The rest of the school year passed quickly. That was most likely because I kept so busy. Every moment I wasn't at the Academy I was training. Either Misaki and I would get together to train or Shikaku or Aika would pull me aside for one-on-one training.
Once my chakra control was 'acceptable', Aika mainly taught me medical techniques and poisoncraft. As a former med-nin, she'd had to get very familiar with the most common poisons so she could treat them. She helped me cultivate a garden spanning almost the entire yard filled with everything from lethal poisons to sedatives that would knock the target unconscious. We also split up a section of the yard for tea leaves. Aika encouraged me to keep at it so I had something that wasn't ninja related to focus on.
I hadn't intended to become so knowledgeable about poisons when I first showed an interest in them, but the added versatility to my repertoire could only help me, especially with how good I was with throwing weapons now. My accuracy had improved to the point where I would only miss if my target did something to block or dodge my throw. The poisons made my shadow and chakra string throwing a much more viable method of combat.
Aika also supervised me and closely monitored my physical condition as I slowly built up an immunity to the poisons I intended to use in the field. She was meticulous in her care, measuring out precise doses and watching me like a hawk for hours at a time after I took the miniscule doses of watered down poison. Some of the poisons I would be using could kill with a single drop, so she'd had to drastically dilute the solution to make it safe for me to imbibe. I don't have fond memories of my experiences during that time. There was a lot of vomiting and… Well, best to spare the details.
When I wasn't in the garden with Aika, she tended to take me to the hospital. She'd taught me the Mystic Palm Technique after a month of working in the hospital with the med nin when she saw I was serious about learning how to heal people. I practiced with a frog until the poor creatures stopped exploding, then steadily progressed to the point where I could work on patients. I wasn't as good a medic as Aika was, but she had shown me a lot, and I was confident I could serve as a team medic if there was no one else available.
My training with Shikaku was far more intensive than it was with Aika. He pushed me hard, schooling me in Nara taijutsu and techniques and moving at a pace so fast we could outrun trains. His main focus was getting my ninjutsu to a passable level, but he recognized my abundant talent for everything Yin related and played into it. With his input and guidance, I was able to create two new techniques using shadows.
The first was a blatant copy of other techniques, just flavored with shadows. I called it the 'Hiding in Shadows Technique'. It did exactly what the name makes you think of, let the user meld into shadows to hide themselves. The inspiration came from the Hiding in Water Technique, something I'd initially wanted to learn before Shikaku told me Konoha was limited in the vein of water jutsu it had at its disposal. Most water jutsu he could get his hands on were too advanced for me to learn quickly, so I focused on the few I could master fast.
The second shadow jutsu I made was called 'Transport Via Shadows'. I ripped the name from D&D, and the mechanics from the substitution technique. Transport Via Shadows' range was nowhere near that of D&D's Transport Via Plants, but it was more versatile than the Substitution technique. You needed something of equivalent mass in range to substitute with when using the Substitution technique. Transport Via Shadows only required a shadow to be in your range. You infused your chakra and swapped places with the shadows for a brief moment. The second your chakra left the shadows, they scattered in the light and reconstituted themselves beneath you. The technique wasn't as fast as the Shunshin Shikaku taught me, but he was impressed with it nonetheless.
Shikaku took both shadow jutsu as well as False Barrage and added them to the Nara Library which I took as a compliment. Sure, he might have just been storing them so someone could improve on them later, but I liked to think they were good enough that he wanted future generations of Nara to be able to use them.
Despite Shikaku's personal tutelage, I was only able to learn two elemental ninjutsu, one of each of Suiton and Futon, each one taking me months to learn – Fire Dragon Bullet and the most rudimentary Water Clone jutsu. Once I had the jutsu down I could cast it without issue, but learning fire and water jutsu was just extremely difficult for me for some reason. What wasn't difficult, was the techniques I made from water and fire.
For whatever reason, combining water and fire was far easier for me than just using one or the other. I was able to combine the two elements into two different techniques. The first one I called 'Grease Fire'. I used the oil my chakra created to produce fire to spit out a glob of flaming oil and compressed a layer of water down around it to smother the glob completely and condense around it, causing a dramatic explosion at my target location. There weren't any projectiles launched by the explosion, but it was very good at setting fire to everything in the explosive radius.
The second technique I called 'Scalding Mist'. It took longer to use because I had to prepare for it, but I could cover a wider area with it. I gathered my chakra and stoked it, making it hotter and hotter. Then I spewed out water that I had cooked with my fire, creating a cone of super-heated mist in a cone in front of me as the expanded vapor rushed to equalize its pressure with the surroundings. The mist was hot enough to cause the wood in the trunks of trees to combust on contact. The mist was hot. I hadn't used it on a person yet, but I was skeptical someone would be able to survive it without using a technique of their own. My extremely deadly poison-tipped kunai aside, Scalding Mist was my most deadly technique.
Both techniques used a large amount of chakra, I could only cast Grease Fire four times and Scalding Mist once before I risked chakra exhaustion, but they were also very strong and I was working on making their casting more chakra efficient to let myself cast them more often. My main weapon in combat would be my shadows due to their low chakra cost, my control was so good that I only had to use a minute amount of chakra to maintain and control my shadows, but I would use them if I had an opening to end a fight quickly and didn't need to worry about friendly fire. Another advantage my shadows had that my Boil release didn't was its precision. Both of the Boil release techniques I'd developed affected a wide area.
And it was Boil release that I was using, at least according to Shikaku. I'd tried to explain the science behind what I was doing and argue that anyone who trained enough could copy my techniques and he'd looked at me like I was stupid. He knew why Grease Fire worked – grease fires were common in cooking here in Konoha – but he insisted that the only way I could have been born with two strong nature affinities was if I had a kekkei genkai. He was the expert, and arguing didn't serve any purpose, so I let it go and accepted his reasoning.
"Misaki Hyuga, Shinto Nara, Kenji Aoki. You are on team four under Jonin Hiroshi Hayashi." Suzuki-sensei announced. Both Misaki and I were graduating a whole two years earlier than most students did. The typical graduation age was twelve, with exceptional students graduating as soon as they were ready.
At first, I'd wanted to avoid graduating early, but now I was happy with it. It meant I would have access to better training and be able to gain some experience under a jonin's supervision. That would be vital for my survival moving forward.
Misaki's smile was glowing as she knocked her shoulder into mine from where she sat at my side. Neither of us were sure they would put us on the same team since we were graduating early, but it seemed like we needn't have worried. We'd worked together a lot and already had plans on how to fight together, so being put on the same team was good for both of us.
One of the jonin standing at the front of the room, a tall man in sunglasses with long brown hair done up in a ponytail stepped forward, his gaze focused on Misaki and I. "With me, team four." he said, turning and walking out the door.
Misaki and I stood up and rushed after him. An older kid with black hair stood up from the back of the room and started running after us, knocking into a pair of desks as he did. He was clumsy. That wasn't something you wanted in a genin teammate.
Hiroshi Hayashi led us out of the Academy building and walked us through the streets of Konoha, not saying a word to us and keeping his gaze fixed forward.
"Where are we going, sensei?" Kenji Aoki, my new civilian teammate asked, nervously wringing his hands.
"North." Hiroshi said succinctly without turning to face us. "And I'm not your sensei yet."
"What do you mean? Suzuki-sensei said you were our jonin sensei!" Kenji yelled, drawing a lot of attention from the pedestrians we passed on the street.
"I decide who my genin are, not a school teacher. If I don't like you, I'll send you to the genin core without a second thought." Hiroshi said apathetically.
"Wh-what?"" Kenji froze in place, his hands trembling. "But we graduated!"
"Aoki-san," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently pushing him forward to keep him moving. "Hayashi-san is our superior. He wouldn't lie to us." I surprised myself by being able to say that with a straight face. Eighty percent of a ninja's super
"Don't touch me!" Kenji cried, knocking my arm off his shoulder. He stuck a finger in my face, his lips curling back angrily. "This is your fault! Both of you!" he pointed at Misaki. "You stupid kids shouldn't have graduated with me! You're going to hold me back and get me sent to the genin core!"
"Aoki-san, Shinto and I were the two highest ranked students in the Academy. You were the dead last in your graduating class. We will not be dead weight, but I am not certain about you." Misaki said coldly, staring down her nose at Kenji. This could evolve into a problem very easily. Best to nip it in the bud right now.
"None of that, Misaki." I said, giving her a pointed look. "Aoki-san is our teammate. It is our job to help each other and complete missions together. Pointless bickering will only hurt us."
Misaki looked suitably chastised. "You are right, Shinto. I apologize, Aoki-san."
Kenji looked away, a scowl on his face. "You should apologize."
I ignored Kenji's childishness and focused on following Hiroshi. Wait… His sunglasses had rounded frames. They were square before.
"Kai!" I called, holding up a hand with my fingers raised. I groaned as the Hiroshi we'd been following vanished as I dispelled the genjutsu. Apparently our version of the Bell Test had already begun. I'd been so focused on Kenji's whining and trying to keep Misaki from strangling the kid that I hadn't realized I was under a genjutsu. That was a rookie mistake, one that would get me killed if I let it happen out in the field. I'd worry about that later, for now, we needed to find Hiroshi.
"Misaki?" I said, scanning the surroundings with my eyes.
"On it." Misaki said, the veins around her eyes bulging as she activated her Byakugan. Her range was only forty meters, so I doubted she'd spot him, but we'd still need her eyes if we wanted a hope of finding a jonin playing hide and seek with us. I had no illusions about the skill gap between us. A jonin wouldn't let us see him unless he felt like it, so he must be testing our ability to work together to track down a target.
"I don't see him." Misaki said, a frustrated frown on her face.
"Aoki-san, are you proficient in tracking?" I asked, trying to come up with a way for us to pass whatever improvised test this was.
"I'm not a tracker!" Kenji barked, sounding offended. "I'm going to be a ninjutsu specialist."
That was promising. "Do you know any jutsu that can help us find Hayashi-san?"
"I…" He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head shyly. "I only know the Academy three." he grumbled quietly.
I took a deep breath to soothe my disappointment. He was the dead last in his class. It was to be expected that he was rough around the edges. He would get better.
"Okay, we need to stick together and try to find Hayashi-san. The genjutsu might have started as early as the Academy, so I suggest we go back and start from there."
"But he could have cast it anywhere along our route." Kenji said, crossing his arms. "We might pass him."
"Aoki-san, Hayashi-san is a jonin. He could be far outside of Konoha by now if he wanted to be. The fact he cast the genjutsu at all means he is testing us to see if he wants to take us as his genin students. The better we work together and the closer we are to finding him, the more likely he will be to teach us."
"Four o'clock high." Misaki suddenly announced, snapping around to indicate the direction. She'd seen something with her Byakugan.
"Aoki-san, you're our rear guard. I'm on point. Misaki, without you, we can't follow him, you stay between us and prioritize evasion over engaging him." I quickly ordered.
"Understood." Misaki said, leaping after me.
"Hey! We… Dammit!" Kenji roared, leaping up onto the roof after us.
"He is staying just inside my range on the streets below, running through the crowd. What is our goal?" Misaki asked after relaying Hiroshi's current whereabouts.
"I can't be sure. My guess is he wants us to track him through the crowd and make an attempt to stop him." I didn't know how all jonin tested their genin, but the bell test had a substantial combat element, so it stood to reason Hiroshi would kick our asses at some point.
"Can you guys…slow down?" Kenji asked in between panted breaths, his conditioning and speed were abysmal. We'd only been running for three minutes. If this kept up, he would pass out.
"Misaki, is Hayashi-san maintaining his current pace?" I asked.
"Yes. He is not slowing down and is maintaining his course. I believe he is leading us out of the village proper." Misaki reported.
So he was likely bringing us to an area free of civilians where we could fight him. If Kenji was too tired to fight when we got there, we'd likely fail because he wouldn't be able to work with us as a team.
"Misaki, you're on point from here. Be on guard for ambushes." I said.
"Understood." Misaki easily accepted.
"Aoki-san, I am going to use the Shadow Imitation Technique on you. I will control your arms and legs and run for you. Catch your breath and be ready to fight when Hayashi-san turns to face us."
"What?" Kenji asked, his eyes widening as a tendril of shadow leapt out of the sleeve of my coat and spread out against his chest.
Kenji fell under the effect of my Shadow Imitation, and I began running side by side with him so all of the jumps and obstacles we had to clamber over were similar. Kenji had a disturbed look on his face as his body did whatever I told it to do, but I'll give him credit for this much, he started taking deep breaths. With my shadows puppetting him, his muscles weren't under nearly as much strain as they were previously. He wouldn't be anywhere near fresh when Hiroshi turned to fight us, bu he wouldn't collapse either.
Ten minutes of running later, we were out of the village and lost in the vast expanse of trees that gave Konoha its name.
"He stopped in a clearing. We're emerging now." Misaki reported.
The three of us stopped at the edge of a clearing in the trees. The circular area had a small pond to Hiroshi's right and was rimmed by trees on all sides. Misaki and I were both cool and collected; Kenji was panting, but he was still on his feet, so my improvised plan had worked well enough.
"I expected better." Hiroshi said dryly, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jonin jacket. "Two of you are supposed to be prodigies. I fought with a prodigy during the war that was half your age. He put all three of you to shame."
Hiroshi fought with Itachi? No. Not important right now.
"What is our current objective, Hayashi-san?" I called, on guard and being careful to monitor my chakra for genjutsu influence.
"Your task is to incapacitate me. I suggest you try to kill me. Anything less and you won't stand a chance." he said, bored.
"Misaki, behind me." I said, clipped, already gathering my chakra. I didn't want to have to worry about friendly fire in case Hiroshi took evasive action.
"Hai." she said, already knowing what I was about to do. She grabbed Kenji and leapt a short distance away from me, her byakugan still active as she prepared to cover me if necessary.
"Oh? Does the little prodigy have a trick he wants to show me?"
I didn't respond to Hiroshi's taunts as my shadow split into a multitude of thin tendrils behind me and chakra strings lengthened from my hands. I cast False Barrage as four storage seals in my jacket popped and my shadows and chakra strings began to hurl the kunai and senbon stored within them towards Hiroshi. Aika taught me how to make storage seals in between trips to the library, but that was the extent of her sealing expertise, so it was all I knew. Whatever barrier corps person mom was going to put me in contact with never reached out, so I assumed mom never got a chance to tell them I was interested in fuinjutsu.
The air in the grove was lost to a storm of steel death as False Barrage hid the countless kunai I'd thrown and replaced them with ten phantasmal images of each weapon. Any one of my classmates at the Academy would have died if they were subjected to this barrage.
"Neat trick, kid." a voice spoke from behind me.
"Shint–" was all I heard before my hearing was assaulted by rushing air. I'd been kicked in the back and sent hurtling through the air at breakneck speeds.
I grit my teeth as I saw a tree trunk rapidly approaching and wove hand signs. I made contact with the tree, but the impact didn't hurt as I slunk into its shadow, using the Hiding in Shadow technique to kill my momentum. I slunk down to the base of the tree still in my shadow state before rising out of it. Hiroshi was standing at the other edge of the clearing in between Misaki Kenji and I, his hands still in his pockets.
"That's another neat trick. Shame you can't use them to land a hit on me." Hiroshi called conversationally.
I smirked and wove more hand signs, substituting myself with Hiroshi's shadow. I appeared right behind him and used the shadow in my sleeve to capture him with the Shadow Imitation Technique. He couldn't move. "Misaki!" I roared.
She needed no further prompting, she leapt into the air and slammed her open palm into Hiroshi's chest. Hiroshi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Now that was a little more entertaining." a cheery voice said from above us. Misaki and I looked up in unison to see Hiroshi standing on one of the branches above us. He'd swapped places with a clone.
I frowned. "Aoki-san, do you have any techniques you think will stop him?" I asked without looking away from Hiroshi. I couldn't land a hit on the jonin, so I was willing to listen to any ideas right now.
"I…I'm good with kunai?" Kenji said, it sounded like a question.
A tendril of shadow plucked a storage seal off the inside of my jacket and carried it over to him. "The kunai in that seal are tipped with a paralytic poison. Don't let him use it on you or you won't be able to move." I said as he took the scroll. "Misaki and I will engage him. Wait until you have an opening and hit him with the kunai."
Kenji swallowed nervously before nodding. "Alright."
"I will lead. Support me." Misaki said, her eyes narrowing as she stared up at Hiroshi.
"Hai." I easily agreed. When it came to close quarters combat, she outclassed me. I could trap people with my shadows, but Hiroshi had already demonstrated he could dodge them, so it was better to follow Misaki's lead here.
Misashi's body flickered as she used the Shunshin to propel herself into the air, and I followed close behind her.
Hiroshi sighed as he easily caught Misaki's arm as she went to strike him and tossed her away. "Just when I thought this might be fun too." he lamented. A kunai soared up from the ground and stuck him right in the chest. Kenji's aim had been perfect.
Hiroshi looked down at the kunai without a trace of concern on his face. "Oh no. I've been impaled." He disappeared in a burst of smoke.
A shout of pain from the ground had Misaki and I using the Shunshin to get back to Kenji.
Hiroshi was standing behind Kenji. He had Kenji's arm twisted around behind him in a shoulder lock. "Leaving your teammates behind isn't a very good strategy."
I smirked at him. "Oh?"
Hiroshi frowned as his limbs went slack, moving to mirror my own movements. I spread my arms wide and he released Kenji. Misaki dashed in close to retrieve Kenji before retreating. The storage seal I'd given Kenji lay on the ground in front of Hiroshi. I'd used the shadow I'd left on it to trap Hiroshi in the Shadow Imitation Technique.
"Now that is something I haven't seen before." a voice said from my side.
I turned to my right and saw Hiroshi standing next to me, gripping his chin as he looked at the Hiroshi trapped in my shadows.
"Is that a new technique the Naras haven't shown yet?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"I'm just abnormally attuned to Yin chakra and really good with shadows as a result. How many clones do you have active right now?" I asked.
Hiroshi smirked at me. "Just the one. I'm just really slippery and they make good distractions to leave behind. You're getting annoying and hogging all the testing time, so I'm gonna remove you from the equation now. Okay?" He smiled brightly at me as, almost faster than I could see, he lashed out and nicked my cheek with a kunai I recognized. He'd tried to paralyze me with my own damned poison!
"I've built up an immunity to my poisons." I told him as I leapt away, gathering my chakra.
Hiroshi's eyebrow peeked up over the top of his sunglasses. "Really? Smart kid. Has your girlfriend built up an immunity too?"
Misaki sputtered. "Shinto and I are not–" She leapt back as a kunai was thrown right towards her, cutting her cheek as it passed. She was too slow to dodge.
"Stay focused, Misaki." I chastised her. Hiroshi was just trying to rile her up, and it had worked.
"Hai." she replied, a furious scowl on her face as she glared at Hiroshi.
Hiroshi stared at her for a moment before sighing. "Guess that answers that question. You kids are really strange." I shared my poisons with Misaki and suggested she build up an immunity to them. I wasn't sure she had, but since she was still standing and not immobilized on the ground right now, she'd taken my advice.
"Misaki, take Kenji and get behind me." I said, my chakra heating up.
Misaki did as I asked without question, probably expecting I meant to throw more projectiles. That wasn't what I had in mind.
"You're really gonna try the genjutsu again? It was a really neat trick, but I'm wise to it now. If you try something like that, make sure it kills your opponent or they'll be ready for it the next time you try it." Hiroshi lectured, a disapproving frown on his face.
"Hayashi-san, you told me to try to kill you. This is the deadliest technique I have at my disposal. I don't want to actually kill you, so avoid it please." I said, genuine in my intention not to kill him. I didn't think I'd be able to catch him with it, but I didn't want to accidentally kill him all the same. Better to warn him and make a fool of myself when he makes me look like an idiot then catch him in it unexpectedly and he winds up dead.
Hiroshi lifted his sunglasses up to his forehead, revealing narrowed, brown eyes. "Now you've got me excited, kid. You better live up to your own expectations."
I wove hand signs, steam expelling from my nostrils as I exhaled. "Futton: Scalding Mist!" I shouted, opening my mouth wide as the volatile vapor spewed out of me like dragon's breath. The world in front of me was lost to heat, hissing steam and clouding mist as the technique surged forward. I felt my chakra reserves plummet with the casting. Between running Kenji here with Shadow Imitation and the techniques I'd used to try to hit Hiroshi, I was already taxing my chakra. Using so much chakra on this technique had drained me.
As the mist slowly cleared, rising up into the air as warm air was wont to do, the clearing was revealed once more. The trees in front of me were all on fire and the ground had been scorched black. The pond off to the side had lowered by half as a lot of the water evaporated from the sheer heat generated by my technique.
"Bad genin. No burning down Konoha's forests." a chiding voice said from behind me.
I turned to confront Hiroshi, but I felt a hard strike connect with the back of my neck.
The world turned dark as I fell unconscious.
X
I woke up with a minor headache, laying flat on my back. I groaned as I sat upright, rubbing my forehead.
"Ah! The Nara has finished his nap, I see. So good of you to join us, Shinto." Hiroshi said, lifting a juice box into the air in a salute. He, Kenji and Misaki were all sitting on a red-white, checkered blanket. There was a brown, woven basket next to Hiroshi that he was pulling sandwiches and snacks out of. The crazy man had set up a picnic on literal scorched earth.
"How bad did we lose?" I asked, standing up and walking over to join them.
"Don't be like that, Shinto. You all did surprisingly well. I was impressed by your teamwork. There's room to improve, but that's what I'm here for."
"So…" I said hesitantly. "Does that mean you'll be our sensei?"
Hiroshi nodded, taking a big bite of his sandwich. "Welcome to team four!" he announced, talking with his mouth full of half-chewed sandwich chunks. He reached behind him and tossed three dark streaks, one towards each of Kenji, Misaki and I.
I caught mine and looked at it. It was a black headband with a steel plate etched with a stylized leaf, a Konoha headband.
"Alright!" Kenji cheered, leaping up to his feet and holding the headband aloft like it was a trophy.
Misaki had a proud smile on her face as she gently ran a thumb over the leaf on the headband, unable to take her eyes off it.
For my part, I just wound it around my head, wanting to know what it felt like to have it on. It felt pretty darn good.
"Since we're a team now, we should introduce ourselves." Sensei said. "I'll go first. Ahem. My name is Hiroshi Hayashi. I like spending time in the sun and dislike goodbyes. In the future, I want to be able to spoil lots of little grandchildren."
"You have kids, sensei?" Kenji asked.
"No." Sensei denied. "Your turn, Kenji."
"Um…right." Kenji said, turning from sensei to Misaki and I. "My name is Kenji Aoki. I like good food and don't like rude people. I want to be a strong ninja and become a jonin someday!"
"A good goal, Kenji. Work hard, and one day you might even be as good as your sensei. Now, Misaki?" Hiroshi said expectantly.
Misaki bowed her head shallowly. "My name is Misaki Hyuga. I enjoy training with my friends and do not like being idle. I hope to serve Konoha well and one day teach my children to be even stronger than I am."
Hiroshi smiled. "I guess we have something in common then! Family is the greatest treasure in the world. Okay, Shinto. It's your turn."
As far as ice-breakers went, this whole introduction thing felt a little played out, but it did the job well enough, so I said, "My name is Shinto Nara. I like the dark and don't like when the sun tears through all my nice shadows. I want to become one of the strongest ninja in the world."
Hiroshi was looking at me appraisingly. "Ambitious little genin, aren't you?"
I shrugged. "If I aim for the moon, the worst that will happen is I miss and end up among the stars."
Hiroshi smiled warmly. "That's a great mentality, Shinto. I'm glad to meet you all and am looking forward to teaching you. Now that that's done with, let's talk about the test!" Hayashi-sensei said, motioning for us to sit and eat with him. "Let's start with the giant cloud of Futton in the room, shall we? Shinto, mind telling your kind-hearted sensei why you tried to burn him alive and how you were able to try to burn him alive?"
I shrugged. "You're a jonin. I knew you'd be able to dodge it, and I did warn you before I used it just in case."
He nodded. "Fair, but that still doesn't explain how you're able to use a Kiri kekkei genkai."
I sighed. "I don't know. Shikaku-sama and I have been trying to figure that out since we learned I could use the Boil Release. All we really know is I was born with both strong water and fire natures. It's hard for me to learn water or fire jutsu alone, but it's a lot easier for me to use them together. Shikaku-sama labeled it a clan secret and forbid me from speaking of it, but since we'll be on a team together, all three of you need to know that I can use it.
Hayashi-sensei's lips were pulled into a thin line. He'd listened intently to the entire explanation. "Misaki, Kenji, until I say otherwise, neither of you are to speak a word of Shinto's technique to anyone. Am I understood?" he asked seriously, looking between them.
In unison, Misaki and Kenji said, "Hai, sensei."
Hayashi nodded, satisfied. "Good. I need to speak to the Nara clan head about this before we do anything else with it. If anyone asks what happened to the forest, say Shinto rigged the entire area with explosive tags. Now!" he spun around to face Misaki. "Why did you wait until Shinto was unconscious to use those lightning jutsu? If you'd used them in tandem with his shadows, you could have made a better attempt at catching me."
I looked at Misaki, surprised. When had she learned lightning jutsu?
Misaki looked away from me shyly and said, "He didn't know about them. I didn't want to accidentally hit him with them because he didn't know to expect them."
Hayashi shrugged. "Fair enough. Finally!" He rounded on Kenji, causing kenji to squawk in surprise. "Do you know any jutsu outside of the Academy three?"
Kenji swallowed nervously. "No, but my mom says I have a lot of chakra, so I want to be a ninjutsu specialist."
Hayashi shook his head. "You have a lot of chakra for a civilian, but for a ninja, you have very low reserves. You don't have the chakra capacity for the high intensity ninjutsu a specialist would need to throw around regularly."
Kenji opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, slumping in on himself, dejected.
I frowned. I needed him to stay motivated so he'd push Misaki and me. Dead last or not, he was my teammate now; that meant my life and death hung on his ability. "Do you know how to use chakra strings?" I asked, extending a single string from my index finger that I sent more chakra than necessary into to make it glow a faint blue.
Kenji's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the string. "What is that?"
"A chakra string." I repeated. "I use them with my shadows to throw projectiles. If you have low chakra capacity, it'll be easier for you to learn control. Since good control is all you need for chakra strings, I could teach you how to use these if you wanted?"
Kenji's eyes narrowed at me. "You think I'm useless?"
How in the Pure Reincarnation did he get that from what I'd said. Kami, this was why I'd avoided my classmates. With the exception of Misaki, they all behaved like children.
…Which, I supposed, was fair, since they were children. That didn't change the fact that it was irritating though.
"I never said that. Having small chakra reserves just means you'll be more suited to other things. You won't be tossing around jutsu, but that doesn't mean you won't be an asset to the team."
"Alright. I think that's enough deliberation for now." Hayashi cut in. "Eat your sandwiches. I went through the trouble of making them, so they should be enjoyed." He took another big bite of his sandwich and moaned happily as he chewed. I was starting to think my jonin sensei was going to be an…interesting character.