15 Hokage's Office

"I'm quite impressed with your analytical ability, Hatada-kun," Hiruzen smiled. "You are correct, there is a technique that can aid in solving the predicament you find yourself in. It is called the 'Shadow Clone Technique'.

"It was created by my sensei, who was also the second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. You'll learn in your studies how to make basic clones, but these are relatively limited. Shadow clones share all of your memories and physical capabilities, and can cast jutsu as well as you can. Their only downside is the fact that you have to use up a percentage of your chakra reserves to summon them.

"Not only can they do all of what I said before, but they also transfer the memories they have gained during the duration of their summoning to the ninja who summoned them, though too much information at once can result in quite the headache."

Hatada was thoroughly impressed. 'What kind of genius was the second Hokage to be able to create such a technique? No wonder grandpa could accomplish so much, he literally could summon dozens of himself at any time!'

"Can you teach it to me?" Hatada asked

Hiruzen shook his head. "Though I could, it would take too long at this point in your journey. The basic requirements are that you should at least be able to make a basic clone, and have enough chakra. Though I can tell you have an impressive amount for your age, I feel that it is too soon for you to learn it."

Hatada sighed. 'Oh well, I'll find another way to get-'

"However, I can see your potential, and have a proposal:"

'Ooh?'

"If you place first in the next 3 year's exams, I'll let you learn it."

'Hmm…' Hatada was a little disappointed it would take so long. 'But, at least the solution exists, and a near perfect one at that. Once I get my hands on that jutsu, I could most likely do more in a month than I can now in a year, maybe more.'

Hatada's expression while he thought this turned from one of deep contemplation to one of excitement.

"Okay grandpa, don't forget it! Oh, and one thing: would there be any way I can borrow weights? I feel bodyweight exercises will soon become inefficient, and I would like a way to make the school's activities more difficult," Hatada asked.

"Hmm… that shouldn't be too hard to fix."

Hiruzen reached into a pouch and pulled out some pieces of paper with symbols Hatada could not recognize. 'Paper will solve it?'

Realizing Hatada's suspicion, Hiruzen chuckled. "These aren't simple pieces of paper, nor are these normal symbols. Instead, they are training seals. Their main purpose is to make your body heavier to build strength."

Hatada was quite surprised. 'How the hell does that work? Mass? Gravity? And he's comfortable giving this to a kid?'

Hiruzen normally wouldn't, however, Hatada was an exception to this. 'If he can really use his Kekkei Genkai to heal, then as long as nothing serious happens, there shouldn't be much risk. I'll warn him seriously.'

"Come here, I'll show you how they work.

"You only need one, and simply stick it to your body, preferably on your back or stomach. Don't worry about it falling off either. As long as the seals that create the adhesion don't break, it won't fall off unless you want it to. Just use your chakra like the leaf concentration method to activate the adhesion."

'What an interesting bit of technology… I can see that being quite useful… maybe I'll use it to hold a sword instead of a sling + sheath if there isn't any form of subspace technology in this world.'

Hatada did as instructed, sticking the training seal to his stomach. The "paper" wasn't really paper, but more of a stretchy cloth. It felt sort of like a second skin when he stuck it to his stomach. He did a couple stretches, and spun around, all trying to get it to move or come off his skin, but none worked. 'Fascinating.'

"How could I recreate this adhesion?" Hatada asked.

Hiruzen smiled, 'He took the bait.'

"Fuinjutsu," he said. "Most in know fuinjutsu as the art of sealing, but that definition is mainly interpreted as sealing 'something' inside 'something else'. Fuinjutsu is far more than that," he paused for dramatic effect.

"For one, you can simply do the complete opposite and prevent things from going inside another place. And, as you can see, some uses are completely removed from the concept of trapping something in or sealing it off."

Hatada was extremely interested.

"I will give you a scroll with some basic seals if you'd like. Though you may not be able to do any yet, once you practice enough, I'm sure you will become a great asset to the village."

'Since the Uzumaki-clan, sensei, and Orochimaru are gone, we've had no real innovation on this front. I'll have to try and get some more promising kids interested, lest we fall behind the other villages after being on top for so long.'

Hatada didn't care if there were ulterior motives, he was just glad to find more opportunities for growth, especially after finding out about the shadow clone jutsu.

"Thanks grandpa!" Hatada took the book.

"I'll activate 1% of the seal so you can get used to how to activate, deactivate, and control the percentage. Just promise you'll take it off when you sleep. You don't want to accidentally activate it in a dream and wake up injured."

Hatada shook at the prospect of suffocating under the seal after accidentally activating it.

Just as he said, Hiruzen showed Hatada how to activate the seal. It wasn't a complicated process, especially for Hatada, so he was dismissed soon after receiving a few more warnings.

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Over the next week, Hatada's schedule was spartan. Sprints until his legs went numb. Pushups till his arms creaked in agony. Tree sit-ups until his abs felt like they were going to collapse in on themselves. The mana tracking method + leaf concentration exercise until he could do it without thinking. He even managed to reach the town with leaves on his temples, wrists, and ankles without dropping them once! Meaning: He had reached his self-imposed goal for the leaf concentration technique.

School, as expected, continued as normal. Naruto continued his antics, Sasuke continued to be swarmed by locusts (little girls), and Ume continued to amuse Hatada to no end. The main changes were Nisi becoming less shy around Hatada, and Hatada picking up the attention of the aforementioned "locusts".

Nisi didn't care, and instead chose to believe he was doing it on purpose, however, another individual saw it differently. 

And correctly.

'Is this pretty-boy doing this on purpose?'

Aburame Yakuwane, or "Yaku" as her family calls her, is one of the quietest individuals in the elite class of the Konoha Ninja Academy, only rivaled by her fellow Aburame member Shino… as well as Hinata, which she had easily been able to tell liked Naruto.

The day she had this thought, Hatada had interacted with her. 'No wonder half of the class has begun to fall for this pretty boy. If he smiles at everyone like that, he could start a war!'

She sighed. 'No… I don't think it's intentional…' she thought. 'He's basically torturing the poor Hyuga girl he sits next to, but from what I can tell, this is his actual personality…

'Which might be worse.'

Yaku was extremely emotionally intelligent for her age, seeing as she had already picked up on Nisi's crush even before Nisi was willing to admit it herself. This gift, however, was quickly turning into a curse. Every day, she had to witness Hatada unintentionally woo basically every girl he interacted with. Not to mention Nisi.

'He flutters those long eyelashes like a kunoichi honey trap!'

Though she didn't know it, she would spend the foreseeable future agonizing over these observations.

'It seems like the young ladies of the Hyuga clan are in for some tough times…'

Hatada, the cause of these thoughts, was blissfully unaware, and sweating on the ground. The long school day forced him to cram his training into less time, but the week was finally over. Though he was disappointed in the genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu classes, the bukijutsu class was interesting.

He had progressed quite a bit over the week, and was quite happy with how useful he could see the skill becoming. 

Now, after he had completed his physical training session this early Saturday morning, it was time for him to begin his next step of training.

'Not until I do some Mana Meditating.'

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'Okay… grandpa said I should be able to… walk up a tree.'

Hiruzen gave Hatada a few things to do before he would teach him any lightning jutsu. First was something Hatada had accomplished on the first day: "Stick a leaf to your head for 2 hours straight."

Hatada had modified this goal, but had accomplished his own soon after. Though this was boring, the next three were not.

In fact, he could barely contain his excitement.

Walking up to a relatively straight tree with quite uniform bark, he placed his shoeless foot on its trunk.

He slowly let mana flow out the sole of his foot with the intention of sticking to it. After a few tugs, it did! 

'Oh my saints…'

He stuck his other on the tree, keeping his body upright with the muscles he had managed to build over the last week. 'I'm walking up a tree… sideways!'

This was probably the most novel and fun thing he had done in the 6 years he had been alive in this world, but it was nothing compared to what was to come.

After a while, he had had his fill, satisfied with the control he could exhibit. 'It was a good idea to train the leaf concentration technique as much as I did. Falling over and over wouldn't be fun.'

Next, Hatada ran over to the nearby stream. Using the same principle, he placed his foot on the water's surface. 'It's working. Now, the next foo-'

"*Splash~*"