Wiliam snarls as he slams a fist into the ground. The introductions went fine. Sam likes hashbrowns, a strange western food, dislikes chakra control exercise, and he thinks his biggest weakness is patience. Jake was a strange one. William has hung out with the boy enough to know him well. Jake likes learning about anatomy and dislikes kunai in general. He believes his weakness is range. William is a fan of insects and despises noise. His weakness is close combat. Hence his current rage. Each of them have been working on their weaknesses. William is training with his martial arts. Jake is using kunai to try and hit yugao. Sam is currently fighting ibiki in a match of shogi, japanese chess, and getting his ass kicked from his rush ahead mentality.
William growls under his breath and snatches up his notebook. Bees angrily announce their presence in response to their host's anger. The large man breathes deep. In, out, in, out, in. out. William sighs as he releases his anger in that breath. Covered eyes gleam behind shades of glass as William reads his notes. His latest test failed due to lack of power. He has the ratios right and can achieve an acceleration of ten times his normal maximum. That is fine for now but if he wants to get better then he needs more speed. The fighting style revolves around rushing hits. Hit and run tactics in the most literal sense. You hit the opponent with all your momentum before rebounding and retreating with blinding speeds.
William peruses his notes. So he has the ratios correct and he has the methods right. Power seems to be the issue but that won't be fixed for a while. You can have all the control in the world and still fall short of a juggernaut. Raw chakra capacity has its uses after all. William muses to himself the benefits of chakra coil exercises. Workouts that cause your coils to expand and thus allow you to generate more chakra. A shake of the head chases away that though. No. he muses to himself. More chakra would make everything more difficult. Stick to what you have and add more when you master it. William nods at the words he recits. The mantra is a favorite of his father and the man is scary in combat.
A frustrated cry rips the air and ibiki jumps back as a blob of molten stone consumes the shogi board. The fourth one today. The bald man scowls and stalks forward before his hand thunders into the back of his student's head. Sam yelps and rubs the newly formed knot on his skull.
"Stop melting my boards! They aren't cheap!" ibiki snaps.
"Stop taking so long! This game is boring enough without you taking a fucking year to make a move! Gah! Fuck you!" Sam exclaims before roaring the last words at the board. More lava is piled onto the already molten heap.
Training is paused as Jake and yugao both snicker at the misfortune of their teacher. Ibiki is quite fond of shogi. He even brought his own board from home. Sam melted that after an hour of getting bored and frustrated from a lack of progress against the older man. In retaliation to the destruction of his favorite board game. Sam was forced to dodge a seemingly endless barrage of kunai for an hour straight before he was sent to retrieve the small knives. With chakra sealing tags on. Took him three more hours to find most of them and another three to get the ones lodged in trees. The snickers continue before there is a buzz of bees and a mass of insects float over. They deposit a board on the ground and then a second mass floats over. The insects set multiple stones on the board and the stones each have a symbol painted on them to show what piece they are. The team looks over to see William with a saw, paint, brushes, and an ax sitting next to him.
"What?" William grunts.
"Why do you have that stuff?" ibiki asks curiously.
"I dabble in puppetry. I make my own puppets so i need the tools" is the reply.
"Puppetry like in suna?!" yugao exclaims.
"No. mostly just for kids. Each aburame is encouraged to find a hobby early on. That way we have something that soothes us and helps us to relax after a mission. I like puppets." William explains.
"Puppets? What's so special about the suna ones? Arent puppets just dolls controlled by string?" Sam asks. Jake adds his agreement to the statement.
"No. puppets are used by the ninja in suna to fight. These puppets are designed for war. Hidden blades, compartments full of poison gas, detachable limbs that can explode or turn into a weapon for another ninja. Suna ninja have learned how to weaponize their puppetry and make it into a fighting style. Some ninja are rumored to be able to take on entire teams alone with just their puppetry. They use chakra to connect to the puppet and control it. Chakra strings are a suna secret and many others would kill for the…." Yugao explains before trailing off.
William has a foot tall wooden man painted to look like a samurai smacking her leg with a pencil sized blade. The hits don't hurt, just annoy her, the thing that shocks her are the glowing strings coming from the fingers of the man controlling the marionette. The small puppet bows to her after it sheathes its blade and returns to william before he places it on a scroll and the doll vanishes.
"How?" yugao breathes.
"I sell my honey to a variety of people. A suna nin came by last year and he didn't have any money from restocking on supplies. Our kunai are better than suna brand ones. He offered a trade. A jar of honey for a low level technique. When I told him I wanted the strings he was confused but seemed oddly happy after I showed him my puppet." William explains.
"Why didn't you tell the hokage about this? Learning how to counter the chakra strings would have aided us in a recent skirmish against suna." ibiki demands.
"I've used my puppetry mostly at home or at children's parties for some money. Nobody asked about the technique so I never told people about it." William replies.
Ibki sighs and grumbles under his breath about aburame logic before he flares his chakra. An anbu appears. The cloak and mask hide their identity but the mask is painted to look like a tiger.
"Tiger. This young man has been taught the chakra strings of suna. Please take him to the hokage so the method can be taught and counters developed." ibiki explains to the masked man.
The anbu nods and walks over to william before grabbing his shoulder and both vanish in a swirl of leaves. The pair arrive in the hokage's office and interrupt a meeting between the hokage and danzo. The hokage is a short old man with deeply tanned skin and liver spots on a few areas of his flesh. His short goatee is made into a point that comes off his chin and he has a pipe hanging from his lips with smoke flowing from his nostrils.
"Tiger? Why did you bring William here? I wouldn't be a good leader if I didn't know my subordinates." the hokage asks before explaining after spotting the raised left brow of william. Aburame for confusion.
"I apologize lord third. Ibiki says that this young man has learned suna chakra strings." the anbu agent reports before vanishing.
"How did you learn suna chakra strings?" danzo speaks up.
William explains to them what he said to his teacher. The pair request a demonstration and William puts on a small show. A pair of foot tall samurai duel on the hokage's desk and both are amazed at the efficiency of the strings. Each movement is smooth and graceful. Normal strings or the chakra strings developed in konoha tend to cause clunky movements. Chakra strings are made by sending a thin beam of chakra from your finger. By connecting this to a puppet you can use them to control the doll.
"Why do you put on puppet shows? Come on, dark knight." danzo asks before cheering on the doll painted in red and black.
"I have noticed a similarity between puppetry and the control of my insects. It's soothing. The act of putting all of my focus on controlling a single thing. All of my techniques are focused around using a swarm. The idea of this much effort for just two things under my control. It's nice." William explains as his puppets continue the duel. The dark puppet is using a more aggressive style than the graceful spinning of the blue and yellow puppet.
"How are they different from the strings we have? Watch that back foot!" the hokage asks before exclaiming his warning to the light puppet. The dark puppet lashes out with a small wooden foot and the light puppet clatters to the ground.
"Our strings rely on brute force and lack the finesse needed for this level of control. The suna strings focus on a higher level of control. By sending out a thicker chakra string then condensing it by spinning it, the direction doesn't matter, you gain a higher degree of control and a larger this method." william absently states. His focus on the puppets.
The light puppet rolls to the side and grabs a pen from the desk, its sword a foot away after losing its grip from the fall. The pen is larger than their swords so the puppet uses it like a staff. Both puppets engage in a fierce fight before the light puppet holds the pen like a sword and whacks the other puppet in the head. The dark puppet sways on its feet and the light one drops the pen before rushing for its sword. The dark puppet has just stedied itself when it falls to the ground after there is a clack from the sword of its lighter counterpart smacking it in the chest. The puppets then stand and face the old men. They bow before walking back to their master.
"Very good. William. Would you be willing to put on performances as a mission? Now that you're a genin you can charge for your services. At least at a higher rate." the hokage offers.
William declines. He likes making the kids happy. He doesn't need the money from puppet shows. He gets enough from his honey sales. The hokage laughs and nods before he dismisses the boy.
"Oh. william?" the hokage calls to the departing boy.
"Yes. lord third." William replies.
"The light puppet could have done better with the staff. The power comes from the spin, not the size." the hokage informs him with a warm smile.
William nods and leaves.