This chapter! Hurray! The start of a new arc?
Gemei's Shinobi Supplies
Takai looked at the store window. "Gemei's Shinobi Supplies".
He had been kicked out of here before with Naruto. Fortunately, they can't do that to a member of the village's military. He stepped to the side and pulled the door open. It wasn't fancy, just a basic wooden door with a brass handle.
He looked around the store as he entered. While scanning, he spotted his target.
"Gotcha." He said as he homed in on a small stack of chakra paper. There was a hefty price tag attached though.
His eye bugged out, "Ten thousand ryo?!"
Just for one piece?! That's crazy!
He slumped in defeat as he picked up two pieces, might as well get Naruto tested as well. He looked back at the stack in consideration. While he figured Sasuke's affinity was fire, as it was normal for Uchihas, this could help Sakura significantly. While she had pitiful chakra reserves, throwing out a little fireball here and there would help with that.
Takai grabbed his wallet and opened it. He had a total of sixty thousand five hundred and twenty-eight ryo in his wallet. Even with all of that, thirty thousand ryo for one purchase hurts.
He huffed as he grabbed a third piece and walked to the counter. Surprisingly, the old, balding, crotchety man had not seen him walk in, and was surprised at his presence.
The man took one look at his headband and scowled deeply.
Takai put the three pieces of chakra paper on the counter.
The counter was actually quite nice. It had a good grain and dark coloration, like the wooden panels lining the lower half of the wall. Of course, it clashed with the odd desert tan of the walls. Takai didn't question it as he coughed up the thirty thousand ryo and left with a lighter wallet than he would have liked.
While he was still incredibly upset about Sakura's choices up till now, someone was always capable of change. He was just a bit upset she got his face broken. Takai rubbed his cheek gingerly as he got a phantom pain. He looked up at the sun, getting his bearings before sprinting off towards their training ground.
He looked around at civilians as he passed them. Most of them could barely follow him with their eyes. It was sobering how far above even a Genin was over the average person. These people are defenseless against shinobi.
In less than four minutes, Takai had made it to their training ground.
Fortunately, his team was already assembled and waiting on Kakashi.
Naruto was using this time to get a few more push-ups into his day. Good on him. Sasuke was watching Naruto exercise, probably coming up with a clever snipe at him. Sakura on the other hand, she was pulled into herself and looked embarrassed.
Takai stopped in the middle of them all.
"Right kiddies, gather round." He said condescendingly.
Naruto stood up and rolled his eyes while the other two just took some steps closer. Takai held up the three sheets of paper he had bought.
Naruto squinted at the paper curiously. Sasuke took some mild interest. Sakura was still acting ashamed.
Takai fanned out the papers and handed one to Naruto. He then looked to Sakura and held one out to her.
She took it carefully, avoiding his eyes.
Wow, it seemed his verbal lashing did quite a bit. Well, that and watching her teammates nearly die because of her own actions.
He shook it off. She would get through it eventually. Probably.
"What is it?" Naruto asked, looking like he was thinking about tasting the paper.
The question was on Sakura's face.
"Chakra paper." Takai replied.
"What's it do?" Sakura asked quietly.
"Pump some of your chakra into it and find out." Takai said, looking intently at the paper.
Sakura took a second to think about it before proceeding.
They all watched in fascination as her paper proceeded to get slight damp, then break apart into small clumps of mud.
Sakura shook her hand furiously trying to get the mud off, throwing mud on Takai's face.
Takai flicked the wet dirt off of his face and turned to Naruto.
"Go ahead." He said, gesturing at the paper in his hand.
Naruto held it flat in his palm and did so.
The paper proceeded to slice in half down the middle. Then, it cut itself in half again.
Takai nodded. He had looked into this prior to making his purchase.
"Right. What that means is," Takai pointed at Sakura, "you have affinities for Suiton (Water Release) and Doton (Earth Release). Multiple affinities is pretty rare." Takai said.
He then turned to Naruto, "You have an affinity for Futon (Wind Release)."
Naruto nodded like that made sense, "But why does that matter?" He asked.
"Elemental jutsu." Takai replied.
Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates while Sakura perked up. Sasuke leaned in a bit, paying more attention.
Takai held out his own piece of chakra paper. He was hoping his affinity was for one of the jutsus he had recovered from the bunker.
He closed his eyes and felt his swirling chakra within. He began to coax some of it to his right hand, holding his chakra paper.
Takai opened his eyes.
He watched in amazement as water built up in his hand until it was spilling through his fingers, dripping onto the ground in small streams. He waited a few moments. His hand began to get warm as the water stopped flowing. Takai and his team stumbled back, Takai flailing his hand as the paper caught fire and engulfed itself in an inferno reaching about a foot high, completely incinerating the paper.
Naruto looked at him like he was some sort of wizard. Sasuke and Sakura were busy staring at the ashes of his paper.
Takai pursed his lips. He had extremely strong affinities for both fire and water. That was...interesting. And extremely rare. Having more than one is uncommon, but having two of such strength?
Completely unheard of.
Well, he supposed that was that.
Takai rubbed the ashes of the paper off of his hand and got up.
"Well, that was something." Takai said casually.
"Yeah, it was." Takai nearly jumped out of his skin when Kakashi spoke.
He looked up at the Jonin who was busy observing the scraps of the chakra papers.
"Looking into elemental jutsu at your age? Kids these days..." Kakashi shook his head sardonically.
The whole team scowled at him who merely eye smiled.
Outside The Hokage's Office
After Kakashi took the team out for some teamwork exercise in their training ground, they were release. Sasuke disappeared before anyone could talk to him. Naruto sprinted off towards Ichiraku Ramen for lunch. Sakura muttered something about being needed at home. Takai had gone to the Hokage Tower to obtain some training books for his elements.
Unfortunately, that was some more difficult information to access. Of course the archives wouldn't just have a convenient section labeled "Come here to train elements!"
That would be too easy for infiltrators to obtain. So, one needed to be Chunin or above to get those texts.
But, the Hokage would be more than happy to throw something his way.
He knocked on the door and entered. Takai saw a brief flurry of movement from the Hokage, but he didn't see exactly what happened, just a quick blur.
Suspicious.
Oh well.
"Ah, Takai. What brings you here today?" The Hokage asked.
"My team and I used chakra paper. We have affinities for Doton (Earth Release), Futon (Wind Release), Katon (Fire Release), and Suiton (Water Release)." Takai answered.
The Hokage nodded with his words, "And I presume you are here to get some sort of training guide for each?" The Hokage ventured.
Takai nodded vigorously.
The Hokage smiled gently, "Well, I may have something back here."
Takai watched as the old man reached down into one of the drawers in his desk and pull out four relatively small scrolls. He set them on the table before him.
"I believe this should suffice. These are difficult exercises. You and your team should be busy for awhile." The Hokage said while leaning back.
Takai nodded as he picked up the scrolls. They were green on the outside with a sort of waxy texture with red caps on either end.
"Thanks, Hokage-sama!" Takai said before he dashed out of the office.
The Hokage chuckled as the door shut. He looked down at his own book and pulled it back into a good position to read. "Ah, Jiraiya-kun, masterful work." The Hokage said, chuckling as he read the smut.
Training Ground 3
Takai looked around as he walked through the training ground. He had decided to go with training Suiton (Water Release) as it appeared first and was therefore his strongest affinity.
This was the closest training ground that had a river in it.
The scroll on Suiton (Water Release) training had talked about the first step being getting "in tune" with the element you're attempting to work with. Specifically moving your chakra around the way the element itself moves.
Eventually, Takai found the river. It was moving relatively slowly and was calm. Takai went to the nearest tree and stripped to his underwear, figuring he would take a dip at some point. He tossed all of his clothes and the Suiton (Water Release) scroll in a pile by the roots. He thankfully took an extra pair of underwear so he wouldn't have to go commando.
He then stepped towards the river. Even though he was proficient with the act, it still felt odd being able to walk on water. He walked to the middle of the river and plopped down on the water.
He crossed his legs and placed his hands on his knees, sitting straight. He closed his eyes and looked internally.
The feeling of circulating one's chakra was unique. For him, it felt like moving his heart in a way. It was a vital part of him. He imagined his chakra as water in his body, flowing at his command. Once he got the feel for it, he began moving the chakra. It was immensely difficult. It moved sluggishly and imprecisely. It was like trying to wade through oil or honey.
He could feel something in his chakra. It was like a pressure. A damn of some sort? No, no, it felt like a tensed muscle.
Takai sat there for awhile, beginning to get a bit annoyed with it. Takai opened his eyes and looked at the river beneath him. It had slowed down a little bit.
He watched in fascination as the water moved without restriction. It was free to do as it pleased while the river bank didn't block it, but guided it-
Really? Was that it?
He supposed it did make sense. Water wasn't very easy to force into places, but did all sorts of things when guided properly. That's how plumbing worked.
He hummed as he traced his fingers over the surface of the water. He took some sharp breaths and calmed himself before closing his eyes again.
This time, instead of forcing his chakra around, he allowed it to flow. He guided it around. It was...breathtaking!
The feeling of his chakra moving like water, so smooth and power. His eyes shot open. First step? Accomplished.
Takai jumped up and strolled over to his pile of thing and grabbed the scroll. He flicked the little bit of water on his hands off before picking it up. He opened it and read through the next step.
"Leaf exercise?" He questioned. Making a leaf wet. Seemed easy enough. He looked up and plucked a leaf that fit in his palm off the tree. He closed his eyes and thought about the way his chakra was when he was on the river. It swirled around him, flowing easily like a river. Takai then focused it towards his palm. Then, into the leaf.
The leaf was receptive to his chakra and it invaded rapidly, the leaf was quickly made wet, with water spilling out from the leaf and filling his palm.
He opened his eyes and watched the leaf float in the rapidly draining water once he cut off his chakra. He dropped the leaf and picked another leaf off and did the same time, but with his eyes open, watching as water seemingly just appeared in his hand.
It was mesmerizing.
He did it three more times before he looked back at the scroll.
"Re-directing a river, huh?" Takai said, eyeing the river. With the strength of his affinity he might be able to do it right now.
Meh, worth a shot.
Takai stepped back to the river and knelt in the middle. He figured actually touching the water would help. So, he plunged both his hands into the water.
He got a bit of a shock as he felt the river out. He looked at one particular bank that would be easy to get water over.
He churned his chakra, getting it moving faster than before, like a rushing rapid that would draw in and drown anyone who entered it. Takai then pumped chakra out to the river, taking control of the current.
He nearly fell over at the sheer amount of water he was controlling. It felt like lifting an impossible weight. His muscles tensed and he gritted his teeth as he began to attempt to guide the river over the smaller bank. In response to the way his chakra was moving, the water began to speed up and become more violent.
It went like this for about a minute. Water got about two inches up the bank before Takai snatched his hands out of the water and he threw himself to dry land, avoiding falling in.
He panted hard. His chakra was mostly drained. He would need to work on that. But then again, this was supposed to be a difficult exercise.
Takai laid on the ground for a few minutes, recovering enough chakra to actually get up and function. He'd have to find some fast food to recover properly.
Once he had gotten up, put his clothes back on, and left the training ground, he navigated his way to Ichiraku Ramen.
Ichiraku Ramen
Takai stared at Naruto who had four large bowls stacked up around him. He was currently talking happily to Teuchi and Ayame, the chef who ran the stand and his daughter.
Takai approached the stand and sat next to Naruto. He pulled out enough money for his usual order of the chicken ramen and a tip of ten percent.
The two were more than happy to make him his food. In about four minutes, Takai had a steaming bowl of chicken-y goodness. Takai went about devouring his bowl as Naruto kept up the conversation. Within minutes, the bowl was demolished and he found himself ordering another.
Takai looked at Naruto, "You've been here the whole time?" Naruto nodded happily.
Takai shrugged as another bowl was placed in front of him and he started on it.
"So, Takai, what's been going on recently? Haven't seen you in a week!" Teuchi asked as he stirred a large pot containing the salty goodness that was the broth of ramen.
"Training. Lot's and lot's!" Takai replied between bites and slurps.
Teuchi nodded, eyes darting to the pot, carefully inspecting the broth. Ayame looked at Takai, "What sort of training?"
Takai swallowed his bit of noodles, "Training my Suiton (Water Release) affinity. I was trying to redirect a river." He answered.
Ayame stared.
"Ninja stuff." Takai said so she could understand.
"Ah, sounds difficult! I could never do something like that." Ayame said happily as she wiped down the counter.
Takai sighed in satisfaction as he finished his second bowl. "Maybe. It's all up to how determined you are." Takai said.
Ayame looked at him, "Very wise of you, Takai-sensei." She said jokingly, giving a small head bow.
Takai snorted and patted his stomach, "Thank you for the excellent meal, now, me and Naruto need to go and continue training.
Naruto started to protest but Takai grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and walked off in the direction of his apartment.
Teuchi stepped toward the counter, "Great friends, they are."
Ayame nodded, "I'm happy Naruto got to have a friend as good as him."
They watched the pair until they disappeared from view.
Takai's Apartment
Takai opened the door and tossed Naruto in, closing it behind him.
"What the big idea?!" Naruto asked indignantly at being handled like a child.
"You. Your chakra control sucks." Takai said.
Naruto stared at him.
"So, we need to rectify that. You want to use your affinity to learn elemental jutsu, no?" Takai baited.
"Yes! Yes!" Naruto yelled getting on his knees and seemingly begging.
"You're going to have to do a lot to get it up to scratch," Takai began, adopting a thinking pose, "I would say a few hours with the water walking exercise followed by leaf sticking should be good." He finally said.
Naruto's face fell.
"But first, I need to grab some things." Takai said as he approached his table which was piled with papers, books, scrolls, and things related to fuinjutsu, along with some scorch marks from bad explosive tags. Takai plucked three scrolls off the table.
Naruto tilted his head. Takai waved it off, "Just some guides for training."
"Training what?" Naruto asked as the duo went to leave.
"It's a surprise." Takai responded with a smirk."
Sakura's House
Takai only knew where Sakura lived because he regularly stalked all his classmates. He knew where everyone lived. Every single person in his class. Even the kids who joined the Genin Corps. He also kept track of their accomplishments and their demises.
Takai knocked on the door while Naruto looked confused.
"Whose house is this?" Naruto questioned.
"Sakura's. We're bringing her to train with us." Takai replied.
Naruto jumped for joy as Sakura answered the door. She looked tired.
"Yes?" She asked. She took a second to look at the pair.
"You're training with us." Takai practically ordered.
Sakura looked hesitant. Takai raised his eyebrow in challenge.
She folded.
"Alright, let me get my sandals." Sakura said.
A moment later, the trio was walking towards the Uchiha Compound's training field.
Sakura hadn't said a word on the way even with Naruto talking to her the whole way. Takai had ignored Naruto in favor of planning out their training. He wouldn't be able to work on any jutsus while his chakra regenerated. That could take a few hours to full refill. So, he would have to train taijutsu with Naruto's shadow clones. He could show Sasuke the first steps in training his Katon (Fire Release) affinity.
As for Sakura...where to start?
She was so horribly behind. In fact, he might be able to find academy students capable of defeating her. That made him cringe. He would have to devote hours of work to just get her to their current level, not factoring that she may not cooperate or their own growth. She would be a weak link for a long time.
But, he supposed the first step would be to make her semi-useful in combat.
So, the first step of the first step was to grow her chakra reserves significantly. In fact, her reserves would likely have to triple to even be somewhat useful in a fight. Takai hummed as they approached the gate.
The trio stopped at the gate. They had found Sasuke standing there owlishly, seemingly about to carry an entire platter of tomatoes off to eat.
Takai just...stared. Even with his stalking, he had never seen such an odd sight involving the boy before him.
That was seemingly the thought of his companions too.
"Right. Well, you are going to train with us." Takai said, still a bit baffled by Sasuke's choice of food. Whole, raw tomatoes.
Sasuke tried his best to look mockingly at the three, but only looked even more strange with the platter of tomatoes, "Why should I?" He questioned.
"Want to get even stronger?" Takai asked.
Sasuke met his eyes. Caught you!
"What sort of training?" He asked, much more interested.
Takai smirked, "Our elemental affinities." Takai said, holding up the scroll that detailed the training of Katon. He shook it a bit, holding it out at Sasuke. He made a grab for it, but Takai snatched it back.
"Ah, ah, ah! Not yet, pretty boy. You're training with us. There isn't an "I" in "team" now, is there?" Takai said, clearly baiting him.
Unfortunately for Sasuke, quite a bit of the training manuals used by his clan were locked away behind seals he didn't know how to open. It was part of the reason he hadn't managed to get any more jutsus. This was just about the only path to expand his knowledge over his Katon affinity.
"Fine." Sasuke growled, "Wait here." He said as he walked off to put his tomatoes away.
Training Ground 3
The team looked at him with rapt attention as he explained their training schedule for today.
"Sakura, you're going to be working on your Doton (Earth Release) affinity. Naruto, you'll be working on your Futon (Wind Release). Sasuke, me and you will both be working on our Katon (Fire Release) affinities." Takai explained, pulling out a scroll for each.
"Just read your scroll and follow the directions." Takai explained, tossing the corresponding scrolls to each person. Sakura barely caught her's, but immediately began reading. Naruto got hit in the face with his, but snatched it up, greedily absorbing the knowledge.
Takai turned to Sasuke who had moved closer to him.
"Alright. You'll probably be on a more advanced step while I work through the first few." Takai said, opening up the scroll and reading.
"Burning leaves and boiling water." Takai said, "Well, there's a pond over there," He pointed off through the tree line, "so let's go over there."
Sasuke grunted, following Takai as he knew his way through the grounds better than him.
Soon, the duo arrived at the pond.
Takai went about collecting sizeable leaves to use while Sasuke approached the water and knelt at its side. He studied the water for a moment before plunging his hands in and began channeling his chakra.
Takai walked over to his side and sat cross-legged, with a neat stack of leaves in one hand and a single one in the other.
Fire is combustion, a small explosion of sorts. He closed his eyes and focused on his chakra. He already knew how making it into Suiton (Water Release) chakra worked, so how hard could it be to master Katon (Fire Release)?
He focused on his chakra, trying to imagine it as hot. It went surprisingly quickly. His chakra felt warm and difficult to control. A staple of Katon (Fire Release) chakra.
Takai worked hard pushing it towards his hand.
A moment later, the leaf curled up and lit on fire, the flames consuming the leaf and leaving nothing but ashes in Takai's hand.
He opened his eyes and looked a bit surprised. It took...what...a minute? Two? About two minutes to burn his first leaf.
Takai grabbed another leaf from his pile and repeated the process, the time being cut down dramatically, about a minute.
God, having a strong affinity was like cheating in a game. It just wasn't fair.
He continued the process, burning leaves until he ran out. Eventually he had a pile of ashes from the thirty-three leaves he had roasted. He eyed the ashes, channeling his chakra until they too burned once more, this time, into nothing.
Takai eventually looked up to Sasuke who was sweating, but making progress. Of course, the pond would be a lot harder than say, a pot of water. However, this would increase his reserves.
Takai placed his hands on the ground and lifted himself up, moving farther from Sasuke. He didn't acknowledge the movement.
Takai rolled up his sleeves and stuck his hands into the water.
He began to channel his chakra into his appendages. He watched in fascination as bubbles began to appear around his hands.
Sasuke only had a few every couple seconds, but the water around Takai's hands was starting to really move. The feeling of hot and cooler water swirling against his skin as it went through the motions of convection was unique. It was also hard to describe.
Soon, the water began to steam lightly.
Takai glanced over to his right and watched as Sasuke shook off the water. He apparently either succeeded when Takai looked away or had ran dry of chakra.
"There are soldier pills in my pouch, take one and keep at it." Takai said over his shoulder.
Sasuke looked at him strangely, but did exactly that. He consumed one and stared at the pouch for a moment. Sasuke grabbed one and after some hesitation, held it out to Takai.
The boy simply looked at his training partner. He hadn't expected this at all. It wasn't unwelcome, but was certainly a surprise. Takai pulled a hand out of the water, skin shiny with moisture, and took the pill from Sasuke's hand.
He turned away for a moment to lower his mask and consume the pill. He soon returned to his task after raising the facial covering, Sasuke doing the same.
Once both had settled, Takai spoke quietly, "Thank you, Sasuke."
"Hn." The boy replied, focusing on the training.
Oh well, progress was progress.
Progress towards what? Friendship?
This continued for awhile, the pair swallowing the bitter soldier pills whenever they run out of chakra. It went like this for the rest of the day. The sun was sinking below the tree line.
In total, ten soldier pills had been eaten.
Takai watched as Sasuke fell backwards. Takai soon joined him.
The two had trained for hours, yet they seemingly had made little progress to boiling the pond.
Good thing completing the exercise wasn't required to learn Katon (Fire Release) jutsus. It just helped with putting even more power into them.
He looked to Sasuke who was struggling to get up. They were both suffering from the effects of chakra exhaustion. Sasuke got to the monumental task of getting across the village to his house.
Takai stumbled after him, almost moving on all fours like an animal because of his poor balance.
"Hey! Sasuke!" He grunted with exertion.
He watched as Sasuke stopped and turned, barely holding himself up, "Hn?" Sasuke questioned.
Takai swore he practically said a whole sentence with that one sound, "I know a place we can get our reserves back up at." Takai said. Yes, he was going to bring Sasuke to Ichiraku Ramen.
Sasuke gestured for him to take the lead.
Ichiraku Ramen
Takai breathed a sigh of relief once he got seated.
Sasuke practically collapsed next to him.
Takai dug out the required funds for four chicken ramen bowls.
The pair ravaged the bowls and ordered two more a piece.
In the end, they both looked satisfied with their meals.
Ayame and Teuchi didn't say anything to the pair. Naruto and Takai had eaten here before in such a state. No words could be gotten out of the boys.
Takai left his usual generous tip and left with Sasuke.
The pair walked side-by-side, Sasuke to the left of Takai. Keeping Sasuke out of his field of vision showcased significant trust.
Eventually Sasuke spoke just a few measly words, but they sent a huge message, "Thank you."
'I appreciate you and your hard work.'
Takai turned his head and threw him a small eye smile as the two parted ways at a deserted four-way street.
Takai was soon alone, walking through the streets to his apartment.
Did he just befriend Sasuke? No. But he made progress towards becoming someone he could trust.
That was vital to teamwork.
He popped his neck a few times as he entered his apartment building.
After some embarrassing stumbles on the stairs, he was at his apartment door.
He fumbled with his key for a moment before he entered. He turned around and closed the door. Barely a second after the lock clicked, Takai fell over, dead asleep on the floor.
The Next Day
Takai found himself asleep on his immaculately clean floor.
He pushed himself up without difficulty and completed his morning stretches. He slapped his face a few times to finish the process of waking himself up and looked at his table. Takai approached the table and picked up his notepad...
...and froze.
Holy shit, did he just leave all of this out? There were no seals on his apartment to prevent break-ins, or alert anyone.
Any old prank victim could have decided to wreck his place while he was out on his mission. Plus, he had S-class secrets just chilling on his table.
The thought made him queasy.
He licked his lips as he considered his next move.
He rummaged through the books and he came across the book he had checked out on basic elemental manipulation.
Damn, he had forgotten about this completely.
Oh well.
He set the book aside as he got to work organizing things. His notes were erratic and difficult to piece together. In the end, he just tossed them into a box he had retrieved from his closet and focused on his books. Though, that was also difficult.
After about an hour, he had finally gotten things to a manageable state. Once he was satisfied, he grabbed the most recent book on sealing the Hokage had let him borrow.
He sat down and flipped it open until he stopped.
He nearly slapped himself because of his stupidity.
Takai jumped up and created a shadow clone, "Study this book. Find all seals used for security purposes. If you can get them working, apply a few to the apartment." Takai ordered as he left his apartment.
He was soon walking through the streets pondering what he could train next. Today wasn't a day that they were meeting. Takai thought back to the Suiton: Suiben (Water Release: Water Whip) scroll.
He hadn't managed to move any rivers as far as he could recall, he could definitely start on the jutsu.
He sighed as he ran back to his apartment to pick up the literature.
Training Ground 3
It seemed someone else had a similar idea to him to train in this training ground today.
The early morning sun peaked over the treeline as Sasuke was working on boiling the pond.
Good on him.
He figured he shouldn't interrupt his training, so he went to the river instead. He stripped to his undergarments and gave the scroll a quick read.
It mainly detailed more training methods. Takai shrugged as he tucked it into his pile of clothes and stepped onto the lazily flowing river.
He moved his chakra around, almost instantly he found the precise way to move his chakra as he formed the hand signs Rat, Dog, and Ox in rapid succession.
Takai then separated his hands, watching as a long almost noodle like stream of water poured out of his hand and took on solid shape.
He shivered as he felt his chakra move around.
That was his first time using a Suiton (Water Release) jutsu.
It felt great...so...natural?
He knew this wasn't normal.
This level of mastery so quickly?
Completely unheard of.
Takai gripped the construct and held it up, focusing on the chakra used to build it.
The whip twitched and started to flop around. Not quite what he would have liked, but he couldn't expect precision like that for at least a little while.
Little while was relative.
On his fifth try, he managed to make it respond like a limb, even wrapping it around a tree branch and wrenching the opposing limb off the tree. Takai released the construct, watching it fall into the river as normal water. He supposed the presence of the water made it easier to form.
Too bad there wasn't anyone to test it on-
Sasuke!
He was over by the pond! Takai knew his pride wouldn't let him back down from a challenge, no matter what.
Takai rushed to his clothes and got dressed in five seconds flat before dashing off to the last Uchiha. He crashed through the underbrush, startling Sasuke who had just managed to get a nice bubbling around his hands going.
Sasuke threw Takai a dirty look, "What do you want?"
"A spar."
A beat of silence.
"No, I'm busy training." Sasuke said dismissively, starting to turn back to the pond.
Takai was a bit surprised, but recovered quickly, "What? Afraid you'll get your pretty boy ass kicked?"
Sasuke's gaze snapped back to Takai, "When and where?"
"Now and here, pretty boy." Takai teased.
"You're on, don't say I didn't warn you though!" Sasuke said as he jumped up.
Takai grinned as Sasuke closed in on him.
He rushed through three hand signs and suddenly he had a water whip in hand and had wrapped it around Sasuke's arms and thus, his torso. He swung him over head and slammed him into the ground. Takai release him from the water whip and stepped backwards onto the lake.
Takai grinned as he dropped his jutsu, but did the hand signs again. This time, he channeled chakra to both hands and got two water whips!
Sasuke scowled in challenge as he did the hand signs Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger.
He breathed in deeply, puffed out his cheeks, and spat out a monstrous fireball that was taller than Takai and much wider and even the largest Akimichi clan member.
Takai's grin grew and he released his water walking technique and dropped below the surface, avoiding the fireball entirely. Sasuke had pulled out a kunai and blitzed the pond, hoping to catch Takai while he was getting above the water.
That didn't happen though as Takai flicked the whip and grabbed Sasuke's right ankle once he got close enough. His eyes widened as he went under. Sasuke panicked for a moment as he was pulled to Takai.
He wrapped the other water whip around his left arm and pulled, launching himself at Sasuke who tried to pull the whips off. Takai orientated himself sideways and drove his feet into Sasuke's solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs and forcing him to release his weapon.
His eyes bugged out as he tried to go to the surface. Takai pulled him back down, beginning to feel the pressure in his lungs that was drowning.
Takai moved closer to the drowning Sasuke who attempted his fireball jutsu. Takai released both whips and clamped a hand down on Sasuke's mouth, preventing it from opening and another on his right arm. Soon after, Sasuke tapped Takai, signalling the end.
Both boys clawed their way to the surface and swam for the bank.
Takai took in greedy gulps of air and shook out his hair while Sasuke coughed up water and threw up.
"I-" Sasuke coughed a few times, "...lose. I admit that you win." He said begrudgingly.
Takai smiled down at him, "Good. That was an excellent fight." He said, sitting down next to Sasuke who rolled over and breathed hard.
"Say, since I won, could I make a request?" Takai broached.
Sasuke gained a thoughtful look for a while, "Fine." He said eventually.
"That sure is a nice jutsu you used against me, mind teaching me?" Takai asked.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Of course a loser like you would want my clan's signature jutsu." Sasuke mocked.
"Yep, that's totally why." Takai replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Hn. Fine, but I won't teach you. I'll write some instructions down in a scroll and give it to you tomorrow, deal?" He responded.
Takai nodded and stood up.
He should see if there was a jutsu to allow breathing underwater. That sure would be useful.
I really loved writing the fight scene at the end. Probably my favorite part of the story so far. Again, sorry for the massive two month gap between the last before last updates. Got lost on the path of life, you know? Anyway, quick update to make up for it!