17. Today we are going to...

Chapter 11: How Sasuke Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Boom

A few days had passed since the Great Orange Incident of Konoha, and life in the Hidden Leaf Village was slowly returning to normal. Well, as normal as things could be in a village where children learned to breathe fire before they learned long division.

In a secluded training ground, far from prying eyes (or so he thought), a red-haired boy sat cross-legged, his eyes closed in concentration. This was Sora, the five-year-old prodigy who had recently given the entire village an unasked-for citrus makeover. But today, he wasn't plotting any grand pranks or devising new ways to drive the Hokage to early retirement. No, today was all about self-improvement.

Sora opened his eyes and focused on the mental image of his stats, numbers floating in his mind's eye like the world's most bizarre calculator:

- Stealth: 267

- Chakra Control: 190

- Ninjutsu: 170

- Taijutsu: 40

- Genjutsu: 70

- Fuinjutsu: 230

- Intelligence: 30 (average is 10)

- Creativity: 21 (average is 10)

- Luck: 45 (average is 5)

- Prank Points: 470

He couldn't help but grin at his Stealth stat. It was already in Chunin range, which explained why he could sneak around the village without getting caught. His Chakra Control was almost there too, creeping up on that coveted 200 mark.

His Taijutsu, on the other hand, was abysmal. But hey, he was five. He could barely reach most people's kneecaps, let alone engage in hand-to-hand combat. And Genjutsu? Well, that was a work in progress. He made a mental note to practice making people see red spots or something equally annoying.

What really caught his eye, though, were his Intelligence, Creativity, and Luck stats. They were all well above average, especially his Luck. He still couldn't quite believe it had jumped from 27 to 45 after meeting Naruto. It was as if the universe itself had decided, "You know what? Let's make this kid's life interesting. More interesting than a rubber chicken full of explosive tags."

Sora sighed, remembering the ridiculous cost of improving these stats. It was like trying to buy a small country with pocket change. He'd spent nearly twenty thousand points on them already, and the costs just kept climbing. Ten thousand points per stat in the thirties, and a whopping hundred thousand per stat in the forties. At this rate, he'd need to paint the entire Fire Country orange just to afford a single-point increase.

But Sora wasn't one to be discouraged. No, he was a problem solver, a go-getter, a... well, a five-year-old with way too much time on his hands. So, he did what any self-respecting ninja-in-training would do: he got creative with his training.

Last Time, when he was training and got the tree walking on the first try, he got a whooping thousand points! yup, a thousand, such incidents have happened either when he performed very well or utilized all of his skills completely.

Mind you getting points by pranks these days has become increasingly hard, he had gotten around only three hundred points for that classroom prank he did in Prank Wars with Naruto-nichan.

First up on his list of "Totally Awesome and Not At All Ridiculous Training Exercises" was the Great Candle Blow-Out Challenge. Sora lit a candle and placed it a short distance away. Then, channelling his inner Big Bad Wolf, he began to blow.

Except instead of air, he was blowing chakra.

The first attempt was... less than successful. The chakra came out in a burst so weak it wouldn't have ruffled a feather, let alone extinguish a flame. Sora frowned, concentrating harder.

The second attempt was better. The flame flickered, dancing wildly, but stubbornly refused to go out. Sora glared at it as if his sheer willpower could snuff out the defiant little light.

On the third try, Sora channelled so much chakra that not only did the candle go out, but the entire candlestick went flying, narrowly missing a squirrel that had been watching the proceedings with growing concern for its safety.

"Oops," Sora muttered, watching the squirrel chatter angrily at him before scampering away. "Note to self: less is more when it comes to chakra-powered candle extinguishing."

As the day wore on, Sora moved on to his next exercise: the Great Pebble Launch. He placed a small stone on his palm, focusing the chakra to the point of contact. The goal was simple: make the pebble fly.

The first attempt sent the pebble shooting straight up, only to come back down and bounce off Sora's forehead with a resounding "thunk."

"Ow! Okay, okay, horizontal trajectory, not vertical," he grumbled, rubbing the red spot on his forehead.

The next try was more successful. The pebble shot forward... and kept going... and going... until it disappeared into the underbrush with a faint "thwack" followed by an indignant "squeak!"

Sora winced. "Sorry, Mr. Squirrel! I swear I'm not targeting you specifically!"

By the end of the hour, Sora had managed to consistently launch pebbles several meters away without causing bodily harm to himself or the local wildlife. He considered this a win, even if his Prank Points hadn't budged an inch.

Next up was what Sora liked to call the "Spiderman Special." The goal? Stick to a wall using nothing but chakra and sheer force of will. Oh, and do it with his back, because why make things easy?

Sora approached a nearby tree, eyeing it like it was a particularly tricky opponent. He turned around, pressed his back against the rough bark, and began channelling chakra.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, he felt his feet leave the ground. He was doing it! He was defying gravity! He was-

THUMP!

-falling flat on his backside.

"Ow," Sora groaned, rubbing his sore rear. "Note to self: trees are harder than they look."

But Sora was nothing if not persistent. He got back up, dusted himself off, and tried again. And again. And again.

By the time the sun had reached its zenith, Sora could successfully hold himself against the tree for a solid five minutes before his concentration slipped and gravity reclaimed its prize.

"Take that, Gravity!" Sora crowed triumphantly, doing a little victory dance that looked more like a deranged chicken than anything else.

His final exercise for the day was perhaps the most challenging yet: Chakra String Puppetry. Sora had seen puppet masters from Suna manipulating their creations with invisible strings of chakra, and he was determined to master the technique. Or, at the very least, not strangle himself in the process.

He started small, attempting to attach a chakra string to a leaf. The first few attempts resulted in nothing more than a slight twitch of the leaf, as if it was laughing at his efforts.

"Come on," Sora muttered, his face scrunched up in concentration. "Move, you chlorophyll-filled menace!"

Slowly, painstakingly, he managed to lift the leaf off the ground. It hovered there, trembling like a nervous genin on their first C-rank mission, before promptly dropping back to the earth.

Sora didn't give up. He practised and practised, moving from leaves to twigs to small rocks. By the end of the afternoon, he could manipulate several objects at once, making them dance through the air in a clumsy ballet.

"And for my next trick," Sora announced to his imaginary audience (which consisted primarily of traumatized squirrels at this point), "I shall make myself float!"

This, as it turned out, was easier said than done. Sora managed to attach chakra strings to his arms and legs, but coordinating them to actually lift himself off the ground was about as easy as herding cats. Angry, chakra-resistant cats.

After several attempts that left him tangled up like a pretzel, Sora decided to call it a day. He flopped onto his back, staring up at the sky with a mixture of exhaustion and satisfaction.

"Well," he mused aloud, "at least I didn't set anything on fire this time. Progress!"

Little did Sora know that his peaceful day of training was about to be interrupted by more explosions than a Gatsuga in a paper factory.

Meanwhile, in another part of the training grounds, a certain blonde-haired, orange-clad ninja was engaged in his own unique brand of training. Naruto Uzumaki, the self-proclaimed future Hokage and current holder of the "Most Likely to Give the Village Council an Aneurysm" award, was surrounded by a small army of clones.

"Alright, you handsome devils," Naruto addressed his clones, each one grinning back at him with identical whisker-marked cheeks. "Today, we're going to master the art of... drumroll please..."

The clones obligingly started slapping their thighs in a poor imitation of a drumroll.

***

Thank you Daoist_Empereur, Mohammed_Alshamsi , Kay_smiles101, Desire96, Kennchan, Kay_smiles101(Twice in a row), Vasilli_niko  for Powerstones

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The current Powerstones is 71, and our rank is 89, Let's aim for the Top 70 before this week ends.

Bonus Chapter Scheme:-

75 Power stones = +2 chapter

100 Power Stones = +5 chapter

125 Power stones = +2 chapter

Valid till only before this week's Power Stones reset