Chapter 24

Stalking someone was complicated. Doing so while also taking care of a garden was slightly harder. Doing both while also under the supervision of a Tokubetsu Jounin that couldn't find out of the first was… a pain in the ass, to say the least. However, I managed, somehow, or she didn't mention it. I liked to think that it was the first.

[Gardening has gone up a level.]

'I have enough to keep track of right now, Game,' I thought, withholding a grimace. I didn't like complaining about the system, but the timing was terrible sometimes.

"And that's that," Anko announced then, breaking me from my introspection and I stood up, with the last bits of weeds on my hands. And indeed, the garden looked better than ever. I was kind of proud, since it had been an absolute mess when we arrived. No wonder they handed a mission for this. "I gotta say though, it's the first time I've seen someone so enthusiastic about a D-rank mission," My sensei commented with a smirk. I shrugged.

"I have a garden at home, and I like taking care of it. It's relaxing," I explained, although I suspected that she knew at least the first part. That profile she had read was very thorough, it seemed.

"If you say so. Anyway, with the boring part out of the way and the physical and fighting training done, we can start with the part that you really want to do," She declared with a grin. One would think that the one excited was her instead of me. Not that she was wrong, since she was talking about starting my training with the three new jutsus.

As we made our way back to the training ground though, I let my mind wonder to other things. No need to get nervous or overexcited about the new techniques. Instead, I recalled the last week. Just like she had said, we had done one D-rank mission every day and left it at that, no matter if the mission was short or long.

I had yet to get any other scrolls from my mystery benefactor, but I wasn't too worried. They had proved to be somewhat reliable after the last few years. It probably only meant that I had to do several tasks before they gave me more. Which wasn't a problem, really, since I was still studying the one they had given me first.

It turns out that jutsu creation was hard. Shocking, I know. It involved a lot of study, analysis and estimation of everything, from chakra coils to hand seals passing through affinities and a lot of other things. There were three scrolls on the Introduction series alone. And then there were a specialized series for every type of Release.

'Hopefully, I'll get a skill for this, because otherwise I won't be creating anything anytime soon,' I thought to myself. Sometime through my musings, we had delivered the scroll confirming that I had indeed done the mission and arrived at the Forest of Death, our usual training grounds.

"And here we are," Anko announced unnecessarily as she spread her arms signaling the forest. It was like I was coming here for the first time. "Now, about those jutsus I told you about? It's time to properly try, so, what do you think?"

"I think I'm good," I nodded, confidently, mentally going over the three scrolls I had read over the last week.

"Really, all of them?" At my nod, she smirked. "Ok, wonder boy, if you think you got it, give Embers a try."

And right as she finished the sentence, my hands flew through the four seals of the jutsu. Right as I finished the last seal, the chakra that had concentrated in my lungs felt like it burned me without actually doing damage. Keeping my head as calm as possible, I shaped a circle with my thumb and index in front of my mouth and blew, mentally nudging the chakra out of me.

The fire ball wasn't that big. While Great Fireball was as big as an average room, and the Normal fireball was as big as a person, Embers was around the size of a torso… 'Maybe I should use other things to compare their size with,' I mused idly as I saw the flame fly through the air until it hit the tree I had been aiming for.

[New Skill Acquired: Fire Manipulation Lvl 1]

[New Skill Acquired: Fire Release: Embers Lvl 1]

With a confused frown, I pulled the new skills' screens up.

[Fire Manipulation – Lvl 1

Increases control of fire according to level.

Fire jutsu use 0.5% less chakra.

Fire jutsu are 0.5% more effective.

The user is 0.5% more resistant to fire.]

'Oh, now I understand,' I thought with a mental nod. 'Same skill, really, but the values are lower because it's not my affinity. Interesting that. Wonder if it has a higher max level so that I can get it to be a second affinity of sorts,' I theorized to myself.

[Fire Release: Embers – Lvl 1

E-rank technique with which the user launches a small fire ball at a target.

Hand Seals – 4

Consumption – 10 Chakra Points.]

'Nothing strange here,' I noted before dismissing all screens and turning towards my sensei with a pleased expression, I had to pause at the strange look she wore.

"You know, kiddo? I think I'm starting to see why they chose me as your teacher," She said, although she seemed to be speaking more to herself than to me. I tilted my head in confusion. "I still wonder though…"

"Sensei?" I asked, voicing my confusion as her voice grew lower the more she spoke.

"Doesn't matter," She shook off with a shrug. "This one jutsu is more important than you realize," Anko stressed, wearing a mildly serious look on her face. "Your affinity is Lightning, which doesn't do well against Air jutsu users. Fire, on the other hand, works better against those. So we are basically covering for one of your weaknesses with this."

'Hmm, that explains why she didn't hand me a Water jutsu,' I thought while nodding. I had been wondering about that while studying the scrolls. Water would have added a new edge to my already good Lightning techniques. But I could safely say that I was decently powerful. So, covering my weak points sounded better than improving my strong ones.

"Anyway, next one, kiddo. Wow me with your prodigiousness, student of mine," She ordered, switching between somewhat serious tone to her more usual mocking one. I took note that she didn't say anything this time about me being ready or not.

Instead of doing as told, I stared at her until she raised an eyebrow at me. Then, I simply took a deep breath in and concentrated on the jutsu. And, as my chakra this time concentrated on both my palms, I threw my hands in front of me right before their cackled with energy and Lightning flew at yet another tree.

[Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Strike – Lvl 1

D-rank technique with which the user creates a wave of electricity from their hands.]

Hand Seals – 5

Consumption – 20 Chakra Points.]

"One scary kid alright, old man," I heard Anko muttering behind me. Had the Hokage told her something about me? "Well, that's two out of three," She added, this time actually speaking to me. "Last one, brat, and then we train for real."

Something about her tone told me that she didn't mean our now usual training, and that realization made me shiver internally. So, deciding to focus on less concerning thoughts, I settled for attempting the Lightning Flicker.

And so I did… or tried to, at least. Why 'tried'? Well…

"Hahahaha," I groaned as Anko laughed her ass off. I pushed myself off the ground and arched my back trying to will the pain away. "You don't push with both feet, brat. You have to use one to stop yourself. Otherwise… well, you don't and that means you fly in whatever direction you stepped towards."

"Would've been nice to know beforehand. The scroll didn't say that, I'm sure of it," I grumbled as I cracked my neck, still trying to get over my hit against the tree trunk. This time, I was a lot less eager to use the jutsu. Understandable, if you asked me, considering that it was also the first one that I had failed so terribly at from the first attempt.

"It's so nice to see prodigies fail," She said, as if that was explanation enough, which made my eye twitch in annoyance. 'What is it with my failures that amuse people so much?' I wondered. "So, what you waiting for, kiddo?" I almost snarled at that but pushed my annoyance down and took a deep breath in.

As I finished the hand seals, lightning appeared at the sole of my feet, cackling as they danced around them, almost going up to my ankles. Recalling Anko's advice, I took my first step forward, the movement increased to ridiculous levels as I all but disappeared forward. My eyes couldn't keep up with it, actually, barely able to discern that I had gone past the point that I wanted to. Realizing that, I used my other feet to stop myself.

The stop itself wasn't that bad, really. It was the seconds after that which affected me more. It was just like that feeling when you are sitting or lying down and stand up a tad too quickly. That disorienting moment when you lose focus and you can barely distinguish anything around you.

My chest seemed to close in itself, the pressure of anxiety constraining my lungs.

"Yeah," Anko's distant voice reached me just before I could panic with a flashback of the Void. "that happens too," I had half a mind to throw a kunai her way. The moment of fright affecting my emotions more than I would have liked. I took a deep calming breath in as my sight cleared slowly. "Also, you might want to start with shorter distances. It's easier to get the feel of it if you start short and increase range slowly."

I closed my eyes and continued breathing deeply, as I considered her words. 'That makes sense,' I mused to myself. 'It sounds like a skill thing, actually.'

"Sounds about right," I voiced as my eyes opened and looked around finding a direction where I wouldn't smack myself against a tree if something went wrong. Locking on it, I turned to my sensei for a moment before pausing at the expression she was wearing. "Something the matter?"

"I should be asking that, you alright, kiddo?" She asked, her face showing an unexpected amount of concern.

"I… yeah," I said, internally cursing as her disbelief showed. After a second of considering how to lie, I decided that I couldn't do that. Blatantly lying to a Jounin's face was a bad idea, not to mention useless. Still, I couldn't just out and tell her that I almost had a flashback from when I was dead. "I don't do well with sense losses," I said simply, grimacing as I did so. "That's all."

"Hmm… makes sense," She hummed. "Regardless, you should get over it. There's lots of genjutsu that do specifically that, if only for a second or two before you Dissipate them," My grimace intensified as I realized that what she said was true.

"Ok… how do you think we should do that?" I muttered under my breath.

"I'll hit you with those while you train in the forest, of course," She announced, let out a tired sigh at here chipper tone.

"Of course," I breathed out before turning to my previous exercise. 'Short step, not long,' I mentally chanted before going through the seals again.

This time, as soon as I did the first step, I moved my second foot to stop.

[New Skill Acquired: Lightning Release: Lightning Flicker – Lvl 1]

'There it is,' I cheered internally before calling the skill's screen.

[Lightning Release: Lightning Flicker – Lvl 1

D-rank technique with which the user infuses lightning on their legs to propel themselves in one direction.

Hand Seals – 5

Range – 2 meters

Consumption – 20 Chakra Points.]

'Sounds about right,' I nodded to myself as I recovered from the dizziness, this time much more calm than before. Still, I kept taken deep breaths in while waiting.

"Definitely gotta work on that," I heard Anko say. "But don't worry, kiddo, you are still a Kamidamned prodigy."

"Course I am," I bragged halfheartedly after a sigh. "So, what are we… why are you grinning like that?" I asked nervously as I looked at her.

"Well, we've expanded your repertoire," She casually explained as she started walking closer. Meanwhile, I took a step back. "And that means you have to get used to it… but I've noticed that you have a little too easy a time with the Forest… so, we'll add some difficulty to that."

"Wow, really?" I replied with mock cheer in my voice, breaking out in a cold sweat. "Sounds awesome."

"Mhm," She hummed, beaming at me and I almost whimpered. I had a really bad feeling about this. "I would take part myself in this, but I don't want to kill you… much," My shoulders sagged in relief and I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding. Then the last word registered in my mind and I tensed up. Her widening grin didn't reassure me at all.

"So, what are you… oh, fuck," This time, I did whimper. Why? Well, because behind my sensei appeared two gigantic snakes, slithering their way towards us before circling around both Anko and me. They weren't Manda sized, probably around half his size. But it was still a hell of a lot bigger than anything I had faced in the Forest of Death, and that was saying something.

"Yeah, that's the reaction I expected," My sensei said, still grinning from ear to ear. "Did you know that I signed the Summoning Contract with the Snake clan? A gift that I'm sure my old sensei regrets. I can't use all of them, but there's a good deal of snakes that listen to me still. These two were kind enough to volunteer to train you. Aren't they nice."

I didn't know if snakes could smirk, but both of them gave me the expression of doing just that as they eyed me. I gulped.

"Sensei… did I ever do something to piss you off, by any chance?" I asked hesitantly, making her tilt her head to the side.

"No, why?" She asked, with the most fake innocent face I had ever seen.

"Just checking…"

"Believe me, Eiji, if you had, you would know."

I gulped.

"Now, let's start. He is all yours, guys."

"Damnit!"

[}-o-{]

[Poison Resistance has gone up a level.]

"That thing bit me!" I screamed wide eyed and holding my arm, barely keeping my nervousness and fear in control.

"Right," Anko nodded, as the huge snakes from before rested lazily on a patch of light that passed through the trees, a smaller, pitch back snake resting on her shoulders. "This little one's very young and her venom hasn't developed yet. It will paralyze your arm for the rest of the day, but that's about it," She explained before she shrugged and I sighed in relief.

For a second there, I thought that she was crazier than I had expected. Then I looked at my left arm before clicking my tongue and pulling out a bandage to wrap around the bite. When I finished, I turned to my sensei and… 'I'm sensing a pattern here, why is it that half the time I look at her she changes attitude because of something?'

"Something the matter?" I asked, feeling like I was repeating myself.

"First of all, you are taking being poisoned considerably calmer than normal. That isn't that much of a surprise, you are one weird kid, after all," My eye twitched, but I decided to take that one as a compliment. "You can move your shoulder though, and that isn't normal at all, even for your levels of weird."

I gulped, wondering how I could phrase a half-truth in order to cover for my Poison Resistance train-

"You've been poisoning yourself to build resistance…" She voiced, her face twisting into a combination between awed and disturbed. "That's a whole new level of crazy, Eiji," Her use of my actual name making my back straighten. "Explain, right now."

"I've… well, I've been covering senbon with small doses of paralytic poison from the plants from my garden," I explained, trying to keep my voice calm. The cat was out of the bag already, and trying to lie wouldn't do anything for me. "We covered a bit about built poison immunity during Medical Training and I wanted to add that to my skill set."

After I finished speaking, there was silence. I looked at her with neutral expression that often twitched due to my nerves betraying me. Meanwhile, she continued staring at me, her expression not changing from that impressed and horrified expression, although it gradually gained some thoughtful hints.

"Explain better, don't leave any details out," Anko ordered, a frown appearing on her face as she started eyeing me more like a project than a person. And so, I told her all about my Poison Resistance training, how much I used, how often and when I had started. Once I finished, she let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose before regarding me with an exasperated expression. "Well, you are an idiot, but you were smart about it. You actually did it a lot more safely than I would have expected. It reduced your efficiency, but it's better than risking it, I guess."

I kept my mouth shut during the whole thing and even afterwards. I didn't know if I had gotten myself in trouble. I had the strange impression that I wasn't but I should. It was a weird feeling, actually.

"Yeah, I definitely see why they wanted me to train you," She muttered to herself. "I think I'll have to re-think your training schedule. If you are this crazy about growing stronger… Yeah, I can accommodate you," There was the slightest bit of hesitation on her tone, but it was quickly covered by a determined expression. "Prepare yourself, kiddo. We'll have lots of fun," I was quickly realizing that her grins would always unnerve me.

[}-o-{]

"Naruto, I think I hate you," I groaned as I stood up from where I had fallen after hitting the wall at speeds that no wall should be hit at. Or at least, at speeds that I shouldn't hit walls. The blonde had the gall to smirk smugly at me. "Oh, you are so going down, you brat," I said, passively hitting my brother with a tiny amount of Bloodlust, he paled quickly, realizing his mistake.

"Ne, Eiji… bro… you know I just wanted you to see what my seals can do, that's all, I swear," He quickly tried to excuse himself.

I was having none of it.

"That's why you specifically told me to use the Flicker, right? You totally didn't want to put a seal on one of my legs to mess with my jutsu and have me flying against something. Yeah, I really can't see you doing that for just for shits and giggles," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice. Color continued draining from his face as I stepped forward slowly. He seemed to have realized that there was no escaping his just punishment.

"Should have known better than to prank Eiji, honestly," Ino voiced, gaining a sage nod from everyone present, which was… everyone in our group, surprisingly enough. Getting the whole gang together had become difficult after graduating, but we managed to meet up separately as much as possible.

Roughly an hour later, we were all sitting inside and resting. Naruto groaning as he laid on the couch and recovering from the beat down he received for his prank and the rest of us sitting around the table with a tea cup in front of us. As usual during our meet ups, we were comment about what we had been doing with our teachers and during missions. Or complaining, more like.

"You are so lucky that you don't have to go on so many D-ranks, they are… ugh," It was Ino's turn right then.

"Tell me about it, we had to go after Madam Shijimi' cat, Tora, yesterday," A general shudder followed Sakura's statement. All of us had had to do that mission at least once. Anko had gotten a particularly nice laugh when the damned cat scratched my cheek before I got it under control. That thing was faster, smarter and meaner than any cat had any right to be.

"So, what did your crazy sensei 'train' you with, today?" Shika asked me, making the '' with his fingers. I rolled my eyes at him as I took my turn.

A few hours later, I sat at the same place at the same table. This time though, I was alone. Alone with a piece of paper in front of me, slowly writing my newest report about the mission I took that day. This was the tenth paper I 'delivered' since that first scroll was handed to me. I was starting to wonder how many I would have to do before I got the next one.

I wasn't that surprised by the delay though. Those were important scrolls, I knew. And I was still learning from the first one anyway. They were either waiting for me to finish the first or for me to do more reports. Despite how much I wanted the rest of the series, it was something that apparently was reserved for high Chunnin, so I could wait.

This was the quickest way to get my hands on the information. I had questioned Anko about it, with actual curiosity about how hard it would be to get my hands on jutsu creation books or scrolls. She had rolled her eyes at me, muttering about training and power obsessed people, before telling me that I was a whole rank too low for that.

My musings were interrupted though, as a scroll appeared innocently where my last paper had been. And sure enough, on the side it read: Jutsu Creation: Introduction. Part 2.

'Well,' I thought to myself as I eyed the item. 'color me surprised.'

I took a deep breath in, pushing nervous thoughts regarding my mystery benefactor out of my mind. I had already decided that worrying about it was not worth it. And considering that I was actively going along with it now with the missions…

'I really hope this doesn't come and bite me in the ass later,' I grimaced before standing up and going to sleep.