Arc 3 - Jutsu is hard, and a nice old man appeared...

***

Hand seals are used to aid shinobis in properly summoning and molding the chakra necessary to perform a technique. They were invented by Indra Otsutsuki, founder of the Uchiha clan, and are the basis of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Its use is universal, no matter the village or the nation, all shinobi use hand seals for their ninja techniques.

There are different sequences of hand seals for every technique, requiring memorisation. There are techniques that require the use of hundreds of hand seals, but shinobi can reduce the number of hand seals required for a technique through training. An example of this is Sasuke Uchiha, in his youth he had to use each hand seal to use Fire Release: Great Fireball, but in adulthood Sasuke can use this technique with only one hand seal.

There are very few techniques that do not require the use of hand seals, the most infamous of all is the Rasengan.

There are twelve basic seals, each one named after an animal of the Chinese zodiac:

Saru/Monkey

Tatsu/Dragon

Ne/Rat

Tori/Bird

Mi/Snake

Ushi/Ox

Inu/Dog

Uma/Horse

Tora/Tiger

I/Boar

Hitsuji/Ram

U/Harre

Apart from these hand seals, there are others used for more specific techniques, such as the mental techniques of the Yamanaka clan. But our protagonist only has the twelve basic hand seals memorized and a few of the advanced ones, not all of them.

Right now Ikarus Senjus is sitting inside his tent practicing each hand seal over and over again.

"My hands get into the correct position for each hand seal with great ease, in my past life it took me days of a lot of practice to be able to move smoothly from one hand seal to another. Riku's muscle memory is amazing!"

After a few hours of practice the sun rises through the trees.

Ikarus comes out of his tent and starts cooking his breakfast, fried rabbit seasoned with salt and thyme.

While he waits for his breakfast to cook he sits in the lotus position and meditates, it is something he does every day since he came to this world in order to become more familiar with his chakra.

The smell of cooking meat snaps him out of his trance, and he heads over to the fire and begins to eat his breakfast. Once he has finished eating he gets up from the floor and begins to stretch.

"Ram → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake" his voice is brimming with nervousness.

Reaching the last hand seal, the world freezes around him, and at the same time he feels that every part of his body is on fire: he has to move, if he stays still, his body will implode, or it sure feels like it.

Desperate to make the burning go away, Ikarus moves in a random direction without paying attention to his surroundings. Only he doesn't move, he doesn't run. He feels like his body is squeezed by a straw and pushed in a random direction.

Thuck!

He crashes straight into a tree and falls to the ground.

"Ouch"

After a few moments he staggers to his feet.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu Attempt number one was a monumental failure." Ikarus rubs his head in pain.

"Attempting this technique for the first time in the middle of the forest was a terrible idea." He sighs and goes back to his camp, starts gathering his belongings.

`I will find a better location to continue practicing this jutsu`

The forests of the North are lush with large trees covered with moss. Beautiful but a bad place to practice a jutsu like Kawarimi.

***

On the bank of the Froststream River Ikarus Senju is practicing his first jutsu over and over again.

The results of it are...

He tripped over his own feet eight times.

The burning sensation combined with the dizziness churned his stomach and he vomited twice.

So far he hasn't managed to perform the jutsu successfully even once.

"E-rank. It's an E-rank jutsu!" Ikarus yelled in frustration.

He has been training all day without much success.

Ikarus falls to the ground on his back and looks at the sky.

"Blue. Is so beautiful." He lies down for a long time admiring the sky.

While jumping from tree to tree Ikarus saw smoke in the distance, he climbed to the top of a tree to get a better view.

`A campfire`

Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to get closer to see who was there.

After running a few kilometers he sees the camp in the forest clearing, a small tent and a fire. A horse is tied to a nearby tree. The only person in the clearing is an old man sitting near the fire drinking something from a waterskin.

Ikarus hides his swords by wrapping them in his cloak and strapping them to his back, and proceeds towards the camp.

"Who is there?"

"Peace old man." The old man relaxes when he sees that he is just a boy.

"Sit by the fire boy." The old man invites him to join him. Ikarus sits on the other side of the fire, facing the old man.

"What brings you to Westeros young traveler?"

Ikarus tells her the same story that he told Fern.

"A brave and ambitious young man I see." The old man chuckles. "You remind me of my youth."

"Huh?"

"Aye. When I was a young boy full of life... What a time those were." The old man sighed wistfully.

"Did you also travel the world, old man?

"Aye. I was a little older than you when I smuggled myself onto a merchant ship in White Harbor."

"Smuggled? Did they catch you?" Ikarus's eyes sparkle with curiosity.

"Aye, boy. On the second day a sailor caught me hiding below deck." The old man laughs out loud.

"That grumpy sailor gave me a good beating, he even wanted to throw me overboard!"

"Really?! How did you get off?" The Senju speaks with the emotion of a child.

"The captain of the ship." The old man smiles sadly. "Old captain Daario, that man saved my life more times than I can count. That day the old captain let me join his crew. For 11 years I sailed on his ship."

"What happened to the captain?"

"He died- I was about 25 or 26 namedays when some damn pirates boarded our ship. Captain Daario saved my life for the last time that day. Damn pirates!" The old man spits on the ground.

"My condolences."

The old man nods his head and is silent for a few minutes, lost in his own memories.

"When did you came back to Westeros?" Ikarus's question brings the old man back to the present.

"A couple of years ago. The Mad King had just had his second child, the one who is still alive. What year-" The old man is thoughtful.

"276 AC" He is interrupted by the young shinobi.

"Aye. The year 276."

Ikarus stays with the old man for two days, both of them traveling south. During that time the old man entertains the young shinobi with stories of his years at sea. Of his many travels through Essos.

On the third day their paths diverge and they both say goodbye.

"If you ever pass through Barrowtown visit Harrion's Tavern, I'll be there in a few weeks. Who knows, our paths may cross again, young traveler."

"Aye. Farewell old man Loren."

"Farawell Ikarus. Good luck in your travels."

***

Ikarus runs through the trees with a smile on his face. He is in a very good mood.

`After the incident with the guards I started to lose faith in the humans of this world a bit. Killing someone just for stealing a few customers... But old man Loren showed me that there are still good people in this world. Westeros isn't that bad!`