After yesterday's fun at the park I figured I needed to move on to the bunshin.
It's actually amazingly easy to create a clone of yourself that takes no physical space, in other words, an illusion.
Unfortunately, getting your clones to move around is a much harder and more subtle task. So, while I could make a clone that would just stand there, I couldn't get it to run around.
So I trained my chakra control for a week of afternoons after training.
Wordlessly I went through the hand seals and made two copies of myself; they both looked at each other and grinned. Then I had a thought, I could use the clones as a powerful training tool! By making a clone go through the kata's for taijutsu I could correct my own mistakes. While Hiroshi-sensei's corrections are always easy to understand and very helpful; nothing was quite like seeing for yourself your own weaknesses.
By using a combination of Sensei's instructions and my own bunshin training I could become better faster.
Truly, the bunshin was a technique far better than most gave it credit for. Of course, the main weaknesses of the technique were that all it was good for in battle was confusing your enemy, but, none that I have heard of have used it like this.
I dispelled both clones and went outside, there making a single new clone I had it go through the kata's, directing every movement as I would myself. Predictably, beyond correcting a few minor errors, I was unable to see anything wrong with my stance.
I needed to know more about the style myself or whatever I saw would look right to me, since I was the one practicing. This called for a visit to my library.
On my way I thought more about the bunshin, it was truly a curious technique. It created no shadow but it could be seen, now light is how we see things, and how shadows are made. So why are the eyes fooled while the light itself is not? It makes absolutely no sense; theoretically the bunshin should just be a refraction of light but that would create some kind of shadow, wouldn't it?
I made a bunshin to be sure, carefully examining the ground around it. True to form there was nothing; well that does it, chakra doesn't make sense.
I guess that's why it's supernatural, I could spend life-times trying to figure it out; it truly is a whole science of its own. And while I've always liked discussions about impossible things, like say, time travel, I've also always been too lazy to seriously pursue them.
While we're on the subject, since chakra is beyond current comprehension and so is time travel – we know that space-time jutsu exist – could it be possible? While I'd read fan-fictions about it I'd always passed it off as a cool idea, feasible maybe, but not really possible.
But if instantly teleporting to somewhere half-way around the world is possible and summoning the dead with physical bodies is possible, why not? Well, learning more about chakra takes precedence.
Before that though, I need to read up on the interceptor style.
I soon found that the scroll was of small help, its pictures and instructions worthless when compared to private tutoring. Nevertheless, I found a couple of extra notes and moves that could be used.
I go to thinking; it would really be helpful if I knew a second taijutsu style. Unfortunately Gai isn't even born yet, let alone screaming about youth. If he was I could merely compliment his 'youthfulness' and get some training in the strong fist or whatever it's going to be called.
So we'll put that on hold until I graduate, since I'm assuming Father will put me in the academy.
For now we'll focus in on the bunshin and thinking about chakra, I don't want to read any more on it just yet. A biased opinion would be formed if I did.
And so I created five clones, looking over each I found that… I found nothing wrong, they looked exactly like me. I had read in one Naruto story about Naruto using the bunshin to make five clones, using complex maneuvers and weaving in and out of his clones to cause confusion in the opponent, it sounded useful if it worked as well as it did in the story.
The next day I asked permission to try something out on Hiroshi during our spar, he agreed once I assured him that it was not dangerous to either of us.
I tried out the idea with limited success, but I was not disheartened; if a, presumably, jonin like him had slight trouble with it then it would do fine on genin, it was an E-rank jutsu after-all.
So the rest of that day I practiced the bunshin, how to create more, how to control it better, and better misdirection in bunshin taijutsu, as I had taken to calling it.
I did the same the next afternoon, and for another two after that, before I felt satisfied.
Recently my thoughts have turned to genjutsu, incapacitating an enemy with small effort seems rather powerful. Of course, genjutsu users have some serious weaknesses; for one, doujutsu can see through them almost every time.
Number two, they spend so much time learning to make a better illusion that their ninjutsu is usually seriously weak. Exception being Uchiha Itachi, the guy was good at everything; well, I never encountered him in the cannon storyline so it's all hearsay. He's popular, so it's not unlikely that his abilities were slightly exaggerated. Of course, now that I think about it, he was weak at fuinjutsu, but that's not really an art that Uchiha pursue.
The Sharingan doesn't give one much advantage in seal making.
But this is one big sidetrack; plenty of people are seriously weak to genjutsu, falling for it almost every time. Of course, once recognized, low rankers are incredibly simple to dispel.
Still, the Sharingan gives numerous advantages in genjutsu countering and producing, it's only natural if I know something about it.
So I found a book, Basic Genjutsu by name, and picked it up.
It should be first noted that basic genjutsu, that is E-C rank, uses the opponent's imagination against them, whereas projecting your own custom version of reality is a high rank skill.
Well, that's helpful, no sarcasm here. Basically, low rank genjutsu is mostly giving substance to a person's thoughts and inner horrors, you're basically saying to their mind 'think of this' and then solidifying that imagination with chakra, somewhat similar to the bunshin actually.
On second thought, it's not really similar to the bunshin.
Genjutsu requires some method of getting your own chakra into your opponent's brain; this is commonly done with eye-to-eye genjutsu. By sending chakra into someone's brain through the eyes you're able to quickly launch your illusion, due to the proximity and intense relationship between sight and the brain.
It's not really necessary to have eye contact, but it is by far the easiest, primarily because humans want to look at eyes, this is the same reason that full-face masks are slightly disconcerting.
So, if someone is looking at my fingers and I know it, I can launch the genjutsu from said fingers? Intriguing.
All that's really needed is to get your chakra into the brain; this can be done with any of the senses.
So I can put someone out with a genjutsu if I grab their head? Nice.
Once you've infiltrated the enemy in this fashion, you can control your chakra to stimulate their imagination. This requires knowledge of the brain.
I see, if I don't know what I'm doing I could just enhance their eyesight, no doubt this is the one of the main reasons for genjutsu failure. Now, while I could just do it in a general fashion, its best if I know the layout of the brain. That way I can make new and unique uses of chakra in the brain.
I doubt my little library has anything on the subject so I'll go to the public library.
I informed Mother where I was headed, and why, and left.
I asked the librarian where I could find information on brains and she directed me to the section.
What I really needed was a labelled diagram that had descriptions that told me what exactly each part of the brain controlled. Fortunately, I found a book that had this.
I had brought some paper and ink for this express purpose, I copied all I needed to know quickly, I put the book carefully back on the shelf, and left immediately so that I would be in time for dinner, bowing politely to the librarian as I exited.
I finally took the time to look over my poorly drawn diagram, it was enough though.
With this, I was well on my way to learning genjutsu.
After dinner I retreated to my library, to read more on genjutsu.
It's best to start with something simple, so I've put a couple of simple E-rank genjutsu below, please get a willing partner for this.
For practice it probably is best if they're ready for it I suppose.
Color Distortion Technique
This is as it sounds; by manipulating the other person's nervous system, you can make them see everything slightly tinted or outright all one color.
An example of this is making the subject view everything green.
This is an easily seen through genjutsu primarily used for training.
It then listed directions and limitations of the technique. Since it was eye-to-eye you had to be fairly close to use it.
Tickling Technique
This won't work on someone who has never been amused or isn't ticklish so it has some limitations.
You'll to need touch the subject's belly or forehead for this one so it's quite difficult to use in combat.
It works by making the subject remember the most amusing thing that has occurred to them, often resulting in making them falling over laughing. Alternatively you can use it to make them feel tickled, of course, some aren't ticklish, which is why this is another reason it is E-rank.
This one sounded quite… hilarious. But having to touch the foe for it to work is a huge issue, perhaps for the memory stimulating use you can go eye-to-eye? Sounds feasible.
This one did seem more useful than the last though. I'd ask Hiroshi if I could use him as my subject tomorrow.
What the book didn't mention was that touch genjutsu tingle like mad without good control, tipping the enemy off. Of course, Hiroshi still let me use it on him but he did inform me of this.
Taking this into account it should be no surprise that I prefer the more subtle eye-to-eye genjutsu.
Hiroshi-sensei cut his finger and showed it to me before making me see the whole world blood red, very disconcerting. I realized something then though, the effect was stronger if they had seen or considered the situation more recently.
Hiroshi-sensei then guided me through countering genjutsu and dispelling them, culminating in my successful dispersion of his Color Distortion.
Overall, it was a fun and informative day. It also taught me the importance of having better chakra control, so I began inventing new ways to use leaves for chakra control. It wouldn't do for me to just start walking up trees on my own after-all.
Of course I could pass it off as 'since my spying on Fugaku had introduced me to the concept'.
But I wanted to see how far I could go with leaves. And so I began with the challenging prospect of sticking leaves together with chakra.
Now, this might seem easy, considering the simplicity of sticking leaves to oneself with chakra but it really wasn't; I suppose it should help with the tree walking though, taking into account the fact that tree walking is done through the sandal, not skin to bark.
Predictably, I spent five afternoons disintegrating leaves with chakra flooding before I got it to succeed just once. Of course, at this my floundering resolve picked itself back up and I spent another whole week before consistent success arrived.
With my new and improved control I hastened to test it out in my genjutsu practice on Hiroshi-sensei.
"The tingling is a little less now, Nanashi-kun." He offered supportively.
"One step at a time, Hiroshi-sensei." I smiled back at the much taller male.
"Well, you still have a long way to go, but you're coming along." Hiroshi told me, I mentally thanked him for his moderated praise, pride cometh before a fall.
I slept well that night.
Three Months Later
Now five-and-a-half I am a budding genjutsu master. Yeah right, I haven't even poked out of the soil yet, barely more than a seed.
I had, however, learned the kawarimi and two new illusion techniques, both eye-to-eye.
Moreover, I'll be headed to the academy in a few months. It's quite fortunate, but here they use Arabic numerals as well, so mathematics won't be hard up through freshman year high-school level.
Once I earn my headband I'll look up some stuff on fuinjutsu, it being a highly praised and valuable skill. Of course, being a master won't happen unless I have actual talent in the field.
It seems expedient, now with the academy three and some low-ranked genjutsu, to learn some more ninjutsu. And so I asked Father and Hiroshi-sensei at lunch for a Katon jutsu.
"If you are ready, that's fine; if not, then you'll have to train."
After lunch, I showed Father my Great Fireball, and incinerated a leaf in my hand without burning myself to convince him.
"I see; then your request is acceptable."
Father showed me the hand-seals for the technique, Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger.
"Katon: Phoenix Sage Fire." He stated, launching several fireballs of small size forward, for effect he had them weave around each other before impacting against a wooden pole.
I went through the seals in a practice run before executing the technique. I had only been able to create two fireballs and I could not manipulate them as Father had, only being able to change their trajectory by a small margin.
"Hiroshi-san can guide you through the rest."
"Thank you very much, Father."
"It is of no consequence." He brushed off my thanks easily. I smiled slightly and bowed to him as he left.
"Let's begin. First, this technique is different from the Great Fireball in that the chakra is outside the body; this makes it harder to control."
"That's why the fireballs are small?"
"Yes. You couldn't change their trajectory as well if they were huge flaming balls of unstoppable destruction."
I see; this technique is quite hard because controlling external chakra is quite hard.
Of course, it's easier because the chakra is my own; I have no idea how bad it would be if I tried to use something else's chakra.
I pushed some of my chakra out of my body in spherical form as I went through the hand seals. When I completed the last Tiger the balls burst into flames and rushed forward. They dissipated before they could even hit the ground.
"I've got nothing more to tell you, though most don't try to use that method, instead most of us spit out each ball from inside the body, makes it easier to compress and control."
That would have been nice to know, this time I built up chakra inside my body, separating it into smaller balls which I spat out at rapid pace. They flew wildly and uncontrolled, I was still unable to manipulate let them to any real degree.
I spent weeks on it before I had passable control over the fireballs. Foolishly, I had depleted my chakra to a dangerous level at the end of this time, confining me to my bed for six days.
A month and a half after first being introduced to the technique I considered it truly learned.
"Don't be so careless, Nanashi-kun." Hiroshi-sensei chided me after I got up from my sick bed.
"I am very sorry Hiroshi-sensei." I bowed as far as was reasonably expected of me.
"Well, what matters is that you're healthy now."
Mother had taken very good care of me while I was resting; she had been very understanding about the whole affair.
Significantly, my chakra levels had risen slightly from the experience.
Despite all of this I was far from eager to repeat the affair, being bedridden for days was extremely difficult on me, a result of my active lifestyle.
"Of course."
"We've got some catch-up to do now."
"It seems so." I replied as I popped my joints back into place and did some stretches.
"It's good that you understand, Nanashi-kun. We'll be using afternoons for a week to make up for it."
"I'll come prepared then, Hiroshi-sensei."
"You've got ten minutes, no sense wasting time."
"I will hurry up then." I quickly changed clothes and collected my equipment, leaving my room in eight minutes.
"Good work, let's go."
I followed Hiroshi-sensei to our normal training ground where after some warm-ups we began to spar.
I launched a roundhouse kick at Hiroshi-sensei's face, failing to connect as he stepped back casually. I jumped forward quickly before he could counter, mounting an aggressive offense.
My attack was halted swiftly by the older man's deft right arm. Finding no opening and having far from infinite stamina I pulled back, allowing my sensei to make a mistake. He did not.
In short order I found myself once again wallowing in the dirt in an undignified fashion. I quickly rose and made that particular hand sign that signified the end of a match. I politely bowed to Hiroshi-sensei.
"Thank you for the spar." We concluded it thus, and he began reviewing my performance, pointing out where I had made errors and complimenting me when I made the right decision.
I then practiced my kunai and shuriken throwing; my shots woefully short ranged and slow due to my less than impressive stature. But that is what strength training is for, and so I try my best to make up the difference with push-ups and dumbbell lifting.
I was quite surprised that when I asked for a hand weight I actually got a real dumbbell, this world is full of surprises.
Recently I've taken up running, both sprinting and long distance, it is the best way to train stamina and speed after all. Quite delectably, it also improves chakra capacity.
"Father, how many Uchiha clans-people are there?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"A good question, we number almost two-hundred."
"You're quite knowledgeable."
"Of course, I am clan head."
"Are you the strongest currently living Uchiha?" No you're not, Madara is still alive but we'll leave that out for now.
"I like to think I am, but there are many talented and wise Uchiha."
Referring to up and comers as well as elders and subtly complimenting both, but we're not in company… It must be his honest opinion.
"Of course, Father."
That evening I went to talk with Mother.
"Mother, do you have anything to teach me?" I was careful to not sound whiny.
"It depends what you want to learn. Hiroshi-san and your Father are both much better fighters than me."
"Mother must be fairly strong or Father wouldn't have married her." I stated confidently.
She laughed gently with a smile, "Your Father wasn't always like he is now. Not that you're wrong, even then he wouldn't marry a helpless little girl."
"Tell me."
"Your Father was head-strong when he was young, confident in his training and the superiority of the Uchiha clan. He had a rude awakening during the war, that's the First Shinobi War; he lost his teammates, his sensei and his father."
"He became convinced that he was weak, and set out to change it. That's when he met me." She smiled nostalgically as she remembered.
"I was a genin at the time and he looked down on genins, they reminded him of himself." It's true, most genin are over-confident.
"He saw me as weak and useless, we went on a mission with a few others together and… I'll spare the bloody details, but he didn't look down on me anymore."
I see, a love born in blood, truly this is a world of killers, and I am from a clan of the best of them.
"Thank you for sharing." It lacked detail and was very brief, but I am thankful that Mother took the time to tell me this much.
"Anytime, Nana-chan." I can burn people alive at this point and I'm still Nana-chan, that's mothers for you.
After finishing my make-up classes my afternoons were free again. This time my thoughts turned to the Rasengan.
I knew the training steps for it yet it didn't feel right to steal it. That word right there, I'm a shinobi, I steal. Still, it would be no good if someone found out that I invented it before Minato, I'd have to keep it a strict secret.
But first, I'd need chakra control. Without the kage bunshin to help me I could spend a year of afternoons training in the technique.
That… that's rather daunting, perhaps it would be better to pick out a melee weapon to train in?
Let's see, meteor hammer? Katana? Perhaps a standard tanto or ninjato? Or maybe I wanted a big sword like Kubikiribuchou? At least I think that's the name of Zabuza's sword.
I looked through all the weapons I could think of mentally.
A whip perhaps? If made properly it could be infused with elemental chakra, now that would be impressive.
But first, I'd need ninja wire.
"Haha, I'm going out to buy some things." I informed my mother.
"You don't have any money."
"Oh." She was right, I didn't have any money.
"Tell me what you want to buy and we'll go get it."
"A large roll of ninja wire, and a piece of strong and flexible leather." I answered.
"I'll also probably need some way to tie the leather together; so strong rope as well."
"What for Nana-chan?"
"I'm going to make a weapon out of it, hopefully it'll work. This brings to mind, strong gloves will be needed too, in a fitting size of course."
"And what kind of weapon would you make out of that?"
"A whip, if I don't like it, I'll try out spears, and then if not that… a light-saber." The last part was added on in English and so quietly that Mother did not hear it.
"Rather strange weapons for a ninja, don't you think?"
"That's the point, I want to take the unbeaten path and discover things no one else has."
"I see, well it's not like this stuff will be too expensive so let's go." I get the distinct impression that she's humoring me because I'm a little kid.
Although… light sabers aren't impossible to make here, with chakra. Asuma's knuckle knives had something similar.
So many weapons… the problem with using a whip is that there are precious few who do, which means precious few can teach me.
The world of ninja's is truly a place to expect the unexpected.
One Week Later
It seems I underestimated the difficulty of safely braiding ninja wire and then tying off the end.
I looked ruefully down at my bleeding arms and spat in the direction of my little project.
Ninja wire was amazingly stubborn sometimes and ridiculously pliable in others. The real difficulty however was in tying off the end, if I didn't the whip would become three separate and wild strands in no time at all.
This was a dilemma almost a great as putting the handle on. This thought brought my gaze to the poorly made and flimsy leather that I called a handle.
I had finally attached it by making tiny holes and braiding the wire through them, unfortunately ninja wire was incredibly sharp and it was cutting through the leather at almost breakneck speed, my handle would soon be naught more than tiny pieces.
This all meant that I'd have to entrust the task to a real craftsman. This however, was unacceptably expensive; commissioning something like this that wasn't commonly asked for was quite costly.
Therefore I'll be setting this task aside, or getting some help, only one person to ask.
I went two houses to the left, "Hiroshi-sensei, sorry to ask you like this but could you help me with something?"
"I can, what is it?"
"It's better if I show you." I had painstakingly brought the 'whip' over and I now revealed it.
"What's this supposed to be?" He asked with a risen eyebrow.
"A whip," Seeing his amusement I added, "for combat."
"A combat whip? You're full of surprises; why do you need my help?"
"My handle is falling apart and I can't tie the other end off."
"I bet it is." He looked over my handy work with a critical eye.
"Well, it's not horribly done, a little bit thicker wire would have been nice but I'll manage."
I nodded, conceding the point.
"We can close off the end a number of ways; first, you could ask a blacksmith, he can take some extra metal and pound it together, this'll also give you a heavy tip."
"Or we could do what you did with the handle, only a tad more reliably."
"What would you do Hiroshi-sensei?"
"Personally? I'd take this to a blacksmith a get him to affix a handle as well as the end, that'll be the sturdiest option."
The wire pieces themselves were two-and-a-half meters long which made the end product rather over two meters; it was loosely braided to maintain flexibility.
"How much does that cost?" I'd always been a penny pincher.
"A few ryo, I know a guy."
"I only have ten ryo." I admitted.
"Don't worry about it kid, I've got plenty and you'll easily pay me back after only a couple missions."
"You are most kind."
"Let's go get it done."
We took the whip over to the blacksmith that Hiroshi-sensei knew, and he told the guy about the idea, who looked at me and raised his eyebrow twice during the short conversation.
"Leave it here; it'll be ready in a couple days."
"Thank you very much." I thanked both Hiroshi and the blacksmith.
As we left Hiroshi-sensei again struck up conversation, "Now kid, I'm more worried about you than the whip."
"Thank you for your concern."
"I mean it, ninja wire is dangerous stuff, I'm surprised your mother let you play around with it." Aha! It's a safety lecture; this man is such a heart-warming sensei.
"You are referring to the possibility of me cutting my own head off?"
"That's exactly right! You can seriously take heads off with that stuff."
"It's a risk I'll have to run."
"You don't have to; you can practice with a much less dangerous whip at first."
Of course I can, I already thought of this. I can just pull down some vines and whip those around; it's where I got the idea in the first place.
"I already have a plan." I smiled at his somewhat disbelieving face.
"Let's see it."
Konoha is a place full of trees, vines of all sizes that hug them is to be expected in this warm climate.
I yanked one down and swiped at my sensei with it, he automatically dodged.
I smiled, "See?"
"It's amateur at best; the difference between a vine and your whip is huge."
My shoulders slumped slightly; Hiroshi really didn't like this whip business did he?
"I'll be careful."
"I've got a better idea; we'll coat the sucker in lightweight washable foam; that should make it safer."
I almost asked, "You guys have industrial foam here?" but I refrained. This would indeed solve some of my problems.
The coating would limit maneuverability, considering that it was stiff and solid, but it would help out in the early months.
I spent my days before entering the academy practicing with the unruly whip and learning more taijutsu and chakra control.
A month before the semester started I finally got rid of the coating on my whip, now switching over to body armor over my vitals to keep myself safe.
It seemed that the art of the whip would never be a real art. I had learned some of what not to do, and some combos that only worked on stationary objects, but I wasn't much better at it than your average motion coordinated person.
It was all rather depressing but I didn't let it get me too far down.
"How's it going, whipping boy?" Once Nii-san found out about it he's been like this, I honestly think his teasing is the only thing keeping me going.
"It's going normal, Nii-san."
"More wasted hours at the whipping post?" This was alluding to the fact that I whipped wooden poles for my training.
"Not wasted, just used poorly."
"Finally realizing the futility of being a whipper snapper?"
The whipping jokes never cease, I say.
"No, I'm just depressed because Nii-san doesn't love me."
"Of course I don't, who'd love an idiot?" He asked laughingly, you really ought to be more careful Nii-san, a normal six year old could be seriously scarred for life if you said that to them.
"I predict that Nii-sans wife will call Nii-san an idiot."
"Then I guess it'll have been an arranged marriage." He replied soberly, to be honest I'm not against arranged marriages.
"You shouldn't try to act older than you are, you won't be getting married for a while."
"You're the one that brought it up, whipping boy!"
"Nii-san is abusive, calling his only brother a whipping boy." I sniffed into my arm.
"What? No! I'm not abusive, you are a whipping boy."
"See what I mean?" I cried harder.
"It's just good natured joking, no need to cry."
"So Nii-san doesn't think that whips are useless?" I asked mournfully.
"Ye…ah so don't cry."
I jumped and did a little victory dance in front of my brother's disbelieving eyes.
"I told you I'd get you to admit it!"
"You persistent brat, I should have known better than to trust you."
"By hook or by crook." I shot him a grin, my chin length hair framing my face.
"Little brat, this conversation didn't happen."
"If you say so nii-san, but what you said still counts, you just didn't say it under duress."
He opened and closed his mouth as he searched for a retort, finally settling with, "Nothing I said got said either."
"So I'm not a whipping boy? Yay!" I jumped for joy.
"You're impossible," Was all he could manage as he sighed and walked away.
"Thank you for your generous compliment, Nii-san," I bowed very slightly as he left. In reply he simply gave me a backwards wave.
Disappointingly, Fugaku isn't all wrong, my progress has truly been painful and slow, I've given myself minor injuries by the dozen.
However, it's a matter of pride now, I can't give up I won't give up. I shall succeed with this ambition.
In the process of reading all I could about ninja wire and whips, I'd run across the fact that it can handle elemental chakra, though water and earth are not very useful.
There is even a Katon technique that's used this way; I'll be looking it up soon.
In a month I'll be joining the academy, I look forward to seeing how I measure up to my peers.
I wonder if I'll be in class with anyone I know. Not really know, but know from the Naruto story, it's feasible I suppose.
Two Weeks Later
"How is my fire manipulation?" I asked my ever reliable Sensei.
"You're coming along decently; we'll need to find something more advanced for training."
"Heating up a rock? Heating water to a boil?" I asked eagerly.
He raised an eyebrow, "Let's go with the second one."
"When will Sensei teach me a new technique?" I was fully allowing my childish side to run rampant.
"Just as soon as you're top of your class."
"In that case, I'll do my best."
"You do that."
Hopefully Hiroshi-sensei doesn't think I'm a reward driven kid, people have memorized books of the Bible for naught more than candy I know.
It's far from above plausibility that a ninja would get to the top of their class for a new jutsu. In fact it's a major bonus to becoming best in class. But it remains a bonus; you should do your best in any case.
Hopefully someday I'll measure up to Hiroshi-sensei and Father.
Two Week Later
The water boiling exercise is really quite useful, I mused as I slurped my noodles; they were rather bland having nothing but oil on them, but it's the closest thing to Italian food around here.
Parmesan cheese is altogether unknown in this life, worse luck. In fact having only Asian food is getting harder on me, I'm used to it by now but I guess sometimes I fondly remember the variety of my life in my last body.
I finished my noodles at length and quietly got up, other than more advanced fire manipulation I've been being drilled in stealth, and I mean to use it.
I made a previously studied walk to the academy and asked for where I should go for testing, my mother shadowing my shoulder.
I reckon it's somewhat abnormal for the kid to lead and the mother to just be there at this point, but I am not going to submit to awkward shyness. You see, I've never been a people person but I'm conquering that fear slowly, like so many others.
The initial testing was absolutely wimpy, though it's to be expected.
The written portion was naught more than an IQ test; prospective shinobi under 75 IQ were immediately turned away.
Of course, this was only the paper side of things, after this they tested strength and stamina. I impressed myself with the fact that I needed lots more of each.
After they tabulated the results they ushered me into what would be my place of learning for a year.
To say I was surprised when the names of some of my classmates were revealed would be an understatement.