*edited*
Sorry, I know these edited chapters are a bit shorter, but they're definitely more sensible and generally more well-written (I sincerely hope so, anyway). I didn't want to mess up the chapters and numbering, so the chapters will just be shorter for a while until we reach the point when I started writing longer - and better - chapters the first time.
Thanks for reading!
- Karina
Chapter 10: Combination
My injury had finally begun to heal, and the other three adults had finally stopped fussing over it. It really was not that big of a deal to begin with, but they’d made it a big deal.
Without the ability to move, I had had a lot of time to think, and I’d been thinking up a new jutsu. Now, a week after the initial injury, Naruto and Sasuke were nearing the tops of their respective trees, and I was ready to try out a new jutsu that I’d thought up.
Basically, the idea was this: I could do the Chidori, a technique of Kakashi’s; I could also do the Rasengan, an idea of Minato-sensei’s. So what would happen if I combined them? Was it even possible?
Of course it was possible. Everything was possible.
It was seven in the morning, and I was standing in the clearing where the Genin usually trained. They were still in bed, as they’d trained late into the night the day before, and so I was alone. Even Kakashi was still asleep.
I made a shadow doppelganger and held out my hand. She – I – mirrored me, and I formed a Chidori while she – I – formed a Rasengan. Slowly, we brought our hands close together, focusing hard on combining the two chakras, and they’d almost merged together when one of us lost focus, and I was thrown backward into the nearby tree.
“Close,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
“Let’s,” she echoed in agreement.
I did it again. Theoretically, it was possible to merge the two, as the Rasengan was basically a ball of chakra, and the Chidori was a ball of chakra morphed into a different shape and with a different nature. If I could take that basic first step and get them to merge, then I could most likely get them to co-exist.
“Wait,” I said suddenly, an idea popping into my head. “What if they both started as Rasengans…”
“That’s merge-able,” she said. “And then you slowly incorporate the idea of a Chidori into it.”
“But the Chidori requires hand signs. I can’t do it if one hand’s holding a Rasengan.”
“Damn.”
We just kind of looked at each other. “Well, let’s just go with the original idea, then.”
It took us – me – around fifteen minutes, but we – I – finally figured it out. We now held a spinning ball of lightning, and I was almost afraid of what destruction it would do if it touched anything. We charged at the nearest tree, pushing our creation into the trunk, and I squinted my eyes as splinters began to fly.
There was a very loud noise, and then the sound of birds squawking as they tried to fly away.
I grinned at my clone and we high-fived, before I let her disappear. I’d done it! A new jutsu that nobody else knew!
I was spinning in circles of joy until someone stopped me, catching me by the shoulders. I recognized the chakra signature right away.
“What happened here?” asked Kakashi, and I could hear footsteps behind him. “Kira, what did you do?”
“Combined two jutsus to make a new one.” I beamed up at him. “Isn’t that awesome?”
“Er, yes, of course.” Kakashi sighed. “Just please don’t scare us like that.”
“We thought something had happened,” said Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke were too busy staring at the fallen tree to add their two cents.
“You did that?” asked Sasuke, pointing to the tree, which had been evenly split, as though a very powerful saw had swept through it. I nodded, smiling.
“Wow!” Naruto exclaimed. “Show me, sensei! Teach me!”
I giggled at his eagerness. “That’d be a little difficult, I’m afraid,” I said. “You haven’t yet learned either of the two jutsus I combined for this.”
“Now I’m curious,” Kakashi admitted. “Show us.”
I made another clone, and we smiled at each other. I don’t know why, but I had a habit of doing that with my clones, even though I knew that we were all technically the same person. She held out her left hand, forming the Rasengan, and I smiled at Kakashi’s incredulous face as I pulled off an effortless Chidori.
“Oh yes, Kakashi,” I said, still smiling. “Your trick and our sensei’s tricks. And now, this one’s mine.”
Very slowly, we combined the two, until they successfully merged, whipping the air around us and causing my loose hairs to whip around my face. As one, we pushed it into the nearest tree, and like before, I had to squint in order to keep the flying debris out of my eyes.
There was another horribly loud sound, and when the debris finally cleared, there was the tree stump and the fallen tree beside it.
Kakashi shook his head. “I am never angering you again.”
I was delighted by that statement. “Please don’t!”
Naruto was dancing with excitement, and at some point, trapped me in a big hug. “Teach me, please! Please, sensei! Then I’ll be able to beat Sasuke!”
I snorted. “By slicing him in half?”
Naruto froze.
“That’s what I thought. Hey, Kaka – “ I turned to face him, only to find him immersed in a book. I frowned at the cover; why did that look familiar? Oh. Oh, he was not – “Kakashi! What the hell are you reading?”
“It’s informative material,” he said, without missing a beat. “Go on, go train the brats and – “
I snatched the book out of his hands. Make-Out Paradise? “This is definitely, completely, utterly inappropriate,” I hissed, as he started toward me. I extended my wings and made a run for it, rising up into the air as he ran up the trunk of a tree, trying to catch me at full speed. I wasn’t letting him do that.
He leapt for me, but I dodged him easily, and he was forced to swing from a branch and flip onto it, losing valuable time. I smiled and waved at him, stopping in mid-air where he wouldn’t be able to get to me, and formed a Rasengan. The Genin were all cheering below, Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed as it locked onto the book in my hands.
“Dear Minato-sensei,” I said loudly, loud enough for Kakashi to hear. “Please help me as I destroy this vile book with one of your original jutsus.”
“No!” Kakashi yelled. I smiled brightly at him before touching the ball of chakra to the book. Instantly, it flew into chaos, like a paper shredder would do to it, and eventually the scraps of paper were littered on the ground, spread all around a kilometer-long radius. Beautiful.
Kakashi was acting as though I’d killed his baby – I don’t even want to think about a baby Kakashi – and I flew toward him, rather cautiously. “Hey, Kaka-baka. What’s up?”
“How could you?” he demanded, over-dramatically and a bit miserably. “I hate you, Kira.”
“That’s okay. So do I.” Giving him a thumbs-up, I dropped to the ground, where the three Genin were clapping.
“That was great,” Sakura said happily. “He totally deserved that.”
“He never puts down those stupid books!” Naruto whined. “Now it’s gone!”
“Won’t he just buy another?” Sasuke pointed out.
I made sure Kakashi was out of earshot before saying quietly, “Trust me, I know all his tricks. If I wanted to, his entire collection would be dead.”
“Somehow,” Sasuke said, thinking it over, “I don’t doubt that.”
“You guys should get a move on,” Kakashi said, walking toward us. He narrowed his one visible eye at me. “Tazuna can’t protect himself, after all.”
As I brushed past him, I muttered in his ear, “You mad, bro?”
I don’t think that helped matters much.