Naruto: Snow Cold

-----------Back to our MC.----------

During this first week, I kept practicing Chakra Enhancement. My control slowly improved, allowing me to gain better mastery. I had to focus on every muscle at once, maintaining an equal ratio across all of them. I still couldn't even last a fifth of the workout before running out of chakra, but I could feel my reserves increasing, little by little—way faster than before, actually.

Each day after the Academy, I would head back home, eat a quick meal made by my mother, and dive into training. I also figured out that the seal had a set weight limit—why didn't I ask Jun about this sooner? Apparently, it was around 200 kg, and I'd been using only about 6% of it. Scary, right?

At the moment, I was lying on my bed, reading the book about hand seals. I already knew a little since I'd practiced them a lot back in the day. Shut up—I bet you'd do it too.

"Meooooow." Mochi rubbed against my arm. So cute, squeee!! Mochi had soft, white fur and beautiful golden eyes. He was 13 months old, and I'd been lucky enough to adopt and care for him since my fifth birthday.

I immediately set the book aside and scratched his chin. He purred contentedly. Dear lord, I love cats.

After spending a few minutes playing with Mochi, I shifted my focus back to training. Hand seals are supposed to aid you in molding your chakra, right? So, if I can learn how it's supposed to flow through my pathways, and which tenketsu it needs to travel through, then maybe—just maybe—I can even use my techniques without needing those seals at all.

I stopped studying hand seals and switched to the Transformation scroll. This jutsu obviously allowed you to transform either yourself or others into the appearance of not just another person, but animals and objects as well. It required coating the target with chakra and maintaining a constant emission to sustain the transformation itself.

Man, imagine how much chakra Naruto must've used to transform Gamabunta into the fox. His reserves are truly monstrous.

You also had to familiarize yourself with how the object or animal felt—the weight and texture—so you didn't just look like it but also replicated its attributes, like the sharpness of a kunai or the fur of a cat.

I'm not becoming a furry. Hell no.

I followed the instructions in the scroll, forming the three seals: Dog, Boar, Ram. In my mind, I shouted, "Hengé!" I thought it would be funny.

Smoke surrounded me. This must've been the residual chakra that escapes if not contained, right? I looked in the mirror, and... it was decent. I tried transforming into Sasuke from the show, and I succeeded, but there were still some flaws. I couldn't perfectly replicate the duck-butt hair, the eye color was off, and I didn't quite have the sharp features of his face.

So, I kept trying until I managed an acceptable version after half an hour of repetition. Then, I switched to other figures, such as Iruka, Hiruzen, Kakashi, Naruto, my mother, my father, or just about anyone else I could think of.

I still had a long way to go. I wonder if you could change other aspects as well—like smell, body temperature, or maybe even adding extra limbs. That'd be fun... Four-sword style, hehehe!

"Deaar! I made some snacks in case you're hungry!" my mom called out from the hallway. I love you so much!

I came out of my room and thanked my mother, then moved to the living room for a quick meal to gain some energy for my activities. Once finished, I returned to my room, ready to push further beyond.

My chakra was still good so far. Compared to last year, it would be more like a large pond now, rather than just a normal pond. Transformation was fun, but I was in the mood to practice something else. How about the Clone Technique? I'd need it to graduate anyway, so why not?

I scrambled through my belongings and eventually found the scroll for it. I studied it for around five minutes and came to a conclusion. These 'clones' were basically intangible afterimages given form by chakra. This meant they could only serve as a distraction and couldn't attack, but they were still useful, since even a split second could decide the outcome of a fight.

I got up from my bed and put my study materials aside. Mochi tilted his head curiously, observing what my next actions would be. I used the corresponding seals for the jutsu (which were Ram, Snake, and Tiger, by the way), feeling the chakra flow as a clone of myself flashed into existence. It was... alright. The limb proportions were off, and the expression on its face was almost empty. But at least it stood, so that meant it was at least decent, right?

Mochi hopped off the bed out of curiosity, got closer to the clone and stretched out a paw, swiping through the intangible clone. The lack of resistance made him recoil slightly. So cute.

It ran out of chakra and faded away. One thing I noticed while summoning that clone was that it required a fixed amount of chakra to exist. If it had too much, it would either burst or become... dysfunctional, like those horrible clones Naruto used to make at the Academy. If it had too little, it wouldn't last at all.

So, since the chakra amount is fixed... Oh, that explains so much. No wonder people don't spam it in battle.

It would be incredibly effective if people couldn't tell them apart from the original, otherwise.

I performed the hand seals once more. I kept summoning more and more clones, and my proficiency with it slowly improved. They started to look more natural, show emotion, and even move convincingly.

Amazing... This world is amazing.

I can't wait to brag to my parents about this later—they'll be speechless! Even if I haven't completely mastered these two skills yet, it's still pretty impressive progress.

I glanced at the time. Huh, it's almost 7 PM. Guess I still have a bit more time, huh?

I'll check out the E-rank elemental jutsu I borrowed later, I suppose. For now, I'll take a break and do something else. Maybe I'll help my mom cook dinner?

This'll be fun!