Starring:
Date: April 30, 2016
Summary:
Hige takes a second lesson on Shadow Clones from Atsuro.
"Hige Shadows Atsuro…Again!"
Konohagakure
After a few good days of rest from their last little session Hige was ready to work on it some more. He was ready to work on it by himself too, but Konsho took Kenta's warning to heart and had forced Hige to send - and wait - for Atsuro to arrive. Konsho can be /really/ bossy on those rare occasions. The teen waited in a bit of a cleared area in the Jounin grounds with Konsho while Kizoku…well, Kizoku decided to stay home and preen. Or perhaps keep an eye on Shugo to make sure he didn't try and make any more horrible meals.
"Hello, kids!" Atsuro appears at the edge of the field, Taizen at his side. He strides further into the area, over to where Hige and Konsho are. "I'm glad you took my warning to heart… and by 'you' I mean Konsho, evidently. I sorta hoped that you'd find someone less… me to do this, but I guess the natural second choice would have been Kenta, and his schedule is plenty full as it is." He stops a short distance from Hige and puts his hands on his hips. "Okay," he says, "Is this an instruction thing, or a watch over you thing?"
Feral eyes shift to Atsuro and Taizen when they arrive as Hige watches them. Konsho, of course, runs over to the pair, tail wagging happily at seeing them. "Hiiiii!" he says excitedly. "I made sure he didn't do /anything/ until you got here!" Hige just rolls his eyes before shaking his head. "Mother hen here was insistent for some reason. I don't know why." A hand runs through his hair, reminding the teen he really needs a hair cut since it's getting even more unmanageable than normal. "Anyways, I was hoping you might've thought of some other tips or tricks."
"The reason is probably that he doesn't want you in a coma," Atsuro tells Hige, "On the one hand, I agree with him, but on the other it might save me some trouble for as long as you're out." He reaches over to scratch Konsho behind the ears. "Good work," he says, "Yet more evidence that this geekaboo would have been dead years ago without you." He turns back to Hige. "Well, why don't you show me how you're doing, and I'll tailor the instructions to your progress."
"And here I figured you'd be more excited to have me in a coma. Or perhaps dead. Then you wouldn't have to deal with me anymore." Hige tilts his head slightly as he considers that, then just shakes his head lightly. Konsho of course gives him a glare at his words. Hige just moves on. "I can get it just fine, but I can't get it to stick around very long." He makes the seal and the clone poofs into existence next to him, an accurate replica. But as it starts to walk it only makes it three steps before it vanishes.
"I didn't say I wouldn't," says Atsuro. He folds his arms and watches Hige's demonstration of the clone, nodding slowly as it vanishes so quickly. "There's a few possible causes. So let's go down the list: First, show me the seal you're making—you might have it a little off, which is causing the chakra to be molded improperly. Second, are you focusing completely on the control of your chakra as you start the jutsu? If there's something distracting you, that might be it. Last, are you on any medicine…" He narrows his eyes, "Or drunk?"
"I just turned sixteen, not eighteen. I'm not drunk, although sometimes you make me think I should be." Hige goes down the list mentally as he thinks on the various things. Well, the seal was the easiest thing to start with. So he makes it again. Luckily the seal itself is fairly simplistic as well as being a single seal instead of a combination. He's too advanced to be screwing that part up.
Atsuro shrugs. "Just checking. And it could have been medication too. Just wanted to have all the bases covered." He grins, then leans foward to watch Hige's use of the seal. "No problem there," he says, "Now, I can't see into your head, so if you're distracted by something, you're going to have to figure it out yourself. Maybe try using the technique again and really focusing on the chakra and what it's doing."
"Really? And here you made it sound like you always knew what I was thinking," Hige says dryly. He considers the old Inuzuka's words a moment before he makes the seal again. The clone appears again and Hige frowns at it in concentration. The clone starts taking a few cautious steps but seems to stay in more or less one piece. For now. "Hmm, does it really require you to focus on it so much all the time?"
"Not exactly," says Atsuro, "I can usually count on it being deceitful or crude, but I can't tell /exactly/ what you're thinking at any given time." He stops trading barbs for now to watch how the new clone does. Once it's apparent that it's not going to go on its own, he turns back to Hige and shakes his head. "No," he says, "More in the initial stages. And once you've mastered it, it won't take much. Until then, practice practice practice."
"Deceitful and crude? Is that all you think of me?" Hige glances to Atsuro from the clone curiously. "I'm not /that/ bad. And I'm sure I learned it from you anyways." The clone seems much more confident now since it didn't poof after the first few steps and it's begun jumping around the area. Hige pays only half a mind to it as he watches Atsuro.
Atsuro shrugs. "I think the seeds were already planted. Probably germinated already, in fact. At most, I watered it a little bit." He grins and looks over to the clone. "Well," he says, "It seems like you did better with this one, didn't you? I have half a mind to ask it for a quick summary of your thoughts over the last little while. Of course, I don't know how susceptible your clone would be to that kind of cajoling."
"Summary of my thoughts over how long exactly?" Hige asks, sounding a hint suspicious as he just kind of lets the whole first part goes ignored for the moment as he focuses on the part that seems rather cryptic. "And why do you want to know?" At least the clone still seems to be doing okay. It even lightning clawed through a rock over yonder.
"Over the last few times you tried the Shadow Clone technique and had that problem," says Atsuro, "I'll assume that your concern here is the possible breach of privacy and not that you've been doing something suspicious. Oh, and I wasn't actually /planning/ to ask him anyway." He looks over to Hige's clone and sighs. "Like original like clone," he says.
"Oh. And here I thought you wanted me to lay down on a couch and tell you my life story," Hige says, a smirk appearing on his face. "Well, as it so happens I have a lot of things on my mind. It's not like I don't do anything around here after all." The clone does a few more tricks before he finally poofs once again, this time seeming to be at Hige's behest. "At least it wasn't a tree."
"When you say it like that, it actually does sound like you want to get something off your chest for real," Atsuro teases. "Or do you just have some juicy secret and you're trying to taunt me? Hm, that's very cruel, but I'm afraid I don't care for gossip anyway." He looks over to the clone to see its last moments. "I know," he says, "I would have said something if it were a tree." He looks back to Hige. "So," he says, "You think you got the technique down?"
Hige, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't answer Atsuro's first question or even comment further on the subject. "Yeah, I think I do have it now." Hige glances towards the few rocks that had been destroyed by various attacks around the area. They look just like he'd done them himself. Which…well he kind of did. But anyways. "Thanks for your help ojii."
Bah, teenagers. "Well, as long as you think your practicing will help you make progress, then I guess that's good enough for now," he says. He looks to Konsho and gives him a nod. "Don't let him do anything stupid. Know his limit and make sure he doesn't go past it." He waves to the two of them. "We'll see you later." Taizen woofs a goodbye then he follows Atsuro out of the area.
