If One is Good Two Must Be Better

The rain poured down on the open training grounds of Kirigakure, the clouds casting shadows down from the heavens above shrouding the very earth. Amidst the darkness, standing in his usual relaxed and lanky stature stood Menma Uzumaki. His wrappings began to drip with the absorbed rain just as his long black hair, his hakama pants shedding the moisture as droplets upon the ground. His emotionless and cold eyes looking blankly out into the training field as the streaks of rain fell from the sky, he began to wonder to himself if the rain ever stopped here. It was strange that the cold dampness was somewhat comforting to him, but perhaps it came from the safety a shinobi could derive from this environment around themselves. His eyes closed as a visible breath escaped his wrappings over his mouth, his mind began to visualize the chakra running through his network as though it was memorizing the every twist and turn of the sinew that it coursed. Menma could tell this much, the jutsu he wished to learn was not going to be the hardest he achieved yet it would be a challenge in itself. He continued to visualize the flowing chakra then in time, he began to split the chakra into two streams coursing through his body.

A strange concept really, like a single lane highway breaking away into two in an instant. At first he felt strain course through him as it was not so simple to separate a raging river of chakra and hold this division, but with time the pressure would release and the two rivers flowed side by side never intersecting, never reuniting. He could feel his chakra points as the rivers seemed to be drawing themselves together and these canals, but with willpower and strategy he was able to maintain the separation that coursed through him. As the rivers of chakra raced on through his body, Menma began instilling a ‘memory’ of the path it followed into one of the rivers. A strange concept but it was working. The river began to turn and maintain its flow and direction as he released his control. Together just under his surveillance, the flowing chakras within him began to circulate without a need for his interaction. He merely watched, astonishing himself at the theory in play. He allowed a bit of time to pass, continuing to allow the chakra to flow without his intervention before he turned his mind elsewhere. The chakra doing as it should, Menma began to think of himself though not in a narcissistic way, but rather in the aspect of his looks, his voice, the way he walks, the actions he takes. It was hard to envision oneself in such a way but it was necessary for him to pull off the jutsu, he began to reflect on how he used the image of lightning for his chidori in order to help understand the shaping of the bolts. The concept was the same though this time he planned to recreate himself, because if one Menma was good then two Menma’s would be better.

He thought of his feet, his ronin sandals and sock wrapped at his ankles to help support the structure of his posture. His hakama draped over his legs, hanging down to just above his ankles and firmly tightened to his waist. The white cloth sash-styled belt tightened with his katana sheath resting on his left hip, the blade in its fixed location secure. His thin and athletic build was tightly wrapped in white bandaging covering him from his waist to the bridge of his nose, then back down to the lower portion of his fingers, exposing only about three quarters of his fingers from the wrappings. His long loose black hair laying flat upon himself with the weight of the rain holding it down, it stretching down to the small of his back with his face enshrouded behind the wrappings and hair. His silver eyes cold and expressionless as always, he could see the imagery of himself clear as day as the chakra continued to flow around through his chakra network. Now he began to try and build a concept of how to create the image using his chakra in a physical form, but how to cast the second river of chakra from himself and create an exact replica of himself in every way. He lifted his hands to his sternum in preparations for the seals required to perform the Shadow Clone jutsu.

Placing his hands together with the palms flat, interlacing his ring and pinky fingers leaving his index and middle fingers extended pointing to the heavens above. His thumbs together mimicking the posture and position equal to the index and middle fingers, he created the seal of the Tiger with perfect execution, feeling his rivers of chakra begin to flow with a stronger current. He released the seal pulling his hands away from each other, quickly returning with the tips of his index fingers touching, forming a triangle with his inward curled middle fingers. His thumbs resting on his index fingers lowest knuckle, his remaining fingers curled inward and knuckles stacked on top of each other. He once again formed a perfect rendition of a hand seal this time the seal of the Horse. His image pressed to the front of his mind without error, he could see every flaw and every detail prepared to cast the image into existence. Releasing the seal quickly and returning them to form a seal very similar to the Tiger, though without interlacing his ring and pinky fingers but instead his left hand fingers covering those on his right. The seal of the Ram performed as his second chakra river collapsed into a ball of chakra within his sternum as he interjected his image into the ball, his chakra began to incorporate the image into its very being giving it a form of life. He separated the seal then curled his ring and pinky fingers on both hands, with his index and middle fingers extended as they came back together forming a ‘T’ as he formed the Clone Seal. The Chakra leaped from inside of his body slamming into the ground a meter in front of himself, the impact causing a large puff of smoke to appear shrouding the chakra mass he had expelled.

As the clouds began to disperse it revealed an image of himself, the chakra had exploded against the ground using the imagery Menma had instilled within it to begin molding into its new form. The smoke clouds spread away, becoming nothing in the falling rain. The new Menma standing across from himself, they scanned each other thoroughly as their relentless eyes took note of all they could. Questioning how well this jutsu had been performed and what applications it would be suited best for, beginning to think about training and how he could use his clone as a sparring partner to learn more. Perhaps the two could work together and expand upon his work with the Chidori, the clone spoke up “Chidori could be a topic we cover, training with a moving target would be perfect.” Menma looked on with surprise, as though they read each other's mind. But what could he have expected was himself standing there, Menma agreed with the conclusion before releasing the jutsu and making his way back towards the village.

(WC 1225)

Menma wrote:

(WC 1225)

Training Facilities Discount 25%: Shadow Clone (1,125/1,125) | +6 Chakra | +6 Vigor

Approved