Welcome back to the Smoke and Mirrors AU.
----------------------------------------
The last four days, the entire Yanmaru Clan was embroiled in training more grueling than ever before. After Hattori had informed them of something new, something magical they could learn; not a second was wasted.
Everyone wanted Hattori to approve of them; they knew the man well. If he didn’t believe they were ready to start learning something new, he would force them to train what they were lacking.
And so, on the dawn of the fourth day, Hattori’s Bochigan was locked onto the place he had met Tako days prior. With a small twitch of his lips, he realized that Tako had kept his promise. A ghastly outline was present in his vision.
By now, it was several hours past midnight. The children were already out and about, excitedly chatting or sparring. Hattori hadn’t even needed to say anything. The moment he stepped out of his cabin, they gathered around him.
“When do we leave to learn magic?”
“What kind of magic is it? Can we make giant tornadoes?”
“Can we summon lightnin-” Hattori turned to look as the boy was thwacked by a girl.
“Lightning is boring! Fire is much cooler.”
“Shut it, Hanae. You wouldn’t know cool if it bit you in the a-”
Hattori felt like now was a good time to intervene. “We will be leaving now, yes. I want absolute silence on the journey there, while learning, and on the journey back. The Ninjutsu we will be learning,” he paused briefly. “ – and please call it Ninjutsu –” Hattori didn’t want his Clan to sound dumb in front of the Clan Heir of the Shinja. “will be fire-based.”
He watched as they eagerly nodded, mouths shut and eyes wide. With that, Hattori turned in the direction of Tako and leapt. He kept his speed slow enough the children could follow.
The journey there was uneventful. Tako was lying on his back on the grassy floor. This was the first time Hattori had seen the man relaxed.
“Tako-san.” Hattori bowed respectfully, even if the man couldn’t see him with closed eyes.
Tako yawned before he sat up. On his person were three separate bags. He blinked, looking at the ensemble of eleven Yanmaru.
“You said some of your clan… Whatever man. Alright, so,” he turned to the kids. “You all came here to learn Ninjutsu, right?” The children nodded, and Hattori spoke for them.
“Yes.”
Tako smiled. “Let’s get started then. Do any of you know the basic components of Ninjutsu?”
“Chakra?” Yuki asked.
“Yes, but there’s one more key feature to any Ninjutsu.”
This time, Hattori himself answered. “Handseals.”
Tako clapped. “Yes! Do any of you know the handseals?”
“...”
His smile faded a tad. “Wow, alright, we’re starting from scratch. No worries. I bought three copies of the Handseals for Dummies scroll.” Tako tossed a scroll to Hattori, one to Mei, and the third to Amanai.
“I’ll watch over you while you practice. There are nine unique handseals you have to be able to use in order to use Endan no Jutsu.”
By the time he had begun listing the handseals, all three scrolls had been spread out with a group around each. Between the name of every handseal, he stopped and showed what it looked like.
“Monkey – Dragon – Rat – Bird – Snake – Ox – Dog – Horse – Tiger – Boar – Ram – Hare.” He showed each handseal again, making sure everyone saw them. “Those are the foundational twelve handseals used in all Ninjutsu. The Handseals for Endan no Jutsu are written on the bottom of each of these scrolls.”
He held up another three scrolls, these much smaller. “There’s a diagram for each handseal used in the technique on these scrolls as well, and if there’s not enough, the Handseals for Dummies scrolls has diagrams around halfway through. You’ve probably found those already.” He chuckled watching the children attempt to make handseals. Once more, he tossed out the scroll to each group.
“Hattori-san, unfortunately I couldn’t procure any Chakra Nature Slips. Yamatari was too far, since I had to be around Bukai for clan matters. I hope you understand.” Hattori nodded, watching Tako bow slightly.
“No need. I have ten. My own Chakra Nature slip burst into flame and lightning. I assume my Chakra natures are Fire, and Lightning then?”
Tako had a weird look on his face. “Uh, yeah. Katon, and Raiton. Please, pass them out. I’ll instruct them individually on how to use them, and what their results mean.” Hattori nodded, handing each child of the Yanmaru Clan a Chakra Nature Slip. In fact, he had several dozen left over.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Every D-Rank mission gave him an extra. He turned his focus away from Tako and the children, who were astonishing themselves with their Chakra natures. He prudently ignored the fact he had been just as shocked and confused when he had done it.
Hattori’s focus, on the other hand, was Handseals. With his Bochigan flaring, he made slow, deliberate movements. The Handseals… felt right. They clicked in his mind in a way that his Taijutsu, and Kenjutsu never had. These were perfect.
He smiled, executing each seal, one by one. Hattori’s Chakra, guided by the Perfect Movement property of his Dojutsu, seemed to come alive on its own. It was wild, uncontrollable energy that Hattori had never messed with before.
At least, he had never messed with the energy like this. He had used it to bolster his physical strength, suffusing the molasses-like Chakra through his limbs. These handseals made the Chakra within his body move like white-water.
Each of the twelve seals went by a dozen times before his concentration was distracted. He had noticed significant improvement in the speed at which he could go through them; from taking nearly ten seconds per sign, to just under five.
“Hattori-san! Everyone knows their affinities now. Right?” His head turned to look at Tako and the kids. Everyone nodded excitedly. “Alright, wonderful. Go tell your… uh, brother what you got.”
Hattori choked. “Brother-? No, we aren’t related; I am their Clan Head, nothing more.” Tako stared at him blankly, the kids not reacting to either of them as they raced towards Hattori.
Asahiro, Izumi, and Hanae were all single-element affinity for Katon.
Sasori, Mitaro and Amanai were all dual-element affinity for Katon, and Futon.
Seigo was the only one with dual-element affinity for Katon, and Doton.
Yuta was the only one with dual-element affinity for Katon, and Raiton besides Hattori himself.
Mei, and Yuki, both had three natural affinities. Tako noted that it was extremely rare outside of clans that had Elemental Kekkei Genkai.
Mei wielded affinities for Katon, Doton, and Raiton.
Yuki wielded affinities for Katon, Suiton, and Futon.
Hattori felt a bit closer to Mei, and Yuta; both had Katon and Raiton, just like himself. However, he found it odd that everyone had the Fire-Release affinity.
“Tako, is it normal for all of us to have Fire-Release natures?” Tako just nodded in response, but shifted uncomfortably as Hattori stared at him, waiting for an explanation.
“Yeah. Uh, don’t ask me why, cause I don’t really know. The common explanation is that the Five Great Nations – Land of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning – are all occupying lands that Chakra of the corresponding element seems to like. So, people born in those nations are almost guaranteed to have the elemental Release of their nation.”
Hattori decided he could accept that for now. “Guide the children, please. I wish to practice the Endan no Jutsu on my own.” Tako just sighed and agreed reluctantly.
“On it, boss man.”
With the distractions gone, Hattori could finally turn his focus back to the Jutsu. Before he attempted to follow the instructions on the actual Jutsu scroll, he decided he wanted to better understand each handseal and how to form them.
Two hours passed by in an instant for Hattori, his focus never waning, his fingers and hands never pausing. By now, doing the standard string of twelve handseals, he could form each handseal in just under a second. His Bochigan had stopped aiding his hand speed from improving a while ago.
Hattori sighed, knowing he couldn’t improve his speed any further without dedicated training. His muscles just weren’t built to do that.
And so, with his handseal speed as good as he could get it, his focus finally shifted to the actual Ninjutsu. He grabbed the scroll, and read it a dozen times over before he finally began attempting it.
There was a lot he had misunderstood about the handseals, and how they moulded Chakra. The scroll had provided some key insights into that. Chakra wasn’t physical; it was something in between that, and spiritual.
That’s not what mattered though. What mattered was how handseals allowed someone to guide Chakra. The body, apparently, had a system of pathways and release-points for Chakra called Chakra Pathways, and Tenketsu. The only Tenketsu a person could utilize properly are on the hands, and feet.
Forming handseals was a way to congregate all of the usable Tenketsu in your hands into one spot, having Chakra intermingle in specific, unique ways between the hands with each sign. For instance, the Endan no Jutsu scroll mentioned one specifically.
The Tiger handseal was almost always used in Fire-Release Ninjutsu, as the handseal that changes the neutral affinity of raw Chakra, into fire-natured Chakra.
Hattori didn’t understand most of it yet, but he was certain that it would only take him a few months to understand all of the underlying principles for the majority of handseals. With the Endan no Jutsu scroll practically memorized, he finally stood from where he was seated, hunched over two scrolls.
A few of the Yanmaru kids looked at him curiously before turning back to either their scrolls, or towards Tako who was giving off a lecture. Hattori wove his handseals slowly, ensuring he shifted his Chakra in just the right way, exactly as the scroll had mentioned it.
Snake → Ram → Monkey
This was the foundation of the technique; Hattori’s Chakra was more malleable than it had ever been to him before. It was easily pulled apart from the ocean of Chakra in his navel, a small drop in comparison.
As soon as Hattori finished the Monkey sign, the Chakra he had separated began to harden into a shell. He had to quickly mould it properly into the shape diagrammed in the scroll, or else it would fail.
Boar → Horse → Tiger
The next two handseals were confusing to Hattori. Their purpose in this Ninjutsu wasn’t mentioned in either scroll. However, something changed in the shell of Chakra he was forming.
It was when the Tiger seal had been completed that the entire thing set ablaze, a dense heat building in his chest. Hattori briefly panicked, before remembering the scroll had said that it wouldn’t truly catch fire until he finalized and released the Ninjutsu. The heat was just there, and while uncomfortable and incredibly foreign, it wasn’t harmful.
Dragon → Ox → Dog
Just like the handseals for Boar, and Horse, Hattori couldn’t decipher their purpose. These did change something. The flames shifted oddly, the hard shell of chakra seemed to… do something. He wasn’t familiar enough with the technique to tell.
The last handseal was next. So far, the Ninjutsu had taken him around eleven seconds, with his breath held and his chest full of air.
“Katon:” Tiger. “Endan no Jutsu!”
A small, weak blast of flame shot from his lips as he finished the Ninjutsu. The scroll had mentioned that for anyone new to using Chakra, they would feel a noticeable dip in their Chakra reserves. Hattori noticed nothing like that. He frowned, before changing it to a smile; he was proud of himself.
Hattori had successfully cast the Endan no Jutsu. He was greeted by Tako nodding approvingly, and the shocked and awed gazes of the children in his Clan.
“It’s impressive you used the Jutsu on your first real attempt, Hattori-san.” Hattori mentally noted the word ‘Jutsu.’ A single form of Ninjutsu. “Congratulations. Am I correct in assuming you’ll manage the lessons from here?”
Hattori nodded. “It’s a complicated topic to enter, but… I think I have the hang of it. Before you leave, are there any other Ninjutsu you can leave with us?”
Tako smiled wryly. Hattori-san is straining our kind relations, asking for this kind of thing.
“It’s possible to deliver a scroll for the other four basic Ninjutsu. This is a considerable gift, Hattori-san. Ninja Clan do not often share scrolls, even ones so publicly known, with each other.”
Hattori bowed deeply. “Then I thank you for this gratitude.”
Tako sighed. “Yeah, alright. Whatever. I’ll deliver them by the end of the day. You owe me one. Nah, you owe me two. Got it?”
Hattori offered a smile, and no response, watching as Tako left.
----------------------------------------
With that criminally short, but still somehow the longest yet, chapter out of the way, our boy has finally learned his first Jutsu. It’s only a C-Rank, but he’ll be getting a second C-Rank Ninjutsu next chapter. Most of the children of the Yanmaru Clan will have it down by the end of the day. It is an extremely basic technique, entry-level Ninjutsu. Which brings me to the explanation of Ninjutsu Ranks. Sigh. Alright, let’s get it over with.