Komura nodded once, giving Akino the go-ahead to explain.
"Okay, well remember that time a couple months ago, when I told you about how chakra works?" Another nod.
"Well for ninjutsu, to make an action occur you need the right mix of chakra,energy, and the correct hand-seals."
"So what are the ones for this Jutsu?"
"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting there. Just let me do my teacher thing, it's fun."
Komura smiled at her brother's antics, but let him continue nonetheless.
"It's very simple in fact, you just need to make the ram hand seal, here it looks like this." He demonstrates how to hold the hands until Komura is following along.
Then he infuses Chakra into the technique and transforms into a rough version of his sister. He wasn't able to get the long hair to the perfect length and it was certainly weird to wear a skirt for the first time, but it was decent.
"One last thing," he explains turning back into himself. "You have to visualize the person or thing you want to be to the finest detail, or else it won't look how you want it to.
Komura takes it all in for a moment, thinking. "I'll turn into you then."
She holds her hands in the seal for a long time, building up the amount she thought it might take to perform. When she had a good amount, Komura muttered "Henge," and visualized her brother. His spiky red hair, the bright blue of his eyes, the height difference between the two, his attire, the clothing built for mobility and hiding in the sandy terrain where they used to live.
With a poof, no longer stood Komura, instead an almost perfect replica of Akino stood before him.
"Haha great job sis! I didn't expect you to do so well on your first try." No sooner had he said so than she was already back in her usual form.
"We're going to practice that Jutsu a lot, as well as the taijutsu as we travel. Transforming takes chakra to perform, and to keep up appearances it steadily drains the chakra of the user."
"But I used most of my chakra to transform in the first place!" Komura cried with dismay.
"Which is why we will practice. The more it's used, the less chakra it requires, and this will help you increase the amount of chakra stores you have within you too."
"Jeez Akino you're talking like you know everything. You're only just a Genin!"
"Haha yeah...a Genin without a sensei."
Akino's face fell into a troubled one, and Komura was unsure if she should ask about it. Instead she picked herself up and went in the direction of the stream that they had been following for a couple days.
Akino said that anyone can only live a few days without water, so as to not have to deal with the effects of dehydration, they stayed in the trees along it's banks.
Komura's stomach rumbled again, it always seemed to be empty no matter the amount they seemed to consume from nuts and berries. Perhaps...
The stream was clear enough to see a handful of fish lazily swimming by. Komura took off her filthy sandals, they weren't made for the type of running they did anyway, and waded into the water.
It was frigid on her bare legs and the sliminess of the rocks below her were not helping the situation. Still, she calmed herself and waited until the fish drew near.
One of them was swimming a bit lopsided, having only one normal side fin and another smaller side fin to keep it balanced.
She decided, seeing this, to leave that fish out of her capturing attempt. Komura reached into the water nearby the biggest fish, but it swam far away before she could grasp it.
She tried another but this one too swam quickly away. In her trials the other three passed out of her reach and continued down the river.
A sigh escaped Komura's lips as she watched the potential food swim away. Another grumble however made her smile for a moment before she got out of the water and began walking back towards Akino.
He was still troubled, this she could tell just by looking. His aura only proved the fact, as it was a duller crimson, almost a maroon in color.
Komura wanted to help him, he was always making her smile, even in terrible situations like this. Even when she started crying over their loss. He never got angry at her for crying again, he never got sad over the events, only comforting. Always comforting.
If she woke up at night from nightmares of fire and blood, he was always there, ready to calm her down and ease her back into sleep so she could keep watch in a few hours.
But it was times like these, when Akino was troubled, that Komura felt the worst. He was always there to comfort her and make her feel better but running away from the pain, as he had instructed her to do, seemed to take a heavy toll on him.
Every time it happened he always looked worse, and that was just in a week and a half.
"Hey...Akino?" Komura asked timidly.
"Yes?" He responded picking his head back up.
"Can you dry me off? I was trying to get some fish..."
Akino smiled, nodding.
"Come closer to the fire, I'll burn what's left and we can get some more wood together."
"Thanks!" She called, approaching the fire pit cautiously.
Akino thought for a moment and concentrated his chakra into a point, making the tiger hand sign he released a spark into the wood.
Thankfully the flames took and Komura sat down next to the warmth.
"I'll be back okay? Make sure to save a seat for me!"
He could hear Komura's laugh from across the clearing as he slithered into the trees.
Now it was her turn to be sullen. Perhaps if she could learn a technique, and teach it to him, then he wouldn't feel so sad because he doesn't have someone to teach him things. Yes, that's what she'll do.
But what could she learn? And how?
She thought about what she knew, which was mostly what Akino had taught her. Perhaps if she combined a couple of the lessons she could figure something out.
She'd have to do it when Akino is asleep though, or else he might find out. Maybe something soft then, so it won't cause a lot of noise, but still a lot of damage.
Let's start with punching. How could she make that softer? Maybe...? No, that would change the technique entirely.
Perhaps if one were to open their hand when punching? Komura looked down at her own, small hand and made a motion as if to punch something. Then she tried it with an open palm.
When her punch came out it was more than awkward, but it got the general idea across. Komura punched where her hand came out completely flat against whatever surface she might attempt it on, and tried tilting her wrist when it came out so that the side of it would hit her opponent.
She frowned, deep in thought, but pushed them aside for later when Akino returned.
"Hey...so you think you could help me with this? I can't carry it all back by myself."
Komura nodded and stood up, the front of her body dried off. Following Akino, they arrived where he had knocked down a tree, mostly into splinters with a few actual pieces of usable wood.
"Hehe," Akino laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I needed to knock it down somehow."
Komura smiled in response to her brother's words, walking over to a log and trying to pick it up. Despite her struggling, she could barely lift it before needing to put it back down.
When Akino tried, he too couldn't lift it. However, a couple of tries later he lifted it with no problem.
"Chakra," he explained to her astonished expression. "I'll tell you a bit more when you get older but for now I'll only say chakra."
Komura pouted, but didn't press the subject. A couple of returns to the fire later, it was dark outside and the light flickered over the pair ominously.
"I'll take first watch Akino, you always take it so it's my turn now." When Akino tried to dispute the matter she firmly placed her palm upon his face.
"No buts, I'm taking first watch and that's that."
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine." Akino conceded, climbing into a nearby tree as Komura stared into the flames.
Quietly, she walked over to the base of the tree and listened closely for her brother's breathing. When she deemed it slow enough, Komura slunk away from the tree until she was once again down by the water.
This time however she would use the stump Akino had made earlier to try out her technique.
Something about Akino's explanation had repeated itself in her head. If he used chakra to lift the heavy log, perhaps it could also be used to add more damage to a target.
Komura frowned, deep in thought, before deciding to try it out. She breathed in and out a few times, and looked into the energy in everything for good measure.
She could see the flow of energy throughout her body, and it seemed to pool around certain areas. Deciding to check that out later, she returned to the task at hand.
She wondered if he moved amounts of chakra into his hands and arms, and that was how he had lifted it, or if he had strengthened the energy in his hands somehow.
Komura thought for a moment and determined to practice the first thought first, and if that didn't work then to try the others.
To give herself a feel for the technique she sat in front of the stump and hit it a few times, alternating between left and right hands, and flat or edged hand.
Breathing another slow breath, Komura began to gather chakra into her hand. It took a while, but Komura was able to see how her progress was going with her eyes.
Trickle by slow trickle, the energy in her hand built up, until she thought she had enough.
With measured strength, Komura hit the stump with her palm and felt the energy be absorbed by the wood. It seemed to spread out in tube-like tendrils throughout the tree, before the connection was lost.
Processing what had just happened took a couple moments for the small girl as she stared at the trunk. When the energy had passed it seemed almost to be searching for something but it couldn't find what it was looking for before dissipating.
Next, Komura tried using the edge of per hand, on the side with the pinky on it. Doing the same method took some time again of course, but she put roughly the same amount, so as to compare.
When it was charged to the amount she had determined, Komura hit the stump with the edge of her palm. This time however, the energy only seemed to go foreword, in the line made by her hand.
To put it simply, the difference could be explained like this. The first attack felt like a slap, where all the energy dispersed into the wood equally. Whereas the second was more like a knife, cutting in only one line but that line retained the majority of the energy until it hit the core.
Fascinated by this new revelations, Komura looked at the top of the stump. Her eyebrows rose as she gazed down at fractures throughout the wood and one long strips right through the middle that hadn't been present before.
What was strange is that from the side, it looked like nothing had changed, but in this case, the inside is what was really affected.
As Komura stealthily retreated back to the campsite, she pondered the events which just took place. While she would love to try some more, her chakra was once again depleted. It wasn't even just a feeling either, when Komura looked into the matter she could see that her energy was moving slowly to try to fill up the gaps.
If she didn't have to keep watch until the moon passed halfway through it's arc tonight, she surely would fall asleep instantly. As it was she yawned sleepily and tried to remain awake.