The Sword and the Shadow (NSFW, 18+)

Kagura, weighed down with her pair of large suitcases, marched up to the brand new Enhanced Training Center that had been built in Konohagakure and took a moment, from the outside, to admire the building. The place was insane, and supposedly was completely top of the line, capable of enhancing their abilities to grow and thrive in ways that had previously only been rumor and myth. Knowing how important it was for her to grow stronger, and how she needed to clear her head, it was the absolute perfect place for her. The sun was high in the sky, and she had just eaten lunch, so with a full stomach and clouded mind, she walked into the facility and headed to the top floor. Upon arrival, she was surprised to see that the interior looked much like the regular training grounds that had been used for years, replicated and placed inside the building.

Setting her suitcases down to the side, Kagura didn’t expect any company. From what she had heard, most people would be using the lower levels, which should, in theory, give her a mote of privacy to train and clear her mind. Normally, she would want to find someone to train with, but considering she had just moved out of the home she had lived in for nearly two decades and was now on her own, she was going to leave the decision in the hands of Fate. She wouldn’t seek company, instead opting to let the company come to her if that was the way things played out. Once everything was set aside, she opened one of the large cases and retrieved a thick, wooden sword, and closed the case again, moving back towards the center of the floor and considering what to do.

A kata would be a good start.

She place the sword in front of her face, pointed to the ceiling, and then suddenly thrust it forward. The brunette knew that there were people faster than her, but for a Genin, she was certainly on the higher end of what was possible. A spin, another thrust, strike, slash, thrust, each precise as though she were fighting some invisible enemy, and this continued as she got into the groove of her practice mantra, spinning, attacking and defending against some foe that was beyond sight, each movement strong and quick. She fell into almost a trance, fighting this ‘foe’ and began to use even techniques with it, summoning illusionary clones that would attack the enemy as well without the use of a single hand-seal, utilizing the teachings of her father, the paladin.

This would go on for some time, so much so that she didn’t notice anyone entering the arena as she worked herself to the point that she was beginning to sweat, the moisture flying from her body as she practiced, trying to clear her clouded mind.

[1]

Akari Uchiha, The Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure, opened the door to the top floor of the newly built ‘Grand Konoha Training Facility.’ Here she intended to get some work done. For while she might be the current leader of the village. She was woefully underpowered for such a position. She had gained that title because no one else had challenged her for it when she claimed it after Haku’s disappearance. She had the brains for the job, she had proven that. However she did not have the power yet. Something she greatly needed to change if she could ever hope to retain her position against the first power hungry twit who came after her for it. She knew it would only be a matter of time for such a thing to occur, and she needed to be ready for it to happen.

Wearing her usual outfit of a red blouse, black skirt, thigh high socks, black shoes, and her hair done up with black ribbons, she would fail to even really look like a kage at that moment. She had considered for a while now, changing her appearance. At least, her clothes of course. She needed to look less like a teenager, and more like a leader for her people. However for the moment she wanted to be comfortable and in this outfit she was exactly that. Her wooden bokken hung tied to her waist, her real weapon, Singing Tempest, sealed away in a scroll. It was too dangerous to use in training grounds unless it was specifically being trained with for some reason. Accidents could far too easily happen with such things and it wouldn’t take much for the custom ordered katana to be lethal.

Crystal blue eyes took in her surroundings as she stood in front of the door. The area was littered with trees, grass, rocks, hell, the entire giant room looked like an actual training ground with the exception of the walls on each corner and the doors leading to the stairwell. Akari took a deep, quiet breath, this facility would go a long way toward making Konoha a powerhouse nation. The sheer potential that lay in her nations shinobi corps would much more easily be tapped into with this place and she was quite excited to see where such potential went. Opening her eyes, she would begin to idly walk, intent on finding a quiet corner of the floor to train. She had chosen the top floor in order to avoid people. It didn’t generally do for people to see first hand how weak their leader was. So she intended to train herself like a dog until her physical capabilities could earn the respect of those who saw her.

As she walked however, she would hear something.

Blinking in confusion, she would follow the noise. Had someone beaten her here? It wasn’t unreasonable for such a thing to happen of course, but she had expected to have the place alone for at least a little while. But that was life at times, at worst, she could go to the other side of the floor and train over there. But for now she wanted to see who she was sharing the floor with. So it was a certain amount of a surprise that as she walked she came across another teenager like her. She had brown hair that spilled down to below her waist and wore mostly white and red. A thin sheen of sweat could be seen to the perceptive eye as she practiced with her own wooden sword. Another kenjutsu user? With a spin, the girl would vanquish an imaginary foe before spawning clones to shadow box with effectively. This would cause Akari to raise an eyebrow, sealless ninjutsu? Interesting. However when the girl turned again, hopefully not noticing Akari yet due to the kage having the treeline as cover, the dark haired teen would get her first really good look at her fellow swords woman.

The effect was immediate.

Akari would blush, not from anything indecent mind you, she wasn’t a pervert. However she’d only seen one woman in the village that she truly considered ‘beautiful’ and it was Kanna, an ANBU, temporarily turned Jounin, who was about thirteen years older than her. Not that such a thing mattered. It was normal to appreciate a fellow woman for their beauty. Akari simply didn’t often find herself looking at one who caused her to want to compare herself to them. Did she stack up in the looks department compared to her? She didn’t know, she was confident most days. But seeing someone as pretty as Kagura caused some doubts to form in the back of her mind. However she would quash such things swiftly. She was here to train, and evidently, so was this girl. She recognized her from her shinobi file, but a picture did little to bring the real, living, breathing, thing justice. ‘Kagura Ezume…’ She would think, recalling the name. The thought of training with someone suddenly didn’t seem like such a poor idea. Maybe she would have to join in, however before she opened her mouth and walked out she reconsidered. Perhaps a surprise would be better, the sudden appearance of an opponent might catch her off guard, and Akari did so like surprising people at times.

Idly, her crystal blue eyes noted the suitcases to the side of the field, and the Uchiha wondered if they carried Kagura training implements or something. She would ask about it later, for now, she would wait for her chance. The girl was practicing her sword skills against clones and imaginary opponents and most of the time she was facing away from Akari. The Hokage waited patiently for Kagura to spin, to start fresh, and waited still for the opportunity she needed. The brown haired teen was about 45 meters away from Akari and the kage drew her own wooden bokken, holding it ready. So the moment the brunette set herself up to turn, the kage would activate the body flicker jutsu without a seal. A talent she had for a long time now. This allowed her to close the distance in the blink of an eye and the startlingly attractive brunette, if all went well, would suddenly find her own wooden bokken locked against Akari’s own. The Hokage’s crystal blue eyes would move to meet those of light brown. Akari was a few inches shorter than Kagura, but nothing ridiculous like a foot or something. “Good morning.” She would say simply, holding her weapon steady with the simple greeting. Most recognized her by sight, so she didn’t see the need to introduce herself yet. Besides, if the girl didn’t know her by sight, then she would definitely know her by name and if in the off chance she didn’t know her. Akari would like to hide who she was for a bit. People always acted differently around someone they knew was their kage after all.

[1]

Kagura continued working through the Kata, almost falling into a dance if one looked at it as being something other than a practice in how to attack and defend against others and just watched her footwork and body positioning. Her clothes were getting soaked in sweat, and if someone had a keen set of eyes, they could see the outline of her white spandex when she twirled or the chest wrappings holding her assets into place when she jumped, but that did nothing to stop the swordswoman. She was so into her practice that when she met some resistance, instead of being startled, for a moment she wondered if she had somehow manifested a solid clone that… looked different?

Slowly, her trance was broken and she blinked, but her body remained in combat mode, holding pressure against the fellow woman’s wooden sword as her mind rapidly processed information to try to make sense of the situation as it was now. Firstly, there was no way she could have made a Shadow Clone, as it was an advanced technique she didn’t know and simply wishing she had it wouldn’t make it happen. Secondly, she definitely wouldn’t have had a Shadow Clone, if she had somehow managed that, look like someone she had never met. Third, she was almost certain that this person hadn’t been here a moment ago, and was now giving her a morning greeting. Conclusion being that someone had decided to join her, another Kenjutsu user of all things, which was most welcome.

She gave a very small smile. “Good Morning Ma’am. Glad to see I am not the only capable swordswoman my age.” It was the start of a conversation at least with this stranger. Instinctively, she batted the other woman’s sword a couple of times with a series of quick strikes to try to put her off balance and cartwheeled backwards using her open hand, standing in a ready stance, sideways, sword held before her in one hand and pointed towards the newcomer, other hand held open to the side for balance or to get a quick jab in or grab, knees bent and ready to spring at a moment’s notice. “If you are up for a spar, I would be more than happy to oblige. It’s not often I get to train with a fellow Shinobi who practices Kenjutsu.”

It was obvious to anyone that she had absolutely no idea of the person in front of her, but she didn’t want to bother with those trivial details at the moment. For now, she just wanted to enjoy this little spar and see what she could learn about the other woman through the clashing of their wooden blades. It wasn’t like anyone but a fellow Genin, possibly a Chuunin, would take the time and spar with her anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. If they could keep up with her, she would have a good spar, and if not, then she would tone herself down in order to help them train and get a little stronger. That was something that had happened a lot in the Academy.

[2]

The swords would clash as Akari had planned and it would seem to take the girl a moment to realize that she had obtained an impromptu training partner. Once she realized this, she would smile, causing Akari’s heart to stutter and leaving the teen in mild confusion. Not that she would ever let such a thing show upon her face. Then her words would click with Akari and she would realize that this girl did not know who she was. This prompted a smile from her as well, a warm one as she met someone who did not know her as the ‘Hokage’. This made the dark haired teen quite happy, as she could potentially feel like a regular shinobi for a while. Until circumstances required her to introduce herself to Kagura. “Indeed you are not.” She would say, just before the girl batted her sword a couple of times against hers in an attempt to unbalance her. Akari’s footing had been good though, and she simply reshifted her weight to keep from losing it.

It would however give Kagura what she wanted, which had been the chance to disengage for a moment. Cartwheeling back with an open hand Akari would internally wince. Such acrobatics were flashy, but oft times could result in an attack that one did not see coming. You had to take your eyes off the opponent for such a maneuver to happen, and that was always dangerous. Still the girl would land well, her sword ready and her hand extended to the side to act as a counter balance and to be ready to grab if necessary. Then Kagura would speak again, and send Akari’s heart into a stuttering mess once more, causing her to be confused again. “I would be glad to spar, but let’s make it more interesting shall we? Kenjutsu and any ninjutsu we can do while fighting.” She would say, her smile returning. Akari was competitive by nature and setting rules of engagement was always fun. “We treat the blades of the swords as if they were real, so no grabbing the blade, of course the hilt, or the other person is perfectly valid. “Sound good to you?” She would ask an eyebrow raised in question. Should she agree Akari would form the one handed tiger seal. She was already in her stance for The Art of The Blade Mistress. So her preferred style was already at the ready, increasing her own speed and grace and causing mild difficulty in tracking her for Kagura, when she began moving anyway.

[2]

Kagura nodded in agreement to the rules, thinking that she might be able to have an advantage in the spar; her teachings made it to where she could use her hands freely and still perform ninjutsu, and while she only had the basics thus far that we taught to her in the Academy, she knew how to use them in ways that were unconventional and really effective.  The moment she saw her hand move to form a seal, Kagura launched forward in a burst of speed, making a massive leaping thrust at the dark haired girl which was extremely dangerous as missing meant she would be completely exposed, but this was a feint to draw her attention, nothing more than an illusionary Clone.  The real Kagura bent low, far lower than most people were capable of running at full speed, and blitzed for a lower attack, and began to fire a barrage of thrust-strikes towards the woman’s torso in various seemingly random spots.  The carefully trained eye would note that the strikes were strategic; to block one would mean you were very unlikely to block the next, which that difficulty multiplied with the next strike.  Time would tell if any of it was successful, but one thing that Kagura was not going to do was give the enemy a chance to breathe.  She would press the attack until she had no other choice but to change tactics.

[3]

The moment Akari began to form her hand into the tiger seal the action would begin. However the feint would not work as Kagura might intend. For while it was a good idea, it was lacking in the fact that a normal clone could not cast a shadow, nor did it displace the ground in anyway when it moved. The second part might not seem important, but it included the fact that the weight of a person shifted the grass beneath one’s feet. As such she wouldn’t pause her motions and instead, spawn a clone of her own. This one however, wouldn’t be an illusion like Kagura’s, but a real one. The Shadow Clone jutsu was an inherently powerful technique in that it gave one a second person to fight alongside with. One that could think, and act on it’s own accord. The clone would arrive in a plume of smoke in front of Akari, wooden bokken in it’s stance as well and begin to defend against the assault. Against thrusts like these, one only needed to divert the tip away from it’s mark, and so the clonekari did. As the first thrust came at the doppelganger, it would meet Kagura training blade and divert the tip. However it wouldn’t stop there. The clone would continue with the motion, controlling the blade of it’s opponent, drawing it into a small circular motion before making to lock the blades by adding sudden pressure.

The force of that pressure would be directed at Kagura as well, so simply moving the blade itself away from clonekari’s own would not be sufficient, she would have to dodge. Meanwhile, Akari herself would utilize the smoke cover to shift her stance and thrust through the smoke. The thrust would be aimed to be just to the right of her clone and aimed directly for Kagura’s chest, based on what Akari knew of the girls stance when running toward her. The thrust would be made to time with the initial circular motion of Clonekari controlling Kagura’s blade. Should this fail to succeed, Akari still had her clone for cover, and other things she could utilize as well.


[3]

OK… so, a lot of things transpired all at once that made Kagura realize she was in trouble.  Firstly, the woman wasn’t fooled by the Clone in the slightest; this was unusual because even if you knew it was a clone, the body would see something coming for your eye and react instinctively nine times out of ten, even if logically you knew it wasn’t real.  Didn’t phase this woman in the smallest way; not even a flinch.

Second, the woman used a Shadow Clone.  That was a B-Rank skill.  Chuunin… maybe even Jounin.  It suddenly made a hell of a lot of sense that she had been able to redirect all of her super-fast jabs that normally overwhelmed people who were trying to defend against it, but more than that, Kagura was jealous as hell.  Shadow Clone was one of the skills she wanted above most others, one that had nigh limitless applications if used correctly, and this woman had used it perfectly.  The clone defended her and applied pressure, but the moment the clone had come into existence, a plan had formed in her mind.  The nice part of this; the clone was blocking the other woman’s view.

The moment the clone pressed forward, Kagura let go of the blade entirely and let it get pushed backwards into the waiting left hand, causing the clone to lunge forward with the sudden lack of resistance while the brunette slid by the length of the clone’s own blade, and was driving an elbow towards the clone’s gut when it poofed out of existence and the original girl’s weapon lurched forward.  Because of the lack of contact and trying not to get stabbed in the eye, Kagura stumbled forward, all but tackling and entangling her limbs with the dark haired woman.  Laying on top of her, unable to get up until she unpinned her arm, Kagura couldn’t help but laugh at the situation as it had unfolded, and did so heartily.

“Well that didn’t work as planned…” she said after laughing for a few moments.  “Reset?” she asked, still unable to get her arm out from under the other woman’s rump.

[4]

Akari was feeling a lot of things.

Confusion, surprise, and something else she didn't know how to describe. Her breathing had seemingly stopped, she felt her face heating up, and her heart was hammering and other emotions were running through her that she simply didn't understand. In a mild daze she did her past to think back to the past few seconds. The shadow clone popping into existence was right on the money. However something had happened and the clone was dispersed. Right after Kagura had bowled into her, presumably an accident. This caused them to become a sprawl of tangled limbs upon the ground. Her rear end pinning Kagura's arm beneath her.

Something else happened too, something that was the true, full cause of her sudden freezing. It was something that caused Akari's heart to nearly stop and she didn't know what to think of the situation. She laughed, that's it. It wasn't that Akari felt insulted, it wasn't that she was angry. But she had never heard something quite like it. It was..mellifluous, and it caused her to think. 'What is wrong with me? Why am I acting this way?!' She would think in confusion and mild anger. That anyone could cause such feelings in her was driving her mad. What were these emotions? She didn't understand.

Kagura's comment would bring her back to reality and she would realize however just how ridiculous this had become. This would cause her to laugh as well. Despite the dusting of red across her cheeks she would be able to pull herself together. "Sure, but let's keep it to purely sword techniques shall we? On another note, I would love to let you up, and I know I'm pretty and all. But you're on top of me, so I need you to shift aside first." She would say, burying the strange emotions for now as she spoke..wait, was that a flirt attempt? Oh God it was, what was she doing? Internally she shook her head, getting herself together. "Also, I haven't seen anyone master the basic clone technique to such a degree before. What else have you mastered to such a degree that they don't require hand seals?" She would ask the question at the forefront of her mind now while she waited for Kagura to shift from being on top of her. Akari could probably get her arm out from beneath her. But doing so would put their bodies a little too close than she thought she could handle.

[4]

For a moment, Kagura worried that the little mishap had made her new friend upset. New friend? Odd… she didn’t even know the girl’s name, and hardly anything about her, but she felt comfortable saying that she was a friend already. Luckily, when the girl laughed, she was able to smile again, and knew everything was alright. The off comment about her being pretty wasn’t untrue, but her request for the brunette to shift over so that she could get off her arm was one that seemed to make a whole lot of sense all the sudden. Why hadn’t she just done that in the first place? With a nod, she rolled a little bit, causing the pinned arm to squirm beneath the black-haired girl for a second before she was in such a position that she could get up and stop trapping Kagura.

Once they were both on their feet, the brunette twirled the sword in her hand using her wrist before tossing it back to her right hand. Being ambidextrous was one of the few trump cards that she hadn’t expected to need to use in the spar, but there wasn’t any use hiding it now; the woman’s skill with a blade and Ninjutsu was easily greater than her own, that much was obvious. But that only made Kagura more excited, because you never really got better winning constantly or reducing your own speed and strength to match your opponent so that they could learn better; no, fighting someone that you probably had absolutely no chance with, that was how you improved.

“Oh, well, any Ninjutsu that doesn’t involve the elements I can do without seals. I can also do any other ones with one hand, so I keep one on my blade.” Perhaps she had an idea of something to train? At the moment, Kagura was relaxed, seemingly an easy target, but that was bait. If she wanted to start again, she could at any time, and she knew she would be able to get her sword up in time to defend herself…

Or so she hoped.

[5]

Her nod and shifting to no longer be atop her would allow Akari to stand, making sure to not put all of her weight on Kagura’s arm when she did so. Then she would turn to offer a hand, but the brunette would get up a bit before Akari could offer. Oh well, no one could expect others to wait on the ground for an offer of assistance they didn’t need now could they? The brown eyed girl would twirl her sword around absently in one hand before tossing it over to her right. Akari would idly do the same exercise, thinking to herself as she did. The girls talent in ninjutsu was something that had mildly surprised the dark haired teen. Her unconscious twirling of her bokken between her fingers, before shifting hands, would be a gesture that had been repeated many times. Being ambidextrous was something one could train for, and it was good to see that her current training partner had gotten that down herself.

Based on what she had seen of her in the few moments that ‘spar’ took before Kagura basically tackled her, she could tell that the taller girl was as fast as she was. Which wasn’t all that surprising really. For all her rank, Akari was not particularly powerful yet. What she had was brilliance on a level few ever reached, or realized she had. It was something she did not get to showcase very often. For how did one show off intelligence without seeming arrogant? But that was beside the point. What mattered was that Kagura would make a good kenjutsu sparring partner for the time being.

At least, that had been the plan right up until she answered Akari’s question about how many other jutsu she had mastered as well as the clone technique. This would cause eyes of crystalline blue to blink in confusion a couple of times as she processed the information. ‘What?..’ she thought to herself as she took that in. If that was true then she could utilize the very jutsu she had just used to a far more devastating degree than Akari could. “We can spar in a bit, we’ll keep to the ninjutsu bit when we do. For now though, let me show you that jutsu I used. I want to see this.” she would say, eyes narrowing in focus. Of course the decision was Kagura, if she would rather spar for now they could. However Akari had rarely discovered that shinobi were wanting to spar over learning a new jutsu. She expected this to be no different.


[5]

Kagura couldn’t help but smile again, seeing that she too was able to use both hands without a loss in skill; they were similar in a lot of ways, the pair of them. But when she offered to teach her the Shadow Clone technique, something she had thought would be impossible to get anyone to teach her for a long time on the spot, she couldn’t stop her small smile from turning into a full grin and reaching towards the girl, grabbing her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “That would be absolutely amazing! Alright!” Excited far more than even she realized at the opportunity, she fist pumped into the air enough that it lifted her off the ground for a moment after letting go of the black-haired ninja and did a quick little excited twirl, and settled down aside for her massive smile of excitement and enthusiasm.

The possibilities here just became endless. If she could learn this technique, her teachings of Paladin’s Will could make it devastatingly effective as she wouldn’t need to do anything to have clones leap into existence to do whatever needed to be done, then disperse just as easily to give her chakra back to her. Already her head was swimming with different tactics and plans to put the technique to use, but then she buckled down and reigned herself in a bit. Kagura was still smiling, but the truth of the matter was that she knew that this was a B-Ranked technique, more advanced than anything she had ever trained for. Learning it would be no small feat, and would probably require a ton of work to master to the level that she had normal Clone, but if there was one thing Kagura would never fear, it was hard work. Determined, she awaited the first part of the lesson.

[6]

‘As expected’ Akari would think to herself as Kagura chose to learn the jutsu rather than spar. It wasn’t like she was blaming her. The Shadow Clone jutsu was an effective jutsu that created physical copies of the user, and their equipment. That alone was useful enough, but if she really did not need to perform hand seals in order to utilize the technique then she had the potential to use it on a far higher level than Akari could. It just made sense to teach it to her immediately, why waste the potential after all? It was her job to nourish that, not let others squander it. Kagura’s enthusiasm would cause Akari to smile too. A smaller one than before, but arguably a more ‘real’ one, a warmer one. “Alright, I don’t know how your talent works, so I will obviously have to show you the normal way.” She would say, her voice coming out confident, she was teaching now, and that meant she was the immediate authority there.

“I can utilize one handed seals as well, but I’m going to go ahead and show you this with the full hand seal. As a matter of fact, I’ll show you both seals you can use.” She would say, forming the tiger seal as she did. “The tiger seal is the easiest manner since if one can do this one handed it’s the simplest to form.” She would say, before channeling chakra into the space next to her. “Your clones only have as much chakra as you put into them, so you’ve got to utilize the amount you want them to have, no more, no less.” she would say as she channeled the energy. “Focus it into the space near you and split the chakra from you.” She would say, doing those things as she spoke before suddenly, in a plume of smoke as a carbon copy of Akari would appear, a hand on her hips as she looked at Kagura and smiled at her before dispersing. “The other seal you can use is what’s known as the ‘clone’ seal. It’s essentially two one handed tiger seals crossed over one another. Like so.” She would say before demonstrating what was probably the most used goddamn seal in the entire fucking manga. Then utilizing her chakra in the same way she had done before. Another clone would appear in the world, arms crossed over it’s chest with a small satisfied smirk on it’s features before dispersing as well. “Even if you can utilize non elemental jutsu without seals I want to see you use the jutsu with both seals before showing that particular talent of yours off.” She would say, interested in seeing if she could do the shadow clone, an infinitely more complicated jutsu than simply the clone jutsu, without seals.

Even so, such a talent was not any reason to skimp on details. If Kagura were to ever teach the jutsu to someone else for example, she would need to know how to demonstrate it without using her particular talents. If she could do the jutsu without seals, she might try to see how many jutsu she could cram into this girls head before the day was out. It might be interesting to see what came of it. ‘Should I take her as a personal apprentice?’ She thought to herself. Could she? With these strange emotions she seemed to feel so often? She’d have to consider it for a little bit first. Which she would start doing as she watched Kagura.

[6]

Kagura tilted her head backwards and giggled for a moment. Of course, it wouldn’t do any good if she didn’t understand how Paladin’s Will worked… but learning the normal way was how she had to do it regardless, so that wasn’t a big deal. “Even with it, when I learn a technique, it has to be just like everyone else anyhow… I can sense the chakra molding, particularly when using hand-seals, and once I memorize it, I can mold it without the seals. It’s a skill my father taught me.” With that out of the way, and making it sound far easier than what it was, she would listen to the rest of the lesson. The truth of the matter was, being in tune with your own chakra to the level that you could memorize how to mold it in replacement of seals was not something anyone could do, but Kagura didn’t know that.

While the black-haired girl was still explaining, Kagura would nod and put the wooden sword into her belt, and then form the tiger seal and wait for the rest of the explanation, then mimicking the second seal used just to get a feel for it as well. Once the explanation was complete, Kagura nodded once more and slowly closed her eyes, concentrating. It was like a clone in visualization, but instead of just a small mote of chakra, it required more than that, and it required it to be more solid and sturdy. Focusing, and using the Tiger Seal first, slowly, she felt the chakra molding as she thought about how it was formed. For the first several seconds, nothing happened, mostly because Kagura wasn’t willing it to. One of the drawbacks of not needed seals was when she learned something new, it took a bit more time for her to analyze and memorize the way the chakra molded and felt within her.

And then, with a puff of smoke, a copy of Kagura appeared to the brunette’s right. The clone would look at herself for a moment, and kick a small rock that was near her foot, sending it bouncing across the grass… but she wasn’t done yet… no time for celebration. Next, she changed the hand-seal to the second variation, never opening her eyes, and continuing to focus. Suddenly, another clone formed to the brunette’s right, who reached behind the still focusing Kagura and gave the other clone a quiet high five. Lastly, Kagura released her hands all together, and took a deep breath, letting her arms hang to her sides. The last clone formed behind her without a seal at all, and she finally slowly opened her eyes, her breathing a little labored, but nothing too serious. For a second, she turned and looked at the other clones and each of them nodded, a small devious smile creeping on each of their faces.

Very suddenly, all four Kagura’s launched themselves at the black haired woman to tackle her in a multi-clone hug. “Thank You!!” they called out in unison in mid-air.

(500+/200 WC to Learn B-Rank Shadow Clone Jutsu from a Sensei)

[7]

The sudden giggle as the brunette tilted her head would cause Akari’s heart to skip a beat. ‘What the fuck?’ She would think, before pausing a moment to realize she’d just cursed mentally. She never did that unless she was actually distressed about something. What was it about this girl that caused her to act so strangely? She just didn’t understand, which was bothering her in it of itself. There was not much in the world that she did not understand and finding something like that was akin to running into a wall for her. It was like it was a puzzle that she just had to solve and the longer it took to solve said puzzle the more it frustrated her. ‘This is going to be bothering me for a long time isn’t it?’ She would think to herself while suppressing the urge to sigh dejectedly.

While she explained Kagura would sheathe her wooden sword before forming the tiger seal and holding it. Then when Akari demonstrated the second seal the girl would form that seal to seemingly get a feel for it too. Once the explanation was done, Kagura would close her eyes to concentrate. Akari would watch carefully, she was tempted to activate her sharingan. However doing so would be risky here because she did not want Kagura to realize who she was yet, and showing that would be as much of an introduction as stating her own name would be. So she would quash the urge to activate her sharingan and see Kagura’s chakra herself. Eventually she would will the chakra into action, unleashing it upon her will and a copy of her would spawn into the world with a plume of smoke to denote it’s arrival. With a small kick to a rock to show that she was in fact a real girl, the jutsu would be shown to have worked with that seal.

However her temporary student would not celebrate yet, oh no. Instead she would form the second seal. Without even opening her eyes, and begin channeling chakra again. ‘She doesn’t celebrate too early, but waits until she’s mastered every variant first, good.’ Akari would think as the second clone popped into existence. The second clone would give the first clone a quiet high five before the original released her hands from all seals and focused once more. A moment later, another Kagura would appear behind her, causing Akari herself to blink at what had happened in mild shock. She really had done it, she really could perform any non elemental ninjutsu without the need of any hand seals. That left many things open for her and Akari suddenly began to feel excited in a strange way. Was this what it was like to find a potentially promising student? Was this what teachers saw when they saw those they taught? The potential latent within slowly peeking out to show them that it was there if they would take the time to coax it out?

Akari had come to a decision, she had given Masuyo Nikoban, Auro, and Yui. She had assigned Tengoku and Tsukiyo’s tutoring to Kanna. Kagura however? She was hers to teach and mold. Of course, while thinking of this she would miss the small devious smile on each of the Kagura’s. She did not however miss the launching of four brunette, brown eyed genin who was extremely pretty and had this bad habit of causing Akari’s heart to stop at odd times for reasons that the dark haired girl was yet to be able to explain. The chorus of ‘Thank you!’ would crash into her at about the same time as they did, burying her once more under limbs. This time though there would be four Kagura’s around her with who she assumed was the original again atop her. This time though she wouldn’t be pinned beneath Akari herself, pink would dust Akari’s face again and her sapphire eyes would widen in shock as her breath stopped. “U-Uh, of course..” She would say, stuttering for what was probably the first time in her entire life. Her mind raced and she felt her heart begin to keep pace. Hopefully Kagura wouldn’t be able to feel her sprinting heart rate.

[7]

Kagura knew that this was a bit much as a thank you, but she was just so overjoyed at the fact that she had managed to learn a skill she had been dreaming about learning at the drop of a hat that she just couldn’t contain herself. Still, she had just tackled the woman to the ground and probably got her dirty, so perhaps it was best to get her back on her feet and cleaned up a little. The clones rolled to the right and left while the original reached down and grabbed the woman’s hand, leaning backwards and standing up and bringing her along with herself to get back on her feet. The clones would take a moment to dust her dark clothes off from the dust and dirt before poofing out of existence, not once did Kagura think about the fact that they had basically just patted her down all over the place and it might make the black-haired girl uncomfortable.

Finally, once it was all said and done, Kagura took a moment to dust herself off and take a single step back, pink decorating her own cheeks as she realized that they were well within each other’s personal space and it hadn’t even occurred to her. Being a single child, the concept of personal space as a whole was a little bit new to be honest, something that she had only learned when she was in the Academy and dealing with other people for the first time, and she bowed her head in apology. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking and excited. Some people don’t like to be too close to others, and it just hit me. Did… it bother you? I should have found that out before tackling you.” She was legitimately apologetic and worried that she might have somehow offended her new friend, something that was the absolute last thing she wanted to do.

[8]

Before she actually realized what was going on she found herself back on her feet, courtesy of Kagura before the clones began to effectively pat her down to get the dirt and dust off of her. This would of course do more than simply that, since Akari would effectively be getting molested on the training grounds. Not that she was ready to complain about it at this point given the state her mind was in at that time. Of course, it would be then that she would realize just how close that she and Kagura were. The scent of cherry chapstick, lavender soap, and vanilla shampoo and conditioner would perfume the air as Akari’s heart stopped. It was something she’d never be able to forget. Then Kagura would dust herself off before realizing how close they were herself and taking a step back, pink dusting her own cheeks. Something that made Akari mildly curious. Was she having similar problems? Could she perhaps know what was going on with her? Maybe she should ask about it and see if she had the answer to it?

The very idea of doing such sent a spike of terror through her for reasons that she simply couldn’t pin down. No, she wouldn’t ask that, she couldn’t. Was she..afraid? Of what? The answer? Why? She didn’t know, and it was driving her fucking crazy. Her thoughts would be stopped by Kagura’s apology, her head bowed in what Akari could only assume was mild embarrassment. She asked if her actions bothered her, and in ways it did. Not for the reasons Kagura would assume if she said yes though. It bothered her because she couldn’t figure out why she felt so strangely. She actually liked the contact, was that weird? Would saying that be weird? She didn’t know, but maybe, if she couldn’t ask her what she was feeling, she could start with a bit of honesty?

She could do that.

“N-No, of course not. It didn’t bother me, I actually liked the contact. Most people aren’t willing to be so familiar with me. It made me...happy.” She would say, thinking of the right term to use. That was a true statement. Under her embarrassment, under her confusing emotions. At the core, she was happy here, in this moment. Enough that she didn’t want it to end if she could help it. “Hey, how would you like me to teach you more ninjutsu?” she would ask, realizing that if she didn’t want it to end, it probably didn’t have to. She had an absolutely stunning knowledge of ninjutsu and kenjutsu techniques, styles, and maneuvers. She could work with her a while, maybe take a break and go for a swim in one of the pools set aside for water jutsu training, and then work on more later. All she knew was right now, she didn’t want to leave, nor did she want Kagura to.

[8]

Kagura let loose a small breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding when the woman had accepted her apology, but even more than that, seemed to be a soul after her own heart. Kagura was someone who didn’t have the witty retorts or intelligent sarcasm when it came to messing around with other people and was more of a physical-type that would slug you on the shoulder, shove you into the bushes and so on if she was messing with you. Occasionally even pranks like a bucket of water or something, but that was just her and how she operated, and she knew that not everyone was the same from experience when she had found someone in the Academy who really prioritized personal space and couldn’t stand it.

Kagura was very glad to hear that this woman was not in the same category. It meant being playful was perfectly fine, and that meant they could be friends without anything to worry about. The fact that it made the woman happy made the brunette lift her head again and give her a smile, accepting the answer and seeming pleased with the result.

And then she offered more technique training, and the brunette’s smile only widened and a very enthusiastic nod was given. There was a part of her that thirsted for knowledge the way people needed water in Suna, it was something she could consume without end and never get bored. It was one of the reasons she thrived in the Academy and got such high marks; she wasn’t a prodigy or anything, but she legitimately loved learning, and if this dark haired Mystery was going to teach her, she was not about to say no.

Another thought struck her though… she still didn’t even know her name, and now that she wanted to be her friend, she sort of wanted to know, and that made her realize she had never introduced herself. She extended a hand, deciding late was better than never. “I never got your name. I’m Kagura Ezume. I am really happy you jumped in front of my sword today!” It was an earnest greeting and she was truly smiling.

[9]

The smile Kagura gave her when she not only accepted her apology, but encouraged such contact not only stopped Akari’s heart again, but started it up again at a higher pace than before. She quickly got that back under control and as Kagura gave an enthusiastic nod to learning more technique Akari would grin in an almost vicious manner. Oh yeah, she could definitely train this girl and she had decided that was exactly what she was going to do. Besides, they were quite similar in general. Both ninjutsu users, both kenjutsu users, there was a great deal that Akari could teach Kagura and given their relative physical capabilities with the sword they would make great sparring partners for each other. Hell she doubted it would be too terribly long before Kagura and Akari were showing each other new things, learning from one another.

It seemed perfect, but could she really be this girls teacher in the end? With her emotions in such a wreck around her already? Could she trust her teaching sense as it were? She felt she could, strongly too. But how much of that was wishful thinking? ‘You’ve already taught her a complicated ninjutsu while dealing with it blockhead, of course you can do this.’ She would think to herself before nodding to herself in resolution. Her voice would be heard now, asking the brunette a question. Her eyes would be lost in thought as she did, or she would have noticed that Kagura was about to ask one herself. As it was she effectively bowled her over with hers. “How would you like to be my student?” she would ask, the question simple, and to the point. She didn’t like petty games where one beat around the bush. At least not when she understood how the rules were played. Teaching was a game she knew the rules to, these strange emotions she was feeling was not.

[9]

Kagura blinked for a moment. She had seen that the woman had been thinking about something when she had tried to introduce herself, but the sudden offer was something that caught her off guard to the point that she completely forgot about the introductions for the moment. I mean, it sounded like a really sweet deal, but she was almost certain that it was a lot more complicated than simply saying ‘yes’. Her brown eyes seemed full of hope, despite the words she was about to say.

“I would love to… I mean, you are obviously at least a team leader or something, but don’t we have to get that approved officially or something? I thought there was a bunch of people who assigned us Genin team leaders, or at least, that’s what they were talking about in the Academy.” She considered this for a moment before seeming to decide something mentally.

“Well, whatever we have to do to make it happen, I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’ll ask the friggin’ Hokage if I have to if you think it can get us to that point… I really enjoy bein-- er… learning from and sparring with you.” She had to catch herself there. She had said that to a boy one time, and very painfully, she had it explained to her what it could be mistaken as. The thought of it wasn’t necessarily bad or anything, but the fact of the matter was it could be mistaken that she was demanding some sort of relationship or something from the woman.

[10]

Kagura’s hopeful eyes made Akari’s heart warm considerably before she started to speak. Her words would cause Akari to internally grin like a cheshire cat. Externally she would maintain a solemn expression as she nodded in understanding. Then, when Kagura made the comment about asking the Hokage if she needed to in order to get it to happen Akari almost broke down laughing. She managed to contain it though. Then her near slip would cause Akari to almost blush and she wasn’t at all certain she’d managed to contain THAT. She’d school herself to a point where she was confident though before speaking. “Well, to start, you’re right in that three man cells are usually how things are done. However Jounin can apprentice individual students or take a team of two with permission and Kage’s can obviously do so with impunity given that they run their respective village.” She would say, elaborating on the knowledge from the Academy before nodding in resolution and barely managing to keep her grin in check. “I guess I’ll have to ask the Hokage.” She’d say before she held up a one handed tiger seal. Now, this in itself wasn’t a giveaway. The tiger seal was an extremely versatile seal that could be used for any number of jutsu. So it should hopefully still come as a complete and utter surprise when a shadow clone appeared next to them. Now, this could be a messenger of course, sent by a prudent Jounin who wanted to get an answer quickly.

So it would hopefully come as a complete fucking shock when Akari looked her clone in the eye, smirked and spoke. “So what do you say Hokage-Sama? she would ask, her eyes dancing with mirth as she clone grinned and nodded before dispersing into a plume of smoke. Then Akari would speak again, meeting her new apprentice's eyes as she spoke. “My name is Akari Uchiha, Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure, and as of this moment, you are now my apprentice.” She would say, giving her the officialese that would hopefully confirm any doubts. To further drive home the point, she would activate her sharingan eyes. The black tomoe upon a sea of red replacing the sapphire blue of her normal eyes. There simply weren’t many teenage female Uchiha in the village. There would damn sure not be one willing to actually impersonate the Hokage, who would be a fellow clan member to a hopeful student. Akari would watch Kagura’s reaction closely, and be ready to handle any questions, or reactions the girl might have to the revelation.

[10]

Kagura watched as things played out in mild confusion until the words ‘Hokage-Sama’ spilled from the woman’s lips, when it turned to complete confusion for a few solid seconds. No… no one would dare impersonate the Hokage… that was something you just didn’t joke about. But as the woman formally introduced herself, the brunette’s eyes went wide in shock. Her breathing had stopped. Hell, if she hadn’t been able to hear the hammering of her heart as it threatened to erupt from her chest, she would have been certain that her heart had stopped too. Mentally, she recapped the entire interaction, and her mind traveled back to the academy when she had first learned the Hokage’s name and the associated picture. It hadn’t been Akari back then, but she had heard that she had taken over at some point. Akari Uchiha… a prodigy whose intellect was easily her greatest weapon… and upon seeing the Sharingan, there could be no doubt.

Kagura’s mind struggled to process what this meant, and for a moment, she was absolutely terrified as the pieces put themselves into place. She hadn’t shown the woman a mote of respect befitting someone of that position the entire time, but then a key phrase popped into her mind from earlier. She hadn’t been used to people being friendly with her, like a peer… that part made a lot of sense now, but more than that…

She liked it.

That meant that there was no change, effectively, from knowing the woman’s title to not knowing her title. Slowly, almost like it was in slow motion, Kagura’s slack jaw lifted and closed and her eyes resumed their normal size rather than looking like saucers. She shook her head hard from side to side, seeming to try to clear her mind of all the chaos that currently rules it as she processed the information for what had to be the hundredth time and recalled the teachings she had before even the Academy. Deeds, not position. She knew of all the good things Akari had done already for the village, and meeting her in person, realizing that she was just a decent human being on the inside…

She decided that this didn’t change anything except gave her the opportunity of a lifetime. “Well, it is good to meet you, Akari-Sensei. I look forward to working with you” She made a point of not calling her the Hokage, picking up on the fact that she seemed to not want to strut around like that, putting her position as the forefront of her personality. It was also noted that she didn’t say she was excited to work ‘for’ Akari, but ‘with’ her, labeling them as a team rather than as a poor Genin working as the Hokage’s apprentice. Her golden eyes looked directly into the Sharingan of Akari’s own, and she gave a warm smile as she extended her hand to shake Akari’s own.

[11]

Watching Kagura struggle through how she felt mentally for the time it took was..interesting to say the least to Akari. Within a few moments though, Kagura’s slack jawed expression would resolve itself before shaking her head to clear out the confusing thoughts and getting her mind in gear. Her words would cause Akari to smile, but more importantly, the way she addressed her caused her to smile wider and she felt her heart start to race again. This time she wouldn’t fight it, she could figure how she felt later, for now, she wanted to hug this girl. So without another word, after Kagura had stated that she looked forward to working with her, she would move at her best speed to wrap the brunette in a close hug. The sensei/student boundaries didn’t necessarily need to apply in private, so long as Kagura listened to her when it really mattered. No matter how close they got, so she didn’t see the harm in a hug. Besides that, she needed it. It was as simple as that in the end.

A seventeen year old girl, taking charge and taking a position that had effectively been vacant over anyone else in the village. A girl who in many cases would barely be fresh out of the Academy to many. No matter what her flawless mission record said about all of the things she had done. Disrupted cults, captured murderers, saved lives. No matter her deeds during her tenure thus far, raising the living conditions of all within her village drastically, working to make the village prosperous as a whole so they could grow. She was still just a lonely seventeen year old girl. No amount of intellect could compensate for that. Akari held Kagura tight for a time, in the end she’d never be able to remember how long exactly. In the end she’d release her, the tears welling in her eyes held back by the thinnest of margins. “I apologize, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m supposed to be the example after all.” She would say, laughing in embarrassment at the end. “I do have to say that while I cherish the familiarity, when we’re not in private I have to maintain a certain decorum. I have to be the example for everyone in the village. As well as the bulwark against any who might attack it. If I let people be so familiar with me all of the time it would undercut peoples perspective of me.” She would say, hoping, silently pleading that Kagura understood.

[11]

What had been the offer of a polite and respectful greeting had turned into something that Kagura had to admit was far more pleasant. A hug was something that two people shared that cared about one another, and to have it already at this stage meant that they were going to be able to work very well together on whatever they set their mind to. Kagura felt her own arms wrapping around the girl and giving her a gentle but firm squeeze as well, showing that she was accepting of that bond that the pair of them had managed to so rapidly forge. It made the brunette realize the weight upon her Sensei’s shoulders, and realize why it was that she had wanted to remain nameless for a time… in the end, she was a normal girl, about her own age, and not feeling that pressure was probably a huge breath of fresh air. Kagura mentally solidified in her mind to help her not think about those worries when it was just the pair of them, and silently she greedily hoped that she wouldn’t take on another apprentice so that the brunette could continue to act openly around her.

So when the woman broke the hug and complained about not setting the right example, Kagura smiled at her, listening quietly as she explained what the brunette had seen coming. Of course she had to maintain that professionalism while in public, less unrest be caused inside and out of the village. Slowly, Kagura stepped forward again and wrapped the Hokage in another hug. “Then when it’s just us, we make sure that we do our best to be ourselves, Akari-chan. I definitely know how to be professional and when, so no worries.” And it was true too, as was apparent when they had first met, and Kagura had called her ‘Ma’am’, as was proper. Since she was very young she had been taught that way and it had never been an issue, and that sort of training was really going to come in handy now.

Kagura slowly loosened her grip, allowing Akari to take a step back if she wanted to, but by no means was she pushing her new friend away.

[12]

When she hugged her back the world seemed to stand still, and Akari felt at peace. When it ended, and when she apologized, her student would simply smile, listen and then hug her again. Saying that they would just have to be themselves when they were alone. This made Akari want to spend as much time alone with her as possible, greedily taking all of her time, which Akari of course knew that she had no right to do. Akari would hug her back and laugh at her words, pausing to kiss the brunette's cheek. An unconscious gesture, something that she not only didn’t think about when doing it, but probably wouldn’t notice she had done unless pointed out. Once Kagura loosened her grip, Akari would step back a step. Committing the scent of cherries, vanilla, and lavender to memory again. She had fought hard to keep the tears from her eyes but in the end she had failed in that regard, at least minorly. As two tears, one from each eye, managed to escape. They weren’t sad tears though, hell, she was happier than she’d ever been at that precise moment. How could she not be?

Taking a moment to wipe her cheeks on her sleeve, she would compose herself before looking back at Kagura. “I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve never been keen on students, but something is quite different with you. You’re the only individual I’ve met thus far that has made me hunger to draw out your potential. I admittedly don’t have the time to teach a full team, so it’s just going to be you and I until you don’t need me. Which I don’t think will take too long given your talents.” She would say, that was true in more than one way. With one student being focused on the time it would take to train that student would be drastically reduced. Since Akari wouldn’t need to spread her attention to three different ones. “Now then, I only know a few jutsu myself but I know of just about any jutsu one can point to in a list. So I can learn them as I demonstrate them to you. The question now is what kind of things do you want to learn? We’ll do Kenjutsu later, after a break. For now we’ll focus on ninjutsu.

[12]

Kagura was almost certain that the kiss on the cheek was just her imagination, it had happened so quickly. She couldn’t take back that moment, rewind the tape, and look for an instant replay, so for now, she dismissed it and instead focused on the face Akari was making, trying to wipe away her tears of joy. Being able to be yourself, at least when with a friend, was something that Kagura was all too familiar with as she had to be a professional any other time, and the few times she had spent with friends and let her guard down had usually been the most memorable and enjoyed. Compound that with the pressure of being a teenage Hokage, and there was no way on this planet that it wouldn’t be more powerful for Akari to be able to do, and would probably help her with managing the village if she was able to let her hair down once in a while when they were by themselves.

Hearing that it would just be the pair of them drew out a respectful nod, but inside her mind, she was fist pumping into the air again… but the prospect of not needing her anymore made her giggle again. “I seriously doubt I will ever stop learning from you, Akari-Sensei,” she said, while mentally thinking and I will make sure you never think I don’t want to be around you. The truth of the matter was, they needed each other in equal parts… both of them were people who projected professionalism when handing other people, and could relax around one another without judgement. Akari was craving to teach, Kagura craving to learn… it was a perfect match, along with their similar skill sets. It transitioned back into the teaching mode and Kagura nodded again as they would begin the next lesson of Ninjutsu, taking a single step backwards and listening with rapt attention.

[13]