Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Higuto walked onto the field he was so used to walking upon so many times by now as today marked the beginning of a brand new day of training. Today would mark the day he learned a jutsu that would possibly become a staple point in his arsenal of techniques which could help him grow at a remarkable rate. He cracked his knuckles and once again removed his jacket as the day was sunny and hot and bearing down upon his skin trying to burn him up. He stretched out his limbs as he prepared himself for the incoming amount of stress he was about to put his body and chakra through in order to learn what was known as one of the most advanced jutsus in the history of Shinobi: Shadow Clone Jutsu.

The concept of the jutsu was that the user could produce a clone, or two, of himself that wasn't simply an illusionary copy of them but a flesh and blood doppelganger that could feel and cast jutsu! Such a technique felt like a solid staple in Higuto's arsenal as he smirked and began to hop up and down in order to warm up his muscles for some much needed training and exercise. Such a technique he had heard required an abundant amount of chakra, something he had a pretty good amount of already, and would require a precise amount of chakra control in order to even be successful in creating just one clone. He first, though, needed to exercise and get stronger for the torture he was about to put his body through as he got on his hands and began with his regular series of push ups.

He began pushing and pulling his arms up and down in a rhythmic motion that he had put his body through so many times already as the routine of training had sunk in so far that he was afraid it's all that he ever did nowadays. His thoughts began to wander about the impending future that was coming over the horizon for him and what awaited him in his quest to becoming as strong of a ninja as possible. He couldn't help but wonder what he could do to improve quicker as his sights were set on becoming someone of great value and importance amongst his peers as he wanted not only recognition for his strength but also support in his ambitions. He couldn't help but feel that the shadow clone jutsu would help in doing just that as he set his mind back to the task at hand which was completing his series of push ups.

He continued his rhythmic presses as he felt the twinge of soreness coming along his arms into his chest as he felt that he had done plenty enough for a warm up and made his way back to his feet. He then rotated his shoulder blades while working out the kinks that had developed within them and decided that the next best thing to do would be to, of course, go for a bit of jogging. He started to run in place as he kicked his legs up as high as he could get them before setting along in laps around the field in a light jog. He would occasionally run laps along the river which traveled through the center, utilizing his surface walking technique, as he used the entire field as running track for him to run laps around of. He would often divert his attention to the sky in order to allow him mind to daydream so as to not allow himself to become too bored with the motions he was so used to putting his body through by now. "One day, mom and dad, I'll become someone you can be proud of and one who will show the world the true ways and meanings of being a ninja. Just you wait."

He smiled to himself and continued jogging around the field, allowing his body to slowly grow more and more tired from his efforts, before he stopped just short of one of the training stumps that occupied the field and got his body ready for the physical punishment of punching and kicking. His fists would jab at the wood most times before he'd put more power behind it all and start using his feet in order to kick at the stumps next. He smiled as he could feel his attacks actually splintering the wood as it allowed himself to know his efforts in training were not in vain. He kept up his pace before his arms and legs had grown tired of all the abuse they were put through and he stopped himself to allow a chance to catch his breath. This was it, he thought. Now that he had put his body though it's paces it was now time for him to go through all the necessary requirements it would need to go through for him to attain the jutsu of today's efforts.

He had heard that it was a jutsu which required only one seal to perform but, as he had also learned, it needed fine tune control over the chakra network as well. He brought his hands up as he formed his hands into half tiger formations and brought his fingers up to create a cross as he focused his chakra outwards. He took a deep breath as he kept his cool and his thoughts focused and did his very best to control his chakra smoothly throughout him. He felt his chakra suddenly branch out from him as it seemed to connect invisibly to the ground a couple meters from him and he redoubled his efforts as he spoke the necessary words. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A puff of smoke appeared from the spot he had felt his chakra connect to as it soared high up to almost reach his height as he smiled to himself thinking that he had done it.

To his horror, however, as soon as the smoke cleared the clone was lying on his belly, tongue out and looking as though someone had taken to using it as a punching bag, as Higuto brought his arms down and went over to it. He got down onto his knees, curious, as he extended a finger out to it's face and poked it's cheek as that seemingly was too much for the clone to take and it ended up exploding in another puff of smoke before disappearing into thin air. Higuto was stunned that he had made a clone so terrible and couldn't help but stifle a curse to himself at his failure. This did, however, bring his to the realization that he had at least succeeded in making his clone solid to his touch and that led him to smile to himself once again at his accomplishment.

To that effect he got back upon his feet as he hopped up and down once more and slapped his face a couple of times to try and psyche himself up for another push. He brought his hands up into a cross once more as he focused as much of his control into his chakra as he closed his eyes in order to not let the outside distract him this time. He could feel his chakra grow and once again branch out away from him to a certain point a couple of meters away as he kept up his control and spoke the necessary words once again. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He heard the puff of smoke as he kept his eyes closed throughout the whole ordeal and allowed his chakra to relax back into him. He couldn't help but pant a bit as he had expended a good amount of his chakra into the jutsu so far and he opened his eyes to view his results.

Once again the clone was on the ground on their back and looking as beat up as the first one. This time, however, where the past clone seemed to not have any color to them this one's jacket, pants, and skin had a bit of life to them as he smiled and felt that this was a result of him improving. He released the jutsu as the clone disappeared into smoke once again and he sat in the grass to allow himself to catch his breath for a little bit. He looked up to the passing clouds as they would sometimes cover him up from the sun, providing a bit of relief upon his already sweating body, as he laid down and thought he'd allow his insects within him to enjoy the outdoors a bit. They began crawling out of his skin, flying out and around the field as some crawled and ate from the grass, until the air was abuzz with the many insects that he had kept within himself. He watched them as they soared freely around the field as he thought that he had rested enough and kipped himself back up to his feet.

He brought his hands back up and stretched his arms out in front of him as he gathered the chakra within him to the point an aura started to surround his body. He brought his fingers back into the shape of a cross as he closed his eyes once again and focused his chakra to branch out into a part of the grass a few meters away. He kept his chakra control as high as he could and he spoke the words once again. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He once again heard the waft of smoke upon the ground as he waited a bit in order to allow the smoke to slowly fade away into the sky. Upon opening his eyes he was surprised to see his clone, this time, standing up on their feet if only barely. He sighed as, though he was improving, this was taking a toll on his chakra much worse then he had expected it to. He still couldn't help but smile and laugh at his creation as they looked like a gust of wind could blow them away. He released the jutsu, allowing the clone to disappear into this air once more, as he cracked his knuckles and thought he'd take a bit more of a break from the jutsu in order to allow his chakra to accumulate.

He hopped over to the stumps once again as he began to strike upon one of them. He would kick and punch once again, allowing his limbs to grow stronger with each strike, as he could feel the soreness of his physical abuse setting in a more powerful feeling than the reduced amounts of chakra he had within him. He would try to become more acrobatic with his body's taijutsu as he'd mix in flips and hops with his strikes and pretended as though he was actually sparring with another ninja. Every time he felt he had delivered a kick too high he'd flip himself over onto his feet and charge forth in order to deliver a punch. Every time he had felt a strike didn't get delivered on the mark he'd just use his flexibility to allow a leg to come around and make up for his mistake. He would keep up this method of training for a little bit before he had to stop due to exhausting his muscles to the point where they screamed at him for relief.

He panted and cracked his knuckles again before stepping back into the center of the field and called upon the chakra within him once more. He had felt that that break was just what the doctor ordered as he felt there was more within now then when he had decided to leave off and he prepared himself for the final home stretch. He was so close he could taste his success as he once again brought his hands up to start forming the necessary hand seals for his jutsu. He called upon his chakra once more to form up into the wild fervor he held inside as he closed his eyes once again and felt it branch out from him as he felt it latch strongly to a patch of the ground a meter away. "Here we go... This has to work this time! Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" In a loud puff of smoke he heard the sounds and felt the presence of another person suddenly appearing on the field. He couldn't help but feel as though he had been successful finally this time but was scared to open his eyes due to feeling the deep feeling of failure.

"Hey. It's ok. You can open your eyes, original." This surprised Higuto as he hadn't learned in his researching of the jutsu that the clones could actually speak to you. Then again if they were able to use jutsu, as well, maybe they did need to speak in order to launch it. So with bated breath he opened his eyes to find a perfect copy, a shadow clone, of himself and he couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the fact that he had done it! The clone walked over to him and stuck a fist out with a smile as he chuckled to the original Higuto. "Congrats! Do you think you can make two, though? I'd love to see you try." Higuto couldn't help but chuckle at his clone as he nodded and bumped fists with it as the clone waved and disappeared into thin air.

Higuto felt renewed motivation upon his clones words as he felt that he should immediately go into trying to create two shadow clones at the same time and possibly have them perform jutsus while he had them up and solid. He redoubled his efforts, because of this, as he planted his feet firmly into the ground and began to set his mind to work to allow his chakra to bubble up within him and branch out into two places in the ground this time. He focused as he felt the two points of his chakra latch onto the ground once again, stronger than ever, as he smiled and felt that he would succeed in his shadow clone jutsu without fail this time as he kept his eyes open and on the prize of making two shadow clones at once. "Here we go! Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" The two patches of ground he had felt his chakra take hold of exploded into puffs of smoke as he, once again, was made aware of two entities suddenly appearing beside him. As the smoke cleared he was once again overjoyed to find two perfect and solid copies of himself smiling back at him as they looked at each other and high fived.

Higuto couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with accomplishment as he nodded to the two as he could tell they knew exactly what he was thinking and one of them stepped out onto the water. While there the clone brought his hands up and gathered his chakra as the water he stood upon began to swirl around him as he formed the necessary hand seal for the jutsu that Higuto was wanting him to perform. As the clone formed Tiger the water began to swirl upward and shape itself around his body as he lifted one of his hands high while maintaining half tiger seals for both hands. He then initiated the jutsu as the water that had formed around him began to slowly evaporate into steam. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu." The steam then began to evaporate from the river as it all coagulated into a mist and began to branch out and surround the field in a dense and heavy fog too clustered for the naked eye to see through.

Higuto the original then spoke to the other clone in his mind as he commanded them to perform a certain other jutsu as he suddenly heard the sound of insects coming from nearby. He then heard the clone speak as the buzzing grew louder as he knew what was coming next. "Parasitic Insects: Insect Jar!" The insects began to swarm around the other clone in such a fast frenzy of buzzing and speed that the mist began to be blown away from the insects until it all disappeared to where Higuto could see what was going on. The clone had formed it's own protective sphere from it's own insects as they all stopped and zoomed their way back into the clone. Higuto smiled as he knew he had a real powerful addition to his jutsu list and felt that it was all going to come to him a lot more easier as he stretched his neck out and sighed from his efforts he had put into learning the jutsu. The clones walked back over to him as they gave one final wave to him before he allowed them to disappear upon him releasing the jutsu. He then waved his hands as he called his insects back to him and they began to fly and crawl back inside of him from the bottom of his shirt sleeves.

Insects that were still on the field had grabbed hold of his jacket that he had discarded for his training and placed it back around him and he smiled upon them and allowed them to crawl back inside. He walked over to the river, proud of his accomplishment, as he took a scoop of water and splashed it into his face in order to wipe the sweat he had formed. He sighed deeply and coughed softly as he got back to his feet and was surprised he could still walk after all the training he had put himself through. With the jutsu learned and Higuto feeling pride he began to exit the field as he stretched his arms in thought. Today was a good day and he couldn't wait to make everyday after even better.

(WC 3,009)

(Objective: obtaining 15 stats and the Shadow Clone technique)

Approved.