This was going to be just what he needed; after the fiasco that was the visit from the Kazekage, the teen needed some time to himself. Just him, his training grounds, and the kids sleeping peacefully under one of the old oaks that lined the shore. He'd set up one of their playpen areas; lining it with masses of soft, but durable blankets and cushion; while leaving half to be bare sandy shoreline. They'd enjoy the chance to play in the dirt; but they where well back from the water; an had both Yuki and Aki guarding them; so they where perfectly safe until Michi could come get them. With one father suck on a mission, and the other in dire need to be anywhere but town... well; he wasn't about to dump them with his family, and with their 'uncles' on shift and too busy to watch them... well; he wasn't really complaining. He'd taken them swimming for a good hour before feeding them and putting them down to nap. Or play, given they never napped. With Yuki and Aki watching them, he had plenty of time to work on this; and no reasons to really worry. He could relax, meditate, forget the frustrations of the weeks, and work on this skill. Something so simple, but one that had never appealed to him before. Now... well... it would be nice to have a way to just disappear without having to worry. Or being tracked. Happiness.

With that thought, he allowed a half hint of a smile onto his face as he began to remove what little clothing he was wearing; he'd been in the water with his children, and had partially redressed when he brought them out. Anything to cover and block the burning sun. Thankfully; the area was well shaded; and with the position of the sun; he had several hours before the shade would recede from his chosen spot. Shirt, gone; boots, gone; wristbands and headband, folded and stored neatly in an empty pocket of the kid's bag. He was pretty much down to nothing but his boxers; somewhat pale skin seeming to shine a touch in the dappled shade. Today would have been a good day to 'attempt' to sunbathe; but given how confining and heavy his Kage robes where; he wasn't about to risk that. Nothing hurt worse then blistered, weeping skin being rubbed even rawer by heavy cloth. A soft growl of satisfaction left him as he moved over the water; cool liquid feeling amazing under his toes; for the moment he only stood upon the gently rippling surface of the river. The current was nearly nonexistant here; several hours in the water wouldn't move him very far, even if he let it. A perfect place to work on something like Hiding in Water. The point wasn't to move around a lot, or do anything really; just melt away and enjoy it. Or that was a theory at least. For such a simple jutsu, he wasn't exactly sure how to go about this. It was... mildly embarrassing actually; given he all but lived in the water, he should have figured this out years ago; just as a passive ability or something.

A quick shake of the head cleared that wholly depressing tangent away from his mind; shifting both his chakra and his body to allow him to sit down upon the water like it was soft grass; sinking only about as much as he would if he'd sat upon the soft loam of the forest floor. His routine was unmemorable; purely reactionary at this point; a series of joint cracks and small stretches upon the river's surface; Roll the ankle just so, apply just the right amount of pressure at the right angle... ahhh.~ The perfect wrist crack. Little things that helped him relax and prep his body for his unusual meditation style. The excess weight of the water over his body could be... uncomfortable if he didn't prepare properly. Setting and releasing the overpressure from his joints certainly helped to cut down the chances of injuries and pain. And hell, it felt damn good; so he was going to do it anyway. Twist and turn, realign the spine; yummy relief. Neck, hips, elbows; he cracked any and everything he knew he safely could. Which was well... pretty much any non-fused joint in his body.

Alright... enough of that; or else he would spend the entire day doing nothing but stretching and joint resetting. Now was the time for him to deviate from normal; a quick glace to his children's enclosure revealing a sudden cracking sound as nothing more then Aki's giant form shifting branches so that the kids would have more shade. Wonderfully smart, that pup was. They where getting steaks for dinner, those two. With a steadying breath, the blonde began to focus inward; however, whilst he would normally begin to curl into himself some as he brought his customary dome of water over himself; this time he leaned backwards until he was laying down upon the surface of the tributary. In his mind, it was better to sprawl out and feel as much water as he could. Let his body flow into it, rather then force some kind of merging. Or however this jutsu was supposed to work. No one was really sure exactly what happened when they triggered it; they just knew they could hide in the water perfectly. So very helpful. If nothing else; he'd get a few hours of meditation and possibly a nap out of this; laying down on the gently undulating surface would easily lull him to sleep after a relatively short amount of time. Golden eyes slid closed as his head rested against the cool water; wild blonde hair spreading like a halo around him. It was a simple matter to draw the water up and around his body; simply push his water chakra into the water, grab hold of it, and pull it over himself like a blanket. Simple, easy, routine; his body even sank an inch or so into the water out of habit; equalizing the pressures of the water and gravity to reduce the strain upon his body. Much better... even with only about an inch of the clear water covering his body; he felt like he was weightless. This was a sensation Kenta loved; part of why he chose to meditate the way he did. Weightless, free... no worries, no cares... Just him, and his own thoughts. He would only allow himself so much of this; portioning it out like something precious, extravagant; a luxury not to be abused. He had far too many responsibilities to stay this way for long. So after only a short 5 minutes, he forced himself back on task. Train, not nap; not meditate; train.

Just... how though... that was the big question. How do you just disappear into water? He knew he could hide, that was easy; so long as the water wasn't super clear or was deep enough; but that wasn't the point. He needed to be able to hide in perfectly clear, and supremely shallow water for this jutsu. He was no Houzuki; he couldn't just melt into water himself; so there was no real was he could merge with it... Or was that the trick? Hell, he'd seen Mist and Rain nin hide in puddles that's where little more then a film of water over mud... how could that be anything but merging?

Or that really was it; but instead of say, actually melting; the just merged their chakra until they became the water itself; and not actually hiding.

That sounded insane even in his own head.... so he was going to try that tangent first. Might as well; get the stupid and insane done first; that way if he's right about it, he can be finished sooner. Rarely does the obvious path work, when it comes to Ninja Arts.

So... try to merge...

Hmmm...

Maybe...

He began to slowly release his chakra again; concentration peeking as he focused on releasing it from his entire body as best he could; even and steady, not over releasing from his hands and feet. Given he focused on movement and jutsu that where centered in his mouth or hands... this was definitely harder then it sounded. He could feel the almost over-pressurization of the water in the usual, expected areas; hands, feet, near his face. That was definitely uncomfortable, it was making it feel like he had weights on his mouth and limbs. Not fun. He felt like his teeth where about to crack and shoulder's dislocate before he finally got it right; and now he was in dire need of air. Joy. The layer of water broke over his face; stream of vapor escaping his lungs; greedy sucking of air following. Okay... no goofing off. He was loosing track of time; forgetting to breathe. Bad, very bad. “Focus moron...” He lay there catching his breath, chastising himself for a minute; the length of time it took for him to stop panting and hacking watery air. Too much chakra in the lungs; he was practically drowning from it.

Inhale... Exhale...

Inhale...... Exhale....

Inhale (Hold it)... Exhale (Release it)...

Better, now back to being underwater. He return to his fully prone position, dragging the water cover back and getting right to it; making sure to force Wind chakra into his lungs to counter the excess of Water chakra he was leaking. Okay... now.... relax... let yourself flow into the water around you.... become it...

And five minutes later he was repeating the hacking fit. Shit, this was harder then it should be. Breath, refresh... go again. Water wrap, chakra release, relax...

Wait... this was different... Where where his le-...!

The male shot up and nearly out of the water; eyes flying open in time to realize that for the split second before he was fully out of the water he didn't have legs. That could be seen anyway; as they where there and perfectly fine when he was out of the water.

Well shit. It was that easy. This is why he went for insane first, and logical last. If he'd gone the sane way he would have been at this for another week, or more, before getting this far.

Right then! Another go.~ Only this time, he allowed himself to sink deeper into the water; instead of laying flat, he was floating like a normal person would. Only, yanno, 3 feet under the surface, and feet no where near bottom. So, nightmare to someone who can't swim, home to him.

Now then... chakra release... compensate for the overflow... and relax...

That's the ticket... he could feel it now that he knew to look for it. Almost like he was disappearing, fading from the toes upward; but when he really focused, he realized he was still there, just not entirely solid. He wasn't melting per say... he was becoming the water itself; without losing himself to it. That was definitely a straaaange sensation. Extremely strange; he felt like he was nothing, wispy and non-existent; yet completely real and solid... or something. It was all confusing and “what the hell is going on?” territory now. But it was working, he was gone below the shoulder's now.

And then he felt his eyeballs go numb and weird; and he was right back out of the water before he was finished.

So very weird feeling. For a split second his right eye was at his feet, and his left was near a tree root. Yep, he'd lost control for a minute. This time, he moved to the shoreline and completely onto the sand. Break time, definitely. He needed to work the creeping out of his skin and warm up a touch. It felt like his body turned into ice when he came out of the water; hopefully that was just a reaction to the incomplete jutsu and not something that would happen every time. He got sick easily enough already; constantly being frozen when he used a jutsu would be the death of him.

Few minutes in the sun (Damn, he'd been at it long enough the shade was starting to creep over from the west bank of the river now), and he was warm again. “Alright... one more go!” Just for the shits and giggles, he took a running leap into the water; forcing all his attention and focus into triggering the jutsu as he hit the water. He had to be able to quickly trigger this, right? Not always going to be deep rivers and lakes around...

Nearly pulled it off, too. Everything but his body above the shoulders blended upon entry. Given this was only his what... fourth attempt? That was damn good. It took about 30 seconds to finish the blending; although he still wanted to go flying out of the water when his eyes felt like they where dissolving for a split second. He managed to hold it together now; no more weird perception fuckery from losing control. That... that was really enough for now. He'd just work on holding it for a bit... then pack up the kids and go home. He was feeling it now; that slow burning ache that was the start of chakra burn induced exhaustion. Damn, it'd been a while since he'd felt that. Not since... Water Dragon Bullet, way back when he was training for that.

Okay... burning lungs felt so wrong in this jutsu. Definitely time to look into a re-breather like the Rain nins use. From his warped body perspective; it felt like his left kneecap was burning with the need for air. Right then... how to fix this... Maybe... reverse the chakra flow...?

Which of course, the second he tried nearly hurled him from the water like a bullet. Oooookay... that was for another day; learn to reverse it slowly. Take the time, train up control; get as good as the nins that can expose just a hand or face for jutsu firing before disappearing again. Yep; that's what he'd aim to do next.

But later; after a good, long nap and some food. Definitely after some play time with the kids. He picked himself up off the bush he'd landed in, brushed the twigs and leaves from his hair, coughed a few times to clear the last of the water he'd inhaled when he screamed upon ejection, and walked back across the water to his kids (that where amazingly napping; wow). Aki and Yuki just looked at him from where they had curled into a pile of dog and fur, tails wagging as they untangled to help him get the kids home. “Wake up guys... Daddy's taking you to get ice cream before dinner... That sound good?”

-end-

Hiding in Water Training. D-Rank

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