The sun rose lazily above the eastern ridge, casting long golden fingers through the open shoji windows of my apartment. A cool morning breeze stirred the scrolls stacked on my low desk, rustling parchment like restless thoughts. I blinked against the light and groaned, rolling out of bed with the grace of a dropped kunai. My bones ached faintly from last night's workout, not from exhaustion, but from the dull annoyance of repetition.
Three days of rest for my team. Three days of quiet. Which meant one thing: three days of uninterrupted training for me.
My apartment sat on the western edge of the Sarutobi Clan compound, a modest two-room space that I had claimed as soon as I made jonin. My plants were still alive thanks to some help from Kurenai, botany was definitely not my affinity in this life or my last, but otherwise, it was my quiet little temple of discipline and freedom. I padded across the wooden floor as I rolled my shoulders and poured myself a cup of water.
The outside world was slowly being consumed by the flames of war, and my team had taken its first steps into bloodshed. But, I was stuck here, in the constant grind, and unable to truly change anything... at least, for now.
By midmorning, I had reached my personal training grounds. Nestled beneath one of the oldest ridges behind the Sarutobi compound, the entrance was concealed behind a waterfall-fed pond, sealed with an intricate Fuinjutsu lock. I carved it out myself over the years, and no one, not even my dear father, knew about it. Especially not Danzo. If he ever caught wind of what I was really capable of... well, I had no intention of seeing whether or not Hiruzen would turn over his daughter to his old friend.
I slipped through the seal with a flick of chakra and descended into the cool dark tunnel. Torches flickered to life as my presence was recognized, lighting the narrow corridor that opened into a wide, stone-walled chamber reinforced with seals and protective jutsu. This was my sanctuary.
As I looked around the empty chamber, my thoughts drifted to my system, my secret advantage. The first time that I ever used a Fire Release jutsu, I heard a soft chime in my head and a floating window appeared in front of my eyes, translucent and glowing. "Fire Release: F-". At the time, I was under my father's watch, so it took everything within me to not react too much and make him suspicious of me. Thankfully, he just took it as me being excited for completing the jutsu on my first try.
The system was simple but brutal. Use any type of elemental jutsu once to unlock it on the skills page, then five more of the same jutsu advanced the skill from F- to F. Twenty-five brought it to F+ while two hundred more reps got me to D-, and the pattern continued with each minor step required five times the previous number of reps while major rank ups required eight times. Now, my elemental release stats looked something like this:
Fire: C 251,893 / 1,000,000 Wind: C 249,873 / 1,000,000 Water: C- 178,524 / 200,000 Lightning: C- 192,310 / 200,000 Earth: C 428,725 / 1,000,000 Yang: D+ 39,742 / 40,000 Yin: D+ 37,591 / 40,000 Space-Time: D- 931 / 1,000 Fuinjutsu: D+ 35,218 / 40,000 Taijutsu: C 627,194 / 1,000,000 Shurikenjutsu: C 512,381 / 1,000,000
Grinding was exactly what it sounded like. Repetitive. Tedious. Precise. But effective... and I had one more cheat, though it came with its own restrictions. I let out a soft breath and smiled.
"Elemental Clones," I whispered, forming the needed hand signs.
Around me, seven flashes of chakra shimmered into existence. Seven identical versions of me emerged, each distinct only by the color of their eyes and the way they carried themselves. Sadly, not only did I need to achieve a D Rank in an elemental release to be able to create a clone, I was unable to learn any other type of clone jutsu which limited the number I could call out, but the advantages still outweighed the cons. None of the clones used a drop of my chakra and even had reserves matching my own, but they could only use their elemental jutsu and basic taijutsu and shurikenjutsu. They were fragile, except for the Yang Clone, but they were still deadly in their field.
The Fire Clone's eyes blazed ruby red, and she stretched her arms with a cocky grin. "Let's burn something."
The Water Clone adjusted her sleeves calmly, her eyes sapphire blue. "Try not to blow yourself up this time."
The Earth Clone said nothing, just rolled her shoulders and started forming hand seals to begin her practice.
The Wind Clone spun once, eyes pale green and mischievous, then crouched on a boulder. "Finally! Movement!"
The Lightning Clone's golden eyes sparkled with impatience. "No lectures, right? I can go all out, right?"
The Yin Clone's eyes were incredibly dark purple, nearly black, and sighed, "Another day, another illusion to master."
"Time to sweat, scream, and succeed!" the Yang Clone exclaimed, sounding far too much like Guy.
"And remember," I told them, "no friendly fire this time. Water, you almost took out Wind last session."
"She got in the way."
"Did not!" the Wind Clone complained.
I sighed. "Just train. You all can spar in the afternoon if you want."
The clones scattered, launching into their training cycles with impressive efficiency. I turned my focus to the key of my obsession over the last year. I unsealed the two custom-made scrolls etched with the Sarutobi clan's summoning contract and used them to summon my two companions, since it cut down on the chakra I needed and made it easier for me. A puff of smoke revealed two monkeys about half my size.
"Hina. Saru."
Hina bowed politely. "You summoned us."
Saru scratched his nose and yawned. "This again? You're just wasting your time; your affinity is just too low."
"Which is why I need to grind it until it gets better," I retorted with a smirk.
"Never gonna work," he grumbled in annoyance.
I repeated the summoning jutsu again and again, marking space, reworking the seal, and tweaking the chakra ratio. Hina helped me align the spatial flow as she had an affinity with Space-Time, which helped me use less chakra, but the system did not care about that, and Saru muttered complaints the whole time. After over fifty reps, the world froze for a split second... and then the chime rang.
"Space-Time: Advanced to D."
I froze; breath caught in my chest.
Another window opened: "Space-Time Elemental Clone Unlocked."
I fell to my knees and laughed half in joy, half in sheer exhaustion. Then I smirked. "Let's test it."
I made the proper hand signs and then summoned the new clone. She appeared with a puff of smoke like all of my clones, though her eyes were a dazzling silver color.
"Ah, this is the correct moment. I was beginning to doubt myself," she murmured.
I rolled my eyes at the clone's comments but pulled out a scroll and handed it to her anyways. "Here, your one and only focus. The Flying Thunder God technique. Master it as soon as possible."
"Soon is relatively in the greater working of the universe," she commented uninterested in me, though the scroll did pique her interest once she opened it up.
"God damn, another mystic like Yin... I'm going to work somewhere else," I complained then walked away, not that the Space-Time Clone paid any attention to me.
My clones and I practiced jutsu for four hours, as I did on my rare free days. We could grind out jutsu at high speed for about fifteen minutes straight, but it would take nearly forty-five minutes of meditation to refill our reserves. Most of them focused on basic jutsus while I continued to summon and resummon Hina and Saru to continue raising my proficiency with Space-Time.
When the afternoon came around, the clones were given freedom to choose what they wanted to do as long as it could be considered training, except Space-Time; she had a specific task that she was not getting out of until she figured out the Flying Thunder God technique. For the calmer clones like Earth and Yin, they continued to work on Fuinjutsu at a more relaxed pace as they chatted. The rest would take turns sparring while I relaxed as I dealt with the headache that dispelling them caused me.
Lightning lunged across the training ground, her eyes crackling with golden light as she raced toward Wind, who flipped mid-air and landed on the opposite wall.
"You are too slow!" Wind jeered, flicking a breeze that kicked dust into Lightning's face.
"Say that again!" Lightning snapped, launching a high-speed bolt that detonated just inches from Wind's side.
The chamber lit up with the blast, and then suddenly, a second explosion ripped out as Wind retaliated with a compressed air burst. The two jutsus clashed in mid-air with enough force to shake the chamber ceiling... and in the end, both clones erupted in a poof of chakra smoke. Fire and Water turned to stare at Earth.
Earth, still calmly tracing a Fuinjutsu seal across a blank scroll, did not even flinch. "Three seconds. Lightning first. Wind a breath behind."
Fire crossed her arms. "Damn, I had five ryo on Lightning."
Water gave a dramatic sigh. "Typical. Impulsive."
Another puff of smoke signaled Lightning's return, her golden eyes wide. "She cheated! Used my slipstream against me!"
Wind reappeared next, already defending herself. "Strategic maneuvering! Learn the difference!"
"I will teach you a difference in the afterlife!"
Earth spoke over them, not bothering to look up. "You both failed. Again. Try not to delete yourselves next time."
"Do you enjoy being this boring?" Fire asked her dryly.
"No," Earth said, perfectly deadpan. "It is a burden I bear."
They went right back to bickering as I shook my head, unable to suppress a smile.
"Yosh! Fire, let's burn the fire of our youth in a glorious duel!" Yang exclaimed, her orange eyes burning like a flame, making the rest groan.
"How fortunate we are to have raw brawn without the burden of thought," Yin remarked dismissively.
"Stop talking like a poem," Yang snapped as she cracked her knuckles. "You still owe me a rematch from last week."
"I swear, if I knew the effect that Guy would have on you, I never would have requested him to join my team," I remarked, rubbing my forehead with annoyance.
The five feisty clones sparred for another four hours, and then I dispelled them all except for Space-Time since she had homework. I rested for another few hours to alleviate the strain then headed back towards the main village. I might have been a little tired, but I had a promise to keep, but I was honestly just looking forward to hanging out with a friend.
Along the way, I stopped and picked up some ground beef, potatoes, spices, oil, and fresh buns. Kushina's place welcomed me with golden light, like a beacon of respite after a long day of training. Before I could even knock, she opened the door with a big smile.
"I knew you'd come today. Got the Akari itch."
"Sounds like a rash," I said, pushing past her.
"It is! You're contagious."
"I'm exhausted from training, so you are cooking tonight."
She blinked. "Excuse me?"
I smirked and walked into the kitchen. "Time for you to learn how to make burgers properly. Minato deserves at least one meal a week not cooked by divine intervention or fire alarm."
"That was one time!"
I gave her a look.
"…okay, three times. But I followed the recipe!"
"Upside-down."
Kushina pouted and tied on an apron. "You are the worst."
"You love me."
She grinned. "I do."
We went step-by-step. I showed her how to mix the patties with garlic and miso paste, how to hand-form them evenly without crushing the meat, how to keep the pan at the right heat, and how to make homemade fries with a dash of seaweed salt.
It was chaos. She kept trying to ninja-flick ingredients into the pan from across the room. I almost lost an eyebrow at one point. But eventually, she got it right. We sat on the floor with plates in our laps, munching with contented hums.
"Remember when we tried to sneak into Tsunade's wine stash?" she asked.
"She made you drink that whole bottle of bitter root tea as punishment."
"I still have nightmares about it."
"And Nawaki threw up in her sandals."
We both burst out laughing.
"Anyone catching your eye lately?" she asked, voice casual.
I did not look up from the plate. "No."
"Oh, come on."
"No."
"You're blushing."
"Am not."
"You are! You totally are. Who is he?"
"I prefer women," I said finally.
She blinked, then lit up. "Oh. That makes so much sense."
"Do not tell Minato."
"I am absolutely telling Minato."
"Kushina!"
"Just kidding. Maybe."
We both laughed again. We talked until midnight. About how we used to bully Nawaki after I defeated him to become a genin at five. About Tsunade's lectures. About how we used to get into mischief around the village. I did not want the night to end, but it came anyways.
Walking home under the stars, I headed back to my apartment with a light sigh. I had a catalog of elemental jutsu, overpowered clones, and knowledge of a lot of the future events, yet I was stuck here in the village, unable to do anything meaningful except for training. There were things that I did not want to change, like saving Obito from his fall into darkness, since it was better to deal with the devil that you know, but just sitting in the background was truly getting on my nerves. I just needed to learn the Flying Thunder God technique and then my dad would be forced to send me out into the battlefield, but there was no telling how long that would take.