Chapter 3 – Step by step

The week seemed to fly by, since I had decided to fully dedicate my time into getting down the Academy Three, Kawarimi, Bunshin and Henge. (Baby steps, you don't run when you can't even walk.)

Moulding chakra didn't seem very difficult now, it felt like it was a stiff muscle that just hadn't been used in some time. And as such, it wasn't so difficult to perform the Henge. On the other hand, the remaining two were slightly trickier.

They needed a bit more control to perform them successfully, and I could see why Naruto struggled with the Bunshin; it was necessary to have a certain degree of chakra control so that you could have smaller details on the clone. The better control, the more details. Really explains why Naruto's clones in the manga turned out to be lifeless white blobs, it was comparable to a sprinkler and a firefighter's hose.

Kawarimi or Substitution and Bunshin both need a similar level of chakra control; to substitute yourself with an inanimate object, you would push out your chakra in a steady stream and try to grab the object with your chakra rope and pull. This might be also why Naruto never actually performed Kawarimi in the manga as well. Huh.

Going off on a tangent, did you know that Mayue's parents are the sweetest things ever? You wouldn't think that they are some prideful Uchiha (well, not as much), but an ordinary ninja couple. As far as ordinary goes for ninjas anyway.

I am truly lucky to have them as the people who I live with; they have accepted that I may never recover my non-existent memories of before, and don't treat me any different for it. Unfortunately, other people of my (now large) family seemed to not have received my message and treat me as if I was glass, even after I told them not to. Again.

I do appreciate what they are doing for me, but my intrinsic chaotic nature doesn't allow me to be a 'Little-Miss-Perfect', or a dainty damsel in distress all the time. Instead, I choose to abuse my 'I'm still a little kid' card to the limits.

Oh, you know Shisui? My cousin twice removed who is nearly a decade older than me or something? Even though what he was doing was rather nice (offering to help me with my chores was very gentlemanly, I must say), I am an independent woma-cough-girl. So, I decided to get my revenge. (I asked nicely.)

His reaction nearly brought a tear to my eye as the house designated with washing the Uchiha's clothes was flooded with white, pearly bubbles. The reprimanding I got from Shisui was totally worth it.

"Why." He fixed me with a hard stare.

"Why what?" I responded, the embodiment of innocence present on my face, the only thing betraying my true feelings was a twitch of my lips.

"You know what!" he snapped, then sighed and rubbed his eyes, "alright fine, I'll start treating you as if you are a bratty little girl, which is very much true. Happy now?"

"Yes, Shisui-niichan. Very much so~," I purred, a twinkle in my eyes.

Shisui groaned and tried to abate the oncoming migraine. "Okay, what is it. You never call me that unless there is something you want from me or you have done something very, very wrong."

"Well Shisui-niichan, I may or may not have…opened the windows? There are maybe some bubbles outside that probably will cause a teensy-tiny mess. Probably." The grin I wore likely surpassed the Cheshire Cat's as I watched on in with amusement.

Uchiha Shisui, the man with the moniker, 'Shisui of the Body Flicker,' who had lived through the Third Shinobi War, made Jōnin only a mere two years later, almost whimpered.

"You're pure evil, I'm telling you, pure evil," he moaned as he finally cracked and tried to curl himself into nothingness.

"Whatever you think, Shisui-niichan. After all you are my favourite cousin~," I hummed contently as I stroked his hair (it is really soft!).

This time he really did whimper.

Holding my hands in the snake seal, I shouted out, "Kawarimi!"

The feeling of the now familiar pull of chakra was present as the world seemed to flash briefly. I then promptly fell out of a nearby tree unceremoniously, disoriented from the sudden change of locations.

Cursing every god that has bequeathed me this misfortune, I got up while rubbing my back. Tumbling from a tree is no small injury, my backside can attest to that.

As the pain subsided, I flipped my hands through the two seals required for the Bunshin. A near-perfect copy of me appeared in a puff of smoke, causing me to cough slightly as I waved it away. I narrowed my eyes in frustration as I saw the state of my hair on the other me.

"Rats. There's tiny twigs and leaves in the travesty which is my hair, again," I grumbled while trying to extract the offending pieces of organic material.

I sighed and resolved to clean my hair later in the house's bathroom. Don't exactly want people to see what happened to my hair, as tomboyish I am, I still like to keep up some measure of appearances. I chuckled when I thought about Shisui's reaction if I went, he'd be so frustrated about it. "Act like an actual girl!" or "What did you do this time Mayue?"

You know what, I think I might have a slight sadistic streak.

…nah that's just my imagination. I must just like teasing him.

Hmm, you know, since I am changing Canon, I might as well try to find the Kage Bunshin technique and teach it to Naruto. Not that finding it will be easy.

Classified as a B-rank kinjutsu, famous for its heavy chakra drain when used. Apparently, people have died using it. No wonder it's not floating around the lower levels of the Library.

A thought crossed my mind that made my lips curl upwards. I always did like a good challenge. Even if the odds were a thousand to one, I would still take my chances. Foolish, yes, but nobody got anywhere from doing nothing.

I wonder, would they notice a missing Kage Bunshin scroll?

And so, my little night time heist to the Library was decided.

Okay, so I maybe didn't think this through as well as I thought. I got to give them credit, ANBU are much, much better than I thought. And that didn't bode well for me.

I crawled up the wall in the shadow of the building, trying to avoid any wandering eyes that might spot me in the moonlight. I really hoped that I suppressed my chakra signature well enough, or I was going to have a one-way trip to T&I. Oh joy.

Reaching the windowsill of the Jōnin section of the Library, which was on the fourth floor, I started flipping the signs for a Kawarimi. Reassured by the pull of chakra, I substituted with an unsuspecting book that was on the floor.

I sighed in relief when I landed on the floor lightly. I hadn't known if I could substitute with objects through solid surfaces, and I couldn't really go around practising that and have people putting two and two together.

Flicking on the small torchlight that I had brought with me, I started looking for the section that started with 'Ka', when I heard a faraway swishing which caused my heart to beat even louder.

Hastily turning off the light, I silently sat there praying that nobody had noticed the light I had been liberally waving around. Why did I think they'd not patrol the Library at this time of night?

...Oh right. Ninjas, the people who possess insane amounts of stamina, and can probably stay up for well over three days.

It felt like hours but probably was only several minutes before I started moving again, my eyes now well-adjusted to the dark. I strained to read the small titles on each scroll, before quietly crawling to the next section.

I heard another, more pronounced rustle in the section behind me, and my heart nearly stopped.

It sure felt like it, because the time it took for me to turn around felt like it took twice as long. Blinking in surprise as I saw nothing but empty space where I believed the sounds to be. The tell-tale call of an owl hooting rang out, followed by a swoosh, which indicated it had taken off.

That wasn't the biggest shock; everything seemed to be…clearer, brighter.

Did I just awaken the Sharingan from my own self-imposed stress and an owl, of all things?

Apparently yes, yes I did.

Wiping the perspiration off the surface of my forehead, I sighed and quickly spotted the scroll I was looking for. Grabbing it brusquely, I skimmed over it swiftly, the instructions seared into my mind thanks to my fancy red eyes, and promptly placed it back where it had been and made my way to the window again. (I don't need to steal a scroll whose contents I know already, obviously.)

As I was flipping through the seals for Kawarimi, on the edge of my peripheral vision I spotted a fleeting flash of chakra. Staring at the spot where it had been, I shook my head and activated the jutsu.

'Must be my imagination,' I thought absentmindedly as I made my getaway and returned home covertly, 'it is rather late after all.'

All that remained from my adventure was a single, green leaf.

Omake

Kakashi wandered the streets late at night, internally crying waterfalls of tears. It wasn't often that the Kakashi of the Sharingan lost his beloved Icha Icha Paradise.

When he felt that all hope was lost, he found himself in front of the Library. Snorting in derision about how those books weren't real literature, he started turning around but was halted by a book, which came whistling down and smacked the silver-haired man on the head with a resounding thud.

Picking up the offending book, Kakashi looked at the cover and cried in relief when he realised it was his precious. He hugged the small orange book and stood there for hours, cooing apologies to the now found book.

He was so engrossed with reacquainting himself with the (quite scandalous) literature that he never noticed a lone Academy student make her getaway from the Library.

A/N: Some vocab to fill you in if you didn't know!

Bunshin – Clone

Kawarimi – Substitution

Henge – Transformation

Kage Bunshin – Shadow Clone

So yeah. Had to fit it in somewhere, and she did activate her Sharingan at the end of the Prologue so I believed that it would be easier to activate it later. She's also going to discover the joys of chakra exhaustion. Anyway, see you next time!

-Maki ~-=+ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

YOU'RE GONNA CARRY THAT WEIGHT