Cutting it Close

Well, that was a thing.

Electricity shouldn't work like this. Staying in my hand, not flowing anywhere. Just... there. Screaming, deafeningly loud. I cut the flow of chakra from the jutsu. I had looked at it a little with the Sharingan, but not too much, uncertain whether I could go blind from it despite my dojutsu. Flashbangs hadn't been a problem so far, surprisingly enough.

The thing about electricity was, that it flowed.

Like water running down a hill, following the easiest paths until it all gathered at the bottom, reaching an equilibrium. The best way to learn how electrical wires worked was using the easier-to-imagine metaphor of water pipes. Hell, the unit back before for measuring this flow, the Ampere, was literally just a way of saying a certain amount of electrons moving every second. Like liters of water molecules through a hose, except it was...

Avogadro's number? No, no, I was confusing it with the ideal gasses thing with both of their names.

Coulomb. An Ampere of electricity was literally a Coulomb-full of electrons moving per second. Tiny amp like old kitchen tap, big amp like a firehose, to make it very simple.

So I had been imagining lightning jutsu as taking a garden hose—or super soaker, I guess—and spraying someone with a couple million—no, wait. The Coulomb was massive number. So billions? Trillions? Probably still a couple powers short there. Eh, let's just go with fucktillions. A lightning jutsu was turning on the grade hose and throwing a couple of fucktillions of electrons in a solid stream at them, or something.

But this was more like... I don't know, making a nice pearl necklace loop of electrons somehow and then using chakra to rotate it. Like a chainsaw of electrons in my hand. Times a couple hundred. The sound was literally all those electron pearl necklaces slamming into each other as they spun around. I wasn't so much creating electricity as taking electrons and making them move, the energy cost coming from having to grab all those disparate particles and then move them.

Which was why starting up the jutsu cost more than maintaining it, huh.

I had thought I'd be creating actual elemental energy or something equally arcane. I mean, what did this mean for my Great Fireball's fire?

Damn it, I need to re-examine that jutsu now. This doesn't make any sense.

Still...

I shake my head. "I can't see any situation where I would ever want to use this jutsu, Kakashi."

He merely eye-smiles, though it looks strained.

Guess he's got some emotional baggage related to it, keeping him from not using it. Didn't he kill one of his teammates with it?

"But... Thanks for showing it to me." I finish lamely. "Now, help me with—"

"My Eternal Rival!"

Kakashi cringes, so minutely that I almost miss it. Turning around I stare with furrowed brows at the blur of all-too-tight green and fuzzy black approaching us. Gai halts with a miniature explosion of dust and wind, none of which is the result of chakra but sheer physical conditioning.

"Hmm... Oh, Gai..."

My jounin-sensei sounds tired and drawn, unable to muster his usual cool quips or retorts for his comrade, it was as if he hadn't gotten any rest in a week, and—Ah, did Lee convey my words before the first exam to Gai?

I smother a grin as my teacher shoots me a dirty look.

Figures that he had more than one reason for coming to train me. Who cares about Orochimaru, when there's an overly-affectionate Gai to worry about, right?

Still, never thought I would end up as a beard between two grown, entirely heterosexual men. Or, so I at least assumed. I hadn't actually thought to ask. I glance at Gai. And definitely never would.

I clear my throat.

"Gai-sensei, this is highly inappropriate," I say in my most offended-but-maintaining-a-veneer-of-civility-tone.

He blinks owlishly, a hint of actual hesitation peeking through his usually unbreakable boister, and suddenly I feel like I've kicked a puppy, though I'm well aware of the fact that he's no joke and there's much, much more to Maito Gai than meets the eye.

So I switch tracks on my words halfway through.

"Don't you realize you'll be giving me an unfair advantage against Neji by appearing before me?" I say and activate my Sharingan, attributing his faux pas to thoughtlessness rather than malice.

Actually, while copying Gai's moves could be helpful, they wouldn't specifically be of great use against Neji. In fact, lacking Gai's insane physique, the familiar moves in my hands would only be easier for Neji to defend and win against.

"Oh!" Gai exclaims, slapping his temple lightly. "Ah, how callow and thoughtless of me! Oh!"

I glance at Kakashi, who by the slump of his shoulders appears to have relaxed. At the very least I'm now the focus of Gai's oft-too-intense attention, rather than him. Our eyes meet as I turn off the Sharingan and I push through the thought: you owe me.

He nods without hesitation before his expression regains its usual ineffability.

"Maa, Gai... For now, why don't you attend to your own students for the time being?"

Meaning 'leave me alone for a month'.

"My most heartfelt apologies! My youthfulness overtook my good sense and led me astray, I will have to run a hundred laps around Konoha's walls to atone for this! And if I can't do that..."

I tune the man out, turning to Kakashi.

"Anyhow... I don't think I'll be getting much use out of the Chidori anytime soon. I bet Neji would just tap my hand mid-jab and block the tenketsu, if I try to use it against him."

Kakashi appears puzzled and slightly offended by the idea of someone simply tapping away his prized jutsu, but he doesn't argue. Maybe he's realizing that it might have been just the sound of a hundred birds chirping when we should have been training me to face Neji, that must have drawn in Gai.

"I see, I see. Passing on your sole original jutsu, Kakashi! As expected of my Eternal Rival! Ha-ha! I will not lose, just wait for me, Neji! Your sensei still has much to pass on to you!"

With that Gai takes off in another explosion of dirt and dust. We both look at his retreating back, shaking our heads.

Kakashi sighs and then returns his attention to me, asking quietly with his lone eye what next.

"I want to learn how to use a sword."

He blinks at that and the nonplussed expression sparks joy in me.

"Are you sure? While using a sword against a Gentle Fist user is better than relying on taijutsu, it's hardly an advantageous proposition..." Kakashi questions.

Really?

You would think that a weapon would always beat bare hands... But I guess the Hyuuga must know that, too. Yet they've continued to use their Gentle Fist for decades now and have utterly dominated with it, so I suppose they must know how to deal with all kinds of weapons just fine.

Actually, no yeah... Chakra can resist items pretty easily. They could probably just poke the sword and make it explode out of your hands before it even touched their skin. Fascinating stuff, chakra.

"Well, the sword has nothing to do with Neji. I just want to learn how to use the sword."

"Hmm..." Kakashi doesn't say anything to that, but I can sense his skepticism.

"I guess it won't hurt to tell you what I've got planned for Neji..."

I quickly explain my plan—the outline of the scheme to defeat the Byakugan with the Sharingan in a single blow.

The jounin straightens up, his lone eye widening with every word until I finished.

He chuckles, eye crinkling with amusement, and shakes his head.

"I had already forgotten what a nasty little brat you were."

I smirk.

"Don't worry, it's just my irresistible natural charm at work, making you forget. The only one it doesn't work on is Naruto. Wish Sakura had some of his innate resistance, though..."

Kakashi scoffs and shakes his head. "Maa, well. I suppose it won't hurt to indulge my cute little student some, when he specifically asked for my help..."

Indulge my ass. You know Gai'll just come back if he thinks we're not training.

"Wait a minute."

Kakashi lowered his katana, looking curiously at me.

A creeping realization had started setting in once he had showed me the stances used with the sword and had explained the basics - how which stance beat which and how they were thusly named after the elemental natures of chakra, creating a synergy.

But I knew all this.

Hasso beats Gedan beats Chūdan beats Jōdan beats Wakigamae, which in turn beats Hasso-no-kamae and starts the cycle anew... I knew this from what I had dabbled kendo - the esoteric nonsense they hammered into their guard stances under the guise of matching Buddhist teachings and the imported Chinese elements overcoming and leading into one another in one big wibbly-wobbly mess.

Only...

"Oh my god, Kishimoto just goddamn swapped Wood to Lightning and Metal to Wind and turned the pentagram into a circle."

So that was why Lightning chakra beat Earth chakra, even though everyone knows that Earth should totally beat Lightning. I mean, Pokemon! And electricity being grounded! And... Uh, well in some games Earth and Wind were opposite elements, with Lightning being a facet of Wind.

Or was that just in the Mana series...?

I shook my head, realizing that Kakashi was staring at me.

"Sorry, it's nothing. I just... realized something."

"Hmm, maa, that's fine. It looks like you understand the basics of the stances well enough."

I nodded.

There was no need for me to even bring out the Sharingan for this much. All these stances were more or less completely familiar to me already even if I hadn't done them so much with a katana or bokuto. I went through them, trying out small variations as I did.

Lightning—hands beside my head with the blade pointing straight up. Like a bolt from the heavens, connecting high and low.

Earth—blade before my body, tip lowered to knee height. The ground, beneath everything, implacable and eternal, steady and strong.

Water—raising the hilt up to my waist height, tip pointing slightly up. Like the crest of a wave, not quite level, but pointing at my opponent's throat, able to accommodate and surge around anything.

Fire—blade held high above my head. Not straight up as in Lightning, but curved like the dancing flames that burn everything, unstoppable once it gathers momentum.

Wind—hands at my waist, blade pointing backward. Hidden behind my body, invisible and unknowable, but gathering strength to strike with great force.

I let go of the katana with my other hand and rolled my shoulders.

"Just to confirm, these stances aren't like chakra natures, right?" I asked, moving between the stances fluidly. "I mean, the differences between Hasso and Jōdan are pretty minimal when you get down to it, so they can't be as strictly defeated as with elemental chakras..."

"Maa, something like that. They all have their advantages and weaknesses."

"Right. Lightning can do anything pretty well, Earth can't attack well but is strong in defense, Water flows around all attacks and can transition into stronger defense or offense equally, Fire foregoes all defense for the strongest offense, and Wind can't be seen until it hits you so it's tricky to deal with."

Kakashi blinks once and nods.

"So because Wind can come from above or below—or even from the side, sideways, hitting with either the flat or the blade—even if Lightning can in theory guard against all of those variations, because a reaction is always slower than action, it generally loses. But not always, because Lightning could just kill Wind before Wind attacks. Though if they try to just swing at each other at the same time, Wind has a longer way to wind up power and wind in the otherwise equal clash..."

"...So it goes," Kakashi agreed, actually appearing a little taken aback by how I had recited all that without taking a single breath.

I sigh.

I had read and tried it out back before and I had found it to be generally just nonsense.

Sure, there was some logic behind it, but the ultimate truth in sword fights was that timing beat everything. Because despite everything I had said about Wind beating Lightning, I could think of an equal number of ways Lightning could beat Wind. Some reasonings a lot flimsier, sure, but an equal number nonetheless. And it didn't matter if something was theoretically better, if in practice anything else worked, too.

How did the Germans put it—the worst device in the hands of a master will always beat the best device in the hands of a novice—or something like that? Or well, just Patton: a decent plan executed vigorously now is better than a perfect plan executed tomorrow.

Even in kendo itself, where the idea that Water always beats Fire, or rather that Chūdan always beats Jōdan was written down, it was common for high-level kendo practitioners to transition out of using the common Chūdan and into just using Jōdan and still continue winning.

And as far as I had been able to tell, it wasn't treated as some sort of intentional handicap either.

So really, the guards meant nothing. Because you can do anything out of anything once you hit a certain level.

Well, I knew that much already, I sighed and shook my head.

"How much does the blade's quality matter? My understanding is that we go through kunai like socks, with how much edge-on-edge work we do with them. So what about swords?"

We ninja don't actually wear socks, but samurai and some peasants did, so I think he understood what I meant.

"Hmm... Maa, a good sword will last you a while. But best practice is to avoid it altogether—in the end, average blades are quite fragile." Saying that he waved his sword with one hand as if expecting it to snap from the half-hearted effort alone.

"Figures," I grumbled, looking at my own blade.

I had known it wasn't a masterpiece by any measure given the price tag when I had first bought it, but being told that so bluntly was pretty disheartening. I mean, I knew that some guards with the katana were specified to only last a few uses, like tachi-no-tori, but it still felt annoying not to be able to rely on a weapon.

Curse you, superhuman strength and speed. Well, not really.

This was probably why huge anime swords were a thing in the setting, too. Just scale it up until it lasts. Speaking of... Wasn't the Hidden Mist famous for their swords? What with their Seven Swordsmen and all? Maybe I could see if Zabuza could hook me up somewhere along the way with a more reliable blade.

"For now, should we start and see how it goes?" Kakashi asks with a small spark of mirth, bringing his blade to bear in a Lightning guard.

"Sure, why not," I reply, falling into Wind before kicking off towards him.

I calm my breath as I sheathe the sword, giving a sideways glance at the setting sun.

We really spent the whole day just training with the swords, huh.

I think Kakashi found it relaxing, which was why we kept the tempo fairly low. Rather than heated clashes, we both continued feeling each other out, playing the preliminary rock-paper-scissors game of the outfight, testing and turning the timing, hopping in and out of our respective ranges, rarely even initiating the strike that could have struck home.

Now that I've had the chance to try it out, I guess anime swordsmanship suddenly makes a lot more sense.

In all the styles of sword I had dabbled and trained in, back before, there was a certain range that was absolutely critical, roughly where the tips of two weapons could touch between two swordsmen. In kendo it had been called the issoku itto no ma'ai. Simply translated, it meant the distance at which you needed only a single step and a single strike to cut an opponent down.

Too far for someone to simply reach out and cut without stepping, but closer than two steps would call for.

A sweet spot for reaction time and technique both.

Which was why a lot of swordwork usually had to do with the blades remaining in touch with each other, forcing the wielders to work more with their sense of touch than their eyes, turning the steel blade into a featherlight faux-whisker, sensitive to the slightest shift and settle.

I still remembered how a kendoka who had taught me the basics, back before, had been able to tell exactly how I had been gripping the bamboo sword without looking, and had been able to advise me on how to grip it better, simply from what he had perceived through his own bamboo sword against mine, saying 'relax your right hand'. That, and he could also sense the tremor of my muscles, able to tell when I was about to initiate an attack from the slightest change in pressure.

I could never do it, but then, I'd preferred the grapple anyway.

It was why I worried about the relative fragility of our swords - I was expecting the binding of blades. But in all our training today we only had four clashes. Or rather, our blades touched only four times all day. Because the "single step" of a shinobi was something completely different from a "single step" back before.

Kakashi could cross a whole clearing in a single bound, even without any noticeable chakra build up and I was pretty sure I could do the same with just a little bit of Flicker thrown in.

Back before the way of the sword was subtle and minute, often the boundary between having the center and of dying was a matter of a centimeter. But here it was quite literally a matter of teleporting behind someone and whispering how it was nothing personal as you shanked them. Outflanking and outmaneuvering was the name of the game.

It was still throwing me a little bit for a the loop.

Because there was a nagging feeling of something missing. Almost like I was on the cusp of some realization—an enlightenment of the sword. Well, I have all month. No hurry.

"Thanks for today. I'm heading home now."

Kakashi nodded, flicking his blade lazily and sheathing it. Not that there was anything marring the blade.

"Maa, didn't you want to work on your chakra capacity? I'm sure we could still squeeze in some Chidori practice. I'm sure you could coat that blade of yours in lightning in no time."

I scoffed at his smiling suggestion.

"And wake all of Konoha? No thanks. I'm going home and that's final. Night, sensei."

Turning around brusquely and giving him no room for a rebuttal, I ignored his amusement and began trudging on home, ignoring the itchy feeling on the back of my neck and the eyes in the trees.

I was pretty sure I already had the chakra thing handled. If not today, then by the end of the week.

Ah... I kind of get why Sasuke always wore shorts before now. It's so hot... I was probably only realizing it now after the pleasantly cool Wave country and always-shaded Forest of Death, but heat management was a lot more important than I had originally supposed. I suppose the Fire country was modeled after southern Japan in summer, though I can't hear any cicadas...

All around, Konoha was winding down for the night at a pleasant and relaxed pace, but even so, more than a few dozen people recognized and greeted me cheerfully, wishing me luck in the finals and offering their well-wishes. As expected of the Uchiha—this year's prodigy—the Copy Nin's student, et cetera.

I didn't particularly mind, but I made a note to just fly back home in the future and save myself the hassle of needless social interactions. Flying would also cool me down... Ah, it's hot.

Entering the compound I headed straight for the lake, shedding articles of clothing and bundling them up in my arms as I went. Tossing aside the cloth-wrapped-katana I jumped headfirst into the perfectly chilled water, diving a good fifteen meters out in just my boxers and sandals.

Floating in the water, I let the softly lapping waves caress my hair and scalp, washing away that annoying sensation that had been building up all day, staring up at the slowly clearing sky above, the last red rays of the evening sun giving way to the soft blues and cold hues of the night sky.

I liked Konoha.

I hadn't quite put the sentiment to words in my mind before, but that realization in this moment felt too momentous to simply let slip past.

I really liked Konoha.

Sure, the attempts at making me cultivate lasting bonds with my team hadn't been very successful and I didn't really have any close friends, but that was more about my shortcomings as a human being than any of Konoha's. I had a good place, plenty of freedom, a heritage of sorts to protect, money, and a place to build myself up in.

My decision to imitate canon Sasuke had been something of a falsehood until now. Even now it was difficult to drudge up any kind of emotions regarding Itachi, since I barely even knew the rest of the clan... But the thought of rebuilding the Uchiha clan - of making a home and raising a family...

That, I could get behind as myself — as Uchiha Sasuke.

I chuckled.

"Dude, you have a fully functional bath at home."

Turning around and raising my elbows onto the water with chakra, I glanced lazily at my clone at the water's edge by the wooden platform.

"Yeah, but swimming is always better. Plus, my sandals stink and I don't actually want to wash them..."

My Shadow Clone blinked, considering the merits proposed before nodding, looking mildly impressed.

"So, any progress with the seals?"

He shrugged, sitting down onto the platform so that his bare feet were in the water. "Eh, about what you'd expect. I think I should do a run by Naruto tomorrow and just throw some at his face and ask what he thinks about them."

"Eh, couldn't hurt. Think he's already found the old perv?"

"Probably. Not that I'm going to ask him for any help."

I nodded and released my chakra, returning to floating in the water. Having tangled with Orochimaru, however tangentially, I had no interest in trying my luck with either of the other two Sannin. They were all just as dysfunctional and dangerous in their own ways.

Maybe I'd ask for an autograph, though. Hadn't really considered it until now.

Silence fell and evening rolled on into night. It was strange, how I had missed this.

The comfortable silence that needed no words to fill it.

I am Uchiha Sasuke and Konoha is my home...

And it was about to be invaded by two villages in a month's time if my foreknowledge would hold true again. I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't; Orochimaru wasn't the type to give up so easily on what he wanted, and staging an invasion was bar none his best shot at me again.

This wasn't like the detachment I had experienced in Wave, but it wasn't really getting to me as much as it should either, the fact that all of this was in danger. I had some nerves, but it felt as if it was more about Neji than anything else. Pre-match jitters, not a fear for my life or those of everyone else.

A lot hinged on that first match of mine. More than just a shot at the vest.

The moment he manages to seal a tenketsu, I'll give up.

I couldn't afford to be out for the invasion. Which was why I had prioritized taking Neji out with a single blow—tiring neither myself nor Neji too much before the real fight. If it was just a matter of winning against Neji I already had a pretty good idea how to do that at range.

Given how much he trained with Tenten I was sure he would feel supremely confident against ninja tools, but if I could get a single Kaiten out of him then that would be it for him. Once he brought that thing out it should be laughably easy to tire him out by forcing him to continue rotating by aiming for the exact moment he stopped and his back, forcing him to continue spinning.

Tenten didn't have that level of pinpoint accuracy, but I did. So unless I had entirely misunderstood the Kaiten, it should work.

But I wasn't looking to match the Uchiha's famed shurikenjutsu against the Hyuuga's all-seeing eye. For starters, most of my throwing techniques were my own, rather than anything from the Uchiha.

Guess I should up the ante tomorrow.

"Hey."

My clone looked up.

"Anyone tail you today?"

He shook his head. So it was just me. Guess they could tell the clone from the real thing somehow.

I nodded.

"Find Naruto tomorrow. I want that seal working by the end of the week. Not just a prototype—no kinks, no flaws, no issues. Perfect working order."

"...Got it."

Lifting my head out of the water I turned around and began swimming back to my clothes. Sensing that the day was over, my clone dispelled himself as I reached land, giving me time to get solid ground beneath my feet before I had to sort through my parallel memories.

Getting my stuff, I headed back home to get some dinner and sleep.

"Yo, Naruto."

The blond whirled around, blinking at my sudden appearance as I stepped through the bushes onto the riverside. To the side, a tall man with long white hair was hunched over a bush giggling obscenely as he ignored us. I returned the favor.

"Why're you here, bastard? Don't you have Kakashi-sensei to train with?"

Ah, was that a note of resentment I was hearing?

"So did Kakashi saddle you with this guy?" I ask, eyeing Jiraiya.

Naruto grumbled, shaking his head.

"It's not him. Kakashi-sensei tried to have me working with that closet pervert, even though I can beat him with my hands tied behind my back already!"

I whistled. "Seriously? Sorry. Guess that's your replacement, then? He any good?"

The blond glared at me suspiciously.

"Right, right. Not prying. I was actually hoping for a quick little favor from you. Can you take a break for a few minutes?"

He squinted at me, still suspicious, but still looking a little flattered and happy that I was coming to ask him for help.

"Well..." Naruto trailed off, glancing at the Sannin's back and then back to his hand.

I could see the bitemarks lining his thumb, so I figured that meant he was working on summoning again. Without Orochimaru's tampering on the Kyuubi's seal and with water walking under his belt he should have plenty of time to work on it...

But he probably wouldn't get it just working hard the normal way.

That was kind of my problem with Naruto as a character back before—the fact that for all his bluster and big promises, without the Kyuubi he would really just be full of hot air and not much else. Maybe some broth out through the ears, but that would be about it.

I glanced at Jiraiya.

What was the point of teaching Naruto a jutsu if it was just a means of getting him onto the 'rely on the Kyuubi's chakra'-path, especially when he did have quite a bit of natural talents of his own that he could work on?

Well, I did already meddle with Sakura's training, so maybe a little here won't hurt. Just balancing the scales, balancing the scales...

"Heh, I bet you got taught some weird jutsu that takes a lot of chakra to use, too?"

Naruto looked at me with wide eyes, blinking twice before he nodded.

"Yeah, Kakashi taught me some weird and dumb jutsu that leaves me completely popped after four shots, so I figured you'd be doing the same."

He grimaced and looked away at that. Because at least I can do my jutsu, just days after we started training separately, unlike you who's still stuck summoning tadpoles.

"Let me guess; judging by that sad puppy look, you're struggling with it, right?"

Naruto didn't answer, but his expression turned into a scowl, all but confirming my words.

"How about we make it a trade? I help you, you help me?"

"...Alright." The blond relented pretty easily. I guess he had been hoping for it, even if he was putting up a show of reluctance, the little tsundere. "But what's your thing? A new jutsu?"

"It's a seal thingy."

As I said those words, the Sannin who had been ignoring us until now seemed to shift. It was a minute thing, something Naruto completely missed and as would have I, if I hadn't been paying attention to the man already. He was now actively listening to us.

"Storing a jutsu for later use, that kind of thing."

"Huh... Sounds weird, but I guess you would do something tricky like that," Naruto opined and I smirked at his roundabout praise. "Yeah, you got it. But you help me first!"

"I can live with that." I shrugged. "So what're you working on?"

Naruto grinned. "Watch this!"

He bit his thumb and ran through the handseals—which I of course copied with the Sharingan, even if I didn't have a summoning contract to use them with. Yet. Yet? Yet.

"Summoning jutsu!" he shouted, slamming his hand onto the ground beneath us.

I had pretty much expected it, but seeing the tiny tadpole was actually a lot funnier in person, given how much chakra smoke there had been. Even with my rudimentary skill for sensing chakra, that amount had more than tickled. I couldn't help it; I snorted.

Naruto's eye twitched and I could see his face heating up, but he kept quiet.

"It's supposed to be bigger, but I just can't get it to work..." he complained, looking away.

I nodded.

"I'm guessing here, but it needs more chakra, right?" I said and turned off my Sharingan. I could see how much he had pushed into the jutsu itself, and it hadn't been that much.

Naruto, being the broth brain he was, had grown used to relying on handseals to guide him in his jutsu, telling how much chakra they needed and letting it pour out by itself. When he first started the tree walking exercise his issue wasn't that he was pushing too much chakra into the surface, but too little. Maybe because of how massive his reserves were, chakra just responded sluggishly to his command.

"Yeah, that's what the Pervy Sage said."

I raised a brow at the moniker. Was that from the dub? I only remembered it as Ero Sennin. But I guess that was a pretty good translation, so whatever. Seeing my reaction, Naruto had misunderstood and pointed at the white-haired man to show who he meant.

"Right. Well... That's pretty easy to fix." I nodded.

"R-really?"

"Yeah. The problem is that you're a freak of nature with too much chakra and all your internal perceptions are completely whacked. I mean, if I ask you to describe the difference between how much chakra you use on a single Shadow Clone versus a dozen, you probably couldn't even tell yourself, right?"

"Uh..."

Naruto wasn't sure if I was badmouthing him for the sake of badmouthing him, or if I was going somewhere with this.

"When normal people would feel like just one clone is already a huge jutsu, considering that it halves your chakra supply."

He blinked again as if reminded of that fact. He looked down, placing a hand on his gut. Guess he must have been thinking about that for a while now. Especially if the old super pervert had mentioned it as an explicit goal of training.

"So what you need to do is get used to knowing how much chakra you're using."

"Okay. How do I do that?" he asked, looking up as he clenched his fist.

"You remember the water walk?"

"Of course."

I pointed at the river beside us. "I want you to stand on the water and push out so much chakra that all the water is pushed away from you, until your feet touch the bottom of the river. And then I want you to get used to the feeling and learn to recognize it, gauging it by how much water you're pushing away."

"Huh?"

I raised the hand in a gesture I had copied from Iruka-sensei - literally copied, since my immature Sharingan had activated during one particular lesson about counter-ambush tactics.

"Your problem is that you can't feel how much chakra you're using, right? So you need some other way of seeing how much you're using, a measuring stick to work with, to try and figure it out. Like you can't see, because the lights are off, so you feel out with your hand until you find the switch."

"Oh... Yeah, that makes sense." Naruto nodded, crossing his arms, processing the suggestion.

"So once you get a feel for it, you should be able to put as much as you want into your summoning jutsu, right?"

And even if not, it would still improve his ability to push out chakra quickly, improving his Flickering indirectly. The Orange Menace is inevitable.

"Now, hold on just a moment."

I almost started at the sound of the stranger's voice. Jiraiya was right next to us, staring down at me. Holy hell he was tall up close. When the hell did he even move?

I knew he was good, but damn.

"Don't think I will simply take you bothering my student, and distracting him from my valuable teachings lying down."

Naruto and I snorted at the exact same time.

The blond because Jiraiya had just been peeping and ignoring Naruto until now, and me because I knew the sage's actual plan was just to make Naruto rely on the tailed beast's power. Still, our united front had successfully affronted the man as he frowned at us both.

"Now," I began, using my most condescending tone of voice now that I had already gotten onto the 'fuck with every Sannin'-route. "I appreciate that you're taking the time out of your busy schedule to help my..."

I paused, turning to look at Naruto. He looked back at me, curious.

"Friend?" I tried out the word, tasting it for just a second before we both shuddered as one. "No. That's wrong."

"Yeah, no way, bastard."

"Uh... my..."

"Rival. We're rivals!" Naruto declared boisterously.

I waved my hand in a so-so manner with a pained expression. "Look, I appreciate your enthusiasm too, but you're like three leagues below me, broth brain."

"Hey!"

I ignored his protest, turning back to Jiraiya who was eyeing us weirdly now.

"Subordinate doesn't sound right either—Ah! Flunkie." I snapped my fingers and smirked at Naruto's outraged expression. "Look man, I appreciate you taking care of my flunkie, but if it cuts into my time then it's unacceptable."

Jiraiya snorted, crossing his arms looking definitely as much amused as he was annoyed by my apparent bluster. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Kind of. I'm pretty sure you're that guy who's banned from every hot spring between here and Iron country," I riposted without missing a beat and the surprise in his eyes was pretty priceless. "And I'm the clan heir who's got this guy," I say with emphasis and slap Naruto on the shoulder, "on clan consulting retainer contract. So if I go talk to the Hokage about this, guess who he'll side with?"

That was, of course, complete bull.

I mean, sure, the letter of the law was pretty heavily in favor of the clans, but the Uchiha were pretty pathetic at the moment, and Jiraiya was a living fucking legend. As in, not only was his fucking legendary, but he was the sort of legend who needed the appellation for clarity's sake. You know, to distinguish him from all the norma legendaries trash. So even if I did bring this up with the Hokage he would just laugh and throw me out. Probably.

But I was having a dick-waving contest right now, so scratch being reasonable.

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked.

"That piece of paper I had you sign at the tower before the matches, remember? When we were studying seals?"

"Huuh...?" The blond blinked, confused. "I thought you said that was for ramen money?"

"Yeah, it was. But in return, I get to pick your head whenever I want. That was the deal we made."

"Ooooh. Yeah, I guess that makes—Hey! I'm your flunkie for real?!" Naruto shouted with mounting panic, pointing at me.

"Duh."

"No way! No way! No way, y'know!" Naruto protested. "I refuse! Where's that paper, I'll tear it apart immediately!"

"You sure? That will activate the breach-of-contract clause."

"Huh?"

"The part where you agreed that if you broke the contract you would agree to the penalty of never visiting Ichiraku Ramen again. I already filed the paperwork with them and you've agreed to it by already using that tab I set up for you."

"WHA—! No way! No way! No way...!"

Naruto was having a full-blown panic attack now, falling apart at the seams, clutching his head and pulling at his hair as he stomped the ground, eyes wide and wild.

"S-Sasuke! You bastard! How could you!?"

I just raised a brow at him. That was obvious.

"Duh, I'm an evil-eyed bastard, remember? Didn't I tell you to read it properly before signing it? I could have made you swear to never marry Sakura or something, if I had really wanted to."

He froze, realization settling in and he slumped over, left little more than a quietly whispering wreck as the life fled out of him. It was even as if all color had faded out of him, too, making for a rather amusing picture.

I snorted. Only to then realize that Jiraiya had recovered from his momentary confusion and was now staring at me intently enough to put Orochimaru to shame.

"And what would the heir of the Uchiha want with Uzumaki Naruto?"

Whoa Nelly!

Whoa Nelly!

Whoa Nelly!

That's not killing intent but holy hell is it intense!

Right, he must think I'm after the Kyuubi or something. Come on, Sasuke. Find your balls and fuck with this guy, you already set it all up.

Mustering my bluster, I cleared my throat.

"Same as you, obviously."

Eyes turned to pinpricks, and—there is it, the killing intent.

But I keep my cool. "He's going to be the greatest sealing master the world has ever seen, so obviously I'm getting my claws in him before I have to actually start paying him anything more than lump sums for ramen. Duh."

Again.

Utterly priceless, seeing Jiraiya so completely lost at my words. Then he chortled, overcome by hilarity. Or perhaps his mind simply rebelled at the thought of my being actually serious and took a momentary leave.

"Him? A sealing master? Hah! Hahaha!"

"H-hey!" Naruto objected to Jiraiya's skepticism.

I let the Sannin ride it out for a moment, before I said anything.

"I mean it's only logical, he's got all the makings of one."

The Toad Sage wiped a tear out of his eye and loomed over me. "Oh, and what would those makings be, then?"

Where do I even begin? More chakra than god, extreme affinity with Shadow Clones and seal script, the ability to think outside the box, the sheer bullheadedness to not give up regardless of how impossible it might seem...

But instead, I merely smiled knowingly, as if mocking his inability to see it for himself.

The silence stretched, turning taught as the older man continued to stare down at me. Finally, Jiraiya broke it off, his hilarity gone and replaced by a glimmer of calculation in his eye as he looked at his would-be apprentice.

"Well, anyhow. Naruto, I wanted your opinion on a few of these seals I had made..." I said and took out my prototypes and showed them to him. The blond scratched his head, squinting at the squiggly lines and characters as Jiraiya continued to loom over us, silent and weighing.

It was only when Naruto managed to decipher what I had been trying to accomplish within a minute that something sparked within the sage's gaze. A sort of realization, I reckoned and studiously pretended to not have noticed.

You're welcome, broth brain.

That whole deal with trying to make him tap into a murderous energy that would flash-vaporize the skin right off of his body, as it continually healed him and made him go berserk had always seemed a little... questionable, in my opinion, even assuming the premise that Naruto was actually as stupid as he seemed. Hopefully this way Naruto would get some actually useful training besides the first two jutsu Jiraiya deigned to throw his way now.

Also, technically I'd be seeing the greatest profit out of all this, since I pretty owned him for the next decade.

Best yet, Naruto had a few very poignant remarks which instantly cleared up how I should go about designing my new seal.

"Good job, Naruto. You have earned three bowls at Ichiraku for this."

"You're buying?" He perked up.

"No, I mean you're allowed to buy three bowls for yourself and I won't activate one of the other clauses in the contract."

"Khh...! Sasuke, you bastard...!"

Just one more thing.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama, may I ask a question?"

I adopted a humbler attitude, which caused both of the two idiots whiplash. The sage raised an inquiring brow, which was as good as a go-ahead.

"In Icha Icha, did you prefer writing Hinako or Haruka more?"

He immediately adopted a wide leer as my blond teammate groaned.

"A fan, huhuhuhuh? That should be obvious given the number of scenes, Haruka was—"

I dropped the mien like a rock, expressing my purest disappointment intent at the sage, shutting him up instantly.

"I can't fucking believe I ever liked Icha Icha, you have such shit taste. God." I turned and left, shaking my head and making a show of tossing my copy in the river.

Ah, that's what it was.

All three clones I had left behind popped as I hit the bed, hair still damp from my bath, clinging to my head pleasantly cool. I skimmed through the memories of conversing with Naruto and Jiraiya, but ultimately disregarded them as uninteresting compared to the two Shadow Clones I had left behind with wooden swords for all day.

They had tried out and practiced what Kakashi had taught me yesterday and then tested out what I had known about swords from back before, attaining a few rather startling realizations and reaffirmations along the way.

Swordsmanship here was really rudimentary and undeveloped.

Just as back before, even with superhuman strength and speed in the equation here, the binding of blades was the most important part of using a sword. I still thought that, even if it was not the prevailing doctrine here. Just because the ma'ai had changed did not mean that the reality of two blades locking had vanished.

At longer distances you could freely swing your blade any way you wanted, but once you were at the range where blades could connect it all changed. The moment two weapons bit into each other suddenly imposed a wall, cutting off the ways in which you could freely move your sword, defining the ways in which you could use your sword. Not just because you could not physically push aside their sword, but also because if you heedlessly removed it, they could simply cut at your undefended body.

Just because I was a dozen times stronger than before didn't change that paradigm.

Sure, I could theoretically push back a human being with the tip of my sword now despite the overwhelmingly disadvantageous leverage—in effect, the reverse of Archimedes' lever when he boasted of moving the world—when I couldn't have done that before—well, except that with the tree walking exercise you could stick to the ground they could negate the strength advantage, but you had to disregard that since both of us could do it for leverage and bringing it back to just strength, resulting in no net change in the equation—anyway, a swordsman didn't have to let me push them, they could just re-direct that force at an angle and leave me wide open for their counter-attack.

Like making a massive, overly-telegraphed punch and missing the swing altogether. Or rather, like walking over slippery ice and losing your footing.

The sword, as ever, was an art most subtle and sublime when the blades touched.

So why didn't the locals understand that? Why did they opt for anime swordsmanship with long dashes in and out of range with only one or two exchanges made in passing? Aside from the obvious cop-out answer of "it is just an anime", that is...

Was it the asymmetry?

Kakashi fought Zabuza with a kunai, that one sickly sword dude who will probably die against Baki again died to a jutsu... Orochimaru used his sword against the Third Hokage, but the old man had a staff that changed length if I remembered correctly. Kisame had his big-ass nailbat thing against Asuma's trench-knives, too.

With our emphasis on stealth and the sheer variety of tools at our disposal, it's not that strange for there to be no advanced fencing systems. Maybe?

It was like knife-fighting - where the only art was that of murder, because you simply killed your opponent. 'Here they fight with daggers, may God have mercy on us all!', as Talhoffer put it in his medieval manuscript for armed combat.

Certainly, all kinds of close-range knife-fighting techniques and counter-techniques had been devised, but they all either reeked of ignorance or when based on anything resembling reality - of desperation. Because in the face of sheer aggression from a knife, nothing but running away worked to preserve your life. One of the most lethal styles for the knife ever devised that I had known back before, consisted almost solely of ramming their shoulder into your chest and just going through your gut like a sewing machine, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, without giving you the first opportunity to even reach for their hands or knife, or any other such fancy technique.

There was just no room for functional technique there.

Even our kunai here lacked that ability to pressure and defend consistently while in our hands, forcing us to rely more on it as a thrown weapon.

It kinda felt like that with the swords here, only with 'h-hayai!' and shanking them from behind the moment they looked away. Why the swordsman in the Forest of Death had focused on honing such a big move, as to create clones as diversion for his true attack.

Without clearly defined boundaries and rules for the engagements, it was pointless to try and develop subtler techniques on leverage and distance. Why train for years to recognize the slightest shift preceding a rock in rock-paper-scissors, so you can throw paper, when in fact at any time they could just pull the gun or the devil or the nuke... or any one of those other made-up options?

It makes sense...

But there was still that nagging feeling of a burgeoning enlightenment. I was missing something, but I practically had it already. I just needed to get it into a coherent thought.

Inhaling and closing my eyes, I tried to change my point of view. Rather than analyze the height of technique or the exchanges of experts, I should try and understand the basics.

What was the soil from which these paradigms had sprung?

My eyes opened and I sat up.

"Huh, that's obvious."

There was no real wrestling tradition here.

My first fight against Kakashi had pretty definitely proved that grappling simply couldn't work between ninja. If you tried to remain in that close proximity for long enough for anyone to gather their chakra, they would simply blow you off them with the chakra repulsion method.

And it was grappling arts, not the striking ones, that were the predecessor of complex swordsmanship.

Because you didn't look with your eyes but instead used your sense of touch and proprioception to feel the opponent's moves—or "listen" as the Asian martial arts had called it, for some strange reason—to determine how you should move and act. It was similar to infighting styles of boxing, too, where the left jab was used to feel out the range and position of your opponent while maintaining a guard, without raising or opening up your face and chin by looking, so that you could throw some power punches like straights and have them still hit.

Those styles of fighting just didn't seem to exist here, as I had noted during my taijutsu lessons in the Academy.

All the sparring and training I had done while trying to make a mixed martial art style, based on the paradigms of back before, had been completely undone in the space of fifteen minutes with Kakashi. If I couldn't effectively hold onto someone because they could just blow me off with chakra, then grappling was nearly useless, wasn't it?

Even Lee and Gai—the foremost taijutsu specialists—are aware of this. They use the bandage wrappings to grab onto someone rather than an actual grab for that inner gate drop technique, don't they?

But that weakness didn't exist with the sword.

You couldn't pass chakra through steel that way. Maybe with a lot of practice, you could approximate it with extremely high-grade chakra steel, but most ninja didn't have anything like that. Meaning if I skipped the step of wrestling and went straight to swordsmanship, it might still work just fine.

Now that I think about it, the applications there are pretty staggering...

If I could use a sword to stick to their weapon, I could force the clash to happen in a familiar way to myself, but a completely unfamiliar way to everyone else. As in, they try to block and I grab onto their weapon with mine. They try to pull loose and I add in an explosion that blows them completely wide. They try to cut at me and I explode at the point of contact, sending their sword flying harmlessly to the side and my sword through their neck in a Polish-style saber cross-cut.

It didn't even necessarily have to be to the level of Musashi's Lacquer and Glue principle where I stuck my body close to them, but so long as I could cancel the forces for just a moment at the collision of our swords, I could still work all those principles from back before, too.

I'm totally using the Lacquer as the name for the sword version of sticking our weapons together, whenever I actually get it to work. And... Spring? Spring, for the repelling. Lacquer and Spring.

Hah. Look at me, already drawing up names, even though I was worlds away from actually realizing the technique.

Because, equally staggering would be the cost of a sword made out of chakra steel to even make any of that possible. Even Kakashi's legendary old man had only had a tanto of the stuff.

I had been slowly building the necessary infrastructure to support my endeavor to build a powerful bow all this time, and that wasn't even a fraction of what a blade like that would cost. But the bow also wasn't turning out anywhere near as interesting as I had thought it would, years ago.

The Flicker Sling alone had rendered the weapon entirely superfluous in any range except that of the extreme

And while regular steel was a pain to push chakra through, the wood shafts and bone nocks I had been working with weren't doing much better. More than once, in trying to use the repelling attribute of chakra on the nock of the arrow just as I release it, it had simply exploded all over me.

Because the arrow didn't just need to withstand my chakra, it also needed to withstand the immense pressures the bow limbs and string put it under as it launched it. So at this rate, each individual arrow I wanted to loose with any additional technique thrown into the mix, would have to be a custom-made piece from tip to nock. And those costs would pile up just the same as all others did.

And in the long run...

So... This might be worth investigating and investing in.

If I could "discover" an entirely new branch of techniques for the sword, it would make me that much more effective and dangerous.

Hell, if I could get any good chakra steel blade and learn how to conduct my chakra through it fluidly, I could literally supercharge a bunch of techniques I knew to the point of making them utterly broken. If anyone fighting me willingly clashes weapons, expecting me to play along and just bounce away and reset as we did in taijutsu bouts, and then instead I cut them down in that first exchange before they could even react...

I was getting excited just thinking about the possibilities.

This was just like how I had felt back before, when I had first decided to start learning swordsmanship. Western historical fencing, reenactment, Olympic fencing, kendo, kenjutsu... Sure, I had joined a bunch of clubs and groups with the sole intent of learning how to dual wield in real life, but I had decided to do it by learning what made the conventional techniques work, and then applying it to whatever I wanted to do myself - devouring traditions and teachings for my own ends.

Reflecting on it now, it's actually amusing how well the Sharingan suits me.

I was always someone who loved stealing techniques and making them mine without regard for their origin.

I'm pretty sure Itachi had used a sword while in the ANBU, too. The hand is quicker than the eye... Then how about the sword?

In swordsmanship, eye discipline was vital, because if your eyes began following the motions of the blade you would quickly lose track of it and begin lagging in your reactions. Would this remain true with the Sharingan, too? Hadn't Lee originally beaten Sasuke with just that principle?

I knew of a few schools and techniques—some with the katana, others that I might have to apply a little to get working—that would probably get me on the right path, regardless. Because while I had always been making, buying, and trying out bows, and trying to understand the various techniques and traditions, I had done the same for much longer and with exponentially greater intensity with the sword.

The earliest memory I can still clearly recall of my childhood, is standing underneath the ramshackle carport my uncle had built while half-drunk, swinging a stick and imagining how I would parry and counter someone trying to strike my head.

I wasn't that far off from the real thing, back then...

And with the Shadow Clone jutsu, mastery was only a matter of time.

I smirked and lay back down on the bed, mind awhirl with new training plans.

I think I just found my true calling for 'Master of One', here...