What Doesn't Kill You

The first day at the genin reserves was eventful if anything. Not only did someone get kicked out for insubordination, but Kobaru managed to learn three jutsu in record timing. There was even a brief moment where he considered reveling in his genius. That was until Nohara-sensei decided to critique his methods.

Apparently, he was supposed to mould chakra while performing hand-seals.

The hand had twenty-three tenketsu. The highest concentration in the body. This meant it was easier to manipulate chakra in that area than anywhere else. Whoever created hand-seals recognized the fluctuation in the flow, whenever the fingers were placed in different positions. Eventually creating the basic twelve that could be used to perform any jutsu. As long as they figured out a sequence that could sufficiently supply chakra for it. For most techniques C-ranked and lower once chakra was moulded in the hands and the seals were completed. Unless the individual performing it had deformed pathways the desired technique was automatically triggered.

Kobaru was not privy to such knowledge. He just focused on redirecting the flow and it went where he needed it to go. It was much a surprise to him that he could perform any of the academy jutsu, as it was for anyone else.

When he got home after dismissal, he poured his focus into his new discovery. Hearing that he shouldn't even know about this "Kage Bunshin", did little to sway his attention away from it.

His family lived on the west side of the village. A short sprint away from the Naka River. As to how his parents managed to secure the plot of land was something they kept to themselves. Whatever amount they paid was enough to deter anyone else from building anywhere near them.

Kobaru never had issues with the isolation. It meant he could make as much noise as he wanted. For one who developed Taijutsu from almost nothing. Piercing howls of pain was a common occurrence when he joined the academy. Now that he was going to be practicing with actual ninjutsu, he'd need much more than the five-hundred-meter radius provided.

Nohara-sensei was generous enough to explain to him the details of his failed Bunshin. Most important, the technique divided chakra between the user and the amount summoned. Which was why it was restricted to Jonin or individuals with extreme control. If one was to call on more clones than they could handle, they were as good as dead.

Dying from your own technique was frowned upon by konoha-nin. More so if your death wasn't intended.

Next the man explained that although the Kage Bunshin was better than its E-ranked counterpart. It was still mostly just a technical distraction. The thing would break under the pressure of a strong enough sigh. Then to prove his point he slapped the clone over its head making it dispel in a plume of smoke.

The only astounding positive was that the clones were able to transfer knowledge, and pain, when they disappeared. This meant that he could have a clone learn on his behalf while he did whatever else.

Still even the positives had drawbacks for this stupid thing.

If the clones dispelled in mass, then the summoner could suffer brain damage linked to sensory overstimulation. Kobaru concluded that the creator of this technique must have died before they had the time to fully develop the thing. So far it was only proving useful in theory. There were too many downsides for this to be passed down to the next generations.

Still, it was a technique he now had in his meager arsenal and wouldn't stop until he perfected its usage. As anyone would in this situation, he decided that he would first work on the durability problem. There should have been a way to keep a clone going after taking a hit from a slightly persistent breeze.

First, he would try adding more chakra to the clone. Thinking that more energy would result in longer life.

Kobaru closed his eyes and imagined his chakra splitting off as he did before. This time without the hand-seals, as he didn't even utilize them on the first attempt. Fifty-one percent for the clone and the remaining amount for himself. The clone appeared and just as quickly slapped his cheek to gauge their progress.

Attempt one failed. It did lead Kobaru to realize that the unused amount of chakra was regained upon dispersal. Almost as though he didn't use any in the first place. The amount used for the technique itself was so insignificant that it was immediately replenished.

Chakra was just a mix of physical and spiritual energy after all. Unless he was thoroughly exhausted in one of those two areas, he'd be able to produce a supply.

He repeated the process until he got to ninety percent. At that much his vision became wavy when he performed the technique. Still the clone was no denser than it was at half his chakra stores.

Kobaru cursed his lack of information on chakra. It was clearly hindering his advancements in this technique. He needed to nag someone into giving him more information on the energy that was essentially keeping him alive. That would make things a lot easier than what he was doing.

With his first method proving impotent. Kobaru surmised that making his clones more resilient was impossible. Why wouldn't it be?

The technique had more than likely existed for centuries. He accidentally replicated it to impress a class of strangers. Of course, someone would have attempted to make the thing carry more weight. And if they hadn't done it. How would he?

Why did I even waste all this time on this?

Kobaru wasn't from a clan or had any sensei to personally guide him. His knowledge and use of chakra was amateurish. Just because he wanted something to be done didn't mean that it would happen.

Someone who was probably way more experienced with chakra was capable of just popping this jutsu into existence. He took half of himself, DNA and all, then forced its animation through thought. Even then it was only slightly better than the other version. Which was just a glorified hologram?

The Kage Bunshin shouldn't even be possible. It was just one's chakra manifested in physical form.

That gave Kobaru an idea.

If a clone already had half your chakra, then it was already fifty percent you. The only thing separating an individual and their clone was that the other was a tool. What if in addition to chakra the summoner included their will?

He was slowly becoming the master of shots in the dark but if this method was tried before then he'd figure it out after this attempt.

Kobaru held his eyes shut and drew in a breath. He focused on halving his chakra evenly then materializing it. He applied all his thoughts into the clone being a solid replica. Then finally he gave it a purpose.

To live with its own will.

The worst that could happen from him playing God was that it didn't work. That would only stop him temporarily.

The ringing sound went off and the visual field of his other half took up a section of the darkness. This was then followed by the sound of the half slapping himself in the face, but no poof to signal his departure. Kobaru's eyes flew open to the sight of his clone still very much alive and functional.

He actually did it. Sure, he still hadn't got over seeing from two different perspectives yet, but he just brought to life a perfect copy of himself. He wasn't one to repeat himself, but chakra was simply amazing. He had, as a novice, created a person. With mastery over chakra, one could probably cheat death. Heal themselves from usually fatal injuries. Give life to inanimate objects. Heck! If they were skilled enough, they could trap souls.

How has no one figured out the true extent to this yet?

The two Kobarus grabbed each other in a celebratory embrace. They had just made a breakthrough that no one else in the history of the technique were able to do. All it took was an hour of self-critique and hushed curses to accomplish it.

His clone was the first to sober up from the quick burst of bliss.

"Wait!" He stopped mid jump and narrowed his eyes at the original, "If we got what we wanted to happen. How the hell do I dispel?"

The realization hit Kobaru like a wrecking ball. If he was strong enough to fight like he was his own person. Then that would mean he could only be dispelled if he had a practical death.

That would explain why no one explored the technique beyond a quick distraction. This would be morally confusing to the worst of criminals.

You probably need to die, Kobaru thought but prevented himself from saying out loud.

Sadly, the ball of willpower and chakra caught on to it.

Which was the expected result.

"That's..." He diverted his attention for a brief moment before looking the original right in the eye, "I can take it. Go ahead and kill me."

Kobaru stared at the clone ensuring that he could communicate his disapproval through eye contact, "Or we can have you burn out your reserves then you won't have anything to run on. Eventually you'll just... Poof."

"You and I both know you need this. For experience."

"Or we can just go with my idea. Which is your idea too."

He wasn't quite ready to take a life. He was especially not ready for this. This was him. What shinobi ever thought their first kill would be a twisted non-suicide, suicide.

"Well, you can't make me disappear."

I need to disconnect the part of my brain where you exist.

"We can avoid all of this if you just pour out chakra for a while."

"How long is awhile? A day? A month?" The clone debated with a fervor that Kobaru himself wasn't capable of, "you have no idea how long it would take to get that done."

"I don't have that much chakra and you're already half of it. I'm surprised that you've lived long enough for us to have this conversation."

The clone furrowed his brows then without any further respite, headed towards the forest near the river. "Well, if you won't do it. I will."

Kobaru had already lost interest in the charade and would have continued on with his training if it was anyone else. The only thing keeping him going was that he would feel exactly what the clone felt when it dispersed. A flick on the nose by Nohara-sensei left an annoying twitch. The countless self-inflicted slaps to his face had the same effect. If he was to suffer fatal injury it would be ten times worse.

"Even more reason for us to know death," the clone continued breaking off into a sprint. He quickly made his way up the nearest tree and looked down at the original.

It appeared that he was intent on doing this whether he was presented with a more efficient option. Almost like he had iron will. Proving that even the improvements for this jutsu backfired in tremendous glory.

"Get down before you hurt yourself," Kobaru yelled at the clone already perched on his branch of choice.

"That is the point."

"I swear, this is as far as I'll go with experimenting," he muttered to himself before yelling once more, "Alright then make this quick. We have other stuff to do."

XxX

Next Day

Kobaru was traumatized.

The clone did not die on impact. It just managed to cripple itself. Making it truly incapable of doing what was the better option from the start. In short, he had to commit an overcomplicated form of seppuku. Then once that was done, he had the opportunity to experience the entire thing himself.

The wonders of the Kage Bunshin.

Sure, he continued the training and by the grace of the sage, was able to make a durable version that could dispel by thought alone. Still no number of advancements could cleanse his mind from watching himself slowly give in to a punctured lung. There was also the fleeting thought that the clone had planned for that all along but didn't stop to entertain the point. He had already done enough crazy by having a verbal debate with his copy.

He arrived at The Factory at the same time and once again no one was there. He went on with his morning ritual, fiddling with the three marbles to perfect his control. He didn't have the time to make any progress in that area, as most of his efforts went into figuring out how to make a clone that didn't need to be murdered to dispel.

The first to arrive before he did was the girl that was kicked out during the last class. She took a seat to the far corner opposite Kobaru and proceeded to stare at that one area on the wall that was more interesting than everything else.

Even though she shouldn't have been here. He once again paid her no mind and went about exercising his control.

"Kobaru! Why are you here so early?" Chusei "greeted" from the doorway.

The two boys became acquainted after the reevaluation. He was in debt to the orange haired genin and did little to refute the act of friendliness. Besides, beyond the first layer of idiocy, Chusei wasn't as terrible as he first thought. Sure, he was loud, but it was manageable.

"I could ask you the same thing," Kobaru regarded the shameless delinquent as he made his way over to his seat. Which unfortunately they couldn't change. Hopefully this class Nohara-sensei would do all the talking.

He slowed to a stop when he caught sight of the girl sitting at the corner of the class. Kobaru, on instinct, looked away and pretended that he didn't know him.

"Didn't you get expelled or somethin'?" He asked marring his face with what appeared to be both confused and concerned.

"No," was the simple response. She didn't even bother looking in Chusei's direction. After realizing that the conversation ended, he took his seat and went on like it didn't happen.

Chusei was different. He was somehow capable of presenting everything about himself in the shortest period. What he couldn't show, he said. And he said a lot.

Kobaru had given up on keeping track of the many things the older boy was trying to communicate. It felt like he was being bombarded with everything at once. Impressive descriptive ability for useless information. Kobaru would catch on to a pet dog being the current topic of conversation. Then he'd somehow bridge from that to a near death experience he had as a toddler.

To combat this train of random. He decided to sit quietly and look as attentive as possible. So far Chusei couldn't tell the difference and continued his uninterrupted rambling.

Ten minutes and twenty topics later he began recalling their surprise evaluation. Which Kobaru realized that after the boy mimicked the hand-seals for the Bunshin.

"I never thought it was possible to mess up something as easy as a clone," Chusei chuckled to himself, "but someone who managed to perform an A-ranked version by mistake was better than I could imagine."

"I did it exactly like you directed."

"I didn't direct shit. If you managed to blow yourself up instead that would be all you," Chusei replied in an attempt to disassociate himself from what could have gone horribly wrong.

"It doesn't matter it worked," Kobaru allowed himself to grin, "and even if it didn't. Thanks for the other two."

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't bring it up again or I'll smack you over the head."

"Well, if our spar yesterday was anything to go by. You have proven yourself incapable of hitting me."

Chusei scoffed at the implication, "who knew you could develop a sense of humor overnight."

"Excuse me," the girl called from across the class. The two boys looked over at her, both surprised that she was trying to speak with them. They weren't excellent judges of character, but the blind could see that she was perfectly antisocial.

"There was a spar yesterday?" her tone was bland and managed to make the question sound like a stark declaration.

"Uh... Yes?" Chusei replied making no attempts to hide his confusion. Proving again that he was a good person but was going to make a horrible shinobi.

"I see," she said then turned away.

The duo sat quietly for a while, trying to think of an appropriate way to change the topic. Of course, Chusei was a master of connecting things that shouldn't be connected. Providing them the honor of a segue and continued his convoluted prattle until the other students arrived.

Nohara-sensei appeared in another puff of smoke the moment the last genin walked in. Leading Kobaru to realize that the man was waiting for the everyone to arrive. This meant that he was there the entire time, and no one was able to tell.

"Okay maggots!" He yelled his greetings, "today you'll be taking your first official D-ranks," he paused to allow their celebratory gasps to die down naturally. Sadly, the genin saw his silence as a cue to go on, "Shut Up!" That got them all back on track, "before we can head out. Carrot maggot! What's your I.D?"

"Uh..." Dear god, "I.D um..." Chusei narrowed his eyes as though that would aid in his recall, "011- I mean 012 then 098."

Hm. It actually did.

"When we get to admin you will arrange yourself by I.D. Single-file," Nohara-sensei went on as though Chusei didn't say anything, "you have the option of forming cells of three but considering that you're reserve genin your pay would be divided evenly."

Apparently jonin privilege extended to the actual payment amount as well. Which would make sense considering that the Hokage needed to provide suitable incentives for the future elite.

"Of course, if you impress your client, you could get yourself a tip. If not, you'll have to suffice until I deem you capable of doing a C-rank."

Kobaru looked around at the others. Most of them had uncertain expressions. He couldn't blame them. They were probably war orphans who were now self-dependent and needed as much money as they could get. Sure, forming cells would mean lighter work, but it wasn't worth dividing D-ranked pay.

The shinobi system was most unforgiving to orphans. They were held in the village's debt for preserving their youth. Growing up with paying it back in the easiest way the village made possible. Through joining the ranks. It was a devious cycle that was hard to leave once you entered and would wind up repaying tenfold by their fifth year.

The orphan debt only intensified when the orphanage was trampled during the Giant Fox's dance party. Anyone who wasn't taken into foster care were given residence in the genin barracks. These were just one room apartments with scant furniture and electricity. Running water wasn't something they could depend on there.

The barracks were positioned a near to the monument where most shinobi resided. This continuous exposure would eventually solidify the goals of these growing children to dedicate they're very being into becoming shinobi themselves.

Kobaru and other civilian children were limited to their chunin-sensei and the few Uchiha assigned to their district. Unless they were forced into being shinobi, they usually learned the craft of their parents. Not that he was interested in becoming an undertaker. Something about embalming didn't sit well with him.

On the upside of this career, the pay for being jonin rank was enough to live a modest life in one of the outer condos. This pay would only increase based on the area that you decided to specialize in. One would be able to obtain a steady salary without having to put their life on edge ever again.

The rank in itself was hard to reach, leading most chunin to settle for jobs like teaching or gate guarding for several years without any care. It was easy to do, and it paid the best compared to actual missions at that rank. These positions however were greatly limited. With only ten chunin working at the academy and six at the main gate. This was more for the personal relationships or know how that one developed with their clients, than it was to limit high earnings.

To combat this system clans hired their own to take work in their shops. Unlucky orphan chunin usually set their sights on making huge investments into local restaurants and stores that weren't already aligned with shinobi. If they were crafty enough, they'd set up their own business and keep it afloat until they had the luxury to hire civilians.

Kobaru had only been to the Hokage's administration office once. It was during his first week at the academy, serving as a field trip to familiarize the village hopefuls. That was three years ago, and the office had been structurally remodeled.

Three chunin were assigned the responsibility of categorizing and filing the paperwork. During his last visit, missions were given out directly by the Hokage and that was during a war. When the fourth took office, it was one of the things he sought to change. The original process was both impractical and time consuming. The village leader would obviously have more important things to do than assign his low ranks janitorial duties. It was honestly worrying that his predecessors didn't think of it themselves.

Of course, missions of A and S-rank, were still handed out by the Hokage, but that was mainly because of the sensitivity of the tasks themselves. Anything at those levels were usually kept between the Kage and the person completing it. Even then the client would remain anonymous. The only other bit of information on Jonin level missions were that they tended to be morally ambiguous, even by shinobi standards.

Kobaru was pulled out of his thoughts when he caught sight of Chusei beckoning for him to leave his place in line. He wouldn't. Nohara-sensei was very clear and the young genin had no intention of being the man's new target.

He shook his head at the other boy, who responded with a very exaggerated display of disappointment before gesturing once more. Kobaru was not willing to agree, but summoned a basic clone and sent him over to the front. The other students were yet to get over the fact that his clone was just a less durable him and resorted to amused chatter when the copy went about its business.

It was still hard to interpret two images simultaneously, but he managed to keep his thoughts focused on one sightline at a time. He'd have to find a way to nullify the second layer of vision.

Chusei managed to say a few words before the clone facepalmed in utter disappointment. It then dispersed itself with woeful thoughts. The older boy wanted to team up. Saying something along the lines of not wanting to clean toilets alone. Kobaru for one did not mind breaking off into a cell. Unlike most of the genin there. He had a loving family that weren't making any moves to get him out of the house. He could settle for half pay until his sixteenth birthday or so.

The delinquent seemed to sense his agreement, as he was now talking to Nohara-sensei and pointing to the back like an overexcited child. The jonin let out a sigh then muttered his approval. Right as Chusei was about to turn away, he was joined by no other than the girl that kept to herself in class. She spoke, unsurprisingly, without unnecessary movements limiting Kobaru's interpretation to whatever Chusei did in response.

Learn how to read lips, Kobaru thought adding to his growing to-do list.

From his understanding the orange haired genin was appalled, by whatever was being said. His attention seemed to be split between the girl and Nohara-sensei. The jonin let out another sigh then nodded at her. Kobaru, unable to reign in his curiosity, walked over to the three to listen in on the conversation.

"Little maggot," Nohara-sensei sighed not looking away from the blue haired genin, "Uppity maggot here wants to join you two. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Hell yeah it's a problem," Chusei cut in before Kobaru could respond.

She turned to look at him with the expressions of a well-trained statue, "Kobaru-kun. If it will help my situation, I am willing to forego payment."

"Well in that case..." Chusei replaced his glare with a cheerful grin, "let's get to cleaning team."

"You just said that I-"

"That was before you stated the terms," he continued smiling at the girl, "why didn't you open with that? We could have been there already if you did."