"The first rule of the Chi Sosa; there is Chakra in the Blood. This is the basic principle that applies to every situation. You must learn this." Yuka-sensei spoke harshly as she glared at Kane. The two were standing in the forest, however the log cabin was still in sight.
Kane nodded, "Yes, Yuka-sensei!"
The woman nodded in return, "Good. Every Sanguis knows this rule by heart. It is the basis of our entire Kekkei Genkai."
Kane grew a thoughtful look on his face, "So is it the same thing as the Chakra Network?"
The woman scowled at him, "No, you idiot. They're completely different."
Kane frowned, "But if there is Chakra in the blood, and the entire body has a blood system, how are they different?"
"There are both. There exists a Chakra Network, and a Blood Network. Both are essential for life. Chakra exists in the blood, but the networks are not the same. Any other stupid questions?" The woman snipped at him.
Kane scowled, "No, Yuka-sensei."
'Still doesn't make any sense, but whatever...'
"The second rule is not only a rule of Chi Sosa, but a rule of the Sanguis Clan itself. You must recognize the purity of blood, and in particular the purity of your blood."
"Purity of blood?" Kane asked in confusion.
"Yes. There is a difference between the blood of one person and the blood of another. Surely you've felt this before?"
Kane shook his head, "The only feelings I've ever gotten from blood have been... Less than pleasant. The best feeling I've ever gotten was almost bland. Neutral. Not really anything to it, I'm not even sure if I felt anything at all. Other times I've felt almost... Dirty. Like I was playing in the mud and needed to clean up."
Yuka-sensei scowled at him. He was starting to get used to her constantly pissed-off face. Well, kind of.
"Then you've never manipulated pure blood! You've only manipulated the blood of the unworthy!"
Kane raised an eyebrow at this, "So then what makes blood pure?"
"Blood is passed down from generation to generation, from parent to parent. The purer the bloodline, the purer the blood itself." Yuka-sensei explained.
"Then who's blood is purest?"
"The Sanguis Clan's blood you insolent child, who else?!" Yuka-sensei snapped, once again angered at him.
"Right... Okay then... Who's the second purest?"
"There is no 'second purest'. All blood is different; only the Sanguis Clan is the closest to true perfection, and even our blood has become diluted and corrupted throughout time. As you manipulate the blood of different foes, you'll be able to tell the difference between those who are pure, and those who are not."
"This all sounds like bullshit." Kane said flatly.
The woman scowled at him again.
"You will recognize the purity that is the Sanguis Clan! You are a Sanguis, and I will not have you desecrate and disgrace the name of Sanguis because you are ignorant!"
Kane glared at her for that one.
'The Sanguis clan is the purest, everyone else can go suck it... Sounds just like the Uchiha and Hyuuga to me. Are all clans so stupid?'
"The third rule of the Chi Sosa... The Blood Well is the essence of our power."
Kane looked at her curiosly, "The Blood Well?"
Yuka-sensei gained a horrified expression on her face.
And then Kane fell to the ground as she swung and hit him on the side of his head with her walking stick.
Kane gasped in pain as he gripped his head, "Why?"
"You insolent child! How dare you not even know of the Blood Well?! How dare you be twelve years on this earth, and still not know of the Red Sea?!"
Red Sea? Kane was pretty sure that was made up. There was no such thing, not unless it was from a distant land Kane had never heard of...
Wait.
Kane remembered a time, after losing to Kiba in the Chunin Exams, where he dreamt of a red sea...
"Wait! I know what you're talking about! You're talking about the large, red ocean!" Kane quickly said in fear of receiving another hit to the head.
Yuka-sensei was, indeed, mid swing. She paused, her walking stick in the air before quickly placing it back on the ground to steady herself.
'What the hell is wrong with this crazy lady?! So I don't know a lot about it, why'd she react so violently because of that?!'
"Ocean? If that's what you want to call it. So you've had the dreams, then?"
Kane nodded slowly.
She scowled, "Then how do you not know more about it?!"
"I've only ever dreamt of the red water once before, after I lost a fight in the Chunin Exams." The reminder of his defeat to Kiba was bittersweet to Kane, and he'd prefer not to think of it at all.
"Once?! Kami-sama, where in the world did I find someone as worthless as you?! How in Kami's name can you be blessed with the most beautiful blood, and still be as ignorant as you are?!"
She paused as Kane's words seemed to catch up to her.
"Wait, did you say water?"
Kane looked at her uncertainly, "Err... Yeah, the red water. I was floating in it."
Yuka-sensei's gray eyes glared at him harshly with a hint of intrigue, "It's not supposed to be water. it's supposed to be blood. A sea of blood. The Red Sea."
Kane shook his head as he slowly got to his feet, "No. It was water. Definitely water. I remember tasting it."
Yuka-sensei hummed thoughtfully at this.
"Whatever. You know of the Blood Well, even if yours is... different. Perhaps it has to do with your ability to control water as well. Regardless, you know of its existence, which is something, I suppose... The fact that you've only been to it once tells me you clearly have little to no battle experience."
Kane nodded at this and she huffed, "Some Kane you are..." She mumbled quietly. Kane gave her a strange look at this.
The woman was batshit crazy, no questions about it, Kane decided.
"Let's review, brat. Tell me the three principles of the Chi Sosa."
"Err... There is Chakra in the Blood." He stared at her uncertainly.
The woman motioned for him to continue.
"The Sanguis clan's blood is the purest of them all, and I have to be aware of that fact."
She nodded, and he gained a bit more confidence.
"The Blood Well is the essence and source of our Kekkei Genkai."
"Perhaps you're not as stupid as I thought." Yuka-sensei admitted.
Kane smiled at that.
"I told you, I can't do it." Kane huffed in frustration.
Yuka-sensei looked horrified.
"How?! How have you survived as long as you have?! How are you not dead?!"
Kane glared at her before looking down in shame.
"How can you be a Sanguis, if you can't even perform basic Water Ninjutsu?! All Sanguis have the primary element of water, and most children have begun practicing D-Ranked Water Ninjutsu by the time they're eight years of age!"
"Well, I just can't, okay?! I've tried everything I can think of! I can manipulate the water and even feel the water, same as blood, but I can't perform any jutsu with it!"
Yuka-sensei stared at Kane, a calculating look in her eyes.
"Try it again."
Kane huffed.
And so he tried it again.
Kane felt extremely frustrated. All day, the two of them sat at the lake as he failed to perform even the basic 'Water Bullet' jutsu.
Yuka-sensei refused to tell him anything. No pointer, no tips, nothing. Just 'Again!' over and over.
At the end of the day, he was no closer now than he was before.
Kane huffed to himself as he and Yuka-sensei ate fish on their respective mattresses. Turns out, Yuka-sensei's secondary nature was fire, and so she had no need for a fire pit. She just placed the fish in the 'sink', and burned them until they were cooked.
They weren't the best tasting when cooked this way, that was for sure, but to Kane anything that wasn't ramen was heavenly. He'd grown sick of the stuff.
Kane glanced over at Yuka-sensei. The woman was nibbling quietly, apparently deep in thought.
Looks like talking was out of the question tonight.
Kane wondered how Team 7 was doing in Konoha.
His eyes glanced over at his travelers pack beside his mattress, where he knew the picture of Team 7 to be stashed.
He shook his head, dismissing the troubling thoughts that he knew were coming.
He didn't want to think about them anymore.
"Again!"
And so, Kane failed to produce the water bullet once more.
Three days. Three days they've been at it. By the end of the day today, they will have spent 3 freaking days doing this.
If he wanted to waste his time, he would've stayed with Kakashi.
Still, the last thing Kane wanted to do was ruin this. He still had so many questions to ask the woman, and he knew he could still learn much from her.
So, he kept his mouth shut and obeyed.
"Stop!"
Kane froze. It was the first word in three days he'd heard that wasn't 'again'.
Yuka-sensei walked closer towards him, and stood next to him.
"Tell me what you see." She demanded.
"Wh-"
Before Kane could even ask, the woman shot a giant fireball across the lake.
Kane stared in confusion before turning back to her. She had an expectant look on her face.
"A fireball?"
She nodded.
He stared.
Then, she grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip and squeezed, digging into his flesh with her fingernails. He gasped as she drew blood, and she released him as several drops began floating in the air.
The blood droplets floated until they were resting between the two as Kane nurtured his injured arm.
"Now what do you see?" Yuka-sensei asked.
"... Blood?"
"You see my Chi Sosa. Not jutsu. Not elemental affinity. Chi Sosa. My Kekkei Genkai."
Kane nodded slowly.
"So what does that tell you?"
Kane stared at her like she'd gone crazy. Yuka-sensei scowled at him.
"Think about it."
So Kane thought about it.
'A fireball jutsu... and then her blood release... Okay... What? What the hell is she trying to say?'
Kane shook his head slowly at her, and her scowl grew even more fierce. Kane gulped and thought harder.
'She showed me elemental ninjutsu, and then she showed me her bloodline limit... So... What? Is she asking what the difference between the two is?'
Oh.
"They're not the same?" Kane asked uncertainly.
Yuka-sensei's eyes lit up, "Exactly, brat! They're not the same! My bloodline is not the same as my elemental jutsu. Your bloodline is not the same as your elemental jutsu."
Kane nodded slowly. He understood, for the most part, but he failed to see where this was going.
"So, if your Chi Sosa effects the water, then..." She prodded him, clearly wanting to lead him to the answer without telling him.
"Then... My bloodline is interfering with my ability to perform water ninjutsu."
"Yes! And what does that tell you?"
"... That I can't do water ninjutsu, because the water is already controlled by my bloodline?" Kane asked in horror.
"Exactly. You're not as stupid as you look, brat!"
Did that mean he'd never be able to perform water ninjutsu?!
"Does that mean I'll never be able to do water ninjutsu?!" Kane voiced the very thoughts that were going through his head.
"Hmm. Maybe. Maybe not." Yuka-sensei responded vaguely.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean, brat, that maybe you can still use Water Ninjutsu, just not at the same time as your bloodline."
Kane paused to process this.
The two were silent for several moments.
"Holy shit!" Kane yelled out, causing Yuka-sensei to flinch before scowling at him. Kane gave her a sheepish grin in response, "Sorry."
Man, he really did pick up some of Naruko's bad habits.
"So, brat, try turning off your bloodline on the water."
Kane hesitated.
'Can... Can I do that?'
He walked closer to the lake and stared.
Soothing. Relaxing. Calming.
'Err... I have no idea how, if I can.'
Kane turned to face the old woman once more.
"I have no idea how to do that."
Yuka-sensei hummed before launching the still floating blood droplets at Kane. Immediately before hitting him, they stopped, and Kane realized he was the one making them float now.
Wait, how did that work, exactly?
He'd have to ask her later.
"Make the blood stop obeying you." She demanded.
Kane nodded before glancing at the blood. Almost immediately, the blood dropped to the grass below. It was as easy as dropping something from your hands.
"Good. Now do that with the water."
Kane turned to the water, and focused.
...
This wasn't nearly as easy.
"I can't." Kane admitted with a frown.
Yuka-sensei hummed in thought, "Well, until you do, Water Ninjutsu is going to stay locked away from you. This is something you'll have to learn over time, I suppose."
Kane paused as a thought occured to him. When he first gained his Kekkei Genkai, the first thing he felt was the hated weight. Wasn't that after he'd found out about his elemental affinity? Shouldn't he have been able to perform Water Ninjutsu before then?
'... No, I remember. I was learning the Tree Climbing exercise, and I had no clue how to even begin trying to learn water ninjutsu. By the time I was actually attempting to perform the jutsu, I had already unlocked my Kekkei Genkai...'
Kane shook his thoughts away, and he gave Yuka-sensei a huge grin as he nodded.
He finally knew how to learn Water Ninjutsu! Sure, he couldn't actually do it yet, but it was a start!
"Thanks, Yuka-sensei." Kane spoke honestly and truthfully. It was one of the most generous things anyone had ever done for him; given him a helping hand, and guided him along the correct path.
Kane wasn't used to that. His whole life, he's done everything on his own. Now, he didn't have to anymore.
The caused him to feel a burst of warm affection for the old woman.
And the feelings immediately dispersed as she, once again, began sneering at him, "Don't thank me, brat. I have my own, selfish reasons for training you."
Still, Kane thought as he watched her walk away, Kane was grateful to her. For the first time in his life, Kane had somebody watching out for him. For the first time in his life, Kane had somebody helping him. For the first time in his life, Kane had somebody teaching him.
Kane had a Sensei.
End of Chapter 35