ALL NOVEL 4.4
It was three and a half weeks into my training regimen. Today was the last day of bootcamp hell mode.
Even my other clones looked dead on their feet. Jutsu-chan nodded, flickered away toward the village entrance. She’d meet with Yamato there like they’d done for the past weeks. Seal-chan dragged herself to the table with all the diagrams and notes and theories and prototypes, all but collapsing on the chair, head lolling. I was so close, yet so far away. I had the whole logic ready, but I couldn’t figure out how to tie the beacon to my chakra signature, which in turn made it impossible to hone in on that same beacon.
The prototype version of the jutsu was the simplest version it could be: there were no safety measures, no awareness of the beacon’s destination, no padding to avoid mishaps, it would take a monstrous amount of chakra, activation time was too long to be usable in battle. If I managed to finish the jutsu, refinement would come with more – possibly years of – research. But for now, I just needed to be able to teleport inside the sound four barrier. I glanced at the hunched form of my clone reading the notes on her desk. Even if the task seemed impossible, it was Seal-chan's work.
I shook my head. Pushed those complicated thoughts away. I had simpler concerns to worry about. I looked at my third clone: Research-chan sat on the bed cross legged, meditating, like all other versions had done since day one. It had been a faint hope, and while there was progress, it too would take years more to disentangle that.
I shambled out of the apartment. Activated my weight seals. My clones didn’t need to suffer the added physical strain the whole day. My vision was a bit hazy, things started to blur together a few days ago. I was so tired. But I couldn't stop. I added just a little more to the weight seals. If I had the energy to complain, it meant I wasn’t training hard enough.
From jogging to physical exertion, to explosive muscle conditioning, to taijutsu training. I tried to focus on my tasks. My eyes kept drooping, but I couldn’t sleep. If I did, all clones would unpop and it would be a waste of my day.
…
I hit the training dummy for I don’t know how many times. Even in the haziness of exhaustion, I saw the flaw in my form. It wasn’t even due to how tired I was. Whenever I performed this particular attack, my left hand went down, leaving a glaring opening. I learned that the hard way.
The same day Yamato-sensei came to recruit Jutsu-chan to his hip nature retreat, Kiba wandered in the training field looking for a place to train. I decided that a spar would help my training. Kiba returned the next day, and from there, the info leaked out. Sometimes Kiba came alone, other times he dragged more shinobi to spar. Ino and Sakura took to visiting, although they didn’t join the training.
The sparring with other shinobi let me identify and fix flaws in my hodgepodge style, except this one that kept returning, no matter how much I tried. I hadn’t found yet what was causing the problem. It wasn’t a matter of my arm moving down. Something in my stance pulled my arm down on and if I didn’t find the root cause, that flaw would stay there. Was it time to give up and ask for help? I’m sure Kakashi-sensei could help me understand what I was doing wrong.
I lifted my arm again. A selfish and dumb part of me didn’t want to ask for help. I prepared to perform the attack again.
Information flooded my head. It was the same deluge of information when a clone dispersed. Jutsu just unpopped herself. It was a rollercoaster of memories and impressions and sensations, dwarfed by elation. That disrupted my control and the rest of my clones also unpopped. Even more stuff jammed itself in my head. Moments before the world turned to black, I smiled. Jutsu-chan did it.
I am Jutsu-chan, and let me tell you, Mokuton was busted. Super busted.
On our first day of training, Yamato-sensei went over things he could do. Need a chair? I got you. Need a stock? Worry not. Your house burned? Hold my ramen. Lost your key? My finger is my key!
It took me a while to ‘connect with my nature spirit’ or whatever, but once I did, learning the jutsu was easy. It needed a lot of control, which I had, it needed chakra, which I also had, even if I was just a quarter of my reserves. My control meant better efficacy, which should let me use more jutsu even with a smaller chakra pool. The result didn’t match what I felt it should be. Something interfered whenever I tried to use wood chakra. It was like a barrier I needed to push past. It left me with no other choice but to pump even more chakra to use a mokuton jutsu. The end result was – despite my superior control and bigger reserves – I used way more chakra than Yamato for everything. I explained the situation to Yamato, but he was also at a loss as to why. I suspected it was, somehow, connected to the snake. Not knowing what those seals did was starting to piss me off really bad.
And Nature transformation was freaky. I mean, transforming my arm into wood? Yikes. Creepy. Better than transforming into snakes tho. I pitied Anko.
That wasn’t important. Tiredness making my thoughts roam all over the place. I tried to focus on the present again.
Today was the last day of training. I was tired, exhausted, and needed to rest before the exam. It wouldn’t do to burn myself out before the battle even started. I did what I could, even if I neglected my shushin no jutsu. I mastered a fair amount of new techniques. I even inherited Yamato’s house building hobby. I mean, of course I would beg that one after I saw the man just pop a full house outta the ground. Wood clones, restraining techniques, chakra sealing techniques. I learned it all. Even if I couldn’t use them freely. It cost too much chakra.
Another thing that became apparent pretty soon. My affinity to Mokuton was stronger than Yamato’s. Which was paradoxical as to why my end result was worse than his. I had some thoughts on this. Perhaps because by the time Orochimaru made me, his process had improved? And since my problem was converting the chakra, maybe the seal in my heart somehow was interfering with the process?
But again, distracted, tired. My mind kept wandering when I should focus on the task at hand. This last jutsu was a bit iffy. A tracking jutsu. Yeah, I see what the old man was about. Restraining jutsu, chakra sealing jutsu, and now tracking jutsu. Was the old man preparing me to babysit Naruto? Did the old codger want me to marry the brat as well? Fucking fate.
“Hinata-san?” Yamato called. By the pitch of his voice, not for the first time.
I focused on him. He held a seed in his hand. Right, jutsu, training, focus.
I performed the seals: Tiger - Dog - Snake. Out of the earth popped another Hinata, this one a wood clone. Then, like the man explained, I twisted the clone, compressed and applied meaning. Wood Hinata, the short lived, shrunk and transformed into a seed. I held the thing, and even through the haze of exhaustion I felt it, in the back of my head. I knew where it was, how distant and more.
Yamato went on a lengthy explanation of what it did and didn’t. “…and only the user can detect the transmissions. Not even other mokuton users can sense it.”
I blinked, trying to parse the information. Damn brain fog. Then his words registered. Wait. Wait? Would it work? From the dregs of my mind I pulled all theory and prototype work for the teleport beacon. Seal-chan had been stuck forever in how to tie the beacon to us, and prevent others from noticing it. I think my hands started trembling more than they already were.
My voice shook a bit. The pain didn’t even bother me. “How long does it last?”
Yamato’s gaze was strange. “For as long as you keep it.”
It wasn’t perfect, I realized. It wasn’t a permanent tracker, it was, after all, created from a wood clone, and even if it was solid wood, it still had the same limitations of a clone. But it was a solution for my problem, even if it was a temporary one.
I got up, couldn’t stay still, needed to think some more and staying still caused brain fog. In my head, I reviewed Seal-Chan’s Black Flash jutsu prototype. I knew it well enough that I didn't even need the papers anymore. I remade a few connections, adjusted the chakra path, integrated the inbuilt transmission from the seed.
“Hinata-san?”
I was lost in my mind. Yeah, it would work. I moved a few of the blocks around, taking into account the changes because of the wood chakra. That left one last issue: how to inscribe the transmission seal? I could make the seed larger, or a different shape. Then another realization hit me like Truck-kun. It was so obvious I wanted to slap myself. I already had a jutsu to use chakra to inscribe a seal instead of using ink.
I dispelled the seed. Summoned another clone. Transformed it into a wood kunai. Don’t blame me, tired and Yondaime. Pushed my chakra, inscribed the modified beacon on the kunai. I held it there, I could feel the beacon.
I looked at Yamato. Yamato stared at me. I laughed. Might have danced. I certainly cheered.
“Yamato-sensei, you’re the fucking best!” I called out, threw myself at the man in a hug. A hug I quickly released. I had more important things to do.
“What’s this about?” The man asked, looking at my wood kunai and black lines of chakra from my imprinted seal.
I grinned. Threw the kunai away. It landed a few meters to the side, stuck to the ground. The beacon beckoned to me. Rá, look at me, making puns. I grinned wider, did the hand seal: Seal of Confrontation. I pushed the last of my chakra, honed on the Kunai. Stopped just before activating the jutsu. Didn’t want Yamato to know it just yet. But one more push, and I’d teleport. I felt it in my guts.
It worked, it fucking worked! The jutsu was not combat ready. Probably wouldn’t be for months or years. But it was enough to break the barrier.
“I gotta go!” I yelled, Hinata-chan needed to know this. I Jutsu-chan was the bestest, smartest clone! I did — without trying — what Seal-chan spent weeks struggling with. She was going to be so mad! Under the confused gaze from Yamato, I unpopped myself.