I am currently sitting at the same spot in the same room as the day I first got that library card. Across from me, Iruka also sitting at the same spot as he was back then.
With a smile, Iruka leaned forward before he started. “Once again, congratulation for being the top ranker in your entire first year, Takeshi.”
I can feel a grin growing on my face. “Thank you very much, Iruka-sensei. Truly.”
“You are very welcome, Takeshi. But enough of that, let’s not dally any longer.” Iruka straightened up. “As promised, you will now be taught Kage Bunshin for keeping your end of the promise by maintaining the top rank throughout your first year.”
I nodded and Iruka continued. “But before that, an introduction is in order.” Iruka then looked at the person sitting beside him. It was a man with his headband fashioned like a bandana and a round sunglasses covering his eyes. He was already sitting there when me and Iruka entered the room earlier.
“This, is Ebisu-sensei. He will be the one to teach you the Kage Bunshin, as unfortunately I myself do not know how to use that jutsu.”
Yep, it is Ebisu, alright. Looks exactly the same as I remember, even right now, 5 years before canon starts.
At that intro, Ebisu nodded to Iruka before looking back at me. “Nice to meet you, Takeshi. As Iruka-sensei have said, my name is Ebisu, a Chunin. Hokage-sama has indeed tasked me with teaching you the Kage Bunshin as I happen to know that jutsu.”
I then stood up and bowed to him. “Nice to meet you too, Ebisu-sensei! Please take care of me!” Though inside I was a bit confused; I thought Ebisu was a Tokubetsu Jonin.
“Likewise, Takeshi.”
“Now, Takeshi, Ebisu-sensei is just being humble. He’s already gained recognition for his excellent teaching abilities. I’ve heard it won’t be long before he’s promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin because of it.”
Ah, I see. So he haven’t made Tokubetsu Jonin at this point in time.
“*Ahem*, thank you for the kind words, Iruka-sensei. Now, there’s something I need to say before we begin. Do listen closely, Takeshi.”
I immediately straightened up at that cue and focusing on what this closet pervert has to say.
“Per Hokage-sama’s directive, I shall instruct you in the Kage Bunshin once per week until you are able to execute the jutsu safely. Of course, we will begin with the necessary prerequisite skills before moving on to the technique itself.”
Neat. Though, what’s with all those theatrics? Outwardly, I just nodded solemnly. “I will do my best, Ebisu-sensei.”
“Then I will take my leave now. I leave Takeshi in your capable hand, Ebisu-sensei.” Iruka said as he stood up before looking at me. “Make the most of your time under Ebisu-sensei’s tutelage, Takeshi. I know you’ll do well.”
Once again I nodded solemnly. “I will Iruka-sensei. Thank you very much!”
Iruka nodded back with a smile before he stood up and left the room.
As the door closed back with a soft thud, silence reigned the room for a couple seconds before Ebisu start speaking again. “Well then, Takeshi. Shall we start today’s lesson?”
I nodded again for the nth time. “Yes, Ebisu-sensei!”
Ebisu smiled and started. “Alright, let’s begin with the theory.”
With that preamble, Ebisu begin his lecture. “So, Kage Bunshin was one among many jutsus created by Lord Second, Senju Tobirama-sama. It is a jutsu that created a real, physical copies of oneself instead of just an illusion that a standard Bunshin does. More than that, each physical copy can even act independently.”
… Huh. That is the exact thing Hiruzen said back then.
He paused for a moment, likely to make sure I was still paying attention, before continuing. “That means it’s not just for distraction—a Kage Bunshin can also act as a decoy… The key point is that this versatility is why it’s classified as a B-rank jutsu. We’ll go over its strategic uses later, after you have your strategy lesson in your theory class.”
I nodded in agreement. I mean, my intended use for this, at least publicly, was only for chores anyway. Ebisu then went on but with heavier tone.
“Unfortunately, this jutsu’s B-rank status also comes from its stringent chakra requirement. This is because the jutsu will actually split the user’s chakra equally between the user itself and the bunshin they made. That can cause a rapid depletion of the user’s reserve if they made too many clones, which is very dangerous.”
He paused for a couple of second.
“That’s why this jutsu are usually only used by a Jonin… in battles. Of course, for your intended use, which I heard was to handle daily chores, a reserve of an academy student your age should suffice to create a single clone.”
Ebisu hastily added the last part, probably because he saw me raising my eyebrow in response to his Jonin-only comment. He then stood up, went to my side, and put his hand on top of my head.
“Now, let’s assess your current chakra reserve before we continue, just to make sure. Focus, and circulate your chakra until I tell you to stop.”
So I did, as I told. Of course, I absolutely make sure to not touching any chakra from the system’s reservoir and only circulating chakra from my own natural reserve.
After about a minute or so, Ebisu finally told me to stop. He removed his hand from my head and then went back to his seat. His expression became serious as he started talking again.
“Just as I thought—it should be safe for you to create a single bunshin using the Kage Bunshin. But listen carefully, Takeshi. Under no circumstances are you to create more than one bunshin until Hokage-sama, Iruka-sensei or I give you permission. Is that clear?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Ebisu looked at me dead in my eyes, or at least I think so, as he said that. Of course, for now I nodded in agreement. “I promise I will only make one bunshin at a time, Ebisu-sensei.”
Ebisu nodded back while smiling in satisfaction after hearing that promise. Hopefully, he was genuinely unaware of the different implication between the promise I made and the one I presumed he expected.
“Excellent. Now, let’s continue…”
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“You’ve been into trouble or something?”
I looked at Shikamaru with my eyebrow raised at his question.
“No, I have not. Thank you for asking. But, where did that come from?”
“Well, *munch* this past month you were missing from the playground *munch* for once a week.”
“Me, Shino, and Shikamaru knew that you would tell us if you ran into something, but the rest of the group insisted that we asked you what’s going on after the second week.”
“Oy! You promised to not tell him that, Ino!” Barked Kiba. Meanwhile, Sora was scratching the back of his head while smiling shyly, and the other girls either glanced, stared, or pouted a bit at Ino.
“Nope, it was Shikamaru who did.” Countered Ino while giving out a tongue before continuing. “We managed to held them off. But after a month has passed, even Shino and Shikamaru thinks it’s best to ask you.”
“So, nothing’s wrong?” Shino asked succinctly while the others were looking at me in concern.
My chest felt fuzzy as I took in the group’s care and concern, and I could feel a smile forming on my face. “Thank you for your concern, guys. But there’s really nothing wrong. If anything, things have been going well for me these past couple of weeks.”
They stared at me in silence for a bit, probably trying to determine whether I was lying or not, before letting out a sigh, apparently in relief.
“It’s good that you are fine, Takeshi.”
“Just make sure to tell us if got into trouble.”
“Will do. Thanks, Aki, Sora.”
“So, what’s you been doing these past two weeks?”
“Well, I-” “Please don’t tell me you’ve been training.”
“…”
Damn sharp, Shikamaru.
Probably seeing me paused, the others also caught on.
“You didn’t go to the playground those four times because you were training? But you’ve been usually training at other time!” Said Sakura with disbelieving face, mirrored by most of the group.
“No, no, no. It’s not training, it’s LEARNING. There’s a difference, okay?”
“A-ano, then, have you been to the library instead, Takeshi?”
“Also no. Hmm…” I contemplate for a second before continuing. “Well, nobody said to not tell anyone, so whatever. I’ve actually been learning a jutsu under someone’s tutelage this past month.”
The rooftop where we were having lunch instantly went dead silent, so silent you could use the saying, “one could hear a pin drop.” Even Choji stopped munching, his eyes going wide like most of the others.
““LEARNING A JUTSU?!?!?!””
…That gave me a whiplash.
Before I could recover, Kiba suddenly pounced and grabbed both of my shoulder. “What do you mean you are learning a jutsu! How?! Why?!” He howled as he shook my shoulders hard.
Having just finished lunch, I felt terrible—the shaking made it feel like everything I’d just eaten was about to come right back up. “Hold… it… eurgh… piss off!”
I pushed Kiba away, somewhat forcefully that he ended up stumbling a bit. After that, I hurriedly drank some water to push the food back down. “Haah… What’s the deal, man?! Calm down!” Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
“Wait, Takeshi! It is kind of a big deal! My dad said that I shouldn’t even bother with a jutsu until I learned the academy three! He also said that we will only be taught that three jutsus in starting third term of this year! Of course, I don’t know about the clan jutsus.”
“My dad has forewarned me that he will start teaching the Nara clan’s jutsu when I turned nine, around third year of the academy, which I thought was totally a drag. Yet here you are learning jutsu already at the second year.”
Kiba, who have just recovered after I pushed away, glared at me. “I’ve asked my mom, and she said I should be able to get my ninken before I turned 10, but not before 9. And learning any Inuzuka clan’s jutsu would wait further until my ninken’s ready.”
The other clan kids also chimed in, reinforcing their view that learning a jutsu, ninjutsu specificly, as early as the start of second year of the academy was unusual, even among clan kids. There is the Hyuga with Gentle Fist, but that’s the exception.
That, in turn, made them even more curious about how I had gotten my hands on such a privilege.
With no way out, I ended up telling them about my inquiry into the “real bunshin,” my goal in learning such a jutsu, and the deal I made with Hiruzen. That last part caused even more surprise, and it took a while for everyone to calm down.
Though Choji was predictably almost moved to tear by my reason of learning the jutsu instead.
“So, what jutsu were you learning?” Kiba asked eagerly.
“I was told it was called Kage Bunshin.”
“Huh. Why does that name sound familiar?”
“What rank was that?”
“It was B-rank”
““B-RANK?!?!?!””
… Deary me.
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.
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Right, I forgot.
The Naruto series might be a Shonen that at a glance are all about an underdog—that is Naruto himself—fighting his way to the top through various struggles. But even as an “underdog,” he isn’t without privileges and advantages, as is revealed much later, near the end of the story.
That’s an “underdog”, imagine how insane the other “strong” characters that are also important to the main plot. All of them are either genius, prodigy, or outright a monster.
Sakura with her perfect chakra control and academic prodigy, Sasuke the late blooming monster, and Kakashi which need no more glazing. And I was so used to the feats of such characters that I subconsciously made them a standard.
Actually, most other characters that were often highlighted in the story were also far from mediocre, whether they were allies or enemies. Especially the enemies, most especially near the end of the story.
It seemed like I failed to notice or remember that fact in my pursuit of making myself capable in handling such enemies later. My sole self-imposed restriction thus far had simply been avoiding Danzo’s attention, which I’m sure I had already failed at, starting from the very first term when I ranked first.
Though that simply can’t be helped, as I already have Hiruzen’s and Iruka’s attention. Under which I was simply not confident in holding back without being found out. I also thought getting first place in the first year shouldn’t be a big deal considering its curriculum load.
Seemed like I let down my guard a bit and forgot how big deal a B-rank jutsu were, especially the Kage Bunshin.
…Well, no use crying over spilled milk.
Though, I do currently are about to cry in gratification. I can also feel a grin forming on my face. The exact same grin like on the face in front of me, a face that was identical to mine.
… The face of my own Kage Bunshin.
Note
Trust me, I’m not writing the learning / training process because I was lazy. Well, mostly.
There’s also bits of canon-related details about when one USUALLY start learning a jutsu. Honestly, that one’s a bit of an *ss pull on my part as I failed to find an explicit mention about those.
And lastly, there’s also another take near the end of this chapter that hopefully won’t get me get roasted to oblivion.