Chapter 16
Sarada Doubts!
Shintaro Sensei Instructs!
The early morning sun of new day shines through the leaves and the branches of the Uchiha tree house, and greets a young scholar in red, with red oval framed glasses with a scratched lens, peering over a scroll with obviously mysterious and captivating contents, as evidenced by the accompanying half cup of cold coffee, and the disapproving pink haired mother standing over the oblivious scholar sitting by the stone hearth in the center of the main room.
Sakura:
Don’t even think for a moment little girl… that I’m going to tolerate you becoming a self abusing workaholic like your cousin Naruto… I’ll start that Uzumaki style intervention right now!… What is it that’s bothering you?… You only put in a crunch session when your cramming for a deadline… or there’s something else bothering you that you don’t want to think about… You do that too much really… far too often… It’s not healthy…
Sarada:
Your one to talk… pregnant lady… rushing off to work…
Sakura:
I’m pregnant Sarada!… not incapacitated!… Now quit dodging!… And tell me what’s bothering you!…
Sarada:
Nothing’s bothering me… besides being disappointing…
Sakura:
Who says your disappointing?… Who dares?… Did that Shintaro say something?…
Sarada:
Iie!… No one has said anything… I just feel it… like for everything I’ve done… I’m still a disappointment compared to what I could have been… to what I could have done… For all the power of my sage transformations… I can’t even use them now because my body can’t handle it!… The learned ancestor made me take a whole day off!… He plans some kind of mystery training for me today… I have no idea what it is… But I feel like I’ve been sentenced to remedial training… for failure to master the basics… And I lost my new glasses!… Now all I have until I get them replaced… is this old pair with scratches on them…
Shintaro:
Complete nonsense!… I will not tolerate any such pouty self-pitying nonsense!… Especially not… from one of my most gifted students!…
Shintaro flies in through an open window in his white snow owl form, this time much smaller like a normal snow owl. The snow owl lands on a cushion on the floor next to where Sarada sits by the stone hearth, then transforms back into Shintaro, as Sakura takes her leave, and leaves her daughter to the mad magician.
Sarada:
How am I one of your most gifted students?… I can’t even hold on to my stupid glasses!…
Shintaro:
If you don’t mind my asking… just why do you need your stupid glasses in the first place?… What do have against being blind?… You’re not a sightist are you?…
Sarada:
Hah… Hah…
Shintaro:
Seriously… Why do you need to wear glasses?… I really want to know… What exactly was the precise diagnoses?…
Sarada:
Nothing fancy… just basic astigmatism… Why?… Do you have a cure for that?…
Shintaro:
Unfortunately for you… no… There are endless regeneration techniques in existence… But they can only restore what is supposed to be… to repair damage… An inherent defect… or an inherent tendency for some defect… can only be restored to this state by regeneration… They cannot change what is inherent… That requires other methods… like wearing glasses… But we are at least in the same boat as far as that goes… although not to the same extent obviously… Can I see these all important glasses of yours?…
Sarada takes off her glasses with the scratched lenses and hands them over to Shintaro. Shintaro materializes a blank scroll into his hand and unfolds it on the floor in front of him, then raises both his hands and materializes his demon ink gourd into his left hand, and a brush into his right. Shintaro draws ink out of the gourd with his brush and marks the scroll with various seal formula surrounding a small circle in the center. Shintaro places the scratched glasses onto the scroll, placed over the circle in the center. He performs a quick series of hand seals and places his hands on the scroll, on either side of the glasses, and infuses his chakra into the scroll. The glasses glow brightly for a moment then the glow dies down. After the glowing stops Shintaro tosses the original pair of scratched glasses back to Sarada, leaving a ink copy illustration of the glasses, complete with the scratches.
Shintaro goes to work with his brush, manipulating the ink already on the scroll as part of the ink copy of Sarada’s glasses, to repair the scratches in the ink version on the scroll. Then Shintaro infuses his chakra into the scroll causing a shikigami paper mache copy to form in the shape of her glasses, before transmuting themselves into the materials of red plastic and now scratch free glass that make up the new exact physical copy of her glasses, exact save for the scratches. Shintaro hands the new glasses over to Sarada.
Shintaro:
Here… Try these…
Sarada puts the new glasses on, with obvious astonishment.
Sarada:
They’re perfect!… Scratch free… They’re even my current prescription!…
Shintaro:
About that… All day yesterday I was training Chocho… She actually wanted me to seal away her entire wardrobe into her Heart Shadow Pocket Seal… Instead I only sealed away her sansetsukon along with her ocarina… However… I appeased her concern by teaching her a different sort of shikigami slight-of-hand… In particular… the Skin Sleeve Envelope… The Skin Sleeve Envelope is a much more limited and shallow sort of pocket seal compared to the Heart Shadow Pocket Seal… It can only contain ink on paper… and only one sheet or scroll per pocket… But you can use it with the jutsu that I just showed you… to make a temporary copy just about anything you want… whenever you want… wherever you want… as long as you have the chakra necessary to make fresh copies… They are easily removed… and easily changed… It’s a simple little trick that doesn’t amount to much by itself… But big tricks tend to be made up of lots of little tricks… The problem with sealing away any object… like a pair of glasses… or a set of cloths… is that the specific needs for theses types of objects… are subject to change over time… prescriptions change… sizes change… fortunately for you… I also have another small little trick that I sealed into this particular pair of lenses…
Shintaro snaps his fingers and the shikigami glasses on Sarada’s face peel away as bits and pieces of paper until there is nothing left on her face.
Sarada:
Is it fortunate for me that my glasses just disintegrated off my face?…
Shintaro takes the template scroll for Sarada’s glasses and rolls it up.
Shintaro:
Here… let me see your left wrist…
Sarada reaches out with her arm as Shintaro performs a quick series of hand seals then grabs the rolled up scroll, now beginning to glow slightly, and slowly inserts the rolled up scroll into her wrist completely, as if it were injected directly into her veins.
Shintaro:
Now see if you can feel the location of he pocket seal within your own skin…
Sarada feels along the inside of her wrist until she comes to the place where it is.
Sarada:
Hai… I can feel it…
Shintaro:
Infuse your own chakra into the seal…
Sarada does as instructed and a copy of her red oval framed glasses materialize into her left hand, then she places the glasses onto her face.
Sarada:
Well that is convenient but… But what other trick were you talking about?… other than the fact that they’re not scratched anymore?…
Shintaro:
Try infusing your chakra into them in different ways… and see what happens…
Sarada raises her hand to her glasses as if to adjust the frames on her face, and infuses her own chakra into her glasses, as she looks down at the floor.
Sarada:
Is that… the wood grain?… from the floor?!?…
Sarada looks up and out the window.
Sarada:
You can see forever with these… But they keep shifting focus… What did you do to them?…
Shintaro:
It’s a special adjustable warping seal of my own devising… It warps the shape of the lens in accordance with how much chakra you infuse into it… and how you infuse it… It may take some getting use to… But the glasses will stay however you leave them… until you change them again… a prescription that never expires… with a fresh pair always at your fingertips… A simple little trick… that some day may add up to a big trick… of saving your life… As far as your fashion choices and preparations are concerned… the rest is even easier… And now that I’ve shown you how… you can make whatever arrangements like… It may not seem like much… But simply eliminating the concern… to free yourself to deal with more difficult challenges… can go a long way towards pulling off that big trick…
Sarada:
How does that enable me to handle my transformations better?…
Shintaro:
It doesn’t directly… It simply removes some unnecessary complications… Keep in mind… The Skin Sleeve Envelope only works for you when you have skin… Two of your transformations don’t have anything… that could be properly called skin… And your dragon form has skin of dragon scales… So anything made in this way while in that form… will be extra durable by comparison… Later on this afternoon we’ll be starting the training that will be able to increase your capacity to handle the transformation… For now… I think you might want to put my Phoenix Flower’s kusarigama into your Heart Shadow Pocket Seal… But I want you to take something else into there with it… something very important to me that I want you to hold on to for me…
Shintaro takes the messenger bag from off his shoulder and makes a gesture to hand it over to Sarada, before it goes poof and disappears, just as Sarada was reaching for it.
Shintaro:
That one of course… is not the real one…
Shintaro performs a quick series of hand seals, then he begins to reach into his own Heart Shadow Pocket Seal and pull out a small scroll. Shintaro unrolls the scroll out onto the floor, revealing various complex seal formula. Shintaro performs another quick series of hand seals before placing his palms on the scroll, infusing his own chakra into the scroll. His real messenger bag materializes on top of the scroll, then Shintaro hands the real one to Sarada.
Shintaro:
This is no ordinary messenger bag… It was my mother’s… Or more accurately… it was made for me by my mother… The leather of the bag is covered in various pocket seals… Including the templates for blank scrolls of various sizes… But also templates for a full set of brushes… of various types… just in case one’s scroll work gets… artistic… And that’s just the outside… Leather is of course made from animal skin… which allows for the use of the Skin Pocket Seal to begin with… The inside of the bag functions a bit differently… in combination with a Heart Shadow Pocket Seal… When sealed away… and a copy is summoned forth… It functions as portal to your into your pocket seal… anything put into the copy… gets put into the real thing… and can be taken out… It stores my life’s work… my basic notes… and all my unfinished work that… I may have to leave to others to finish…
Sarada:
What kind of work?…
Shintaro:
You’ll find out… I’m drafting you as my special assistant… I’m probably going to need one anyway… And this way I can train you more… Of course this means that your taking on the burden of keeping all of my notes for me… And you have to aid me in training others… My mother made this bag for me because… as a young blind Uzumaki… I was always losing things… I had my special insight… But I could only see things if they had chakra in them… If they didn’t have any chakra in them… I just as helpless as any ordinary blind boy… So my mother made me this bag and put the pocket seal on my heart… and put this bag in it… long before I left for Konoha…
Sarada:
How long before?…
Shintaro:
I was six… It was the day that I left the palace for the monastery where I would be trained and educated… It was not far away… But mother was very protective…
Sarada:
This… is… too important!… Isn’t it?… to give to me?… How can I accept this?… It’s too much!… Isn’t it?…
Shintaro:
Nonsense!… Your one of my best students… if not my best student… as well as my great granddaughter… So no more of this nonsense!… I will not tolerate any more of this nonsensical pouty self pity!… Wakarimasuka?…
Sarada:
Hai!… Wakata!…
Shintaro:
That being said… Weakness is just as much part of reality as strength is… And you do have weaknesses to deal with… as well as the strength to deal with them… For example… Your father and I were talking… about your efforts to master the Chidori in recent days… Essentially… your mastery is adequate… and promising… but not up to his level… There are a variety of reasons for this… Your chakra is above average… But your raw physical speed is lacking… Your father believes that theses problems will be alleviated by time and maturity… But while I agree that with time your chakra is only bound to increase… especially under the influence of my training… your speed may not necessarily increase that much with time and training… Basic physical limitations apply… And your body type is fundamentally different from that of your father’s… And it’s not just a question of different characteristics between the sexes… Although that is certainly a part of it… Do they still teach the special kunoichi-only classes at the academy?…
Sarada:
Ai… But I don’t get how that matters?… Are saying that I can’t do it right?… because I’m a girl?!?…
Shintaro:
I’m saying that you probably can’t do it completely exactly like your father… and expect exactly the same results… Because you are not your father… Sexual differences are a part of that… just not the only part… If you recall from those kunoichi classes… there are fundamental physical differences between the sexes… practical realities that must be managed… and compensated for in the short term… in order to take advantage of potentially greater power in the long term…
Sarada:
Men on average have greater muscle mass and density… and greater on average physical speed as a result… But women on average tend to have greater amounts of chakra… as a result of the physiological demands of bearing a pregnancy… and tend to have greater on average talent for chakra control… as a result of a greater on average intuitive sensitivity to chakra…
Shintaro:
Quite right… A very textbook answer… In the long term more chakra means more power… But in the short term brute force is quicker…
Sarada:
But… learned ancestor… Why is it that it’s child bearing that is believed to give women more chakra?… Isn’t that sexist?… Mama and Shizunesama say that a lot of that stuff is just a function of the sexist patriarchy!…
Shintaro:
Irregardless of whatever you or they may believe or feel about the so-called ‘patriarchy’… Never mind the ‘patri’… Fear the ‘archy’… It is always the ‘archy’ part that you really have to worry about… the ‘archy’ part always corrupts and twists whatever it’s attached to… like a true parasite!… Besides… It it a simple sad fact of life in this metaverse… that it is far more easier to destroy… than to create… And the creation versus the destruction of life… is no exception… That makes the creation side of that equation… far more precious priority than the capacity for destruction… But without the capacity for destruction in the short term… the capacity for creation cannot be protected long enough to benefit from it in the long term… Sarutobi Hiruzen… the Third Hokage to you… Used to posit a shogi based riddle to young shinobi under his tutelage… as a means of expressing and explaining… his version of the Will of Fire… Part of the founding philosophy of Konoha… He would ask them… if shinobi are the pawns in shogi… then who or what… is the king?… The answer would always be essentially the posterity… of the will of fire… the future… But not the far off future… the living future… the fruits of the womb… There’s a reason why it is said… that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world after all… It is that hand that helps determine the future of our posterity… here in the present… And it is that hand that rocks the cradle that is also it’s primary defender… But it’s principle advantage is more abundance of chakra… which requires more skill to use… requiring more time… to develop the skill… to tap into that greater power… for a greater purpose… and temporarily re-task it… for the sake of the lesser… but necessary short term purpose… to protect that sacred cradle… Even though I was mostly raised in a monastery… I was not completely without interaction with women… But they were mostly just my big sister… my mother… and a bunch of old crones… the elders of the Shrine Maidens of Uzushio… I learned more than half of anything of any value that I ever learned… from them!… And whether you realize it or not… that is how you are now being trained… If I did not mention it before… I have now… To some extent… you have been doing so your whole life already… The medical tradition in which your mother was trained by Tsunade… Was based on the medical tradition of the Shrine Maidens of Uzushio… Because that was how I trained Tsuanade… And to some extent… Tsunade was trained by her grandfather… the First Hokage… who was trained in a form of those traditions by my grandfather… who also learned as much as I… if not more than I did… from the Shrine Maidens of his youth… And that is how you’ve been trained to some extent by your mother your whole life… I’m just continuing and expanding on that process already underway… Within the Uzumaki Clan legacy… some of the most powerful forms of fuinjutsu… can only be performed by the females of the clan…
Sarada:
Do you think… that I might be able to do that some day?…
Shintaro:
Hard to say… The Uchiha strain… is every dominant strain… Only time will tell if you have enough of the Uzumaki nature within you… in order to pull it off… Even if that is the case… it is very demanding of chakra… And I don’t think you have enough now to pull it off anyway… For you it may require full mastery of senjutsu… A kunoichi must always remember… that most martial arts are made by men… for men… Kunoichi must always remember this fact… and compensate for it… if not overcompensate… A kunoichi that does not overcompensate… is not practical… And an impractical kunoichi… is a dead kunoichi… or far worse… some demon’s pet… Young kunoichi start out behind the curve compared to men because of the relative ease of brute force for men… The relative advantage they have with respect to chakra… takes a much longer time by comparison… It is a far greater power in the long term… But we all must endeavor to make our way through the short term as best as we can… in order to survive and make it as far… as the long term… Therefore… overcompensation is an absolute necessity in the interim… But not just in terms of working harder… but also working smarter… Taking your Chidori for example… When faced with any training challenge that seems beyond your capacity… you have one of two basic approaches to deal with it… adjustment and modification… or perseverance and struggle… With the approach of adjustment and modification… you seek to change the nature of the challenge in order to take better advantage of your own personal strengths and talents… To some extent this must be done with any time tested standardized jutsu passed down from generation to generation… Because there are no one-size-fits-all justus… any more than there are any such things as one size fits all solutions… In order to modify the Chidori… You may seek to integrate it with the taijutsu style of your mother… for example… Your mother learned hers primarily from Tsuanade… who learned hers mostly from her grandfather… the First Hokage… who learned his from my grandfather… who in turn learned it from the Shrine Maidens of Uzushio… Even though it’s for both men and women… it was literally invented by women for women… So it already addresses part of the issue by design… With the most devastating blow of that style… energy is carefully pooled and controlled to deliver maximum power and impact only at the point and instant of contact… The Chidori on the other hand… is not so easy turn on or off that way… So training could be undertaken to compensate for this by focusing on being able have it ready to go all the time… in order to turn it on or off as naturally as a reflex… as just another twitch of muscle… Alternatively… or additionally… One may focus on the Chidori Stream… which requires more chakra… and more chakra control… but makes no demands on one’s physical speed… as the speed and power of the lightening itself does all the work… And a shadow lightening Chidori would of course be even more powerful still… Alternatively… one must struggle to make oneself stronger and faster over long hours and with great difficulty… And with no real guarantee of success… However… I have a training program in mind that not only should help with the Chidori… but should also strengthen your fundamental natural human form… for the sake of managing the physical stresses of your transformations… No more pouty pity parties about how you don’t immediately and automatically measure up to your father’s example… or Chocho’s for that matter… for different reasons… I will not tolerate for a moment any nonsensical pouty pity parties over failing to measure up to people with fundamentally different talents than you do… just like the pouty pity party that I interrupted when I arrived…
Sarada:
Ai… Ai… Wakata… Enough with the ‘pouty pity party’ stuff…
Shintaro:
Sumimasen… But I just like saying… pouty pity party… So no more pouty pity parties… Otherwise… I’ll have an endless array of opportunities and excuses to drive you crazy by saying… pouty pity party!…
Sarada:
Ai!… Ai!… Wakata!… Alright!… What’s next?… besides a pouty pity party…
Shintaro:
What’s next is a trip to the hospital to help me and your mother out with a patient… You mustn’t neglect your other training after all. Your mother is already complaining about me monopolizing your time… She’s very protective… And she has her own plans for your training… Besides… Your conditioning will depend somewhat upon the assistance of someone that we will be helping out medically this afternoon… I explain the rest later… For now… Can you fetch your great grandmother’s kusurigama?…
Sarada:
Hai!… learned ancestor…
Sarada leaves and goes into one of the bedrooms in the back, and returns shortly with her blackened Yuino steel kusurigama. She sits down again and hands the weapon over to the mad magician. Shintaro runs his index finger along the outside of his messenger bag, infusing chakra as he does, and conjures up a simple large blank scroll as a result. Shintaro unrolls the large blank scroll onto the floor in front of them, then begins to direct ink to make various seal formula on the surface of the scroll, before placing his messenger bag and the kusurigama on the surface of the scroll.
Shintaro:
Is there anything else?… before you commit these matters to heart?… in a manner of speaking…
Sarada:
I lost my stupid headband… along with my stupid glasses… I probably could have used that jutsu to avoid loosing it!…
Shintaro:
Is that another pouty pity party I hear starting up again?…
Sarada:
Iie…
Shintaro:
Good… Apart from the sentimental value of your original headband… it is just another item of clothing after all… And I’ve already shown you how to deal with that… I’ll make you a headband!… Observe!…
Shintaro conjures forth another small scroll from his messenger bag, and begins to draw an illustration of a black sash with a white porcelain forehead plate and the symbol for Konoha drawn in black ink on the porcelain forehead plate, flanked on either side by black and white versions of the symbols for the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans. Shintaro then proceeds to inscribe various seal formula surrounding his illustration of the headband, before performing a series of hand seals and infusing some of his chakra into the scroll. Shintaro then rolls it up and begins to insert it completely into the skin on Sarada’s forehead, disappearing it into her forehead without a mark. Sarada then infuses her own chakra into her forehead’s pocket seal, and conjures forth her new porcelain headband, then quickly ties it around her head, as if in relief for the restoration of a missing limb.
Shintaro:
One last thing for that…
Shintaro performs a quick series of hand seals, then he places his left hand on the porcelain of the headband, while placing his right hand upon the floor in between the two of them, next to the stone hearth in the center of the room. A bright purple flash erupts and then subsides leaving a still glowing purple seal formula marking on the floor, before it disappears completely.
Sarada:
What was that?…
Shintaro:
That was the Homecoming Jutsu… It is a part of the traditions of the Uzumaki… If you infuse your own chakra into the seal on the headband… It transports you from anywhere you are to the spot wherever it’s companion marker placed… I put something similar on the mask that I made for Naruto… The range is limited this planet alone… in the absence of senjutsu…
Shintaro goes through all the motions of the process as before, sealing the items in question into a scroll, then inserting the scroll into Sarada’s Heart Shadow Pocket Seal, to take it’s place right along side Sarada’s biwa and plectrum. Sarada places her hand on her heart and summons forth her learned ancestors messenger bag in one hand, holding it by the strap with her right hand before putting over her left shoulder, hanging diagonally down to her right. In her other hand she summons forth her kusurigama, then quickly sends it away, as if just to test it.
Shintaro:
Before this afternoon’s activities… There some training practices that I want you adopt going forward… Regular training habits… irregardless of the specifics of the training in question… Something I learned about just recently with my training of my nephew… and his use of shadow clones for training purposes… Something he’s doing even now… Chocho told me the other day… that you managed to copy the Shadow Clone Jutsu from Boruto… How many such clones can you make at the moment?…
Sarada:
Just two… Boruto can make four or five…
Shintaro:
Am I hearing the sounds… of a pouty pity party?… So what?… You’ll make more in time… For now two is just enough… for more important training… Make two now please… Ganbate kudesai!…
Sarada performs the hand seals for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and summons two identical clones of herself.
Shintaro:
Now transform one of them into your crow spirit form.. and the other one into your steam dragon form…
One of Sarada’s clones changes into her humanoid crow spirit form, with it’s hooded cloak of black crow feathers hanging down to just above her bare human feet at the bottom. The crow Sarada pulls out her human hands from inside her cloak and pulls back the hood of her cloak. She infuses her chakra into the pocket seal on her forehead, and produces a porcelain Konoha headband, that she then ties around her forehead. She then infuses chakra into the pocket seal on her wrist, conjuring up a pair of red oval rimmed glasses that she then puts on her face, but then quickly decides to discard the glasses for that form, and the glasses then peel away to nothing.
The other clone turns into her humanoid dragon form, naked with skin of sparkling white dragon scales, covered otherwise only in a thick black steam pouring out from her skin. Shintaro sends a flurry of shikigami paper from out of his loose hanging sleeves to surround and enclose the dragon form Sarada, forming and solidifying into a set of white monk’s robes clothing the otherwise naked dragon girl. The dragon girl Sarada infuses chakra into her wrist, then materializes a pair of red oval frame glasses into her hand, before placing them on her face and grinning slightly. She then infuses chakra likewise into her forehead pocket seal, materializing her porcelain headband into her hands, then tying it likewise around her forehead.
Shintaro:
Now summon forth your instruments of choice… and play… Play the universal form… of the Chakra Resonance Jutsu… Play to yourself… Play for yourself… Just play yourself… Play yourself in… Play yourself out… Play yourself around…
Sarada:
Why does that sound… so… inappropriate…
Shintaro:
Well… There is this old joke among musicians… Music is like sex… Playing with yourself is one thing… But playing with others… is a whole new jam!…
Sarada bursts out laughing, mood significantly lightened.
Shintaro:
Play… now!… Imada!…
Shintaro snaps his fingers and summons forth two shikigami paper clones, who then summon forth an ocarina with one clone, and a biwa and plectrum with the other clone. The Shintaro paper clones begin to play, with the biwa playing Shintaro whistling along as well. Both the crow form Sarada and the dragon form Sarada summon forth their biwas and plectrums, then begin to play along, with the crow form Sarada whistling along as well.
Main Shintaro:
The purpose of this is to provide chakra support… both for medical treatments… as well as strenuous training… two applications not entirely unrelated… Creating the shadow clones this way and having them perform the transformation… is but a stop gap measure for training purposes… This allows your main natural human form to train and condition itself… while they practice their music… in support of the training of your main body… And… as you may know… when shadow clones are dispersed… their memories and experiences are then reabsorbed and assimilated… So you can practice with all of your transformations… while leaving your main body free to train to handle them better… with their help… Now while we’re waiting for this afternoons activities… why don’t we make a few more templates for you… Chocho and I were doing this almost all day yesterday… I think she’s found her new favorite jutsu… But she can’t do it yet… So she made me do it for her… My granddaughter can be bit high maintenance some times… a bit of an enthusiastic pest really… I can give you the template for my monk’s robes!…
Sarada:
I think I’ll take a pass on that… Besides… I can always just make my own… now that I know your fashion secrets…
Shintaro summons forth another large blank scroll.
Shintaro:
I don’t normally care for such things as fashion… Because I can’t really ever fully appreciate it… So I don’t have many that I use myself… Ishitara has a large number of them that she likes to rotate… All of the templates are genuinely one-size-fits-all… Because their made to fit each time their formed… as long as your approximately human shaped… A quick wardrobe change may not be an earth shattering jutsu… But by eliminating the little things… we can then focus on the big things… I also have a template for my ocarina that you can have… if you’re ever interested in taking up the instrument… For that matter… you may also wish to explore the vocal talents of your dragon form… Dragons are known for their powerful voices… and their enchanting songs…
The mad magician and the sorcerer’s apprentice scribble and scrawl all morning long. Sakura comes home early to find them practicing the basics of the Super Beast Scroll, while the transformed Sarada’s duet play on.
Sakura:
Well that’s at least a healthier attitude… And you seem refreshed… in spite of being sleep deprived… I was worried we couldn’t do this today… It was I not Shintaro that grounded you little girl… I’m still your first sensei after all… As well as your mother!…
Sarada:
Hai!… Mama sensei!…
Shintaro:
Sarada… That’s enough of this today… I want you to disperse and reabsorb your clones now… assimilate their memories and experiences and all that they may have helped observe with their Mangekyo Sharingan while we were practicing…
Sarada does as instructed and she absorbs the clones. Upon doing so, Sarada shutters slightly and then passes out, seemingly more from the exhaustion of sleep deprivation than assimilation. Sarada wakes up in the early evening, having slept the afternoon away on a cushion by the stone hearth where she passed out, with the smell of takeout and Uzu Tea steeping to wake her up. She wakes up to find her mother Sakura sitting next to her with her one hand on her, gently infusing chakra gradually into Sarada while she slept.
As Sarada comes to full alertness, she sits up and realizes that her grandparents have joined them with takeout from Choza’s, waiting with her mother and Shintaro for her to wake up. Both of Sakura’s parents wear gravity and/or wind defying hair, the father wearing graying dark pink hair, slightly darker and now much grayer shade than Sakura’s natural cherry blossom pink hair color, with his hair organized in large spikes like as if his head were a cherry blossom, Sakura’s namesake, with a pair of large muttonchops on either side of his face, connected by a mustache under his nose. Sarada’s grandmother wears a single severe hold bang of light ginger hair, down the front of her forehead to a single point just between the eyes, or slightly below the bridge of the nose.
For all of Sakura’s severeness, the assembled grands and great grand are too busy enjoying themselves to be so severe. Sarada’s grandfather peers eagerly at her with blue eyes, while her grandmother peers at her with green eyes, matching Sakura’s natural eye color. Sakura looks on with Itachi’s now matching purple Rinnegan, and struggles to maintain her pretense of disapproval.
Sarada:
Grandpa?!?… Grandmama?!?… When did you?!?… Why did you?!?…
Grandpa:
Well I heard there was a party going on… So I figured that I would bring a few more of my own parts to the bundle… get it?…
The grandfather points up at the parts between the hair spikes on his head.
Grandpa:
Get it?…
Sarada:
Not really grandpa… But it’s still nice to see you… parts and all… get it?…
Sarada’s silly retort bust up her grandfather laughing.
Grandmama:
There’s a very good reason that your grandfather only rights textbooks… not comedies…
The assembled group busts out loud laughing at the grandmother’s joke, except for Sakura who just seems genuinely annoyed.
Sakura:
Finally!… We’re going to have to have ourselves a little talk… little girl… Fortunately for you… our special patient meant to be treated today is being rather stubborn… and will need some more convincing to cooperate… I have people working on it… But it may take some more time…
Shintaro:
This is now an actual official Uzumaki style intervention… a training intervention… but still an intervention… If your going to overdo it… then your going to over do it only in just right way… and under the right supervision… Normally I like enthusiastic students… I like to encourage that… and some times I get a little carried away myself…
Sakura:
I’ll say…
Shintaro:
We need to organize and supervise your habitual over indulgence… Channel it… as well as reign it in… But thanks to your mastery of the Shadow Clone Jutsu… you may have a more efficient and productive way to achieve the same goal… without the compulsive self abuse… by way of efficient delegation… to yourself… for yourself…
Sarada:
Wakarimasen… learned ancestor… I’m afraid you’ve lost me a bit…
Shintaro:
Well the details can wait for now… The most important aspect of your training going forward… is to master what you already have… and learn to exploit it to the maximum extent… At this point… anything else of value for you to master… you can master along the way from here… But first you must master what you have… and not shy away from it because it is difficult at first… nor waste your self away on vain self-defeating and self-destructive efforts… and not to engage in pouty pity parties… when that approach inevitably goes wrong for you…
Sarada:
Hai!… Hai!… Wakata!… Enough about the pouty pity parties!… What exactly is that supposed to mean anyway?…
Shintaro:
The details are somewhat to be determined… Primary for now is learning few more skills to help you make practical use of your new powers as they are now… Come on outside with me… with the takeout that your grandparents brought from Choza’s restaurant… I want to show you a few more tricks that will help you make practical use of your lava form… Some earth style techniques that I taught to your cousin Naruto… for mostly different reasons… We can have ourselves a bit of a working picnic!… Besides… I thought… you were going to move in to the garden house… I made it primarily for that purpose… There was a specific request as I recall… I would hate to see it go to waste… lying empty… Is there some complaint about my design?… Is there something missing?… Is it the plumbing again?…
Sarada:
The design is wonderful… learned ancestor… But it’s a bit too wonderful… It’s just too big for just me!…
Shintaro:
Well… Perhaps you can get a roommate… With my daughter Karui expecting and Ishitara moving in… Chocho might need a place to stay by practical necessity… Besides… I made it so that at least half of it could be used as a private clinic office for your mother… or even for you some day…
Sakura:
With all due respect I don’t think I want something like that to be that close to our main house… Maybe for elsewhere on the property… but not here… I want us to have more privacy right here… and more security… Pretty soon the Uchiha property will covered in Uchiha University facilities… as well as students!… We’re gonna need some more walls and hedgerows pretty soon…
Shintaro:
University offices perhaps then… or even in-law quarters… for working family… in the service of the family business… for a Uchiha University Publishing House… for which I am drafting your parents regardless… They were just complaining about having to find a new place… Even if they were just angling for a new home… it is a pretty good idea after all… although I’m not sure how Sasuke might react to find out… that his in-laws have moved in while he was away in Ryuchi Cave…
Sakura:
We might just hold off till he gets back just in case…
The non-pouty picnic party grabs the takeout and few pitchers of fresh steeped Uzu Tea, and assorted cups, and heads down to the garden house where they find it occupied by training already. Naruto’s stone toad, Konohamaru’s dark crystal form, and master Fukasaku are waiting for them, as the stone toad seems to be practicing his wood style by having his way with the garden, planting random gratuitous bamboo groves everywhere there is any spare space around the garden house.
Stone Toad:
Menma gasukidesu… Am I Menma?…
Dark Crystal K:
Iie!… Your not Menma!… Enough with the menma here already!… Give it a rest for a while here already!… Put that one-hit-wonder on the low rotation here!…
Sarada:
‘One-hit-wonder’?… ‘low rotation’?… Konohamaru sensei?…
Dark Crystal K:
Sumimasen… I’m just a training clone… I already got part of the lecture that your about to get… But this body here… is like one big impossibly sensitive radio transceiver… I literally get every urusai baca station on the planet in here!… simultaneously here!!!… It’s all that I can do!… just to keep it tuned in here!… But I can’t ever seem to turn it off while I’m in this form here!… Agggh!!!… Not the song again!!!… Enough with it already!!!… Its too late!… I got it stuck in my head now!… I have to head for the mountains to practice with this form anyway… Hopefully the mountains of the Valley of Exile will provide enough shielding for peace of mind so that I can train!… And Naruto’s stone toad training clone can garden to his hearts content without destroying Naruto’s home here!… We’re bringing along a paper clone of master Fukasauku here to supervise our training there… Omaiwa!… Not a that double-shot again!… I can’t think straight like this here!…
Sarada:
Poor Konohamru… Now I don’t feel so bad…
Shintaro:
Your about to join him!… or part of you is… But first things first… Transform into your crow form… That form should have the best pair of eyes of any… Your Mangekyo Sharingan should have the most copying power in that form… Transform and observe me with your best possible Mangekyo Sharingan!… This is an earth style jutsu I taught to Naruto earlier… the Earth Style Levitation Jutsu… I want you to observe and copy it as best as you can… I want both you and Konohamaru to master it… Konohamaru has to do it the old fashioned way…. But you might be able to copy it at least a little bit…
Sarada transforms into her crow form in whirling dark funnel cloud that disappears and leaves behind Sarada’s crow form almost before people could notice the funnel. Sarada’s crow form stands there now with her hooded cloak of crow feathers, but now with a black studded leather waste length biker’s jacket over her shoulders, with her feather cloak underneath it, hanging down knee length beneath it. Her crow form has two human feet sticking out from beneath her crow feathers, now wearing a traditional pair of raised platform wooden clogs, each with a pair wooden teeth about two inches high, themselves hovering inches above the ground on a cushion of wind. The crow form Sarada pulls her hands out from the pockets of her jacket, with black crow feathers protruding out from the sleeves of her jacket, she peels back her black feathered hood to reveal her eyeglass free Mangekyo Sharingan.
Shintaro:
The Earth Style Levitation Jutsu essentially seeks to fly by using earth nature chakra to negate gravity directly… Observe all!…
Shintaro performs some earth style related hand signs, then simply lowers his hands down to his side palms facing down towards the ground, before then lifting up off the ground to hover seemingly weightless in front of a stunned crow girl, herself still floating on a cushion of wind. The stone toad starts to levitate slightly with master Fukasaku’s paper clone still on his head.
Stone Toad:
I can fly too!…
The stone toad continues to fly off without a care towards the Valley of Exile, with paper clone of master Fukasaku still seemingly content to ride on top of the stone toad’s head, but with dark crystal Konohamaru left behind on the ground.
Dark Crystal K:
Mate!… Mate!… Wait for me!… I know this one!…
Dark crystal Konohamaru performs the same hand signs and tries to take off, lifting off the ground a few meters, the slowly drifting back down to touch the ground again.
Dark Crystal K:
Damn Radio!… It’s air-wave pollution here!… I can’t think straight here like this!… I gotta get going and catch up!… and get the hell out of this noise pollution!… Catch up when you can!… You know where we’re going!… Aggh!!!… Top forty two-for-Tuesdays!!!… I hate you!!!… Omaiwa!!!…
Dark crystal Konohamaru starts to float up again unevenly, and tumbling in mid air occasionally, but unsteadily makes his way up, and to the west, to catch up with the stone toad and paper Fukasaku in the Valley of Exile.
Shintaro:
Now… Change into you lava form now… And practice the jutsu that you just observed… Copy it as best you can… Imada!… Are you hesitant?… I sense hesitance… I’m sensitive… not a mind reader… Your blind… in your lava form… Aren’t you?…
Sarada:
Ai… I figured I just had a defective transformation…
Shintaro:
That sounds like you had a smoldering pouty pity party going there beneath the surface… When it comes to being blind… welcome to the club!… And I don’t just mean me… Konohamaru is essentially blind in his crystal form… He says he sees sound and vibration… Even radio waves to some extent… he thinks… Are you completely blind in your lava form?…
Sarada:
Not completely but… it’s hard to make sense of… It’s like I can see… but only differently… But I don’t understand any of it!…
Shintaro:
Good!… Welcome to the club!… I happen to know a few things about seeing… without seeing… when your in the blind club… Naruto says high from his training by way… Perhaps I can have a transcript of your pouty pity party put in brail form for him later…
At Shintaro’s chiding, Sarada transforms from her hovering crow form in a whirling flaming dust storm, as dust, dirt, and flaming debris compact themselves upon the surface of her body, forming a molten smoldering crust all over her body. Sarada’s lava form erupts from her magma cocoon, in a humanoid form made of molten orange and red magma, with hard semi-cooled rock covering parts of her body instinctively for protection and decency, and with a flaming halo instead of hair.
Magma Sarada:
I can’t see!!!… Everything’s burning!!!…
Shintaro:
Calm down!… Don’t fixate on what you can’t see… Focus on whatever you can sense!… Try the levitation jutsu!… Imada!…
Flying blind, magma Sarada goes through the motions of performing the earth style hand signs for the Earth Style Levitation Jutsu, with her magma hands that she cannot yet see as far she can tell yet. She then lowers her hands down towards the ground palms down, aping the motions of Shintaro as before when he performed the jutsu. Magama Sarada then lifts up off the ground slightly at first, then floating upward slowly, as she begins to visibly cool down somewhat. As she cools down, she begins to calm down, with the molten magma parts of the surface of her body increasingly becoming like white unpainted porcelain as they cool, except for her still flaming hair, and her flaming eye sockets.
Her magma face cools and solidifies into a perfect solid unpainted white porcelain replica of her actual natural face, pierced through the eye sockets with flickering flames. Without any feature of the face moving, porcelain face Sarada makes the sound of Sarada’s voice somehow.
Magma Sarada:
I… I think I can… see… some things… I think I can see heat!… and chakra!!!… Is this how you see?…
Shintaro:
Somewhat… I suspect… There’s is no real telling if you perceive anything exactly the same as anyone… I suspect you are sensing chakra the way I do however… as compensation for the loss of your fancy eyes in this form… But the heat sense is more a feature of this particular form of yours… a pure elemental form… but of combined elements… Konohamaru’s crystal form is a type of pure earth element form… Yours is more complex… primarily earth… but with fire as well… for the Lava Style at least… But I sense the wind in you…
Magma Sarada:
I beg your pardon!…
Shintaro:
I sense wind nature chakra in you!… Can you sense it?… It’s very slight… I suspect you may not be able to use it by itself… or very easily in that form… But you may be able to use the Magnet Style… the combination of wind and earth chakra natures… Or even the Particle Style… the combination of earth wind and fire chakra natures… which reminds of a band I listened to from the archives of the dragon king… I should play some of it for you… as inspiration… my Shining Star!… See if you can lower yourself down to the ground and make contact without over heating… When you’re in contact with the ground… the lava style will be at it’s strongest… and your temperature will tend to rise as a result…
The porcelain face Sarada lowers herself back down to touch the ground with her porcelain feat, forming sharp toe point hard rock boots around her porcelain feet, out of cooling magma bubbling up from the ground where her feet touched down.
Magma Sarada:
I think… I’m getting the hang of this…
Shintaro:
Good!… Now… Have you by any chance ever seen the Magnet Style?… up close and personal?… with your Sharingan?… or perhaps even the Particle Style?… Do you feel up to trying them?…
Rather than answer, the flaming hair porcelain Sarada raises up her right hand, and all sorts of dust and debris blow around up from the ground and into the air, as they swirl around then collect and form a cold stone statue copy of Sarada in her lava form. Then she performs a series of hand seals before aiming her hands at the target she created.
Magma Sarada:
Particle Style!… Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!…
A translucent three dimensional cube of energy forms around her target, completely enclosing it and extending into the ground by several centimeters. The energy cube flashes white and disappears, leaving no trace of it’s target, or of the ground beneath it for several centimeters.
Magma Sarada:
I think… I’m getting the hang of this… This is good… This is real good…
Shintaro:
Good… I’m glad your enjoying your self… Now I need you to try and levitate again… But this time… see if you can maintain your heat… or even increase it… while out of contact with the ground…
Magma Sarada lifts her hard rock boot covered feet up off the ground and rises up a few meters above the ground, before her hair begins to flare up and form a Flaming Medusa made of pure fire nature chakra.
Shintaro:
Good!… Now transform into your dragon form… like you did before… when you were in your lava form the last time…
The hovering flaming medusa is rapidly engulfed in a dark black steam pouring out of every surface of the lava form Sarada. The flames are completely smothered by dark billowing steam, like an ocean floor volcanic steam vent, before Sarada explodes straight up from the source of the venting in her full dragon form. The giant sparkling white scaled dragon flies up and then down again to the ground where she transforms back into her humanoid dragon form, in a flurry of billowing black steam.
She wears the same sort of flattish conical wide-brimmed traditional wicker hat as she had before, with the white curtain hanging down the sides and the back of her head, hanging down to her shoulders. But now she wears the studded leather biker jacket that she had before in her crow form, but with the same red sleeveless kimono top underneath as before, and the red hakama hanging down to hide her dragon girl feet, scales, talons, and all, showing only the wooden teeth of her traditional raised wooden platform clogs, beneath the bottom of her red hakama.
The dragon form Sarada raises up her hand and summons forth a pair of her red oval framed eye glasses, right into her waiting left hand talons, before placing them on her face, with her porcelain headband already in place underneath her hat.
Shintaro:
The last time you transformed into your lava form… you instinctively transformed back into your dragon form for safety… as a way out of it… You seem exceptionally comfortable in your dragon form… And your dragon form does have more stamina and chakra than you normally do in proper human form… I want to see how many shadow clones you can make in your dragon form…
Dragon form Sarada performs the hand seals for the Shadow Clone Jutsu with her shiny talons, then suddenly materialize just over forty or so shadow clone copies of dragon lady Sarada, all standing around looking at each other, just as shocked and amazed at their existence as their creator.
Shintaro:
There!… That should be more than enough for training!… That’s not exactly Naruto’s level… But that beats Boruto… Of course now you will have to stay in your dragon form in order to maintain so many clones for training… Now transform one clone into your lava form and see if it can fly after the crystal Konohamaru…
One of Sarada’s dragon ladies transforms in a whirling smoking dust storm into her porcelain faced fire haired form, with flaming eyes and a rock armor swim suit and sharp pointed toe hard rock formed boots, already hovering off the ground and flying upwards slowly.
Shintaro:
Can you find Konohamaru and the other’s in that state?…
Magma Sarada:
I think so… Konohamaru sensei is broadcasting!… I can sense radio too now… Not as sensitively as Konahamaru sensei… it’s more of a dull noise… But he’s not just receiving!… He’s actually broadcasting!… He’s the loudest thing I can sense… I don’t know about the others but I think Konohamaru sensei knows the way… And I can’t miss him…
The flying magma girl accelerates as she flies up and over to fetch Konohamaru on her way to the Valley of Exile, leaving behind Shintaro and the remaining dragon ladies.
Shintaro:
Now most of your training clones will be assigned to your favorite kind of self-abusive crunch work under your slave driving grandparents… You will be part of the inaugural publication of the new Uchiha University Publishing House… Your grandparents are among the best in the business you know… And together with them… you will help make these precious scrolls that you’ve been obsessing over… into text books… for then even more people to self-abusively obsess over… And if I may be so bold… If your not going to use the other wing of the garden house for a private clinic… then why not use it for the family publishing house… part of the family business of the University of course… Some may complain about nepotism… But that is only because they are bitter jealous losers whose family suck!…
Sakura:
Shintaro sensei!…
Shintaro:
It’s only the truth that I speak!…
Sakura:
That doesn’t mean that you have to say it…
Shintaro:
There’s bound to be a lot of grunt work… errands… and heavy lifting… None of which will be done by your grandparents!… Keep your publishing house clones in crow form… in order to take advantage of that form’s superior eyes… You can abuse the eyesight of your clones all you want… Clones are expendable… And no matter what damage they experience… you absorb the experience… but not the damage… But you will need to train… and endeavor to maintain yourself and the health of your main body in dragon form… in order maintain all of your other training efforts with your clones… Send the bulk of your clones in crow form with your grandparents and get started…
About twenty five or so dragon lady clones transform into a bunch of crow form Saradas, and follow the publishing tycoons to tour the far wing of the garden house, for spacing and floor plan concerns for the new publishing house.
Shintaro:
Now ready four or five more of your clones in crow form and have them practice the musical Chakra Resonance Jutsu together… as a band… Starting tomorrow… Your merry little murder of crows… will lend musical medical support… to the medical practices of your mother and the other doctors at the hospital… And while you are playing there you will use the superior vision of the crow form Mangekyo Sharingan… to observe and copy absolutely everything that you can… especially from your own mother… The rest of that training will be up to your mother of course…
Five clones change into crow girls for the crow murder chorus, then wonder off to practice and gain experience as a group.
Shintaro:
In time… I will have more training for you… to occupy your training clones… In time… you’ll be able to maintain more clones… in order to expand your training further… But you must maintain support for your main body during all of this effort… And your main body will have to remain in your dragon form… in order to withstand the effort… as well as power it… In service to this… You will remain here… and use whatever remaining clones you have available… to serenade yourself with the same Chakra Resonance Jutsu that you will be using at the hospital later with your mother… Use a mixture of crows and dragons together… Maximize resonance across all forms!… Master your forms!… Master yourself!… Master your power!…
The remaining clones are divided up about evenly among crows and dragons as they begin to play their respective conjured biwas, as Sakura continues to observe and listen intently, enjoying the music as much as anything else.
Shintaro:
Good… Good… Now for one thing more… Try transforming one of your clones into your Lightening Susanoo form… But try making it much smaller than before… normal human sized… And holding a biwa and plectrum as before… That implies a musical application for that form… Pure energy forms like your Lightening Sasanoo… can take any form or shape… even shift size…
One of the dragon clones starts to emits copious amounts of purple electricity, then flashes a bright purple flash, as it suddenly coverts it’s body to purple lightening, arcing over and striking the ground in front of Shintaro, where it takes the glowing electric purple shape of a normal height shadow lightening form Sarada, but without the Susanoo’s normal body armor made of chakra. Sarada’s Lightening Susanoo instead takes the form of a formally dressed Sarada, with her oval framed glasses, and holding her biwa and plectrum, all made of pure electric purple shadow lightening nature chakra.
Shintaro:
Excellent!… But can you maintain it?…
The electric purple form nod it’s head in the affirmative, but does not speak.
Shintaro:
Can you play?…
The electric purple Sarada nods the affirmative again without speaking and begins to play her electric purple chakra biwa. Out of her purple lightening biwa come sounds of unnatural resonance, distorted but powerful sounds, buzzing with shadow lightening nature power.
Sakura:
Woh!… Nani?!?… We can’t that going on down here!… not within earshot of the nursery!…
Shintaro:
Sumimasen!… Sakurasama!… I think this one will train more in the Valley of Exile than here!…
A small butterfly sized object flies in with a whizzing funnel cloud and a whistling flute sound. The butterfly shoots up in size to human sized with gigantic orange and yellow butterfly wings, green antenna on her forehead, playing a red heart-shaped triple-chambered ocarina, as she hovers there just a few meters above the ground. The electric purple Sarada stops playing and looks up at Chocho, before converting itself to purple lightening, shooting itself at Chocho. Wrapping itself around her humanoid butterfly form, it forms the armored purple lightening form of the Lightening Susanoo around Chocho, with slots in the back of the armor for her wings, all without interrupting her flight.
Sasuke:
Interesting… That’s quite the concert festival you’ve got going here in my absence… I must of lost my invitation…
Sasuke calls out from the top of the roof of the garden house, where he has been quietly observing for some time.
Shintaro:
Ryuchi Cave has no mail service…
Sasuke:
Quite right…
Shintaro:
But you’re just in time to participate in our Uzumaki style intervention… Sarada is going to learn some new training habits… I think you’ll find the next step very interesting… Sarada… have your main body take a break from playing the biwa… And perform the ancestor summoning shikigami to conjure forth my Phoenix Flower… With the support of your own Chakra Resonance chorus… you should be able to maintain her presence indefinitely… for training purposes… among other things… of a more personal nature… that may be of more interest to my grandson later…
Sarada’s main body dragon lady disappears her biwa and plectrum, and tries to use her talons to sever the skin on her dragon scale covered hand, but fails in frustration.
Shintaro:
Try using your kusarigama… Although with mastery of the blood ink technique… you shouldn’t even need to sever the skin… The blood just oozes through the skin on command… Although now that I think about it… that might be a bit harder with skin of dragon scale… In general there are only two types of people who deliberately cut themselves in order to bleed… lunatics and shinobi… and I can’t but help think that that is no coincidence…
Dragon Sarada:
With all due respect learned ancestor… duh…
Shintaro:
Oh… Sumimasen… my precocious apprentice… I did not mean to interfere with your performance… Your the Shining Star… Your the dragon diva du jour…
The dragon diva conjures forth her Yuino steel kusarigama, with the handle of the sickle in her left hand. She pierces the dragon scales of her hand after a few tries. She forms a sheet of paper from her dragon scale skin and performs a series of hand seals, then places her bloody dragon lady hand on the sheet of paper, bathing it all in electric purple chakra, performing the shadow lightening version of the Ancestor Summoning Shikigami Jutsu. In a flash of purple lightening and electric purple seal paper, a paper clone forms of the deceased Phoenix Flower, Uchiha Mikono.
Mikono:
So kiddo… What’ll it be this time?… Is Mr Snowballs using you to get to me again?…
Shintaro:
It’s just for training purposes this time my love… But hopefully this time indefinitely… thanks to our great granddaughter… I hope you’re not too… disturbed… by the intrusion into your afterlife…
Mikono:
Nani?!?… Disturbed?!?… The afterlife is boring!… And the shadow realm… as you call it… is all a meaningless nothing to me… without family… and company… I want to play among the living!… And I’m always down for training with my biggest fan… And I mean the dragon girl Mr. Snowballs… not necessarily you…
The dragon girl conjures up another kusarigama and tosses it over to her great grandmother’s shikigami paper apparition.
Dragon Sarada:
Pardon me… honorable ancestor… But I must press you into service again I’m afraid…
Mikono:
Any time dragon girl!… But call me Mikonochan!…
Shintaro:
Chocho!… You need more practice as well!… Change back into your natural human form… and practice with your sansetsukon some more with Sarada and my Phoenix Flower…
Chocho transforms into her naturally plumper human form, a characteristic of the Akimichi Clan, then conjures forth her sansetsukon, as she lands with her feet on the ground next to the dragon girl.
Chocho:
Konbonwa!… Mikonochan!… Nice fighting with you again!…
Mikono:
Likewise… butterfly girl… But I am feeling somewhat out numbered here… I wouldn’t want to neglect anyone…
Sasuke:
I can even the odds somewhat…
Sasuke jumps off the roof of the garden house and lands on the ground next to the Phoenix Flower’s paper apparition.
Mikono:
How gallant and chivalrous of you grandson… But… What if I want to fight you?…
The Phoenix Flower draws her kusarigama to bear at the ready, and begins to swing it’s chain around as if preparing to attack her grandson.
Sasuke:
Fine with me then!… I have more than enough for all of you!…
Sasuke steps back from the Phoenix Flower and performs the Shadow Clone Jutsu himself, conjuring forth eight shadow clones, bringing team Sasuke to a total of nine, all drawing their swords, katana in the right hand forward grip, but with the wakizashi in the left hand in a reverse grip.
Shintaro:
Sarada… I want you to practice with your kusarigama in your human form… as well as your dragon form and your crow form… Keep your main body in your dragon form but change one of your other training clones into yourself human form… and re-task one of your crows to train with it as well… Master the kusarigama in all of your forms that can handle the weapon… Master your weapons!… Master your forms!… Master your self!… Master your power!…
One of the crows disappears her biwa and plectrum and conjures up a kusarigama and starts swinging. One of the other dragon ladies does likewise, but changes into Sarada’s natural human form first.
Shintaro:
Sarada… You may wish to send your lightening Susanoo form to the Valley of Exile… to train with your lava form training clone Konohamaru and the others… you can practice your music there without bothering anyone…
The purple lightening maiden Sarada disappears in a flash of purple lightening.
Shintaro:
You know… Sakurasama… With your fancy eyes… you can probably train with the shadow clone jutsu technique as well… Not to the same extent as my nephew Naruto… Or maybe even Sasuke while your still pregnant… But enough to take risks with… and expand your own horizons… Remember… no matter what happens to a shadow clone… the experience is absorbed… but not the damage…
Sakura makes some familiar hand seals and forms three shadow clones.
Shintaro:
Excellent!… I suggest that you use this training method to take up weapons training… Between your fancy eyes… and your shadow clone jutsu… You can take up serious weapons training with your expendable training clones… You needn’t even specialize… with your fancy eyes… Between that and the Shikigami Fabrication Jutsu… You don’t even need to limit yourself to weapons you can carry… I have many templates… And you can make enough clones as it happens to try your hand at Sasuke’s swords… Sarada’s kusarigama… or even Chocho’s sansetsukon!… And your main body can sit back and watch… and copy whatever you may… Sasuke!… You should do the same with your main body and practice your scroll work… Sarada!… Use your main body to practice your music… practically as a constant meditation… self-reinforcing musical resonance… Your sense of hearing will be at the highest sensitivity in your dragon form… Try using your Mangekyo Sharingan with your eyes closed while you play in your dragon form… Delve deeper with all of your dragon senses while you play… the least of which will be your vision… I for one will join the fray of course… And give you all a partial glimpse of why I was known as the Ghost of Winter…
Shintaro conjures up in short order, one shikigami fabrication each of Sasuke’s daisho sword set, Sarada’s blackened steel kusarigama, and Chocho’s stainless steel sansetsukon, and tosses them to the respective Sakura clones. Sasuke’s main body sheaths his swords and takes his place next to Sakura, now on the deck o the garden house overlooking the action. Sarada’s main body in dragon girl form sits down next to them, and conjures forth her biwa and plectrum before beginning to play. Sarada closes her eyes as she was instructed as she begins to play, to focus on her other senses and use her Mangekyo Sharingan to peer into the darkness of the unseen.
Shintaro:
I had better send a paper clone to help train the others in the Valley of Exile… I promised Fukasaku sensei… and perhaps a few more for the band!…
Shintaro raises his hand and shikigami paper flows out from his raised loose sleeve to form a shikigami clone of Shintaro’s owl form, but the size of a regular snow owl perched upon Shintaro’s raised arm, before flying off to the Valley of Exile. Then two more more shikigami constructions are formed, replicating Shintaro but with different instruments, one with his ocarina, the other with a biwa and plectrum, before they begin to play along as well.
Then Shintaro’s main body transforms first into his giant snow owl form, then shape shifts into a humanoid hybrid form of it, similar to Sarada’s humanoid crow form, but with white owl feathers instead of black crow feathers. And with no cloak of feathers, but a head of white feathers for hair, running down his entire back, and underneath both arms down to the wrists and hanging down like a cape of white owl feathers, or even a pair of wings. Shintaro’s chest and front torso remain bare in front down to the waste, with a white feather hakama, draping and hanging down from his waste, down to just above his bare feat.
Shintaro:
This… was the first sage transformation I ever achieved… And is still my most powerful form…
Raises both of his hands up and forms two twin double edged ice crystal swords, appearing in a pair of whirling miniature snow flurries surrounding each hand. The Shintaro paper clone playing the ocarina transforms into the same humanoid snow owl form, but instead of manifesting ice blade swords, continues to play the ocarina, without interruption by the transformation. The Ice blade wielder flies up and over to the side of his Phoenix Flower, born aloft by twin whirling miniature snow flurries surrounding both of his bare human feet.
Mikono:
Still covering up your snowballs with feathers I see… Mr. Snowballs… kinky as ever… even after all these years…
Shintaro:
Enough nostalgic banter my love… It is nice to hear your voice again… But we are here for something far more important than nostalgic banter… nostalgic fighting!… Lets show these baca gaki how it’s done shall we?… for old times sake?…
The training melee ensues as the stealthy and watchful eyes Boruto observe everything from the nearby trees with care, and a bit of envy.
Boruto:
This won’t fly… this won’t fly at all…
There Is No Alone!
There Is No Escape!
There Is No Point In Pretending!
Ozymandias The Mad 