Chapter 16 - The Invitation

I was wrong.

What I had was not a recipe but a fleeting memory of a cake I had tasted—an ephemeral aftertaste.

I clicked my tongue. An instinctual reaction, showing a slight wane of control over myself.

"... and why, for fuck sake, did they choose to play on this far side of the lake?"

Self-talk, on the other hand, seems to have no vexing effect on my mood, rather, it's curiously therapeutic.

Though I should keep this developing habit in check. You never knew who was listening. The expression walls having ears should be taken in its literal sense in the world of sneaky wizards.

The mental note made, I ducked to avoid a low branch. Pushing through the wet underbrush, my mind darted from one idea to the next as I struggled to make my way to the far side of the lake.

Seeing that my breathing wasn't as rushed as I anticipated made me quite pleased. I spent the better part of four hours spewing fire. Four fucking hours, and I feel like I could go for more.

Had it been a week ago, I would probably be in some corner, pouring my guts out from exhaustion. And my chakra reserves wouldn't be nearly as full as they are now.

It's yet to be comprehensible to me how stamina and chakra are connected. I previously assumed that stamina was the fuel for anything related to physical activities, as chakra was for Ninjutsu.

However, this week's progress proved something else. While those assumptions may not be false, they aren't true either.

My chakra reserves hadn't changed as much as my stamina had; the number of fireballs I'm able to cast now, however, has nearly quadrupled.

Sadly, I wasn't able to find anything helpful in the library. Neither on this matter nor on the curious connection I felt whenever I cast the fire Jutsu.

It was obscenely convoluted to the point where I had to first look for what I was actually looking for, and I don't know what I was looking for.

The lack of established information thus led me to come up with my own theories and speculations.

One of which was that the chakra depletion rate increases with exhaustion, a theory easy to verify with some time, math, and graphs.

… yeah, my pastry hobby wasn't the only thing that followed me — the developer's mind did too.

Assuming the chakra consumption of [Great Fireball] Jutsu is constant, for an X amount of chakra, how many would I be able to cast throughout the treatment?

And since the treatment's main focus is to raise my stamina. The above equation would result, theoretically, in two graphs. The first one is an exponential and indefinite increase in the number of [Great Fireball] casts, following my increase in stamina. The second one would start with an exponential increase before stabilizing.

There are also things to take into account. I set a specific amount because the chakra reserves increase with stamina. And until now, my stamina hadn't increased, it simply got back to its initial stage from before I took —

My thoughts halted abruptly, as did my steps.

This feeling... someone is watching me? My eyes darted about, trying to find a reason behind this gut feeling. Trees, bushes, grass—nothing stood out visually. Sound then? Same. Nothing, just what you would expect from the wood's chime.

"…"

Holding my breath, I turned around. Something is grating in my gut, and it's not paranoia. Even though I hoped it was. A voice is whispering to me to ignore it. It's simply fatigue biting back. The brain was known to play tricks if it had not gotten its doze of rest.

...and, to an extent, I agree with it, yet I ignored the voice instead while guiding chakra to my eyes.

Sharingan.

My vision became red for a fraction of a second before the veil was removed. Instantly, I could see, see more. Individual leaves on the trees, the veins on them, and the texture of the bark in greater detail. The movement of the insects and the birds in slow motion, the delicate imprints of a squirrel's paws on the ground.

The once faint, almost invisible details have now become apparent.

Yet... nothing.

The grating feeling is still here, however, albeit slightly muted.

Clicking my tongue, I directed more chakra to my retinas. The action made no further enhancement to my vision, rather, it stripped all the colors from my view, leaving only different shades of gray. It also reduced my field of view. Darkness for anything further than twelve meters.

The ability to see chakra.

The most annoying and discomforting ability the sharingan grant. Its usefulness undeniable, however.

Ignoring the uneasiness, I steadily looked around for any color that was not gray. The sharingan's chakra sight is not as potent as the byakugan's. For instance, I wasn't able to perceive the trees or the grass's chakra, a difficulty the Byakugan doesn't share.

However, in this situation, it's better this way. More colors would only be a distraction.

... and I would probably have missed the flickering blue up above, behind a tree.

Find you! I exclaimed inwardly as I suppressed my lips from distorting into a handsome grin. Good!… Do you think I won't — "…" Wait, is it really a good thing?

The chakra flickering and the simple fact that I saw it mean only one thing: they are shinobi — or a creature gifted enough with a shinobi's equivalent of chakra, but that's unlikely — and they are stalking me. That's, objectively speaking, not a good thing.

Is it Kyouka? No, I doubt it. Anbu then? Danzo? Fingers tingled. Mmh... my chances. What are my chances?

Closing my eyes for a moment, I deactivated my dojutsu, then leisurely turned around and resumed walking on the same path. My steps calm and steady, as if my pause was more for sightseeing and nothing more.

Whoever they are, shouting to their faces, "Find you!" is a foul idea, amusing sure but still stupid. What I need to do is find potential witnesses. A quiet forest, a lone kid, and a dubious stalker... This recipe is not to my liking.

"What? Are you leaving just like that?" A smooth voice rose behind me. I jolted and turned back, my eyes widened out of surprise.

"Who're you?" I said, in a failed attempt to push my usual lukewarm tone into a more surprised one. "How long have you been here?"

Standing over seven meters away, a kid a couple of years older than 'me' raised his eyebrows, smiled, which felt natural on his face. "Your acting skills are better than Itachi's."

His words caused my back to straighten up and a smile to form on my face, despite myself. I don't feel good about it. My acting skills are shit.

"Improper of you to creep like that… Shisui."

You scared the shit out of me for a moment.

Shisui gave me a long look before smiling apologetically. "Ahh, sorry about that, Izuna-kun. But you found me, that's truly impressive."

Not really. I doubt I would have noticed shit if you didn't want me to.

"Izuna is fine," I said before bowing slightly. "It's very kind of you to invite me, thank you."

The older boy chuckled softly before turning left and gesturing for me to follow him. "Come on, Izuna. Itachi is already there, let's not keep him waiting any longer."

Accepting the training invitation was a sweaty decision. Rather risky but also flattering.

My confidence in not slipping and revealing anything, anything at all that could get me burned is not high. I'm already struggling with Kyouka, a perspective investigator, now, if I add in two more Uchiha prodigies...

On the other hand, the invitation was simply too tempting. Dismissing it would have been painfully regretful.

I harbored no expectation for guidance, but just watching the two Uchiha trains would be invaluable. And if I keep my sharingan active at the same time... contrary to Kyouka, who heavily focuses on Kenjutsu, something yet to be relevant to me, the two prodigies have not limited their range of expertise to a single area.

All the Ninjutsus and tricks I could learn... simply thinking about it, my heart race with anticipation.

And given that they are the ones inviting me, I wouldn't feel reluctant to ask questions.

The walk was a short one, we reached the training ground in less than five minutes. And as Shisui said, Itachi was already there, but he wasn't waiting. The younger Uchiha, Kunais in hand, and, ahead of him, tied to the trees' trunks, numerous white, rounded wooden targets, some of which already had Kunais buried deep, turned towards us as Shisui waved at him.

"Hey, Itachi, we have got a new addition today."

Itachi shifted his gaze toward me, lingering for a moment, his expression calm and collected, through his brows furrowing faintly before he nodded.

I nodded back, mirroring the wordless greeting.

Shisui coughed—an awkward cough I recognize. Next, not wasting any time on formalities, he pointed at the targets.

"We'll start with one of the most fundamental shinobi's arts, shurikenjutsu."

"Mm-hmm."

He looked at me from the corner of his eyes. "Don't worry if you're yet to be familiar with kunais or senbons, you could start with shurikens, lighter and more forgiving in terms of accuracy, a good starting point."

"Mm-hmm." I nodded once more, my gaze still on Itachi. The boy is back to his training, throwing kunais and never missing, which I personally consider more of a show-off. The bastard is only throwing at what he could score, I'm sure of it.

"Also, if you have any questions or need help with your training, you could ask either me or Itachi."

Shisui's words caused my head to snap back at him. Ask Itachi for help? What else? Do you want me to dance in front of the village too?

Forcing myself to ignore the absurd suggestion, I focused on the bright side. While my selective pride wouldn't allow me to fully take him up on his words, I could still glean some answers from him.

So I faced him and politely bowed. "Thank you very much."

"No need to be so formal, Izuna. We're just friends here." Shisui chuckled softly.

Friends, huh?

Gesturing to targets to the right, he continued. "Anyway, you could start with those."

My gaze alternated between the targets and the older Uchiha. Mmh... how should I ask this? Mmh? Let's start with a cough. Yes, grab his attention with a cough, and then ask—

"What is it?"

Or wait for him to ask first, genius.

"I seem to have forgotten my Ninja Tools." I said in a failed attempt at playing embarrassment.

Yes, yes, I have forgotten them. I certainly can't tell him the scary gorilla confiscated my weapons. That would be too large of a hit.

"No worry, I can lend you some of mine." Shisui, without any hesitation, offered his much-needed help. What a great guy.

"Shurikens?"

"Kunais."

Shurikens are lighter and easier to handle, but they are also restricted to throwing use only. Kunais, on the other hand, are more versatile. Could be used not only for throwing but also for close-range combat, such as stabbing or slicing.

Of course, both of them are necessary for a shinobi. I train with them, including the fucking needles, daily, but if I had to choose, I'd prefer the kunai for its versatility.

Shisui nodded, a mischievous glint in his eyes. The boy lifted his hand to his chest level, fingers extended, he turned it back and forth, next, he fisted it, and, before I could think of what he was doing, four kunais swiftly appeared between his fingers.

Taken by surprise, my eyebrows raised unconsciously. Another showoff? No, that doesn't matter, how did he do it? He's wearing a sleeveless tee. How?

... fuck. It's in moments like this that I wish I could keep my sharingan active at all times. No details of this magic trick would have escaped me otherwise.

Unfortunately, while I'm able to sustain the activation for hours with my current chakra reserves, fatigue is the issue; my eyes have yet to fully adapt to an extended chakra consumption. And they hurt like a bitch if pushed to their limit. Which I happen to do all the time.

I considered, for a brief moment, using flattery to get the older boy to spill this objectively impressive trick. But then I remembered who the fuck this boy was. Is it even right to call him a boy?

My knowledge of Shisui was limited to random internet clips and Kyouka's incessant and annoying praise when she relayed his invitation. While the former source is unreliable, the latter, though scary and often questionable, was enough to assure he won't fall for childish gimmicks as having his ego stocked.

"Thank you." I accepted the Kunais before I headed to the area he indicated earlier. I didn't comment on the stupid trick, my mind, however, was still on it while my unreasonable obsession flared.

Cards! I should buy some playing cards; trying to directly replicate it with kunais may turn into a loss-of-fingers session.

With the mental note made, my focus veered to the circular targets on the trunks.

For now, however, it's my turn to show off.