38 Jutsu: Fail?!
"BAHAHAHAHAA!" A laugh erupted from behind me, I shot my head back to see a bald kid keeling over in laughter, his eyes practically tearing up.
"WHA- HAAHA… WHAT… WHAT... IS THAT?!" He managed to choke out from behind a cascade of laughter. I suppressed my shock from being intruded on by Sasuke and looked at where he was pointing.
I wasn't sure what to make of it and went a little slack-jawed seeing the "thing" for the first time.
'Ah… what the fuck?' I thought, looking at the emaciated stick man in front of me.
It was a pale figure, no thicker than a sheet of paper that wibble-wobbled on its "feet", its body and limbs were just white lines that stood out from the background, and on top of its neck was a circle with childishly drawn facial expressions.
It almost looked like an emoticon smiley face, :), its dopey grin turned to me for a second before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Hauhah…. Huhu… ow my stomach…" Sasuke had fallen down and was now grabbing his gut with a pained smile. Serves him right.
'That was embarrassing.' I thought, my excitement at the Jutsu being decimated by Sasuke's cruel laughs.
"It's my first try…" I grunted out, trying to salvage my reputation.
Sasuke, still gripping his stomach chortled out a half-sincere apology and walked away; I think the baldie would get a lot of mileage out of this joke.
Perhaps we should play Hunter soon.
-----
"Tch."
Annoying.
None of the Jutsus worked as they should've, my second attempt at the clone turned out exactly like my first, my Transformation Jutsu, instead of making me look like Sasuke, just made me bald.
The worst of them all, however, was the Substitution Jutsu.
It was supposed to work by switching your place with an object of similar weight and size to you, I had picked the bedside cabinet as my target. This was the last Jutsu of the three so with hope in my heart I completed the hand seals and moulded my Chakra… only to trip and fall over.
If someone saw me do that, I think I might've died of embarrassment.
I could wait till tomorrow and consult Jinbei but the giggling from outside the room reminded me that there was someone else I could hound for advice.
"Sasuke! Get in here." I commanded, doing my best to regain the pride he'd stamped all over a while ago.
"Aok- huhu… Hey… Aoki…" Sasuke said, his mouth wriggling a little as he tried to keep a straight face.
Cruel.
He is a cruel boy.
I stashed away my gripes for later, I'd surely get my revenge but I needed his help more than I needed retribution.
I cleared my throat as the remnants of Sasuke's chortles wisped away, I needed him to be serious for now.
*Ahem*
"So… what was my mistake?" I asked, not letting any shame through the cracks of my serious expression. Sasuke took another moment to compose himself before requesting me to do it again, saying that he didn't see me use the Jutsu properly.
"I promise I won't laugh…" he added on.
Did I believe him? Nope.
But I had no choice.
With a sigh and a glare (in that order), I looked at Sasuke and replicated what I had done before.
*POOMF!*
Once again, we were graced by the presence of the stickman-like drawing that wobbled around; its dumb smile sending arrows of annoyance into my heart. It looked like god spilt a person and decided to just go through with it.
I could faintly hear some stifled giggles from behind me as I looked at my 'clone' but they went away after a few seconds.
Good. Any more and I'd be worried for Sasuke's health next time we spar.
*POOMF!*
The clone disappeared in another puff of smoke, other than its looks, the longevity of the Jutsu also had to be worked on.
Sasuke told me to stay there for a second and rushed out of the room, I waited and after a minute, Sasuke returned holding a leaf in his hand.
"Aoki, so, back when me and my class did Jutsus, we also learned about Chakra manipulation!" he said, placing the leaf on his forehead where it stuck.
"I know you learned this a bit, but if you practice it for longer and stick it for more than half an hour, you should be able to do any of the academy three very easily! So, practice for a little longer and you can do it too!" Sasuke said enthusiastically.
He hadn't displayed this level of eagerness when talking with me in a while, it seemed that he enjoyed taking on roles where he was the one to teach me something and not the other way around; it could also be a result of our age difference.
"Sasuke, I can already hold a few leaves for over an hour," I said, peeling the leaf off his head and smacking it on mine. The baldie tilted his head quizzically as if lost for words and didn't say anything for a while.
"Could it be your hand signs? No… those were good… so it must be the moulding? But that should be ok…" Sasuke thought out loud, rubbing his chin.
The baldie gave up after a while and told me to just practice more before using an excuse to leave, I could tell that he was slightly embarrassed at not being able to figure out my situation.
And so I continued, determined to get at least the clone Jutsu down soon.
-----
"Aoki… you look scarier than usual," Ryoma said with a worried look.
I huffed and said nothing back, couldn't be bothered to at this point.
Hours and hours of relentless practice and not a smidgeon of improvement in any of the Jutsus I tried. To top it off, I think Numa saw me trip when I did the substitution Jutsu before school…
A figure with spiky black hair approached my desk and tapped on it, I looked up to see Yami Nara staring down at me with a smile, "What's wrong? Did you hear about them banning students from playing Hunter?" he asked.
"What?! They banned Hunter?!" I shot up from my desk with a shocked expression.
"Nope, just wanted to see if you were fully dead inside or not," he said, twirling away and heading back to his desk.
Damn him.
I'm gonna sic Ryoma's "Why" barrage on him next… when I feel a bit better.
I slumped back on my desk and sat through the slog of school, I was so annoyed that I didn't even try during our physical drills and Yakumi Uchiha managed to finally secure first place in a race. The boy was torn between remaining stoic as his win was "to be expected" or jumping in joy, so he settled on walking everywhere faster for the rest of the day.
After school I consulted Jinbei who met my questions with much more concern than Sasuke, he actively gave me tips on moulding Chakra and told me to practice my hand seals. I agreed but internally complained as he too was unable to find the source of my problems.
Regardless of my complaints, I steeled myself.
I have the rest of this year and the holidays before Jutsus starts being taught to the entire class, as long as I can get them all down before then, I should be able to maintain my position and continue increasing my capabilities.
Recently I discovered that over time in this new body, I had developed more pride than I considered healthy; or more accurately, used to consider healthy.
Pride, while being a sin to some, is also something that contributes to discipline. If I have pride in myself, in my abilities, and my competency, I will do whatever is needed to maintain that same level of pride.
Beyond pride that conditioned me to remain in the top spot, there was a small part of me that wondered if there was something wrong with me. Jinbei said that with my level of Chakra manipulation, the Jutsus shouldn't cause me trouble. Sasuke advised me to hold one leaf for half an hour when I could hold multiple tens of leaves for double that time!
There was a discrepancy between the estimated abilities based on my Chakra manipulation and what I could accomplish in reality. But I must still try.
I can't fall behind these kids, I must be better, I must be stronger.
Unfurling the Jutsu scrolls with renewed vigour, I got to work.
-----
[A/N: For reference, the clone looks much worse than even Naruto's at the start.
P.S. Moving is annoying. Everyone, I recommend that you all stay in one house as a hermit instead of trying to move.
P.P.S. It'll be hard to write with everything being as hectic as it is, consider leaving a few power stones or a review, they (especially reviews) help improve my writing and make the fic a better experience for everyone :) Thanks for reading!]
