Chapter 6 - Impostor Among Us

[C] Use the clone jutsu and transform the clones into something to distract Yamato. Then try to get Kota away from there.

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…

Shinji knew that exposing his position was nothing short of defeat. So he tried to think of something, but no matter what, even wracking his brain wouldn't reveal a secret strategy to defeat Yamato.

Even though he was going easy on them, using only basic techniques and making himself deliberately easy to predict. Yamato's chakra, strength, speed, stamina, experience, and everything in between were leagues above him.

'After this fight is over. Whether I fail or pass, I must train harder.' Shinji had his ambition and wasn't satisfied with his strength at all.

He brought his hands up, his shaking was still there but the pain had subsided by now somewhat. Going through the hand signs, he created five clones and had them charge at Yamato as they came out of hiding.

"Ahahah! Yamato -sensei! I am here!" Yelled out one of the clones, drawing the jonin's attention for a split second. But that was enough for Shinji as he went out toward Kota, and his teammate was worse for wear.

"Hey… the plan was for you to attack him while I act as bait…" Kota muttered tiredly, not even having the power to speak anymore.

"It was a stupid plan," Shinji told him. "Also, do you want to get hit by him again?"

"No," Kota wholeheartedly refused. "Thanks for saving me. But if we fuck this up, I am totally gonna blame you."

"Yeah, yeah, now shut up and act like the damsel in distress you're supposed to be," Shinji picked his teammate up and put him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Ow, your shoulder is digging into my stomach that was just kicked in," he complained. "Also I am not a damsel in distress, I saved your ass before."

"For a damsel in distress you speak too much," whispered Shinji under his breath, as an idea suddenly hit him.

He ran past the many trees, and a human-shaped silhouette came closer to him, and from the corner of his eye, he saw that it was Sayuri.

"Guys! Do you need help!" She yelled out in distress. "What happened to-"

Shinji didn't even let her finish and immediately threw a kunai at her. Sayuri's eyes widened in shock

The normal Genin Konuichi wouldn't have been able to intercept such an attack, especially at such a close range. Sayuri wasn't any different.

But a strange thing happened, as faster than either Shinji or Kota could see, her hand moved and caught the kunai mid-air. She smiled widely, something that seemed very unnerving on her usual face. "How did you notice?"

*Poof*

A cloud of smoke surrounded her, and as it cleared out, it's revealed to be Yamato. "You're sharp as well. You instantly caught on to what was happening."

"No," Shinji shook his head. "I was careless. Was Sayuri even here today?"

"Now that's some scary intuition you have there." Yamato's smile seemed to widen. "Technically, she was at the training ground, though she had been unconscious before she even met you. So yes, you're correct on your guess. The Sayuri you met initially wasn't her. But what gave it away?"

Shinji normally wouldn't explain something like this to an enemy as that would be dumb. But Yamato wasn't his enemy, and he needed to buy some time, for now, to let his arms rest a little and the pain subsides. "When you kicked Kota, you smashed him into a tree for maximum damage and so he wouldn't use the kick to make the distance between you two. You also attempted to do the same thing with me, it's probably an instinctual thing you do as a jonin to make sure you don't create too much distance between your opponent that would allow him to escape."

Shinji stopped there and didn't say anything anymore. Wanting the jonin to use his brains to try and figure it out, this way they would waste even more time.

"Oh, I see!" Yamato came to a realization, and his face lit up. "It was when I kicked Sayuri into the forest that you realized. And your guess is correct. I did that so when the clone that was transformed as her was destroyed, it would be out of your sight."

'Wait! Transforming your clones into something else. That is it! The answer I was looking for in this fight.'

Shinji had a realization, as soon as Yamato mentioned having his clones transformed into something else.

Suddenly he went through some hand signs and threw a shuriken, which multiplied into more illusionary clones of itself. Yamato just stood there and threw the kunai that he had caught before towards the real shuriken.

Clang!

"That looks impressive as if it is the shuriken shadow clone jutsu. But the hand seals are very different. Every ninja will be able to tell when you're using it if they see the hand seals you make for the usual clone jutsu." Yamato added, and he nodded in pride. "Though I don't think I've ever seen someone use the clone jutsu that way."

'Naruto seems like your jutsu might have some uses after all.' was what Shinji thought before he went through some more hand seals, creating clones of himself this time.

[Transformation: Sexy Jutsu, Harem Version]

*POOOF*

A large cloud of smoke surrounded the area around them, but it cleared up quickly and only naked women clad in skimpy outfits stood there.

Yamato was frozen in place like a glacier. Shinji's eyes sharpened like a hawk and he dropped Kota on the ground. "Kota! Now!"

"What the hell do you mean now?!" His teammate was confused as hell. "We never mentioned this in the plan!"

Shinji didn't elaborate anymore and took out some kunai and shuriken from his pouch, and threw them at Yamato without hesitation, and with the intent to kill. Anything less and he knew he wouldn't succeed in even scratching him.

Hearing the cutting air, Yamato's eyes widened, as if he came to his senses. One kunai grazed his cheek first, and the others all hit his body.

But Shinji wasn't fooled and immediately looked around, though nothing happened. Looking back, he saw Yamato's body drop to the ground, his eyes wide open in shock as a kunai had sunk into his forehead.

'Wait… don't tell me that he's dead!' Shinji panicked, immediately plans started forming in his head. He had to get away from Konoha, there was no way that killing one of their Jonin would be something they would let fly.

Who would even believe him if he said that the Jonin was distracted by female clones!

Suddenly, a hand grasped him by the back of his neck. "Good jutsu. Damn, I feel like only compliments are coming out of my mouth today."

Shinji felt cold sweat roll down his back, he had been caught off guard. Looking at Yamato's body, it slowly transformed into a wooden doll.

'Substitution? With a wooden doll?' Shinji knew that substitution was a jutsu that could be done with many things. But certain elements were more familiar to some. Like sand, mud, earth… the wood log was usually used by Konoha ninja as it was easier to replace with. But a wooden doll morphed to be like Yamato.

'There was only one person in Konoha known for using the Wood Style.'

Shinji's eyes narrowed at the doll, but he clenched his teeth and held in whatever he was about to say. Because deep down, it felt like he had realized something he wasn't supposed to. A village secret, the kind that people would kill to keep quiet.

"Oh~ that's a substitution jutsu without hand seals?!" Shinji exclaimed in mock shock. In his mind, he prayed to any God out there, that if they exist, help him out here before he gets himself to the T&I division.

"Yeah…" Yamato agreed awkwardly, giving the thing that he replaced with a side-glance. "I will help you with that later on."

"Okay, that's cool and all," the downed Kota intervened, laying down on the ground. "But can someone take me to a hospital? I feel like throwing up. Ate some nasty things today that mom cooked, I don't wanna taste that again as it comes out."

Yamato smiled and picked up Kota in a princess carry. "You should be a little more like Shinji. He took so many of my hits and looks as good as new."

"Yeah… No, my body hurts all over and the bones in my arms probably cracked," Shinji waved him off as they started casually walking outside of the forest. "By the way, did we pass?"

"Yes, you had already passed when you blocked my first attack, and when Kato used himself as bait, that only reassured my decision."

"Yep, MVP right here- *cough* *cough*" Kato tried to brag, but that instead earned him a coughing fit.

As they walked, Yamato had a smile on his face and they stumbled on a tied-up Sayuri, with Yamato's shadow clone waiting on the outskirts and reading a book. After a wave at the original, the clone dispelled itself.

…

While walking toward the hospital Shinji looked at his arms, the pain had somewhat subsided, but he couldn't help but contemplate how desperate things had been during the fight, and what he should have done better. He also understood that if he had been able to use Substitution Jutsu without the need of hand seals, none of the attacks would have connected and this fight would have at least been somewhat possible to escape if this had been a real enemy.

"Yamato -sensei, how long do you think it will take for me to catch up to you?" Shinji asked, and stared at his jonin teacher sincerely, showing that he didn't mean this in any disrespectful way.

Yamato thought for a little and shrugged. "I don't know, it depends on your hard work. Also, trust in yourself and your talent a little more, no other Genin would have been able to do what you did today."

"I doubt that," Shinji thought of Sasuke, and remembered how the Uchiha were known for their Fire Style Jutsu. "There were quite some talented guys this year, all those clan heirs too."

Suddenly, he felt Yamato's hand land on the top of his head as the jonin flung Kota over his shoulder like a sack of shi-... potatoes. He then ruffled Shinji's hair. "Hahaha, I have met many Uchiha in my days, and even fought a Sharingan wielder at one time. I don't know how fast you will catch up to me, but I feel like it might be sooner than most people think."

*SIGH*

Shinji sighed, unsatisfied with his progress at all. He had Tobirama's instructions in the book and had been training the Substitution Jutsu for days now, each day around 14 hours of training that jutsu. Yet, he hadn't mastered it. He felt his ambition burn brightly in his chest.

'I won't be able to master the higher-ranked jutsu if it takes this much to master just an E rank jutsu. A week… no, I will give myself two days to master the replacement jutsu, no matter what.'

His ambition wasn't just for show. Shinji didn't speak empty words when he decided to tell his teammates about surpassing Tobirama Senju.

…

Later on, Shinji was with an elderly doctor and he was running his palm around the genin's arms, head, and body. Yamato and his teammates were there too, even Kota had somehow magically gotten better and was able to stand up and walk around. The doctors called it; stupidity and hard-headedness. The jonin was also a little injured and had a scratch on his face. Before the replacement, one of Shinji's kunai had been able to scratch him.

Apparently, his excuse was that he had to see if his comrade in arms was okay. Yamato was still a little worried since he hadn't held back his power. But in the end decided to let Kota come along, better than having him move around without supervision or sneaking out.

"Heh! There is no way my comrade would be injured, we injured a jonin together. It's only a matter of time before I become Hokage, and he will be my right-hand man." Kota said while punching the air at an invisible enemy. When he suddenly winced and grabbed at his stomach. "Ow, ow, ow…"

The doctor checking on Shinji gave Kato a side glance and sighed. "Can you stop the idiot from straining himself?"

Sayuri crouched down, poking at Kato that was crawling on the ground while grasping at his stomach. "You okay? Also, I thought you wanted to just be an S Rank Ninja? Why Hokage all of a sudden?"

*cough* "Because that will help Shinji get all the jutsu that he needs… also a Kage has to be an S Rank ninja, right? " he muttered, surprisingly something insightful. "That's like killing two birds with one stone."

Even Sayuri was surprised. But then she chuckled. "Yeah, that's good and all, but Shinji seems more like the kind of guy to be Hokage."

"You're good," the doctor suddenly said, interrupting Kota from talking. "Though when you took that head injury, you should have passed out. But I have seen guys survive having screws in their skull, so this isn't that strange for a ninja."

Shinji nodded. "Then can I train today?"

"It should be okay, just don't do push-ups for today, just to be safe," the elderly doctor added.

Shinji was glad because today he had gotten some inspiration on how to do a seal-less Substitution. He planned to immediately start training the Substitution jutsu as soon as he got home.

"Anyway, now that you've all been checked to be okay, I have something I want to ask you, Shinji," Yamato suddenly said, his gaze showing the seriousness of the situation. "Since you told me your goal I have been thinking about how, as your sensei, I can help you achieve your goal. I had the doctor check about any allergies or something unexpected about your body. Thankfully, there seems to be nothing. But now, I plan to help build a perfect diet for each of you. We will start doing D Rank Missions from tomorrow. But we will also start training."

"So? What are you getting at, Yamato -sensei?"

"Shinji, what do you think I should help you train in the next two weeks?"

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[Chose one, and write the answer down in the comments]

A: Train Ninjutsu as Main, Taijutsu as secondary, and try to increase your body strength.

B: Just go all out Ninjutsu, and train nothing else. Learn everything that Yamato has to teach you.

C: Maybe try a hand in Genjutsu? Ask Yamato if it's possible.

D: Go all out in just Taijutsu and training physically.

E: Ask Yamato about what he should train.

F: Concentrate on Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and training physically, equally. But try and study a little Genjutsu too during any second of free time. During the whole two weeks. (This option is only available due to Trait: Crazily Ambitious)

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Status Update:

Intelligence 3.2 -> 3.4

Ninjutsu 1.7 -> 1.8

Chakra 2.1 -> 2.2

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Relationships:

Yamato 7/10 (he full-heartedly believes in Shinji that…)

Kato 9/10 (though he complained, he was happy that Shinji came back for him)

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