[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

There was no shortage of water in Kirigakure no Sato and Mizu no Kuni. Which meant practicing water-walking was a fairly simple thing as there were even pools of water inside of the academy for more ambitious individuals to try it all out on. Enyo had been ambitious, but at some point lost his way. Nobody had been willing to teach him in any great capacity, his family was often too busy and thus he relied on ambushes to try and not only fight them but also learn more.

He had a slew of different sensei's all come and gone, no one was going to stick around and he had a feeling that this new one - Sora - would not stick around either. She would probably have some sort of fit, it was not Enyo's fault of course. It was just, these people were unfit to be his sensei. Perhaps he would get lucky and have a Kuronmeru one... One day...

Today was one of those days where he was left to his own devices - for better or for worse - staring at a pool of water, an undisturbed surface. His hair was in a high ponytail, and he was wearing not his yukata but rather more plain trousers and a wrap-around shirt, so that he wouldn't get his nice outfits wet in the process of his training.

He knew how to walk up trees, this was the natural next step, but it had not been extraordinarily easy as this surface moved unlike the trees surface.

Sora Minami

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[Sora Minami]

Sora watched her student from the trees with a look of tired resignation. Despite having a full team of Genin at her beck and call, the Jounin disliked doing training three rambunctious Genin at once; more often than not, she preferred to handle their needs individually, working a few hours with one, then moving on the next, giving instruction and correction where it was needed. It was a good system, one she’d perfected in the Academy in order to give each student at least a small amount of one-on-one time with a teacher… but not everyone liked it.

A certain Kuronmeru brat in particular disliked the idea of anyone getting training ahead of him and, for the most part, seemed to think "team training” meant he had the right to go off and do whatever he pleased. Like now- the boy knew he was supposed to be at their usual spot, but instead he’d gone off and found an isolated pond to stare at. At least he wasn’t dressed like a fop today- with the wrap around shirt and simple pants, he almost looked like a normal kid. Almost.

"You mind telling me why you’re here instead of with the team?" She said from her perch in the tree above him, leaning back against the trunk as she spoke, face split in a disapproving frown. "I had to leave Kasumi and Ikana to come find you." She’d left them to do calisthenics, running laps and jumping jacks and all the fun exercises that no one enjoyed doing but were necessary for a Shinobi to maintain at least a passable level of physical strength and speed.

Ikana had much better conditioning than Kasumi, so at least one of them was being pushed- though, given how close she knew the orphan was to being promoted to Chuunin, perhaps having to babysit for a bit would do her some good. Now if only Enyo would be so easy…

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

Enyo was, needless to say, not expecting for his sensei to be perched up in a tree staring over him like that and it did make his shoulders tense as if he were about to get jumped by someone of importance. Fortunately, it was just the woman and he was not too fearful of her - even though she had knocked him out that one time.

The genin put his hands on his hips then and looked up at her, almost annoyed by her presence and the words she spoke to him. He did not *care* about the other two girls. One of them was purely ugly and had no aesthetic eye. The other was better, but she seemed daft to him. It was better to train alone. Maybe it was not the right thing to do in the eyes of the village, or even the woman that oversaw his training. But it was the thing he preferred.

"They bore me." He responded, and whilst he was one to lie, this was not a moment he felt he needed to manipulate. So the words came from a place that lacked any empathy. He did not like Kasumi and Ikana.

"One smells fishy, the other looks fishy... I doubt my water walking will get any better in their presence."

Sora Minami

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[Sora Minami]

Sora shook her head as Enyo tried to explain away his absence with insults and a cold lack of empathy that still gave the woman chills despite having heard it countless times before. She could understand him not liking Ikana -the two of them got along about as well as a tree-hugger did with an Iwa-nin- but Kasumi was delightful, even if she was a tad naive. Still, at least she had something to work on with him now, something more useful than constantly trying to convince the leader of Team 3 to train the boy more in medical techniques.

"You could’ve just asked me for help, you know." She said, leaping down from her perch as she spoke. Given his prickliness, it was likely he’d left for those reasons… but also because he didn't want anyone to see him fail at water-walking over and over again. "I am your Sensei after all. This is sort of the thing you can’t just brute force your way through. You need guidance.” Which, of course, he despised. But it was her job to offer it to him, so she would- even if he ended up spitting in her face.

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

The idea of asking for help was pretty foreign to the Kuronmeru who had grown quite accustomed to not only doing things on his own all of this time - lacking a sensei or only having temporary ones for the majority of his genin career - and if that was not enough his family pursued many different arts but promoted individual pursuit. Of course they as a unit were superior to others - and had harsh hierarchy inside the clan - but things needed to be often discovered on ones own... Or with the very painful guidance of his father who on very rare occasion would take Enyo outside to train. Though training in this instance meant pummeling the genin until he couldn't get up.

"I don't brute force anything," He remarked, sneering. Enyo had always felt himself quite delicate, he looked delicate and he spoke delicately - when he wanted to - if it got him what he wanted. His beautiful kekkei genkai also insured that he was delicate and balanced, his chakra control unparalleled for his rank and age... The medical arts were also quite delicate. So really, he was well aware of what NOT using brute force was like. In his mind, that just went to show how much Sora truly knew about him.

The Kuronmeru genin stared at the pool of water, his hands on his hips contemplating his next move.

Sora Minami

aeron at thq

[Sora Minami]

"Uh-huh. Sure you don’t." Sora said, sighing as the boy turned back to the water, clearly not interested in her help and yet obviously needing it. Training Enyo like the others was like trying to guide a river through a pinhole using a thimble: pointless, frustrating, and ultimately not worth the headache that failure would bring. Perhaps it was time to try something different. She had tried reasoning with the boy, tried ordering him, tried everything but this one, final idea. Guess I just have to show off.

"So. Water walking." She said, walking past Enyo and onto the water, chakra pulsing from her feet instinctively as she did so. "The trick to water-walking is somewhat counter-intuitive. It’s like tree-walking, in that you have to use chakra funneled through your feet, but unlike tree-walking th amount of chakra you need to use, as well as its overall density and shape, changes with the ever shifting surface of the water."

The Jounin paused, giving her student time to process what she just said before turning around to face him, still standing on the pond as if it weren’t even there. "Saying it is, obviously, easier than doing it, but those are the basics. So. What are struggling with?"

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

Enyo was unimpressed, mostly because he had seen this technique performed before. This would not help him dissect it as much as roll his eyes at this sensei doing this. It was hard to level or reason with him, he was - after all - an unreasonable teenager with very poor emotional intelligence... At least in the way he acted. He seemed to be rather good at picking up on others emotions, almost too well as if he were picking information up to manipulate for later.

The woman explained to him that it was similar in tree-walking, at least in terms of focusing chakra to ones feet and that was about where the similarities ended. Because, and as she explained it, it made sense to Enyo, it required a constant manipulation of chakra to fit the moving surface tension of the water. That, however, was a bit annoying to Enyo's discerning mind. He had not thought of it, and now realizing it he was thinking that this might be his problem.

The genin did not step out onto the water yet, and instead folded his arms glancing from the surface towards Sora his lips pursed together.

"It must be the manipulation of chakra on the water. I did not think to change its flow with the water. How? How do you do it? Feel it?"

Sora Minami

aeron at thq

[Sora Minami]

Sora held back a smile at the unimpressed glower Enyo shot her way, amusement shining through the Jounin’s gaze despite her best efforts to hide it. As much as the Kuronmeru boy got on her nerves (which was often), there were times when he showed just how young he really was- young and horribly maladjusted to social situations, like asking for help with a jutsu he simply didn’t understand. So when he spoke again she was genuinely surprised to hear the frustration evident in his voice, the question catching her off guard enough that she actually showed the feeling on her face, though only for a moment.

"Practice." She said, tilting her head to one side as she spoke. Enyo never asked for help, not even when he clearly needed it, and he rarely ever admitted to making a mistake. To hear him do both, in practically the same breath, was like finding a four-leaf clover stuck between a unicorn’s teeth. It just didn’t happen. "The easiest way to try is with a small puddle, only a few inches deep, and go barefoot. It allows you to feel the water better. Then once you’ve mastered it you put sandals on, increasing the depth until you can do it on any surface."

He wouldn’t like to hear that, but unfortunately there was a great deal of things the boy would have to learn by practicing rather than some clever trick. Most Kenjutsu techniques, particularly in Ittoryu, were learned by constant repetition rather than some clever trick, and if Enyo was to study under her in that regard he would have to get used to it, no matter how much he didn’t want to.

"Try one foot first." Sora said, gesturing to the pond in front of her. "That way, if you sink, you’ll only go a little bit into the water, and you’ll be able to feel where you’re going wrong."

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

Practice.

Naturally, Enyo understood the importance of practice. He did it often, every day in fact. But that was not a satisfactory answer because it still left him staring at this fairly shallow body of water with no real understanding of how to approach it. Except apparently barefoot and upon its shallow end.

This reality had him sighing in exasperation, he had already foregone wearing nice clothes for the day, but now he had to be barefoot on what was probably quite dirty ground. Annoyed, but unwilling to be deterred or defeated he removed his sandals and set them off to the side.

The second bit, he did not listen so well. He did not want to try one foot, he wanted to try both at once. He had better chakra control than most, this would work or he would beat the water into submission. At least, that is how he saw it in his head.

Enyo closed his eyes and focused on the pool of chakra at his center, channeling it to his feet before he dared to step up and out onto the pool of water in front of him. Shallow but still just enough for him to tell if he was sinking or not.

It was pretty obvious almost immediately that he was sinking, but not all the way. As if the chakra was keeping him afloat, but inaccurately. He was down to his shins and with now open eyes he sneered.

"What now?"

He tried to step up onto the surface, but found himself sinking back in regardless.

Sora Minami

aeron at thq

[Sora Minami]

Sora watched Enyo step onto the water, ignoring her advice about going slow in favor of putting both feet in… and immediately he sank, though not as fast as he should have, touching the bottom as the water sucked him in up to his shins. It was fairly obvious what the boy was doing wrong; in the first place, he was trying to do too much, pushing the chakra out too quickly without thinking about how it would bend and twist with the water’s surface. Secondly, due to his impatience, he wasn’t enough chakra either- hence him still sinking, albeit slowly. All of this would have been clear to the boy if he had listened, but he hadn’t, so now she had to explain it to him.

"I told you to go slow.” She said, crossing her arms as she sighed, meeting his sneer with a look of quiet annoyance. God, did he have to be so bloody pig-headed about everything? "There was a reason for that, Enyo. You’re not pooling enough chakra through your feet, so the platform you create isn’t firm enough to support your weight, and because you’re going too fast it's not nearly flexible enough to flow with the water’s surface.” The Jounin paused, letting the information sink in before she spoke again, this time more firm in her instructions.

"Now get out of the pond and do it again. Slower this time. And focus your chakra before you step forward, with one foot first, so you can test the platform and know if it’ll hold.”

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

Enyo was not slow going, he wanted to get things done to improve immediately and quickly. That impatience was always present in his movement, even if he was taking a stroll. There was something about the way he moved, it was an impatient stroll, a stroll that needed to be better than others. It served well, at least in his being a shinobi that he was always wanting to improve. But it made him difficult to teach, difficult to slow down.

Annoyed with a lack of progression, and not generally wanting to slow down but realizing he probably needed to, he stepped up onto the shore and shook his feet one after the other like a cat to get rid of the wetness. They dried off soon enough, the morning sun poking through the light mist... Soon it would be heavy when autumn rolled around.

He closed his eyes and focused on his chakra again, though he did not know exactly what to change other than to focus on one leg first. So that was what he did, though every fiber in him was screaming to not follow such foolish instructions. He did.

Then he opened his eyes again and went to test the surface with one foot, it worked! Kind of. Not fully used to how he was stepping up just above the water with the chakra acting as a layer between him and the surface, his leg slipped forward as if he were on ice and put him firmly into the splits... Which didn't feel good but also served to annoy him even more, more than anything else.

He went to stand, trying to squeeze water out of his trouser leg immediately.

Sora Minami

aeron at thq

[Sora Minami]

Sora watched Enyo fume, his face scrunched up in annoyance as he dried his feet in the sun and thought. The Kuronmeru had always been an impatient boy, always rushing from one thing to the next, trying to be stronger, faster, better than everyone else. For some things it worked out beautifully, allowing him to charge ahead of his peers without so much as a single step out of place, but for things like this? Things that couldn’t be learned in a few moments, that had to be ground out in the muck and mire of hard work and repetition? He didn’t do near so well with things like that.

"See? You did better that time." The Jounin said once the boy put his foot on the water, suppressing a smile at how he’d nearly done the splits almost as soon as he put a little weight on his leg. "You used too much chakra, but that’s still better than before. Dial it back a bit and you should be able to stay still." Water-walking required a surprisingly delicate balance of chakra, far more than tree-walking, and if at any point the amount was off, you could easily find yourself sinking… or sliding along as if on ice, as Enyo had done.

Not so stupid now, is it?

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

Enyo pulled himself back and put himself together, he didn't want to have to listen to his teacher. But she seemed to clearly understand this better than him, and he was very begrudgingly going about this now. She told him to dial it back, so he prepared himself a little better this time. Finding the right balance between too much and too little. He formed a hand seal, closed his eyes and focused. The genin would funnel chakra to one foot as before, find where he had gone too far and reel it back. Once the chakra was stable he opened his eyes and stepped out onto the water with one foot. This time, everything was perfectly stable. He wasn't sinking or slipping or sliding.

Then he smirked, and decided to step up onto the water completely. He focused chakra into his second foot then, and put full weight onto the foot already on the water, balancing like a flamingo for a moment before slowly lowering the second leg down. There he stood, ripples coming off of him on the water. But he wasn't sinking, nor slipping all over the place. Just standing, and that smirk remained.

Well, at least one thing could be said for it all - he did have impeccable chakra control.

Sora Minami

aeron at thq

[Sora Minami]

Sora watched the boy pull himself back together, his face scrunched up in frustration and, perhaps, just a hair of begrudging acceptance as he took several deep breaths before closing his eyes to try again. She couldn’t sense his chakra, had no real way of determining if he was going about it the right way- but she knew, from experience if nothing else, that this time the boy was going to succeed. For all Enyo liked to brag and hype himself, he had surprisingly good chakra control, and with a technique like water-walking that was all that mattered. That and practice. Lots and lots of practice.

The Jounin didn’t speak as her student put his foot out onto the water, tentatively at first but with growing confidence as the water didn’t take him. His signature smirk remained, even as he put a second foot out onto the water, standing atop the shallows without any sinking or sliding. It was an impressive display for just a few minutes of instruction- but like any good teacher, she had to make sure his head didn’t get too big just yet.

"Good job." She said, uncrossing her arms and opening up one of the weapon pouches on her left hip, disguising the motion with a thumbs up using her right hand. This would more than likely distract the boy for the half-second she needed to pull out a shuriken and toss it, not at him, but past him, the edge curling around the right side of his face and impacting on a distant tree. Not an attack, but rather a distraction; he needed to be able to maintain the jutsu under pressure, not merely in a static environment.

"But an enemy would have gutted you with how long it took."

Kuronmeru Enyo

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

The shuriken flew past him and his only reaction was only to twitch his head to the side out of its trajectory. Fortunately, nothing was hit or nicked in the process but there was a certain look in his eyes then. It was a little darker even if the smirk remained perfectly carved onto his face.

"Good thing I'm not around any enemies, and am just learning the technique." He responded, it was a stupid thing to say in his mind. It was one thing if he were messing up in combat, and had already practiced the technique several times over. But that was not the case here, he had just gotten up to stand on the water for the first time. Obviously an enemy would have gutted him, an enemy could have gutted anyone here for letting their guard down in their own village, practicing little techniques.

Not that Enyo's guard was ever down, but it was certainly more relaxed than it would have been elsewhere. Even in his own family's home he was more tense and on guard than training with his sensei. Which could be taken two ways, he felt safer outside of his home or he simply did not think anyone outside of his family was a threat enough to be guarded around.

Sora Minami

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