"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Shino yelled, he was starting to feel weary from using the jutsu again. Shino had been trying all day and yet, all he could make were two sad clones. He couldn't possibly be able to make at least four in time for the first day of the Academy. Plus, he had to accomplish this before everyone else knew that he wasn't fully capable of conjuring them yet. Everyone in every class that he had been to knew that he was the strongest and the best at everything he did. Shino just couldn't understand why he was having so much trouble with something so simple.
He sighed and glanced over at the clones right before they turned into two medium sized clouds of smoke. This was the exact same problem the Hokage had when he was a kid, except he became a ninja just by saving his teacher from a weirdo who was able to turn into some kind of demented tiger. Unfortunately, things like that only happen to certain people and Shino just wasn't apart of that crowd.
"Goddamn it, what kind of Uchiha fails at making two shitty clones?" Shino grumbled to himself. He wiped his forehead and began to leave, he had done that technique way too many times for his body's comfort.
"Aw, leaving so soon? They were actually starting to look like people," a girl's voice said from behind him. Okay, so maybe one person from his class knew he wasn't the best at everything. "What the hell do you want, Hina?" Shino asked, but he already knew the answer. For some strange reason, Hina always enjoyed picking on him and him only. He never really knew why either.
"You better hope that you don't get put into a shitty team. But, then again, they can probably summon better clones than you." Hina smirked. Shino saw that she was clearly enjoying this. "Whatever, Hina. I'd rather be put on a team full of babies than be in one with you in it."
Hina opened her mouth to say something else, but then hesitated and glared at Shino. "Damn you, Shino. If you do manage to get on the same team as me, I'll make your life a living hell," she snarled. Shino rolled his eyes and continued walking through the trees. He didn't have the energy to deal with the demon spawn, plus if he did, he'd probably have better things to do than do that.
"Hey, wait up, doofus!" Hina yelled. Shino grunted and continued walking, the sound of twigs crunching was starting to catch up with him. "What do you want now?" Shino asked when Hina finally caught up and was walking beside him.
Hina chuckled and ran her fingers through her short purple hair. "You're gonna see her again aren't you?" She sneered. Shino grimaced and walked a little faster, he was beginning to see the roofs of houses and apartments. "Why do you even care?" Shino retorted. "What, do you like her or something? Well, sorry if I'm getting in between you and your precious girlfriend."
Shino smirked and looked over at Hina. Her face had turned a dark shade of maroon and she started to stutter, trying to find the right words for a comeback. "Hm? What was that?" He asked teasingly, holding a hand up to his ear. "I can't really understand you, could you speak a bit louder? Or maybe form actual words?" Hina's face reddened even more, but it was of anger.
"I...don't...care..." she muttered, and looked away. Shino smiled even more. "Well, good. I'm leaving now, better hope that you get on a team that's not crappy. See ya," he said, running off before Hina could say anything else. The first day of the Academy was going to start in a few days and he needed help - big time.
Shino trained his chakra to his feet and jumped onto the nearest building. Since she said that she was so good at this type of stuff, than she probably won't have a problem with helping me, he thought as he jumped from roof to roof. The wind whistled in his ears and blew back his hair. He smirked, even though his body was exhausted from training, he at least had enough chakra to do this.
If he was going to get her to agree, Shino had to make sure that he had something that was worth bribing her for. He stuck his hand in the pack that he kept on his waist and felt around. "Where is it? Please tell me I have it..." Shino murmured as he fished around deeper, a couple seconds passed until his hand gently clasped over the soft and mildly warm chocolate bar.
He sighed and took his hand out. Now, all he had to do was make sure that she was still in the same spot. Blurred images of shops, movie theaters, and other buildings and companies flashed past him as he moved on. He finally stopped on top of a white-brick tea shop and spa. The strong smell of lemon and wild berries wafted through the air and Shino sighed, feeling relaxed.
Whenever people walked past this shop, they would always feel so calm and would often briefly forget about what they were doing. It was as if the smells of the tea put a de-stressing spell on anyone that walked by. No wonder I always see her hanging around this place. Either that or she really likes tea. Shino thought and made his way off of the roof.
The smell got much stronger when he got near the door and embraced him as he stepped inside. Everything was either white or beige and it was so right in there that Shino had to basically squint to see properly. There were beige couches sitting against the walls with glass coffee tables on his far left and to his right was a receptionists desk hidden behind a large oval-like whole in the beige wall. As he looked around there were quite a few people (mostly women) dressed in white and whispering with each other. It was so quiet in there that he could clearly hear the water trickling in one of those weird, wooden waterfall things that was sitting on the wall in front of the receptionist's desk.
Shino had never really been in a spa before, given the fact that he thought those types of things were stupid, so he never really attempted to visit one. Well, until now. She had told him to visit her here (in the late afternoons) whenever he needed help with something important. Shino took a mental note to ask her why she wanted him to meet up with her in a spa. "Do you need anything, sir?" A lady asked him. Shino flinched and looked up at a woman (probably in her early twenties) who suddenly appeared in front of him. "Oh, I-I'm looking for someone. She's my height with dark hair and, er, brightly colored eyes," Shino said. He wasn't really good at descriptions.
The woman stared at him for a moment, her eyes half-lidded and her facial expression screaming,"I'd rather be relaxing at this spa than working." Shino was already starting to get annoyed with her. That wasn't really a surprise, though, since a lot of people get on his nerves and he just plainly didn't like everyone. "You do know that you could just tell us her name and we'll pull it up, right?" She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Irritating wasn't even the correct word to describe this woman now. But, Shino took a deep breath and smiled at the lady as if he was also trying to swallow gravel with a dry throat while doing so. "Well, can you look her up, then? I would have really appreciated it if you said that earlier without me looking like an idiot." The woman smiled pleasantly at him and walked over to the desk. "Name?" She asked him, her voice laced with iciness.
"Mikasai Cloud," he replied, his eyes were now glued to the floor. The woman began typing for a couple seconds and then pushed herself away from the desk. "Ms. Mikasai is in room one thirty-three, she was scheduled for a manicure," she said while stepping aside and extending her hand to a door at the other end of the room. "Please walk through that door and go straight. Don't stop until you've passed five doors on your right. She's in the room after the fifth."
"Thanks," Shino said nonchalantly and rushed across the room, dodging women carrying baskets of supplies. He almost bumped into a guy that was too busy staring at his clipboard and walking who knows where.
The hallway was surprisingly dim, not bright enough for Shino to see exactly everything, but also not dark enough for him to barely make out anything. Following what the lady said, Shino began walking straight ahead. Every door on either side of him had a small glass window that also showed dimly lit rooms. In one of the rooms on his left, he could just make out a dark-skinned guy that was sitting in a chair with a lady knelling at his side, filing away at his nails. He had a content smile on his face and Shino couldn't really look close enough to see if he was talking to the lady or not.
When he passed the five doors, he stopped at the sixth one and quietly knocked. The door opened quickly the second he removed his hand. A rather tall (and sort of buff) lady with curly blonde hair and almost obsidian eyes. She looked down at Shino with stony look on her face. Shino stared up at the towering woman, his left eye twitching. "Well?" The woman asked, Shino didn't expect her voice to be so deep. "What do you want, boy?" She glared down at him and pursed her glossy lips.
"The desk lady sent me to see Cloud. She is in this room, right?" Shino replied, trying hard not to show any signs of emotion. The woman grunted and stepped aside. Shino walked in and quickly spotted Cloud sitting in a large cushioned chair in the middle of the room. She had her eyes closed and smiled contently with a steaming cup of tea siting on a small table next to her chair. There was a young lady sitting on a polished wooden stool, buffing Cloud's nails as she sighed and turned her head away from Shino.
"Azumi, there's a boy that wants to see Ms. Mikasai. Let her be for now." Azumi nodded and quickly gathered her things. She bent over Cloud and plucked two earplugs from her ears and whispered to her. Cloud nodded and smiled at Shino. "Ms. Mikasai, we will be back in a couple minutes. Please make this talk quick," the tall woman announced and took one last look at Shino before crossing the room and leaving through another door. Cloud shifted in her seat and beamed at Shino.
"What's her problem?" Shino asked once he knew that both women were out of ear shot. Cloud scoffed and twirled some of the dark blue strands in her side ponytail. "That's Chikara. She has this whole thing with boys and stuff, so that's why she was so skeptical of you." Cloud explained as if it was nothing to be concerned of. "Plus, she's like the younger version of Tsunade." Shino hummed in reply.
"Oh, it's really comforting to know that I'll be body-slammed by a buff lady who looks like the previous Hokage." Cloud looked at Shino with a pained expression plastered on her face. Shino sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It was meant to be a joke. Duh..." He said, weakly. "Oh!" Exclaimed Cloud, she wasn't at all good at acting surprised.
"Anyway, what did you want again?" She asked quickly, clearly trying to change the subject. Shino didn't blame her. Since he wasn't that much of a people person, it was sort of awkward whenever he tried to crack jokes at random. Which wasn't really often.
"I came here to ask if you could help me with one of my jutsus. But, don't laugh when I tell you which one, seriously." Cloud scoffed and softly punched Shino's shoulder. "Don't worry, dude! Have I ever made fun of you?" Cloud asked, winking. This statement basically had the word "lie" written all over it, and Shino knew that. "Do you really want me to answer that?" Asked Shino.
This earned a groan from Cloud as she pulled herself out of the chair. She stretched for a while and turned back to meet the raven's eyes. "Fine," said Cloud in a stressed tone. "What do ya want?"
"I want you to help me with shadow clones. I even have a chocolate bar just in case I had to bribe you to do it." He held out the chocolate bar for her to take and she gradually snatched it out of his hands. "Shadow Clones? Isn't that like, kiddie stuff?" Cloud asked skeptically. Shino groaned and began to pace the room. He was beginning to get frustrated with this whole thing. If only she knew the amount of trouble he had gone through to not walk out on the annoying desk lady. If only she knew...
"Dude, I'm just saying I mean, you are an Uchiha. Usually this kind of stuff would be easy for you." Cloud continued. Shino finally growled and threw his hands in the air. "Fine if you're not going to help me, then I'll just leave then. You can call the gorilla back in." He snapped, taking long strides towards the door. At that moment, the back door burst open and the two women stepped in. Chikara looked over at Shino, with his hand almost touching the doorknob, and smiled. "Good, leave, boy. Your time has been up a while ago. We shall get back to work."
"Wait!" Cloud exclaimed before Shino could open the door. "Go to training ground twenty-one, I'll meet you there." Shino smirked and nodded in reply before pulling the door open and walking out. He just hoped that this would help him before the first day of school.