Chapter ten: Training the World
"Again." Tobirama heard the harsh command.
"Sensei is so mean."
"She's always so harsh with her ways and the way she speaks."
"That is because out there, a mistake will kill you and cause consequences." Tobirama said as the five year olds jumped and the kid in the middle of the training ring looked exhausted and dirty but he still continued with his katas.
"Tobirama-san." The kids gasped with surprise and guilt, knowing he was right.
"Tobirama huh?" Sonea smirked, her hands sitting on her hips. "Care to show what you preach?" She asked, walking into the circle as the kid had moved off to the side with the others. Tobirama raised an eyebrow and stepped forwards.
"Rules?" He asked, stretching his shoulders and arms out.
"The one who leaves the circle, gets pinned or is knocked down looses."
"Best two out of three?" Tobirama asked and she nodded with a smile, he would consider it a dangerous smile. "Who's going to referee?"
"I will." Kenjin said as he came from the bushes and Sonea grinned.
"You're back." She said and he nodded.
"It's only been three months, you said once before you could meditate for that long." He chuckled and Sonea rolled her eyes as she took off her long black half apron and passed it to him. "Play fair Sonea." He mocked as she returned to the circle and both of them took a fighting stance. "Ready... Begin!" Kenjin called.
Tobirama moved in with speed for a punch that was blocked by a fan kick from Sonea as she transferred her weight and used the momentum to swing her other leg back with her torso bending down while her foot connected with Tobirama's surprised face and he stumbled slightly before stepping back as Sonea righted herself easily.
"That was dirty." Tobirama said, a hand to his cheek but she shrugged.
"This is real life, everyone cheats and plays dirty to survive." Sonea said and Tobirama was slightly surprised by her words. It was true, you did everything you could to complete your mission and survive, even playing dirty.
"Since we're playing dirty." Tobirama muttered to himself, changing his stance before he kicked sand and dust up as Sonea naturally ducked and blocked her eyes. He moved in to attack, aiming to kick her stomach, but he saw a flash of her red eyes as she threw herself backwards into a bend and put her hands down as she flipped over after his kick and Tobirama righted himself for the next attack, what he wasn't expecting was for her to slid her legs under her arms instead of standing again as she kicked his shins and he fell to the ground with a thump and Sonea twisted fancily on one arm to stand up.
"Round one goes to Sonea." Kenjin called as Tobirama rubbed his face and looked up at her with a glare.
"Don't be so blatant in your moves. This is the Uchiha clan you're up against and they can see your move from a mile away."
"If I was fighting an Uchiha they wouldn't be." He said with frustration as he got up and saw her eyes shift into the sharingan.
"There you're fighting an Uchiha now, I won't hold back." Sonea warned and Tobirama scowled.
"Sonea..." Kenjin warned. There was an automatic response in Tobirama's eyes to how Sonea's eyes changed into the sharingan and she noted it carefully as he got up, looking a lot more serious and focused now.
"It's okay." Sonea said to Kenjin and Tobirama had begun his advances as they engaged in a taijutsu battle. His hits were solid, carefully trained and forceful, more than a spar if he was against anyone else at the time but Sonea could see that Tobirama almost saw her as a real threat so he wasn't holding back as she flipped back from a swipe from Tobirama into a crouch to give them some space.
Tobirama had also noted the change within himself when he saw those three spinning tomoe in her eyes... He lacked control over his emotions he realised which was his downfall.
"I win."
What?" He snapped with disbelief as he saw the sharingan fade in her eyes and then he felt it... Mud, he was stuck in mud up to his shins and couldn't move. Sonea walked up to him as he looked up at her, trying to make his feet move but she flicked his forehead which sent him toppling into the mud as it splashed and Sonea stepped out of its way.
"Sonea wins." Kenjin called with a sigh.
"You're an Uchiha?" Tobirama asked up with question as Sonea offered her hand down with a slight smile.
"No, just someone with similar powers. You fight well, you gave me quite a push, I haven't had a sparring partner in such a long time." Sonea said as Tobirama took her hand and she hauled him out of the mud.
"You don't look like someone who needs the extra help, flawless and different techniques, flexible unlike most taijutsu stances." Tobirama smiled slightly and bowed to her. "Thank you, you've shown me a few things, I shall see you around Sonea-san." Tobirama said before he walked off and Kenjin walked over to her.
"Here is your weird living 'thing' back." He said, passing her half apron over as she chuckled and buckled it back on. "Even when he's not your student, you're still teaching people things."
"As a Sensei I suppose it is my job to help anyone to the best of my abilities even when they're already out there fighting... I do miss someone to spar with though, I let my anger and frustration get the best of me sometimes, Tobirama kind of reminded me of myself back then, when I was still the weakest... The fool." Sonea sighed and Kenjin patted her shoulder.
"I'm sure you'll find your match again someday." Kenjin smiled and it lifted her spirits slightly.
"Thanks... By the way, where's Taka?" Sonea asked and she saw an odd expression pass Kenjin's face.
"He's advancing way beyond my teachings and capabilities within the five months of meeting you. Suddenly one night, it was like a veil lifted over him and he began to pack and when I asked him and tried to stop him he said this was something he needed to do... He thinks he might have found out how to fix your seal permanently but he said he couldn't do it stuck in the compound and war." Kenjin explained sadly as Sonea's eyes were widened with hope.
"What was he studying when something clicked?" Sonea asked.
"He said it was something extra you gave him. There were three of them, identical but their colour of leather they were bound with, he kept them extremely close to him when he left on his journey... I'm sorry Sonea, but I don't know when he'll return." Kenjin sighed but Sonea shook her head and grabbed his hand.
"This is wonderful news. It was a long and hard thought about giving Taka those journals to study, my last mentor said only a seal's master could decipher them then this is wonderful, it's more than I could have asked for. I believe Taka will return when he has the answer. He's not a stupid kid Kenjin, he'll be fine out there." Sonea said before she was grabbed tightly into a hug and she awkwardly hugged back.
"You're right, I shouldn't worry so much." Kenjin sighed with a slightly embarrassed grin but Sonea just waved it off.
"He's your son, you have the right to worry over him and don't stop worrying about him, just by thinking about him, we're sending prayers to keep him safe." Sonea said and Kenjin chuckled.
"Where did you get that from?" He asked, putting his arm across her shoulders and she smiled as they began to walk together.
"My Sensei was a priest." She said and Kenjin fell into a hopeless fit of laughter.
"When you think about it today, it sounds absolutely ridiculous." He laughed and Sonea smiled, she definitely couldn't see a fighting priest in those days she was currently in, it would be quite amusing though.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Whoa, what happened to you?" Kawarama said as Tobirama stepped into the house, full of mud.
"A sparring session with someone I clearly underestimated." He sighed, stripping his muddy shirt and quickly at the door with his sandals.
"Someone beat you?" Itama questioned with shock and Tobirama just closed his eyes and growled under his breath.
"Who was it?" Butsuma asked.
"Sonea-san... It's what I get for interrupting her training session with the younger recruits." Tobirama said before he headed towards the bathroom.
XXXXXXXXXX
She was annoyed... She couldn't feel anything even as they lay the caskets into the ground of some of the kids she had trained. She felt to not feel for the death of your own species was blasphemy.
'But maybe I feel differently now.' She thought with a sigh as she looked down from her tree and saw he backs of Butsuma standing with Hashirama, Tobirama and Itama who was crying and physically trying to stop. They had been in a ceasefire for nearly a whole year now between the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan but then the Hagoromo clan appeared and has started the little war once again.
"Shinobi do not cry." Butsuma said sternly as they watched Kawarama's grave begin to get covered over with dirt. "Shinobi are born into this world to fight and die in battle. Be grateful we even have a piece of his corpse, for our enemy this time includes the Uchiha clan in addition to the Hagoromo clan. They are particularly merciless."
"Kawarama was just seven years old." Hashirama said with disbelief and rage before turning to his father. "How long... will this type of fighting continue?!"
"Until the very last foe has been vanquished. The path to a battle free world is not easily made." Butsuma said firmly as Hashirama ducked his head.
"And children must be sacrificed?" He asked and Butsuma hit him hard on the cheek as Sonea flinched with a gasp, her hands covering her mouth.
"I will not allow Kawarama to be disrespected! He fought and died as a full-fledged shinobi! He was not a child!" Butsuma yelled before beginning to walk away as Tobirama and Itama surrounded their brother with worry.
"Hashirama-nii san, are you okay?" Itama asked.
"You know what happens when we defy Otou-sama." Tobirama said as Hashirama looked between the both of them and stood up once more.
"The Senju, clan of love, as if! A full-fledged shinobi my butt! All of this is just grown-ups driving kids to their deaths! We're doing exactly the same as the Uchiha clan!" Hashirama yelled as Butsuma stopped waling and looked over his shoulder.
"That's how we honour our opponents. Even an infant wielding a weapon is deemed an enemy. And to raise one's child to become full-fledged is a parent's love." Butsuma explained firmly.
"So in order to become full-fledged you have to die?! We kill and are killed so much you can't even keep track of all of the grudges! And it's too risky to even divulge our family names!" Hashirama yelled and Sonea felt Butsuma's chakra stiffen and his heart rate increase as fast as Hashirama's was beating. "There's something totally wrong about a ninja world like this!"
"Children like you are called brats!" Butsuma turned with a fist raised. Sonea didn't know what possessed her to jump down between them but she was firm in her stance as her wings stood out as her chakra bubbled beneath her skin in warning and Butsuma stopped.
"I don't mean to get involved in something that doesn't concern me but maybe you should cool off a little, all of you... Before you do something you regret." Sonea spoke smoothly and firmly as Butsuma lowered his fist. "You have all suffered a loss today and emotions are high, I figure this is the first real loss of your sons so they do not understand what they are feeling, please forgive their behaviour." Sonea bowed, her wings curled behind her as her tail swayed low.
"Do as she suggests. Cool your heads." Butsuma said as he turned and walked off and Sonea breathed a sigh of relief as she straightened up, wings disappearing as her tail flattened out into her half apron once more. She turned around as Tobirama and Itama stared at her with disbelief but Hashirama still had anger on his face as she sat down and looked up at them.
"Hashirama-kun, come here." Sonea said, wiggling a finger for him to come hither. He anger didn't fade as he walked forwards and she touched his cheek with her hand as he flinched before his shoulders relaxed under the gentle feeling of chakra softening the pain. Hashirama found his anger cooling off as he stared into those deep red eyes that portrayed nothing but concern and sadness as she focused on her hand against his cheek, her hand was hot but the cold chakra radiating into his skin was ice cold as he felt his heart twang from his loss.
"Sonea-san." He asked quietly as her eyes became alert and she looked into his. "Why did you step in?"
"Like I said, it was about to turn into something you were both going to regret later when your heads have cooled off. Family can be tricky when you all feel the same emotion but can't understand why." She said which made Hashirama blink.
"Are your family dead too?" He asked and he saw her eyes flinch down as so many ghosts passed through her features before she looked at him, eyes haunted and almost tired as her hand lowered from his cheek, Tobirama and Itama listening quietly behind Hashirama.
"My entire clan was massacred before my eyes, even younger than the children of your clan I teach to fight. Then I lost my second family because of circumstances... They're all dead now anyway." Sonea said before she froze for a few seconds before she stood up tiredly and looked at either one of them. "Your Otou-san was trying to find a reason to Kawarama's death just like you are now. I'll put this simply and bluntly and it may seem a bit harsh but there is no reason to death or your Fate, use your loss to make you stronger... The right way." She said before turning around suddenly and walked off.
"She's a treasure box of advice and wisdom, not to mention a good friend to have on your side if you get into trouble." Hashirama remembered Taka saying as he watched the fire like open front apron sway in the wind of the sunset. It was just a glimpse but Hashirama felt that in those few seconds and fleeting expressions that he saw what was in her heart... She hated children fighting and dying as much as he did.
"Let's go." Tobirama said and Hashirama nodded and followed his brothers off to cool off before they went home.
XXXXXXXXXX
The quiet and hesitant knock at her door caught her off guard slightly, three heartbeats and chakras as she took her earphones out and hung them around her neck. She had found the little radio/music device Indra had given her and it had stayed in perfect condition in a storage scroll. She waned to feel something again like when she first arrived in Uzushio and maybe a bit of dancing would help her once again like it had in Uzushio.
"Ah... This is rare... and odd." She said, looking down at three kids at the door as they blinked up at her.
"We apologise for the late time but... Well we didn't really want to go home just yet but it's dangerous to be out at night." Itama said with a little bit of embarrassment.
"I understand, you're welcome any time." Sonea said, opening her door as the boys filled in politely. They stopped at the step in and looked around, all furniture was pushed to the edges of the room and the tatami mats rolled up and put to the one side, baring the wood floors underneath...
"You train in here?" Tobirama asked as she stepped behind them and nodded.
"I guess. Do you boys want anything to eat or drink?" She asked politely as she stepped around them and gestured them into the room where they pulled out a few tatami mats and cushions and sat down.
"We're fine..."
"You probably haven't eaten all day." She cut them off, eyes understanding and soft before she smiled slightly. "I'll round up something quickly." She said as she disappeared.
"I'm not use to seeing her in normal clothing." Hashirama whispered to them as Tobirama rolled his eyes and Itama smiled slightly. She was wearing black hakama pants and a cream coloured kimono shirt with the same red sash on as they had always seen her wearing. She walked in a few minutes later as the boys looked around quietly and she knelt down, giving them a glass of fruit juice and had a plate of pastries in the middle of them before her hands froze and her body had stiffened up, red eyes hard.
"Sonea-san?" Tobirama asked carefully before her head snapped up and they were alert too, she must have sensed something. With a wave of her hand, the candles all over the house were blown out and the only light was from the windows outside and Sonea's eyes glowing lightly in the dark.
"Come with me, I don't want you involved." She said firmly, standing up as they followed, food and drinks forgotten as she led them to a bed room and opened a dark closet that was practically empty and huge as she herded them in.
"We can help." Hashirama said but she shook her head as a shadow passed by the window and she froze again as did they.
"Stay calm in here. Being the type of shinobi you are, these shinobi will kill you before you even realise it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tobirama whispered harshly as there was a creak from the roof.
"It means I shall be killing them under my own name because they invaded my home. If you three get involved, your clan is automatically involved. Stay put and defend yourselves if you have to." Sonea said as she bit her thumb and lifted her sash enough to run the blood across her left hip where a seal materialised and two katana sat in their sheaths, silver and gold glimpsing in the moonlight. They watched as the doors were closed to cracks so they could still see as Sonea left the room.
Almost instantly there was the smell of blood but that was it, no weapons clashing, no thumps of bodies falling but there were scuffles of feet moving on the floor and outside as they waited, listened and sensed.
"There's three of them left." Tobirama told them after a while. Fire lit up the window outside and they cringed slightly at the sudden bright light before there was the sound of a crack and an electric after fizzle in the air then weapons clashing and bodies falling as people began to converge on the house but they were friendly.
"You can come out now." Sonea called from somewhere in the house as they pushed the doors open quietly and left the bedroom to have to avoid the first body. The crest was of the Hagoromo clan and their clothing and weapons definitely made for stealth and quick killings as Sonea stood at the front door, tail waving calmly in the air, holding one of her earlier katanas as the other one was still firmly in her left hand and her right hand currently had its blade upon her arm and pinning one of the younger enemies to the door by his shoulder and up off of the floor.
"Senju brats!" The man hissed before the blade twisted and he cried out.
"Uh, uh, uh. This house is my turf and I'm not exactly Senju now am I?" Sonea asked and twisted some more when she didn't get an answer.
"No, you're not!" He cried out and she smirked.
"Good."
"An attack?" Butsuma asked as he arrived with some others of the clan.
"I think they may have followed your sons. It was my mistake for not sensing for anything possibly following them." Sonea said as she dropped the man and he was hauled away quickly. "If the Hagoromo clan has anything to say about this, send me their way and I'll sort it out quickly. The boys are good ninja, they took orders clearly and with little fuss." Sonea nodded towards the boys and Butsuma nodded towards them as well.
"We found intruders further into the compound. I only think they were here to find any information and to kill whoever they could with no fuss and saw my boys in civilian clothing, then you." Butsuma said and Sonea nodded.
"They probably thought we were all civilians." Tobirama pointed out.
"Let's go home." Butsuma said.
"I'm going to stay here." Hashirama said as his family and Sonea gave him an odd look. "If anyone comes back there will be two of us, one to make a diversion and the other to warn everyone." Hashirama said and Butsuma looked at Sonea.
"I don't mind, I'm a little wired up after that. Some company will be nice." She smiled and Butsuma nodded and began to leave as some of the other clan members removed the bodies from her house.
"It's amazing you left no blood." Hashirama smiled and Sonea chuckled.
"I'm not going to unnecessarily spill blood in my house, you're just asking for a long night otherwise." She said and Hashirama understood and smiled too. Sonea closed and locked up as she lit the candles once again and sat down with Hashirama as they ate the pastries from earlier as they watched the candle light flicker along the walls. "I know what you said earlier was an excuse to stay here with me..." Sonea began quietly, eyes in a trance as she watched the flame flicker gently and Hashirama turned his head to look at her.
"How did you figure that out?" He asked quietly and Sonea shrugged, playing with a cup between her fingers.
"There is a very small chance of anyone else attacking tonight plus I could see how uncomfortable you felt when I spoke about you and your brothers, almost guilty for taking the praise. I'm guessing it was one of the reasons you want to stay, is to ask me why." Sonea said and took a sip and Hashirama sighed.
"You're very aware all of the time... Do you ever just stop?" He asked and he saw her crack a smile.
"With my pervious Sensei, I had very little time to sleep, except over winter, they hibernated and so I meditated the entire time... Sounds like a punishment doesn't it?" She chuckled when she saw Hashirama's face fall.
"You said all of your family is dead. May I ask what happened?" He asked carefully and he saw her eyes drop to her lap where the cup and her hands now rested and her legs shifted to sit out in front of her.
"We were massacred for our power... You've seen my abilities and they can be quite fearful if you don't understand them." Sonea spoke as Hashirama listened intently and nodded. "I met my Sensei after that and he did everything he could to make me a shinobi against everything that was trying to stop me and I pursued with him."
"What happened?" He asked.
"The worst situation you can ask for as a shinobi is a weak body and an extremely powerful and dominant bloodline, a kekkei genkai. The tattoo on my back is actually a seal that balances out my kekkei genkai and my chakra to work in harmony, it's also a gateway for senjutsu chakra." Sonea explained.
"Senjutsu? I've heard of it before but I don't quite know what it is." Hashirama said and Sonea smiled and stood up.
"Come with me." She said, holding her hand out as he took it and she led him to her bedroom where a plant sat on the windowsill. "A Japanese Peace lily. You see, senjutsu is chakra just like you and I have within ourselves but its nature's chakra, it's always all around us." Sonea explained as she played with a leaf on the plant. It was damaged and wilting, going brown as she cupped her hands over the leaf for a while before moving her hands away and the leaf was perfect again. "But like nature, the chakra is very unpredictable unless you have the strength and will against it otherwise nature consumes you."
"So how can you use senjutsu when you have a weak body?" Hashirama asked as they went back into the main room and sat down again.
"Like children, droning and boring exercises like push ups and sit ups are droning and boring. I can't get my body to do too many of them at a time and so I was weak as a ninja but my Sensei helped me work around it. Instead of drumming katas into my head and taijutsu, he made me do acrobatics and conformed taijutsu and katas into dance movements. If I couldn't control my chakra into a technique, he made me do ballet until my feet bled or I could do the technique with control over my body, when he wanted me to get a genjutsu right, he made me do interpretive dancing and turn it into a trance. If my speed wasn't quick enough, he'd make me do quick step and foxtrots and if I was being too dainty and not throwing enough power into my movements he made me do hip hop until I couldn't feel my muscles anymore." Sonea explained and Hashirama giggled evilly.
"What happened if you didn't use weapons right or get cut by a shuriken you were supposed to avoid?" He asked and Sonea smiled grimly.
"More ballet, waltz which has some 'perfected' form of the body or he'd just turn me into a pincushion and throw a bottle of spirits over me afterwards." Sonea explained and Hashirama hissed, imagining the pain as Sonea laughed. "It was harsh but you learn quickly, eventually you have to learn to make yourself do the punishment yourself and keep up the strict training."
"So that's what you were doing before my otoutos and I interrupted?" Hashirama asked and Sonea nodded.
"Kind of... I was actually trying to find my way again. After everything that has happened just over a year so far, I've noticed flaws in me that need fixing before I throw myself deeper into what I'm already knee deep in." Sonea explained as Hashirama listened. "I can still see there is something on your mind. I want you to think of me someone on the outside of your clan, someone to listen and talk to who won't look down on you because this is the clan and this is how things go." Sonea said and Hashirama looked down, his grief overtaking his features but there were many unanswered questions in his eyes.
"About what you said earlier today... 'There's no meaning to death'... I understand what you said but maybe there's some way to prevent it or stop it but Otou-sama refuses to listen, it's all about the clan, the clan this, the clan that, why are we even fighting?" Hashirama said and wiped at his eyes that were watering.
"And soon enough you'll be clan leader after your Otou-sama and forget the question because you have to protect the clan from other clans. Fighting is a cycle of hatred which is hard to stop and takes someone special like the Rikudo Sennin for example." Sonea explained and Hashirama nodded.
"Yeah except he's the Rikudo Sennin with powers beyond compare and it's impossible to match up to him."
"Do you really think that?" Sonea asked as he snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at her.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"If you keep thinking like that, you'll never become strong or even be able protect your otoutos. The Rikudo believed in something so strongly that he worked hard to protect everyone from the Jyuubi and continues to today by his decisions he left behind in those days. Peace like you dream of is something that cannot be done in a lifetime, you need to point them in the right direction and believe in who you left behind when you die to continue on that path because of the sheer number of variables involved. You start with a small section and work out from there because it is the best you can do. Then you have to leave the next generations to continue, like a rippling wave in water with the same goal." Sonea said on a roll with words which was surprisingly odd for her but she went with it.
'Because that is what you wanted me to try and achieve when you left me with the Jyuubi... Right Sensei?' Sonea suddenly questioned in her thoughts.
Hashirama couldn't believe how strongly this girl believed in peace, almost like he and Madara when they last met down at the lake, it had been a while. Taka's words were really running a mile in his head, Sonea could really be helpful, he'd seen how strong she is and quick and she said she didn't want to be involved with clan fighting but maybe she could just be a piece of the process, someone older, stronger and respected with the older generation... He'd sleep on it, maybe it would work.
"You're like my damn shadow recently." Sonea said as she walked through the compound on a mission.
"I want to learn everything from you." Hashirama grinned. Sonea sighed and continued walking, she sometimes had all three of them following after her but it seemed as though Tobirama and Itama were out on the field that day.
"Do you ever think you'll get bored of me? It's been a month already." Sonea sighed.
"Do you think anyone can live up to the name of the Rikudo Sennin?" Hashirama asked, and Sonea took a deep calming breath, now the questioning starts.
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Me."
"I'm being serious here." Hashirama whined.
"Who says I'm not?" Sonea asked.
"I know you're not. He was a shinobi who mastered all of the elements, including Yin, Yang and Yin-Yang and defeated a beast plaguing the lands and you think you can live up to that?" He asked as Sonea stopped and he nearly walked into her as she took a deep breath.
"What makes mastering all of the elements so important?" Sonea asked with a little bit of curiosity.
"It hasn't been done since his time. Many people say it's impossible and focus on mastering three, maybe four and perfecting them with strong jutsus." Hashirama explained and Sonea rolled her eyes as she began to walk again.
"It's not impossible. Just difficult, especially Yin, Yang and Yin-Yang." Sonea explained as Hashirama caught up to her again.
"How do you know?" He asked and Sonea growled, changing direction furiously as she grabbed Hashirama's ear and dragged him. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"This is what you get for pestering me!" Sonea yelled at him as she turned on him and he sunk to the floor, cradling his knees as a depressive aura passed over him.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm a pest... Maybe you should just squish me now like a mosquito before I suck the life out of anyone else." He said depressed and Sonea closed her eyes as her right eye began to twitch and a vein appeared on her forehead. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth as she massaged her temples.
"Kami, it's like you have a self abusive personality or something." Sonea sighed to herself before opening her eyes and calming herself. "I can do six out of the eight elements to master and it is said that I will never master the last two because of my supposed 'vampire traits' just to make it sound easier." Sonea began as Hashirama perked up and was listening again as he stood up.
"Wouldn't you count your kekkei genkai as an element?" He asked.
"There are many types of kekkei genkai out there. For example, my blood ability is a kekkei genkai passed from clan genes to clan genes, also like the sharingan. Then you get kekkei genkais and totas which deal with the mixing of two or more elements like when you can mix fire and air together but in one solid jutsu being released instead of two people or two jutsus per say." Sonea began as she stepped further into the training area she normally used for training the younger shinobi.
"Oh! Almost like when you fuse your chakra into a blade, it makes it stronger right?" Hashirama asked and Sonea nodded.
"Right. Nine times out of ten, a genkai will win against a single element jutsu and a tota will win against a genkai and hands down against a single element jutsu."
"Why only nine out of ten?" Hashirama asked.
"Well depending on the strength of the jutsu for example. Take wind and add it to a fireball against a water wall... Fire would definitely win because it would evaporate the water first. But put that fireball against a massive water dragon per say, it would overpower the fire and put it out like water normally would." Sonea explained.
"Wow, you really know a lot." Hashirama said and Sonea grinned proudly.
"Years of studying and observing... Now where was I going with this?" She muttered to herself as she stared up at the sky in thought before she clicked her fingers. "Right, why wouldn't I count my kekkei genkai? Simple really, there are so many kekkei genkais out there that we just cannot count and so we only count how many 'basic' elements we can perform, genkais and totas are another story completely, like my blood kekkei genkai." Sonea explained and Hashirama nodded.
"Right... Makes sense so... Do you have an elemental genkai?" Hashirama grinned and Sonea smirked.
"I'm fluent in three elements, I can perform most of their jutsus without hand seals as well as their combination tota." Sonea explained as it seemed Hashirama's eyes nearly sparkled.
"Please show me!" He asked, putting his hands together and bowing with excitement and Sonea sighed.
"Fine, come here." She said with a sigh and a smile and Hashirama was at her side in an instant. "My tota is a combination of water, lightning and wind, creating the Storm style. Storm style: Dark clouded mist..."
"Jutsu..." Hashirama whispered at the end and Sonea rolled her eyes as a dark and heavy mist filled the area. "It looks exactly like a normal water mist..." Hashirama said and Sonea sighed.
"I can sense anything within the mist, move the mist with the wind to make it denser and strike people within it with lightning created from the small friction of the water particles in the air... Maybe not the best example, okay..." Sonea sighed as a quick and short wind blew the mist away.
"Anything else?" Hashirama asked and Sonea formed a short chain of three hand seals ending in one Hashirama had never seen before, hand over the back of the other as both sets of pinkie and ring fingers bent down to make almost a cross before he twisted her wrists in towards herself and held her right wrist with her left hand as he watched.
"Storm style: Eye of the Storm Jutsu." She punctuated purposefully as lightning fizzled from her palm and water droplets gathered before there was a small whirlwind, making the droplets rotate as lightning got stronger and it came together in one flash of a condense ball of water, then a layer of razor sharp air before lightning fizzled from it in sparks as well as what looked like a ball of electricity in the middle of the water ball. "A massive one shot attack, it took me years to create and get the elements to harmonize like in my body. I'm planning to turn it into some sort of laser beam but I'm not succeeding so far." Sonea pouted as the technique died down and Hashirama was wide eyed.
"Show me the other three you can do." Hashirama asked as Sonea sighed but smiled anyway, performing a fireball, earth dragon and forming a kunai from her blood as it rested in her hand and she let Hashirama test it out.
"Do you think I could have a kekkei genkai?" Hashirama said as he played with the kunai in his hand as they were walking back to grab some lunch.
"Well it's said that there are some kekkei genkais out there that if you have fluent control, you can form them together and create a kekkei genkai that no one special can do except they need massive chakra and control and to bring them together in harmony." Sonea said as she brought her hands together and linked her fingers together. "Like performing a technique of the element and chakra control, bring them in harmony but having to balance a third thing out too."
"You know... I'm beginning to see why Taka gave you such high praises when you first arrived. You're not bound by anything but yourself and so you depend on yourself, you have no limitations..."
"Neither do you... You just see your clan and what is expected of you as a 'limitation'. You just need to think of it as a duty and balance it out with what you want to achieve as well as some time to think and relax about what it is exactly that you are trying to achieve. Think outside of the compound but don't think of the dangers out there, think of them as challenges to overcome and the biggest things you can imagine and watch how things fall into place as an easy flow. If you die... then you die but you went out swinging and with no regrets right?" Sonea smiled as Hashirama stopped and she continued to walk off with a wave over her shoulder and Hashirama laughed slightly.
"She's insane." He thought to himself but he couldn't stop the smile blooming over his face. "To have all five elemental natures and the Yin style... A kekkei genkai? Harmony..." Hashirama hummed as he clasped his hands together and thought of the peace he wanted to attain somehow. What Sonea had just explained is exactly how bringing peace would work, two fluent elements to come together in harmony but they had to be different...
A/N: Is anyone reading this?