Three days later
I woke up with Jarvis playing "Bumble bee" song in my head.
«Verily, Good morrow, milord.»
Yes Jarvis... Good morning to you as well.
Seventy-two hours of clone in slavery breathing fire, channeling lightning, and collapsing into puddles of exhaustion. Multiple hours of memory feedback hitting me like a truck every morning.
Worth it.
«Fire Transformation – Stage II: Mastered. Lightning Transformation – Stage II: Mastered. Current gravity seal tolerance: 5x. Your body is adapting faster than projected.»
Because I'm awesome.
«Because I optimized your recovery cycles with chakra. But yes, you are also awesome. Marginally.»
Hmm... Kakashi only comes on Sunday's so he might be at the training ground today let's go check it out. The orphanage was dead quiet. I created a shadow clone, told him to stay in bed and breathe, then slipped out the window.
The streets were empty. Snow was falling again. Light flakes not too much, the kind that look pretty until you've been walking in them for ten minutes and your nose goes numb, the Snow season was about to leave soon.
Training Ground 3 was empty. No silver hair. No orange book.
He's late. Surprise surprise.
«Kakashi is not late. He is at the memorial stone. East side. Approximately 50 meters.»
The memorial stone. Where they carved the names of shinobi who died in the line of duty. I'd walked past it a hundred times. Never stopped. It was kind of relevant to me because I didn't even know anyone that died personally...
I walked east.
---
He was kneeling.
Kakashi Hatake, the guy who never seemed to take anything seriously, was on his knees in the snow. His book was on the ground next to him, closed. His head was bowed. His hand rested on two of the names.
I stopped about three meters away. Didn't say anything. Just stood there, snow landing on my shoulders, just watching him.
A minute passed. or Maybe two.
"You're later than usual," Kakashi said. Didn't look up.
"And You're earlier."
He stood up slowly. Brushed snow off his knee. Picked up his book. Still didn't open it.
"The names," I said. "Someone you knew?"
Acting. Had to act. Couldn't let him know I'd read his entire tragic backstory in a manga from another dimension.
Kakashi's visible eye didn't move. "My old teammates."
"That sucks."
He looked at me then. Really looked. Like he was trying to figure out if I was being sarcastic or sincere.
I kept my face neutral.
"Yeah," he said finally. "It does."
I thought about saying something else. Something about loss, about moving on, about all the therapy-speak I'd absorbed from years of anime and bad fanfiction. But I didn't. Because I was six. And six-year-olds don't give life advice to jōnin.
There was a small part of me that wanted to tell him about Obito... but Jarvis advised me not to tell because it would throw of the timeline off the rails and plus it would create a "Massive" butterfly effect.
So I just nodded. Let the snow fill the silence.
"How was the mission?" I asked.
"Nothing special. Sat in a tree for five weeks. Watched rout's and some other stuff that you won't understand."
"Sounds boring."
"It was..."
He finally opened his book. Didn't read it. Just held it.
"Your training," he said. "How's it going?"
I almost laughed. "Good. Really good, actually."
"Define 'really good.'"
"Lightning and fire transformations. Stage two. Mastered both."
Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Stage two???."
"Yeah. Leaf cutting, trying to wrinkle a leaf with lightning transformation, heat generation, all that. Got those done in like a week. Then I did the lung thing for fire and the conduction thing for lightning. Took a few days."
"By yourself?."
"Had help." I tapped my head. "Got a good teacher in here."
Kakashi didn't know what that meant. He probably thought I was being metaphorical.
"and about the Gravity seal?" he asked.
"Up to 5x now. Could go higher but Ja... I'm taking it slow."
"Ja?"
"Nothing... Slip of the tongue."
He stared at me for a long moment. I could see him doing the math in his head. A month ago, this kid was struggling to do push-ups with leaves on his arm. Now he was talking about nature transformations and gravity seals like it was no big deal.
"Who told you about chakra transformations?" he asked.
"got access to theLibrary."
"The library??, Majime won't let you in without..."
"I got a permission letter... From the Hokage."
Kakashi's eye went wide. Just for a second. Then it was back to normal.
"The Hokage gave you a library pass."
"Yep."
"He doesn't give those to Academy students, if he gives, he gives it rearly. The last time he gave it to someone was 5 years ago."
"He gave one to me."
Kakashi was quiet. Processing.
"What's the problem with wind?" he asked.
"Stuck at stage one. Leaf cutting is easy. But stage two requires a waterfall. And Konoha doesn't have one."
"There's the Naka River."
"That's a river. Not a waterfall. There's a difference."
Kakashi sighed. Ran a hand through his hair. Looked at the memorial stone. Looked at me. Looked at the stone again.
"Wait here."
He walked to the center of the training ground. Started forming hand signs.
«Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart. Hand signs: Tiger. Recording for future reference.»
That's it?, Just Tiger and nothing else? I expected way more.
The ground shook. A massive wall of rock erupted from the earth, rising up like someone had pulled a zipper. Thirty feet tall. Flat on top.
Holy shit!.
«That is an understatement.»
Kakashi didn't stop. More hand signs. Faster this time.
«Water Release: Waterfall Basin Technique. Hand signs: Boar, Dog, Ram. Recording.»
Water burst from the top of the rock wall. Not a trickle. A full stream, pouring over the edge, crashing down into a pool that was forming at the base.
A waterfall. In the middle of Training Ground 3.
Kakashi turned around. Dusted off his hands.
"That work for you?"
I stared at him. Then at the waterfall. Then back at him.
"You just... made a waterfall."
"Seemed easier than finding one."
"umm Thanks."
"No problem now just let me read in peace."
I walked toward the waterfall. The water was cold. Spray hit my face. But it was perfect. Exactly what I needed.
«I have recorded both techniques. However, you lack Earth and Water chakra affinities. You cannot replicate them. Unless you train your water and earth affinity's»
I don't need to replicate them. I just need the waterfall.
«Fair point. Begin training?»
Yeah. Let's do this.
I turned to face the waterfall. Cracked my neck.
Cross seal. Chakra splited. Divided into 12 parts.
POOF.
Twelve shadow clones appeared behind me. All of them looking at the waterfall. and All of them grinning.
Kakashi's book hit the ground.
I looked back. He was staring at the clones. His visible eye was the size of a dinner plate.
"SHADOW CLONES???," he said. His voice was flat. Like he was stating a fact he didn't quite believe.
"Yep."
"Twelve of them???."
"Yeah? Is there any problem?."
"it's a B-rank technique!. Requires at least Chunin-level reserves."
"So?."
He picked up his book. Didn't open it. Just held it.
"You learned that from the library too."
"Iruka's class doesn't cover it."
Kakashi shook his head slowly. "You're not normal."
"I've been told that before."
"What are you?"
I thought about it. What was I? An orphan from another world. A kid with a supercomputer in his brain. A fanboy who got isekai'd by a glowing orb?.
"I'm Ryū," I said. "That's all."
Kakashi stared at me for another second. Then he snorted. Almost a laugh.
---
The clones spread out along the edge of the pool. Four on the left. Four on the right. Four in the middle. I stood at the front, closest to the waterfall.
«Training protocol: Waterfall Cutting. Objective: Use wind-natured chakra to slice through the falling water. Clean cuts only. Partial cuts do not count.»
Got it.
I held out my hand. Focused. The chakra in my palm turned sharp. Thin. Like a blade made of air.
I swiped at the waterfall.
The water parted for half a second. Then closed.
«Partial cut. Water resistance higher than expected. Adjust chakra density by 12%.»
I tried again. The cut was deeper this time. The water stayed parted for a full second.
«Better. Still insufficient.»
Behind me, the clones were doing the same. Swipe. Splash. Swipe. Splash. The sound was like a dozen people slapping the water at once.
Kakashi sat on a rock. Watched. Didn't say anything.
Ten minutes passed. Twenty. An hour.
My arms were sore. My chakra was low. But the cuts were getting cleaner. Deeper. The water was staying parted longer.
«Estimated time to Stage II mastery: 2 days to achieve complete mastery. Current progress: 20%.»
Two days? That's it?
«You have 12 clones. Plus yourself. Effective training hours per day: approximately 130 hours. Two days is generous plus you are not "him" and by "him" I mean Naruto who was using thousand's of clones to train.»
I grinned. Wiped water off my face.
"Hey, Kakashi."
"Yeah?"
"Can you come back tomorrow? And the day after? Gonna need the waterfall for a bit again."
He looked at me. Then at the waterfall. Then back at me.
He sighed. Opened his book.
"Fine. I'll be here. Don't expect me to come early."
"wasn't expecting much."
He snorted again. That was twice now. Almost a record.
I turned back to the waterfall. Held out my hand. Swiped.
The water parted.
Clean. a Deep. A full three seconds before it closed.
«Progress: 23%. You are improving rapidly.»
I had a good teacher.
«I am aware.»
I kept training. The clones kept training. The waterfall kept falling.
And Kakashi sat on his rock, reading his book, watching a six-year-old do things that most grown shinobi couldn't do.
He didn't say anything.
But he didn't leave either.
---
END CHAPTER 15
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The chapters are getting "too" slow-paced so I will do a few times skip's and something major, hint: it has something to do with Jarvis because of virtual suggested.
Xx-----xX
A/N: Leave some power stones and if you don't... Check your window you might find me standing there >:)
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Btw if you want to read some advance chapters then check out my P@treøn, links in the synopsis.