Red

Jogging past the local grocery market, I continue concentrating on my chakra. Manipulating several strings of chakra, I keep several leaves attached to the bottom of my trousers creating a bell-bottom effect. Connecting the leaves not only to my trousers but between them as well is just half of the exercise this time. The other half is the fluidity or lack thereof. Keeping the structure rigid requires pulling and pushing forces to keep them in position. The problem is too much force rips the leaf and the force in and of itself is only needed when the leaves deviate from their position.

Yea, I could just force the structure into stasis and work from there, but that isn't the point of this exercise. Turning into academy grounds, I trail the perimeter of the sparing field. Almost every large and needlessly chakra exhaustive jutsu uses something similar. Molding a shape and then punching, launching, or throwing it. That's it. My problem is that my targets are always humanoid and relatively the same size. Yea an Akamichi can be huge, but I will rarely be fighting them seriously. Even the village founders had uselessly large chakra constructs when they themselves were a fraction of the size. So you generate a massive amount of force and destruction with size, but most of the energy from the jutsu is wasted as collateral damage.

Slowing down to a fast walk, I turn into the corridor of classroom doors. Wide jutsu are good for group battles, but that's assuming the opponents are weaker than you. So you burned a bunch of cannon fodder. So, what? They probably buried a bunch of ours. Precision and accuracy are what I want. Imagine a highly pressurized stream of flame compared to a much slower, but wider burst. Just situationally different. Now imagine it not coming from your mouth and being able to see the enemy burn. Much better.

Hearing loud sounds coming from class A-1 to my left, I stop. Someone slams the sliding door open before a sandaled foot kicks him into the opposite wall. Wincing as he smashes head first, I peak into the class. Seeing another person flying out, I quickly step back. Frightened by the flying bodies, I take another step back. Glancing at the newest body, I chuckle. It's a girl I beat into the dirt yesterday. Must suck losing so much. Waiting for a third body since all good things come in threes, I raise an eyebrow as a familiar sandaled foot steps out of the classroom.

"And remember it dattebane! I'm Kushina Uzumaki" she yells. Blinking at Kushina, I marvel at her luscious red hair. It's definitely not just the color, her hair is just as healthy as those from commercials. That's why it's so special. Seeing her look at me I sigh. She angrily asks, "You got a problem with my hair too?" Smiling, I start walking around her, "Yea, It's just too good y'know. I'm a little jealous of how lush it is." Blushing, she relaxes her fists and brings her hands together while looking down. A classic sign of insecurity. What a cutie. Moving away I say, "Don't mind them. They've never seen hair as wonderful as yours. You look great!"

Turning the corner, I open the door to my classroom. "Hey! you dropped your leaves dattebane" she shouts from down the previous hall. Closing the sliding door, I nonchalantly take my seat. I'll meet her again eventually. Unlike Minato who graduates tomorrow, She'll be in the academy with me for another year. Hearing the teacher clear his throat, I sigh. Another mundane day of prattle to sit through. Now that I think about it, I was using close to thirty leaves on each foot so I just left a pile in the middle of the hall.

Taping the ground with my foot, I smirk as my neighbor fails to sit on his chair. We can't all have a great day right? Laying my head down, I start playing with the transformation jutsu. Pulling out another leaf from my pocket, I start infusing it with my chakra. In exchange for teaching Minato some chakra manipulation, I got to copy his notebook on chakra manipulation and I was right! They go more into the specifics. I guess it's just more talented people being invested in with better teachers, but I'm still safer in a lower class. Sticking out for being good? I might not make it past the next year. Those merchants' children and the like can just rot in those classes.

Anyway, It turns out chakra constructs are taught, but not in detail. Infusing chakra into an object makes it susceptible to further chakra manipulation. It's not like the whole object, like my desk or the floor, needs to be filled with my chakra. Just the area between me and the anchors I want to use. That's another thing I've improved, moving the anchors themselves. Hearing the proctor call my neighbor, I tap the floor again. One anchor where I tapped, two in the floor under the two front legs of the proctor's chair, and two on the bottom of the chair legs. Applying adherence, I move the anchors in the floor and smirk. The chair screeches forward as the proctor slams into the seat and blinks in confusion. Heh, Chunin pencil pusher.

Pushing the chair back, he stands back up. Checking around the chair for wires, he starts shouting about classroom misconduct. Ignoring my personal pencil pusher, I start evening out my chakra. My current focus is shortening how long it takes to distribute my chakra into an object uniformly. Smoothing the leaf over with my thumb, I urge the transformation to work. With a small cloud of smoke and an almost inaudible sound, the leaf turns into a small pencil. I can make it longer, but that requires more chakra and not skill. About to turn the pencil back, I jerk my head up when the teacher slams his hand on the desk before my head. Squinting at his flushed face, I raise an eyebrow.

"Pay attention when I talk you brat! Take your notes out" he screams. Squinting my eyes further, I breathe out of my nose. Under the table, I push my chakra into the pencil. Imagining a plain notebook, I slowly push more and more chakra into it. A notebook, easy to mimic. Hard to make functional. Quite a few lined pages inside as well as a cover binding all of the pages together. No need for a fancy cover. Feeling the pencil grow in size, I push my chair back making a harsh grating sound. Pulling the notebook out from underneath the desk, I gently lay it on top with my hand resting on it. Not breaking eye contact with him, I act innocent. Tilting my head sideways, I widen my eyes looking inquisitive. Staring back at me, he clicks his tongue. Breaking eye contact, he starts turning around. Success!

It seems I came out dominant today as well. Just as I try pulling my notebook back under the desk, the instructor's hand snatches it away. Glaring at the notebook, he tosses it away before glaring at me. Watching the notebook return to a leaf, I sigh. I should've worked harder on the cover. Slamming both of his hands down in front of me, he brings his head close, "I've finally got you now punk. For disrespecting me and via association the academy and it's backer the Hokage, I can't just let you go now can I?"

Frowning, I push my seat back and stand up. If he wants to give me detention, he better think twice. I don't like busy work and I hate wasting time on someone's inane expectation of discipline. Glaring back I wait. Snorting he stands straight, a good foot taller. I'll get there eventually. "I'll be expecting you tonight and every night for the rest of the -" he states while sneering. He's going to give me detention. He's going to waste my time. Hours each day, every day for the rest of the year. Unacceptable.

Like I'll let anyone walk over me. If I'm taking action, it better gain the most attention right? The more people are watching me, the less anyone can do openly. That's enough. Taping my shoe on the floor, I yank his feet behind him. Shoving the kid in my way off his chair, I jump into the aisle and start running towards the window. Seeing him catch himself on my desk, I scoop his teaching papers from the podium. Taking a lighter out of my pocket, I set the papers alight under the smoke detector. Seeing the detector starting to flash, I drop the papers and jump out the window as the waterworks begin. Hearing the screeching of chairs and screaming children, I grin. I'm definitely getting attention now. Now I just need to get away and test out of lectures. Easy right? Quickly walking beside the academy building, I glance back to see my pencil pusher climbing out the window soaking wet.

Jumping up the building, I start running across the rooftop. Reaching the end as he starts running after me, I slide down the slanted roof and roll on the ground. Getting up into a run, I head straight for the busiest area in the village, the hospitality district. Turning around corners and running through narrow alleys, I occasionally jump onto roofs only to slide down the other side and keep running. He's faster, but he has no idea where I'm going since the orphanage isn't this way.

Grabbing a stray cat with a red ribbon around his right ear, I toss it at my stalker. Hearing him curse, I smirk. Another few moments before he catches up. Taking a left, I sigh. Transforming into an everyday civilian, I casually join a drifting group of pedestrians walking toward a sushi bar. Seeing my stalker, I cover my mouth and chuckle. With three flaring scratches across his face, he looks around frantically while fuming. Splitting away from the crowd, I start walking toward the orphanage. I can spend a night comfortably in the park if I have some time to fetch a pillow and blanket.

Abruptly being knocked aside by someone's shoulder, I turn around and glare at the man. Staring back at me, he snorts, "Aren't you a little too ready for a fight to be a civilian? You're literally in a fighting stance." Glancing at his shirt I find the Nara clan symbol. Headband on his arm and no flak jacket. A genin. Spitting on the ground in disgust, I turn around and keep walking. "Hey! I'm not done talking to you" he yells with his obnoxious voice. Quickening my pace, I cross into the opposing traffic. Hearing him still shouting at me, I transform again. Turning into a man, I look around confused as I walk with the traffic.

Moving past him and my instructor who I find moving towards the Nara, I sigh. Two idiots down, now I just need to get away. Slowly moving with the traffic, I frown as I find someone blatantly watching me. Glancing at him, I start to scowl. Another troublesome person. Sharingan blazing, he stares me down while standing sideways on a restaurant sign. Literally no respect for a business. Watching him glare back, I keep moving until he reaches for his weapons pouch. Stopping, the traffic keeps moving around me as we stare. Strong jawline, decent face, sadly no musculature. Not really living up to the Uchiha stereotype.

Dropping down, he starts wading through the traffic. Waiting just a moment for a taller person to walk in front of me, I dash backward into an alley. Going even further away from both the orphanage and academy, I grit my teeth. A Sharingan is hard to fool. Hearing someone dashing behind me, I notice a trash can in front of me. Taking another step forward, I make an anchor on the trash can lid and the opposing wall. Taking another two steps, I pull the lid towards the other anchor using a chakra string. Funny how chakra moves faster than most people can think when it's something simple.

Turning around to see him take a metallic frisbee to the jaw, I chuckle as he stumbles into a vagrant. Turning another corner, I run up a home and onto the roof. To the left is more housing and businesses assuming I get far enough. Going straight brings me towards ninja housing, in other words, a terrible idea. To the right is the forest. Glancing to the left, I slide down the right side of the roof. Dashing through the backyard, I vault over the low fence and into the woods. Not going far, I stop just a few meters in and use the transformation jutsu again. Turning back to my smaller self, I change my clothes into a ghillie suit. laying down on my belly, I face down, staring at the ground I'm resting my head on.

Sharingan or not, You won't see something you're not expecting to see. I won't be found, especially if I'm not hiding from someone specialized in tracking. Feeling the exhaustion catching up with me, I frown. My chakra's bottomed out. A few transformations and a couple of chakra manipulations are all it took. I have quite a ways to go still. Waiting a few moments, I finally hear someone moving. Stiffening when they get close, I blink as a sandaled foot with vibrant red nail polish crashes through the foilage in front of my face. I'm pretty sure I've seen it somewhere. Glancing up at the person before they step on me, I roll away and get up.

"Hey, how was class?"