Sumi Dieroma Herbalism Arc (P)

Once arriving on a long walk threw the Mountains, Sumi was finally in the Grass Country. Its tall flourish green trees, the exotic plants, to even the soft brown soil, it was indeed a amazing place of nature. By this time it was almost dawn, and the sun slowly slid behind the silver clouds which blew across the sky at a exceptional rate. Shades of light moved across the forest as the rays of the sun lid past the pockets in the clouds. Sumi had been walking for days, alone but not helpless. It was weird not having bodyguards wherever you were, and its been a long time since he had alone time. But although he loved the thought of being independent again, he did miss the royal life, to some degree.

After a few minutes of walking along the dirt road, a image of a bridge unfolded as he walked over a hill. Every footstep he crunched a bundle of leaves, but soon that would come to a stop. Flickering a few yards, he arrived at the start of the bridge. It appeared that this bridge was older then most, its brown wood had cracks within it, and crumbled with the slightest weight. But it was durable enough to support Sumi's weight, so taking small steps on the bridge Sumi began to walk over it. While walking a small spot on the bridge started to rise. “Hmmm?” Sumi said as he stood there fearless, and casual. The wood started to turn into a man, his limbs started to form, and slowly every detail of him became visible. Sumi's standing there watching him knew that he wasn't a threat, but just in case he reached behind him to grab his puppet scrolls. Also his transformation was taking longer then usual, so if he wanted to attack Sumi who is a kage, he would have needing something way better thought out. Finally the transformation was complete, the mysterious man who was kneeling down, slowly lifted his head. “Ah! Welcome Cousin, its a honor to meet you!”

“Greetings. Who sent you?” Sumi said suspiciously wondering if this was a set up. “She said you were a suspicious type, I guess Grandma Umoki is alright right heh.” He said humorously while rubbing his head. He was telling the truth, over time Sumi could tell by reactions if someone was lying or not, but he was sometimes wrong. But in this case, he knew that they were related by appearance and Umoki said that a escort will show up once arriving. “Oh you must be my escort.” Sumi said while sticking his hand out. The man walked over and shook Sumi's hand with a warm smile on his face. “I'm Neori, its a pleasure Sumi. Welcome to the second branch of your family tree, we have much to discuss.” He said while releasing Sumi's hand. “Indeed, I look forward to diving into the depths of my family heritage, its fascinating.” Sumi said as they both started to walk.

After a long walk of conversations and laughs, both Neori and Sumi began to bond. Sumi learned a lot of the DieGokushi clan and wonders why the clan was divided in the first place. Stopping at a immense tree with red flowers, both of them stand a few feet from the tree. “What is it?” Sumi said curiously while looking at Neori puzzled. “Its a Genjutsu Seal, only our family knows about it and it must stay a secret.” He said cautiously. Using a few hand signs, the immense tree became a another road, but the forest was different. The trees had pink leaves and the garss was larger and more greener. “Interesting.” Sumi whispered as they both entered.

“This is called the Forest of Forgotten Trees, its a secret place where our clan resides.” He said as they both walked. Sumi was tired of walking and he needed to rest. Not much later they stopped at a large hut that was decorated with immense leaves and wood. It was a beautiful home, it looked like it was just built by its appearance. “Lets go say how to Granny!” Neroi said while running up to the door. Sumi face flustered with color, its been a long time since hes seen his Grandmother. Walking up to the door with his hands folded, they both entered. “Sumi?” A woman's voice cried from another room.

After a long introduction it was time for all three of them sat in a clear room that was obviously used for mediation. Granny Umoki looked different from what Sumi pictured her to be when he was a child, she looked... younger. She hasn't aged a bit, she appeared to be In her thirties while her actual age was seventy six. Maybe it was the art of transformation, but this hers was almost perfect, almost natural. “I'm so glad you came Sumi, would you like to see your Grandfathers corpse?” She asked bluntly. It was a disturbing question indeed but Granny was always like that. The question left Sumi in a awkward position, but a answer was needed. “Yes, may I?” Sumi said with a sorrowful look on his face. Both of them got up, leaving Neroi behind as he continued to drink his tea. Umoki escorted Sumi threw the back door, and into green house in her back yard.

As they both entered the greenhouse a wonderful scent of all the flowers hit Sumi like a fist. It was a rather big greenhouse, but there also was a small section in the back which resembled that of a library with all the scrolls on the shelves. There were many species of plants in there as well, although she probably harvested them from the outside forests. Making their way threw the center, they found a open coffin that had Sumi's Grandfather inside. “Well here he is, wrinkled and all.” She said with a long sigh at the end. Sumi stared at him blankly, he seen a lot of corpses in his day, some of them created in his arms. It was sad indeed, so Sumi said a small prayer for him and both him and Umoki had a moment. Even though Umoki had been married to this man for years, she didn't have a sense of mourn. Maybe she believed he was in a better place, or maybe she didn't love him at all. Walking out of the Greenhouse, Umoki slapped her forehead and chuckled. “We have to read his Will, come dear, lets go into your bedroom and read it there.” She said with a smile. Sumi was curious of what his room would look like, its been a while since hes been surprised. He felt like a child visiting his Grandparents house, with such imagination of what they have inside.

While both of them walked up the stairs into the second floor, Neroi greeted Sumi as he pointed to a door. “Well, this is where you'll be staying!” He said cheerfully while walking in and leaving the door open so Sumi may enter. Sumi and Ukomi entered the room, and flopped on the fluffy bed. It was a medium size room, mostly made of wood and stone. But livable at that. Neroi reached out his hand, and with a puff of smoke a scroll appeared. Handing the scroll to Umoki she read it out loud. After a few minutes of reading things that didn't regard Sumi, what she said next caught his attention. “My last wish is to transfer our knowledge to the Sumi Dieroma, our Grandson.” With that being said she closed the scroll and placed it on the desk and sighed. “What did he mean by that?” Sumi asked curiously. Folding her hands, Umoki began to explain Herbalism to Sumi. “It is the art of crafting poisons, much like a poison specialist but more earth tone.” She said. She begin to get into detail which was quite interesting to Sumi, but Neroi almost drifted off to sleep. “It sounds interesting, with my medical skills it probably would come in handy.” He said while placing his finger on his chin. “Well, if you want to learn, meet be in the greenhouse tomorrow early mornning, and your trainining will begin. Everything you need is in the closet, Goodnight.” With that she casually got up and left the room, Neroi soon followed her, but not after he gave a wave to Sumi.

Getting undressed and placing his clothing on a chair, Sumi wondered how the village was doing. He knew that he left it in good hands, besides right now the Country is at peace, so if there was anything he needed to do than it was now. It had been a long day, and Sumi was tired. Placing his weapons inside under the desk, he tucked himself in the bed and blew out the candle. It was dark in that forest, may because in Suna the lights from the food market will shine throwout the village. There wasn't any sound also, no people, no messenger birds, just silence.

The Sun had risen that morning, and the rays had shined threw the glass windows in Sumi's room. Peering down on Sumi's face, he opened his eyes slowly only to see a blare of light. Squinting his eyes, he quickly got up from the bed and yawned. Stretching out his arms, he remembered that he had training today. It was odd for Sumi, he hadn't been trained by anyone in years so this felt like old times to him. Standing up from the bed he got himself prepared and ready to meet Umoki in the Greenhouse outside. Looking into the closet for clothing, he saw a white robe and a red belt. These looked slightly familiar, but Sumi couldn't wrap his mind around it. Slipping on the robe, tying the belt, and putting on sandals, he was ready to begin. Walking out the house and into the backyard, he saw Neroi standing outside in the field far away. He was digging up plants and putting them inside a basket, maybe that's what Sumi might have to do today.

Walking into the Greenhouse, Sumi saw most of the plants being assembled in the middle. “Welcome dear welcome!” Umoki said as she whore a gown identical to Sumi's. Both of them exchanged a hug for a brief moment, then after she escorted Sumi towards the middle. “Are you ready to begin?” She asked while staring at the plants. “More then ready.” Sumi said brightly. “Good, now in front of you are ten plants that you must identify and tell me their purposes. Start with this one.” She said while pointing at the Quinzaki plant to the far left. Sumi named all the plants perfectly and told her all the medicines that uses them. She didn't seem surprise, Sumi was a expert Medical Ninja that was a pro in his field. “Excellent job. Now your ready for the next step, come.” She said while pointing at the scroll section in the Greenhouse. It was a small section, being just two cabinets stuffed with scrolls and a small black bench in between both of them. Umoki grabbed a few scrolls, and escorted Sumi out the Greenhouse and into a open field. The open field was a dirt patch behind the Greenhouse, mostly consisting of stone and soil. “Now.” She said while handing Sumi the scrolls. “Take these and study them, these scrolls contain knowledge of poison mixtures that plants. Once done I will test you and you will move to the next step.” With that she walked off threw the woods and disappeared behind the branches. This was very similar to Sumi's medical training when he was younger, and one of Sumi's favorite things were studying. So this shouldn't be that difficult to him.

“That was easy.” Sumi said as he slowly stood up from the dirt patch. After hours of studying, Sumi felt confident that he would remember the mixtures. Tucking the scrolls underneath his arm, he went back inside the Greenhouse and awaited for Umoki's return. It wasn't long until she returned, carrying a sack of herbs in her hands. She entered the Greenhouse and placed the supplies on the table. “Finish?” She asked with a eyebrow raised. “You tell me.” Sumi said with a small smile. Umoki went to another table and grabbed a cooking pot and a few vials. Placing on the table Sumi was sitting in, she began. “I want you to create Sleeping Poison, use the ingredients I given.” After she said that she grabbed a chair and watched Sumi. Sumi puckered his lips and looked at the ingredients. Lighting the fire under the pot, the water soon began to boil and it was time to make the poison. Placing the ingredients in the pot in a certain order as the scroll said, it took a few minutes for the poison to be ready. Umoki looked at the pot expressionless, and Sumi got a little worried. “Alright. Hows that?” Sumi said concerned. “Not bad.” She said while tapping the table with her fingernails. After a while Sumi created over three different poisons which were all created successfully on the first try. “We never had anyone this talented since...” Umoki thought. She was amazed at Sumi, and was starting to see why he was deemed Kazekage.

Umoki took the poison filled vials off the table, she sealed them inside a summoning scroll. Sumi folded his arms and had a proud posture about him. Umoki looked Sumi deep in the eye, like she was seeing right threw his pupils. “Whats next?” Sumi asked, with a small bit of excitement in his eyes. “Next, in order to utilize the Herbalism techniques, you must become immune to the poison itself. That means, you'll have to be infected.” As she said these words Sumi jaw dropped to the floor. “What? No no no... I have helped too many patients that were sickened and I dare not become one of them!” He shouted. Umoki looked away, and peered threw the glass windows. “Look, you of all people know how training works, you give in, and it puts out. If you don't want to learn then say it, don't waste my time.” Umoki said softly with a bit of sorrow in her voice. Sumi scoffed and walked to the other end of the table. “Fine, I understand.” he said regretfully, but he knew that this was going to come sooner or later. “Good, now lets go!”

Walking out the Greenhouse and into the house, Sumi felt dreadful that he had to adapt to the poison. But if he did, or survive this, then it will be the next step of learning Poison Ninjutsu. Making there way down a flight of stairs into the basement, the near sight of it reminded Sumi of the Suna's Hospital basement. With seals written on the walls and a aura to it that seemed ancient. It was very big, possibly bigger then the house, and the floor was made with this red wood that Sumi never seen before. The most noticeable part was the ceiling, it was covered with plant vines from plants on the ground. In the center was a this open are where only a red mat was. “Lay there.” Umoki said while pointing to the mat. Sumi did what she asked, laying upward on the mat, he wondered what was going to happen. Soon Umoki came with a vial in her hands. “Take a sip of this and endure.” She said while slightly shaking the vial in front of Sumi. Sumi looked at the vial for a good second before drinking it. “If anything goes wrong, I'll heal myself.” He thought as the poison ran down his throat. “Good luck Grandson.” Umoki whispered while exiting the room.

The effects didn't start to take effect until a few minutes. After that the pain was almost unbearable, even for Sumi. If felt like every part of your body was being stabbed by Senbon, striking you everywhere. Sumi, who was squirming tried not to scream, he was never a screamer and will take pain like a ghost. He started to go crazy, scratching the wood and banging his head against the mat, but he had to control himself. A few times already he tried to purify himself of the poison, but then he would have accomplished nothing. The pain went on all night, but eventually it stopped when dawn came. Now sitting in a meditation stance, Sumi awaited Umoki's return. “I did it, I survived. Maybe I underestimated myself.” He thought while giggling at himself. With his eyes closed, and breathing clearly, Sumi was once again at peace and ready for the rest of his training. The door cracked open and Grandma Umoki peeked inside the open space. When she saw Sumi sitting there, she charged at him. “Oh my goodness my precious child your alive!” She said while bear hugging Sumi. “Yeah I did it Gramps.” He said while finally get her off of him. “Good, now that the poison is inside your bloodstream you are able to utilize poison techniques. Come, Neroi has lots to show you!”

After changing to a cleaner robe, Sumi is found outside with Neroi on a distant area. There surroundings are quite peaceful, only consisting of tall green grass and clear skies. It was the perfect place to practice their techniques, and it was Neroi's favorite spot to train. Neroi, with his long black hair wrapped in a pony tail, stood a few feet from Sumi in the field. Both of them looked exactly alike, almost like brothers. Except for his ears weren't pierced and he had longer hair. It was just them outside, Grandma Umoki was back in the house cooking herbs, goodness knows what else she does with them. “Now, the first step of using Poison Techniques is extracting the poison from your bloodstream by using your chakra. We will practice that right now.” He said while in a focused stance. This technique reminded Sumi of his Poison Extraction technique which is a medical jutsu. So he had a upper hand in that area. At first it was rather difficult, he had a hard time separating the poison from his blood cells without a medium such as water. But eventually the feeling of it began to become clearer and he could sense the changing in his chakra. His chakra started turning into a purplish color which Neoriautomatically picked up. “ I think you got!” He said cheerfully as he jumped with excitement. “Wonderful! Another win for my record.” Sumi said nonchalantly while placing his hand son his hips.

“Now that you mastered extracting the poison from your blood, you have to learn how to release it. Like Katon techniques, you inhale deeply and mix that with your poisonous chakra. Once done exhale out and release the toxic fumes from your body. Lets try.” He said as he stood beside Sumi. Neori did a few hand signs and exhaled a large cloud of poison from his mouth. The poison traveled forward and created a thick cloud a few yards in front of them. A talent Sumi had was perfect chakra control, he figured that now would be a excellent time to put it to use. Using the required hand seals inhaled, then exhaled a medium size smog that quickly dispersed. After three tries, nothing had changed. “You gotta put more force into it, make sure your extracting enough poison from your blood.” He said firmly at Sumi. Within a few number of tries Sumi's poison cloud began to become larger and larger with each try. Although it wasn't as big as Neori's it was exceptional at his rate.

For days Sumi has practiced this technique, he became stronger and more adept to it. His mist was half the size of Neori's, but he has been practicing this art since birth. Even with this master knowledge and chakra control, it wasn't enough to perfect the poison jutsu. Nevertheless, Sumi had got the technique down, and it was time to move on. After a short picnic in the grass fields, both Neormi and Sumi went back to their original spots and began. “Now that your good with exerting large amounts of poison from your mouth, you must learn how to exert it from your entire body. Sumi's liftd his eyebrows, he was suspicious yet curious of what he meant. Tilting his head, they both sat down and meditated. “Now the trick is to vibrate the poison molecules to a degree where it released threw all the pores on your body. There are a number of techniques that are used by this so take it seriously.” Sumi nodded as he said this. For hours he could only get a small portion of the poison out of his body, he found it hard to release massive amounts. Night came by and it was time to turn in. But Sumi was eager to master this technique, even if he had to be out there all day. “Are you sure you don't want to turn in? The mosquito's are very annoying at this time of night.” He said concerningly. “No you go ahead, I'll be fine.” With that Neori flickered back to the house while Sumi stayed.

The whole night Sumi stood out there, trying desperately to get this technique down before sunrise. After a few hours the mosquito's started bite his skin, and he was starting to get agitated. Sumi hated mosquito's, or any bug for that matter. In the heat of rage he unknowingly released a poison cloud from his body and ultimately killed all the mosquito in the area. When mornning came, Neori walked outside and examined his enviorment. Dead insects and animals lay around the field, it was obvious that Sumi mastered the technique. “Well...” Is all he could say.

Next day, it was time for Sumi to take his last test. Be awakened by Grandma Umoki, he learned that she will be his teacher for the final lesson. It was a dimly morning, the sun was blocked by the clouds leaving a grim feeling in the air. It was obvious that it was going to rain that day. Umoki escorted Sumi to a place he never been before. On the outskirts of the woods where ponds and waterfalls were located. It was odd, since arriving in the village Sumi never seen a pond let alone a waterfall. Both sat on a giant white rock next to the pond. Above the pond was a great blue waterfall which was so beautiful a Angel would cry. “Now, for your final test you must learn to create a artificial plant which hosts poison. The ninja in this country specialize on nature base techniques, and since your not attuned to a element it may be difficult for you Sumi.” She said while looking into the water. Her long black hair was untied that day, and by that his Grandmother resembled his mother even more. “I can do it, I'm Sumi!” He said cheerfully while standing up. Slowly he began to walk on the water, and create tiny splashes with his feet. Umoki followed him, and caught his attention.

“To create a artificial plant you must replicate and fuse your poison to its original ingredients, which would be a plant. This is very complicated to explain, but that's why were here. This place is excellent to train with nature, it will be your guide.” She said while slowly walking away. Sumi ran towards her confused. “Wait so your not training me?” He said firmly while crossing his arms. “Nope, like I said, nature will be your guide.” With that she walked into the forest and left Sumi by the Oasis.

For days Sumi was there, he found it hard to replicate the existing particles in the poison to match that of a plant. Although threw time he was able to create that of a bulb, he couldn't make it exert poison. Day became night and the clouds were getting darker. Not getting much success from the technique, he feared this was too much for him. On the verge of giving up, a small rain drop fell from the sky and unto a lotus in the water. There was something about how it reacted that caught Sumi's attention. It absorbed the water, and it began to bloom. “Hmm interesting.” Sumi said as he stood near the pond. Sumi's was missing one thing when doing the technique, he wasn't imaging the aspects of a plant when transforming the poison into one. Doing the required hand seals, Sumi did the jutsu one more time and a plant got conjured from the ground. Standing a few feet tall, it began to emit poison and disperse itself.

With excitement, Sumi ran his way back to the hut. With great speed the everything around Sumi felt a powerful gust of wind when he ran past im. Almost knocking down the door, he found himself in the entrance. “I did it! I mastered the technique!” He shouted loudly. Footsteps came down the stairwells and once Neori reached the landing, Sumi and him exchanged handshakes. Granny Umoki came from the meditation area, and gave Sumi a hug that he will always remember.

The next day it was time to go back to the village, he got what he wanted, and he attended the funeral of his Grandfather. It was a special event indeed for Sumi, all the way around. He learned a new technique from his lost relatives, and learned more about his heritage. Neori and Sumi grew a brotherly relationship, and he promised to come visit Sumi one day in Suna. Although Granny wished to remain in Grass Country, Sumi knew that this wasn't the last time their paths will meet.