Bringing in the Source

The sun had broken through the morning, but the cool temperatures caused a light mist to form over the lake. His lake. The fact that it was still here was... amazing. The level of the lake itself was quite low, at least by 10 feet or so, but the sheer size of what he did as a teen with a tailed beast made barely a difference from the view of the observer. One major change in the years of his abscence was the weathering of the sides; it looked like it had always been here.

Arashi shrugged off his sandals, leaving them at the shore, as he took step after step from the ground to the water's surface. Feeling the cool liquid beneath him, the young adult smiled, moving a bit faster towards the middle of the lake. By the time he reached the center, he had been in a full run, and still had distance to cover before he was there. The center. He knew it from the mound that once was submerged by a foot or so, and now was just peeking out of the water. He stood on the tiny island, looking out at the lake around him, and then to the mountains in the distance. He never thought about the longevity of the lake itself; hell he probably just thought he could control it. But if this lake were to endure, it needed a source. Just like his family. He needed a source, and he had already started that. Now it was time for his personal legacy.

Bringing the half ram handsign to his face, the already prepared dispersal technique was activated, as he turned white, wet, and then faded into the air as his cells spread out. He moved as swiftly as he could towards the mountains, traveling up the slopes with ease. It took a couple of hours, but Arashi finally solidified again, stepping on the rim of a ledge. A small runoff lake fueled by mountain meltwater and a nearby glacier had been filling the closed valley. There was already a waterfall some distance away from where he stood where a new river was being born. Young enough that there wasn't an ecosystem reliant on the surface stream yet. He imagined that as the glacier melted, more water would end up coming here, and more than likely even after he was done, there would be another river forming in some years.

He needed to practice, and he definitely needed to exercise, and this was the perfect way for this day. He opened his packs, 4 in total, filled with kunai and explosive tags. Pulling out the first bunch, Arashi kicked off the ridge, flipping backwards towards his lake. As he dropped he started throwing the kunai into the side of the ridge; enough to make a V shaped valley. He landed on his fleet down the side of the ridge, looking at where he threw them, and then down to where his own feet where. He threw another tagged kunai into the ground at his feet, and then turned towards where the lake was. Filling both hands with kunai, the Hoshi shinobi kicked off the ground, sailing through the air and he tossed kunai into the ground below him. Moving as fast as his legs would allow, Arashi ran the distance back, jumping around boulders, rocks, and trees, going for the path of least resistance.

Before he knew it, Arashi was back at the mouth of the lake, and his last kunai had been planted. Looking the way back up the mountain, he took a breath, and activated the tag at the lakeside. The quiet of the late morning was suddenly disturbed by the sound of an explosion, leaving the cloud of dirt flying into the sky. The second tag went off before the debris had fallen back to the ground, and then the third and so on, as the trail he created was opened all the way back to the source.

Arashi stood on the surface of the lake, watching the waters rush from the lake into the first hole. By the time the tags on the ridge were activated, the lake area had become quiet once again. And it remained quiet for a very long time with the Jounin standing there silent and still. He closed his eyes, listening the sounds around him, until at last he heard it. The quiet rumble of rushing water. He opened his eyes, straining to look as far as possible. In time, the water was visible, rushing from one blast zone to another in a large channel. There was a loud splash as the waters of the glacier met the waters of his lake, and Arashi felt the spray on his face as the two forces of water fought each other, until the mountain water won and turned the direction of the new river into the lake instead of away from the lake. A wave from the surge of water formed, and it took some decent chakra control to keep him on the surface as he was lifted up and then down by the wave. The water level surged throughout the lake, slowly bringing the shore higher and closer to its original position before he left.

The man walked calmly back to his original position, stepping from the lake to the shore, and then to where his sandals laid, watching as the lake worked to find a new equilibrium.

(WC: 914)

About a couple hours later, the lake was starting to still.  There was a natural outlet that had formed during flooding over the years, and a channel that had been carved away with time, so as the lake reached its previous highest level, the excess water would flow through that channel and downslope towards the desert.  Between the ice in the mountains, the runoff being on the windward side, and an outlet to keep from flooding the entire area, this lake should be able to last thousands of years, or however long most rivers last.  With a smile, Arashi looked at his creation.  Water formed from training his weather-like jutsus.  A forced raise of the water table from the underground aquifer.  A lake formed from jinchuuriki trouble with the clone 8-tails.  The island in the center formed from him holding his ground.  The results of a child forced to grow up faster than his parents ever expected.  Tragedy turned into pain, turned into determination.  He had lost, and he had gained.  

And now, despite everything that happened to him, he knew as he looked up in the sky that his ancestors were watching him, and watching the rebirth of his clan.  His soon to be wife was pregnant, and fate willing would end up with a child inheriting the kumonikutai.  He had a home that he himself helped build, and that home was now a thriving major village of the world.  He hadn't become Kage, but that wasn't as important as being a defender of his home.  Maybe in the future.. who knew.  Technically speaking he was still a Prince Reagent.  He would always be the Prince Reagent.  It had been suggested more than once that a political marriage between himself and Princess would have helped unite the village, but luckily it seemed like that was not as necessary as they thought.  Not that it would have been a bad thing, its just... his heart had gone to someone else.  

Besides; he didn't have to worry about it any more.  She had become the queen to the Bird daimyo.  Arashi was free to concentrate on himself.  And that meant needing to make sure he was as strong as he should be, especially to remain a high level ninja of the village.  

Arashi grinned, bringing his hands together.  Activating the water clone, three clones formed from the lake, each one already armed.  He minimized the link he had with them so that they would all work more independently, and pulled out his own kunai.  The three clones already knew what their purpose was... training.  Three on one.  Arashi took a breath and kicked off the shore, sailing over the three and landing in the water before running.  The three clones immediately gave chase, trying to catch the original, and started throwing some kunai and even shuriken.  Arashi heard the sound of the air being shoved and blocked the targets with his own kunai, still running.  As he neared the middle of the island, the water in front of him erupted in water bullets, causing him to have to dodge through the jets of water.  It wasn't perfect, but he was definitely holding his own.  

Having to dodge, however, meant that his momentum was slowed, and his clones were on him as he finally reached the island.  Now it was a weaker area of fighting; taijutsu.  Before he knew it, the shinobi was parrying blows with swords, as well as feet and hands. While the swords were predominant, as Arashi was able to get the swords out of his clone's hands their focus was less on beating him, and more on disarming him.  By the time all three were disarmed, one got a kick to the gut, and another finally knocked the sword out of his hand.  The sword sailed up and landed deep into the dirt blade-down.  Not that he would have had time to get it, his clones were already back at hand to hand.  

He was getting tired... and so were his clones.  With his chakra split between the 4, he was bound to get tired easily.. and even more so when it came to him being out of practice.  Speaking of... Arashi's lights went out a moment as a knee contacted his chin and sent him flying in the air and landing on his back.  He was on the ground for a moment as the three clones high fived each other for knocking him down.  He also called out to see what side were they one... except they were on their own side.  Not his.  Instead, Arashi kicked his legs into the air and jumped back up on his feet.  Two kunai were in his hands, and the clones all grinned.  The three piled on, with more blows deflecting and parrying.  Finally, a strike!  One of his clones stumbled back as it turned white and puffed out into a cloud.  One down.  With a small surge of energy, Arashi continued going with punches and kicks and after what seemed like an eternity the second clone was defeated; popping away into suspended water droplets.  Down to one on one, and with another slight boost to energy, Arashi fought on, this time looking more and more in control.  Instead of dodging, he was expertly diverting blows and no longer was getting hit.  With a final kick, the clone fell back... grabbed the sword, and launched at him.  Parry, parry, parry, counter!  Arashi grabbed the wrist of his clone and was able to control the arm, flipping the ninja backward and disarming him.  The clone recovered quickly and punched for him, but Arashi had caught the sword and gave a final slash across the chest.  The clone stumbled back again, and fell before dissolving like the others.  

Arashi dropped the sword to the ground and dropped onto his back... a habit he did as a kid before.  He was breathing heavily.  And his chakra was all but gone.  He reached behind him to grab a canteen, and downed most of the water before putting it down.  He grinned, feeling good after the workout, and slowly stood up.  Oh yeah, he was going to feel that in the morning.  Instead of running, Arashi decided to just swim... or more accurately float back to shore, until he heard the familiar name of someone calling him.  He raised his head and saw Tsuji on the shore, waving her arm at him.  The ninja decided he had rested enough, and pushed himself up and back to shore.  

Without another word, the shinobi kissed the lips of his fiance, and after putting his sandals back on, walked back with her to the village.  One legacy taken care of... another one the way.

 END

(WC: 1126 - Total: 2040)
(Claiming：20 stats, Cloud Release: Storm Dragon - 2040/2950)

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