Notes: How can you guys even read this? It's so short. I did not expect so many reviews for this thing. Nevertheless, thanks! You guys are awesome~!
III.
"What are you doing?" He demands, curiosity overcoming his pride. "And how are you doing it?" He adds, after a beat.
It's been well over an hour since they'd met up, and even Sasuke's patience is wearing thin. For the past week, Team 7 had been meeting around five in the morning at the same training grounds, and they'd fallen into an annoying pattern. Although Kakashi-sensei had proven he actually is a capable shinobi during their survival test (despite all evidence to the contrary), his apparent routine tardiness is completely unacceptable. Sasuke needs to become stronger, but instead he's stuck wasting over a quarter of the day waiting around only for the man to appear and smugly force them to do those godforsaken D-ranks.
His question had been prompted because the pattern had been broken today. Usually, Sasuke will be the first to arrive, right on time, and he'll spend the majority of that time in silence. Byakuran will stroll into the clearing shortly afterwards, nod a greeting to the Uchiha, and then settle down in the grass with a scroll or book. And then, at some point, Naruto will run into view with a sheepish grin and an apology before he promptly flops to the ground and either starts a conversation with Byakuran or dozes off.
Today, however, the white-haired boy was not only tardy, but rather than gravitate toward the center, he moved straight toward a particularly tall tree and began walking up the bark. Sasuke has seen older shinobi do much the same with buildings, but he'd never thought to learn it himself. The ease with which Byakuran had performed the jutsu - no hesitation whatsoever - leads him to believe that the other boy had done it before and was only - practicing?
"I'm trying to increase my chakra reserves," He replies, with visible annoyance, as he reaches the top of the tree and turns around and walks back down it again. Sparing the Uchiha a glance, he goes on, "I'm just focusing chakra to the bottom of my feet and using it to stick to the tree."
Frowning, Sasuke says, "That wasn't taught to us at the Academy." Because it definitely wasn't. He'd remember something like that, surely.
"That is correct." At his scowl, Byakuran grins unrepentantly, but he divulges, "I'm teaching myself medical ninjutsu, which is extremely difficult, by the way; this is nothing compared to that. Anyway, supposedly, if one learns this technique, one should be able to use any jutsu - mainly because the feet are the hardest places to focus chakra." Here, he shrugs. "Well, that's what they say. It's ridiculously easy for me to do since I have perfect chakra control, but I digress."
Sasuke resists the urge to roll his eyes. "So you're using the jutsu to increase your reserves instead."
"Yup."
He stands there, debating with himself for a moment, but he finally asks, "Would you teach it to me?"
"I'm surprised you don't already know it, Sasuke-kun," Byakuran points out, expression at odds with his words. "But, yeah, sure, I'll help you." At this, he jumps down and lands lightly on the ground.
As he does so, Sasuke thinks he hears, "S'not like that lazy bastard's going to do it" but he dismisses it almost immediately and instead focuses on mastering the Tree Walking technique - especially when the Idiot eventually shows up and declares he'll do so first. Ha! As if.
End Notes: Theoretically, doing chakra exercises over and over again should increase one's reserves, right? If not, then I'm claiming AU, suckers! and going about my business.