>>5790312Eventually you wake up to the sound of crackling fire and warmth on the right side of our face. You feel replenished now and sit up.
It’s nighttime, and you’re lying next to a fire in the forest. Not too far from the waterfall if the sound of rushing water somewhere in the distance was something to go by. You’re wrapped in a heavy white cloak that smells faintly of peaches.
A woman is sitting nearby, cross-legged by the fire. She opens her eyes when she senses you stir.
“Oh, and he’s finally awake! Sorry about the rustic aesthetic, I don’t know where you live and I didn't want anyone to see an old lady like me dragging an unconscious young man to her house… How do you feel?”
“... Better.”
“That’s good. Why were you pushing yourself so far, young man?”
“... I felt like I could feel something. “The underneath of the underneath”, something I once heard my mom say. I guess I just wanted to grasp it.”
The woman doesn’t add anything further to that, poking the coals of the fire with a stick. “You’re an academy student?”
“Yes.”
“I imagine they’ll teach you the Transformation and Basic Clone techniques soon, if they haven’t already… Hmm… I want to show you something. Come with me.”
She takes you to the small reservoir at the base of the waterfall, which feeds the main river through flows through the center of the village. She makes the hand sign of the tiger, and a replica of herself slowly rises out of the night-blackened pool of water. The clone walks up to you and places a hand on your head, gently guiding you to the pool. Its hand is warm.
“This is the Water Clone jutsu. The basic principle is to send roughly half of your energy into a nearby body of water, will it to share in your life force. Emphasis on sharing your life force, you’re building up the energy in your center and sharing it, not blasting it out like an attack. I don’t want you to try it now because it’s taxing and you lack the energy, but… Later. Okay?”
“... Okay.”
“Good!” The woman takes her cloak back from you, wrapping it around herself once more. “Farewell, young man. Make sure you get some food in you before you go back to sleep.”
With that, she disappears into the shadow of the forest. You would look around for her again most days you went to the waterfall, but she hasn’t shown herself since.
>You are aware of the Water Clone technique.>Ninjutsu +0.5>Stamina +0.5 