Welcome back to the Smoke and Mirrors AU.

----------------------------------------

Asahiro stood awkwardly as Hattori looked at him. Hattori, he was a bit scary. With the signature black sclera and single pupil eye colour of the Yanmaru, most of their clan still looked pretty nice. But Hattori…

He really looked like a demon, with that stone cold expression on his face. He suppressed a shiver as Hattori spoke.

“I see. So, you’re saying that if I weave handseals together, you can read the intent and sequence through my aura?” Hattori turned around, and wove several handseals together, before turning around. “What did I just do?”

“You… You did Snake-Horse-Dog-Dragon. The imprint from the handseals was… This is hard to explain, okay?” This time, Asahiro could not suppress the shudder that went through his body. It was like Hattori was seeing through him.

He wondered if he was wearing enough clothes. Looking through him like that, he felt naked…

“The imprint on the chakra read kind of like… you wanted to create a strong electric bolt shaped like a dragon. But those handseals obviously aren’t a real Jutsu, so of course it didn’t do anything.”

“How do you know they were for a fake Jutsu?”

“It’s like… Imagine reading a book written by a toddler, then imagine one written by a scholar who has studied for decades. That is the difference between a real Jutsu, and a fake one, even if the technique is simple.”

“I see…” Hattori hummed lightly in thought. The Bochigan really had such a property. He flicked his on, and told Asahiro to do a string of handseals. He poured all of his focus into the aura surrounding him.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

He noticed nothing after he finished. Well, almost nothing. The aura around him did wobble a bit, strange little shifts, alongside the regular flickering from using handseals. He just had no idea what it meant. He couldn’t even tell there was a pattern for how the aura changed depending on which seal was used.

“Yuki, do the same thing.”

Again, after she finished weaving handseals, Hattori still could not notice anything besides what he already had. With a sigh he turned towards Asahiro, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“You will become our Ninjutsu expert. Your goal is to copy Ninjutsu. Your training requirement for now is solely to focus on learning Chakra Suppression, so you can watch Ninja battles and learn.”

Asahiro’s mouth twitched slightly and Hattori pretended not to notice it. Why was this kid so afraid of him? He didn’t look scary. To prove it, he flashed Asahiro a kind smile.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped onto the floor. Hattori patted himself on the back. Really, he was a good leader. This guy was so relieved to see he was nice that he actually passed out.

He turned to Yuki, smile still on his face. He watched her shudder too, and felt awkward. He stopped smiling.

“Yuki.”

“Clan Leader.” Hattori’s lip twitched. Why was she being so formal? He wasn’t scary right?

“..Right. Anyway, I have a few things I need you to do out of the Clan compound. This will all be officially tied to our Clan, so you will not be wearing the ANBU uniform.”

“Yes, Clan Leader.” She bowed stiffly. Hattori told himself she was just playing a joke, but in reality, she was really a little bit scared of him. His appearance was quite… unique…

“Head to Yamatari.” Hattori quickly checked his Blueprint menus to see the amount of resources he would need for a few standard apartments. “Bring back some Construction Workers, carpenters, and an architect. Really, just bring back a construction crew. We will pay them and get them the resources they need once here.”

Yuki’s brows furrowed. “I see. Hattori, this mission will take… two weeks. Maybe more.”

Hattori shrugged. “If there's a significant delay, make time to come back here before returning to Yamatari. This mission is important. Ah, if they have family, promise them free housing, food, and safety. This will be an… extended stay.”

Yuki bowed a bit deeper and more fluid than before. Hattori’s fear factor had decreased a little bit. “Yes, Clan Leader.”

With that, she disappeared. Hattori’s Bochigan flickered briefly, just to see her aura head towards Yamatari. He looked down at Asahiro, who was still fainted on the floor, before remembering something important.

“Ah. I forgot to tell her not to neglect her training for Wall Walking and Water Walking.” Hattori knew those two could be figured out somewhat easily. After all, how hard could something like that be?