10 Minutes Later
For the last 10 minutes, Shisui and I were trying to get my sensory abilities to work properly while Itachi was observing us, sitting on a nearby tree's branch.
Shisui sighed, "Well it is your first day of using this, so I don't expect you to get the basics right away. We can train once or twice every week, and I am sure Mr. Shikaku will train you in this too, so don't worry too much about not mastering it."
Itachi voiced his agreement from the tree, "Yes, I learnt Sensory abilities when I was a year or two older than you, and it was during a time where a war was ongoing, and I was training alot more than you. It's hard to use sensory skills, most ninjas don't even get to even feel it in their entire life."
I sat down slowly on the ground, exhausted from all the chakra I used up, "Well... Atleast I am getting stronger..."
Shisui nodded but then his face lit up as if he came up with an idea, "I have an idea!" He exclaimed and grinned.
Itachi who was sitting on the tree branch raised his eyebrow and asked, "And what may it be?".
Shisui reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, "This is chakra paper, a paper harvested from the old chakra trees created by Lord First. They are used to see the elemental affinities of people, since I am a Jonin and I just forced into accepting a squad, I got my hands on this."
Shisui handed the paper over to me and I looked at it and then back at him, "Well... What do I do now?".
"Channel chakra into the paper, but be careful, too much chakra and the paper will explode." Shisui replied.
I nodded and channeled as little chakra as I could into the paper.
Half of the paper burned while the other half of the paper turned crumbled and turned into dust.
Shisui smiled and raised his eyebrow, "That's a good combination, a defensive and an attacking style, almost same as me, but I also have an affinity for air style. Don't worry, who knows maybe you will develop an affinity later. For now, it looks like you've got an affinity for fire style and earth style chakra. I trust that you already know what that means."
Itachi jumped down the tree and walked up to us, "Well, Kai, If you want, I can teach you the great fireball jutsu, it's one of the most basic fire style jutsu and every Uchiha kid learns it at an early age."
I raised my eyebrow, "isn't that a special jutsu of the Uchiha clan?"
Itachi shook his head, "No, not really, the great fireball jutsu is just a bigger version of the normal fireball jutsu, it can be achieved by just putting a little bit more chakra into the normal fireball jutsu."
"Oh." I nodded and then stood up, "Well, then I'd be grateful for-".
"Ay!, Buzz off Itachi! You trying to steal my student or something?" Shisui stepped inbetween me and Itachi and made a shooing motion towards Itachi.
Then he turned around and looked at me, "You can learn the fireball jutsu later, first I'll teach you some basic earth style jutsu. Believe me, I've seen fights being won by defensive jutsus more than attacking jutsus."
Shisui cracked his knuckles, grinning like a fox with a stolen hen. "Alright, dirt lover. Let's start with the basics." He slapped a hand to the ground. "**Doton: Doryūheki!**"
A wall of earth erupted, towering over us. It was flawless—smooth, solid, and utterly smug.
"Your turn," Shisui said, dusting off his hands.
I stared at the wall. "You want me to… *what*? Rebuild the Great Wall of Konoha?"
"Nah. Just make a pebble."
Itachi sighed. "He means the **Doton: Iwa no Tate**—Earth Shield. A foundational technique."
Shisui winked. "Or a pebble. Baby steps."
---
**30 Minutes Later**
My "shield" resembled a sad mud pie. It collapsed under its own weight, splattering my sandals.
Shisui snorted. "Wow. That's… *artistic*."
Itachi knelt, tracing the sludge. "Your chakra distribution is uneven. Focus on stability, not size."
**Ding!**
**Skill Progress:** *Earth Release: Shield (Basic)* – 12% Mastery.
I channeled chakra again, gritting my teeth. The ground trembled, and a fist-sized rock jutted upward—crooked, but intact.
"Progress!" Shisui clapped. "Now do it 50 more times."
---
By dusk, my arms shook, and my chakra reserves felt hollow. But a row of jagged stone pillars dotted the field—my pathetic army.
Shisui inspected them, tapping one. "These'd barely stop a toddler, but hey. Foundations matter."
Itachi nodded. "Tomorrow, we refine them."
"*We*?" Shisui narrowed his eyes. "Stop hijacking my lessons, usuratonkachi!"
As they bickered, I slumped against a tree, exhaustion mingling with satisfaction. The system chimed:
**Ding!**
**Ability Unlocked (Passive):** *Earth Affinity Synergy* – Earth-based jutsu cost -20% chakra.
**Quest Updated:** *Threads of Trust*
**New Objective:** Demonstrate earth jutsu proficiency to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
---
Walking home, Shikamaru yawned. "You smell like a mud wrestler."
"You snored through all the lectures," I shot back. Well inbetween the lessons, Shikamaru did end up finding us, but he opted to sleep.
He shrugged. "Troublesome."
But as we passed the Hokage Tower, a figure melted from the shadows—Kakashi Hatake, leaning against a lamppost.
"Earth style, huh?" His visible eye crinkled. "Cute."
Before I could retort, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.
---
That night, the system buzzed again:
**Ding!**
**Hidden Quest Discovered:** *Eyes on the Wall*
**Objective:** Use earth jutsu to protect a teammate within 7 days.
**Reward:** 800 EXP, ????
I sighed and sat up on my bed, I wasn't feeling sleepy at all, despite it being a long and exhausting day, I just couldn't sleep and I don't know.
Deciding to go for a walk, I went downstairs and towards the main door.
"Where are you going at this time?" Came the voice of Shikaku from his room.
I turned around and noticed he was still up, writing some documents and reading some reports, "I just can't fall asleep, so I figured going for a walk would be a nice idea."
Shikaku hmmed and looked at me, "Well, alright, go on, I'll join you once I finish reading this report, just don't go too far "
I nodded and walked to the door and went out.
The cold air hit my face as soon I exited the house, a relaxing feeling washed over my body.
I walked out through the gate and started walking on the pavement, looking at the greenery surrounding me and the deers in the distant forest.
The word Shika means deer, every descendant of the royal family line in the Nara clan has the word Shika in their name, Shikamaru, Shikaku, Shikadai.
Then I heard a faint sound, a sound of a deer moaning in pain and the sound of whispering and footsteps.
I sensed a chakra signal deep in the forest, no, two chakra signals.
Then, I understood what was happening, my eyes narrowed and I rushed towards the direction of the chakra signals.
After some seconds, as I got closer, the scene that I expected was right infront me.
There were deers on the ground, one unconscious in a net and one bleeding out on the ground, moaning and crying in pain.
Beside, the deer trapped in the net, stood two tall men, wearing black clothes.
"This deer should get us alot of money! Too bad the other one got injured." The man on the left said.
"Quit talking you idiot! The Naras will be here soon, the deer's cries and your chakra use probably already alerted them. Let's get out of here!" The man on the right side said and picked up the deer.
I gulped and got ready to attack and stepped forward.
The man heard my footsteps and turned around immediately and his eyes narrowed, "Shit! Now we've gotta take care of this kid."
The other man turned around too, his eyes also narrowing as he got into a fighting stance, "Look kid, you don't wanna do this, go back quietly and we will let you live."
Both of them were wearing masks, only leaving their eyes visible.
I narrowed my eyes and got into a fighting stance and starting channeling chakra throughout my body.
The other man groaned and lunged forward, "I really didn't want to do this kid!" With that, he aimed a kick at my face.
I dodged the man's kick and leg sweeped the man, knocking him over and punched him in the gut.
I'll have to use these tricks since they were much bigger than me.
The man on the ground coughed and then grabbed my hand and threw me away and got up, "Not bad kid! It will be sad to kill a talented kid like you." The man once again got into a fighting stance and lunged forward, only faster this time.
I narrowly dodged a punch and moved back, but the man didn't let me rest and delivered a kick to my stomach, sending me back a few feet.
Spit flew out of my mouth as the pain dazed me for a moment, I clenched my hands and got back up, winning at the pain in my stomach and lunged towards the man, aiming a punch to his face.
The man deflected the punch and tried to punch to me but I grabbed his wrist and got ready to kick him.
Channeling as much chakra as I could into my leg without exploding it, I used all the strength I could muster up, "Hnnra!" I kicked him the man in his abdomen with all my might.
The man's eyes widened as he went crashing into a tree, falling over, he clutched his stomach as blood came out of his mouth. "You damn fucking brat!" He screamed and lunged forward with all his strength at blistering speeds, leaving me barely any time to react.
As the figure of the man got closer, tension rushed to my head as I contemplated what to do, I was nowhere fast enough to dodge a second attack even if I dodged this one, and I sure as hell couldn't block it. With that, I remembered what I learnt earlier and how Shisui created a wall.
Mustering all my chakra, I slammed my hands on the ground and yelled-"Earth Style: Earth Wall!" And a wall erupted infront of me the height of around 1 and a half average man and as wide as the desk of the Hokage in the Hokage tower.
The man's body crashed into the wall, protecting Kai from the blow, as the man yelled in pain and stepped back.
The other man spoke out in shock, "Earth style?! Looks like this kid really is something! Come on, lets take care of him quickly."
The man who just collided with the earth wall and snapped out of his daze and jumped towards the other man and stood beside him, as they both prepared to attack me.
Judging from their abilities to use chakra, it seemed like they both had atleast the basic ninja education, at most Genin level, probably a pair of broke friends trying to make quick money who thought it was a great idea to abduct a deer from the Nara clan compound.
Great, I was barely holding my on in a 1v1 against the guy who was probably the weaker of the two, now I had to go up against two them?
Then, I got an idea, I had been waiting to use this for a very long time.
I stepped and held my hands in a sign that resembled a dog and channeled chakra as a black swirl appeared beneath my feet.
"Ten Shadows Technique; Divine Dogs!"
As soon I called out the name, two black swirls appeared infront me and two wolves appeared materialized infront of me, one black and one white.
A massive of my chakra was vaporized in the process and I immediately felt it.
The Divine Dogs, listening to my thoughts, lunged forwards towards the two men and started attacking them.
I stood in place as I watched the Divine Dogs slash and bite at the men, completely destroying them.
One of the men, got out of the grip of the black dog and looked at me and screamed, "Die you brat!".
He reached as far as he could at me with a kunai and slashed at my face.
My eyes widened, my body feeling fatigued wasn't able to get out of the way fast enough as the kunai made contact with my face, running a cut from below my left eye to above my eyebrow, my eyes sustained no damage, a miracle of God.
The black wolf lunged forward and bit the man's head off, the other man was already turned into a piece of meat by the white wolf.
It was only then did I hear a familiar voice, as blood rushed down my face, "What in the name of the holy fucking sage of six paths-" Shikaku, before I passed out.
-------
To be continued