Naruto: Kagurazaka

The river, or what was left of it, stretched out before me like a botched experiment. A straight horizontal line cut through its once natural flow, splitting the stream into a bizarre "+" formation. Shisui's earlier shock lingered in the air, but I didn't dwell on it.

What I had done wasn't anything groundbreaking, at least by my standards. It was simply an application of Anti-Skill, adapted for a long-range attack. The idea had been brewing for a while, and switching from magicules and mana to only mana— or chakra in this world's terminology— for the energy source was the final piece of the puzzle.

The cardinal world was a place saturated with magicules. Manipulating them was as natural as breathing for those who lived there, myself included. And how do you manipulate it? With mana of course, But here? In this chakra-dominated world, the approach had to shift. 

Without the knowledge of external energies like magicules, the advancements people here made were all internal. Chakra and its applications reminded me of mana—a similar energy, yet confined to the body rather than pulled from the environment.

The result was crude compared to the anti-magic areas I had once relied on. A wide-area effect that nullifies all magicules in its radius would be ideal. A barrier of "Anti-Chakra," so to speak. But for now, this was the best I could do—a focused beam of special kinetic energy that negated and sealed every tenketsu in its path. It wasn't perfect, but it would suffice.

The best part? Shisui didn't need to know any of this. Letting him misunderstand it as a derivative of the Gentle Fist was far more convenient.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting on a rock near the mangled river, idly picking at his teeth with the remains of a dango stick. His gaze drifted over the water, his posture relaxed, but his thoughts buzzed with confusion.

"If I'm supposed to be the teacher here," he mumbled, "why does it feel like I'm just the mental support companion at this point?"

Perfect.

He turned his attention back to me, his casual tone belying the curiosity in his eyes. "So, about this 'gentle fist' of yours..."

I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"Maybe we should stop calling it that. It's not exactly gentle, is it?" He gestured toward the river with a smirk. "More like... destruction fist."

I let out a low chuckle. "You've got a knack for naming things, Shisui. I'll give you that."

He grinned, clearly enjoying the compliment, but I shook my head. "Still, I'll have to pass on that one. A fist that doesn't block tenketsu at close range, but instead converts attacks into special kinetic energy and blasts it away while negating chakra techniques? That's not destruction. It's just... different."

Shisui tilted his head, waiting for me to elaborate.

"If someone else uses a Gentle Fist that doesn't look like the Gentle Fist, then sure, call it that," I said. "But I'm a Hyuga. And I use that so called different variant of Gentle fist. So let's call it what it is."

"And what's that?" he asked, his smirk faltering slightly.

"A Defect's Gentle Fist," I said, smiling faintly.

His reaction was subtle—just the slightest furrow of his brow, a flicker of something that looked like sympathy. I could tell he was thinking about what others had said about me, the whispers of "defect" he'd undoubtedly heard before.

He'd heard people call me—no, Akai Hyuga—a "defect" plenty of times. I could see from his thoughts that even the Hyuga clan's servants had their opinions. But hearing me say it myself, with a calm, unbothered smile, seemed to hit differently.

"You really don't mind being called that, huh?" he asked quietly, his tone uncharacteristically serious.

I shrugged, still smiling. "It's just a word."

Shisui sighed, leaning back and crossing his arms. "You're a strange one, Yuuki. I mean, Akai. No, Yuuki. Whatever you prefer."

I said nothing, watching him wrestle with his thoughts. If he wanted to convince himself that I was melancholic about the whole "defect" thing, I wasn't about to stop him. In fact, it was exactly what I wanted.

Guiding Shisui's thoughts was a delicate process, but one I was practiced at. Manipulating him into believing what I wanted him to believe would make everything easier in the long run. If he saw me as a troubled genius in need of emotional support, he'd be far less likely to question my experiments. And with a mentor like Shisui, I could work on finding my way back to the cardinal world without interference.

Shisui stood up, brushing crumbs off his lap and stretching his arms. "Well, I guess if you're going to call it a Defect's Gentle Fist, I'll just have to go along with it. Not like I have a choice, huh?"

"Not really," I said with a faint smirk.

He grinned, shaking his head. "You're something else, Yuuki. Just don't destroy any more rivers, okay? I actually liked this one."

I didn't reply, letting his words hang in the air as I turned my gaze back to the mangled water. The game had only just begun, and I already had the upper hand.

"Alrighty~ then shall I teach you other things?" Shisui stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants with that trademark grin plastered on his face. "I think it's time we cover some basics."

I frowned, skeptical. "Basics? You're joking, right?"

These kind of techniques doesn't even have any chakra used in it, it based on a real life ninja art of stealth. I can vanish easily enough by bending the surrounding magicules to reflect light, mimicking radiation—but that doesn't mean I should lay all my cards on the table just to turn him into my puppet.

"Not at all!" he said cheerfully, rummaging through his pouch before pulling out a small cloak. "Here. Let's start with this."

I stared at the fabric, unimpressed. "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Blend in," he said, tossing it at me. "Every ninja should know how to cloak themselves properly. It's one of the first techniques kids aspiring to be shinobi learn. You put this on, crouch low, and disappear into the surroundings. Simple."

"..."

He smirked.

I sighed and reluctantly draped the cloak over my shoulders. The earthy tones and patterns were meant to blend in with the terrain, though relying on something like this felt painfully primitive. Still, I crouched down and adjusted my position to match the environment.

Shisui circled me, nodding like a teacher evaluating his student. "Hmm... Right now, you look like a rock pretending to be a bush."

I feel like an idiot. Now that I remember, didn't the main character did this kind of thing in the first episode, right, he did it with fences as his backround.

"I look like that to you? Well I do think I look like an idiot myself."

"It's not just about wearing the cloak," he continued, ignoring my sarcasm. "It's about becoming one with the surroundings. Think of it as an extension of your stealth training."

Thought Communication Translation: "You were suppose to ask me for a different pattern like a tree trunk and hides behind it, or dig a hole and cover it with the cloak with you in it, but well, whatever..."

I didn't bother arguing. 

"Not perfect" That's a lie "-but it's a start. Now let's move on."

He spent the next half hour throwing more basic techniques my way—hiding behind cover, moving silently through the forest, simple leaping techniques to move and hide at the same time, and using natural terrain to avoid detection. Each technique was rudimentary, the kind of stuff younger kids probably mastered before graduating from the academy.

"Alright, one more test," Shisui said, turning toward the river. "Water walking. Let's see how your chakra control holds up."

"Finally," I muttered, relieved to move on from the cloak nonsense.

I stepped onto the river's surface, channeling chakra to my feet. The water rippled beneath me, but I held my balance with ease, walking a few paces out before turning back to face him.

Shisui crossed his arms, nodding approvingly. "Not bad. Looks like you've got chakra control down. That's good. It's the foundation for everything else." tossing the cloak back into his pouch. "But you skipped all this when you were younger, didn't you?"

I AM young, there is no "younger".

Thought Communication Translation: "He skipped the basics entirely. Straight to advanced stuff. No wonder he's so weirdly skilled but clueless about the fundamentals."

He wasn't wrong, but I didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of admitting it outright.

"Anything else you want me to do?" I asked, stepping back onto solid ground.

He grinned. "Not for now. But we'll save some Uchiha tricks for later. I think you've earned a break."

I said nothing, watching him as he stretched and looked out at the mangled river. His thoughts were buzzing with a mix of amusement and curiosity, though he kept his words casual.

"Well, Yuuki," he said, turning back to me, "for someone who skipped ninja kindergarten, you're not half bad."

"Thanks, I think," I replied flatly.

He clapped me on the shoulder, his grin softening slightly. "Don't sweat it. Basics or not, you've got potential. Just... try not to destroy any more rivers, alright?"

He really liked this place, didn't he?

.

.

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To be continued