They all finally arrived at the bank of a river, Jiriya turned to face the three of them. "Remember when we used the leaves to practice chakra control?" The three nodded in silence.
"Well," he continued, "we're gonna take that to the next level." The white-haired man turned back around to face the water bank once more. He began to walk into the water, except, he didn't walk into it.. He walked on it. Yahiko's head leaned forward as if being able to see it better. Once their sensei reached the center of the river bank he turned back towards his pupils. "This is the first step in mastering the water element." He paused for a second. "Konan, you first. You showed the best chakra control. All you have to do is concentrate your chakra into the bottom of your feet. You need to imagine yourself balancing on the surface of the water. If you hesitate, you will most likely sink."
Konan took a small step forward, hesitated, but then continued. When she reached the edge of the water, she formed a hand sign to focus her energy. She imagined it traveling through her into her feet. She then bravely placed one foot over the water. It only sunk in a little bit, and then she quickly placed her other foot next to the other. She felt like she was balancing on a thin line, she could barely keep her balance. Her arms waved around as she attempted to cross the river.
Konan took a few more steps cautiously. She stopped again to regain her balance. All of a sudden she felt her knees buckle and she suddenly plunged into the chilling water. She was only submerged for a few seconds, but once she regained her train of thought, she arose for air. As she broke the surface she let out a loud gasp for air then moved the wet hair that was plastered to her face.
She began to paddle slowly towards her teacher, feeling somewhat disappointed in herself. Once she felt the riverbed bellow her feet, she walked upshore. Jiriya gave her a pat on the back for effort as she walked to rest on a washed up log.
Yahiko watched as Nagato took his turn against the water. Unadmitingly, Yahiko wanted to watch his team member fall into the river water, he wanted to be the first to complete the task. Yahiko was ready to learn the jutsus that lied at task ahead of him. But to his disappointment, Yahiko witnessed Nagato step onto the bank completely dry. At that moment an annoyed look crossed the auburn's face.
Nagato smiled as his teacher congratulated him for completing such a difficult task on the first try. He went to sit next to his blue-haired team mate, who was smiling with astonishment. They both watched across the mass of sparkling water as Yahiko was about to attempt to cross it. Yahiko tried to cross it too quickly, and as a result fell backwards into the chilling water.
As Yahiko finally reached the shore soaking wet, Jiriya started to speak. "Nagato, since you were the only person out of your team to complete this task, you can go back to the house and have some lunch." Jiriya then turned back to the others, "As for you two, we're staying here until both of you cross this river at least once." Konan and Yahiko looked at each other with unapproving looks, but soon their eyes returned to staring at the ground.
Jiriya waved Nagato on then turned back to talk to the other two teens. Nagato began to walk back from where they had came from earlier. He treaded through their newly-found practice field until he reached the spot that opened up to the dense forest. He climbed through the thick shrubbery and then began to journey the familiar bath back through the forest.
After a few minutes he could see the house faintly through the dense mass of trees, once he reached it, he walked around to the back screen door. He fumbled around in his pockets for the small silver key Jiriya had given him earlier. Once his fingertips felt the tiny metal object, he pulled it out and unlocked the door. As he walked through the paneling, he slipped off his shoes then padded his way into the kitchen.
He opened the icebox and grabbed a bowl of left-over curry rice from a couple days before. He grabbed a large spoon from the silverware drawer and walked over to the fairly worn out sofa. He spooned mounds of curry into his mouth and after a few minutes he set the bowl aside and shrugged back into the lumpy couch. He could feel exhaustion weighing down his eyelids as he drifted into a deep sleep.
Nagato jolted awake to the sound of the screen door slamming open. He sat up quickly and rubbed the sleep from his sore eyes. He could see Yahiko walking back towards the bedroom soaking wet. A few seconds later Jiriya walked across the living room followed by Konan, also soaked to the bone.
Yahiko sat on the edge of his bed as he slipped off the soaked shirt from his freezing body. He tossed it to the side and it slapped onto the hard wood floor. His feet stung from having most of his chakra concentrated at that point for such a long period of time. One by one he slid off his shoes and placed them next to his bed. He was too exhausted to get something to eat, even though he was practically starving. His pants started to leave stains from the water, but that didn't stop him from falling into a deep sleep..
