7 Chapter 7: Meetings I

21- Year 8 AK (After Kyubi Attack)

I left the camp before dawn scratching Alpha behind the ears while doing so. Soon I found myself into a clearing. I had all of my belonging stashed on my person. Storage scrolls were useful that way.

I sat cross-legged on the humid ground. Distractedly, I spun my chakra, letting it flow freely in a way that resonated with the water around me. The dew rose from the grass, following with familiarity my will, and spun around me lazily, the drops thinning and thinning until a light mist covered the clearing. That hadn't required me more energy than a single kawarimi.

I smiled, looking around to take in the result. My chakra affinity was water, and I had discovered it years before. The two levels of nature manipulation explained into the scrolls of Konoha's Shinobi Section of the Library came to me with little difficulty, surprisingly, I had my mind set on 'flowing with your emotions' basing myself more on waterbending than the actual chakra manipulation. My chakra passed through the mist like a net, and on it some of the water condensed. I brought my hands together, forming a rough cup, which filled itself with crystal clear fresh water. I drank it, relishing in my success.

Protected in the mist, I took off my fingerless glove and brought my arm forward, and started collecting the chakra in my hand.

Hands are complex things, in my informed opinion at least. Areas of the human hand include the palm, which is the central region of the anterior part of the hand, located superficially to the metacarpus. The skin in this area contains dermal papillae to increase friction, such as are also present on the fingers and used for opisthenar area (dorsal) is the corresponding area on the posterior part of the heel of the hand is the area anteriorly to the bases of the metacarpal bones, located in the proximal part of the palm. It is the area that sustains most pressure when using the palm for support, such as in handstand. There are five digits attached to the hand, notably with a nail fixed to the end in place of the normal claw. The four fingers can be folded over the palm which allows the grasping of objects. The thumb (connected to the first metacarpal bone and trapezium) is located on one of the sides, parallel to the arm. A reliable way of identifying human hands is from the presence of opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs are identified by the ability to be brought opposite to the fingers, a muscle action is known as opposition The skeleton of the human hand consists of 27 bones the eight short carpal bones of the wrist are organized into a proximal row (scaphoid, lunate, triquetralandpisi form) which articulates with the bones of the forearm, and a distal row (trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, and hamate), which articulates with the bases of the five metacarpal bones of the hand. The heads of the metacarpals will each in turn articulate with the bases of the proximal phalanx of the fingers and thumb. These articulations with the fingers are the metacarpophalangeal joints known as the knuckles. At the palmar aspect of the first metacarpophalangeal joints are small, almost spherical bones called the sesamoid bones. The fourteen phalanges make up the fingers and thumb and are numbered I-V (thumb to little finger) when the hand is viewed from an anatomical position (palm up). The four fingers each consist of three phalanx bones: proximal, middle, and distal. The thumb only consists of a proximal and distal phalanx. Together with the phalanges of the fingers and thumb these metacarpal bones form five rays or poly-articulated chains. Because supination and pronation (rotation about the axis of the forearm) are added to the two axes of movements of the wrist, the ulna and radius are sometimes considered part of the skeleton of the hand. There are numerous sesamoid bones in the hand, small ossified nodes embedded in tendons; the exact number varies between people whereas a pair of sesamoid bones are found at virtually all thumb metacarpophalangeal joints, sesamoid bones are also common at the interphalangeal joint of the thumb and the metacarpophalangeal joints of the little finger and the index finger. In rare cases, sesamoid bones have been found in all the metacarpophalangeal joints and all distal interphalangeal joints except that of the long finger. The articulations are interphalangeal articulations of hand (the hinge joints between the bones of the digits) metacarpophalangeal joints (where the digits meet the palm) intercarpal articulations (where the palm meets the wrist).

And more than that, on each hand there were 57 tenketsus. Well, there were only 7 that one could channel his chakra through, the others were far too small, and they worked more 'reacting' to what you did with the 7 you had control over than anything else. That was why handseals made sense. Compressing the tenketsus of the hands in certain patterns while channeling chakra corked some tenketsus while letting others outpour chakra, the movements of the chakra on your hands reverberated? resonated? echoed? Along with your coils, shaping your chakra in a way that (for each set of hand seals) was optimal for a certain jutsu. That was why every jutsu felt a little bit forced when performed, at least in comparison to a seal-less one.

Then it came to the Rasengan, and it took me six months to learn it. It was a headache under the form of a happy blue thingy.

Rasengan required extremely refined chakra control, but not only that, it required the ability to sustain the 'charging' phase of the jutsu. This meant that you place your hand under a lot of stress and run the risk of rupturing your hand' chakra coils. For those reasons is difficult to master, at twelve, Naruto managed to learn it bull heading his way through. That is to say that a deaf person can learn how to play a song on the piano if he copies the movements enough times. Naruto had enhanced healing thanks to his status as jinchuriki, and enough raw chakra that he didn't have to bother with the control part. To help others gain the necessary chakra control, learning to use the Rasengan was broken into three steps: Rotation, the user learned to spin their chakra in multiple directions at once. To help in this regard, users may be given a water balloon so that they can mark their progress by the churning water; this step was complete once the users are able to burst the balloon with their chakra. The user needs to know which direction their body naturally spins its chakra for this step. Power: the user must increase the volume and density of chakra they output. To help in this regard, users may be given a rubber ball: there is no water inside to help them burst the exterior and the rubber shell was thicker than a balloon's. Containment: the user must combine the first two steps into a contained sphere. To help in this regard, users may be given a balloon to help them visualize the intended shape; if the balloon is popped or otherwise moves, mastery is not yet achieved. I had the greatest difficulties in the second step. If it is because I naturally poured out less chakra than necessary or because I disliked the idea of breaking rubber balls was still unclear. Managing to do it all in secret hadn't been easy either. I didn't want Jiraya of the sannin coming to know that someone bought water balloons and rubber balls in bulk, so I stole one here and there, leaving the money in the pockets of the owner. It had been a good training method, but in my team I was the one specialized in subterfuge, as such, pickpocketing was right down my alley.

Slowly but surely, a spiraling ball of bright light blue chakra formed in my palm. And once it stabilized itself, I stopped pouring chakra into the jutsu. It was honestly beautiful. The deep humming of it was soothing too. I grimaced at the thought of it grinding through meat and bones like it was designed to do.

I let the technique dissipate, I wanted to try and create a Suiton: Rasengan, but I knew that the first attempts would probably backfire spectacularly, and for that reason, I needed to be able to produce a Kage Bunshin. Sadly, it was a kinjutsu, and as such, not only it wasn't common knowledge, but if I suddenly came to know it, it would have raised questions.

With a twist of my wrist, some of the mist condensed into a razor-sharp, tiny wire, and cut off a leaf from a tree over my head. I tried to turn the cutting tool into a flowing current that the leaf should have sailed to reach my hand, but I managed to drench the leaf and making it fall faster. My intent was still not well meshed with the shape manipulation of suiton chakra. But considering that it was something I had never heard about before, it was pretty cool.

I reached over for the leaf and brought it among my closed palms. My mind drifted to 'windy' thoughts. A gale, a kite, the meadows flattening under the force of the wind, trees being uprooted, branches lightly dancing and leaves delicately twirling. Then I turned my attention inward, and focused on the chakra in my hands. Making it 'sharp' and grinding one against the other, sharpening it further. I pictured the edge of a blade, clouds gathering, cloaks billowing, the howling of the wind itself. I noticed my chakra finally taking a 'direction' different from the one it took when it flowed into the suiton form. It freed itself on a path I was growing increasingly familiar with. I exerted that feel on the leaf between my palms, before letting it go. I opened my hands, finding that the leaf had been cut halfway through.

I frowned. "Why not until the end?" I asked myself. Then I noticed a thin red line on my left palm and grimaced. "Unbalanced." I answered my previous question.

I healed myself and brought the half-cut leaf among my palms once again.

Falling into myself, I reached for the pit of my stomach, visualizing a tiny ember. I went with my mind to the Suna desert, that we had crossed years before to carry a letter. The heavy heat of a sun that didn't now mercy. The sheer dryness of the air, the scorching heat of a fireball signing my hair during a scuffle, the reassuring warmth of a campfire. The stones turned cherry red into the fire that we dropped into a pot of water to make stew. The hunger of the three days no stops run of a few weeks before when we got separated by our sensei and needed to lose pursuers. The need to grow. The rage at the sheer violence that permeated this world I ended up in. The burning sensation of muscles in the middle of training, the scorching hot feel of sensei' punches grazing me. I felt the change more easily this time, my neutral chakra growing hotter and climbing up from my stomach, looking for fresh air to consume. Carefully and slowly, I controlled the output, constricting the fire so that the only direction it could grow into was my arms. It reached my palms, and the leaf sizzled. I opened my palms without letting go of the feeling, and my palms were cherry red, with the smoldering remains of the leaf on them. With a smile, I smothered the Katon chakra. It didn't require me less effort than wind, but I had received tips from Shin, that for his pyromaniac joy was a fire natured shinobi. I had to make do with scrolls from the library for both my water and wind natured training. Sure, the first was my natural affinity and for the second I had made liberal use of what Asuma had explained to Naruto in the manga.

I still had to begin with Doton and Raiton, but I had time before shit started hitting the fan. I still had three months of patrol duty, during which I wanted to finish the second stage of elemental training for both wind and fire. Then I would go with Raiton, trying to find a way to perform elemental combination techniques on my own on the side.

"Daiki!" A voice sounded through the woods. Hana. I correctly identified her. I dispersed my mist and flickered next to her. She threw a punch on reflex to the sudden apparition. Following my routine, I nimbly dodged and smacked her on the ass. She squealed in surprise before actually growling at me. "Stop sneaking up on me to..!" she interrupted to swing a solid punch at me.

"I don't sneak up." I flippantly answered. "And you should always cover your rear." I answered with an evil grin. Not that I was into fourteen years old, but these people needed a sexual revolution. If every woman was so uptight as I saw in the manga getting laid randomly would be very difficult. Well, there are always whores. I reassured myself. It also disturbed me greatly that almost every single man in Konoha was a pervert, at least basing myself on the manga. Then, let us put it. The life of a shinobi, or kunoichi, grants someone the perfect ass. Well, unless you're an Akimichi. I corrected myself. I remembered that Jiraya's motivation to take seriously his training had been 'getting all the girls', I could relate, easily.

"Is he still flirting?" Shin asked, appearing perched on a branch over our heads. "And failing at it." I happily added. Enjoying the scandalous blush on Hana's face. Teens. I snorted, dodging another punch.

"You can play later, we need to return home, sensei received a missive through a monkey summon." Shin quickly cut us apart.

"A monkey summon? That means directly from the Hokage right?" I asked. At their nods, I flickered over to the camp, quickly sealing away my possessions. "That explains why a messenger managed to find us, he is a scary old man after all."

"Don't be disrespectful!" Hana scolded me.

"Do you see a lot of sixty years old shinobi walking around? His age is a testament to his skill." I quickly answered.

"Where is sensei?" I then asked.

"He moved south with Hai, Ma and Ru, it will be... fifteen clicks by now, but we have a clean road thanks to him, so we'll catch up quickly," Hana answered.

I finished gathering my things and we were bloting through the branches. "You can't just call them like that because they are the Haimaru brothers." I objected. Alpha, Beta and Gamma worked wonderfully. "Well, they are her ninkens." Shin butted in.

He earned himself a nasty glare from me. Alpha was a good name. If only to remark that he was smarter than the other two.

"You do realize that technically this will be a failed mission, yes?" I swiftly changed the topic. By their sudden frowns and protests, I guessed that they didn't make the connection, so I elaborated.

"We were supposed to go 6 months incommunicado, with sensei to supervise, swiping through whatever shit we found. They were making us a six units hunt squad, and once we climbed the ranking ladder high enough we would have been asked to become hunter nin."

"That's why we wouldn't have had to pass the chunin exams to be promoted?" Shin acutely pointed out "So that we could stay off the bingo books?"

I nodded. "It looked like these six months were our examination."

"But then why stopping us?"Hana asked, rightfully confused. "It can't be cheap keeping sensei off the roosters for much longer." After all, while the bulk of the money to the Hokage Tower came by a vast number of D and C ranks, it was high ranked shinobi and A-ranked missions that brought the advertising and the following best jobs, even the S ranked, but those couldn't be discussed.

"So, sensei is spearheading the road for us." I recapped, following the trail he knowingly left. "Is this because the message made him regress to his hyper-protective behavior, or because we are needed in Konoha asap?"

Nobody answered since the answer to both questions pointed out that something happened. In the shinobi' world, that usually meant bad news. And I had an idea about what exactly had happened.

We had reached Guy sensei by midday, the man was just that fast. And then we had run straight towards the village, cutting through whatever happened to be on the way. We run over the roofs of a rural little village, we severely crippled a very unlucky group of bandits which was likely made up by academy dropouts. We went ahead with food pills and I condensed water from the air into our bottles. We didn't sleep or stop to take a shit, for a whole week. Our group of seven, with sensei opening the way, was like a battering ram through the glass that was the vast forest of Hi no Kuni. By the fourth day, my teammates started getting sloppy with their chakra control, leaving marks on the branches, or faltering here and there. The Haimaru brothers and sensei righted them up every time. For the first two days and nights, I kept up my natural chakra training. Changing from neutral to water, then going back to normal. Then fire, wind. Then I sprouted a killing headache and I kept myself at a steady pace, letting my mind numb down, so that I was only focused on following the orange leg warmers of Guy. We proceeded in silence, for two reasons: one, not wasting breath, two not announcing our presence to others in the area. I think we crossed a road upon which a jonin sensei was walking with his team, escorting a caravan. Probably Guy had exchanged communication with sign language, because their sensei didn't intervene. There had been some rain on the fifth day, which managed to awaken me a little, and with a twitch of my chakra I filled to the brim our supply of water. Surprisingly or not, it looked like the 'just keep going' state aided my Suiton. It was something to look into.

On the morning of the eighth day, we stopped at the gate of the village, and while sensei was signing in our return, I swiftly dragged medical chakra on my legs, relishing in the fresh sensation. They weren't rested, and the mental fatigue was still there, but at least running through half of Hi no Kuni at high speed with my weights on had still been an effective training. The Haimaru brothers were the ones that reacted better to the intensive workload. But then, they always had only to train their bodies, since their techniques were all Yang based, and Hana was the one to provide the Ying component.

A whole week with a silent Guy sensei was a strange as fuck thing for everyone. Nevertheless, every dream must vanish when one wakes up.

"My youthful students!" He started, "I'll race you to the Hokage's office, where we have been summoned! Ready? Go!" And he was off.

Hana was dead on her feet, so I most gracefully circled a bit of healing chakra through her legs. While I was treating her, Shin whined: "Why do you always heal her first?"

"Because she has nicer legs." I answered with a croaking voice. A week of silence will do that to anybody. Hana was so tired that she didn't even punch me, choosing to glare at me hatefully instead. I chuckled and moved over to Shin, only numbing down the pain. Then we too followed our sensei to the Hokage Tower. While on the roofs, I stole a glance at the Uchiha compound. Wooden planks over the windows, paper doors still broken.

I sighed. I was a great sustainer of personal freedom, meaning that everyone was entitled to their choices. But goddamit Itachi, what's the point of doing that?

We reached the lobby and nodded to the secretary, who watched us with a blank expression but nodded nonetheless, directing us to the office. It wasn't necessary to point out that his secretary was an Anbu, tasked with raising the alarm in case of an attempt of attack. I managed to contain a snort. As if anyone could wish to face the Sandaime.

Even with the Anbu ninjas without a doubt hidden around, the total of five shinobi, and three very big dogs, the Hokage's office managed to not look overcrowded.

It was a circular room, with a tall library behind the desk where the Hokage was currently sitting, on the left of which stood an impressive pile of paperwork, and by the angry puffing of his pipe, I deduced that it was still to be completed. The door we came through had tall windows on both sides, and the left one allowed the Hokage to see the mountain with the faces of the others that had shared the job. On the walls sat pictures of the ones that had held the weight of the hat.

There was even a pot of freshly picked flowers, and if I knew something about bouquet composition, I would even have known its meaning. Then I looked at the Man with the Hat. In the brief second that I had spent taking in the environment he had all the time necessary to look us over. He slightly narrowed his eye when his gaze went over Shin. "Are you drunk, boy?" He asked. Shin spluttered.

The question was so unexpected, and the reaction of my teammate so genuine, that I had to cough into my hand to mask a laugh. Hana's answer, however, was the best. Forgetting her fatigue, she whirled on him with a thunderous expression.

Sniffing suspiciously in his direction, before looking sternly not at him, but at the Haimaru brothers, her mind busy coming up with a reason for which they had neglected to mention that fact to her. Since she probably had been able to pick up something, it was a sure thing that the ninkens had been able to do the same.

"Wait, you are drunk?" I asked, it was hilarious, but I too didn't notice anything that resembled a drunken behavior. Unless...

"How come you didn' tell me?" Hana asked in the meantime at her dogs, who chorused whining of various kind, and beta dared even attempt a friendly lick on her hand. He had always been a suck-up for authority. "No shit he promised you food in exchange!" she screamed at them.

I grimaced. "Hana, do not curse in front of the Hokage."

She whirled on me and just pointed her forefinger. "You shut up! You're the one who taught me to curse anyway!"

I wisely shut up raising my hands in defeat: "Hey that was for training, and don't bark up to my tree! He's the drunk one!"

She was annoyed by my 'bark' remark, but she turned on Shin, who was rightfully furious at me for having thrown him to the wolves. Eh, ninkens and an angry bitch, close enough. I remarked into the safe borders of my head.

"Hey I'm not drunk!" Shin objected, before deflating a bit "Just a tiny tiny bit tipsy. Maybe."

"But how? We've been running for a week straight." I pointed out, honestly curious, while I made my way over, my hand glowing green and checking his bloodstream. "A bit tipsy?" I asked sardonically, before moving to his liver. He was perfectly sane, even if it baffled me how sensei hadn't picked it up.

"I've been training." He murmured, looking with a defeated demeanor at the ground.

Suddenly, in my head a thought clicked: Didn't Rock Lee got drunk and kicked ass once?

Before Hana could begin her tongue lashing anew I cut her off: "Only for taijutsu? Or does it boost your Katon too?"

He grinned at me, making clear that his positive answer was to my second question. But I was hardly going to let him go unscathed. "Yes, I understand that since you're feeling guilty you're treating the whole team to BBQ, and not the cheap one." I nodded sagely. He was about to protest when he noticed the increasing frown on Hana's face and stopped. He sighed and nodded his assent.

"I still don't like having an alcoholic as a teammate." She protested.

"I'm not an alcoholic, I just happen to like to drink." Shin frowned at her, managing to look both offended by her remark and proud of his brilliant use of sake.

"That's the definition of alcoholism." I sighed, pinching my nose and feeling my headache returning with a vengeance.

A deep belly laugh reminded us that we weren't alone. Uh, that explains also why Guy sensei isn't singing praises around our youthful bantering. Was my first thought.

Shit we're in front of the Hokage! Was the second.

"You've done a good job with them, Guy-kun." The old shinobi said.

"Yosh! It's been the most youthful team effort Sandaime-sama!" My sensei... obviously... answered.

"Yeah, sensei, out of three dogs and three humans only one human became an alcoholic." I quipped in.

Hana slapped a hand on my mouth. I frowned, it wasn't like they weren't used to my sarcasm, not only the years together as a team forced us to get to know each other. Risking your life with someone did make you closer to that person. And during the last three months, we had been forced to stay only with each other.

Then I remembered that we had fooled around enough for our first private encounter with one of the most powerful men to have ever lived. I grimaced a bit.

And at the raised eyebrow of the man, and the absolutely out of character scolding look Guy sensei threw at me, I knew it was uncalled for. When Hana let me, I slightly bowed: "I humbly apologize."

The Hokage let a second pass in silence, before rising from his chair and making his way towards me. His 'presence' in the room thickened. It wasn't killing intent, nor the foreboding feeling of a shinobi with a larger than normal chakra capacity turning his attention on you. It felt almost like being underwater, but more like when your ears get corked due to a shift in the pressure. "I don't think you have a humble bone in your whole body, Daiki-kun." He commented. Looking at my teammates, I saw them trembling slightly, but neither of us could move.

"Why, from what I know, instead of letting other children use eatslug as a nickname you went as far as claiming it as your surname." He recounted, and his presence receded, even in that 'heated' moments, I noticed the surprised look that blossomed on my teammates' faces. I would need to explain that.

Was that the thing I do to sense people around me? How the hell does he know about me? Did he have me followed? I asked myself, my old paranoid tendencies rising again.

"May I see your hands, Daiki-kun?" He asked.

I wordlessly brought my hands forward. Because when the motherfucking Hokage makes a polite request, it's a politely phrased absolute order.

He hummed, taking my calloused hands in his marred by countless years of war. He turned them up and down, lightly trailing his finger over where I had cut myself practicing the change in chakra nature.

"It's been some time since I've seen hands that resemble mine." He mused. "Suiton...Katon, and even Fūton?"

I wordlessly nodded. It was mindblowing that he could read so much in so little. "You don't use handseals often do you?" he asked then, releasing my hands.

"Not often and not all the necessary ones, no." I quietly answered.

The Hokage sat back into his chair and lit up his pipe with a flare of chakra fire natured. Obviously, no hand signs.

"You have been recalled for a reason." He said. And his tone meant business.

We straightened up and assumed a stand by position, arms crossed behind our backs, feet at shoulder width and staring into the void in front of us.

"In a month the chunin exams will be held in Iwa. You will go, accompanied by Kakashi Hatake, who will be an impartial judge of your performance, and upon which judgment I'll base your possible promotion. Nevertheless, the final part of your exam will be, like it always is a tournament of some sort. Your B ranked mission will be winning said tournament." He blew a perfect circle of smoke, that changed its shape and turned into the kanji for 'fire'. "Questions?"

That is a crazy strange chakra thingy. Only shape manipulation? No, he somehow laced the smoke with his chakra! I quickly analyzed it.

"Does it have anything to do with the closing down of the Uchiha' District?" Shin asked. So he noticed it too? Good. I was honestly surprised he had picked it up.

The sharp gaze of the Sandaime closed on him, evaluating what to tell us. He sighed, nodding to himself. "Observant too." He mumbled.

"Two weeks ago, Itachi and Shishui Uchiha betrayed Konoha, killing off their clan in the process, they are currently two S ranked missing-nin, on their way out they... collided, with two genin teams ready for promotion, and they'll be incapacitated for another six months." He grimly explained.

I blinked. Shishui? What the fuck? That was a big change in the storyline of the Narutoverse.

"Survivors?" Shino asked, his analytical mind coming through what was left of his alcohol induced daze.

"One." Sarutobi replied arching an eyebrow. I was so grateful that Shin was the one making questions.

"The other villages will learn about it soon if they hadn't already." I jumped into the fray, dragging the attention of the powerful shinobi on myself. "So the chunin exams are a show of strength."

The Sandaime gaze bored into me for an instant, before turning to Guy once more. "You've done a really good job with them."

While our sensei was preening youthfully under the praise, Hana cleared her throat. "Why call us back a whole month before the exams? We could have keep up the mission and went straight to Iwa from the border."

"Because I wanted you to know what was at stake, our reputation, and every message can be intercepted. And because in the village, with a month of preparation, I wanted you to learn something flashy, suited to properly impress our future customers."

I stifled groan, I didn't do 'flashy'. Like hell I was going to use the Rasengan, and while I could use with some measure of safety the first five gates if only for a brief period, they left me battered. That was another reason why I didn't like the chunin exams. This whole 'advertisement' part was just stupid. Yeah, I got it, shinobi in this world were more like foot soldiers highly reliant on stealth, so it wasn't unreasonable that there were situations that required large scale destruction. Still, I disliked it. Why throwing a giant fireball when overheating the brain of the target did the same job with a fraction of the effort. Besides, it was... less clean.

I shuddered. How far have I come? To consider how much more elegant is killing someone with the least amount of force necessary...

But I recognized an opportunity when I saw one. "I've been working on my original elemental jutsu. The theory is sound, and it's... uncharacteristically flashy, for me. I've hit a snag with the testing, however, since until I properly learn it the middle results will be highly unstable and could either kill me, rupture my chakra coils, completely dry me of chakra, make my blood vessels explode, or simply go boom killing everything in three meters radius. Is there some kind of... I don't know, seal maybe? That can help? Or a way to drastically increase my chakra reserves different from the long road of constant exercise? Or at least a way to infuse my Suiton Bushins with roughly half of my chakra? It's very demanding and I cant make my clones strong enough to perform it." And as an afterthought, I remembered exactly who I was trying to play, and added a hasty "Hokage-sama."

"We can do better, I can go with you over your handseals, and lend you my expertise, Daiki-kun." He counter-offered.

I grimaced. "You can't." I blurted out, a bit resigned.

Before anyone, and most of all Sarutobi himself could take offense at my words, I shook my hands in a pleading, panicked expression: "It's just that it doesn't have any hand signs! Not that you can't learn it, Hokage-sama, even if it is my first original work and I'd have liked to keep it for myself, but it's a super honor that you would offer to help. I mean it's you, and you probably have forgotten more about being a shinobi than what I'll ever learn in my life, and now I'm rambling and I'll shut up. I'm sorry Hokage-sama." I bowed at the waist, I was honestly nervous, not that much for my saying to the motherfucking Hokage that he couldn't do something, but more about the subtle way through which I prodded him to let me learn the Kage Bunshin.

"I presume it's a suiton jutsu?" The Sandaime asked. At my nod, he spoke again: "Tomorrow at zero five hundred, training ground eleven."

I bowed. This time the order wasn't disguised as a question.