This chapter is dedicated to iluvromance909 for leaving the longest review yet for this story. This may not seem like a lot to you, but believe me, I really appreciate reviews that aren't three words long. And seriously, if I stuff up anywhere, I'm counting on you and Twin1 to poke me back in the right direction. Anyone else who read that, what the hell do you think you're doing? The story's a centimetre or two down, and that's supposed to be the interesting bit, y'know…
Three: And Pass Again
Kakashi-sensei was late. Again.
"I've got half a mind to sneak into the records vault to find this guy's file, just to see if he's actually always this late, or if he just doesn't care enough about us to be on time," I muttered to Sasuke, who quietly 'hned' in agreement. Sakura was dozing nearby: she had been trying to stay awake, but had failed rather miserably.
Listening to her breathing cautiously, I asked Sasuke quietly, "What does Kakashi-sensei look like?"
Sasuke paused, considering his answer. "He's pretty tall, looks even taller with his hairstyle. His hair's silver and it sticks up all over the place; he looks about… late twenties, early thirties. He wears a navy blue mask that totally covers the bottom half of his face, and his hitai-ate is tied on at an angle to cover his left eye. He looks kind of disorganised, sort of lazy in his posture."
"Yeah, he sounds lazy," I commented. "And arrogant, that too."
"Hn." Sasuke fell silent. Damn.
I didn't complain too loudly though, content to listen to Sakura's breathing in the hope she'd stay asleep forever. Of course, it didn't last, and around seven thirty she woke up (fingers in ears), freaked out, realised our sensei still wasn't here, calmed down, and went to her favourite pastime: talking at Sasuke, who was ignoring her. When she failed to get any response, she went to her second-favourite pastime: staring at Sasuke like a lovestruck pigeon. Oh, wait…
I couldn't even see what she was doing, and I still knew the expression she was wearing. Sasuke had described it as the 'stupidly hopeful puppy' look.
Something like four goddamn BORING hours later, I heard the faint jingle of bells from one of the several trails through the forest, and glanced towards it. Sasuke came out of his broody-trance to look over as well, and I could hear footsteps now: Kakashi-sensei's pulse. Finally, our sensei was here.
"SENSEI, YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shouted. I frowned slightly and muttered to Sasuke, "Mental note, buy earplugs."
"Am I?" our sensei asked, sounding genuinely surprised, and I decided that he really needed a wristwatch. The bells jingled. "Well, you see, I had to help this little old lady with her groceries, and I guess it made me a little late."
Sakura snorted disbelievingly, while I raised my eyebrows at Sasuke. I actually couldn't tell if he was lying or not.
"But anyway, on to survival training. Your task is simple." The bells jingled again; what was up with them? And what kind of ninja wore bells, anyway?
"You must get these bells from me, and you have until noon to do it." He put something down on a piece of wood – a stump, I remembered, was about where he was standing. Aaahhh. That's what the bells were for. Then: Crap, how could I get them if I couldn't even see them? Whiiine!
"But, sensei, there's only two bells, and there's three of us," Sakura said, sounding confused, and now I was, too. Only two bells? Why's that? He said we had to get the bells – maybe it's just to make it a wider target than one? So it'll be harder for us to get in each other's way?
"Ah, that's the catch, Sakura. Only the people who get a bell will be allowed to pass, and the one who fails will be tied to one of those stumps and will not be allowed to eat lunch, and will have to go back to the Academy." …or not.
My jaw dropped open in a combination of horror and awe. Horror – oh Kami, there is NO WAY in the nine hells I'm going back to the Academy – and awe: man, was this guy good. He'd told us not to eat breakfast, and me and Sasuke had both steadfastly ignored that. Sakura was probably starving, though. He had just effectively turned us against each other, too: each for his own.
"Ready? Go!"
Instantly Sasuke bolted, and I followed him through the trees straight away, listening to Kakashi-sensei behind us – he wasn't following us, which was good. Sasuke wanted to say something, but I couldn't tell what.
He paused; the air pressure here felt a bit lighter, and I guessed we were in a clearing. "Alright, so what was off about that?" he asked firmly.
I twitched my head at him, my mind flashing frantically. "I don't get it. And we don't have time for this – what if he comes after us? There's only so much warning I can give, and his footfalls are pretty distinctive, but he's a jounin and –"
"Calm down," Sasuke interrupted. "He's too lazy for that. He'll wait for us to come to him. Now, I'll say it again: what was wrong with that whole thing?"
I took a breath, trying to calm my mind down. "Well, for one thing, genin teams are always in teams of three. I've never, ever heard a team of less than three genin training or doing village missions around town. Not two, not one. Always three. Either all three of us are gonna pass this, or none of us will."
Sasuke nodded, his hair flicking against his face, the sound telling me his head motions. "Right. Which means the 'no-bell-no-pass' thing has to be a fake."
I pinched the skin next to my eye with two fingers, thinking. "There's no way in hell us genin can match up to a jounin," I pointed out. "Not on our own, anyway. But all together…"
"And we might just stand a chance," Sasuke finished. "Come on. Kakashi-sensei's busy reading a book, so we can get to Sakura and get her to help without many problems."
"Aw, man, do we have to…" I mumbled, following him – we were taking a circle around Kakashi-sensei, who as far as I could tell hadn't moved – "She gives me such a headache!"
"Deal, dobe. We need her if we're gonna pass this."
I grumbled under my breath and continued to follow Sasuke, slipping between the passing trees as he brushed them with his fingertips. Kakashi didn't seem to have moved and Sakura was hiding in the forest over… wait, who the heck was that?
"Sasuke, there's someone over with Sakura," I said aloud, "and Kakashi-sensei hasn't moved at all. I think there's some–" I swore aloud as my mind connected the identical footsteps and chakra signature (which really hadn't made sense) with the jounin-level jutsu I had learnt just last night. "Damn! Shadow clone!"
"A what?" Sasuke asked, his voice getting louder as he turned around to look at me, not pausing in his sprint. "A what clone?"
"Shadow clone, kage bunshin," I replied, moving around a bush that I remembered to have thorns. "It's a form of the clone technique, but it's not genjutsu – the clones produced are solid and have their own chakra source. They're very dangerous though 'cos they divide the user's chakra evenly. Make too many and you'll kill yourself with chakra exhaustion in under a minute. Kakashi-sensei must be pretty strong to even make one."
Sasuke grunted, absorbing the new information. "Do you know anything else about them?"
"Umm…" I frowned and clipped a tree with my elbow. "TEME! You missed a tree! The scroll I was reading said something about them being able to fool the Byakugan 'cos of their chakra systems, but the Sharingan can see through the jutsu. Hey, isn't the Sharingan your clan's bloodline?"
"Yes. Shut up, we're getting close to Sa–" There was an ear-splitting scream that actually made me freeze in place and clamp my hands over my ears in an attempt to ward off the nail being driven into my skull. "-kura," Sasuke finished with a faint sigh of exasperation.
"Toooo late," I muttered, carefully prying one hand away from my head to check if the noise was gone. It had.
"What can you hear?" Sasuke asked, coming back to me. He'd had the same thought as me, I think: that if Kakashi-sensei had made one clone to go after Sakura, what were the chances he'd made one to come after us so he could read his book in peace?
"Sakura's a hundred metres that way, unconscious, I think. Whatever that thing was – I'm pretty sure it was a shadow clone – it's gone now, and Kakashi-sensei is – shit. Twenty metres north and closing."
"Shit," Sasuke agreed, and whipped around to face the direction I'd told him.
"Double shit," I hissed under my breath, moving to stand at his back. "The bunshin's coming up behind us. This is not going to be fun."
"Hm. I can't say I expected to find you two together," our sensei's voice remarked from behind me. I didn't turn around, focusing my ears on the faintest of sounds the bunshin was making – barely detectable, but enough to alert me to the threat still coming. "You two are usually at each other's throats. Why cooperate now, when one of you could easily drag the other down?"
I scowled, knowing what he was up to. "Necessity," Sasuke informed him, also catching on. "Like one genin can take on a jounin."
"Even less likely…" I continued, narrowing sightless eyes at where the clone was just brushing past a bush and through what I thought was the boundary of our clearing, "is two genin against two jounin!"
I yanked on the back of Sasuke's shirt, and we both crouched down, dodging the flurry of metal weapons – kunai, I was reasonably sure from the sheer whistle of the blades cutting air, but Kakashi might have access to more dangerous weapons, and I smirked as I heard the sound of our sensei having to step to the side to avoid his own assault. I tugged again, and we stood up slowly, keeping our backs pressed against each other to cover all angles.
"What say we even this fight out a little?" I asked rhetorically, bringing my hands into my newly favourited cross-seal. "Kage Bunshin!"
Instantly ten puffs of smoke went off, surrounding me and Sasuke in a wave of haze. One of them henged instantly into Sasuke, leaving me and the original to take advantage of the cover and sneak away.
It wasn't a particularly good cover, and I had my suspicions that Kakashi-sensei had seen right through it, but neither he nor his bunshin followed us as we ran towards the spot Sakura was. Or the spot her breathing was, at least… Sasuke would probably have been completely unable to find her without my ears pointing him in the right direction.
…Or not, as he described the scene of her fainting.
"Looks utterly terrified, face white enough to make her hair look red –"
"What colour is her hair normally?"
"Pink, and I've heard it's natural."
Pink. I frowned, trying to remember that colour, before finally placing it and shuddering. It was a faded memory, and definitely not a good one.
I shook off the dull memories of colours I had been sifting through and said instead, "Any ideas to wake her up? We're going to need her, I'm sorry to say."
"If I knew a Suiton jutsu I'd use it," he muttered, and I grinned evilly.
"Makes me sad I don't know any, either. Ah well. Shake-and-shout it is, then."
She woke up screaming in terror, and I pinned my fingers in my ears for what had to be the tenth time that day. From Sasuke's tense reaction, she had thrown herself at him and was now sobbing into his shoulder. Something about him dying…
I stifled a grimace at that thought and piped up, "We need a plan to get those bells off Kakashi-sensei. Just charging in randomly will only get us our asses handed to us on silver platters. Any ideas?"
"Naruto, don't swear!" Sakura snapped, coming out of her fear-induced stupor to yell at me. It wasn't the original intention, but hey, it snapped her out of it. Whatever works… even if it wasn't supposed to.
I ignored her and turned my head to Sasuke, who was quiet, probably thinking. "If what you already worked out is correct," he said slowly, "then the bells are only a target, something to focus on. What Kakashi-sensei actually wants to see is teamwork. But that can't be the only catch – the bells still have something to do with this. But there are only two of them…"
While he was muttering over that (I didn't want to know what Sakura was doing, as long as she was out of my personal space), I suddenly blinked at an influx of information, giving it several seconds' thought as I wondered how I knew that Kakashi had finished off my clones and was headed our way, though more slowly than he could have been. Then another flash of info: his clone was down, dispelled to nothing more than gases, and my last one had just been dispelled.
Hm. Did shadow clones have the ability to transfer information to their creator?
That was something to be investigated, but for now, I could definitely hear his footsteps. "Whatever plan you've got, I want to hear it now," I said to Sasuke. "Our sensei's coming – the clones didn't distract him for long."
"Well, that was amusing," said Kakashi's voice from somewhere behind Sakura.
"Shit," I said conversationally as I turned around. "Mental note: factor in sensei's INHUMAN QUIETNESS when calculating distance through footfall volume!"
Kakashi, if I could see him, was no doubt giving us a very evil grin. I swore under my breath multiple times and wondered if I could pull off a henge of Sakura. Not likely – Sasuke's had taken close to a month to perfect, and had to be updated regularly. I only had passing knowledge of Sakura. That option was out, although the clones would probably distract him long enough for us to…
For us to what? We needed a damn plan!
There was a choked yelp as Sasuke was kicked off his feet, and I reacted immediately, catching him to break his fall and dragging him upright again in under a second while Sakura screamed and, I hoped, ducked. Sasuke wheezed for a second or two, leaning on me while he struggled to breathe. Right. Screw the plan thing, this guy was going down! No one hurt Sasuke and got away with it!
Not even his fangirls. I don't know why they think green hair is a bad thing… I don't see any problem with it… wait.
"Kage bunshin," I growled; that would keep him busy for a minute or two. "Sasuke, are you alright? What's Sakura doing?"
"I'm – fine," he gasped, "just winded. Sakura's – unconscious. No, wait, – she's waking up. Kakashi's – having trouble – with your clones. Too many. Holy crap. And I thought – one of you was scary."
"Yeah yeah, now shut up and think – we need a plan, pronto, I'm a genin, not a f%&ing taijutsu master. You're the smart one, remember?"
"We need to get him pinned, or at the very least distracted enough for one of us to grab those bells," Sasuke panted, his breath mostly back. "Half left of your bunshin. Distractions – I doubt we'd be able to get him off-guard enough. Do you know genjutsu? That could work –"
I snorted, reminding him that I couldn't even detect genjutsu. And that was when they actually affected me. Seriously, the eye-contact ones don't work, and the others are just effing annoying. Can't make 'em, can't dispel 'em, can't even notice them. I all-round suck at genjutsu.
"Can you make enough bunshin to –"
"No, there's only so much they can do. They're lightweights anyway."
Our conversation was cut short by me suddenly catching a punch to the side of the head, followed up by a kick to the side that sent me flying. Ow. I hate it when that happens. Sasuke was using Goukakyuu from the sound of things, and as I tried to stand up and stumbled, the rushing sound of fire eating the air nearby halted as Sasuke grabbed me, holding me upright and probably stopping me from knocking myself out against a tree. "The bunshin ran out, huh?" I said blearily, making the cross-seal. "Better fix that. Kage Bunshin!"
Another dozen clones flickered to life and attacked our sensei, and I leant my pounding head against Sasuke's shoulder. Damn, that punch had hurt. "We need a plan, and we need it now. I dunno how long I can keep this up, especially if I get punched like that again." Although the pain was fading again, and I could hear properly. My ears had been ringing slightly, but now I could hear Sakura's breathing and therefore didn't jump when she next spoke.
"I can use genjutsu as a distraction, if you need me to, Sasuke-kun."
He turned his head towards her, while I kept mine staring at the rather vicious-sounding fight going on between my clones and my sensei. I winced as one particular set of memories returned. Dang, that had to have hurt. Wait… it did.
Another clone was pinned down and then dispatched by kunai as Sasuke's mind whirred and clicked – I could almost hear it going with my ear right next to his head like this. "Okay. I've got it now," he said, and if I had touched his face, I knew I'd feel his smirk. The predatory smirk that made you glad he was on your side (if he was). The 'you-are-soooo-screwed-now' smirk.
We backed away, leaving my clones to bother Kakashi for a while, while Sakura set up her genjutsu and we all got into position. I couldn't sense anything happening, but I dismissed it as a 'you suck at genjutsu' thing. Then, when Sasuke gave the signal (a tap to the back of my hand) I mass-dispelled my remaining clones (there were only three left by this stage), then sent up a massive flare of chakra as I created as many clones as I could. Kakashi-sensei instinctively turned towards the flare, which was what Sasuke had been counting on. In the split-second he let down his guard just a fraction, Sakura's mild genjutsu took hold, and then I let all heck break loose.
At least a hundred clones exploded out of the forest, aimed at the thoroughly distracted Kakashi-sensei, and tackled him, weighing him down and frantically grabbing at the bells. Sasuke and the original me joined in the fray, Sasuke shooting a Hosenka that escaped my clones and singed our sensei, and me making a frantic dive for the temptingly jingling bells I could hear as the man staggered back to his feet. My hand closed around two metallic objects, there was a slight pressure and then a 'snap' as the strings broke, and then I hit the ground rolling.
Panting, I sprang to my feet, my fist tight around the bells we had fought so hard for, mildly surprised the genjutsu-ambush had worked, and mildly disappointed. I'd wanted to test my new shock tags, too…
The clones all backed away and then all dispelled at once, and I staggered at the sudden rush, but shook my head to clear it and looked up at the spot I could hear Kakashi-sensei's slightly elevated breathing. "We got the bells," I told him, holding one out to Sasuke, who took it and tapped it with one finger, testing the ring to check if it was genuine.
"So, who passes, and who fails?" Kakashi asked, sounding a blend between sombre and cheerful. It was a scary blend.
"We got the bells, and we used teamwork," Sasuke said firmly. "That's the purpose of this test: testing our teamwork. Not our genin abilities. Those have been tested already – now, we're put into teams to test it all out, the idealisms and promises. The bell thing is just to try to split us up – it's all a fake." He threw his bell at Kakashi, and it pinged off his forehead protector.
"Whoo, nice shot!" I said, aiming at the spot I'd heard the bell ricochet from, and with a clink I hit it too. "WHOO! Score for me!"
"True, true," Kakashi-sensei allowed, but I didn't relax. His voice's tone wasn't something that put me at ease. Not to mention we'd just thrown his test back in his face, rather literally. "But who fails? There are only two bells, and there are only two lunches, and three of you."
I scowled. Then, one of the memories of my clones filtered through, and a wicked grin took the scowl's place. "I don't like that look," Sasuke said quietly, "or at least I wouldn't like it if it was aimed at me."
I reached into my pocket, where a clone had slipped something before dispelling, and said, "So those bells are basically passes to being genin, right?" With a flourish, I brought out Kakashi's book from my pocket. "So, is your book worth a pass, Kakashi-sensei? Or shall we just burn it? Sasuke, got enough for one more Goukakyuu?"
I sensed Sasuke grinning as he said, "Burn the book!"
"Okay, okay, you all pass!" the man yelped, obviously fearing for the fate of his book. "How the heck did you get that?"
"I've been told I have very light fingers."
"Why did you get that?" Sasuke sounded confused, but amused, and probably a little relieved. We had, after all, just managed to extort our sensei into passing all three of us.
"A couple of my clones forgot what they were looking for, so they grabbed whatever they could. Oh, that reminds me, you might want these back." I fished out a couple of kunai, three shuriken, a ring of keys, a couple of scrolls, a pen, a pocketknife, a square mirror, a faded photograph, something that looked like a shopping list, a roll of bandage and what felt like a spare facemask, throwing them at Kakashi-sensei.
"You're a little kleptomaniac!" he exclaimed, catching his book and flipping it open immediately. The rest of his stuff was stowed in a random pocket.
"Oh no, if I was in klepto-mode you'd be lucky to still have your fingers, Kakashi-sensei. You can forget your clothes. And maybe the hair, too."
Our sensei cleared his throat, apparently somewhat nervous at that proclamation. "Well, by anyone's standards, you have passed the test," he declared. "Perhaps in an… unusual way, but you passed nonetheless. You worked together as a team to overcome an opponent with more experience on his side. But remember…"
His voice took on the quality of someone dispensing invaluable wisdom. And no, that wasn't sarcasm. The sobriety of his voice was clear to all three of us as he said:
"Those who disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Sasuke and I glanced at each other. I couldn't imagine leaving Sasuke behind, for anything. He knew everything about me, and I knew everything about him. Without Sasuke, I'd've either given up, gotten found out or gone completely crazy ages ago. Maybe even gotten myself killed. Without me, god knows what might've happened to Sasuke's mentality.
"You three worked together as a team, and even twisted the rules to your own gain, to ensure all of you made it through," he continued. "You're not just clones churned out of the Academy, destined for nothing more than death. You are your own people.
"Come on. Follow me."
Bemused, but silent, we followed our sensei back to the clearing we had first started off in. I smelled bento; probably from the boxed lunches Sasuke reported under his breath sitting near the training stumps. There was clean running water nearby; a small river. I remembered this clearing now: the Monument. Kakashi-sensei stopped in front of the polished rock, and I stopped a little way behind Sasuke, Sakura on the other side of him.
"Engraved in this rock are the names of many great ninja. Some of them even my comrades."
I registered my sensei's words, and filed them away, but under my breath I was reciting every name carved into the marble. "…Suzuki Hana. Higazawa Yami. Jiroto Kanayu."
Sasuke had bowed his head respectfully, and my eyes were aimed at the ground as I continued, "Uchiha Obito. Kanurae Tsume. Hanasaki Ginsei. Kurokane Ryu. Nezumi Rin."
The list went on and on; anyone else would have had trouble remembering them all. But the names were burned into my memory from the first time I'd sat here, my fingers brushing blindly over the names carved deep into the rock. It had been a pointless exercise, memorising them all, but I had done it anyway.
"…Takashi Aki. Umino Kosuke. Umino Sora. Namikaze Minato." (1) I paused for a deep, steadying breath, and Sakura spoke up.
"So all of these people… were considered great ninja by the village?"
"Yes," I said stolidly. "They were greatly respected. They would have died for their village, like so many others. But unlike them… they all did. Every name on this rock belongs to someone who was killed in action. This is the KIA Memorial, where all ninja who die in service to their village are remembered."
"You know all the names," Kakashi noted, and I realised his voice was a little tight. So slight, I was probably the only person who would have noticed, but still there. He was good at hiding it. His teammates were on here, weren't they? Some of them even my comrades'. Killed in action, a long time ago.
I only nodded in response.
For a long time, everyone was silent, the only sound of the wind rushing overhead or the subdued twittering of birds. Finally our sensei spoke again, and all three of us turned our heads towards him.
"Tomorrow, your life as a ninja begins," he said calmly, his voice back to normal. "It is a difficult road that you three have chosen, but based on your performance today… I think it's the right way to go." Then abruptly his voice changed from solemn to ear-painingly cheerful. "See you guys tomorrow at the red bridge at seven thirty! Don't be late!"
He vanished with the distinctive flick of chakra that I recognised as his shunshin, and slowly, I relaxed. We had made it. We'd passed the stupid test, and now we were genin. Officially.
"Oh, wow, Sasuke-kun! You were so cool!" Sakura shouted from somewhere off to the left. "The way you thought up that plan was just fantastic! You're a really good strategist!"
"What am I, invisible? It was me who made you actually start thinking, and then provided the manpower to actually pull it off," I grumbled, internally amused.
"Be thankful, dobe," Sasuke growled, sounding slightly suffocated. "At least it's not hugging you."
Attention:
Sandaime HokageTraining Report: Bell Test
Jounin Instructor: Hatake Kakashi
Team: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto
Statement: Team passed. (Shut up, Genma.)
Notes: Sasuke and Naruto are both very quick-minded, able genin. Both seem to have speed on their side, and have the potential to become great one day. Sasuke has extensive Katon jutsu knowledge – expected – and is protective of Naruto – not so expected. Copy of Academy report requested.
His reflexes are very good and he has strong leadership skills, but may be arrogant, cocky or overbearing. Needs further observation. Sasuke definitely has a vendetta against someone, but I'm not as certain as I was that it's his elder brother Uchiha Itachi – his attitude suggests someone else.
Naruto is very good at hiding, even wearing that orange monstrosity he calls clothing (check his knowledge for concealing jutsu?). He was able to utilise and also detect the shadow clone jutsu in use, and was not fooled by my clone.
He has very fine-tuned hearing and smell, but he seems to have slow sight reflexes – possibly a mental deficiency, or just short-sighted. He seems to rely on Sasuke a great deal and works very well together with him – they guarded each other's backs during an ambush and Naruto set up a distraction for them to escape in. He acts slightly standoffish towards Sakura; claims her voice makes his head hurt; may need to get his ears tested for hypersensitivity?
'Light fingers', as in managed to steal no fewer than eighteen items from my person without me noticing, and only two of them were the bells. Naruto claimed that his clones 'forgot what they were looking for' and so 'grabbed everything they could'. When accused of kleptomania, he laughed and stated that if he was in 'klepto-mode', I would be lucky to still have my fingers, let alone clothes and hair. Should probably get that checked, and if not fixed, utilised, as this skill reminds me uncomfortably of Sensei's sensei.
Naruto acts very defensive of Sasuke, and may know how to make explosive tags (unverified, but probable. Be on guard. Given heritage, it wouldn't surprise me).
Sakura acted as predicted from her Academy report; seems jumpy in actual combat situation. She displayed her genjutsu knowledge during the test, and while it needs a little work, shows promise. She needs some serious training to bring up her physical strength and mental barriers, but does have some potential. Her main flaw is her obsession of Sasuke. Possibly unwise to put her on the same team?
Signed,
Hatake Kakashi
I am aware that other people have likely died since Minato did. However, there has been a time of relative peace, and I need the list to finish there for dramatic purposes, so put up or shut up.
(1) All of the names on that list, aside from Uchiha Obito, Namikaze Minato, and 'Rin', are made up. I am unable to read the writing on the memorial properly – it's too small. I need more close-ups for that.
Japanese Translations:
Genjutsu: Another branch of ninja techniques along with taijutsu and ninjutsu, but this one is based on illusionary techniques.
Katon: Literally Fire Release; a designation for elemental techniques like Sasuke's Goukakyuu and Hosenka, specifically fire element.
Suiton: Literally Water Release; a designation for water-element techniques.