Dreams Water Could Buy [I/O, Serah]

Wan was creeping throughout the Deserts on yet another hot day. The sun was at full shine, breathing right down the back of the Senju as he trotted through the sands. He came across a small oasis and decided to rest there, a nice cool spot with a small source of water big enough for one to bathe. He filled up two of his canteens before deciding he wanted to wash off inside the semi-cooler water. He stripped his clothes, sure that no one was around due to his heightened senses, and gently stepped into the pool of water, cleansing his face and entire body as he relaxed in the warm water. He allowed himself to sink into the water, bringing it up just to his chin as he stood squatted with his eyes closed. "Refreshing..." he thought to himself, taking minutes to relax in the pool as he reflected upon life. Eventually, he stepped out, pulled his quilt from his backpack and used it as a towel to dry himself off. He placed the quilt on a hot rock nearby to dry, searching around for any twigs or branches in which he could use for tinder. A small meal would hit the spot right now, and although he didn't have any meat, he did have a few packs of instant ramen from the Inn he visited earlier. He started a small fire and sat on a rock as he waited for a small pot of water to boil, taking time to cross his legs and meditate as the water came up to temperature. He eventually opened the pack of noodles and placed them in the pot, allowing 5 minutes of boiling to elapse before draining the majority of the water off. He added the flavoring pack to the noodles as it turned the water to a broth, and gave thanks before beginning to enjoy his meal. 

After another hour he eventually packs up and heads out of the Oasis. He comes across a small town with a huge tree that served for shade, having to be the works of jutsu or something. The tree looked old though, so it might've been planted with special conditions, but regardless there was a huge tree there. Under the tree sat a bench, and Wan decided he'd take a seat there, watching as passersby walked to and fro to different buildings surrounding him. He didn't notice anything strange, nor did he expect to, but he was hoping to encounter something. Maybe someone would arrive and begin a conversation, or a challenge, or maybe bandits would come to make this interesting. Maybe his friend Ghost had made it from the inn and would meet him here. Regardless, the Senju sat as he closed his eyes, focusing on the chakra around him as he meditated. 

[WC: 470]

An oasis. Oh how Serah needed to get some water to drink. She thought it just a mirage from a distance but as she got closer she realized just how merciful the gods had been to her. She had just finished a slew of missions and had been on the run from some people that looked like they recognized her. That was rarely a good sign as a missing nin who had stolen quite a bit of valuables over the last few days. Having no safe place to go but forwards, she had decided she would press on until she found a town, or some place to rest.

From a distance she could see that it wasn’t an uninhabited oasis. There was someone there who seemed to be busying him or herself with the water there. “Is he, getting in the water? Gross, I have to drink that,” she said with a sigh. But, by the time she arrived he was long gone. All she found were some scents of ramen that made her hungry. “Where did he go?” she wondered but she saw some tracks that gave the boy away. Unless he was purposefully hiding his whereabouts, she figured she could follow these and see where the next town was.

“That’s a big tree,” Serah commented when she arrived in the town. It was almost unnaturally large and was probably there solely to provide some respite from the heat that persisted even in the winter colds. Under the tree she saw someone that she thought was the same boy in the oasis. As she got closer she recognized the smell of the ramen. The way he meditated made her feel like he was at peace. Dare she bother him? Yes.

“You wouldn’t happen to be a shinobi would you?” she asked, “I’ve been looking for a sparring partner. I’ll happily pay for your dinner if you oblige. What’s say… 500 ryo?” She couldn’t believe she’d come to bribing people to fight her, but this was her life now. Until she fully activated her sharingan she wasn’t going to stop fighting.

As he sat underneath the tree, Wan was suddenly greeted by a rather short woman, in fact, shorter than he was, while he was peacefully meditating under the shade of the tree. His concentration was suddenly interrupted as she began to speak. 

“You wouldn’t happen to be a shinobi would you?”

"Hmm?" he would say, as one of his eyes flung open, looking at the woman up and down for the first time. He notices she wears no headband just as he, a clear sign that she was also deemed a 'missing ninja' just as he was. He chuckled to himself before responding to her, closing his eyes once more as he resumes his meditation. "You won't find many 'shinobi' out here, lady. Everyone out here lost the title of 'shinobi' the moment we all decided to go rogue. Nothing but missing ninjas in these plains, if you'd ask me. If it means anything though, I was once a Shinobi. Now I'm just a ninja looking for a new path." He continued to meditate as his hands laid comfortably in their tiger seal position, his interest growing upon hearing an odd request. The woman soon would make a deal with him. She had been looking for a sparring partner, someone to fight with. For what reasons, Wan did not know. However, he did know that 500 Ryo was on the line, her claiming that she'd pay for dinner if he was to win. He was dead broke, but she didn't know that. Right as she finishes asking him if he accepts, his hands flung into a snake position, eyes flinging open as he looks at the woman become entangled by branches growing from the ground. This was the wood release of a Senju known as Nativity of a World of Trees. The branches wrapped around the legs of the woman tightly as they began to coil more up her body, locking her into position as he arose from his position. Once the woman was fully encased, he'd walk past her as she was unable to move, making it 20 meters behind her before he began to speak. "Sure, I'll accept your spar, mysterious woman. I hope you don't take these actions as hostile. Just didn't think I'd be fair if we were to start fighting so close, hell, I don't know you and you don't know me. Just didn't want any cheap shots given, ya know?" 

Once he's made a good distance from the tree, he'd turn and face her again, his hands dropping the snake seal to release the woman from her bonds. "I have some conditions as well. If I do win, you have to answer 3 questions I have. The first being your name, and the rest, well, you'll find out if I win!" The man heightens his senses, monitoring the woman's chakra in case she beings to attack before the spar begins. He readies himself into a fighting position. "With that being said, I believe it's ladies first when it comes to making moves. Let's spar!" 

[WC: 510]

A confident grin spread on Serah’s face when she heard him talk about how everyone around here was a missing nin. She fit right in then. But then her legs started to get wrapped with wood. It was nothing painful but it did make her panic. Whether by birth or other means this boy had the ability of the Senju clan which was enough to tell her that she might have picked the wrong person to tussle with. “No, this is what I wanted,” she thought as her grin came back. She waited patiently for the boy to create some distance and contemplated on what she wanted to do. Well, the first thing she did was activate her sharingan which showed that she had a special clan too. And what could be more iconic than a battle between an uchiha and senju?

“Deal,” she said when she was released from her entanglement. She felt her body shake a little as she released a surge of chakra that made a layer of chakra cover her body like a cloak of sorts. It was her fist line of defense when it came to sparring. The added strength she received was helpful, but it was really the padding that it offered that she valued most.

Serah then ran at her opponent, choosing to engage in close quarters. When she closed the distance, if she even could, she would slide tackle in an attempt to knock the guy off of his feet. “I’m a medical ninja by the way, in case we get a little beat up,” she said as she slid.

She was right, everyone around here was considered missing ninja. The greatest people in life held special powers that rivaled the top-tiered legends of the past. One rivalry has been occurring since the dawn of time, Senju vs. Uchiha. The descendants of the Sage of Six Path have battled each other for centuries, brother and brother reincarnating into a cycle of never-ending hatred. As a grin appeared on the woman's face, her gift in life was revealed. "An Uchiha." Wan would think, his heart pounding as his blood began to boil at the sound of the name. A trait that had been bred since the dawn of time. This was the first time he's witnessed a Sharingan, the blessed eyes that are said to be the greatest of dojutsu. "Deal." The woman would say, right after she was released from the entanglement of his roots. Suddenly her body began to radiate, a small aura of chakra seemed to begin layering itself over her. This was no average Uchiha at all, let alone being an average Kunoichi at that. It must've served as some type of enhancer, similar to the Soul Expulsion technique he knows himself. He wasn't sure, but this was about to be a rather interesting spar. A crowd began gathering around them, the tree behind the woman as people took seats on the bench Wan first sat to watch a good fight. Cheering and bets eventually took place, common due to the illegal activities that constantly go on throughout Wind Country. She began to run towards Wan, at that moment causing him to lower his center of gravity. 

Before she even makes it halfway to him, he'd advert his attention to a turban-wearing man in the small crowd that encircled the two, a 25 meter in diameter ring that served as their arena. She was quick but wasn't as quick as Wan, especially due to the simplicity of the move he's pulling. He'd wait for her to get inches to him, the moment she's about to make contact he'd use his Substitution Jutsu, replacing himself with the audience member 25 meters away. He'd watch as the ladies attack would land, his jutsu finalizing the moment she made contact. From where he now stood, she appeared to do some form of sliding maneuver. "Taijutsu user?" we would think, his hands already made with the Ram sign. His mouth would begin amassing large amounts of chakra, waving it into the water as he spews the water forward, the water traveling in a cone-like shape. It traveled fast, and with great force, a mini tsunami if the Senju with the full extent of this technique. The water would wash over the crowd and anything in its way with a 25-meter width, his goal being to sweep the woman off of her feet while she's distracted. The woman would ride the residue of the wave a few meters back, and as it disperses Wan would be walking over to her, the surrounding crowd flopping around the wet sand like desert fish. He'd chuckle while keeping distance, just in case the woman was truly a fighter and ready to retaliate instantly. "I believe that's a checkmate, my friend. I believe that title deserves a name, no?" Wan would chuckle, hoping that he's gotten the best of the spar so far. "Mind telling me your name now, descendant of Indra? I am Wan Senju."

[WC: 572]

Serah slid and saw that her opponent was wise to his surroundings. She had tunnel visioned on her opponent, not worrying the least about the onlookers. She had a follow up attack in mind but all that had been dashed by an elementary jutsu that put another person in harm’s way. It was lucky for him that Serah hadn’t been trying to break anyone’s shins so he just flew right over her body as she swept him off his feet. She whipped her head around and saw Wan some ways away in the crowd. She must have taken too long to notice him because when she located him, he was already spewing water from his mouth.

25 meters was exactly not what she needed. She liked to keep things close because to win she had to either land a hit or get just close enough to catch them by surprise. Serah thought to perform a replacement jutsu herself but the water was indiscriminate. It looked large enough to wash away everyone there so Serah formed a mini damage reduction shield that coated her body with a second layer of protective chakra. She stood her ground and pointed her hand at Wan while extending her chakra scalpel out fifteen meters. It would have been a very menacing attack, if it had been long enough.

The wave crashed into Serah, but she managed to keep herself upright with her jutsu extending as far as it could, but it was nowhere near far enough. She cocked her head as Wan approached and then let a smirk spread across her lips. “I guess about fifteen meters is my limit” she said as her protective chakra layers faded. The fight had been short but it’d been enough to show he that she needed a little something more. If she was going to go against higher caliber shinobi then fifteen meters wasn’t going to cut it.

“I’ll concede, since I take it your wood and water jutsu would be plenty to subdue me in this… environment.” She looked around and motioned to the soaked onlookers while she retracted her chakra blade. It fizzled out into nothingness while she continued, “I’m Serah Uchiha. It’s been a genuine pleasure to meet you Wan Senju, you’re the first of your kind that I’ve met. They say some of the strongest that ever lived were genetic mixes between our two clans. To think of what Madara was fabled to have done with a mere graft of skin. It’s actually why I took up medicine to begin with…” she pressed against her pocket which contained her money. She’d ever intention of going to Suna and buying Senju DNA from its “kage.” But then shook her head. “Now, I owe you two questions. What’ll it be?”

Wan removes the black hood from over his head, showing his young face. He was young but very wise, something similar he could tell he had with the woman once she began discussing bloodlines further. Madara was one of the greatest Uchiha to live, just as Hashirama was the infamous Senju of his time. Nowadays knowledge of the past was long forgotten, to at least the youth Wan would assume. Those things weren't taught in the Academy and were a knowledge that could only be obtained by those who seek it. "Serah Uchiha. My original questions seem inferior compared to the curiosity caused by your statements. Mixing clans by birth was something that began to create the first wave of 'super' shinobi but properly mixing the correct ones is a rare feat indeed. Normally such things are signs of those getting ready for war, but there is a divide in the Universe that must keep a balance of nurturing power." The woman told him that she was a practitioner of Medical Ninjutsu and was highly skilled in the arts. She patted her pockets and rattling could be heard, what would assume to be a rather large amount of money fit into the ladies' pants. Wan began to wonder if she had plans of doing this before, which would make sense of why she was skilled in the medical field. The water around them began to dry, the people regaining their footing as they were angered for getting hit with the jutsu. "We can't discuss something like that here." Wan would say, looking around for a bar or inn or anything. He sees a tavern and points to it. "Come, we'll rent the basement there, you gather yourself and whatever supplies you need. If we decide on making this a thing, I'd like a little more information on the procedure." He'd help the woman to her feet and they's take to the Tavern, paying the innkeeper a large amount of Ryo to keep their room a secret.

Once in privacy Wan asks her his two questions. "The only questions I have for you now are rather simple. The first being what brings you to the Wind Country. Even though we're surrounded by kin that doesn't me we hail from these lands. I'm sure you're a traveler as well?" He'd hope she'd give him an answer, gaining some basic friendly knowledge about the woman as he would exchange the same. His second question would piggyback off of the first. "I honored the spar but wish it would've carried on a bit longer." he would chuckle, "Have you done this procedure before? What exactly foregoes us benefiting from basically mutilating each other?" He believed she was very skilled, in fact he could sense her chakra, already seeing the extreme amount the woman carried inside her. She was well in her prime even after the spar, someone who has definitely disciplined themselves to get to the point they were now. He respected the answers she would give, and trusted that whatever would undergo throughout the evening would be something that most are not blessed to write tales about. 

[WC: 524]

Serah filled with a primal excitement as Wan talked. He got it. He understood the power mixing bloodlines could have and at this point finding someone to talk to about it was plenty for Serah who had come all this way. “You’re right, let’s go somewhere private. As for supplies, I’ve got everything I need at my fingertips.” Her fingers sizzled with chakra but that was besides the point. She let him lead the way, not forgetting that she owed the boy for losing the spar. She’d be honoring the deal, she promised herself.

They made their way into a room that was privy to none except the chefs who weren’t due to arrive till dinner. That gave them four hours of privacy if they so desired it. The room was more or less a store room with dry goods along with spare furniture. Serah took a seat at a rather large table and listened to Wan’s follow up questions.

“I left Konoha, because I got put on a mission that nearly killed me. And my parents pretty much disowned me when I became a shinobi and abandoned their craft. So I figured the only person looking out for me was me, and I left. I came to wind initially because it’s rumored to be a safe haven for missing nin, although I’ve stayed because of what we came to talk about. Suna’s top dog is rumored to sell… well, he does the genetic combination procedures and provides the ‘parts’ if you know what I mean. Let’s just say it’s not cheap so it’s quite fortunate that we met each other.”

Serah held out her hands and an aura of chakra enveloped them as she demonstrated, “I have never transplanted anything from another clan member, but I did practice on test subjects and myself plenty of times to learn this technique. It’s a simple matter of slicing and healing, both of which are rather simple for me to do. I can even make the process painless with a chakra anesthetic. I can only offer to do an organ swap though, preferably something easy like a kidney if you still have both of yours. I need both my hands to perform handseals and I have a feeling that you don’t want to be walking around on my short legs.”

Serah couldn’t help but laugh and feel like some shady butcher with how she described the transplant process but she felt it necessary to go into detail because she herself wouldn’t have agreed to something like this unless she knew it would be okay. She lifted up her damp shirt then held her chakra scalpel close to her stomach as if planning exactly where to cut. It’d be easy to see the small scar marks that showed where she had practiced the technique in the past. It’d be up to Wan to consent and if he did, she could get started.

By the way, she talked, Wan believed every word she said. She showed him a scar from where she practiced in the past and this indicated to him that she was indeed highly skilled with her techniques. She told him the best option would be a kidney, a quick swap by the way the woman was talking. She sounded like a shady butcher, but in all reality, they both knew that something like this would cost them both a healthy amount of cash. An organ swap was something the Senju thought he'd never undergone, but as life progresses we all soon realize that she surprises us every day. "It’s a simple matter of slicing and healing, both of which are rather simple for me to do. I can even make the process painless with a chakra anesthetic." said Serah, her words relieving Wan a little as he let out a sigh to indicate it. "Good, at least I know it'll be more discreet. No need for any screaming or anything, and the quicker it happens the better." Wan would say, believing that the operation would go as smoothly as the Uchiha described it to. There wasn't much risk involved the more he thought about it. After all, she'd be cutting on herself to, a risk that they'd both be taking if any were involved. After some thinking, Wan came to his final decision. "Alright. Let's do it." he would say, nodding at Serah as she nods back.

He lets out a huge sigh as he begins to think about what exactly is happening. He's beginning a new chapter in his life that could open more doors than he previously saw available. If everything went according to plan, both him and Serah would be walking out of this tavern more powerful than they came, the two of them becoming the closest of people by the Universe bringing two people of high knowledge together. The two of them meeting today was destined by the world itself. These were the types of dreams water could buy from the thirstiest sand dweller in the country. Wan would sit down in the chair, talking to Serah a bit more before she began the operation. "I'm not sure all that you need me to do, but whatever it is, I leave it to you. As of now, Serah, I'm putting my life into your hands, as you do the same with your own. I trust that everything will go as smoothly as you explained it, and I believe this is something that'll awaken a new potential in both of us." He would chuckle to himself as he shifted his body in the chair, relaxing his muscles as he reflected on life, slightly entering a state of meditation. He would wait for Serah to begin the operation, ready to see what awaits him moments after they undergo this rare feat. 

[WC: 483]

Serah was just about to go through with it but she couldn't figure out how much to transplant. She was scared that it wouldn't work, even though she thought it might be possible. She looked at Wan dishearteningly and said "I'm sorry, but maybe when I figure this out better. I know I can do it, but I would rather experiment a little more before making the jump. There's the question of how much to transplant, and what organs are best. I can't do this on a hunch that a kidney would be okay. I'm sorry."

She felt like she wasted the man's time but she shrugged it off and said, I hope we meet again, after I figure all this shit out."

She then made her leave, hopeful that they would meet again someday. She did remember to leave 500 ryo on the table before she left. A deal was a deal.

-exits and claims wip

500 ryo gifted to Wan Senju 26000-500 = 25500
1706 words counted
+ 3 speed. This puts me at the stat cap... so I want to forget 14 points of Health
I put 1600 towards sharingan 3rd tomoe. This should complete my learning
sharingan link: https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t41008-sharingan

I have learned 4400 of it through the chain starting here https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t43960-tax-evasion?nid=35#345981