[1st POV]
After I left the academy, having done everything I had to, it was already starting to get dark outside.
I had not eaten anything today because I woke up so late, so I was starving. The BBQ was near, and the food would have been more nutritious and have more protein, but I walked past the restaurant in order to go to the small shop.
Ichiraku ramen.
The ramen worthy of praise, and I was craving it badly. But the main reason I came here was hoping Naruto would be there.
And just like I expected, I saw a kid wearing an orange jumpsuit sitting in the shop.
"Oyyyy!! Suyou!!" Naruto greeted me with a wave, a small piece of noodle stuck on his chin.
"Hi Naruto," I greeted back and took a seat beside him.
I noticed two empty bowls already stacked beside him. I ordered a chicken ramen with extra boiled eggs and chicken.
"Chicken ramen with extra eggs and chicken coming right up!!" Ichiraku said and got to work making my ramen.
I turned to Naruto after my order, "Sorry I couldn't accompany you this morning. I overtrained last night so I was basically a corpse."
"Haha, no biggie. My day was eventful anyway, I found a new disciple of my own too. His name's Konohamaru, apparently he's the Hokage's grandson or something," Naruto said while slurping his noodles.
"Yeah? That's not concerning at all... you being a teacher I mean," I said with a nervous smile. "So what did you teach him?"
"My very own jutsu, the sexy jutsu of course!!" Naruto said.
I facepalmed. Of course he would teach that to a child.
"You haven't told me how you managed to graduate too. The last time I saw you, you failed the clone jutsu," I said.
"Oh yeah, something crazy happened last night," Naruto said and he began telling me what happened.
About how he stole the forbidden scroll due to the advice given to him by Mizuki-sensei. How he learned the shadow clone jutsu from the scroll. How everyone searched for him and eventually Iruka-sensei found him.
But by that point, he had already learned the jutsu that he wanted, the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
And then the grand reveal, Mizuki was a bad guy all along!! He was a power-hungry ninja who was somehow affiliated with Orochimaru. And he used Naruto to get the forbidden jutsu.
A fight broke out, Iruka-sensei nearly died but at the end, Naruto saved the day using the new forbidden jutsu that he learned.
"Mizuki-sensei? That's crazy," I said, acting surprised even though I already knew the events from watching the anime.
"Yes, I always knew he was a horrible guy. He never treated me right," Naruto said with a huff, "But I beat him up real good though."
"That's amazing," I said, "You are already strong enough to beat a chunin teacher."
Naruto became shy, rubbing his nose while scratching the back of his head.
"Do you think you can show it to me? The forbidden jutsu, I mean," I asked, trying my luck.
"Sure!!" Naruto answered quickly, catching me off guard. I thought I would have to convince him.
He quickly gorged down the remaining ramen before he released a burp. Then he got out of the stool and stood a few distances away from the store. I followed him and carefully observed as he performed a weird handsign, his fingers made a cross.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out and then poof. Another version of him appeared in a burst of smoke.
This was not an illusion, the shadow clone jutsu was physical and you could not differentiate it even with the Sharingan. The Second Hokage Tobirama specifically made this jutsu to fool the Sharingan.
What a menace that guy was.
"I see," I said while rubbing my chin. The theory behind the jutsu was simple enough. You simply expel half of your chakra outside your body and use the transformation jutsu to build that chakra into a perfect replica of you.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu was only B-rank, and it was standard for most jonin to know this jutsu. It was also not forbidden by any means.
"That's not all," Naruto said with his clone and they both made the same handsigns.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" he said and then with a puff of smoke, ten more Naruto appeared.
The Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu was the forbidden jutsu. The Shadow Clone Jutsu itself was not dangerous but the Multi-Shadow Clone was very dangerous if used carelessly. Splitting your chakra multiple times like that could deplete your chakra so rapidly you might pass out and cause yourself real harm.
No one had enough chakra to create multiple clones. The drawback and the experience that came back after these clones dispersed could also be potentially dangerous for the brain.
That was why it was a forbidden jutsu, too dangerous to be allowed free use to the people.
"You split your chakra by simply expelling half of your body's chakra, that's why the clone mostly appears beside you," I said, analyzing the jutsu, "The transformation should not require much control, you are simply basing it off your own body after all. Your chakra naturally wanted to take the shape of you."
"Huh?" the multiple clones said before dispersing, leaving only one Naruto.
"How do you know that?"
"And the experience, memories and remaining chakra of the clone came rushing back at you the moment you disperse them," I said with a nod, "Pretty cool, but I can see how it can be dangerous."
I felt the rush back of chakra when the clones dispersed. Perhaps I had talent in sensory too. Wait, who am I kidding, of course I was talented in every field.
I made the same handsign Naruto did and closed my eyes to focus on the way I molded my chakra. I split my whole body vertically in half and expelled the chakra outside. I did not have to do anything as the incomplete chakra outside naturally took my form when they left my body.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu," I said.
When I opened my eyes, I saw my own reflection beside me.
"This is pretty cool," we both said in sync, "Jinx."
"Double jinx!!" x2
"Tch, you can go away fraud," I said and the clone dispersed, sending all the memory, experience and remaining chakra back to me.
I felt my head immediately thumping with an ache. I guess I missed it out but the unnatural activity of half your chakra leaving the body and returning suddenly was disorienting.
"No way you get that in one try!! It took me almost an hour to learn that," Naruto said in surprise. But instead of being jealous, he smiled brightly, "You're so cool Suyou."
"Thanks... I guess," I said, still feeling a bit weird from the rush back of chakra. Letting go of my chakra was easy and almost natural, but it coming back forcefully was another feeling I would have to get used to.
"Thank you for teaching me. You're a great teacher," I said.
"Hehe, of course I am! The future Hokage needs to be an exceptional teacher and leader!! Believe it," Naruto said.
We went back to the store and ate our ramen. I paid for all of Naruto's meals as a way to show thanks. When he heard that, he shamelessly ordered two more bowls and we left with a full belly.
I did not return back home after the meal. Instead, I made my way to the training ground to practice the shadow clone.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu," I said and the clone appeared with a puff of smoke. I did not want to try the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu yet. I already felt the drain in my chakra after making one clone.
"This is so trippy," I said, talking to my clone.
"Says you. Do you know how weird it feels knowing I'm not the original?" he said back with folded arms.
"Nope, I couldn't imagine," I said.
"Do you think you can use the—" I was about to say but the clone completed my sentence.
"Can use the Susanoo as a clone? Wait, let me try," he said and tried.
And he was successful. My shadow clone was still able to use the Susanoo, albeit extremely weaker since the chakra output was only half.
We both grinned as we called out our respective Susanoo.
"Do you want my shadow clones to use Susanoo too?" we said together.
"Man I can't wait to say that," the clone said.
"Me too," I replied.
"Then I guess we need to train harder," he said, "Wanna race?"
"Of course I do," I said.
I and myself were going to be perfect training partners. Hopefully we would be able to double our progress with this.
"Ready, on the count of three. 1, 2..."
We both ran at two, cheating together. The clone, in fact, really did think exactly like me. We used the Body Flicker Jutsu to race around the training ground.
..
..
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(The next morning)
I did not overtrain this time and was able to go to the academy on time. We were finally going to be put into different teams this time, so I was curious to know where I would be.
It would be correct to say I was very excited.
The dream was to be in the same team as Naruto and Sasuke, but sadly, Sakura was going to be the third member of the team. From the events that took place so far, I knew the canon would not change much, so I did not have much hope it would change now.
"As of today, you are all shinobi. You have faced many challenges and hardships to get here, but that's nothing compared to what you will face from here onwards," Iruka began the class with a speech.
"Now you are only a genin, the lowest level shinobi, so as you climb up that rank, you will face many other difficulties. All genins are separated into a three-man squad that will be led by a jonin, an elite ninja," Iruka said.
The class was immediately plunged into a murmur when they heard that news.
"Man I wish I was in the same team as Sakura," Naruto said beside me, "Oh, and the third person could be you, Suyou. We would make the perfect team."
"I hope so too," I replied with a smile.
I wanted to be in the same team as Naruto. But Sakura, I wasn't sure. She was not my favourite when she was young. The older Sakura was very mature and cool, but she had not gone through the necessary character development yet.
And Sakura was very beautiful too. A deadly combo of a bitchy personality and a pretty face. A deadly combo all men should stay away from. Imagine falling in love with her, that would not do good for me.
Speaking of which, I heard her argue with Ino about who was going to be in Sasuke's team. Yeah, definitely want to stay away from that. Having a crush on her like Naruto did would be absolutely horrendous.
"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we are going to set the teams up," Iruka said, waving the paper in his hands.
"Speaking of which, Suyou," he said and looked at me.
I blinked, "Yes?"
"You got the highest mark in the academy in both the written and physical exams," he said and the class applauded.
"The class has a total of 28 graduates, so you can see how we are at a predicament," he said.
"One student will be left out from the team," I said.
"Yes, and that student will be you. Due to your exceptional performance, there is no team where we could fit you into. So it has been decided that you will be a sole apprentice under a jonin, or we will add you into a team that has lost a member. We thought it would be best if you are the one to share the same team as the genins that graduated last year," he said.
"Oh."
Now there goes my dream of being in a team with Naruto.
"You will be Team 1 as of now," he said.
"Now I will announce the rest of the teams," he said and got on with the announcement.
Almost every team was like how I remembered. Naruto was in Team 7 along with Sasuke and Sakura. Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru were in the same team, along with Shino, Kiba, and Hinata.
After the announcement was over, we were told to have a short break, after which our respective jonin leaders would come and pick their team.
While everyone left, I sat in the classroom alone, seriously contemplating how things would go for me.
"Well, making friends or going on adventures is not the goal," I said, "I need to get strong first."
In the world of Naruto, being weak was a sin people get punished for.
And with all the potential I have, I shall not be weak. I wouldn't die like my parents and leave my children orphans.
I would be the strongest that makes everything right.
I had been wondering what my next goal would be ever since I achieved my previous goal of being the best in the academy.
But I need not set such goals when the world was going to throw enough obstacles at me. The Naruto canon was already starting.
The Sand Village attack, Orochimaru, the Akatsuki and all the shits in between.
I would come out of these challenges in the best way possible.
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