Chapter 13: Basic Jutsu 

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Three months later… 

"So class – the day has finally come when you will learn a Jutsu." 

To Arima's voice, every kid grew a certain gleam in their eyes as they started chatting amongst themselves. 

"It is called the clone jutsu and I will demonstrate it now," he said – starting to do some hand seals. 

After he finished doing this – a cloud of smoke puffed up – and dissipated in a moment before revealing another person next to him. The strange thing was that this figure looked the same as Arima with no detail missed. 

No one was surprised – obviously – they had seen better jutsu, including Akio. That memory of the jutsu his father pulled… he still replays it in his head which felt real too. 

"All of you will get a scroll, containing the method and the hand seals; I will test you on your progress a week later." 

All the kids were excited at the thought of gaining a jutsu scroll. The first thing that comes to their head when a shinobi is mentioned… jutsu… this was a kid's goal in Konoha – to learn jutsu – and as much as they could. 

So, the kids stood up and collected a scroll each – one by one before desperately walking home – trying to get there as fast as they could just to learn the jutsu. They wanted to learn it asap even though it was a simple clone technique. 

Akio was now at home, digesting the contents of the scroll. 

'So it is an illusionary jutsu. This technique is one of the foundations of jutsu – the most basic – e rank.'

As he read over the contents, Akio found out that this technique's purpose was mostly for getting a hang of jutsu. It was not to be used in battle unless you were extremely proficient in it. 

On the scroll, it told him about the hand seals and how to use the chakra to perform them. 

Just because it was basic jutsu; it didn't mean that it was easy… no – it was actually difficult due to learning jutsu for the first time. No one was going to be proficient with this in a week; not even him with his mental ability. 

Learning basic chakra control was all for this moment – learning the clone technique – this was the academy's system. 

So, without further adieu, Akio closed his eyes and concentrated his full focus on his chakra. He lifted his hands and performed the hand seals – in sync with the chakra pattern shown on the scroll.  

His eyebrows were knitted as he slowly, and in steps moved his hands; the chakra in his body flowed in a certain rhythm… but in the next moment, he stopped.

Akio opened his eyes and deeply inhaled.

He had officially done his first attempt – and to his expectations – it was a fail. This didn't discourage him though as he tried again – and again until… 

Akio's figure was now dishevelled – sweat dripped down his forehead and his breaths were now irregular. 

'Damn... I have tried countless times but now, even my chakra reserves are basically empty. But I can feel that I'm making progress, I just have to figure out the timing and chakra flow.'

Even though he failed on countless attempts, Akio still gained some information so it was not in vain. He realised that all that mattered was the timing, and speed of the chakra pattern – as well as hitting the hand seal in sync. 

It required plenty of multi-tasking but Akio guessed this was the whole point of the exercise – to get these little things down for further learning of jutsu. 

Now that his chakra reserves are empty, he could only wait till the next day to try again… if he could attempt it countless times with his chakra reserves; he couldn't imagine what those civilian kids would do. 

He was lucky to have decent chakra reserves – not a monstrous amount but the average of a clan kid. This didn't sound like much but considering Akio's situation – let's just say it's more than what he hoped for.

Although he had a lot more chakra than a civilian, compared with the Inuzuka girl – it was rather mild. 

Due to being the heir of the clan, she trained from the lowest age which created a lot of bodily experiences – coupled with her Inuzuka genetics… She had the most reserves in the class. 

Akio – because he started late – did these things such as exhausting his reserves every day yet it just wasn't enough. So this body missed a lot of years where the chakra could have been developing… 

In his class, he was at least in the top seven for chakra reserves. That coupled with his chakra control in the future would make him a formidable opponent. 

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A week later…

Everyone was currently seated in the classroom, whilst Arima stood at the front – explaining something. 

"Now that you have all gone through the process of learning jutsu – it is now time for each one of you to showcase your progress," Arima explained – and seeing some children that looked disappointed – he carried on. 

"Don't worry, I know making progress is hard with only a week but I'm not expecting anything from you guys."

This lightened them up a bit. 

First up was the Inuzuka girl… it wasn't any surprise that she did the clone technique – but her clone was quite transparent and the features weren't there. 

Other kids stood up at the front – trying their hardest to do the hand seals – knitting their eyebrows as they failed an attempt in front of the class. 

Next was the Uchiha kid; he channelled his chakra whilst closing his eyes and carefully but rhythmically did the hand seals until… 

"Well done Arise – now you and Tsume can do the Jutsu." 

Unlike Tsume's, his was a lot more transparent with only the mouth and eyes as the feature. Still, it was a lot more than what the others could do. 

Time passed – and soon it was Akio's turn, to which he walked up to the front. 

Channelling his chakra in sync whilst doing his hand seals – a puff of smoke was blown beside him… and a clone – which looked hardly transparent was in front of them. 

Arima's lips quivered. "Well done Akio – now you're one of the three who could do it." 

He was extremely surprised at this – he never expected Akio to have talent in jutsu. In just one week, he performed a feat that took others a few weeks or a month… 

It required constant training every day; it didn't matter how hard you worked since your chakra reserves would run out anyway.

Arima was pleased with someone like Akio – the smartest student in his class. Teachers liked smart students and this was sealed in his mind when he scored full marks on his comprehension test.

He couldn't wait for the upcoming exams to see what Akio's score will be on there. Secretly, he already had a favourite: Akio. As much as he would like to say that he liked every student equally… his favourite was him. 

Finally, everyone had been tested and the progress was marked in their file. Only Arise, Tsume and Akio were the ones to gain some progress – scoring the highest. 

In truth, Akio was surprised at how little everyone progressed compared to him – giving him a new perspective. Maybe it was his mental ability that gave him an edge or something else, but this motivated him more. 

'Seems my talent in jutsu is the strongest point. I shall start training this basic jutsu until I am most proficient with it.'

There came benefits to mastering this jutsu to the highest level… 

First – depending on how high of mastery you have; you could use it in battle. Another reason – learning future jutsu becomes easier due to having that much refinement over your control. Of course – the most obvious is because this jutsu depends on whether you can graduate or not. 

Body training wasn't giving him many gains – now he had something else to do besides honing his chakra control. 

After he gained proficiency in this, it wouldn't be long before Arima had the next jutsu to learn.

However, when he thought of jutsu; he didn't want to use this stuff… but the real thing – using chakra nature. 

'It will be a long time till then, but I'm more than happy to go in steps – starting from the bottom.' 

He never lacked patience. As long as he progressed further, he was content… but as time goes, patience won't help.

Power will…

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