~ I have added this Fanfic to my Patreon. If you'd like to read advanced chapters, feel free to check it out!
~ I'm planning to increase the number of advanced chapters to +18 this weekend!
~ I've edited some of the previous chapters to remove anything you might consider "cringe" or "unnecessary." I'll continue reviewing them from time to time!
~ Very soon, we'll return to releasing two chapters daily, including bonus privileges for Power Stone contributions!
<><><><>
Uzumaki Naruto…the one who was the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko. That was where it all came down to. Iruka had lost his parents to the beast and much to his current shame; he had indeed hated Naruto when he had entered the Academy. But over the years, the ball of energy that was Naruto had worn down and dispersed that hatred. The boy wore his heart on his sleeve and Iruka was an experienced enough chunin to have a reasonably good enough ability to read people to see that the boy was about as much the Kyūbi as a satsuma was at being an apple.
This made Mizuki's constant sabotaging of Naruto's skills worse in Iruka's eyes, as he could see in Mizuki's actions what he would have become had he not forced himself to be a consummate professional when at the Academy and given the boy a chance to prove himself rather than letting his hatred blind him.
"Ok Sakura-chan. Please use the Kawarimi no Jutsu on that stump over there." He nodded at the wooden block of wood that Mizuki had pulled out of a cupboard when they had returned to the classroom.
Nodding, Sakura ran through the five handsigns of the technique, Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog and Snake. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!"
In a small puff of smoke in both locations, Sakura and the block of wood had exchanged places. Iruka noted that the amount of chakra smoke was very small, indicating a high mastery of the technique, as well as almost no chakra wasted.
"Very good. Now swap positions again, please." He said with a nod. With another few moments, Sakura and the wooden block were back in their original positions. Iruka marked her down as receiving full points for that jutsu.
"Now, I want you to use the Henge no Jutsu. Transform into Mizuki." The scarred chunin directed her. For a civilian-born student, even one with such excellent chakra control as Sakura had, this was a tricky jutsu as she had to constantly emit chakra in order to maintain it, and she had smallish reserves.
Sakura ran through the three handsigns, Dog, Boar and Ram. "Henge no Jutsu!"
In another small puff of smoke, Sakura was replaced with Mizuki, who smirked and inclined his head at him in a manner very similar to the real deal. Iruka carefully examined the doppelganger of his friend before nodding. She had gotten everything right.
"You can release it now." He stated. With a sigh of relief, Sakura reverted to her real appearance with another small puff of smoke. Iruka once again gave her full marks for the jutsu. Excellent eye for detail and she'd managed to control her chakra expenditure beautifully. Overall, very impressive.
"OK then. For the last part of this test, you are to perform a Bunshin no Jutsu." He stated. "If you are able to perform a jutsu other than the basic Bunshin in addition to it, you will receive bonus points."
This was the compromise that the Hokage had made. Naruto could use a clone type other than the illusory clone, but he would not receive bonus points for it, as the test did specify a Bunshin no Jutsu, not the Bunshin no Jutsu. Anything beyond a single clone type would get bonus points though.
Again, Sakura ran through the handsigns, Ram, Snake Tiger. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Three illusory clones of the pinkette phased into existence around her. At a cursory glance, they were perfect. Looking closer, there were a couple of very minor distortions in the clones' clothing that someone who knew Sakura would notice at once, but it wasn't a critical point. She still earned full marks for the jutsu.
"Very good, Sakura-chan. Now, is there another clone jutsu that you'd like to show us?" Iruka asked with a knowing look.
"Hai, but I'll need a moment to prepare it." The pinkette said. From her waist pouch, she pulled a couple of scrolls. Opening them, she laid one atop the other, ran through three handsigns and slammed her right palm onto the middle of the scrolls. "Kōmoku Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Item Summoning Jutsu!)"
In a small burst of smoke, a large basin full of water appeared before Iruka and Mizuki's shocked eyes. The Summoning Jutsu was mostly for animals, yes, but as Sakura had just demonstrated, items could be summoned as well. Using a pair of scrolls with the summoning formulae drawn onto it sharply reduced the chakra cost, as did the simplicity of the item she had bound to the scroll. Iruka could have summoned that basin and the water inside of it over a thousand times in a row and not been tired, just as an example. For Sakura, this would have wiped out about a third of her reserves.
"For…future reference, we can prepare things like this for you." Mizuki said once he picked his jaw up off the floor.
"Oh…sorry." Sakura said sheepishly. "Anyway…"
She ran through eight more handsigns. "Suiton: Kika no Jutsu! (Water Style: Vaporisation Jutsu!)"
The water inside the tub rippled and then seemed to vanish. Iruka recognised the jutsu she was using. It transformed any liquid within her range into gas in the air around her. It was an E-Rank jutsu that was 'borrowed' from Kirigakure, who used it to train people in how to use both the Low D-Rank Jutsu Suiton: Kasumi (Water Style: Mist) and the ordinary D-Rank Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu (Water Style: Hidden in the Mist Jutsu). Just where had Sakura found it?
Then the scarred chunin remembered that her father, Kizashi, was a retired genin with a water affinity. He was bound to know at least a few techniques he could pass on to his child.
"Preparations, done." Sakura nodded in satisfaction. "Now then…here we go."
She ran through five more handsigns. "Suiton: Suijōki Bunshin no Jutsu!"
The light condensation hanging in the air seemed to shimmer for a moment before, in a small flash, two clones of the girl stood next to her. One moved forward and poked Iruka on the arm, while the other did the same to Mizuki.
"A solid clone jutsu!?" Mizuki gaped.
<><><>
~ If you like the story, please leave a review!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power
Stones]
~ (Soon +18) Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
https://p-atreon.com/Anshufanfic
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)