Welcome back to the Smoke and Mirrors AU.

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It was a few days after the Yanmaru Clan had arrived home before Hattori decided to try and see what the Chakra Nature Slips were all about. He sat, alone, at night in his Cabin. Gently, he pulled one of the eleven from his thigh pouch that was currently on the floor. It was like any other parchment he had ever seen, though perhaps less yellowed.

Given the name, he had the impression he was supposed to insert Chakra into it. With a small pulse, he squawked in shock and dropped the paper in a panic. The paper had burst into flames, sparks of lightning zapping out and mixing with the fire.

Hattori quickly stomped on the small inferno, putting it out. With absolute confusion on his face, he waited for some blue pop up to explain.

…

He stood awkwardly for several minutes, before sighing. When I want the damn thing to pop up from nowhere, it doesn’t. Wonderful.

Hattori resolved to ask the next person he saw about them. The boy felt that everyone but him knew just about everything a Shinobi was supposed to. Carefully, he lifted his food from the floor, seeing only ash left of the paper.

Hattori just shook his head, and decided it was probably best to just sleep. He wasn’t touching any more of the things. They were a fire hazard. Within a few minutes after laying down, he was out cold.

Like that, weeks passed as the Yanmaru Clan trained, occasionally visiting Bukai to perform some D-Rank missions for Ryo. By the time Hattori’s seventeenth birthday came to pass, everyone within the clan had at least twenty Kunai, Shuriken, and a tanto-blade. Several months passed by again in the blink of the eye as they maintained this.

It was on February fourth, a month and a bit after Hattori’s eighteenth birthday, that he would finally notice a change. By now, the Clan Rankings establish Hattori as a Low-Jonin; he still wasn’t clear on what that indicated. The most important, though, was that everyone other than Hanae was ranked as a Chunin. Hanae herself was at the upper ends of Genin.

On the horizon, a distant ghastly-white outline made itself apparent. Even though it was a single speck, far in the distance, the Bochigan pointed it out like a beacon.

The person advanced rapidly, moving maybe thirty, fourty meters a second. They were nearly a kilometer out, but would reach the Yanmaru Clan compound in just under half a minute. Hattori dashed towards them at full speed, around fifty meters per second.

The kids didn’t notice him disappear; with a silent burst, he simply vanished. It was around ten seconds later that he had eyesight on the person approaching. With a groan, he made a full stop.

“Tako.”

Tako’s blade was drawn immediately, as he took up a battle stance. “Huh? Who are you?”

“Hattori Yanmaru. Clan Head of the Yanmar-”

The boy visibly relaxed, sighing. “Great Sage, man. You scared the hell out of me with those yes of yours. Thought you were an Uchiha for a second.” Hattori frowned. The Shinja had cut him off before he had finished speaking.

“My Clan’s territory is behind me. I must ask you to change your path, and go around it. I spoke to Sasuke Shinja; he claimed to be your Clan’s head.”

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Tako blinked owlishly. “Uh. Yeah. That’s our Clan head. Why’d you talk to them?”

“I was seeking an alliance, and to maintain that effort, I won’t threaten to cut you down if you continue into my Clan territory.” Hattori’s voice was dull, and his words were straight to the point.

“Yeah. No problem. I can, uh, move south for a bit, and do a parabolic curve to avoid your lands. No worries.” He moved, ready to depart, before Hattori stopped him.

“Wait. I have a few questions first.”

Tako looked a bit pensive as he answered. “I can try to answer. Sure, yeah.”

“Great.” Hattori smiled. The adult Yanmaru looked strange, with his serious face, wearing a smile. He looked almost demonic. The Shinja suppressed a shudder. “First, what do you know about Chakra Nature Slips?”

Tako hesitated before answering. “Uh. Those? They tell you what your Chakra nature is. Flames for fire, sparks for lightning, it kinda crumbles if its dirt, tears if its wind, and it gets all soggy if it’s water. You can buy a few if you head to Yamatari City, it’s like, a few days travel directly west. They’re a bit pricey though. Last time my father visited, he bought ten for a couple hundred Ryo.”

Hattori nodded. “And these Chakra Natures. What do they mean?”

At this Tako had an extremely peculiar look on his face. He seemed nauseous, constipated, and utterly confused all at once. “Huh? That’s… That’s what your Chakra nature is. Like, you know, Ninjutsu. If you use Ninjutsu for your Chakra nature, it takes less effort to learn, is more powerful, takes a bit less Chakra… I don’t know, man.”

Hattori continued pestering the boy. “Ninjutsu? Show it to me.”

Tako hesitated, debating whether or not it was worth talking to this clearly crazy, dementia’d teenager, before complying. He wove handseals slowly, letting Hattori watch, before he turned to the left and spat out a fireball.

“Katon: Endan no Jutsu!”

Hattori watched in absolute awe as the Flame Bullet Technique left Tako’s mouth, a large ball of fire slamming into a tree before exploding. “How do I do that? He looked at his hands strangely, trying pathetically to copy the handsigns he had seen Tako use.

“Katon: Endan no Jutsu!” Hattori repeated, exhaling hard. Nothing happened, except Tako started laughing.

“Hey, man. You’re kinda funny. You really don't know about Ninjutsu? What were those handseals you use?” He barely managed to choke that out over his boisterous laughter. Hattori felt his face burn red.

“No. I don’t know. What are handseals?”

“Come on. Seriously? Are you like, a Samurai or something? Can’t be. You have a freaky Dojutsu. Uhh, alright, man. Let me see if I have anything. We’re allies right?” Hattori chose not to divulge the information that, technically, they weren’t.

He watched as Tako dug through his various bags. The scene of the Fire Bullet Technique kept running through his mind. It took him several minutes before Tako sighed. “Listen, man. I don’t have any scrolls on me for handseals, or any Ninjutsu I can share with you.” Hattori frowned.

“But- hey, hey, relax- but if you show me your compound, or tell me where to meet you in a few days, I’ll come back with some stuff. Shinobi’s honour.” Hattori refrained from mentioning that, famously, Shinobi didn’t really have honour. That was typically a Samurai thing.

“Meet me here, in four days. I will bring some of my Clan with me, and we will learn from you.” Tako smiled wryly.

When did I ever agree to personally teach you? I was just going to drop off some scrolls…

“Yeah, sounds good. Listen, I gotta go. Like, now. I have some important scrolls for my father.”

“Your father? Shouldn’t the scrolls go to the Clan Leader? I believe you were an envoy for political reasons.”

“Huh? Dude-”

“Hattori.”

“Hattori. Sure, sorry. My dad is the Clan Head. Tako Shinja, son of Sasuke Shinja, at your service.”

Suddenly, many things clicked in the head of Hattori Yanmaru. Coughing to hide his embarrassment, he just nodded. “Right. Go, then.”

Just like that, within a few minutes, Tako was entirely gone from the view of Hattori’s Bochigan. He retreated back to his Compound, finding the kids still training. By now, all of them were ten. Yet, they were far stronger than he was when he was their age. Far, far stronger. With a sigh, he looked at the Clan Rankings.

Yuki, Yuta, and Mei were all classified as High-Chunin. Hattori had learned that although a single step away from Jonin, they were still vastly weaker. The rest were at Chunin, Seigo, Mitaro, Izumi, and Amanai were all at Low-Chunin. Hanae was the only Genin still, but she was close to advancing.

With a smile on his face, he shouted for them to gather. A few seconds later, they were ready to hear his news.

“Just now, I saw another man from the Shinja Clan. His name is Tako, son of the Clan Head. He agreed to teach us something very special a few days from now. He called it Ninjutsu; I, however, call it magic.”

The kids got very excited as Hattori refused to answer any more questions. He sent them back to training, which they grudgingly accepted.

Hattori couldn’t help but keep playing the image of Tako spitting out the Fire Bullet Technique, over and over, in his head.

What a beautiful thing.

What a powerful thing.