I hesitated only for a couple seconds before steeling myself.
“Um… Sensei, if possible, could you please teach me real bunshin?”
Iruka blinked at my request, “Real bunshin?”
“Yes. I read that bunshin jutsu are only creating illusions. So, I thought that maybe there’s bunshin that can create physical copies instead.”
Iruka then grew serious, “There is indeed jutsu like that, Takeshi. But, what do you want to do with such jutsu?”
I then looked at Iruka square in his eyes. “For chores, Iruka-sensei.”
“…Chores?”
I nodded. “Yes. Because I lived in my parents’ house instead of an apartment, there are a lot more stuff to take care of. I also love cooking, especially when my friends enjoyed it so much.”
Then my tone turned serious. “Admittedly, that is quite a lot of work to be done. Thankfully, I can still handle it and even managed to snag the top ranking. But if the classes are going to get harder, I don’t think I could keep up.”
I looked at Iruka pleadingly. “So, if it is at all possible, I really hope to be able to still take proper care of one of my parents’ memento AND cooking foods that me and my friends liked.”
Iruka looked at me deeply in silence for a good ten second or so. He then sighed while scratching his head. “To think you’d use a jutsu for such things.”
I tilted my head in askance. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Not exactly, Takeshi. But I think that’s not a common train of thought among us Ninjas. The problem, however, was the jutsu you’re looking for was quite an advanced one.”
He goes silence for a minute before nodding. “Alright, I don’t know if it’s okay to give you that jutsu nor I have the clearance to that, so I will ask Hokage-sama first if it is doable.”
I become excited hearing the affirmation. “Really?!”
“Yes, I will try to have an audience with Hokage-sama as soon as possible.”
I then stood up in excitement and again bowed to Iruka. “Thank you very much once again, Iruka-sensei.”
“You are very welcome, Takeshi. Now, do you have other inquiries?” Iruka asked whilst smiling.
“That’s all for now, Iruka-sensei.”
“Then you can go home. Enjoy your holiday.”
“You too, Iruka-sensei! See you later!” I said while exiting the room with my first place reward in my hands and a massive grin plastered on my face.
That went much, much better than I envisioned. I mean, I went into that talk fully expecting to be rejected outright. It is a B-rank jutsu, after all. The more advanced version of which are even categorized as a forbidden jutsu.
While it is still too early to be happy, the fact that it got in to the bureaucratic pipe at all was something to be grateful about. Next thing to worry about was just Hiruzen’s attitude, which shouldn’t be negative at the very least considering his gift two years ago.
While it might be a mis opportunity to not say something Will-of-Fire-esque as my goal for my class’ introduction back then, I think my conduct thus far are quite representing that life philosophy to an extent.
Point is, there’s a non-zero chance that Hiruzen will grant me the Kage Bunshin while I still an academy student. Though maybe not on this first year and I might have to strive for the first place several more times.
Sorry, what was that? Chakra paper, you say? Well, that’s not really a priority at the moment, to be honest.
Sure, finding out my affinity could convince me to focus on that element instead of training 4 out of 5, on and off, like I did. But then what?
If it’s Lightning, I could theoretically ask how to train it. But I think that’s more likely to be rejected compared to asking a single jutsu. A B-rank jutsu, sure. But still just a jutsu below A-rank.
And if it’s one of the other four elements, well, I’m already training it, right? Sure I could ask for more advanced training, but I’m afraid that’ll be ringing so many alarm.
I mean, even just the knowledge that I already interested in learning elemental transformation in my first year would be enough to land me in a limelight.
So for now, Kage Bunshin was much more important. I mean, even just one Kage Bunshin would tremendously help me with chores and stuff, just as I’ve said as my alibi.
And I don’t know if this ‘unwritten social rule’ is true or not, but I feel like asking more than one favor at the same time would reduce the chance of any of it to be granted.
So, for now, I will only focus on the Kage Bunshin. Only after I got the result, whether I could learn in early or merely a confirmation to wait until after graduation, would then I ask about chakra paper. You are reading on NovelPing, the official source.
One step at a time.
I left the school ground with spring on my steps. But just a few steps past the school gate, my curiosity about the coupon arose. So I stop and opened the envelope to see which establishment I would visit in a few days’ time.
My eyes involuntarily widen at the name printed on the coupon.
…It was the very dwelling of the Sage of the Six Bowls.
.
.
.
Ichiraku Ramen. A very familiar name to every fan of Naruto franchise.
Lore wise, it could be said that the folks over there are one of the main factors preventing Naruto from going dark. They are one of the, if not the only, store that treat Naruto with genuine kindness. As far as I remember anyway.
I have actually gone past the store in one of the lunch group's outings. Though I deliberately never went there in my bidding to avoid Naruto as reasonably possible before the Uchiha Downfall happened.
Or, more precisely, before Root’s officially disbanded and Danzo’s influence waned.
So that’s what I did for the past two weeks of summer holiday and that’s also what I still planned to do for the rest of my first year of academy. Thankfully, there were no expiration date listed on the coupon. Maybe I can give it to Naruto later when I, inevitably, become friends with him.
Oh, and I also realized another thing later on that very day I got the reward.
Iruka’s awkwardness when he said that the school didn’t often give out a reward for the first ranker? I guess I got it not because I was special per se, it’s just that I was simply clanless. These two rewards, a low-tier library card and a food coupon, would be kinda meaningless for most student with a clan background.
…I guess that means it is kinda rare for a clanless kid to outdo a clan kid, huh?
Well, whatever.
For now though, I was currently making some cookies that I would bring to Shikamaru’s house as gift.
That’s right. I finally reached that milestone in friendship where my friends finally inviting me to their house.
Yup. Friends. Plural.
It seems the clan heirs was planning to give me and Sora an invitation to each of their houses, and Shikamaru was the first in line.
Which was a good decision, to be honest.
My guess is they want to acclimatized me and Sora for the… unusualness that a clan can be. I mean, compared to a house full of deadly dogs / deadly insect swarms, or even a household full of competitive eaters, a Nara household should be relatively normal, right?
I kept myself busy with baking when I heard a knock on my doors. “Good morning, Takeshi!”
… Iruka?
After hastily making sure that nothing will burn for the next ten minutes or so, I blitzed to the front door and opened it to see Iruka… along with Hiruzen.
I blinked and immediately after, I put on an excited expression that I reserved for the Third Hokage. “Hokage-sama! Iruka-sensei!”
“Hello there, Takeshi.” Iruka answered simply.
The old man though, predictably, was all smile when I was excitedly greeting him. “Good morning, Takeshi-kun. I hope we are not intruding on your time?”
“Never will, Hokage-sama! Please come in, Hokage-sama, Iruka-sensei!” I said as I ushered both inside to a seat in the dining table then offered a cuppa after both were seated.
Hiruzen smiled at that offer. “Hmm. I remember not partaking in a cup of tea last time I was here. Then, yes, I would love a cup of tea, Takeshi-kun.” He then looked at Iruka. “I hope you don’t mind accompanying me in a tea time, Iruka.”
To that, Iruka immediately replied. “Of course not, Hokage-sama. It is an honor.”
Mighty convenient, innit?
Well, I’ve baked some cookies, of course I got to have some tea to go with it. Right?
Speaking of cookie, I also brought some of the earlier batch to serve to my guests. I put down the kettle, the cups, and a plate of cookies. Then I poured some tea to the cups, then offered it to the guests along with the cookies… and a bowl of sugar.
Just in case they are not a lunatic like me who loves unsweetened, bitter tea.
“Please have some. This is something I made myself.”
“Hoo, I did hear from Iruka that you liked to cook, but I never thought that you also can bake cookies. Or at least I assume this is a cookie. What is this, Takeshi?”
“Hehehe, this, is pineapple cookie, Hokage-sama!” It’s actually a kind of tart, but I don’t know if that term exists here.
“Hoh, a pineapple cookie, you say?” Hiruzen ask while inspecting the goods along with Iruka. “And is this… sugar?”
“Yes, Hokage-sama. The cookies are already sweet, so I didn’t add any sugar to the tea. But, if you prefer, then you can still add some sugar to your taste.”
“I see.” He then picked a piece and popped it into his mouth. Iruka then followed suit, then I also popped one right after that.
The first bite instantly breaking through the crumbly exterior, releasing the sweet-sour pineapple jam inside. The next few bites had the taste of the jam spreading, balanced by the saltiness from the melting exterior. Overall, it was incredibly moreish.
Yup. This is nastar, all right. Can’t believe I got it down on my first try. Must be thanks to my better senses that I can precisely got the measurement and timing down pat.
All hail chakra~
After the nastar dissolved from my mouth, I took a large sip from the bitter, unsweetened tea, resetting my taste bud. Then I looked at my guests who seemed to also enjoyed the treat.
Hiruzen sighed after he took a sip from his cup. “It was delicious, Takeshi-kun. I can see why you likes cooking if this is the result of it.”
Iruka also nodded in agreement. “It is tasty, Takeshi.”
I smiled in return. “I’m glad it suits your taste. Please have some more, I made a lot.”
Iruka was about to pick another one when he stops as I said the last part. “You made a lot of this? What’s the occasion?”
Hiruzen also picked another one while seemingly paying attention to what my answer would be.
“Well, Shikamaru invited me along with the group which I usually having lunch together with to his house tomorrow. I thought I should bring some gift, so I decide to make some cookie myself.”
After taking another sip of the tea, Hiruzen asked. “Any reason to make this specific cookie, Takeshi-kun?”
I nodded. “There is, Hokage-sama. I thought Shikamaru’s head kinda looked like a pineapple, hence the main ingredient of choice.”
*pfftt* *cough*
Note
So here it is! The Shadow Clone Jutsu! But don’t worry, I won’t let the MC get that immediately. I can promise that much. The ‘how’ would be in the next chapter.
Now, about the term. For me it’s more awkward to say “Clone Jutsu” instead of just “Bunshin”. That’s why for Shadow Clone I also used the “Bunshin” naming, hence Kage Bunshin.
This also will be applied to the other two academy jutsu and one other jutsu.
I think “Henge”, “Kawarimi”, and “Shunshin” are far easier to write into the story than “Transformation”, “Body Replacement”, and “Body Flicker”, or even just “Replacement” and “Flicker”.
I dunno why. Though I suspect it’s because English not my first language. And yes, I did get rid of “Jutsu” entirely.
Lastly about the “food” scene. It won’t be a dominant thing and just something to help me move the story. I think this one will be as detailed as it get, ever.