Chapter 4: not enough, less than average
12 Anbus were running under the noon sun through the endless forest.
8 chonin, 3 Jenin, and Orient.
"our mission is to retrieve a Hyuga Jenin corpse," the leader Jenin with a dog musk started explaining the mission in detail, "our enemies belong to Kumogakure, the last info was a team of 5 chonin and 1 injured Jenin. The seal on the corpse says they are running to the western north of Konoha's possession. The likelihood of facing lightening tigers is high,".
Orient's role in all of this was a sensor of 4 sensors. He knew he couldn't put up for the coming fight so he used all his insects on a wide range of 5 kilometers. They would produce a hormone and put it in the air if they sensed any suspicious chakra, that wouldn't be so accurate yet the knowledge of coming danger would alert the other sensors more.
As the running expanded and the empty night fell, they didn't stop; "No rest until the border," the leader said, accelerating more. Orient kept pushing his chakra control to the limit; he hadn't had the chance to control real channels, and maintaining a stable chakra flow was the hardest as it needed a separate deep focus while parkouring and waiting for his insects' signals.
While running the signal came and disturbed his focus so he missed the beat, broke the branch under his foot, and fell. Catching their attention with his falling, "2 O'CLOCK," he screamed out his lungs and rolled on the ground, gaining momentum to start running again.
They kept their speed, ignoring him; no time to waste.
Orient kept running on the ground; parkouring was hard and they were out of his antennae's field.
He knew his technique was shit and he would be depleted of chakra by the morning. He was bursting chakra with every step, giving speed and distance boost, he taught that to Naruto to use it as an attack. Nevertheless, it was an attack and not a footwork. He needed to change that but with what?
Thinking as the gap between them decreased, he was able to sense them again. He noticed that the branches they stepped on never reacted like the ones he had stepped on as they bent.
Under the pressure of sleeplessness, his thoughts were shattered. 'maybe they burst it inwardly and not like him outwardly,'
Trying to do the same he noticed the gap increase, 'how on earth can I burst it inwardly?' he thought.
As he kept falling short of them, the realization struck him. He enveloped the sole with chakra and increased the friction, getting the most out of what his body produced. 'not enough,'; they were out of radar.
The first piece fell into place, the second one was coming. He pushed the layer of chakra with every step making the same effect of bursting but less consuming. While his trains were running in his mind, he was getting closer to them. 'not enough,'.
Looking at the trees reminded him of how they climbed as if their shoes were made of glue. However, that would hinder him rather than boost him so he stopped this train and moved to the next.
He decreased the space which he pushed to only the distal sole half, however, he didn't decrease the amount of chakra but put them in the pushing giving him a small boost.
'time…,'. he understood that his steps are the only time he accelerates so he needs to reduce the time between every step, 'I need to cut it,'. Rather than just having chakra burst through the sole he made it push his knees downward, making him touch the ground fast and take his steps quickly. However, it put pressure on his legs, he understood he needed a solid supporter.
On the saying of a solid supporter, he remembered how Choji charged his body with chakra and could easily handle a fireball. Charging his leg with chakra didn't have quite the effect other than depleting him of chakra. 'my insects can do it but now my queens are exhausted and if I let them use my chakra now I won't last the night,' he thought and then the fact slapped him hard that he almost lost his focus.
'my insects can consume the chakra from the surrounding,'
He called his queens to the skin and they started working on their own. In a matter of seconds, his legs were filled with insects that crowded like secondary fibulas, and his legs like jumping rods were increasing the distance of the steps.
As he thought he caught them, they always kept the same distance, no matter how much he accelerated they always kept the same distance. 'not enough…'.
That feeling of always being behind everyone by a step.
No eyes.
Unable to perform the simplest ninjutsu.
Nothing without his insects.
A weak body that needed years to reach the capability of the normal children.
Time seemed to freeze as a harmless insect entered his radar, A dragonfly. Flapping its wings, and with every flap air escapes to the back, controlling each wing independently. Making a 90-degree turn without losing any of the momentum. It kept flapping its wings, maneuvering, dodging trees, and getting closer to the target. It wasn't the most venomous, fastest, dangerous, or even had the big ass weapons, however, it's the most efficient.
The dragonfly left his radar after catching the prey with great effort. King of the predators.
What the fuck he was thinking trying to catch experienced Anbu who reached chonin and Jenin level, he was just delusional for a moment yet the dragonfly brought him back. 'the dragonfly!'.
He made his insects absorb chakra from the air and pump it through his leg channels. Feeling the burning sensation of the foreign chakra, it was a new level of chakra amount that ran through his channels.
His insects formed a ball of all the chakra he sent them. He had no more time the ball already formed and his next step would burst it, deciding which way to go, planning for every next step, freezing time, 'now or never,'.
He took that step and found that the 6 meters turned 0 and he smashed into the tree. He couldn't react, and he ended up with a lot of broken bones and the burning sensation turned into flames that started to devour his tissues. Everything he built fell in front of his face.
'Now or never,'
His insects collected chakra from the air and formed a ball on his palm. he decided on a tree and his new way and burst it open.
Risking again led him to break 4 rips and his right forearm bones. He lay down, pain overwhelmed him to notice the anbu that came. Orient forced his unbroken hand to form the handsigns, and as he finished he blacked out. His insects came back slowly and healed the tissue they met through their movement inside his body.
The anbu sat next to him after checking his pulse and breathing. "your mission is keeping him challenged and protected and answer his questions if they are not related to the mission." The leader said to fly masked Anbu earlier that night. He knew that the whole mission was to train the beetle anbu because it wouldn't need more than a Jenin to retrieve the corpse and there was no need to retrieve a Hyuga member as the curse would cytolysis their eyes and chakra channels.
He looked at the unconscious boy, the only boy from the Aburame who had his features was Shino. He was in dilemma, the boy was a beast in handsigns and insect control, nevertheless, less than average in everything else. So what exactly does he need to fix? The answer is everything else.
3 hours passed. Orient opened his eyes and saw the mask of a fly, he just ignored him and sat in a meditation position and examined his body; he found crakes in his bones and fatigued muscles, yet nothing serious. "you can ask me anything," the fly said and looked at him.
Orient looked at the day sky, light escaped the leaves, and a warm aura fell on him. He scratched the back of his head with frustration. The silence expanded between them, Orient didn't want to ask as he always found his way alone. The fly sighed, "You know I'm an Aburame like you and I know that we are the most egoist clan like the Uchiha, and do you know why?" he asked and patted Orient's head, "because we fell a little short of Nara clan in intelligence and strategies and we fill this little gap with insects' techniques, so yeah we are the most egoist clan that exists now,".
Orient didn't attar a word for more time. "look I know who you are; I'm a Jenin from the clan so I know your conditions," he said and inhaled, "first, the lack of ninjutsu, you don't even know the basic ninjutsu of the clan, right?". Orient nodded. "second, you're not customized to having chakra channels, so the chakra flow in your body is hindered as I can see," he patted Orient's head again, "this's really satisfying".
Orient shot him a look, and he laughed awkwardly. "sorry…just a bad habit,"
"…"
The fly looked away with little red ears, 'old days never die…but the people do,' he thought as all the pink turned black. "okay, do you have anything in mind to start with or I go with mine?" he asked.
"is there a way to enhance functions like metabolism or thinking speed?" Orient asked. "yes, and it's basic, first…" he did some handsigns, "Chakra works as food as you know but if the cells don't want to metabolism what are you going to do?"
Orient watched with wide eyes he understood the handsigns, a sequence for heat reduction, adrenaline, and a lot of cortisol denaturation. "see? Simple," he said, "next one because all I have with you is one week so it goes like this I give you the idea you note and practice at home, understood?"
"sound and clear!" drowned in the heat of the knowledge he broke into the kid he was.
And with the wind, the day went and Orient had a notebook full of notes. Both slept on a tree, '…it was all wrong,' he sighed as his brain gears spun like tornados; to fully utilize chakra we need to know the reason for the action, the steps of the action, and the wanted, proper results of that action.
For example: if we wanted an earth wall, what could cause the earth to rise is a force pushing it upwardly which could be the cause of air pressure or trapped vapor, those are the reasons why the ground would rise to form a wall and yeah there's no need to send air or anything, just chakra to turn into mechanical forces. Then the steps are identifying the rising place, sending the chakra there with the right handsigns, and boom you have an earth wall. Finally, the wanted result, so if I wanted it to defend, I would consume more chakra and enforce it, or it was just a distribution, so it's unnecessary.
Even if he wanted he would alter the ninjutsu and create earth spikes, 'that's actually convenient' Orient thought. As he kept thinking the sleep crawled over him and he fell asleep finally before dawn for a couple of hours.
Waking with black-circled eyes. "it seems you had one hell of a night," the fly mocked. "say the one that made the whole forest stay awake," Orient threw it to his face.
"…" Fly was speechless because no one had ever told him that he snorts while sleeping. For the fact he doesn't but Orient just needed a comeback.
"you are lying, right?".
"yes,"
"…"
"…"
And the awkward silence spread through the whole forest.
That day, Orient found out his affinities and learned more about the concept of ninjutsu. As the night was close to falling and the sun was being killed, he had learned all the basic Aburame ninjutsu and some advanced ones. And this time he didn't stay awake all night he slept for a good 6 hours.
…
The week ended and they returned to the village. Now, Orient had a clear path to train before his next mission, and as Fly said plenty of time before his next mission. He went to the bar and ordered food for the night.
----------------------
Sorry for the drop, I was handling the worst mid-term ever.
And I think I'm gonna make the chapters short and try to upload them on a daily basis or day on, day of.
Again sorry for the drop