9 9 Practice Makes Near Perfection

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" " Speaking out loud

< > Authors Note

( ) General information

* * Sound Effect

Excuse me for any spelling errors.

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"I'm home with Nora-nii, and we have a visitor!"

Satsuki yelled as she entered the house, followed by me with a shrunken Cerberus in my arms and behind me was a nervous Naruko.

"Oh? A guest? Who could it be?"

Mikoto oba-san replied as she left the kitchen while wearing an apron that said 'Best Mom', the apron was bought by me and Satsuki as a gift for Mikoto oba-san's birthday last year.

"Hello oba-san."

"""Woof!"""

Mikoto oba-san smiled at me and Cerberus before her smile stiffened when she noticed my face.

"Nora-chan, go wash your hands AND your face. Goodness, Kuro-chan never learns does she?"

"Woof! Woof!"

Mikoto oba-san shook her in exasperation while Kuro just barked playfully. When Mikoto oba-san saw our visitor, her eyes slightly widened in surprise before she smiled with a tinge of sadness.

"Ara? Who might you be little girl?"

Mikoto oba-san bent down as she looked at Naruko while also questioning her. Anyone could see that she already knew the answer to her own question, unless that person was an idiot.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko and Nora's best friend. Who are you, oba-san?"

Naruko answered anxiously while hoping that Mikoto oba-san wouldn't hurt her. I didn't stick around to hear the rest of their conversation as I went to go wash up. Satsuki just finished washing her hands when I entered the bathroom.

"Nora-nii, why did you invite that girl to dinner?"

Satsuki suddenly asked me as she watched me wash my face.

*Splash*

Throwing water on my face, I reached for the soap while answering her.

"Well, I just felt like it. She didn't have anything else to do, so I thought 'Why not'."

Using the soap to clean my hands and then my face, I was forced to close my eyes.

"You can't lie to me, the Nora-nii I know wouldn't do something like this just because he felt like it."

Using my chakra sense, I 'saw' Satsuki with a frown on her face.

"Haha, you got me. I actually brought her so that you could finally have a friend."

*Splash*

As sad as it sounds, Satsuki really doesn't have any friends. That's because she mostly spends her time with me and she's socially awkward with others, but also because she has a bit of an ego. Additionally, most people who want to be friends with her are really just approaching her for being the daughter of the clan head. Thus, Satsuki has trust issues and doesn't like people in general.

Rinsing my face with water, I turned to look at a pouting Satsuki.

"H-Hmph! I don't need friends as long as I have Nora-nii!"

Satsuki said with a slight blush on her cheeks. I only smiled as I started drying my face and hands.

"Come on, don't be like that. You can't spend all your time with me, what would you do when I'm not around?"

I replied as I left the bathroom with Satsuki and Cerberus following me.

"Then I'll just go find you."

Satsuki said with a smug face.

*Sigh*

"Just give Naruko a chance, will you? Take it as a request from me."

Knowing that Satsuki can't refuse me whenever I asked her to do something, I used that fact to get her cooperation.

"Fine! But only because you asked me!"

Stomping into the dinning room, Satsuki immediately agreed to my request, but not without showing some reluctance. I wryly smiled as I followed her.

Was it wrong for me to manipulate her? Probably. But it's for her own good, I don't want my sister figure to be a loner who only depends on me.

"Good evening, oji-san, Itachi-nii, Izumi-nee."

I first greeted Fugaku, then greeted the other people in the room. Izumi-nee occasionally comes over to eat, not as frequently as me, but at least once or twice a month. Itachi-nii and Izumi-nee both know that they love each other, but they never established a relationship. It's honestly frustrating.

Fugaku just nodded at me while Itachi-nii and Izumi-nee smiled at me.

"How are you doing Nora-chan?"

Taking my seat in between Mikoto oba-san and an awkward Naruko, I replied with a smile.

"I'm doing fine Izumi-nee, I completed one of my goals and I made two new friends today."

The table we were at was a rectangular eight seater table. At the head of the table was Fugaku, to his right was Mikoto with me to her right and Naruko to my right, who was sitting at the end of the table. Opposite to Naruko was Satsuki who was upset that she wasn't sitting next to me, to the right of Satsuki was Izumi-nee who was sitting opposite to me. To the right of Izumi-nee and the opposite of Mikoto oba-san was Itachi-nii who looked less depressing than usual.

"I take it that the blonde girl next to you is your new friend?"

Izumi-nee inquired with a smile.

"Yep, her name is Naruko."

Everyone turned to look at Naruko, who was uncomfortable from gathering all three shinobis attention.

"Hello Naruko-chan, I'm Uchiha Izumi, a close friend of Itachi. I hope we get along."

Izumi-nee started the conversation as she introduced herself. She nudged Itachi-nii who also greeted her.

"Uchiha Itachi, brother of Satsuki and Nora. Pleasure to meet you."

Itachi-nii responded with a small smile and an even smaller greeting.

"Uchiha Fugaku, clan head."

Fugaku response was even shorter than Itachi-nii.

*Cough* *Cough*

Giving out a fake cough, Mikoto oba-san gathered everyone's attention.

"Anyways, it's time to eat. Enjoy the food."

~~~

Riding on Cerberus with a sleeping Naruko leaning on my chest, I stared up at the starry sky.

"So beautiful..."

Even though I've seen it hundreds of times already, I just can't get used to night sky of this world.

Back in my old world, I could barely see the stars, at most I'd see less than a dozen. But here, the sky was filled with stars of different colours and brightness. I could see cosmic dust, and if I was lucky, I could even spot shooting stars or meteor showers.

Due to this stark contrast, it made me aware that I truly was in a different world. Truth be told, I could never really call this world home. I was aware of all the hidden dangers in the world.

I always felt out of my element, as if I didn't belong. Occasionally, I would wake up from nightmares of me getting killed by enemies, and even allies. At night, I would vent my stress away by punching and kicking a tree stump in the training grounds.

The anime said one thing, but reality can be a real bitch. I didn't want to believe that everything would be okay, there was always a 'What if' lingering in my mind. For example, I didn't believe that Hiruzen was a kind grandpa that would help you when you came to him for help.

He was a fucking shinobi! They live in the shadows, and they hunt in the shadows. He's called the God of Shinobi for a reason, the amount of people he's killed is definitely over a few hundred. I wouldn't be surprised if he has done questionable things to keep the village safe, like sacrificing others or framing innocents.

That's why I was always cautious of everything, I appeared calm and relaxed, but I wasn't. I was always using my empathetic abilities to keep myself relatively calm, not too calm though, just enough to think rationally. The only thing that can comfort me is Cerberus. She's not just my best friend, she the only thing keeping me sane in this messed up world. Without her, I'd probably go crazy.

"Let's drop you at home."

I looked down at the sleeping figure of Naruko. She's had a lot of excitement for the day, so I wasn't surprised that she fell asleep. The dinner was a new experience for her, so it mentally drained her.

When I arrived at Narukos home, I could immediately tell it was hers due to the chakra imprint she left on the place. It was a small little apartment, the entire building was empty though, but I could guess why. I tucked her into bed while ignoring the empty cup ramens and clothes all over the floor.

"Sweat dreams."

I controlled her emotions so that she would have a pleasant and relaxing dream. I couldn't directly control her dreams, but I sure as hell can influence them.

As I left the apartment building, an Anbu appeared before me.

"Lord Third requests your presence."

Without giving me time to answer, the Anbu disappeared. Before heading off, I recalled every single detail of the Anbu before coming to a decision. This could very well be a trap set up by a certain someone, it wouldn't be the first one I walked into.

Judging by the chakra fluctuations and body movements of the Anbu, I could tell that the person was tired and wanted to sleep. The scent from the Anbus body smelled similar to that of other any other Anbu. Emotions are linked to hormones, so it's easy to differentiate Root from Anbu since Root ninjas won't have any emotional hormones attached to their bodies. My sense of smell has already surpassed what is humanly possible, even the Inuzuka are inferior to me in this department.

Anyway, now that I confirmed that it's a real Anbu instead of one of Danzo's Root, I'll go visit the old man.

"Tsk, can't a guy get some sleep. Roze, to the Hokage Tower."

Jumping onto Cerberus's back, I held on for dear life. Soon enough, the wind blew into my face as I saw nothing but blurs. A few seconds of running later, and we came to an abrupt halt outside of the Hokages office.

With wobbly legs I climbed down Cerberus and walked towards the door before knocking on it. Normally, I would go to reception before getting sent to the Hokage, but I was directly called by Hiruzen which meant no reception.

"Come in."

With Cerberus following behind me, I entered the door. Sitting behind his desk while smoking a pipe was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage. You could tell that time took its toll on the old man due to the grey beard and his wrinkled face. His chakra was aged and his chakra network was slightly clogged.

"You requested my presence, Lord Third?"

This is the first time that I officially talked with him. I've seen him before, but never interacted with him

"You know exactly why I called you here."

Speaking with a firm voice, he just kept staring at me.

"I'm just doing what you couldn't."

I said to him, not looking anywhere else but his eyes.

"And what would that be?"

Hiruzen asked with curiosity, he's eyebrow raised.

"Giving Naruko a better life."

He winced and a contemplative look appeared on his face. I was genuinely surprised when I felt the sorrow in his heart, not only sorrow, but also guilt and regret. I honestly expected that he would be the manipulative type, what with his grandfatherly aura.

"Yes, little Naruko is quite unfortunate. Alas, I can't go against the decision of the Civilian Council."

The Konoha Council manages the village affairs, and the Civilian Council manages everything none shinobi related. The Konoha Council consists of Mitokado Homura, Shimura Danzo and Utatane Koharu. The Civilian Council consists of Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, (the following are OC's) Girado Kurumi, Fujiwara Akiko and Souren Osamu. Homura, Koharu and Akiko are the corruption of the Civillian Council, and Akiko is the backer of Naruko's harassers.

Fujiwara Akiko has a punchable face that just screams 'PUNCH ME!', it was really difficult to restrain myself from beating the shit out of him. He's super narcissistic and is an all-time asshole. Also, his ego is larger than the Elemental Nations.

The old man sighed as he looked away, prefering to look at the window than my face.

"You're the fucking Hokage, old fart! What do you mean you can't do shit about the Civilian Council? You made the Council to manage the civilians, not those with a ninja background! As far as I'm concerned, Naruko's mother is Uzumaki Kushina, the princess of the Uzumaki Clan, while her father is Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, and you're telling me that she doesn't have a ninja background? Do you have shit for brains or what?"

I looked at the old asshole in calm rage. No matter what excuses he made, he could most definitely help her. He's the Hokage after all.

"How do you know about her parents? That's S ranked classified information."

Ignoring most of what I said, the old fart focused on my mention of Kushina and Minato.

"Classified? How retarded are you? Do you actually believe that it's classified information? It doesn't take a genius to figure out who Naruko's parents are! There was literally only one live Uzumaki in the village before Naruko, and everyone knew who she married! Are you even aware of all the people that know of this so-called 'classified information'? Classified my ass, do you know how much of your 'classified information' has spread? Where's her godfather, huh? Gone! That's where! He left the village, abandoning his duties as a godfather and as a shinobi of Konoha."

Although angered at my words, Hiruzen was mostly affected by the mention of Jiriya. Jiraya was his student, so he cared deeply for him.

"I'm taking Naruko under my wing from now on. If any of the Council members try something, don't be surprised at the outcome. Manage your subordinates or I will."

As I stared at the stoic face of Hiruzen, I mentally chuckled when I sensed the frustration bubbling in his mind.

Turning around, I walked towards the door.

"Where are you going? This conversation is not over."

Hiruzen spoke up.

"I'm going home, where else. And to me, this was never a conversation to begin with."

With that final bit, I left, not bothering to turn around as Hiruzen stared at my back.

-Time Skip: Next Day-

"All right, this is the place."

It was early morning, and like I promised, I took Origami with me to train. I wanted to bring Cerberus along with us, but Kuro was still sleeping, and I couldn't bare the thought of waking her up.

"Where are we?"

Origami asked as she looked around the area. The place was deep in the forest, where nobody would go. There was a large tree stump in a clearing that looks like it's been used quite often. A lake could be seen through the nearby thickets if you looked hard enough, but it was hidden by trees.

"This is an abandoned training ground, only one person comes here and they're the one who's gonna train us."

Origami looked at me with a stoic face, but I could tell what she's thinking. Being friends with an Aburame means that you have to understand what their small gestures mean.

"Don't look at me like that, I never lie about stuff like this. We just need to use the secret password to get that person over here."

I replied with a smirk.

"What's the password?"

With a smile on my face, I gestured for her to lean closer. Whispering the password to her, I saw that her cheeks turned bright red.

"Absolutely not!"

She half shouted with a mix between a stoic and a frown on her face.

"We have to, it's the only way that they'll come out. I promise you, it will definitely be worth it."

I said with a serious face, all traces of my previous smile gone. Origami looked at me for a bit before sighing.

"Fine."

"Great, we'll say it on three, ready?"

She nodded with a blush still present on her face.

"1, 2, 3!"

In perfect sync, we shouted at the top of our lungs.

""MY YOUTH BURNS BRIGHTER THAN THE MIDDAY SUN!! I'LL SHOW THE ENTIRE WORLD THE POWER OF YOUTH!!""

With our booming voices, the birds in the trees took flight with ominous caws and our voices seemed to echo through the forest. Just as the echo died, the trees and ground started rumbling. The birds that settled down after our shout took off yet again as a cloud of dust started heading in our direction.

Origami got into a battle stance while I stood calmly with a smile on my face. As the cloud of dust got even closer, a green blur suddenly jumped from the bushes while spinning around in the air and headed towards us.

"Did somebody say YOUTH!?"

Landing in front of us was none other than Might Guy, the Sublime Green Beast of Konoha.

"Greetings Might-san, I am Kekkan Nora and this is Tobiichi Origami, we came to you in hopes of becoming your students."

I said as I bowed while forcing Origami into a bow as well. Origami seemed confused but went with it.

"Ha Ha Ha! I'm glad to see such YOUTHFUL kids such as yourself. Unfortunately, as much as I wish to take you two as my YOUTHFUL students, I'm not well versed in the ways of ninjutsu, I can only teach you taijutsu, but my training is too much for YOUTHFUL kids such yourself! You two are still young, so you should enjoy your YOUTH while it lasts!"

Speaking loudly while shouting at every 'youth', Might Guy stated while looking at us with a smile. I could tell that he really meant what he said. Although Origami seemed a bit reluctant to go through with this after hearing from Might Guy that he can only teach taijutsu, but she decided to keep quiet.

"Might-san, that is fine with us. I even brought gifts."

Taking out some paper tags that were actually seals, I handed them to Might Guy.

"This here is a Gravity Seal and this one is a Resistance Seal. The Gravity Seal applies gravity to whatever or whoever it is attached to, and can be freely adjusted with a maximum of 500 times that of normal gravity. The Resistance Seal applies resistance to the movement of whatever or whoever it is attached to, and can be freely adjusted with a maximum resistance similar to being buried underground."

Immediately recognizing the potential of the seals, Might Guy gave a blinding smile and a thumbs up.

"Call me Guy-sensei! Ha Ha Ha! Come, my YOUTHFUL students, let's start with 500 pushups, and if we can't do that, 500 sit-ups!"

Not even giving us some time to prepare, he got down on his hands and started his pushups.

Origami looked at me with a face that screamed 'What just happened'. I just smiled at her before starting my own pushups.

Looking at me and Guy-sensei with an unreadable expression, she also started her pushups.

About the Gravity and Resistance Seals I brought out earlier, I found them in the fuinjutsu section of the warehouse. They were already made and just needed chakra to active, every room in the warehouse had a Stasis Seal on it, so anything inside doesn't expire.

I have thousands of pre-made seals, so I don't have any issues with giving a few to Guy-sensei. It won't be a problem if someone discovers them, because you'll have to be a fuinjutsu grandmaster to be able to analyze them. I made sure to give Guy-sensei the overly complicated and encrypted seals just so that they couldn't be analyzed.

-Time Skip-

I've been thinking about an issue for a few days ever since I talked with Guy-sensei. Just like there are different ways to develop swordsmanship, there are different ways to develop the body.

There are Five Bodily Aspects; strength, durability, stamina, agility and dexterity. Guy-sensei stated that Origami had the body for a agility-strength-stamina type, but every other aspect was just above average. I don't know how he knew that, but I trusted him when it came to body development.

When Guy-sensei and Origami talked things over, Origami decided to take the agility-strength-stamina path without complaints. Of course, she wanted to develop her other aspects, but they wouldn't be as developed as her main aspects.

After Origami decided her path, Guy-sensei gave her a strict diet consisting of his own recipes to develop her body. He also gave her instructions for a training routine and gave her locations of shops that sell the materials required for her diet.

As for me, Guy-sensei was in a stump, because I had compatibility for all Five Aspects. I could decide my own path, but this was a big deal. At first, I just said that I would develop all Five Aspects, but Guy-sensei warned me that I'd only be limiting my body. If I do develop all Five Aspects, they wouldn't develop as much as if I focused on developing one or two aspects.

Hence, my current delema. Since I couldn't come to a decision, I decided to just develop all Five Aspects for now until I make a decision.

"I'll think about it later, right now, it's training."

I was currently sitting upside down on a tree branch while reading a book called 'Basic Fuinjutsu Theory Volume 1'. Whenever I had nothing to do, I'd read a book from my library while training my chakra control in my personal training ground, away from preying eyes.

Thank Hagoroma for fuinjutsu barriers.

My chakra control has gone through leaps and bounds since my first successful attempt. I'm already at the tree walking stage, since the leaf sticking was way too easy. It takes a bit of concentration to stick to the tree, but I won't move onto the next stage until I can do this subconsciously. Normally, one would use their internal chakra to use tree walking, but I was using my external chakra to attach myself to the tree. It is much more difficult since I have to regulate the amount of chakra I channel towards the tree and I have to actively will the chakra to stick me and the tree together.

Looking at the book in my hands, I couldn't help but frown, fuinjutsu was much more complicated than I initially thought. At first, I thought that it was just reprogramming reality, oh how wrong I was.

Fuinjutsu is the art of sealing, which means that I seal something to achieve a certain effect. A Storage Seal is actually quite complicated, it doesn't just store an object in a subspace, the Storage Seal must firstly seal the space a certain way to create the subspace, then it must seal the object within the sealed subspace while being able to bring out the sealed object from the sealed space. It involves a whole lot of formulas and calculations to determine the size of the storage space and how to store objects within them breaking within the storage space.

Although complicated, the benefits are definitely worth it. Take a jinchuriki as an example, they have a physical being sealed inside their mind scape, which means that the physical being must be converted into a mental being before it can be sealed inside the mind scape. Yes, the bijuus are mostly chakra entities instead of physical, but they still are physical in a sense. That's why it's so easy to seal them and why genjutsus are so effective, they have no true body and are literally energy constructs.

Now imagine if I can convert a mental object inside my mind scape into a physical object in the real world, I'd basically create something from nothing. Unfortunately, I'm way too far off from such a level of fuinjutsu and the energy consumption will be extremely high for a mental to physical conversion as compared to a physical to mental conversion.

There probably hasn't been any recordings of such a fuunjutsu art anyway, since the people of this world have slightly screwed thought processes. Even if there was, I doubt someone could achieve it, something akin to Creation of All Things

"So many ideas, yet so little information. I guess it's time to try 'that'."

Snapping my book shut after I finished reading it, I dropped down from my tree and flipped midair before landing perfectly on my feet. I run into the library and put the book back in its original position before moving towards the Jutsu section of the library.

"Genjutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Kenjutsu, Taijutsu... Aha! Ninjutsu!"

Stopping at the subcategory of the Jutsu section, I skimmed through all the ninjutsus before finding what I was looking for.

"Finally found you! I wasn't sure if you would be here, but it seems as if Lady Luck is on my side."

Holding the scroll up into the air, a smile bloomed on my face. This scroll held the key to my success, inside it was the art of the Shadow Clone jutsu.

I've read enough intermediate ninjutsu theory books to know that I didn't need the hand seals, they only helped activate the jutsu after all. What I really neaded was good chakra control, imagination and enough chakra to execute the jutsu.

I can't use hand seals because it requires internal chakra control to utilize it, but I can shape my external chakra to imitate the hand seals required.

Reading through the scroll, I payed attention to the instructions, I don't want this jutsu to go wrong. The more I read, the more impressed I became. Tobirama was a genius and potentially a mad man, if he used this jutsus incorrectly, he could've become brain dead.

The Shadow Clone jutsu requires the caster to split their chakra to give the clone a mind and body of its own while also keeping a connection between clone and caster so that when the clone poofs from existence, all of the clones experience is passed to the caster. Physical energy is required to construct a body and to allow the clone to contain chakra, the clone will exist as long as it has chakra. When the clone poofs, the leftover chakra returns to the user through the mental connection.

"The Shadow Clone jutsu requires a lot of Chakra to safely use, not to perform the activation, luckily, I already have the chakra capacity of a Quasi-Kage."

A Quasi-Kage is stronger than an Elite Jounin and near the level of a Kage, although not at the level of a Kage, they are still quite strong.

Carefully forming the hand seals with chakra, I followed the instructions as I activated the jutsu. Since it was my first time doing this, it took me a minutes for every attempt at executing the jutsu. Sometimes my chakra didn't flow correctly, sometimes I used the wrong hand seals. But eventually...

*Poof*

Popping into existence with a cloud of smoke was another me. We looked each other up and down before we both smirked.

""Well hello handsome.""

"This feels so weird."

"Tell me about it."

"What's it like being a clone?"

"Why ask me when you can experience it."

"Then go ahead. Poof yourself or whatever."

*Poof*

The memories of the clone smoothly entered my mind, I was expecting a backlash from the memories, but I'm glad there wasn't.

"I see... interesting."

*Poof* *Poof* *Poof*

Creating three more clones, we all nodded before getting to work. Clone 1 started reading 'Advanced Ninjutsu Theory Volume 4', Clone 2 started reading 'Basic Fuinjutsu Theory Volume 2' while Clone 3 started reading 'Basic Fuinjutsu Theory Volume 3'.

Even though Clone 3 won't fully comprehend what he's reading, I will when Clone 2 poofs. I could've made more clones, but I was testing the waters to see if I received any backlashes.

I, on the other hand, picked up a book that I was really interested in. I've been meaning to read 'Smithing For Dummies' for a while now, but I never got the chance to.

Halfway through my book, I felt two familiar people at the gate of my estate. Willing the gate to slightly open, the duo entered before I closed it behind them.

*Poof*

I created another clone to bring the duo to where I was. As the clone left, I smiled at the usefulness of the Shadow Clone jutsu. It's a perfect jutsu for lazy people who want to laze around whole day.

I wonder what Shikamaru is doing right now?

Although the Shadow Clone jutsu is useful, I can already see that it could use some major improvements. That's why I have Clone 1 reading about advanced ninjutsu theory, so that I can develop my own personalized Shadow Clone jutsu for myself and for people who don't have the necessary chakra for the Shadow Clone jutsu. To be honest, I want Satsuki and Origami to benefit from the Shadow Clone jutsus learning capabilities.

Suddenly, I received the memories of my clone. With a sigh, I closed my book just as the library door opened.

"Nora-nii!" "Nora!"

This is gonna be annoying.

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