Note: This one gave me a fair bit of trouble, for some reason. I wanted to cut it off earlier, but I didn't want to keep putting off explanations... Plus, we only have 12 more chapters to go. I'm going to need to start packing in more plot. :B
13
If the fledgling falls
It becomes the meal of snakes
Where it might have flown
"So what kind of quick-acting jutsu do you want to learn?"
"The best, hardest one you know. Preferably the family one," she replied, blowing warm air into her cold hands. She'd left her thick gloves indoors, since most jutsu required seal weaving.
Her father laughed, "That's my girl. Alrighty then." He rubbed his own hands together.
"So have you learned about chakra type? They should've given you those chakra papers last year, right?"
"Yeah, I'm lighting-natured," she said proudly, grinning and nodding.
He nodded. "Good. Runs in the family. So, how good are you?"
"Not half bad," she said modestly, "I can even do most of the basic lightning type jutsu they taught us at school... You know, Blinding Flash, Static Stick, that kind of thing." The same couldn't be said for the rest of her undergrad classmates.
But her father frowned, "I see. I guess shinobi education isn't taken quite as seriously as it used to be."
She deflated a little, shoulders slumping unconsciously, "Huh?"
He shook his head, waving his hand, "It doesn't matter. Just means that we have to start simpler…"
"NO. Teach me the Shadow Strike Dad! Or I'll tell Mum about the cookies and the…"
Her father's eyes widened comically and he held his finger up to his lips, shushing her loudly. She giggled at his panicked expression.
"Fine! You drive a hard bargain, missy. I should warn you, though, this jutsu is going to take a lot of training for you to master."
Inazuma planted her boots firmly into the frosty ground and put her hands on her hips, tipping her chin up defiantly. Nothing was coming between her and complete mastery of a powerful jutsu.
"Bring it."
He chuckled at her confident stance.
"Shadow Strike is actually quite simple in theory, but difficult to master because it requires a great deal of focus and chakra control. Basically, you build up a large ball of lightning-natured chakra between your hands, and compress it until it's just looks like a point of light. If you add the hand signs in correctly before you start, the chakra will be nearly impossible to see, despite its intensity, hence the name. You can stun your enemies from the shadows without them ever knowing what hit them."
"So... do you just let it go to strike with it?"
"Basically. But if you handle it wrong, it's easy to end up shocking yourself."
She bounced a little on the balls of her feet, looking thoughtful, "Okay, so how long does it take to build up the chakra?"
"That depends on how practiced you are. And the amount of chakra you can put into it also depends on your mastery of the jutsu. I suggest that you start with building up a ball between your palms, but once you're practiced enough, you can summon a Strike in just one hand, or between two fingers."
He held up his right hand, and a flickering dot of light instantly lit up between his middle and pointer finger.
"What about the hand signs?"
"Bird-Dragon-Boar-Snake-Rat. Don't bother using them when you first practice though, or it'll just get too complicated. Now shoo, I need to steal some more cookies from the kitchen."