a similar amical mind and had decided to show her a personal jutsu which allowed her to shape a sword through the control of chakra.

"Mizuki", a firm voiced called her away from her daydreams. It was her father, dressed in his own keiko gi, bearing the belt of a sensei. He was seated in front of the kamidana in seiza and waiting for her to formally start her training. Seated like this, even though relaxed, her father's discipline and strength was undeniable. He expressed an air of quiet strength as he sat there, grey eyes seeing all movement within the dojo. Nothing escaped his gaze as he seemingly halted the world around him to plan his next moves. Then, like a storm, he'd shoot into action and turn into an unstoppable force until he reached his goals.
Exactly for this he had been dubbed "Eye of the Storm" when he was a chuunin. And now, the Eye of the Storm was sitting there quietly, waiting for Mizuki to make her move.

Mizuki walked over to the centre of the dojo and sat down in seiza. Bow properly, she requested in proper dojo etiquette for him to watch over her. He grunted a barely audible confirmation, and she rose again.

"I will show you my newest jutsu. A friend taught me the basics, and I improved on it by applying Ranton to it."

She formed the seals of her jutsu. Dragon, Dog, Snake, and clapped her hands together. As she did so, a blinding light seemingly tried to escape from between her hands, and as she parted her hands, the Ranton chakra shaped itself into a long form. Water creating the base, the shape wobbled heavily in the beginning, but at the end it formed the almost perfectly still shape of a katana. The raiton coursed through at high speed, giving off a bright white light. As the jutsu came to an end, Mizuki was holding a beautiful katana just a finger shorter than her own katana.

"Storm Release, Starlight Katana", she shared its name with her father, then proceeded to take the traditional training stance as she raised the pommel at the height of her front, ready to strike.

Her father nodded in approval. He, too, could see the utility of this jutsu to a kenjutsu user like her and himself. While losing their initial weapon was frowned upon as it was considered an extension of the Self, a ninja should never allow himself to be helpless. Mizuki had understood that, and had created a back-up plan just for this.

As Mizuki dropped her arms and no longer maintained the chakra flow, the katana fizzled with a flash. She had worked on a similar idea for a bow as she had been thinking about picking up kyujutsu. While she had been working hard to remain unmatched on close combat, backed by the speed lighting offered, Mizuki couldn't shake off the feeling that there would be a day she just couldn't be fast enough. In such cases, a proper ranged weapon would be just the thing she'd need. She now wanted to show her determination on her choice by showing how hard she had been working on this bow jutsu.

Forming the next series of seals, she clapped her hands together once more. And similar to the previous jutsu, light emitted from between her hands. She then stretched her arms and formed an arc, forcing the Ranton chakra to take on the shape of a bow. At first, things seemed go go well, but at the end of the jutsu, the creation turned out unstable and dissipated like a ghost in the mist.

"A bow?", her father asked.
"Hai, sensei. That was the idea, but I have yet to master the jutsu."
"Why would you create a bow?"
"I have decided I'd like to pick up kyujutsu. With this jutsu, I hoped to convince you of my determination."
He allowed a small smile and nodded. "I understand. However, I'm no master of kyujutsu. You'll have to find yourself a proper sensei for that art."
"Thank you."

Her father nodded and signed for Mizuki to proceed. Glad to have his approval for kyujutsu, it was now just a matter of finding a teacher, a task that might prove even more difficult than impressing her father. Perhaps Lin-san knew someone, and if not, she'd have to place a formal request for a teacher.

"There's two more jutsu I'm working on, but I seem to fail at perfecting them. Please advice me on my flaws."

Mizuki took out a kunai from her weapon pouch and clasped it firmly. Forming the Dog seal briefly, she channeled Suiton chakra into the weapon. For a short moment, the kunai seemed to bleed mist, but that quickly changed into a poor downpour of drips wetting the tatame of the dojo. She knew it wasn't exactly her ability to create clouds that came into question as she had proven countless times that she was perfectly able to do so, but for some reason it just wouldn't stay as such when performing this jutsu. Halting her chakra flow, she looked at her father, waiting for his advice.

"What exactly are your intentions?"
"I aim to create a shroud around the weapon and wielding arm to mask my moves."
"You are usually good at creating clouds.", he said with a frown. Standing up from his place, he approached her. "Again."

As requested, Mizuki formed the Dog seal once more and poured Suiton chakra into the kunai and, again, the shroud of fog turned into a dreary raincloud.

"It looks to me like you're pouring too much Suiton chakra into it. Try reducing your flow. It will allow you better control over the creation of the amount of mist.", her father advised. "Are you basing this of the Item Reinforcing Technique?"
"Hai, sensei."
"The idea is good, but don't copy it. Hokyō'in no Jutsu has no elemental affinity, thus while the principles are similar, you'll have to create your jutsu from scratch."
"Hai, sensei."
"Try again."

Once more, she attempted the jutsu she dubbed, 'Astral Style - Hazy Moon'. Forming the Dog seal, she poured suiton chakra into the kunai, making sure this time to measure the flow better than before. As the mist bled out of the kunai, it shrouded the weapon entirely, then proceeded to do the same with her arm. Not stopping there, the suiton chakra seemed to enjoy its sudden freedom and decided to stretch out to cover about most of her body to the point she could barely see her father anymore. Even when she halted her chakra flow, the created mist had no intention of clinging to her weapon.

"That's much better. Now train yourself to dose the amount of chakra needed, and to mold it appropriately and you should be fine."
"Hai, sensei", Mizuki replied, somewhat embarrassed nonetheless. Training was such a choir. If she only could get rid of the embarrassment, she'd be more than happy to train.
"You had one more jutsu to show?"

She nodded. Her last jutsu was nothing special. Just a helpful tool since she couldn't see in the dark and her senses weren't as sharp as the high ranked ninja. While now the jutsu would prove its worth, she expected it to become redundant as her senses grew sharper. But that day was not now, and there was no certitude she'd ever become that good either.

Despite the simplicity of its use, this jutsu had posed quite some problems as well. Creating the light itself wasn't too difficult, but she seemed to have some troubles in giving it the properties of a clone.

Mizuki focused and the bulb of light appeared next to her. Plain and simple, it emitted the typical light of the ranton chakra and simply floated next to her. Her father looked as unimpressed as he was surprised to see the simplicity of this jutsu, but quickly took a step back as the ranton wisp suddenly seemed to explode in countless devious sparks, leaving vicious little burn marks on the flesh despite it's ridiculously low chakra amount.

Her father coughed and regained his composure. Taking a moment to think about the jutsu, he gave a curt nod and explained.

"You and your sister...", he began, shaking his head. "Where Erisu is overly flexible and adaptable to the point of being unmanageably chaotic, you are a concentrated force of power just waiting to be put to action. I can see that in your jutsu as well. It's similar to your previous jutsu. Your chakra is too concentrated, try to be a little softer and your light should be fine."

She bowed in thanks for his advice. Her sensei, father, was right. There was no way you could grasp her sister for she had always a means to escape or adapt to the situation, unlike Mizuki who had more rigid in that nature. Mizuki was more disciplined and searching for a way to direct her mind and power into a single direction. A single tree to strike down with her determination.

"Any other questions?"
"No, sensei."
"Good. Now why don't you show me that katana jutsu of yours again? I'd like it if you taught me that one."

Mizuki blinked. Did she hear that right?

"What's the matter?", he asked, seeing her confused expression. "Do you think I'm too old to learn new jutsu?"
"N-no. I'm just... why would you wish to learn it? You're jounin."
"That's true, but it never occurred to me to create a jutsu as yours despite having lost my weapon in several battles. So, feel like becoming a sensei for a day?"
"I'm not sure I'm at an appropriate level of expertise for that."
"Nonsense. It's better to start too early with learning rather than too late."
"Hai, sensei."

Mizuki couldn't help but smile a little. Even if it was under the guise of her sensei here in the dojo, she knew for a fact it was more her father speaking than her teacher.

Her only problem was... she wasn't exactly a teacher. How did she have to explain someone else how to shape the chakra into a sword? Sure, her father probably knew already the jest of the jutsu, but that didn't change anything to her teaching skills. Or lack thereof. Since she had to try something, she proceeded by explaining him the hand seals and how she envisioned the idea, then proceeded to form the handseals and clap. As the chakra molded and bright light escaped between her hands, she finished the lesson by showing what she had meant. Again, her starlight katana appeared and she finished the explanation by pointing out the continued flow of chakra to sustain its form.

Naturally, her father had little trouble making a replica out of it. Well, almost a perfect replica. It wasn't so hard for a jounin with his capabilities to create a similar shape, but it was fascinating nonetheless for Mizuki to realise that no matter the rank, copying a jutsu wasn't done with the snap of a finger. Not unless you were an Uchiha, maybe.

Daughter and father spend some time together, Mizuki learning a little more about teaching while her father picked up the new jutsu under her guidance. While it didn't take him days to master the style like she had needed, a couple of hours nonetheless were behind them before they realised it.

"Well done.", Mizuki praised her father at the end of the road, seeing how he had picked up her jutsu. He returned her praise with a warm, "you were a good teacher. Perhaps next time, I'll allow you to be the sensei here."

The two laughed it off and the sensei decided this would conclude the lesson for today. Mizuki could feel the strain. Even if it had been showing jutsu to get a few pointers on how to improve them, she was just a genin. The chakra she had consumed time and time again to teach her father had left her quite drained, and that fatigue was working on her muscles. But like all proper traditions, the dojo student had to perform her rite still, standing properly in line and thanking both the kamidana and sensei in turn for sharing their time and spirit.

As her father flickered away, now the proud owner of a new jutsu, Mizuki lingered around a little more. She wandered to the exit of the dojo and sat down, eyes gazing at the jacaranda trees in the distance. The sun had started its path towards a night sleep and the wind, already quite gentle today, had followed suit by dying down. All that was left was the occasional song of a bird and the cloak of petals the jacaranda petals had left on the road away from the Raiu Dojo. It had been a lovely day.


[Exit]
wc 2515

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