A/N: I'm gonna take a note from BP when I say: I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't updated since APRIL but I forgot that, guess what, time fucking passes. So before I knew it, it was May and I hadn't updated this since fucking April 18th. So to give you all repentance, this is chapter 6 of Absent Serpent.
"It's so hot out here." The trio of fledging mentees were eating lunch after their astounding failure during Aika's practice. Needless to say, they weren't in the mood for complaining.
"Stop complaining, we've got bigger issues to work out." Arine especially wasn't too happy. Denji glared at her.
"I got a nasty cut on my side, I've every right to complain." Denji was cut by Arine's newfound trident on accident. They bandaged him up before eating. His side still hurt quite a bit.
"Let's not focus on our failures and let's focus on what we'll soon accomplish, alright?" Yukio's head hurt, he didn't want to deal with an argument at the moment. He had removed his jacket to show the braces on his forearms that held the oversized needles.
"That's the spirit kid." All three looked up to see Aika, who had a ghost of a smile on her face. "I know I was harsh back there but I have to be, okay?" The group nodded sullenly. "Good. Once you're finished lunch, we'll get to some minor chakra control so you can learn to perform jutsu."
"Excellent. We look forward to it." Aika walked back into the cabin to get some things while the trio let out a collective sigh.
"This is harder than I thought." Denji commented. Yukio and Arine looked at him like he was stupid. He looked up, noticing the silence. "I meant this bread roll." He held of the guilty pastry and showed that it was, in fact, hard and stale. Arine quickly went back to eating while Yukio set his dish down. He leaned back and looked up at the clear sky. It was too hot here, Denji was right. However, he wasn't going to complain. He'd been through worse. He hoped he wouldn't soften. He needed to be strong so he could find…
"Alright everyone, you finished?" The trio looked up at Aika, who hadn't even broken a sweat despite the heat.
"I am." Yukio glanced at his friends, who both nodded. Aika let out a breath and gave them their orders.
"Good, go inside and put your things where they need to be put. Then come out here, in appropriate attire." She glared and Denji, who had donned his jacket over his exposed torso which had the bandage from his gash.
"What? I don't want to get sunburnt." Yukio and Arine glared at him again. Denji seriously looked like he didn't know what the issue was. Aika sighed.
"You know what, forget it. Just get ready for the next lesson." She walked off to go prepare what she needed to prepare. The trio got up and stretched before going inside the cool cabin and putting their things away. After they put everything away, they sat down for a minute to get cooled off.
"This is going to take a long time." Arine observed. The two boys nodded their agreement. Yukio felt like he could sleep for days. However, their training had only just begun. The trio heard footsteps and stood as Aika came down from the attic. They stood as Aika entered the room carrying some scrolls.
"You sure seem ready for the lesson." She commented dryly as they all made their way outside. Aika set the scrolls down in the grass and had her students stand in front of her. "Here's how this will go. I'll teach you basic chakra control and when you get that, we'll go into teaching you three how to use jutsu, that sound fair?" All three nodded. Aika then cracked the knuckles on each hand before continuing. "Alright, for basic chakra control, you just need to focus. Focus the chakra and make it do what you want it to do. It may take a bit, but soon it'll come naturally."
"How long is a bit?" Denji was the asker.
"That depends on you. If you actually try and give a damn, then it should come quickly. If you slack, then it will take longer." Aika addressed the trio again. "Alright let's start by making this hand sign." She put her hands together and made the ram sign. The trio followed her example and put their hands together. "Now close your eyes and try to focus your chakra into your hands. You should feel a rush of energy. That's normal for the first time. After that, you shouldn't feel it much." The children closed their eyes and concentrated.
"Whoa, that's new." Denji was the first to react, surprising the group. Aika raised an eye brow as Arine jumped a bit.
"That is new. I've never felt anything like it." Aika moved her gaze to Yukio who just achieved what the others had.
"Interesting sensation." Was his only comment. Aika felt a bit of relief. At least they were able to control it a bit. Now for some real lessons.
"Alright, now we're going to try and use that chakra to perform some minor jutsu." Aika strolled over and grabbed a scroll that held some basics. She herself didn't need it but would let the children study it for personal gain. She gave it to Yukio and stepped back. "First I'm going to show you the transformation jutsu. Very simple, easy to master."
Putting together three quick hand signs, Aika was engulfed in a puff of smoke before it disappeared to reveal her as someone else completely: A tall man with grey hair oddly pointing up and left. His head guard was over his left eye and he had a mask over the lower half of his face. Other than that, he wore the basic leaf ninja attire. Nothing was out of place it seemed. The children gaped in awe.
"Incredible." Yukio walked up and examined Aika's new form. "You're a whole new person. Can you speak like them?" Aika shook her head.
"That's part of the trick with transformations. If you're going to transform to infiltrate, you should find someone who you can match voice wise. If you can't, then you're SOL." It was odd to hear Aika's feminine voice coming from this man's covered mouth. However, the issue was resolved when Aika returned to her normal state.
"So basically, we shouldn't transform into someone specific unless we can imitate their voice, right?" Aika nodded at Arine's question.
"Being a shinobi is a business built on precision. Thankfully, I'm going to teach you to be precise." Yukio went back to his friends and Aika taught them the hand signs for the transformation. "It's best to try and imitate someone you know first. So maybe myself or one of you would be a good start." Aika stood back as the trio tried out the technique. Denji was the first to create a puff of smoke and when it cleared, it showed….
"What do you think?" What Denji was talking about was his rendition of Aika. He managed to get her appearance right… body wise. Clothing wise, there wasn't much there. Yukio turned his head, his face starting to become crimson. Arine burst out in laughter, barely able to sputter her reason.
"Boy, you're going to get it." Arine actually fell on the ground, she was laughing so hard. Denji dispersed his transformation and turned to see Aika in front of him, blade at his neck.
"If you ever pull shit like that again, I will personally end you." Denji's eyes were like dinner plates. Yukio turned and saw him in his predicament. He started laughing with Arine. Denji saw this and suddenly turned on his friends, despite Aika being at his throat.
"Oh yeah, like you guys won't make a mistake!" Yukio managed to catch his breath for a minute.
"Denji, that was far from a mistake, and we all know it—hehehehhahhaha." Yukio started laughing again as Denji gritted his teeth. Yukio finally calmed down, as did Arine. With a promise from Denji never to do that again, Aika watched the students transform. Yukio changed into Denji quite accurately, except Denji's left arm was longer than his right and his eyes were mismatched. Arine became Yukio, except his hair had streaks of black and his chin was larger than it should have been. Denji, despite showing accuracy when becoming Aika, became Yukio as well. His mistake was making Yukio have only four fingers on one hand and blonde hair.
"Alright, that's actually not bad." Aika commented when the trio had returned to normal. "The key is practice. When you can control your chakra better, you can become anyone. Eventually, you'll be able to become someone you created. This allows freedom, especially when infiltrating a city where you can simply impersonate a pedestrian."
"Would it make sense to have a dedicated appearance to change to when in a pinch?" Yukio's question was good.
"That depends. If you can keep that appearance a secret from pursuing enemies, yes. However, it makes more sense to make more as you go along. And even slight changes can go a long way. Say your preferred alternate appearance has long brown hair with slight a slight moustache. Simply making the hair long and blonde and giving him a goatee or even a beard can throw people off the trail. However, that's merely visuals. If the enemy uses ninja hounds, then you've got to deal with your scent." Denji lifted an arm and sniffed his arm pit.
"Yeah, that's going to be an issue." Aika rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, when that happens, you've got to find a way to either alter your scent entirely, or nullify the hounds sense of smell. However, if you're being pursued by the Hidden Leaf, then you have to deal with the Inuzuka clan."
"Inuzuka clan?" The trio asked in unison.
"The Inuzuka clan is prominent in the Hidden Leaf for their connection with ninja hounds. They have several techniques to increase their senses to that of a dog's, or even to alter their appearance to have canine characteristics. They make good use of ninja hounds, and they themselves are almost human versions of the animals." Yukio started scratching his chin.
"So that means we'd have to either eliminate the humans chasing us, or try to nullify their sense of smell also." Aika nodded.
"And the best way to go about that is to cut off their chakra. However, that's tough without medical ninjutsu or another ability we'll talk about later." Aika popped her neck loudly before continuing. "For now, though, let's just practice a bit more so you can get the hang of it." The trio got to work quickly, making hand signs and becoming each other. It took a while but, eventually, Arine made a perfect Denji, Denji made a perfect Yukio, and Yukio made a perfect Arine. She asked them to become the team member they neglected and did that with little trouble. She was surprised.
"Alright, so what now?" Aika put her chin in her hand. Yukio noted that the sun was starting to dip, and he was really tired.
"Could we take a break, possibly eat dinner? It's starting to get late-ish." Aika turned and noticed the sun.
"Well what do you know." She turned to the group. "Alright, go get something to eat and we'll conclude today with a minor cloning technique." The trio walked off to the cabin and acquired several protein bars, which they consumed quickly out of sheer hunger. Yukio didn't expect this to take so much out of him. And yet, here he was, eating protein bars as sustenance. He was actually enjoying it. He was doing something. He wasn't sitting in a gross cell, he was out in nature, free.
"I never thought we'd be here." Arine and Denji stopped crunching on bars and looked at him.
"What do you mean by that?" Arine asked after swallowing her portion. Yukio scratched his face.
"I mean out here. Free. Being taught to defend ourselves and fight. It's all so…. Surreal." Denji shrugged.
"Kind of a dream come true, if you ask me." Yukio smiled at his friend.
"It is, in a sense. However, that's one dream of many we'll be able to accomplish. Eventually, we'll be able to pay back Orochimaru for what he's done." The trio smiled at the thought when Aika came in.
"As much as I admire your goals, don't think that you'll be able to beat him with transformations alone. This will take time, you realize." The trio nodded their acknowledgement. "Okay, get outside and we'll try some cloning. Sound fair?" All three children finished their bars and nodded before standing and stretching a bit.
"Are we going to learn any actual fighting tomorrow?" Denji queried.
"We'll do a mix. We'll try and perfect the cloning a bit, then some taijutsu, then some more cloning/transforming."
"When do you think we'll be able to learn more elemental ninjutsu?" Arine was the asker.
"That all depends. If you can master some basics, and control your chakra better, then we'll start getting into it. Thankfully I know at least one jutsu of each type you guys have so it should be easy to get started." The group reached outside, where the sky was turning purple in the sunset. Aika turned to her students. "However, once you get started, I plan to let you do more individual and group learning. As in teaching yourselves.
"But for now, let's focus on cloning. There are two types of cloning: illusionary and shadow. Illusionary cloning is creating a copy of yourself that is intangible. It can't be hurt, nor can it hurt someone. They're better used for distractions. Shadow clones are much better. They're solid so they can deal some damage. Unfortunately, they can only take a single hit before dissipating, though a trained shinobi can build up the resistance of his shadow clones to take more than one hit. But that takes a long time. For now, we'll deal with illusionary clones."
Aika made a couple hand signs and a puff of smoke appeared beside her. It looked just like her. However, when Aika waved her hand at it, it went right through.
"Theoretically, an illusionary clone would be ideal for reconnaissance. However, they're almost useless unless used as a distraction. Shadow clones, however, can give the creator the memories they experience when they disappear. For example, if Arine and I were to send shadow clones into the woods to play a game of rock, paper, scissors, then we dispersed them, we'd see how the game turned out without even really being there. Make sense?"
"Yeah, can we learn how to make them now?" Aika sighed at Denji's impatience. However, she showed them the hand signs and soon the trio was creating clones. And Aika used the word clone by its loosest definition. The clones were misshapen in an almost comical way.
"Try and focus on what you look like. Then put that focus into what you want you chakra to do. Then make a clone." Arine closed her eyes tight and was almost shaking when she made a better clone. It wasn't perfect by any means, it looked horridly thin and had little hair. But it was progress nonetheless. As the children practiced more, they got better. Aika noted that she'd have to get them to look in a mirror for a bit. Other than that, they seemed to have a decent enough handle on it. They just needed better chakra control and focus. They were young, their minds all over the place. However, the needed to grow up a bit more if they wanted to succeeded. That's when Aika turned and saw the almost set sun.
"Okay, I think we've done enough for today." She turned back to the group to see them look exhausted. They were using too much chakra, but that would have to be resolved later. "Let's get inside so you can drink something and get some rest, you'll need it." The trio moved into the cabin without complaint and drank a lot of water. Once that was finished, they headed upstairs for sleep. The new question was what to sleep in.
"We didn't get pajamas." Arine noted. Yukio grunted and flopped on his sleeping mat. Denji followed his example.
"Doesn't matter now. We should…" Yukio noticed Denji had stripped down to his boxers. "The hell're you doing?"
"I don't know about you two, but I'd rather sleep cooly in my skivvies than hot and decently dressed."
"You know what Denji, that's the smartest thing you've said all damned day." Yukio removed his arm braces and spear sheaths and stripped down himself. He lay back, sighing in relief at the heat flooding from him. Only Arine was hesitant, and for good reason. However, she compromised with the two boys that if they looked away until she told them it was alright, she'd do the same. So they turned to face the wall while Arine stripped down to her undergarments and slipped under her covers. She gave them a good night and fell asleep. Yukio and Denji took the opportunity to talk a bit.
"So what do you think, will this work out?" Yukio thought for a moment.
"Only if we're dedicated enough. Remember, she's teaching us how to defend ourselves so we can go out and start attacking Orochimaru. That may take a while, years even. So I'd suggest getting comfortable." Denji nodded and yawned loudly.
"Alright buddy. However, I'm tired as hell so I'm going to hit the sack. Night." And with that, Denji ever so graciously flopped down and fell asleep. Yukio yawned himself and realized that he was also quite tired. His body had a dull ache all over and he felt as if his spirit was drained. But he was too tired to care. He lay down and fell asleep with his friends, ending their first day as trainees.
A/N: Holy HELL that took a while. However, I think this turned out decently. I know it's not "SUPER ACTION PACKED WESOME FIGHTING ADVENTURES" but it's going slowly. I'll try and increase the pace a bit perhaps. Other than that, if you want a faster story, check out the first chapter of my other story "The Brothers Greymon" if you're a Digimon fan as well. The second chapter is being written and while they'll take longer to write as they will BE longer, the pacing will go by faster with a battle each chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review as that lets me know you ENOJYED IT.