-----
-----
Akio tried channeling chakra into his shadow. The chakra flowed from his body downward, all the way to his feet. The final step was to inject it into the shadow.
But at that last step, the chakra didn't enter the shadow like he expected—instead, it sank into the ground. With a low boom, the ground dipped slightly, but the shadow didn't react at all.
"…It's not working," Akio muttered softly and released his hand seal. Given how precise his chakra control was, there was no way he'd accidentally send chakra to the wrong place. That meant the shadow control technique didn't work by injecting chakra into the shadow.
"If not into the shadow, then where does it go? Or maybe it's about releasing chakra... maybe wrapping the shadow in it?" Akio wondered. He tried again, this time covering the shadow on the ground with chakra. A faint blue layer of chakra settled over his shadow beneath his feet.
With his precise control, the shadow seemed to stir ever so slightly. But it calmed almost immediately, only trembling a little—like a calm lake barely rippling for a moment.
Even that tiny ripple didn't escape Akio's notice.
"It might work!" he thought, suddenly excited. He channeled more chakra downward, and sure enough, the shadow stirred with slightly bigger ripples. But even then, it quickly went still again.
"…Still not working?" Akio frowned, but he wasn't ready to give up. He tried again. And again. All the way up to the tenth try. That's when he finally got it—this approach wasn't going to cut it either.
"Even though this still doesn't trigger the shadow control technique, at least I'm heading in the right direction. If I keep refining this, I should be able to replicate the Shadow Imitation Technique." Akio smiled. After all, this was someone else's secret technique—he didn't expect to crack it right away. Besides Wind and Lightning-style ninjutsu, he didn't exactly have a knack for instantly learning new jutsu.
"Didn't even realize it got dark… Time to eat." He shook out his hands and walked back home. After making himself some food and eating, he went straight to bed.
The next morning, Akio grabbed a quick bite and headed to Training Ground No. 3.
Shikahisa was already there, and they approached each other from different directions.
"So, what's the plan today? A mission?" Akio asked.
"Since we'll be doing missions together from now on, I want to test your strength first. Let's do it here." Shikahisa stopped. They were in a small clearing in the middle of a forest.
"Got it." Akio agreed right away, flashing away to put some distance between them—standing five meters in front of Shikahisa.
"This is a great chance to observe the Shadow Control Technique up close," Akio thought to himself.
"Come at me," Shikahisa said, standing his ground and extending a hand, signaling Akio to make the first move.
"Fighting isn't the goal here. Observing the shadow technique is," Akio reminded himself, setting the task in his mind. Then he grabbed a kunai and sprinted forward, starting off with taijutsu to spar with Shikahisa.
Shikahisa pulled out a kunai too, and the two weapons clashed. Right away, he could feel Akio's wrist and arm strength—he was strong. Their kunai clashed again as Akio drew another one with his left hand and slashed upward.
Shikahisa powered his wrist and knocked Akio's right hand away, then blocked the left kunai strike and kicked at Akio's chest.
Akio quickly raised his right arm to block. He took the kick and flew backward but flipped mid-air and landed steadily on his feet.
"Good strength, speed, and reaction. Keep going," Shikahisa commented on the exchange.
"Yes, sir." Akio nodded, feeling a bit hyped. This was his first real fight as a ninja—not just some kids fooling around. It was only a spar to test his strength, but it still counted as actual combat experience since he'd become a ninja.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Akio formed hand signs, sending a blast of wind at Shikahisa. At the same time, he threw a kunai enhanced with Lightning-style chakra for speed—riding the gust from Great Breakthrough, the kunai shot forward like a bullet.
It was too fast to dodge.
Even Shikahisa's eyes widened in surprise—but it was too late. The kunai slammed into his chest, and the wind blast knocked him over and sent him rolling across the ground, looking completely wrecked.
"Sensei Shikahisa!" Akio shouted and ran over.
Just as he reached him—poof.
The figure on the ground turned into a log. A kunai touched the back of Akio's head. "You can't let your guard down," came Shikahisa's voice.
Akio slowly turned around. Shikahisa was right behind him.
Turns out, the moment Akio began forming hand signs, Shikahisa had already snuck in a substitution jutsu. He didn't know what kind of jutsu Akio would use, but he decided to play it safe and dodge with a Substitution Technique.
And thank goodness he did. Shikahisa thought to himself—if not for the substitution, he would've been the one wrecked like that log. That move was seriously dangerous.
"Using Lightning-style to speed up the kunai, then riding the wind blast to boost it even more—makes it incredibly fast, impossible to dodge. It looks like the attack is coming from the wind blast, but the real threat is that lightning-charged kunai. Nicely done," Shikahisa said, putting away his kunai and praising Akio.
"But you still dodged it," Akio said as he pulled the kunai out of the log. "You're definitely the stronger one, Sensei."
"Well, if I weren't, how would I be qualified to teach you?" Shikahisa chuckled. "That Lightning-style kunai technique of yours—sure, it's not a formal jutsu, but with that speed boost, it's got the power of a B-rank jutsu. And it doesn't even use that much chakra."
"With strength like yours, what you're really lacking is combat experience. Once you build that up, the Chūnin Exams will be a piece of cake for you."
"There's still a long way to go before the Chūnin Exams. I'll make sure to get all the experience I need before then!" Akio said firmly, nodding.
"Honestly, with your current strength, we could already take on C-rank missions. But you need at least a three-man squad for that. Since the others are still stuck doing D-rank missions, we'll have to keep taking D-rank jobs for now just to kill time," Shikahisa explained.
"…Seriously?" Akio looked super unamused. "Can't we just skip the D-ranks and train until they're ready for C-ranks?"
"....."