“I should have taken that mission.” The ANBU responsible for watching Raito’s group, saw that everyone went to sleep, then began stretching. Once again, the spotlight shone on Raito, who had made significant progress in Earth Manipulation.
He created a clone for a replacement then left the area.
At the opposite pole of the training ground from Raito’s area, Sasuke and his group were doing bare minimum for life and comfort.
In a cleared space, Shino stood silently, observing his two teammates engaged in combat. Comparing his Taijutsu skills to his teammates, he ranked the lowest, but within the entire batch, he held a place in the top ten.
Back at the academy, he was often paired with lower-level students, or occasionally with Kiba, Sasuke, or Raito, all of whom had superior Taijutsu levels.
Close combat fight was never Shino’s forte. His strength lay in stealth, observation, analysis, and, of course, the techniques of his renowned Aburame Clan.
Shino observed Kiba and Sasuke sparring. Kiba’s highly aggressive style of fighting, where every move was aimed to cause massive damage and Sasuke counterattacking type of fighting technique, where things would be first slow before escalating suddenly.
It was the tenth round yet the result would be the same every single time – Sasuke’s win and Kiba’s defeat.
“It’s same every time, no matter what.” Sasuke dodged the tackle and the claw then the high kick. He then invaded Kiba’s space and stepped on his feet before throwing a knee to the gut then finishing it with a punch to his face.
Sasuke enjoyed the victory for a moment before helping Kiba up. This kind of fight was too boring. Fighting, learning, and growing was what it was supposed to be, but he knew with Kiba and Shino, it can’t be like that. He felt that the improvements were slow.
This stifling feeling was because of the comparison character, Raito. Even though it was once a week all-out battle and several times during academy sparring matches, Raito would always surprise him. He was a counter to his counterattacks. When fighting Raito, he would learn a few tricks and make improvements. Every single time he would feel pressure, the desire to improve and try his best, hoping he would not be left behind. ‘If everything was just…’
From a vantage point above, a silver-haired ANBU sighed, “They only fight, eat and sleep. It’s boring, don’t you think, Tenzō?”
Kakashi turned around as a short brown-haired ANBU dropped down from a tree.
“Senpai, you are as sharp as always.” Tenzō commented, removing his mask.
Kakashi scribbled everything of the day on a paper and placed it on a scroll with weird geometrical marking – a circle, a square, and a triangle. It was a drawing with square inside a circle then a triangle inside the circle.
After a few hand seal, the markings turned into a line and crawled on the folded paper, placed on the open scroll. The folded paper disappeared with a cloud of chakra smoke.
“Those from the research department really made something useful this time.” Kakashi remarked, clicking his tongue as he closed the scroll and stashed it in his jacket.
With a thermos in hand, Kakashi opened the lid. Steam wafted out, carrying the invigorating aroma of hot coffee. Kakashi poured himself a cup and began sipping.
Tenzō stood foolishly for a little while before reaching out, but before he could grab it, his hand was slapped away.
Kakashi took another sip and said, “Tenzō, don’t you have a cup? You know, I don’t share a cup with anyone.”
Patting everywhere on his body, Tenzō scratched his head and laughed embarrassingly. After a bit of thought, he channeled his chakra, creating a cup, which was slightly larger than Kakashi’s.
Giving him a lazy eye smile, Kakashi filled his cup. “I never thought about this.”
Looking at the steam coming out of the cup, he recalled the boy and said.
“Senpai, this idea was actually from a kid, from the academy.”
“Who?” Kakashi had a boy in his mind. Only one who used Chakra Flow and Nature Transformation in the middle of the street.
“Yoshizawa Raito, Akeno and Michio’s son.” Tenzō answered as he sat down beside Kakashi. “He is really amazing, senpai.”
“What did he do?” Kakashi asked. ‘What else would you have done, Yoshizawa?’
“You wouldn’t believe me, senpai but that kid is too abnormal. He’s using elemental manipulation. When he first came, I’m sure he didn’t know how to, but he learned in just a few days. He made a big room, table, chairs and a big bath, like hot springs type. He even made a bird fountain. He used the stones, lying around to make all that.”
Kakashi listened to it all and remained silent, like a good listener.
“It sounds like dream, senpai.” Tenzō paused then added. “It’s abnormal.”
“What’s abnormal? You made all of those when you were younger than he was and I made my own jutsu when I was younger. Isn’t that much better in comparison?” Kakashi said with pride, and sorrow.
‘The birds were gathering on the fountain rather than drinking it from the natural elements. That’s what’s abnormal.’
Tenzō looked across the river to the small cave internally chuckling. ‘He would laugh at me if I said that.’
“How is the team you are looking after doing?” Changing topics, Tenzō asked.
“Are you talking about them?” Kakashi looked at the team and replied, “Just boring. There isn’t much to see. I agree that they’re better than almost all of the students but they don’t have anything I am looking for. Fighting, eating then sleeping, that’s all they can do. I have so much free time that I finished all my books.” Kakashi waved his book, showing Tenzō his rare collective edition of Icha-Icha Paradise.
Looking at the familiar book, Tenzō asked. “Are you talking about Jiraiya-sama’s books, senpai?” Even though Tenzō read in his free time, he was not like Kakashi, who was glued to books like a second skin.
“This last book of Icha-Icha series, ‘Full Blossom’ was really good. I wonder when is Jiraiya-sama’s next book is going to be released?” Pocketing the book inside a seal. It looked like; he wanted to frame the book if he could.
Tenzō nodded sagely, but stopped, then looked at Kakashi. “Senpai, didn’t you know? Jiraiya-sama released a new book last Friday. The title of the book was ‘Night Castle’.”
“Eh!? Ehhhh!?” due to all the spyin- working, Kakashi had missed a lot of things. A kid had managed to disturb his life to such an extent that it had blocked his great pursuit to… let’s just name it but know it’s a good thing for every living soul in the world.
After being shocked for a while, Kakashi recovered. Kakashi gave a side-glance to Tenzō, who was lost in his own dream world.
“That kid is a gem.” Tenzō, who was drinking his coffee, sighed and added, “Seeing the students working hard I feel like, I’m getting old.”
“You are getting old.” Kakashi attacked heartlessly but Tenzō also gave Kakashi an odd look.
“Even Yūgao and Hayate are getting married.” Tenzō sighed in his own worry.
“Asuma and Kurenai are dating too.” Kakashi added.
“That too.” Tenzō paused and sighed. He looked at Kakashi and hesitated, “There’s a thing that I have been wanting to ask, senpai. You know… that, um, thing.
‘It looks like he wants to talk about a girl.’ Kakashi took a sip and said, “Tenzō, come to the point.” Kakashi filled his cup once more.
Tenzō was hesitated but then recalled what Raito had mentioned at beginning of the test. “There is a girl that I have been wanting to see.
“Eh!?” ‘Saw right through you.’ Kakashi feigned shock, but internally, he sighed at his super predicting abilities.
“Fuyuko Fumihiko, from the intelligence department. We went on a date last time but I had to go on an emergency call. Hokage-sama called, so what could I do? I apologized and ran.” Tenzō started telling his story.
‘He went on a date? What am I doing with my life?’
Kakashi inner thoughts were messed up. For as long as he could remember, he spent most of his time in missions, his lovely books and then lastly… Gai. Reflecting on his actions, Kakashi couldn't help but take it seriously.
“Since then, she won’t look at me. Now, she has been ignoring me. Senpai what should I do?” Tenzō asked his all-rounder super senpai. ‘Senpai is popular among the sensor division women. He should know about this…’
‘No, no why are you asking me this?’ Even though it was a difficult topic for him, Kakashi tried his best to give advice to his cute kōhai.
“When was the date?” Kakashi started with investigating tone.
“Two weeks ago.” Tenzō answered truthfully.
Taking a deep breath, Kakashi sighed and started his bullshit, “Tenzō, you have to be straightforward about it. It would be easy to find information on her. Wear something good and proper, grab flowers she like, find out the day she has leave and also ask someone to take the shift if an emergency comes for her. Don’t ask her, but tell her to come with you, give her flower and…”
Tenzō nodded and scribbled in his paper, “This seems like an awesome idea.”
‘I am at that age too.’ Kakashi questioned himself on the inside. ‘Should I?’
[05:00]
[You have slept in a makeshift bed. HP and CP has been fully recovered. All abnormal status and negative ailments have been restored.]
Raito woke up and looked at the clock with dissatisfaction. He then patted the hand-woven mattress and felt a little cold. Stepping outside the room, Raito stood in front of a fire chamber.
[Big Earthen Chamber (Rare)]
Durability – 60/500
‘This isn’t a long term solution.’ Raito collected all the left over burnt wood then replaced them and started the fire again. He then grabbed some rocks and used Earth Manipulation. The rock changed into water like before enveloping the Fire chamber.
[Big Earthen Chamber (Rare)]
Durability – 300/500
Stretching his body, Raito went near the water. Grabbing a brushing bush, he started brushing teeth and with chakra enhanced water, he rinsed his mouth and washed his face.
Raito grabbed a stone axe then Raito walked towards the dense forest. ‘[ID Create: Wasteland – Zombie]’
Back in this familiar land with its red sky and moon, monsters lurked, neither dead nor alive.
Standing in the middle of the road, Raito approached a group of zombies, a small axe in hand. “Finally.”
“[Earth Release – Rock Fist]”
Rocks sprouted from Raito’s arms, covering his entire forearm. Examining the mismatched hand and axe, Raito decided to make some adjustments. He added a couple of rocks to the axe, expanding it several times over. It now resembled a halberd more than an axe.
[Unbalanced Rock Battle Axe]
A large broad-bladed axe used in warfare.
Note - Made by the extremely novice Craftsman, Raito, with a horrible design, uneven weight distribution. Extremely disappointing to use.
Made by – Yoshizawa Raito
Owner – Yoshizawa Raito
Grade – -7/10
Weight – 15 kg
Durability – 100/100
(Blueprint)
(Flaws)
(Modification)
‘What a pain.’ Raito closed the tabs and activating his chakra.
[Chakra Reinforcement], [Chakra Flow], [Nature Flow], [Stealth]
Upon activating the skill, his chakra took a dive.
With a leap, Raito swung the axe, cutting down a couple of zombies in one swing. With his other hand, he grabbed and tossed another zombie aside.
Slash. Raito casually cut down the zombies one after another.
Gasping for breath, Raito threw the battle-axe to the top of the watchtower then deactivated the Rock Fist. After confirming that every zombie in the area was dead, Raito laid his back on the wall of the tower and rested.
[Yoshizawa Raito Lvl 13 Exp 95%]
[Log]
* Killed 90 zombies.
* Entered Dungeon: Wasteland – zombie
* Repaired Earthen Chamber
‘Ten more? Where are you, stupid zombies?’
“Damn it,” Raito cursed, punched the wall before grabbing the axe and disappearing from the spot. ‘[ID Escape]’
Raito returned to the real world an hour later with a battle axe in his hand. Just as he stepped out, Raito saw a small dog in front of him, which had a Konoha forehead protector.
His pupils dilated, Raito took a jump back disappearing from the dog’s view and used ‘[Stealth]’, disappearing from the dog’s sight and smell.
“He disappeared,” The dog spoke and started sniffing. Finding nothing, he turned around and went back.
Raito walked out of the forest and walked towards the river. Washing his hand and face, Raito checked himself for any scratches and any kind of injuries but there was none.
He hurried back to the settlement area and started preparing for the morning.
Inside the cave, Shikamaru woke up due to Raito making noise, which was not much. He lay lazily, gazing at the ceiling for a few minutes before attempting to move. Feeling stiffness in his neck, Shikamaru woke uncomfortably and grumbled in pain, "We definitely need pillows."
Outside the cave, Raito placed his index and thumb fingers in the water then activated his chakra, “[Fire Spark]”. The water in the vat soon released steam, releasing heat. Feeling curious, he willed for more chakra into the jutsu and soon nearly, a fifth of the chakra was exhausted when the water started boiling. Alarmed at his decreasing HP, Raito quickly pulled back and started healing himself. Seeing that the wounds in his hand starting to heal and his HP rising, Raito sighed in relief. “I am stupid.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“You’re up early.” Shikamaru called, still holding his neck.
“Eh? Shika, you can wake up so early, what happened?” Raito turned, surprised to see Shikamaru coming over.
“Nothing, my neck feels stiff right now. It’s hard to even move my neck.” Shikamaru complained as he pressed his hand on the neck with a bit of force.
With glowing green chakra in his hand, Raito reached out to Shikamaru’s neck and used heal on it. “Try moving.”
Shikamaru tried moving and freely moved his neck with ease. “That feels good.”
“After resting for a bit, you will be all fine, Shika.” Raito removed his hands and the green glow vanished.
Shikamaru looked at Raito with determined glare and said, “We need pillows.”
Raito held in his laughter and said, “Sure, anytime. If the blanket didn’t get wet, I would have already made it.”
Shikamaru also grabbed a bush and held a cup of water to brush his teeth.
“Shika, can we make some ink and a brush?” Raito asked, looking back at the cave.
Bush in his mouth, Shikamaru looked at Raito asking for what he needed those for.
“For Fūinjutsu,” Raito answered simply and explained. “With Fūinjutsu, we can make a temperature regulating seal, preservation seal and fortification seal.”
“That’s level three seals. Can you do it?” Shikamaru asked suspiciously.
“Of course I can.” Raito said proudly and added, “I can already make the harder level three seals now. Life would be much easier with those seals.”
“The fire chamber didn’t work?” Shikamaru turned to look at the chamber and found that it looked much different to what he remembered.
“I tried, but I don’t think it will last long.” Raito shrugged then added a few branches to the chamber.
“With Illumination Seal, it will be easier during night and with thermal seal, we don’t need that fire chamber and boiler.” Raito shrugged.
“You are abnormal, Raito.” Shikamaru rinsed his mouth and commented without even looking at him.
“What’s so abnormal about learning Fūinjutsu? There are lots of people doing Fūinjutsu.” Raito retorted.
“That’s not what I meant, but you clearly told me last time that you just wanted to read Fūinjutsu theory. But how come you know how to make seals now? The books I gave you did not even have a Fūinjutsu formula. Everything was just theory.” Shikamaru stared at Raito.
“…I took one book from Jii-chan’s bookshelf.” Raito said reluctantly.
“Did you steal them?” Shikamaru asked in a daze.
“Did you go stupid?” Raito rolled his eyes.
“I did something and Jiji gave me a book in return.” Raito said proudly.
After a long pause, Shikamaru sighed and said, “I will look for things around.”
“Sure.” Grabbing apples from the box, he gave one to Shikamaru and took a bite himself.
“I will be back in a few hours.” Raito said as he ran away.
Seeing his back Shikamaru could only resign to his fate, to wait for someone else to wake up.
Chickens were resting on the side of the hill. Raito tried some traps, like trap holes but it failed miserably. These chickens were either, incredibly smart or the traps were just that stupid.
Raito changed few stones into a sharp circular disk and threw them instantly chopping their head off.
‘Weight distribution is really shitty.’ Raito thought, massaging his forehead, throwing away the stone kunai and shuriken.
Seeing that Raito brought the chicken back, the first to react was Chōji. With a furious wind, the three chickens in Raito’s hand were snatched away in a blink of the eye. With the rock knife, Chōji started preparing the chicken and gave Raito a list of things to bring.
Grumbling, Raito went back to collect the necessary ingredients. Tomatoes, ginger, onion, chili pepper and various other spices. ‘He is lucky I have Observe-sama with me.’
Raito started collected the ingredients. He found that most of the ingredients were just lying around. They were just hidden in the plain sight. Someone who had no knowledge of what the plants looked like, had no chance, only luck could save them.
Walking back to settlement, Raito saw a silver haired ANBU sitting on a stone lazily. “Are you guys making chicken? Am I invited?”
“Kakashi-sensei?” Raito asked without even looking. “What did you do with ‘rule-book’?”
“Rule book?” Kakashi laughed after understanding the mock.
“Why are you here?” Raito asked as he started picking herbs.
“Me? I swapped places with the other ANBU.” Kakashi answered plainly.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to.” Stunned by the answer, Raito chose to ignore Kakashi. On the way back, Raito grabbed a few edibles that could be eaten raw and baked easily.
“Say, Kakashi sensei, who made all this training ground?” Raito asked.
Kakashi replied after making Raito wait for half a minute. “Some Chūnin and Jōnin. One just needs earth jutsu and water jutsu.”
“What about… the trees?” Raito asked again this time with more of interest.
“The trees? They grew themselves.” Kakashi replied smoothly without needing to think.
[Lie detected].
“Liar.” Raito shouted in low voice then continued in his path.
Reaching the shelter area, Raito saw that Chōji had already cleaned the chicken of its feathers and the innards and the body was stabbed with a rock skewer. There were few herbs inserted on the underlying skin, which looked like a tightly fitted glove.
Seeing that Raito was coming, Chōji waved his hand to call him. Handing Chōji all the ingredients, Raito was again issued with another job of making mortar and pestles.
Finishing the job quickly Raito saw that the experience bar for ‘Earth Manipulation’ was quickly filling up.
Raito made few things that he did not need, like a nice looking statue of Konoha symbol. It looked like it would fall apart at any moment but with the help of Observe-sama, Raito made improvements, and in the end, he even gained a blue print.
In his few experiments, Raito chose the rocks with big volume and weight and started compressing until it was the size of a marble. While not all were successfully turned into the size of a marble, their size decreased.
With the increase in level, the power to compress increased accordingly.
In his hand, he held a small bead with a weight of 15 kg.
If they were used with the skill ‘Throw’, the result will definitely be dangerous.
Laughing loudly, Raito moved all of these stones inside the cave and started making flower pots, Raito decided to put his ideas into test.
When the vats were full of purified water and his chakra full, Raito splashed the water on the wall outside the cave. To his amazement, on the wall, there were green sprouts. New green life ready to blossom.
Raito started gardening job, collecting flower plants and watered them with purified water.
While Raito was doing all kinds of mind-boggling work. Chōji was outside the cave with chicken, turning them around from time to time.
The aroma was so enticing that a small pug with brown fur, a dark brown snout and ears, wearing a blue vest with the heno-heno-moheji seal and a Konoha forehead protector, sat at the top of a tree on the cliff. It twitched its nose, disappeared, and then landed near Chōji’s cooking area.
“A ninken?” Chōji watched the brown pug and placed himself between the chicken and the ninken.
“That smells nice.” The ninken spoke making Chōji jump in surprise.
Chōji quickly leveled the ninken ‘high level’.
“I made it.” Chōji replied with some hesitation.
“My name is Pakkun, the new supervisor’s summon, who is looking after you all.” Pakkun emphasized, introduced himself, raising his paws, which were soft and pink.
“That chicken smells nice. Mind sharing?” Immediately after introducing himself, Pakkun asked with desire, evident in his eyes.
Seeing the desire, similar desire rose in Chōji’s eyes, and he nodded heavily
“If there are more of you, you have to bring chicken yourself.” The ingredients that Raito brought were abundant but the number of chicken was limited.
Nodding his head Pakkun disappeared from the area.
Meditating, Raito used ‘Chakra Sense’ and saw the whole thing.
Watering the plants, Raito left the cave and went towards the open area, where everyone was training. Reaching the area, Raito was stunned. Naruto, Hinata, Ino and Sakura had already started doing the ‘Tree Climbing Exercise’.
‘We were going to do this together.’
What was more surprising was that Ino and Naruto were struggling, but Sakura standing on the branch at the upper part of the tree.
[Haruno Sakura Lvl 8]
HP: 350/850
CP: 175/500
[Yamanaka Ino Lvl 8]
HP: 12520/1250
CP: 400/1200
[Uzumaki Naruto Lvl 10]
HP: 2600/2800
CP: 61000/66000
“You guys have already started, not even waiting for me.” Raito cried in mock anger.
“Raito!!” Naruto shouted as he jumped from his lying position. Scratching his hair, he added, “It’s so difficult. Chakra control is really hard. I wish I was smart like Sakura.” Naruto’s last sentence was said in such a low voice, only he could hear but with Raito’s lip reading, he easily knew what Naruto was saying.
Going in front, Raito smiled warmly with the position ready to hug him. Confused and oblivious, Naruto also smiled and spread his arms wide open and closed his eyes with a happy smile. The hug never came but a fist hit Naruto square at the head in full force, decreasing HP by 40.
Grabbing his head in pain, Naruto cried out, “Don’t hit my head; I will become even more stupid.”
“Don’t say useless things.” Raito replied as he turned and walked in front of Hinata, asking her to teach him. After carefully explaining the entire process, Hinata confirmed that she had conveyed all the necessary steps for the Tree Climbing Exercise.
‘I directly got the skill notification from her.’
[Tree Climbing Exercise (Active/Passive) Lvl 0 CP Cost – 120 per minute]
# Using chakra as a powerful adhesive force to stick to the tree and maintain internal system balance.
# +50 CP permanently every level.
“Hehe, it’s so easy.” Raito laughed as he ran up and down the tree.
Naruto and Ino, looked at Raito in annoyance. What they could not learn in a long time, Raito learned in just a few minutes. This was really angering the two to death.
On the side, Hinata had her small mouth open for a whole minute seeing Raito’s comprehensive ability.
Sakura, leaning against a tree, was catching her breath after attempting the exercise twice, realizing that pushing herself further would strain her chakra system.
Seeing Raito freely walking on the tree made everyone feel slight awe. His ability to comprehend was really too godly and even flaunting, please care about your image.
Raito was very happy right now, this skill gave him another chance to raise his chakra pool. So without caring for the depleting CP, he walked the tree until his CP was exhausted. The skill leveled up a few times and his chakra pool increased permanently by a couple of hundreds.
After his intense grinding, Raito sat in meditation and recovered.
In the midst of recovering his chakra, he ‘saw’ Shikamaru coming.
“Food is ready, come and eat.” Shikamaru shouted grabbing everyone’s attention.
Hearing the announcement, Naruto dashed first, followed closely by Hinata then Ino and Sakura. Seeing that everyone left, Raito slowly walked towards Shikamaru and waited.
“Ink and brush, both are ready.” Shikamaru said lazily.
“En, I will make them after the meal.” Raito replied, nodding as he counted in his fingers.
“It’s not like we really need them.” Shikamaru walked forward.
“Nope, those are the must.” Raito insisted.
In front, Sakura and Ino were chatting.
“I would have shown you pictures, just like Mari-sensei had shown me, but I don’t have them with me right now.”
“Really? But dieting is-”
“Didn’t you see Hinata’s? She doesn’t diet at all and she is not fat at all. All are at right places too.”
“That’s right.”
“You know Kunoichi are more beautiful than any other civilians.”
“Really.”
“Training is like sculpting body, just the way you want. Eating is like providing the body with energy to sculpt.”
“But didn’t you say before that muscle training will make girls look like brutes?”
“That was before.” Ino replied with an awkward smile.
The aroma of the beautifully cooked chicken wafted through the air, enticing Naruto and Chōji to drool uncontrollably.
Glancing at the cooking area, Raito noticed six chickens, not the three he had originally brought.
After Chōji had brought down the skewers, the ninken appeared swiftly, grabbing the skewer and disappearing in the wind.
“What the hell was that?”
“Our chicken.” Naruto shouted, frantically searching around.
Chōji ignored him and continued cutting the chicken into standard pieces and plating them. After finishing his work, Chōji answered, “Those were the ANBU’s summon. They brought chicken so I made it for them.”
Raito simply shrugged and ignored the issue. The only one who had dog summon, aside from the Inuzuka clam, was Kakashi, and the affiliation forehead protector clearly said Konoha.
After eating their fill, everyone started training, some in groups while other alone. Shikamaru, Chōji and Raito trained solo, while Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto trained in groups.
Raito stood beside the waterfall, facing the cliff then looked towards the group of Naruto and girls.
‘My work for evening is to get branches from the top of the tree.’
Looking at the top of the cliff Raito let out a breath then touched the rocks. He theorized and moved chakra to his hand, creating a suctioning force.
“I can.”
A smile played on his face as Raito moved chakra to his feet and stepped onto the rocks. ‘It’s easier than I thought.’
One step, two step, three, four, five… Without much trouble, Raito had already walked the quarter of the cliff. Within a few minutes, he was already at the top.
[Due to a special action, a new skill has been created.]
[Skill ‘Rock Walking’ has been created].
[Rock walking (Active) Lvl 1 CP Cost 120 per minute]
# Using chakra as a powerful adhesive force to stick to the rocks and maintain internal system balance.
# +40 CP permanently every level.
A new skill has been unlocked – sub [Chakra Control] – [Chakra Adhesion].
[Chakra adhesion (Active) Lvl 1 CP Cost 40]
# Using chakra as a powerful adhesive force.
# +10 CP every level
“Not bad kid.” an unknown voice remarked, shocking Raito as he read through the notification.
“Wah!” Raito instinctively jumped back, pushing the rock below his feet.
Gravity acting on him, Raito felt weightless, falling down the top of the cliff. He could feel the earth coming so much closer, ready to slap him.
Raito thought that he would be overwhelmed by all the senses coming at him at once, but lifesaving skills had automatically been activated, ‘[Fast Thinking]’ and ‘[Chakra Sense]’. Mainly it is because of the Gamer’s Mind, which already had become a true passive.
Useless actions disappeared in a moment, and Raito moved his hands. Not even a second passed as Raito twisted his body and grabbed the jagged rocks. Cuts from them made his blood appear, reminding him of his precious life. Activating ‘[Chakra Adhesion]’, he stuck to the rock wall.
“Raito.” Chōji’s big hand caught Raito as he stuck on the tree beside to the cliff. Letting go of the rocks, Raito handed his life to his chubby friend.
“Hey, who is there?” Naruto rushed in and shouted to the top of his voice.
“Show up.” Ino shouted, glaring in anger.
“Hinata, can you see who’s there?” Shikamaru asked.
Hinata looked and answered. “There is a dog… ninken.”
“Stop!” Raito shouted, his voice and hand trembling.
Landing on the ground, Raito took deep long breaths and looked at everyone. The Gamer's Mind had taken all that fear and worry away, leaving just calmness. Raito apologized, “I am sorry that happened. I was lost in my own thoughts, and it all happened because of my carelessness.”
Bringing Raito’s hand towards her, Ino picked out the small stones in his hands. Looking over, Hinata had already brought water to clean the wound.
After cleaning the wound, Ino started channeling her chakra to her hand. Her hand glowed greenish-blue, giving a slightly cold sensation.
-1 HP
-1 HP
Raito smiled. Her chakra was overflowing and over sizing against the technique, which was a big no. Her emotions were interfering with the technique, and her chakra control was no good.
“Ino,” Raito raised his hand and asked Ino to stop. He looked up towards the sound of the voice, which made Ino look at the top of cliff too. Under the guise, Raito quickly used heal on his hand, the wounds disappearing.
At the top of the cliff.
“Yeah, seriously bad. They are going to be with you for at least six months, you know, Kakashi.”
“Let’s go Pakkun.” Kakashi grabbed Pakkun and jumped down.
He put Pakkun down and coughed lightly, “Pakkun has something to say.”
Grumbling, Pakkun walked forward and stood on a stone to come to Raito’s height. “Sorry there, kid. I didn’t know you were a jumper.”
“A-A talking d-dog?” Sakura shocked voice grabbed everyone’s attention.
Everyone gave Sakura an eye of confusion asking, ‘so what?’
Pakkun pointed at Kakashi and informed the poor soul. “Of course I can talk, I am a ninken after all and a proud member of the village, nearly as old as him. If the Hokage gave me a rank I would probably a special Jōnin.”
“You, girl, pinkie, you are quite smart, aren’t you?” Sniffing lightly, Pakkun faced Sakura and asked.
Sakura didn’t think of the failures she had experienced these past few days but she remembered her top scores in the exams and asked. “Me? Yeah, you can say so. But really how did you know?”
“Of course, because you use the best choice shampoo, ‘Floral Green Shampoo’, same as me.” Pakkun said cheerily.
“I-I use the same sha-sham-poo as a dog?” Sakura kneeled as her soul flew out.
Turning around, Pakkun faced Raito once again and coughed lightly, “So kid, as compensation I will let you touch my paw.”
“Your paw?” Raito raised his hands and touched Pakkun’s paw.
“Soft and squishy, really comfortable.” Raito assessed and said aloud.
[Increased relation with Pakkun]
As Raito played with Pakkun’s paw, he scooped Pakkun, facing Kakashi, he said, “I will take Pakkun for a day.”
“Eh!” Kakashi wearing ANBU outfit made a sudden shocked noise in which his chakra fluctuated. “That I don’t think will be suitable.”
“Kakashi?” Pakkun looked at his summoner, asking for confirmation.
Kakashi shrugged and sighed, “Okay, but don’t interfere.”
Pakkun in his hands, Raito turned around and with everyone returned to the resting area.
It was 3 PM, and with makeshift brush and ink in front of him, Raito took out a paper from the wooden box from the first day.
Pakkun lounged on Chōji’s head, wanting to see a nice show. He was very much interested in the boy that made so many things around.
Everyone was inside the cave room, forming a circle. Raito arranged paper, ink, and brush in front of him. Turning to Naruto, he remembered. Even though Naruto said that it was his first time, he had made explosion talisman a couple of time with Raito as observer. Giving Naruto a smile, he said. “Naruto, it will be the first time I will be doing Fūinjutsu in front of anyone. See how I do it.”
“Even I could have made it,” Naruto pouted.
Grasping the brush, Raito allowed his chakra to flow into it. He dipped it into the ink slab, rolling and mixing chakra into the ink. It was made easier by the fact that he had already added a few drops of his blood to the ink. Then, dragging the brush to the edge, he started his demonstration.
“Fūinjutsu.” Sakura, hailing from a civilian background, had never witnessed the art. She found herself captivated by the Character Seals that Raito deftly drew on the surface of a clean rock.
“[Fūinjutsu – Thermal Seal]”
“Shika.” Shikamaru quickly performed a set of hand seals and sent a pulse of chakra to the seal.
[Nara Shikamaru – Primary Fire and Earth Affinity]
With a pulse of chakra, the character distorted and changed into a straight black line with a single red dot at the center.
The process of ink moving from the stone to the paper, characters forming on the paper, and then all the ink disappearing, leaving behind a single line with a red dot, baffled Sakura. Observing the group's nonchalant reaction, she decided to stay quiet and watch attentively.
Raito proceeded to draw another set of Character Seals on the stone and sent a pulse of chakra.
“[Fūinjutsu – Illumination Seal]”
“Ino.” Raito called Ino, who made a set of hand seal and sent a pulse of chakra towards the seal.
[Yamanaka Ino – Primary Lightning Affinity]
“Done.” Raito smiled joyfully and, using chakra, transferred the seals from paper to the rocks. He affixed the illumination seal on top of the cave and the temperature-regulating seal at the back, strategically.
With his ‘[Chakra Sense]’, Raito felt the connection to the seals in the cave and activated the two seals. Then there was light from the seal at the top and coldness gradually disappeared, making the cave room warm.
[Skill ‘Fūinjutsu’ leveled up.]
“T-This is Fūinjutsu?” Sakura was shocked from what was happening.
“Ah, the warmth.” Ino exclaimed, falling onto the bamboo bed and stretched.
“I can keep it going for the next couple of days with maintenance.”
Naruto pulled Raito and asked, “Raito what was that red dot on the seal?”
“That’s….” the corners of his eyes fell on Sakura, who was looking at the seals, and a feeling of displeasure appeared in his heart, “….a secret. I’ll tell you later.” The later sentence was said in a low voice that only the near ones were able to hear.
The one who was the most absorbed would be – Shikamaru. He looked at the seals then on Naruto and Raito. His gaze making Raito get goosebumps.