Huff. Huff. Huff. Huff

The sounds of the runner filled her mind as she kept her breaths even and mind focused on the goal ahead. The early hours of morning meant that no one was walking about in the village aside from the occasional lurking ANBU. However Izumi knew they were tricky to find and maybe they weren't even watching her specifically. After the missing nin incident though maybe they had a reason to watch her. Not wishing to get paranoid over this factor she pursued her goal and kept running. The rain continued to pour down around her. In fact it never stopped last night, creating puddles in the streets and causing the local bodies of water to expand out of their natural holding pits. She wondered how much longer it would rain for this meant there was more water to flood the village. Her feet, as she ran, were soaked already from stepping into puddles and splattering the cool water everywhere. The rain did one thing good though, it helped keep her body temperature regulated and weighed her down so she was getting more of a work out.

Izumi had been used to this type of training though for she ran just about every morning when she wasn't busy doing other stuff. It was something to keep her busy with when Shi wasn't at home anyway. Aside from village patrol. Man, was there ever a time she truly stopped and did nothing? She didn't think so. No wonder everyone thought she was so tense... even though she wasn't. Izumi snickered a bit to herself as she pumped her muscles more. Beads of sweat and rain ran down all angles of her bare skin, the more obvious droplets being from her face. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail like it normally was which meant puddles would form on top of her head. She enjoyed the feeling of water though and was so used to the sweat that she didn't care. This was what happens when you've ran at least 10+ miles. She lost count actually.

She was almost to the path leading to one of Konoha's training facilities located in a forest. It was more of a private area for A ranked ninja and higher. Inside this forest was one of these water containers that reached out beyond its limits and where another Jounin member was waiting to train with her. She had scheduled to step outside her boundries and learn something new. For today's agenda she had mentally stored the words 'Water Release Training.

[428 Words]

Izumi jogged down the dirt pathway, still keeping pace as she did. By the time she arrived she would be well stretched and ready to go like she was just about every morning. Her shoes immediately became caked in mud and her socks were drenched dark from it splashing upward. She could focus chakra to her feet what was the fun in that? She needed it all for this training though, not knowing how much she may use to meet the ultimate goal she had in mind.

Following the path around a corner she soon came into the expanded patch of grass land. Well grass / mud land. She stopped jogging just before this and began to move in a fast paced walk. With a moment to catch her breath she then stepped over to the area and set foot on fine green grass. Her breaths began to slow down now as she inhaled deeply, smelling the fragrance of the flowering dogwood trees. Yep, spring was here. These trees, along with many others, made a near tight canopy that prevented most of the rain from falling. Actually it was like a forest domb. Only a few drops appeared here and there. If it had not rained so much this place would probably stay dry aside from a few patches here and there. It was a perfect training area to her.

"Oh, lady Izumi, there you are."

Izumi already saw the Jounin when she first entered. He stood a bit taller than she did and had short cut black hair on top of his head. Put her in the impression of Shi except this man appeared more like a pansy and very giddy. There was a fun smile on his face when Izumi entered that automatically made her a bit off edge. She wanted real training, no weak crap. Peering into this man's eyes though, his iris red, she could see beyond the veil then and how he was hiding his nature. This man was a lot like herself.

"Seems your early too. I already have everything set up. Question now is are you ready?"

Izumi stepped forward in silence, crossing the ten meters between them before she stood beside him. He smiled as he turned his body and held out a hand towards the body of water beyond him. It were as though he were showcasing the water hole of immortality or something. He obviously cared.

"It's obvious this is what you'll be working with" he began, his tone very even yet possessing a sort of chipper sound behind it, "we covered the fact that you already made the paper wet. Rather tricky even that day seeing as how your raiton and doton elements messed up the first five. Chakra control can't help everything right? But oh well, let's get down to business shall we?"

Izumi stepped back when he paused to explain the paper. Originally the paper had fell apart for her earth element. Then it crumbled for her lightning element. Then after falling apart twice more it finally became soggy. This was because she was least in touch with her third element. It was, after all, the weakest and not used yet. But that changed today. Her attention remained on the Jounin. For once she actually didn't have to speak while receiving training.

"Remember back when you began to learn the lightning element" he began, her memories falling into her brain. They were faint but still there. "Remember how you began to summon chakra then converted it into lightning nature? Then the same with earth?"

She nodded.

"Well, do you recall the difference in the feeling between both elements?"

She tilted her head a bit before looking up at nothing. This was her thinking face. After a split few seconds of thought she then looked back at him with a calm expression. She DID notice the difference at one point but somewhat forgot as she got caught up in the rush of things. This was an excellent reminder. How could she even forget?

"The lightning element is based around vibrating chakra at a higher frequency in order to create friction and sparks. It moves at a faster rate. Earth element is based around taking chakra and increasing or decreasing its density. In other words making it harder or softer in composition. With earth chakra the user can also meld into the earth and rock found around them. Earth is naturally tougher in nature where as lightning could be considered faster and more free."

The Jounin smiled and nodded.

"Now what do you know of the water element?"

Izumi pondered this for a moment as she closed her eyes and tried to think of how to word it. Her memories flowed back to Kirigakure and how she would gaze out at the sea surrounding them. The sea would flow and move in unison as though free yet stuck together. She then opened her grey hues and gazed out at the water in front of the two. It was well over its natural holding place and kept filling. Izumi got an idea.

"Water...when someone possess the water element it is obvious that their chakra will be converted into just that, water. Water possesses more of a flow to it, like the waves in the sea. It moves together as one and can take many shapes. Water is very universal in defence and offence due to its ability to shape into about anything. Water can compare to earth by becoming a solid just as it can compare to wind and become a gas. Overall, it is mostly a liquid and thus possesses its own unique state of matter all together."

"Very good. You basically nailed that one. Water can change in matter, fill any container, and has a natural flow to it. Now my question is can you access your chakra and convert it into this natural flow?"

The Jounin turned around and faced the water. This cued Izumi to step up and stand beside him. He let out a sigh as he watched the rain drops lightly tap against the large pond. Each drop caused circles to spread out from the impact and soon the drop disappeared into the depths below. They each became one with the overall body and matched the flow of the pond. Could Izumi become one with this body of water as well? It nearly matched the same question that the Jounin just asked. Could she become one with water? A sigh escaped her as she nodded. She then looked at him with a sort of smile, "yeah, I think I can."

The Jounin smirked, "then begin."

Izumi turned her full attention to the water hole. She had a lot of work to do.

[1128 words]

Izumi thought through how to take this on. Surely training would take days but the time could be cut with the usage of clones. If each of them focused on the same goal as her then maybe when they faded, and all knowledge returned to her, she would learn faster through each of their experiences. Izumi formed the shadow clone hand seal. Five shadow clones then manifested all around the large pond. She looked at each of them as they returned their gaze. The Jounin smiled as he stepped back and took a seat on a boulder nearby. He figured he would just watch and assist her only if she truly ran into any trouble.

Each clone and herself then bent down as they each dipped their hands into the water. It felt very cool and of course wet, like water should. The sensation caused a bit of tingling in her fingers. As they each crouched there Izumi search for the flow of the water. She closed her eyes and listened to the rain drops hit the surface. Each caused small circles that made the top of the water very uneasy and partially chaotic. However below the surface the water moved only slightly but was mostly still. When her hands sank deeper in the coolness increased but so did the still nature.

Izumi thought back to the time she had to learn how to walk on water. She remembered how the water was ever flowing on the surface. You had to have enough chakra control to get it just right then had to continue to maintain that control to stay afloat. It was this distinct flow above and the flow below that she needed to pick up on and register.

Removing her hands from the water for a moment she soon looked up at the clones. They returned their gaze as they each held their hands in the water; watching her. Izumi began to focus chakra into her hands as she remembered the flow. She then put them back down into the water to show the clones to mimic her. They began to focus chakra as well.

"Grasp the flow..." she mumbled to herself, nearly whispering.

She closed her eyes again as she felt her chakra extend out. In her imagination she began to feel the flow of her chakra match that of the water. It took a good few minutes but afterwards she felt as though she was matching the water flow with her own. She then removed her hands, cupping them as she did to take some water out of its body. She held the water up and casted her chakra into it. She tried her best to keep the flow as she aimed to make the water become drawn into the certain of one hand. Nothing worked of course. However, after allowing her body to stay relaxed after she memorized the flow she began to feel the water pull from one hand to the other. It was taking a lot of time but Izumi knew that becoming impatient and stressed was against the elements nature. Blue was a calm colour much like the element which represented it. So fa she felt she was realizing just what it took to control this ability. But it was going by slow.

Minutes passed and the rain persisted. The water in Izumi's hand slowly but surely moved from one palm to the next. She would then try to refocus and generate the flow to move the water back to the other palm. Keeping her hands steady and still was difficult but from moving water back and forth in her palms she felt the flow growing. The clones continued to mimic her and do the same; although some were having some trouble.

Izumi kept this exercise up for some time before the water in her hand basically exploded. She had mastered her chakra control and wished to try something different than flowing water back and forth. By keeping all the water into one hand and using her chakra to go within the water, she imagined it to blast outwards. Soon she was able to manuever the water to do so. Droplets splattered everywhere. The clones looked at her then did the same. By then they all had the moving water back and forth exercise down. Izumi now felt very inspired to take on more.

When she returned her hands back into the water she focused her chakra out and began to imagine the flow again. It was becoming easier each time. The clones followed. Izumi closed her eyes as she felt the flow and coolness of the water once more. After feeling as though she grasped its nature she soon lifted her hands out of the water. She rested her hands on the surface and felt her chakra begin to pull at the top. When she raised her hands she tugged at the water and felt it follow her hands. It was only a small rope sized amount but she could feel it following her. The clones either had their own ropes of water or were having trouble but worked on focusing more.

The rope raised up to about a foot before Izumi lowered her hands back into the water. She tried again, working on gathering more water this time and increase the diameter of water raised. This time the water was roughly two inches in diameter and raised a bit higher than a foot. She continued this, keeping both hands together as she raised and lowered the water. Eventually she was able to raise two separate string sized amount with both hands. This shortly turned into ropes as well and later four inches thick for both. She wasn't keeping up on time but the Jounin believed that roughly two hours passed. It would be unbelievable to Izumi how fast time flew. Though Jounin, however, was bored. He liked how she was progressing but overall he was bored.

When Izumi finished this water raising and lowering exercise she took a deep sigh to relax her nerves. She had to admit she was getting rather giddy with all that was going that and it was making her flow a bit imbalanced. She could see that when the water started to move a bit odd beneath her palms. This then gave her idea. She could move her chakra with the water but what about making the water move with her? This is what she would need to do when using jutsu right?

Izumi began to raising exercise again but rather than lowering she held the water up. Sure, she made it raise on her but this was because she moved with the water. Now she wanted the water to do what she wanted. She began to feel the flow and rather than completely reverse it compared to its natural flow she slowly started to move her chakra in waves. She could feel the water change but after a certain point the water split in the middle and splattered back into the main body.Same thing happened to the clones.

Izumi then decided to do something else. She used her chakra to match the flow then, converting it into the water element again, she imagined a ball of water before her. Through imagination and inspiration she was able to raised water out of the main body and form a small baseball amount of water in front of her. She soon let this drop and began to form more at a faster rate. The next thing she created was a bowling ball sized ball. It took an extra amount of focus to keep the ball flowing between her grasp. She couldn't break the flow or else she would lose the ball.

So, by sticking to her endurance and realizing the power of her chakra control once more she was able to hold the ball between her hands. She felt its flow and began to leech her own chakra into it in order to make it match her own flow. Each clone did this. For Izumi herself it took a while to get the water to match her flow but when it did she counted the lesson as learning something new about water. She waited for each clone to have done this while she worked on her ball. She moved her hands from horizontal to vertical and the water followed. She spread her hands out some and the water became thinner as it moved with her. Not being able to hold this forever though the water soon spilt. She was expressing a form of advanced control beyond her actual abilities. Well, what she did was okay, and she knew that's the largest she could really control. But for larger bodies it was almost impossible for her.

When each clone finally lost control she took another sigh and gazed back at the bored looking Jounin. When he saw her look back he regained composure and sat up to give her his attention.

"I think I have mostly learned the properties of this element. I am able to feel the flow and match it while also being able to take that flow and create my own. I can control water better and make it do as I please in small amounts. I believe the rest would be a matter of making jutsu. Unless of course you have something in mind."

He smiled and chuckled a bit as though mocking her. Had she came off arrogant again? The Jounin simply looked at her and said, "I think at least 5 hours passed and you never once took a break. Hard worker there but still, you need more training than 5 hours. Even if you used those clones. Go home, rest up some, and come back tomorrow. I will be waiting in the early morning hours to continue. I must say there isn't much but you are probably more tired than you think from what I saw you doing. Control or not. Just because you have the flow today doesn't mean you will tomorrow. You now need endurance. Now job well done, but go."

Izumi didn't wish to but the Jounin made a point. After the clones dispersed and all the knowledge from training rushed back she became not only more informed on how to control the element but very tired as well. When she gets caught up in training she will keep going until she near out of chakra and crawling. This explains why she's passed out in the fields before. Shi would find her a few times if the ANBU didn't. It's good she had someone watching over her this time.

For today she was done but tomorrow was the start of a new day and more training. More so tomorrow seemed like a refresher in her opinion. Seeing as how much she has learned so far. Maybe she could start jutsu training?

[1822 words - 2950 total (C-Rank)]

When dawn approached and began the next day, Izumi was showered and out the door in no time. Her typical attire as always and her ninja gear at her side. For now the rain had stopped but the forecast was for it to start back up around noon today. The air was humid and filled with moisture. Good thing it wasn't too hot but still, she could already feel a sweat coming on just from running. She hated humidity. Made the ends of her hair curl slightly. She enjoyed them being spiked, not curled. She looked weird otherwise.

It didn't take long to return to the training grounds. Rather than running circles she headed straight there today. Upon arrival she noticed the ground was still moist from yesterdays shower and the pond still roamed out beyond its barriers. The fish must have been happy. As Izumi stepped forth onto the grassland the Jounin then appeared from another trail leading into the area on the left. He looked over and waved. She somewhat waved back as she walked over and joined him near the rock.

"Ready for more training? I have something new today."

She nodded and he grinned.

"Good. Yesterday you worked with the light side of the element. For example you took water that was already there and made it your own. With this you could have spread it out across the land. Later on we will continue this portion by learning to create our own water from within. This incorporates another part of the element though, the "darker" portions."

He paused for a moment as he looked all around the training fields.

"You can clearly see that the area is still very damp from yesterday. Water particles everywhere."

She nodded.

"Well for today, you will be using these particles. The "lighter" side to this element is creation. I bet you can take a wild guess to the "darker" side."

"Destruction," she said, not even saying it in question form. It was rather obvious in her opinion but she let him continue without being rude.

"Exactly. The destruction side. This involves taking water. Right now you are able to feed the plant by giving it water but what you cannot do is kill the plant by taking one of its life sources."

With that said he bent down and had his hover over the ground. Below was obviously grass. What happened next though was something she had never seen before. The Jounin drew in the water with his chakra and caused it all to form in the center of his hand. While he did this the lush green grass began to fade in color. Before long it had dried out to brown and in the mans hand was a ball of water. Izumi's eyes widened was amazement as she stared at the ball when he held it up.

"See?"

She nodded with wide eyes, her composure making her seem as though she were leaning away from him. This was something completely new indeed. Could she do it?

"What I just did was take life away from the grass by drawing moisture out of the area around with my chakra. I want you to do the same. Today's a good day. It's been raining all week and it's humid because there's more rain coming. My advice is to try practising more on a hot day to become more advanced. For now though lets continue with what we have. Draw it from the ground first, if you must, then from the air."

Izumi nodded. While she formed a hand seal and created five shadow clones again the Jounin walked over and sat down on his rock. Today he had a book to keep him company. What book exactly she didn't know but at the moment she wasn't interested in that. Scattering out around the training field, each Izumi had their own place. Three of them would focus on drawing from the air and three from the ground. Today should be fairly easy for this but Izumi didn't want to underestimate anything.

The real Izumi and the two other clones began to draw from the ground like the Jounin did. They summoned forth chakra into both hands and held them a few inches above the ground in a cupped fashion. The ones working with the air held their hands together in the same way but made a bowl while trying to draw the water into their palms.

This took longer than anticipated. Izumi was focusing with all her might but unlike before she didn't need to contact the flow as much. There wasn't much of one to grasp. Now she needed to pull in moisture. She converted her chakra to water nature and tried to feel for the water before she pulled it in. She could see the droplets just fine but pulling them was hard. After some perseverance though she managed to start the drawing process. It started slow but once she was able to draw in enough over a period of time she grew a feel for what it took to draw in more. This alone took maybe a half hour merely because she never though this was even possible. She released the water in her hand and began a new patch. Quite a bit of grass would die today. She had not turned her first patch fully brown but the second patch became brown in no time. She continued to do this until she was able to use one hand rather than both. The clones followed.

On the flip side it took the clones even longer to draw moisture from the air. Merely because the water wasn't technically right below their hands, it was scattered everywhere and they had to draw it in. Once they were able to draw in a little though they could draw in more. This took probably an hour or so. Once Izumi and the earth goers were finished with drawing from the ground they then tackled the air as well. This proved to be even trickier as far as Izumi was concerned. She contemplated on cheating by dispersing the clones first but stuck to her original plans instead. The ones working with the air soon began to focus more on the ground then. They were able to gather a small puddle in their hands so at least they progressed. The earth should be easier to draw from then. If they finished early then they could go back to the air to make practising with the air easier.

Izumi and the other clones that were focused on the air had trouble like the first group. However it didn't take them as long because they started with the ground first. Maybe half the time it took the other group. Then again the other ground made drawing look easy when put on ground duty. Maybe Izumi should've started with the air first.

She drew in a little at first and could soon draw in a small puddle worth. She could feel the flow still and how the wind affected it. Eventually she held her own puddle within her cupped hands. She let it fall to the ground and drew more from the air. The other clones on the ground were already finished. When she finished drawing three times, along with all her clones, she sighed and whistled towards the Jounin.

His eyes scanned the pages of his book a bit more before he looked up, "finished?"

She nodded again, a smile on her face from her excitement.

He checked his watched, closed his book, returned it to his pouch, then walked over to her with a thoughtful look. He examined the dried up grass specks then turned his attention back to her and nodded.

"Very good, you can now draw and take. Are you ready for the next step?"

She nodded.

"Well I can assure you you're almost done. You know the concept of using and taking. Now you need to learn to give. This means creating your own water. This will come easier when you have used more jutsu - such as the water encampment wall if you learn it. I mostly wanted to present this to you to give you an idea of what I mean. Basically it is using your chakra to create water; much like how you use it to create lightning or spraks. Should be an easy concept for you to grasp since you have came this far. I'll show you the jutsu violent water wave to give an example but from now on it is up to you to train and learn the jutsu. Also, how to fight with water. This comes through practice though and not something you can necessarily learn over night."

She nodded again and he turned towards the water hole. She stepped up beside him but stood at a distance to give him room. After forming Dragon → Tiger → Hare he soon lifted his hand up to his mouth and breathed it. When he exhaled a rush of water shot out towards the pond at a fast and powerful rate. Izumi felt that if that his her she would fly a few meters back. She really wanted to learn this jutsu now. When he finished he turned back towards her, "just like that"

She smiled back and gave a quick bow, catching him off guard. It wasn't like Izumi to do this from what he heard. He honestly never wished to work with her from the start after hearing about her nature but Izumi seemed different than most believed. Especially after what she said next.

"Thank you very much. If it wasn't for you this training would have been very difficult. You're an excellent teacher and I will recommend you in the future if anyone needs help with the water element."

The Jounin chuckled as she regained composure.

"no need, you can just teach them yourself. But I will keep that in mind. Thanks for listening and what not. Hope to maybe fight you in the future."

"Sounds like a plan. Water vs. Water" she joked.

He nodded then turned as he waved, "well see ya around. Tell the Hokage I said hey sometime."

She nodded, "will do."

Afterwards she turned away and began to walk back towards town. A big grin was across her face. She now knew her third element.

[1734 words - 4684 total (B Rank)]

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