"Sanchin," a deep voice calls out, "are you down here?" At the sound, she lets go of the cloth, hiding once more what she was about to show Komura.
"Yes dear, I'm down here with Hasuka," she replies tiredly. Komura wonders for a moment if there might be a small bit of hesitation in her words, but quickly dismisses the thought as the source of the voice descends to their level.
The owner is one who looks like quite the businessman with a commanding air that seems almost suffocating in the small space. "Ah, is this Hasuka then?" He questions, quickly crossing the floor and extending his back into a small bow in greeting.
Unused to the newcomer and the situation, Komura does not bow in return and as the man straightens, his features are pulled into a frown. "Yes she is," Sanchin answers for the small girl. "Hasuka, meet my husband, Saifa."
Komura looks between the two, unnerved by the apparent differences between the pair. "H-Hello," she mutters, looking towards the ground in embarrassment.
"This is quiet a surprise," Saifa remarks, directing his attention towards Sanchin. She visibly cringes before rebutting him, "She can be quite useful, you should see her technique, it's quite unique!" A hum is the only response she receives before he once again turns towards Komura.
"I see you need some proper clothes," he remarks, appraising the sight of the red-head. Komura nods, all of the information being too much in the stuffy atmosphere. Bending down to her level, he asks, "Do you have any formal training so far?"
Komura shakes her head, being too young to enter into any academy, although she might have been forced to try if the war continued much longer. "How far would you be willing to go to get stronger?" She looks up at the time of his voice, hearing the seriousness of it.
She paused a moment, thinking of a response. If she says something less than exemplary, he might refuse her training, and Sanchin's stance suggested that he was the true ruler of the household. Making her decision, she mutters, "I'd do anything."
Saifa's poker face broke for all of a moment, although it was concealed by a too enthusiastic nod. "Then you will get stronger, but there's no backing out now. You've given your word and so I give mine, I will make you stronger if you will be accepting of the trials to get that strength." He paused as if contemplating something yet continued, "Do we have a deal?"
Komura grinned, clasping her hand around his offered one. As Komura turned towards Sanchin however, the final remnants of her shaking head were noticeable, making the girl wonder if what she had just done was right.
Akino however, felt no such qualms about his present status. It was just another day of training in the never-ending cycle of strength. Although this style of practice tired him out significantly more than the training from his village, he came out of a night's sleep feeling much better about himself and the power he had grown.
Moving plants had taken a significantly longer time than his master had expected, so to combat that, they worked with chakra in the mornings, specifically increasing the storage within his body as well as the shadow clone technique.
This jutsu was one he had not heard of before his training yet he was not complaining. Specifically it helped to practice a particular exercise. He would stand, feet parallel to each other, with a clone standing opposite him in a similar position, both of their hands held open in front of them, facing their other palm. Staring within the space between the palms, Akino would slowly build up energy into the shape of a ball.
This wasn't something that could be seen yet, only sensed. Tenderly then, the clone would rotate his arms, all the while keeping the ball in the same shape and not losing any energy, to rest it between the palms of his own, adding to the power of the sphere. The energy would be drawn close as Akino would focus on making a new ball, and this would continue, the sphere being passed between the pair and collecting more energy and growing larger.
For a time, he wondered what this exercise accomplished. It was simply envisioning a sphere and having the energy flow out through his palms and into the shape. However, when asked to envision and create the ball using only a single hand, this time palm up, he started to get the possible effects that this might hold.
A weapon that couldn't be seen and only sensed, one that could be made in seconds over much practice, one that could disrupt the entire energy of a system to the point of it malfunctioning. The latter he found out when he got hasty in training and twisted the sphere of energy into the helpful shadow clone.
It made no visible difference in appearance, and only later when he was taking a break from the energy work to eat did the clone begin to throw up. The clone had not eaten any food, as it was a only clone, so when blood poured out, paired with slimy stomach acid, did the messanger's eyebrows rise significantly, only added by the 'poof' of the clone disappearing.
The messenger returned that night, knowing that his master would be satisfied with the still-new recruit. He possessed no optical or kekki genkai to be seen, yet his master over energy could be quite useful in the future. Not only that, but the boy had already discovered a practical use for a technique. Perhaps if he perfected it, the ability could certainly be used for battle.
Orochumaru would certainly need it in the future.
Komura sighed, rising from the pale green sheets that she had requested for her bedding. The beginning rays of the sun peaked through the undrawn shades, those being the source of her wakefulness. Now, she was accustomed to the richness of her present living and didn't even bat an eyelash at the furnishings of the room. She barely had time to examine them with such a compelling curiosity anyway.
Hustling over to the closet, Komura chose out her outfit, no longer needing to transform to be able to wear any of the articles which had been replaced with ones that fit her perfectly. For today, she chose her favorite outfit, a pair of skin-tight navy bottoms with a high-waisted brown skirt that was divided into thirds, encircling her legs, and a loose creme colored tank-top over a nude sports bra.
Smoothing out the wrinkles of her clothes, she slipped through the door and down the staircase, into the kitchen. It took some time, but she got out some rice and an egg for breakfast. A yawn escaped her lips as she seated herself down to eat. Komura enjoyed waking up early, but sometimes their training got brutal, or at least brutal on her body.
Waking up feeling sore was not the most desirable situation, especially when the bruises covering her body were not unnoticeable. She refused to complain however, she had chosen this path and if she wanted to get stronger then she would do anything. It had occurred to her a handful of times to ask about Akino, but every time she stopped herself, remembering that she wasn't herself anymore, her name was Hasuka.
Most of her training revolved around bodily strength. After the first three days, her chakra abilities had practically been neglected and all attention was focused towards dexterity and accuracy. From what Sanchin had described, Saifa had determined that a taijutsu trainer who specialized in pressure points would be best.
The first half of the day was conceptual ideology, learning about the pressure points all over the body and how to maneuver into a position to hit them. The second half was putting the concepts into would leave a study room to head out to a clearing in the backyard of the mansion where her teacher would transform to be different height levels so that whatever technique(s) he taught that day would be effective against any opponent.
Then came sparring. This was the part that really kicked Komura's ass. Her tutor was understanding that she had practically no prior training, but he was very firm in the idea that the best way to learn was to battle. Her major problem though, is that she rarely attacked. It could have been that the teacher was intimidating to the young girl, maybe it was her youth. What is most likely however, is her lack of confidence.
Komura was unskilled at a time when strength could have saved her village, she was unprepared to fight at a time when she had tried a technique that probably saved her life, yet at a great cost. Most recently, the one time she tried to prove herself, despite how rash of a decision it was, she was saved by pity. That's what she called it, no belief at all in what Sanchin had said about her technique.
So these 'battles' mostly became a one-sided match of Komura trying to block attacks from the tutor. Despite his protests, she refused to attack so adamantly that he attempted a different tactic, with much better results. If she wouldn't attack, then the least she could do was learn to defend. His teaching of the techniques transferred slowly from ones of maneuvering and striking to maneuvering and resilience.
In their training from now on, the focus was giving her a practical situation to imagine herself in, and what to do about it. For example, she was given a mission to kill someone, and despite her slightly taken aback expression, he continued describing. The person to kill was aware of her presence and left no openings to attack from a distance. What do you do?
For Komura, the most often response was to reveal herself and fight. This wasn't exactly the best answer, but for their purposes it sufficed. Her tutor would then attack and she would have a choice, take the hit, or use their momentum to throw them off-balance. In this choice, it became a mixture of successes and failures, but over time she grew stronger.
After training, her bone-tired body crawled it's way up the stairs and into her room, where she collapsed onto the bed. A couple hours later she would be awoken by either Sanchin or Saifa who came to gather her for dinner. Komura had quickly adopted the dining etiquette of her caretakers, who drilled the smallest details into her head and always tested her on the correct way to do, say, or the placement of something.
After dinner one night, about two months since her first conscious night there, Saifa asked Sanchin to do something a little strange. Komura was about to return upstairs to her room for the night when he commanded her to remain at the table for they had something for her to do. Wearily, Sanchin did as he told her, rising and making her way to Komura.
Saifa watched as Sanchin slithered her arms around Komura's shoulders, forcing the girl to rise with her. "Please," he kindly told, "show Hasuka the back of the basement. We have to see how her training is coming along." Confused, Komura let herself be dragged away, glancing back at Saifa without trying to conceal her nervousness.
Once he was out of sight, Komura faced forward, her legs moving of their own accord to keep up with Sanchin's longer strides. Without a word, the pair descended the stairs as they had not too long ago, the light being lit in the same manner as it had previously. Now, Komura knew that she would never be able to produce the flame like Sanchin, for her affinity was with water solely.
Guided by the arm still clutching her shoulders, she finally got a glimpse of what lied behind the curtain. A much larger chamber was hidden from view, this one big enough so the candle couldn't reach the far wall. The pair paced through the room, pausing a moment when Komura noticed the chains bound to the wall.