Chapter Thirteen- A Conversation With A Friend
"You red-eyed jutsu-stealing bastard!" Nawaki raged after his shock wore off.
"Rule number two of combat against Uchihas, don't allow them to see your hand seals" I said in an emotionless voice as I held my face at an angle so my Sharingan would sit between my fingers.
"That doesn't even make sense, you shouldn't be able to even use it without…." Nawaki trailed off as he ignored my childish banter in a rare moment of maturity that I wouldn't expect from him.
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu? Oh, I learned that a month ago" I said offhandedly with an Uchiha-style grunt of dismissiveness.
He spluttered for a moment before he looked at me with squinted eyes.
"Who'd you steal it from because I only know like seven people who use it?" He asked as he began grilling me for information. I could understand it, Sakumo gave me a few tidbits of information about the jutsu. Basically, it was a jutsu created around thirty years ago by Tobirama Senju, all Sakumo said was that his sensei taught it to him. But in a village with people that can steal jutsu with just their eyes…..well a jutsu that only needs a decent amount of chakra becomes readily available. I was sure at least a few of my clansmen already knew the Jutsu.
"Sakumo Sensei showed it to me. Though it took me a month to get enough chakra to be able to utilize it" I said as I pointed to my clone that was across the field practicing. In doing so it answered one of the questions I was going to ask Nawaki, he definitely hadn't been to the war front yet, my clone wasn't even trying to hide its presence still swinging away battling the shadow of Sakumo.
".....Bullshit" Nawaki said with a disappointed sigh and I could understand why. I'm sure he spent hours sweating and working his ass off to master the two jutsus and I just took one look and learned them. Well not just like that but still.
"Yes yes, the struggle of a Senju. Inferior bloodlines aside….." I said with a snark that caused Nawaki to snort. "What have you been up to in terms of ninja life since we graduated?"
Why did I care? Honestly, despite being probably the most annoying person in the village he was probably my closest friend. Rivals throughout the academy to the point I had to cheat a little to get rookie of the year, we were ninjas. I'd bet the teachers knew I cheated the whole time, though they couldn't prove it, deception was the first thing we were taught and I took that lesson to heart.
Still, I at least gave a damn about him in my own kind of way. Though if he starts yelling about being the Hokage... I might knock his shit in. I'd probably develop gray hairs if I had to count the number of times he has spouted that same phrase.
"Teamwork drills, D ranks. A few C-rank supply runs to the Northern Front" Answered in boredom, obviously unhappy about his role in the village. He was lucky though it seemed the supply lines on the Lightning front were infinitely more stable than Suna's.
"Still no luck growing trees?" I asked curiously as I leaned back against the grass, it was an honest question instead of a jab at his ancestry.
Most believe the Mokoton or Wood Release has been lost to time but some in the village believe the First's descendants could possibly use it. Nawaki has always had a weight on his shoulders since he was born. I still don't know why he told me about it but I did respect him for dealing with the pressure.
"Of course not. I told you my chakra was tested at birth, water and earth." He said with a sigh as he laid back to watch the sky, it was obvious he was talking about his affinities. "So of course Father and Uncle Hiruzen have high hopes I might manifest it." He said with a sigh and a rare tone of maturity he rarely showed.
"That sucks, though it would be cool if you could use it. You might be able to put up a fight that lasts longer than thirty seconds, granted twenty-eight seconds of that was shit-talk" I said with a laugh as I could hear Nawaki twitching in annoyance.
"Fuck off Tometsu" Nawaki said with a sigh.
"Careful, I might have to tell you big sister about your language" I said as I continued laughing, this time he staggered and rose to a sitting position with a look of fear.
"You wouldn't dare...." He seethed as he looked down at me.
"Chill Nawk, I was just kidding" I said as I just waved my hand dismissively as I continued laying on my other arm.
"Damn Uchihas," He said with a sigh.
"I did meet her on the battlefield for the first time the other day...." I said as I trailed off.
"And….." And just like that he was up and back straight at attention, ready to act if he didn't like what I said next.
"Probably the hottest woman I've ever seen in my short life" I said with a sigh quickly rolling out of the way of a barrage of kunai.
"Tometsu..." Nawaki said as I jumped to my feet sword already drawn in the process, the smirk on my face froze as I saw how calm he seemed.
"I'll murder you." Straight to the point, I could respect that.
"Reasonable but….. Hear me out here, it would be worth…" I parried a barrage of kunai and shuriken with relative ease as my Sharingan came alive along with a smirk.
He looked pretty miffed at the moment, usually, we'd settle this in a no-hold-bards fight. He seemed more mad than normal though and I realized it was because he was actually trying to talk to me. So despite how fun it would be to dismantle my childhood rival….. Just this once I guess.
"Alight you win Nawaki, guess I've fucked with you enough for one day" I said with a sigh as I sheathed my sword, he seemed surprised as laid back down in the same place I was earlier. He was expecting a fight but it seemed he was just as ready to chill as I was.
"There has to be something Lord Hashirama had that was a key to his wood release. If was purely a bloodline thing he wouldn't have been the only one in recorded history to have used it" I offered what my guess would be. Sure I didn't know a lot about chakra or bloodlines but I knew a lot more after the last time we had this conversation. Which was when we were ten and didn't even know how to throw a kunai at a moving target.
"Yeah, I've gotten that far. It is not uncommon for a Senju to have an affinity towards earth and water release. Those are my sister's main affinities as well." Nawaki said with a sigh as it seemed the puzzle of his life was incredibly convoluted.
"Honestly if I were you I'd give up on it for now. Focus on getting strong enough to survive the war first of all" I said as I paused my star gazing to give him a meaningful look. "You'll die at the first sign of combat at your level," I said with complete honesty to his rather miffed expression.
"Yes, we're not all prodigies that can take a commander's arm in our first battle…."Nawaki responded with a dismissive wave of his hand, reminiscent of my earlier response. Cheeky bastard.
"First of all that was Sakumo Sensei, you know? 'The Living Bolt', 'Fastest Of The Leaves', 'White Fang'." I said as I listed off a few monikers in an attempt to boast about how badass my sensei was. Which caused the Senju to make a gesture my way that consisted of a single finger.
"Second, there's no reason 'you' have to inherit the First's Legacy. It could be your son or even your grandson, no reason to strive for a destiny that might not be for you" I said in complete honesty as I rose to a sitting position and ordered my clone to dispel itself.
[Kenjutsu training... +3 Dexterity]
The pain was only a mild headache now and the memories flew through my mind with little pain, it seemed I was one step closer to mastery.
"Uh-huh, easy to say when you got eyes that let you copy jutsu. Saving you hours of training time." He had a point thus I chose to give him the win in that argument.
"But your right" He said in agreement as he rose to his feet as well.
"Well, it was fun Nawaki but I have to get home to make dinner for Mikoto" I said as I offered him a two finger salute and began going through the seals of the body flicker jutsu.
"Yeah, your an asshole but thanks for listening" He said with a sigh as he sent a nod my way, a second before I disappeared in a flicker of leaves.