The New Normal - Calm Waters

A week into my stay with the Shiin clan, I started getting restless. Even though I felt fine, I was practically forbidden from doing anything physical. So I had to either do something with my mind or with my chakra.

I was way past the leaf exercise. I couldn't exactly practice wall or water walking without, well… walking. I also didn't think my hosts would appreciate me getting wet and having to borrow another set of clothes.

So I started experimenting with the regular clone jutsu. How many could I make at once? As much as I had the chakra for. How fast could they move? They seemed to share my own limits. Could I change their appearance? No, even while transformed, they would still be copies of me. How many could I control at once? As many as I had the focus for, but I could set them to follow a set of actions.

Maybe there's potential there?

It was when I had an 1/8th of my chakra left that one of the clan shinobi finally noticed what I had been doing. That being Shikyou Shiin who walked into a room filled with copies of me doing various things, including backflips, spins, katas, and whatever else I could think of.

Apparently, since the clones are only visual, no one had picked up on it.

"Yumika, how much of your chakra do you have left?"

I cocked my head curiously.

"About an eighth, I haven't hit zero so I should be fine."

The clan head had a blank face at the statement.

"Excessive chakra usage can be excused under certain circumstances, but going below half your capacity is considered unhealthy. Even chakra capacity training can be more destructive than helpful when done carelessly. Did no one tell you this?"

Oh.

All the clones disappeared, as I shook my head.

"The hand signs would also have been inflicting strain on your fingers."

Wait… that doesn't add up…

"Excuse me sir, but didn't you hit me in the chest? How are my fingers related?"

It was with resignation that the clan head sat across from me.

"That is true, and honestly speaking, the damage of that attack has mostly been healed by now."

I didn't like what I was hearing. So I was fine now? Then why was I still here? Why was everyone treating me so carefully?

If he weren't admitting this himself I'd think there was something nefarious going on. I tried to look at the man more carefully.

He seemed… careful. Like he was unsure how far he could go with something.

"After you were treated, the doctor took note of some other things."

Ah…

I was sure I'd figured out the issue.

"Lord Shiin."

He paused to listen.

"Whatever it is that ails my body, I assure you my mind is still strong. There is no need to be careful with whatever bad news you bear."

He scanned me once for any sign of hesitation.

"Very well…"

[...]

I stayed silent for most of the explanation.

That was… admittedly problematic.

So I was being treated like I was made of glass… because at the moment glass would be considered more sturdy.

A part of me had been expecting long term consequences for my injuries, but I had dismissed the idea because of the 'magical' healing.

With all that in mind…

I smiled, much to his apparent alarm.

"It seems I should be even more thankful for your hospitality sir. Though if it's as bad as you say… I can't in good conscience stay until I recover."

I had already felt bad for mooching of the household for the week I'd stayed. I couldn't imagine staying for more than a month.

"I refuse."

That's not how that is supposed to go.

I held back the urge to deadpan.

"Even without your injuries, I had planned to extend an invitation to stay with my clan until you had a stable income to support yourself, because quite frankly you impressed me."

Yumika has stopped responding.

I shaklily held up a finger pointed at myself.

There was nothing impressive about me.

Frankly anyone else in my position could have done better.

A more hardworking or talented person could have pulled a Kakashi and been approaching jonin levels by now.

A more insightful or observant person wouldn't have had as much trouble figuring out what was going on.

A more cunning or charismatic person could have turned this situation to their advantage.

All my success I could attribute to my situation and the people around me, so my rational self wouldn't- and couldn't comprehend the idea that I was impressive.

It was with a warm smile that he rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, you, Yumika. You are a talented kunoichi in training, and you've conducted yourself well as my guest. From what I hear, my son has already started to grow fond of you. Now that he's unshackled from my… faulty preconceptions. So I would like to offer a formal invitation into my home. Do you accept it?"

I nodded dumbly.

"Hm, very well. In future I would ask that you let someone supervise your chakra and jutsu based experiments, for your own health. We can continue the discussion later, you seem to be a little bit… frazzled."

I nodded dumbly.

Even if I didn't understand the reasoning, I did eventually manage to wrap my head around the idea that the clan head wanted me around, and that most of the clan didn't seem to disagree.

Is this kicked puppy syndrome? I mean… with the list of injuries I had which everyone here knew about-

As said, I failed to understand why.

I still wasn't too keen on taking advantage of the offered hospitality, which made it awkward to resolve a few issues...

First, I needed to go get my things.

…

"Ah, certainly friend. I will assist in gathering your things. I'm certain I can bring along one of my cousins as well."

"Thank you Kanshi."

…

I reached for the door handle to my room, but Kanshi got to it first.

"That's…"

My 'things' included, but wasn't limited to: clothes, Mitsutada's jutsu scroll, my shamisen, my quarterstaff, my bow, and the 1000+ arrows… which I'd let spill out of my storage seal right onto the floor.

I shrunk in minor embarrassment.

"A mess, I know."

I started pulling off my robe…

"My lady, that's highly inappropriate!"

…before Kanshi put it back in place.

Jeez, I don't get what the big deal is.

"Kanshi, we need to get as much with us as we can."

The red faced boy stammered in response.

"I hardly see how undressing yourself would assist us in that matter!"

Oh, that's what this is. Being treated like a girl is quite different.

He was almost squeaking. It was kind of adorable.

I rolled my eyes at the display, before picking up a pencil, bringing it to the invisible seal on my outer forearm, and storing it. Which made the entire seal structure visible.

"I have one on my back large enough for the arrows, it's how I carried them all around without a quiver."

I exposed my back again.

"...if you help put them there, this will go a lot quicker. So I would appreciate your assistance."

"This is…"

"A gift from Orochimaru, one I wasn't in a position to refuse."

I was glad that with my back to him he couldn't see my face.

Second, my deal with Isae and doctor Manami.

…

"So you had this 'agreement' with the doctor?"

Shikyou seemed sceptical.

"It mostly consisted of sparring with Isae, writing up how it went, and giving tips on her developing fighting style."

"Why would you do that?"

I shuffled a bit.

"At first it was a favour, but now Isae is a friend and Doctor Manami seems like a good person who won't take things too far. On top of that, forcing me to write things down puts things in perspective, and the doctor's insights are useful. Actually, wait a second…"

I looked inside and popped out one of the reports on me that we had assembled, and handed it over.

He did seem mildly impressed reading it over.

"Well put together, concise, and informative. I see what you mean."

Then he paused.

"Shadow clones?"

I looked away and nodded.

"Where did you even learn that?"

"I, Umm… saw the hand sign once, and fumbled until I got it right. It did cost me half my chakra per clone."

A disappointed look.

"Umm… I haven't done it since you told me going below half was a bad idea?"

He shook his head exasperatedly.

"Do you think that they could accept my son going in your place for a while? You would be present to observe and advise as before."

That should work…

I nodded.

…

They were as accepting as I expected, especially when my health was brought up, but I did have to help Kanshi fill out the forms.

Kanshi may have been better than the average civilian, he was far more focused on their clan techniques than martial arts and physical conditioning. Isae on the other hand was a close combat specialist in the making who had been finetuning their combat style against me for the last year. They were about equally skilled, but Isae was faster, stronger, and tougher.

That is to say: Kanshi got absolutely destroyed in the practice, and Isae wasn't even using her combat drugs.

Then we all sat around the table with noodles. Isae tried to needle Kanshi about the spars, but he was a good sport who knew where his strengths lay.

"Hey, Yumika."

"Yes, Isae?"

"What the hell have you been up to?"

"What do you mean? I told you, didn't I?"

"Oh my god… you don't know?"

There was something in her tone, a sort of 'I'm not even mad, that's amazing' kind of disbelief.

"What is it Isae?"

"Hei has a bounty."

Yumika has stopped responding.

She, of course, burst out laughing.

"Seriously, what did you do?"

"I… didn't do anything."

Kanshi chimed in.

"Yumika has been practically confined to my clan home since before the riot, I can guarantee that she is not involved in this."

"Wait, what riot?"

What in the world did I miss?

"Your three students, Asuri, Beniyo, and Waho caused a prison break then ran away. You're being blamed for it."

"What!?"

"I was certain the blame was on Hei, not Yumika."

Isae gave Kanshi a flat look at that.

"...but Yumika is Hei."

The stiff way Kanshi turned to face me reminded me of those really creepy automatons.

I looked away and nervously poked my fingers together the way I did when I was Rukia.

"Hehe, umm… I learned the transformation and um… was trying to figure out why everyone hated me… and… stuff."

I managed a nervous peek back at Kanshi, who was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Yosh, fair enough. We shall not be telling father about this."

He said, bumping a fist into his open palm.

I blinked.

"We're already certain that you were uninvolved, no need to bring up any further concern."

I nodded dumbly.

"Aw, I was hoping for something more explosive."

Glare.

Doctor Manami wouldn't tease me about this…

I didn't tell her that. I liked living.

…but seriously, what did I miss!?

Third, I needed something to do.

…

"So… you're bored?"

"I mean, if it's too much trouble I really don't want to infringe on your hospitality. You have all-"

He held up a hand.

"No, this is a failure on my part. Is that why I walked in on a room full of clones the other day?"

I flushed and nodded.

"Could I maybe get a book to read? And maybe some planks or something that you won't mind me breaking?"

"We have a small library, you can ask Kanshi to escort you whenever you need. The planks…"

I raised my hands defensively at his judging looks.

"I wasn't going to hit them!"

I scratched my ear.

"There's a chakra exercise I want to try since I shouldn't do hand signs… If I do it right, whatever I'm doing it on should break, and I don't want to damage the walls."

His expression softened.

"Very well. We keep a collection of scrap wood for that kind of thing, I'll be sure to have some brought by. Just remember to mind your health."

…

They actually have it.

I was staring at a book I didn't think I'd ever find or get the chance to read.

'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi', written by Jiraiya.

They didn't have it in the public library. Orochimaru probably saw to that.

I mean, it is written by a legendary shinobi. It makes sense that a shinobi clan would have a copy, who knows what 'secret codes' it could contain.

I was definitely going to give it a read.

…

I finished it in two days.

It was simple, and very heavy on symbolism.

It was also at times obviously written by Jiraiya the super pervert, but I'd been an anime fan.

It's good to know my 'anti-degeneracy' mental block still works.

It was actually far more interesting to note the references to Jiraiya's own story, than to follow the plot.

For example: Renge Momoashi, a teammate of the main character Naruto Musasabi, tries to start a war.

How appropriate for the character based on Orochimaru...

It made me wonder if Jiraiya had seen the betrayal coming.

There was also the main character's second technique: comet sphere.

It's basically the intended final form of the Rasengan.

It would serve as a great excuse for where I got the technique from if nothing else.

In the end, I was happy with the read.

It was also the only book that encroached on the genre of fantasy I'd seen so far in this life. So I was probably never going to find anything better… especially since Jiraiya switched genres to erotica.

Sigh.

…

As said earlier, when you put too much chakra into wall walking, you end up pushing instead of sticking. Overload it more than that and you could do some damage. Which was the basis for Tsunade's strength technique.

I'd realised that it wasn't the quantity that mattered.

In truth it was the same as the difference between a shove and a punch. That being the timeframe in which the transfer of force occurs. In other words: it's not the speed that kills you, it's the impact.

So I needed to either gather chakra and release it like a spring, or just unload really quickly.

The second solution seemed more intuitive, which was why I didn't think it was quite right. Otherwise everyone would be doing it.

Which is why I kept going down to half my chakra capacity trying to break a plank without moving my hands.

I didn't have any hope of going full Sakura… but maybe it would be enough to make up for my damaged body.

Shikyou Shiin

Shikyou had one last thread to clean up.

Which was what led him to a meeting with Manato Imaizumi. The shinobi primarily responsible for sorting and assigning the missions given to the village.

The man was like a puppet. He didn't seem to have any opinions, and only did things because he was told. Rumour had it that the man was a result of some cloning experiment.

Which was why there was no need for pleasantries.

"Yumika is under my protection, stop spreading false rumours about them."

The man nodded.

"Very well, anything else?"

No other reaction.

This is why I don't like this man.

"Could you explain why?"

The man cocked his head in a mechanical fashion. From what Shiyou had heard, he had adopted the action after studying dogs, and implemented it into his own attempts at 'personable behaviour'.

"Directing hostility at the child reduced infighting by a notable amount, increasing operational efficiency. Is that all?"

"Yes."

Just like there was no greeting, there was no farewell.

Shikyou hated the man. There was no way to punish or retaliate against someone who felt nothing.

Kanshi Shiin

His mother had returned.

She was still dressed in the sound village's jonin uniform when she sat next to Shikyou for dinner. The black pants and long sleeved turtleneck, as well as light black flak vest that signified the rank.

She didn't have his or his father's pallid skin or iris-less eyes. Instead she had a healthy complexion, light brown eyes, and short auburn hair.

She was outwardly strict, and her signature technique stressed her voice, so she didn't speak much.

So Kanshi could fully understand that Yumika, who sat next to him, was quite intimidated for the duration of the dinner.

Of course, no one at the table corrected this behaviour. They all knew that Yuharu Shiin was enjoying every second of it, because while she acted strict, she was in reality very playful.

Kanshi also figured that was the main reason she spent most of the meal silently staring down their guest…

…until near the end, when she suddenly turned to Shikyou.

"I approve."

"I thought you would, dear."

Yumika looked his way for clarification, to which he gave a confused shrug. It's not like he had any idea what that was about either.

"By the way, did you hear? The previous instructor for the sparring ring suffered an unfortunate accident, I was wondering if you could volunteer to take over."

Kanshi would note that his father seemed very pleased with the event.

His mother stroked her chin, before nodding her agreement.

Kanshi was confident in his mother's abilities… even if he had trouble seeing how she was supposed to give advice without speaking too much.