Training Montage #1
Important rules of the Shadow Clone Technique:
-Chakra is split evenly between the user and the shadow clones, which can use their share freely. (Shadow clones have full chakra networks, can use the shadow clone technique)
-Shadow clones possess identical mental faculties to their caster. They can operate completely freely, though will generally follow their caster's orders.
-Shadow clones possess identical physical capabilities to the caster. (Do not fatigue, but cannot open eight gates)
-When a shadow clone is dispelled, it's memories and chakra is shared between the caster and all remaining shadow clones.
-The user's chakra can regenerate naturally, but shadow clones' will not (Shadow clones can build up/distribute sage chakra? Use sage mode? Yes. Summoning and dispelling clones can be abused to give existing clones more chakra? Yes. Warning: It's hard to maintain sage mode with multiple shadow clones. Personal limit: 3)
-Shadow clones can interact physically, but will be dispelled upon receiving a solid hit or fully depleting their chakra. (Armour techniques/sage mode can increase resistance? Yes x2)
-Even with sufficient chakra, shadow clones' chakra pathways will eventually decay due to having no real body. This process is accelerated for clones of clones. (longest single clone maintained: 63 days. Longest chain: 137 days.)
-Warning: Summoning too many clones at once such as with the Multi Shadow Clone Technique can incapacitate or even kill ninja without high enough chakra reserves.
-Excerpt from 'Don't Fuck With These' Scroll, notes scribbled by Namikaze Minato.
The next day, Kakashi took the three genin out into the woods. "Today," He told them, "my shadow clone is guarding Tazuna while he works. Tomorrow either yours will be, or you will be, it's up to you which."
"Hinata mentions she wants to learn the shadow clone jutsu and now you're putting stakes on it?" Sasuke grumbled. He was still upset about Tazuna ignoring his heritage.
"I like to think of myself as a motivator. Now then," Kakashi summoned another clone. "This new friend is going to take you and Hinata through the theory of the technique. Naruto, as you've already aced it, you're coming with me."
He then walked off into the woods. Naruto shrugged, waved half-heartedly to his teammates, and followed.
Kakashi stopped when he reached a fast running river, sitting on a rock and looking back at his third genin. "So, now we're alone. Why are you upset?"
Naruto blinked. "Upset? Why would I be upset?"
Kakashi's visible eye rolled. "Kid, you've been alone your whole childhood until maybe Sasuke at the start of the ninja academy. You're always upset. Of course you're really good at hiding it, but ever since we started this trip something's been getting you down. Spill."
Naruto shuffled. He was not used to being read that easily. Mulling the problem over in his head, he tried to think of the best way to explain it, before eventually blurting out "Am I useless?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"It's just," the examples started pouring out. "Against the demon brothers I did pretty much nothing, against Zabuzza I did even less, they always thrash me when we're sparring, I still haven't got the hang of tree walking," Naruto inhaled. "It just doesn't really feel like I'm doing much for the team, sensei."
Kakashi looked at him for a long moment.
"What weight level are you on?" He asked.
"Huh?" Naruto replied.
"On your seal." Kakashi explained. "Which resistance level are you using?"
"Oh, three." Naruto said, nonplussed. "I couldn't really feel one, I moved up to this about a week ago."
Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, Sasuke's on level two. Hinata only just moved up to level two before we left."
"So?" Said Naruto, stubbornly. "Doesn't mean I can actually do anything."
Kakashi thought about how to explain it. "Have you ever played any video games?"
"Sometimes." Naruto hedged.
"You know how in teams everyone has different roles they have to fill to have the best effectiveness?"
"Yeah..." Naruto was thinking about it.
"Well ninja teams often work in the same way. Take the legendary sannin."
"Didn't they break up and now one's a terrorist?"
"Yes but before that, they were amazing." Kakashi waved a hand for emphasis. "Here's how they worked in a standard engagement:
Tsunade was up front. She was the physical powerhouse, high durability, high physical damage. Jiraiya was up behind her, and he was the ninjutsu guy. Fire and earth were his specialty; he could control the terrain to make things easier for Tsunade, and blow anyone he got a bead on to pieces. Then there was Orochimaru in the back, making use of long range ninjutsu, genjutsu, or pure trickery to keep enemies still for the others to take out and bailing his teammates when things got tough."
Naruto sat down and narrowed his eyes. "Hinata is Tsunade...Sasuke is Orochimaru...so I'm Jiraiya?"
Kakashi beamed under his mask. "Good, but not quite. There are parallels between your team and the Sannin, but you aren't identical. Hinata is far less durable than Tsunade, for example. She's more suited as a striker; moving in fast and eliminating targets that are in the enemy backlines setting up big jutsu."
"So where does that leave me?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi noted the hope in his voice. "Well, lets think about it. Nothing is set in stone, of course, your body still needs to fully mature. Right now though you're not the most agile of fighters, and your chakra control isn't fine enough for genjutsu. BUT-" he raised his voice as Naruto started to look sad again. "You're incredibly strong and durable for your age, and your chakra supplies are frankly ridiculous."
"...How ridiculous?" Naruto asked, hesitantly.
"One of the things I'm teaching your teammates is that when you form shadow clones, your chakra is split evenly between you and the clones you create. But your body needs a minimum level to keep functioning." Kakashi answered. "Naruto when you fought Mizuki, you reportedly created several hundred shadow clones. I'm not sure how much of that was the demon fox, but if I was left with a hundredth of my current chakra, I'd probably collapse. Sasuke or Hinata would die."
"Oh." Naruto looked down at himself with a little concern. "Wait, how come I can't just spam some super-OP jutsu then?"
"Because, like I said, your chakra control sucks right now." Kakashi deadpanned. "Any technique you use costs over double what it really should, and you don't have the subtlety for the more complex techniques, like the water dragon I used on Zabuzza. The shadow clone jutsu was a godsend for you, it splits your chakra rather than spends it. But, we can work on that. In the future, you might end up as a hybrid taijutsu-ninjutsu tank. Augmenting your physical attacks with powerful jutsu and a whole lot of shadow clones; a big credible threat to do most of the damage while Hinata and Sasuke shut down the things about to pull the moves on you."
"You make it sound like I'd be the backbone of the team." Naruto murdered.
"That's exactly what you'd be, Naruto." Kakashi replied. He took a moment to savour the awe on the boy's face. "Of course, that would mean a lot of responsibility."
Naruto nodded, seriously. "I'd never want to let down my teammates."
"In which case, we'd better get you in fighting shape." Kakashi replied, hopping off his rock. "Can't have you being useless, after all."
"Right!" Naruto agreed with a smile. A genuine smile. "What do I do, Kakashi sensei?"
"First, make five or so shadow clones." Kakashi instructed.
Naruto nodded, and made six.
"Excellent." Kakashi looked at the clones and pointed at the river. "You lot. Practice water walking."
"What?" Asked Naruto, dumbfounded.
"You get their memories when they pop." Kakashi explained. "Congrats, you get to learn water walking six times as fast without lifting a finger."
"Huh." Naruto responded.
"Now the real you can follow me. We're going to see which element you have an affinity for."
That evening, Naruto walked in looking thoroughly exhausted. When asked, he just said that Kakashi had been working him super hard, and as he seemed to be in a much better mood than he had that morning, they didn't push it.
The next day, Naruto petitioned Kakashi to let him work alone, and the sensei agreed. Both of his teammates had managed to summon one shadow clone to follow Tazuna to work on the bridge, and Kakashi worked with them to see if they could manage another two at once. Splitting your chakra more than into four, the sensei said, was far too dangerous for any non-Naruto genin. Naruto created eleven, just to watch the horror on their faces now they understood the jutsu's actual requirements. One went to the bridge, six went to continue water walking, and four went with him to continue working on his jutsu. After watching him try out a few E-rank nature transformation techniques, Kakashi concluded that Naruto's primary affinity was for air, very rare in the land of fire. The jutsu he was currently working on was the most generic 'attack' of the wind element; a gust of air to blow away things in front of him. It was tiring as hell, but yesterday's progress with water walking had actually helped his chakra control a little. The technique was getting easier.
He slapped his palms together and prepared to mess up another section of forest. "Wind style, great air-"
"STOP!"
Naruto stopped.
"Don't fire your ninja magic that direction, there are some herbs I need and I can't have you tearing them up at the roots!"
Naruto turned to the left. Stood there, holding a hand out towards him in warning, was a very attractive girl. She had long black hair, a pink kimono, and big brown eyes that were currently narrowed at him very angrily.
"Uh." Naruto said, eloquently.
The girl seemed to relax slightly. "Sorry. But my master's really hurt, and I need these to help him." She walked up and in front of him, and started picking some of the pieces of grass that, to Naruto, looked a lot like the rest of the grass. With nothing better to do, Naruto knelt down beside her. "Your master, huh? Sounds like you care a lot about him."
"I do." She replied, with certainty. "He's my world."
"That's...pretty big." Naruto acknowledged.
She looked across at him. "You don't have anyone like that?"
He shrugged. "I have loads of people I care about. You know when you look at someone you've been around for a while and you're like 'yep, I would definitely fight to keep you safe'."
The girl giggled. "I know the feeling, yes."
"Well, I've got lots of people like that. My teammates for one, my sensei for another. I don't think I could say one is more important than the others, though."
The girl blinked. "But what happens if you have to choose one over another? Only one person can be the most important. There's only one king on a shogi board."
Naruto tilted his head at her. "That's...not how it works, though."
"It isn't?"
"No. Your master...do you just, how do I put this, just care about him more than everyone else?"
"What?"
"Like if you cared about enough people a little, it could add up to one of him?"
"No." The girl replied, sounding almost offended. "You can't put a number on how much I care about him. Numbers don't describe it properly."
"Exactly!" Naruto snapped his fingers. "That's what it's like for me. You can't put a number on the people I'll protect, so you can't compare them to each other. They're all just...there. At the top."
The girl was looking at him almost in awe. "How do you do it? How...how do you have so much to give?"
Naruto shrugged. "I didn't used to have anyone. But recently I've found out that really, the more you give, the more you have." The mood was somber for a moment, before his eyes brightened. "Look, I'll show you. What's your name?"
"Haku." The girl replied.
"Well, Haku." Said Naruto, extending a hand. "Hi! I'm Naruto. Would you like to be my friend?"
"Yes, Naruto." Haku replied, taking the hand and smiling. "I'd like that very much."
When Naruto came back, talking about a nice girl he'd made friends with in the woods, Hinata's expression grew very dark very quickly, and she didn't say a word the whole evening.
The next day, Hinata asked to be allowed to train on her own in the forest, as she had mastered the shadow clone jutsu as much as her chakra reserves would allow. Kakashi acquiesced, which was what led to her sprinting through the treetops with her Byakugan activated. It took her over an hour of searching to find her objective, at which point she shed momentum and altitude. When she came upon the target, she was walking along the grassy floor.
"Hi!" She called out, in a very cheery voice. "Haku, right?"
Her target blinked, looking up at her. "Um, yes. Oh, you must be one of Naruto's friends, right?"
Hinata nodded, smiling. "Yes! He talked about you all yesterday evening, I just had to come meet you."
"Really?" Said Haku. Hinata's Byakugan picked out the blush that formed. "I...didn't know I had such an effect on him."
"Oh, you had quite the effect alright." Hinata replied. Her voice dropped a few tones. "I daresay he hasn't the foggiest who you really are."
Haku's head tilted.
"I'm curious." Hinata asked, shifting her weight slightly and letting her Byakugan roam all over her target. "A self proclaimed apothecary assistant might have need of a pouch filled to the brim with senbon needles. But I'm not sure why one would need such an advanced chakra system." Her eyes narrowed. "Or have a face identical to the one a missing-nin wore behind their mask three days ago."
Haku giggled nervously. "I'm sure I don't know what-"
The senbon were out of her pocket and flying before Hinata could react. Five of them punctured her flesh in various nerve clusters across her body. She gasped-
And exploded into smoke.
Haku's eyes widened as the real Hinata jumped out of the nearby forest, a gentle fist aimed straight at her opponents forehead. The missing-nin was barely able to move out of the way, jumping off through the clearing and hurling another handful of senbon. Hinata tracked them with her Byakugan and batted them from the air easily, giving chase. Haku grimaced, hands forming seals in front of her. "Air cutter jutsu!"
Hinata saw the sharpened wind coming towards her, and judged that getting behind a tree wouldn't save her, so she threw herself sideways. She felt the air slice off a lock of her hair. She rolled and got back to her feet, but Haku was fast; the missing-nin was already reaching the edge of Hinata's Byakugan range and she doubted she'd be able to catch up, even if she turned off the training seal. Grinding her teeth, she watched her target escape.
"We have a problem." Hinata remarked, walking back into the clearing with the rest of her team. "Haku is the ninja in the mask, Zabuzza's compatriot. That means they're definitely still here, and they're definitely coming back to finish their job."
"Oh. Fuck." Sasuke remarked.
"Oh, and Naruto?" Hinata turned to the blond with a victorious smile. "Did you know that the Byakugan can see through clothes? I just thought I'd warn you. Haku is a boy."
The trees rustled in the distance.
"...WHAT?"
Poor poor Naruto, getting attracted to best boy Haku. All of our characters continue to be psychologically broken, and we train for the inevitable bridge fight.
I included a guide to shadow clones because there's a lot of misconceptions about how they work, which the anime doesn't help much (No just summon over a thousand in the war arc and have each one be kage level thats fine-) So I tried to explain them in a way that works and makes sense. If I'm wrong, shit, cos that's how I'm using them and I'm not changing it. See you all next week!
