Ground Floor (II)

~~Timeskip~~ (Two Months Later)

Tiger→Boar→Ox→Dog→Snake

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" I exclaimed and moments later, I found myself standing in another location and now in my place, there was a block of wood. I nodded my head in satisfaction, but I knew my Body Replacement Jutsu was far from perfect. It might have taken me almost three months to learn this Jutsu, but I have done it without anyone's help.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the first one to learn the Body Replacement Jutsu… That honor goes to a girl named Tami, but I was much faster than her… Since the day we arrived at the Training Facility, I have been diligently practicing weaving hand signs regularly and my diligence was finally bearing fruits. Though once again I was bummed out not being able to learn the Body Replacement Jutsu before anyone else.

Though it wasn't the only Jutsu I managed to learn in the last three months and fortunately for my ego, this time, I was the first one to learn the Transformation Technique before anyone else…

Dog→Boar→Ram

"Henge no Jutsu!" I exclaimed and the next moment, I got covered in white smoke with a loud popping sound. When the smoke finally cleared, I inspected myself before nodding my head in satisfaction. Right now, I was looking just like Azui… While experimenting with the Transformation Jutsu, I have realized that it was easier to turn into someone of my age.

While the Transformation Jutsu was basically a projection at the end of the day, I would need to spend more Chakra to turn into an adult. For the second time, I inspected myself and decided that there was still room to improve. My skin and clothes were slightly off color and my hair was also a bit messier… I finally dismissed the Jutsu before I decided to attempt the last Jutsu.

Ram→Snake→Tiger

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" I exclaimed, but nothing happened. I sighed in defeat… The Clone Technique was still beyond me for the time being.

While watching the anime, I always wondered why the characters kept screaming the name of their techniques during a fight, especially when Shinobis were supposed to be sneaky, I only realized why after I learned the Body Replacement Jutsu. Technically, it wasn't required of me to reveal the name of my technique to my enemy, though shouting the name of the Jutsu helped me channel my Chakra for whatever reason.

So, while it was possible to use a Jutsu without screaming its name, you needed to be extremely proficient in that particular Jutsu to be able to manage it… That wasn't all, I have seen characters in the anime using the Body Replacement Jutsu with a single hand sign or no hand signs, and that too was only possible after you become extremely proficient in a particular Jutsu.

Hand Signs basically help a person channel their Chakra toward their hands, so if a person becomes really good at channeling their Chakra, they would be able to skip the Hand Signs…

So, I continued to practice the Body Replacement Technique and the Transformation Technique until it was finally dusk… I gave the Clone Technique another try, but once again nothing happened. I could feel the Chakra moving through my body toward my hands while weaving the Hand Signs, so I knew I was doing it right, but for whatever reason, I was unable to cast the Jutsu.

Maybe, I simply needed more practice, or maybe I simply needed better Chakra Control…

I quickly dismissed the second notion. Naruto didn't even have any Chakra Control, to begin with, but he could still cast the Clone Technique… Yes, his Clones looked sick and constipated, but he could still cast the Jutsu, which meant, my lack of Chakra Control should be no problem. I simply needed to practice more… With that decided inside my mind, I started to prepare for the hike to the lake.

Two months ago, the girls discovered a lake on top of a mountain while they were trying to steal some eggs from the nest of a bird. After some back and forth we were able to come up with a schedule… The lake was reserved for the girls from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the boys could use it the rest of the time. Yes, it wasn't fair, but the girls were free to visit the lake at any time if they were fine with sharing the lake with the boys at the same time.

"Azui, let's go" I called out loudly after I grabbed my soap from my luggage. When we came here, we brought our own luggage with us from the orphanage. Azui, who was practicing only a few meters away from me, gave me a nod before he rushed off to grab his own stuff from the tent.

He returned after some time and both of us started to head toward the lake… Only a few of us even dared to visit the lake after it got dark, so it was easy for me to practice Chakra Control at the lake without getting interrupted… Thankfully, except for some big birds, there were no other predators that would attack us and birds rarely hunted at night, so we were pretty safe.

"Did you manage to learn the Transformation Technique?" I asked curiously.

"Made some progress" Azui answered with a nod of his head. Since last month, he has started speaking from time to time.

"Good and have you been practicing the Chakra Control Exercises?" I asked, only to receive a nod from him. When I realized I wasn't going to get an answer from him, I dropped the matter and continued to walk toward the lake.

The two of us arrived at the lake and I immediately started to look around, just in case. I wasn't delusional enough to believe I could spot an actual Shinobi if they didn't want to be found, but I wanted to make sure that we were the only ones here… It wasn't like I had anything to hide, but I didn't want to get surprised and it was common sense in the Shinobi World to check your surroundings.

After I was sure nobody was around, I quickly took off my clothes until I was in my boxers… "Whoo… Let's see" I hummed before I channeled Chakra into my feet and stepped on the water, but only after a moment, I plopped down inside the lake. I slowly got out only to hear Azui's snickers… I decided to ignore him and climb out of the lake before giving Water Walking another try…

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