Seven Days

The courtyard of Hoshigakure Shinobi Academy rang to the song of steel against steel. Upon soft  brown sand, sweat tricked from Ayato's forehead as he pressed the attack. Tabuse Jun stumbled backwards, defending himself . "Damn you side character!" When he raised his sword, Ayato went underneath it with a kick that crunched against the back of the other boy's leg interrupting his motion. "This won't be enough to defeat me!" When he tried to cut sideways with a clumsy swing Ayato met the katana with his kunai and swept it aside and slammed a fist into his chest. Jun lost his footing and his ass met the sand hard. When Ayato attempted to kick his opponent's wrist Jun rolled back avoiding it, his sword knocked from his hand in the process. "You've done it now asshole!"

"You two don't turn this into a slug fest! I'll have you suffer detention!"  Their instructor yelled at them with a sharp voice. "Use your jutsu!"
"Jun-san is losing?" The students watching the sparring wondered out loud with surprise. Ayato was clearly the outsider in this fight but he did not allow himself to get distracted. The real thing begins now. The blond haired Jun now on his feet performed the Ram-> Snake -> Boar "Clone jutsu!" he yelled summoning two copies of himself out of thin air at each side. Also known as the art of the doppelganger this was a basic form of ninjutsu that created a copy of one's own body without any substance. It was Seemingly powerless since the clone does not inflict any damage. But at the arsenal of a strategical mind it could prove a powerful weapon to trick an opponent into making a mistake. The true essence of a shinobi Ayato thought to himself. He intends to finish me off, using the clones to create an opening for a strike. He realized but was unable to distinguish the fakes from the real Jun Tabuse. 

Most students had difficulty to summon a clone, much less create two perfect copies. Explains why he is so popular. But I won't fall behind! Ayato put his fingers together. Recalling when he stood for hours in front of the mirror, trying to capture every detail about his appearance. Now he visualized his image, starting with his face and hair. Medium length black hair sharp facial features and...brown eyes. His body and clothes followed. He stood at 172cm, weight is 63 kg. T-shirt color beige. Pants color dark grey. Blue shinobi sandals. He did not have the time to repeat the visualization process to be sure "Yosh, here were go" Ayato's fingers moved on their own, performing six hand seals almost in a flash "Clone Jutsu!" He announced and a puff of smoke appeared but no clone emerged from it. There was awkward silence for a moment and then a burst of laughter from Jun (and clones) and all students present in the yard. Even their teacher chuckled a bit. 

"Oi, oi don't go around posing like that loser. You may actually raise the expectations of others that way." One of the Juns said barely able to hold back his laughter. "Still.." All three clones charged at Ayato from different directions "How dare you make a fool of a genius like me!"  just as the other clones were about to connect , the real Jun grabbed the sword from the ground and slashed horizontally at Ayato . The sword cut through the expressionless Ayato like silk, slicing him in half. But there was no sound of blade running through flesh nor any blood splatter followed. "What!?" His opponent let out surprised as the upper and the lower half of Ayato floated in the air before fading away.

[WC - 622]

Mastered Clone Technique [500/500]

 
Walls and wooden floor of classroom 3-C slowly slowly became encased in a nectar curtain as the sun sent fingers of lights through the windows. Ayato was glad for the light.  Before the world was dull and grey keeping the colors of the hour before the dawn, even though they were in the middle of the day. Just another hour before lunch. Ayato thought resting his head on his arm, his elbow feeling the carvings upon the wooden desk. Marks of the previous students left for my elbow to suffer How many Hidden Star shinobi sat in the same desk before him he wondered. How many grew to become legends, how many failures and how many corpses. Only the idea of eventually joining the latter two made Ayato want to puke. He did not wish to join the long line of might have beens or be buried in a box. Not until I leave my mark in this world at least. Yes the world, not a desk He thought in silence before the sound of a sliding door interrupted his inner thinking. 

Ayato joined the rest of the class as they stood up. A sign of respect to their teacher who just entered the classroom. After Kamina-sensei finished looking at the attendance sheet she addressed the students."Hello everyone, today I'm gonna demonstrate in front of all of you a very special jutsu!" The raven haired woman said playfully with a smile and put her hands together as if she was praying. There she goes again, showing us something interesting before lunch-break. Apparently their ninjutsu teacher believed the students were able to absorb things more easily when excited for their upcoming meal. 

She stood up from her teacher's chair, sunlight reflecting on her hoshi headband like a mirror. She proceeded to perform the Dog->Boar->Ram hand seals one at a time for students to keep up. "Transformation jutsu!" And in a puff smoke the beautiful woman in her thirties wearing a purple kimono turned into a fat short middle aged bald man wearing a white shirt. "I believe you are all familiar with the theory! You maggots!" The bald man who was a woman said with the vice principal's sharp voice. Even after reverting back to her original appearance it took a whole fifteen minutes for the students to stop laughing. The teacher did not put any effort to quiet them down , even she seemed amused at her own joke. 

Ayato raised a hand Kamina-sensei allowed him to speak. "Sensei...your impersonation of the vice principal was great. But even if you look like the genuine thing is it enough to trick his wife or children? I mean even transforming for long periods is challenging if we consider the mental strain." 
 "Ah..Ayato-kun you are so perky." She said to him before he could add more "You may not able trick someone even if you look like the genuine thing" She  repeated the hand seals and transformed into a black cat. "You also have the environment you are currently in to consider." Said the cat who had no place in a classroom before turning into a woman again. "But if you interact with the said environment properly." She disappeared this time completely. "You can completely blend it with!" A faint voice echoed through the classroom but Ayato could not find the woman who cast it.  "How about you give it a try Ayato-kun? You have one chance." The voice echoed again this time challenging Ayato.
 
"What did she transform to?" He was looking a desk a chair a pencil and two pages of paper  No, not that! He turned his attention to the large green chalkboard. "Did she turn into chalk? If it was me..I see" Ayato pointed his index finger at the direction of the chalkboard. "You hid yourself among the written letters on the chalkboard." Ayato announced in front of the classroom, confident he figured it out. The majority of the students soon followed behind Ayato See sensei? A true shinobi cannot be tricked by this bullshit. He almost said almost smiling."Wrong." A simple word. But it felt like a a sudden gust of wind at Ayato's face. In a puff of smoke Kamina sensei appeared again standing on the desk, far away from the board proving Ayato's claim to be false. "I don't understand." he looked in shock trying to figure it out. A desk, a chair a pencil, a sheet of paper. By then he already knew the answer. There was only one attendance sheet for the class. Komina-sense smiled and it was she who pointed her index at Ayato this time "Sometimes if you overthink things you forget that the obvious choice is the correct one. " The teacher proclaimed fire up. The bell rang and the class was empty in a flash, all the students running off to the school cafeteria to buy their lunch. Ayato remained in his seat, his head supported by both hands. He sat there reflecting on everything that just occurred. His eyes glued on the carvings upon his wooden desk. 

WC - 379

[TWC: 622 + 848 + 379 = 1.849]

Claiming 9 stat points for 1800 words


Mastered Clone Technique [500/500]
Mastered Transformation Technique [500/500]