18 Name Origin (1/2)

Honestly, things aren't really that bad, for now at least. Well, sure, shit's been happening here in there where some are needed to be hidden but that's a story for another time. Right now, I need to circulate my chakra well or the explosion seal pasted on my back will literally explode if I mess up even if it's just one small mistake.

Thanks, tou-san.

Thanks to this though, tou-san told me that I've managed to increase my chakra reserves for about 2-3%. It's not much to be really proud of, but it's still progress. Tou-san's actually a really big help, becoming strict in a way that is just enough to make me work, and will loosen and soften up when the right time comes. He's letting me figure things out on my own and would only give me small hints when I'm stuck at doing one thing.

Shikaku-san is sometimes around, snooping for stuff and observing whatever training I'm doing with tou-san. Shisui-niisan often times visit too, helping me and giving me tips and a few tricks to master other jutsus—which helped me discover that I was actually the worst at doing any wind-type jutsus and best at lightning.

Now that definitely does not give me an idea of what my natural chakra affinity could be… hm…

Keep in fact that I've only been in the Forest of Death with Tou-san for only four days. My progress is being helped by my learning capacity, making me pretty much able to find the concept of what one person could show me and replicate it until I perfect it.

That's also how I worked about in my past life, so studying then wasn't a bother for me. In this world, however, since ninja fuckery is amazing and interesting, I'm able to get drawn to it and focus more on the said thing. I've already got the basics down, and all I need to do now is mastery.

Hell, chakra is off of the list because I'm pretty decent to that… but the rest? I need to work on them better. I have a small amount of chakra reserve so, that's helping me with my mad chakra control for my age, but, again, if it's not obvious, that's a con. In order to reach out and get past my limits, I need to expand my chakra reserves.

Of course, my chakra control will definitely dumb down if I don't keep up with training. That will definitely be hell, I'm sure. Imbalance in that area will lead to failure, for me, at least.

I almost panicked when tou-san slapped my back, losing my focus and seriously internally freaking out because there's an actual bomb behind my back. ”That's enough for now,” he said as I abruptly turned to him, ready to flee but only saw the seal that was pasted on my back get incinerated between his fingers, ”we'll move on to another chakra exercise.”

While unconsciously letting out a sigh of relief, I nodded at him, placing a hand on my chest. 'That seriously scared the shit out of me, strangely enough.' I then smiled, wiping the sweat on my forehead, ”What's the next one then?”

Tou-san chuckled, bending down and reaching for a fallen leaf on the ground before giving it to me, picking up another one for himself before sticking it to his forehead. It didn't fall off. ”You're basically doing the same, but you're gonna concentrate your chakra in one place to make the leaf stick on your forehead. It's essentially the same as to controlling your shadow since it requires heavy chakra control as well, but you're doing this until you can unconsciously do it.”

I blinked at him, slowly repeating what he did to his leaf, placing mine on my forehead after tucking stray fringe and locks behind my ear. I led a fair amount of chakra on my forehead to grab a hold to the leaf, making it stick. ”I did it—”

Silence.

The leaf fell.

Both tou-san and I stared silently at the green leaf as it slowly fell down to the ground. A loud chuckle broke the fragile silence, making me turn my head to the only person near me. Tou-san had tears at the corner of his eyes as he laughed and clutched his stomach, his somehow warm laughter resonating in the Forest of Death. ”Priceless,” he breathed, trying to calm down, ”really priceless…!”

I puffed out my cheeks in frustration, refusing to believe that I'm blushing from embarrassment right here, right now. I crouched down and picked up the leaf, refraining myself either from crumpling it or throwing it before throwing a Kage Nui to his laughing face.

When he finally calmed down, he breathed out, ”I'm sorry…” Wiping a tear from his eye, he smiled, ”Ah… it's just that you actually thought it'd be easy to do…” He the ruffled my hair, smiling apologetically, ”You see, you need just the right amount of chakra to make it stick—just enough to hold it consistently without letting it go, or without crushing it with your chakra, unlike using your jutsus, which can hold and carry any amount of chakra that would make the result vary.

Take your favoured self-made technique, for example. Don't take this wrong, I mean, your Shadow Cage is ingenious and very useful, but I've noticed something that will be very inconvenient in the near future—you pour ounces and ounces of chakras into it, resulting into hundreds of shadow threads getting released from your shadow. The result is inconsistent, with some time you releasing hundreds more shadow threads than others, and for some time you wasting more chakra than needed.

This leaf training is just for that, and seeing you struggle with that means that you haven't fully crossed over mastering chakra control like higher-up ninjas do.” He explained, picking up a dried leaf off the ground and placing it on his forehead, demonstrating how he can hold it for so long without crushing it with his levelled chakra.

I understand what he's saying. He got a great point. For someone who appears to be serious all the time, he's a dependable, pointing out my mistakes to correct me as much as he could, being my father and all… though it's rare to see him laugh whole heartedly like earlier.

There's something at the back of my mind who's saying that I should be proud for making him laugh, and I just am. I see him smile, get serious, chuckle once in a while with kaa-san, but never had I seen him laugh like there's no tomorrow until now. It seems like small, immature things can make the old man have a good laugh, just Shikaku-san who'll laugh at inappropriate times—like when Shika-kun was drowning.

”For your age though, you are definitely way ahead than any other toddler running around the park.” Tou-san said, smiling proudly as he stuck the dried leaf on my forehead. I tried my best to hold it with my chakra for a little while but failed horribly when I heard the words that came out of his mouth, ”I'd say you're just like your bastard uncle, that little scarecrow, when he was young. Though, unlike you, who's a lot nicer, he got a giant stick up in his ass at that time… maybe at present too, actually.”

The dried leaf on my forehead crumbled into bits as I tried to hold in my laughter when something, or someone, from the trees rustled and fall hard on the ground, and judging by the familiarity of the chakra signature of the one who fell, I'd say my uncle isn't very pleased with what tou-san had said. Snickers could be heard from all directions, thanks to some selected ANBU's and Jōnins scattered around the forest.

What caught me off guard the most, other than tou-san calling out Kakashi, is what my father's set of words are. Out of all the words in the dictionary, he chose to describe uncle as ”someone who got a giant stick up in his ass”, which is ironically right since the Hatake might've lived up to his name, which coincidentally means 'an object made to resemble a human figure, set up to scare birds away from a field where crops are growing,' or simply, 'a puppet made with a stick in its ass to scare out threats in the field,' a scarecrow.

A Kakashi.

A freaking salty-ass Kakashi.

I lost it when tou-san's face remained stoic after a few seconds had passed when he spoke. I clutched my stomach as I fell back in a pile of dried leaves, tears leaving my eyes as I couldn't hold in my laughter. Soon, he too was dragged into a fit of laughter, falling beside me as we laughed about the scarecrow.

The laughter didn't end until a very angry masked Kitsune came running through with his Chidori at hand, chasing after tou-san who laughed as he calmly avoided every blow dealt by the Hatake under the mask. It was very amusing, to say the least—especially when tou-san is wearing a closed-eye smile.

While they chase around for a good moment, I decided to use the time to calm myself down and release a sigh to start with my task at hand, which is trying to stick a leaf, maybe a dry one, on my forehead and, hopefully, make it stick without crushing it with my chakra.

I succeeded for longer than before, maybe ten seconds or more, but I crushed the dried leaves soon after. I wasn't really in focus because pEOPLE ARE RUNNING AROUND THE CLEARING.

My fringe shadowed my eyes as I stood up. My hands twitched as I swiftly made my Shadow Cage without any help of seals, quickly making them slither on the ground and making them just stick out a tiny bit, enough for one of them to trip and stop with their chase.

Sure enough, I tripped one.

”Itte—” Tou-san groaned after his body skidded a few steps away, rubbing his reddened face. ”What was that for, Ori-kun?” He sat up, dusting his clothes.