A/N: And we return. This shall be the sort of "end" of training. Since, well, you can never train enough. However, no more group sessions at the cabin, etc. Once this here chapter is done, we're gettin' into the action with the first arc. What's it called? I don't know, don't ask me.
"Okay kiddos, we're going to learn some elemental jutsu today. Or try to. It's hard for some and easy for others. So you'll most likely learn at your own pace. However, if I had to guess," Aika stared at her charges. "Yukio would have a more difficult time learning more complicated lightning jutsu due the amount of chakra it takes to use it." Aika began pacing back and forth. "However, Arine will have trouble at the larger water jutsus because…" Aika petered off, thinking a moment. "okay, basically you'll have trouble with more complicated and larger jutsu, that's a given. But," she faced them. "The main thing now is chakra control. To truly begin mastering elemental jutsu, one must learn to control their chakra. So," Aika made a hand sign. "make this."
"What is it?" Denji asked, earning a glare from Arine. "What?" Aika sighed.
"It's a legitimate question. This is a basic handsign one can make to channel chakra. Handsigns allow one to focus their chakra better. Weaving many together in a combo results in a jutsu. I have several scrolls of various elemental jutsu, but those will have to wait. Now then, make the sign." Arine, Denji, and Yukio all made the sign. "Now focus your chakra into your feet. Make sure you don't put too much." the trio closed their eyes and concentrated. Aika stared at their feet and saw bits of blue flare underneath. "Good job so far. Now control it. Mold your chakra to the shape of your foot." now the blue was making loose shapes of their feet. It was tough at first, but a little practice and they'd be able to do it.
"This is hard." Yukio muttered. Aika chuckled.
"It's okay kid. It's always hard at first. You're new to controlling your chakra so it's fine to have difficulty. Don't worry, you'll get it by today." she faced the forest in front of her. "Okay kids, here's what I'll have you do." she walked over as all three stopped. Aika made the hand sign and channeled her chakra for a second before stepping on to the tree. She took a few steps up and stood parallel to the ground. "You guys are going to learn this before you learn any elemental jutsu. Got it?" the trio looked shocked, but nodded in agreement. Aika jumped down. "It won't take long. Just focus." the kids made the handsign again and concentrated. Chakra flared under their feet for a bit until it framed their feet. Yukio gritted his teeth and soon made the chakra cover the bottom of his foot.
I'm not surprised. Yukio is smart so he can focus more. But now, let's see if he can manage walking on a tree.
"All right kid, now that you've gotten the hang of molding your chakra," she pointed to the tree. "Try it near the tree and maintain it enough to stand on that tree for 5 seconds." Yukio walked over to the tree, made the sign, and concentrated. When he had the chakra in his feet, he took a shaky step and it held. lightly sighing in relief, he took another step. And another. And another. And another, until he was a good few feet off the ground. "Now hold it for five….. four….. three…. two…. one….." Yukio held on until Aika barked "You're good!" he then let the chakra go, only to realise his mistake right away. He promptly fell on his back, gasping for air. Denji and Arine stared until Aika turned. "Well? What are you two waiting for? Get to molding your chakra. Once you can do that, you can meet Yukio at the tree."
"Yes ma'am." both said as they went back to focusing. Yukio got up, coughing from the fall. However, he simply channeled more chakra into his feet. Aika noticed.
"Make sure not to use too much chakra there. Don't want to exhaust yourself." Yukio nodded before making his way up the tree once more, taking slow steps. He held it for just above 5 seconds before he let his chakra dissipate. However, he learned a bit from his previous mistake and tried jumping from the tree. He landed on his ass.
"Aika, is this right?" Aika turned back to her other pupils and saw Denji had molded his chakra. A small blue flare showed her that Arine had molded it as well.
"Good job. Now go join Yukio on the trees beside his. When you can hold it for five seconds, I'll ask for ten seconds. Then twenty. When you can maintain twenty seconds on the tree without exhausting your selves, then we'll get into elemental jutsu. Got it?" both nodded. "All right, get over there." they ran over to join their friend, who was rubbing his rumpus in pain.
The sun was farther west in the sky now. Yukio stood panting as Denji landed beside him. He allowed himself a moment to relax. He managed to stand on the tree for 20 seconds. Aika raised an eyebrow.
"3 hours. Not bad guys. Have a quick break. I'll talk to you about what to expect from your elements. Just let me get some things." Aika retreated into the cabin as Denji pumped his fist in the air.
"Oh yeah! Who's the man? We are. That's who! We a-" he saw Arine glaring again. "I-I mean we're the men and woman. Yeah." Arine sighed.
"Idiot." Denji was about to retort when Yukio interjected.
"Guys, it's time we took a break, no? I'm tired." Arine sighed again and Denji chuckled as they moved and sat down in front of the cabin. Yukio sat between his friends. He didn't want an issue. He shared the canteen of water with them as Aika came out, three scrolls in hand.
"All right kids, we're gonna learn some elemental theory. It's boring, I know, but necessary." Aika plopped herself down in front of them. "Anyway, I'll start with…." she moved her finger around. "Ah, let's start with lightning." she cracked her knuckles. "So, how does one even form lightning chakra, or even any elemental chakra? Well, basically it's all in your imagination believe it or not. There are a few different images one might think of for each element. For example, I knew a wind-chakra user who would make blades impossibly sharp by imagining two parts of his chakra grinding like a whetstone. Like that."
"So what you're saying is that we should find our little niche for each jutsu. Then imagine that particular bit and manipulate our chakra to do so?" Arine asked, now being more social and less stand-off-ish. Aika nodded.
"Precisely. Each jutsu will most likely require a little bit in your head to mold the chakra. However, that's later. Right now, we're going to focus on the basics. So, for lightning" she looked at Yukio. "I'd suggest imagining real lightning. Use that to build lightning chakra and then use whatever little bit in your head you have to perform the jutsu. It's a simple pattern that will become second nature as you grow. Now, for earth" her gaze shifted to Denji. "I'd suggest imagining mobile mud and dirt. That'll get the feeling of earth in you. And as for water" Aika looked at her female student "Just imagine water. It's really simple over all. Imagine element, imagine bit, perform. That's the mental part. The physical part is mostly just moving the chakra and molding it. Then the hand signs, which are all relatively easy to learn and memorise. The main thing is remembering the order for jutsu but, again, it comes with practice. Start with one, and go from there." Aika yawned and Yukio took the opportunity to ask her
"So how easy are the beginning jutsu for each element?"
"Earth and Water are the easiest, Wind is somewhere in the middle, and Lightning and Fire are the most difficult. It's all about chakra consumption mostly. That's why in most villages, Fire and Lightning jutsu are denied to most genin. However, if you can perform the jutsu with good enough chakra control, they let it slide."
"So difficulty is related to chakra consumption alone?" Denji queried.
"It's one of the reasons. Another is molding the chakra. It can take a lot of practice to make, say, a water dragon or earth pit of some kind. I trained myself to use one of each element, my chakra nature being fire, I mostly use those jutsu. However I also use water quite a bit. Some earth. I rarely use wind or lightning. However, with you guys covering my weaker jutsu, we could become a decent team. Possibly."
"Possibly?" the trio asked in unison.
"It all depends on how you guys grow. Since you're all relatively intelligent, I'd guess you guys will do fine over all." the purple-haired nin stood and stretched. "Anyway, that's enough theory. I think it's time for some applied practice." Aika paused to pop some joints. "Now get up and get to the trees. I'll teach you guys one basic jutsu each. If you can achieve that, then I may let you work on a more advanced jutsu after that. Sound fair?" the tri nodded. "Good. Now get going." all three got up and ran to the forest edge as Aika went into the cabin. She wandered around until she found some sheets of paper. It would do. She made her way back out to see the group having a small spat and decided to listen in. She made her way into the trees without them noticing and crept on them.
"You moron!" Arine was looking angry again while trying to reach Denji. Yukio was between them trying to keep the peace.
"Can we please get over this? Arine, it was a joke!" Arine didn't care what Yukio had to say, she just wanted to hit Denji. Yukio rolled his eyes. "Denji, apologise."
"But I already-
"Again!" Denji recoiled.
"Fine. I'm sorry about the joke, okay?" Arine huffed and stopped pressing. Yukio breathed a sigh of relief until a small pebble sailed past him and hit Denji in the shoulder. Deni turned and Yukio finally yelled "Enough! How are we supposed to be a team if we keep fighting? Arine, you need to calm the hell down. And Denji, stop making stupid comments okay?" Both sides seemed to back down and Yukio sighed, obviously aggravated. Aika made some mental notes and quickly made her way to the cabin and walked to the trio. They noticed her this time.
"So, we all ready to learn some stuff?" they nodded. "Great." Aika walked past them and stuck the pieces of paper to the trees with kunai. "Now then," she pulled out 3 scrolls and handed one to each. "Find the first jutsu in each scroll." they did. "You'll notice the handsigns needed. I'll teach you them right now." each child opened the scroll and read the name and signs. "Now then, the basic purpose of handsigns is to get the exact amount of chakra needed for each jutsu. Some jutsu require a lot of hand signs. However, a skilled shinobi can use less than what is normally required. So, if you practice enough, you can reduce the amount of hand signs to the point of not even needing them, However, that takes great focus so don't expect that for a long while."
"Has anyone ever accomplished that?" Denji wondered aloud.
"Well, rumour has it that the Second Hokage of the HIdden Leaf Village was able to use the Water Bullet Jutsu with only one hand sign out of the original fourty-four needed." Denji went wide-eyed while Arine's curiosity was certainly piqued. Yukio seemed to simply absorb the info as he read. Aika had a good chuckle at Denji's expression. "Don't worry there, just focus on learning the basics. Then deal with stuff like that later. Anyway" she stuck each piece of paper to a tree. "There are 12 hand signs. Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Snake, Ox, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Boar, Ram, and Hare." Aika demonstrated each one as she listed them. "Each element has one of those most commonly associated with. With earth it's Snake, with fire it's Tiger, with lightning it's Monkey, with water it's Hare , and for wind it's Bird.
"So each of our jutsu has to have those?" Arine asked. Aika shook her head.
"They're just common associates, not required. But expect to become familiar with those hand signs in particular." Aika made sure everything was right. "All right then. You guys see which hand signs are needed?" they all nodded. "Okay, Arine can go first." the brunette nodded and stepped forward. She thought of her chakra being a roaring wave of water. When she got it the ways he wanted, she made the handsigns: Dragon, Tiger, and Hare.
"Water Style: Wild Water Wave!" she then spat out a stream of water that hit the paper with enough force to tear it in two, leaving a jagged, soaking piece of paper. Aika raised a surprised eyebrow.
"Not bad at all. Denji, you're up." Denji stepped forward and went over his scroll once more. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he made the handsigns, Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog, and imagined his chakra like goopy mud.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Denji placed his hand on the ground, causing a small wall of earth to shoot from the ground and impact the paper. It kind of just pinned the paper to the tree, but the purpose was served.
"Good job kid. Yukio." Aika nodded to the young lightning user. Yukio reviewed his scroll once more as well. Then walked up to his piece of paper. He imagined his chakra to be electricity buzzing and surging through him. He made the two signs, Dog and Monkey.
"Lightning Style: Spark!" Yukio thrust his hand onto the paper, surging his electric chakra. Steam emanated from the paper as he pulled his hand away, which left a black imprint of his hand. Aika made a small noise.
"Not too shabby. Now then, keep practicing with those. Try and use as little chakra as you can since I'm going to do my best to teach you how to perform jutsu with the minimum requirement and then use as much chakra as needed to increase the power. Right now, though, just practice." her trio of charges nodded and kept at the jutsu while Aika watched.
Denji held his knees as he tried not to collapse due to sheer exhaustion. He looked to see Yukio on his hands and knees and Arine sitting down. He was panting hard, they all were. Aika was giving them notes as they practiced and had them take a break once in a while. Denji looked at the trees. Arine's was soaked, his had dents in it, and Yukio's was smoldering in the middle. He felt the urge to collapse rising as he stared at their handiwork.
"Okay kids, that's enough for today." Aika called. Arine and Yukio managed to stand up to meet their sensei. "Get back to the cabin. We'll eat and work more tomorrow. Sound good?" all three nodded and trudged back to the cabin, hoping to get a decent enough meal.
Aika sat down on the couch with a sigh. The kids were upstairs and getting ready for bed and she was here, writing notes. Aika grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and began jotting things down.
Arine: Seems more phazed from her attempted rape then she lets on. Anger towards the boys, especially Denji who makes many suggestive comments and jokes. She needs to work through the issue or else her anger could boil over and she could attack one of the boys in a rage. Try and talk with her, get her to open up.
Denji: Troubled by what he saw that night and his overall ordeal. Jokes and fools around to cope. Seems confident, but it could be a ruse. Very interested in women, possible issues with one during captivity.
Yukio: Very intelligent. Has a sense of self-loathing due to low self confidence. Has drive and way to use it, however he feels he has no way to use it. His lack of eyes for years and recent regaining of his sight is a big shock. He looks around a lot, taking in everything. Very methodical.
Aika sighed as she set the paper down. She felt somewhat bad for writing these notes but she needed them. If she wanted to whip these three kids into a well-oiled machine, she needed to figure them out and get them through any issues they had. She let out a loud sigh. This was going to take quite a bit of work. But she was sure that if she worked for a few years, they'd be competent shinobi. It'd just take time.
A/N: Yes, shorter chapter. Just not as much to write for this scenario I guess. Now, when it comes to which handsigns go with which Jutsu, I know about Fire, Earth, and Lightning. My ones for Water and Wind are iffy. I dunno. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy.