The Gōketsu ninja definitely favored Honoka, and for all the little girl's act of innocence, she definitely knew that acting cute got her all the attention she wanted.
Nothing wrong with that. She's the best
Well, not quite calm. Sasha was clearly excited, and she occasionally bounced a little in place before she restrained herself and forced herself to stand still.
*reads up numbers on the stat-o-meter* yup, that's also a very cute way to act!
Those who master the Basic Three will be tested first."
"The Basic Three?" Noburi asked, confused. "I thought it was the Academy Two."
Well of course you need to count the Eeby Deeby Technique
"In Leaf, they teach all three basic nonelemental ninjutsu in the Academy: Substitution, Clone, and the Dispelling technique."
Yes, that.
As always, the clans had ways to give their genin an edge over the clanless, who would only learn their element mere months from graduation. Only then could they start trying to find someone to teach them any ninjutsu.
Also an edge over whatever they'll encounter in missions outside Leaf, come to think of it. That's not bad thinking from them and that's basically what clans are for, we need to generalise it to everyone asap though.
"Are you ready?" Noburi asked.
"Yes, Lord Noburi," she said. "Did Lord Hazō make the seal?"
"The seal?" Noburi asked.
*Hazō hiding his Tabula Smaragdina seal* n-no, what is this "seal" you are talking of?
Hazō darted forward and dropped a pair of seals while Sasha still had her eyes closed, then Noburi released her hands. As she opened her eyes, a pair of firework seals triggered, shrouding her for a moment in a fountain of sparks. She stepped back, shielding her eyes against the harmless sparks.
And then she had this thought that only genin and Steve Urkel can have:
(I'm sorry)
Sasha shook her head, looking at the ground. "I don't know. I always wanted to be a ninjutsu specialist, and I was pretty good at Substitution and Clone, but I know the clan doesn't have lots of Fire Element users.
Well there's the library and there's also the ability to buy whatever...
That morning, Asuma's shadow clone had taken him to the quarries behind the Hokage Monument, where the already sparse iron veins had finally run dry. Hazō had expected the process of extracting any reasonable quantity of iron ore to take ages, but for some reason, he'd been able to manipulate the ore far, far easier than he'd been able to during his last tests on the Seventh Path.
Oooh, interesting! Maybe Cannai's soul in the ground blocked it - maybe Cannai felt the iron move even
At Asuma's request, he only pulled the purified ores to the surface rather than fully extracting them. This way, Asuma said, was fully legal. No civilian could alter the ore location, but mining them would be a violation of the Merchant Council's rules that Asuma was reluctant to do even in secret.
- isn't that cheating the rules as intended?
- ninja.
As an added bonus, the miners would keep their jobs instead of being obsoleted.
Miners might otherwise have been made redundant (because the mine is depleted), or made redundant (literally, because you don't need two iron extractors). That way there is no redundancy of any kind going on. Smart move.
given Earthshaping's destructive nature
The other two ES users in history: wait, what? Destructive?
Hazō tapped the storage seal with his rock collection and grabbed his graphite, taking a couple minutes to work his chakra into it. Yes, there was a trace of this feeling in the steel. Graphite and iron together made steel? It would make sense in a way – graphite was similar to coal which was similar to charcoal, and charcoal was burned to make iron and steel.
And right after I made the Tabula Smaragdina joke. Awarding myself a cookie for alchemy. An alchookie.
"Ah, yes. Indeed, your Earthshaping ninjutsu could perhaps do the same, if it's [bark]. I will anticipate the results."
Now I wonder if training with the gestalt field could help overcome that, or if it's something of the building blocks to reality and we can't bypass the hard block. Fun!
"Just like your chakra has a force to it when you manipulate a large amount at once, and just like your chakra has a finesse to it when you cast a delicate ninjutsu, it also has [bark], which [growl] your chakra when you [bark], though you obviously have no control over it."
Personal quiddity?
Hazō nodded. "I see. So the ninjutsu is a flexible, unrestrained use of chakra, and that's why it can do so many things."
Cannai stared flatly at Hazō. "No. The analogy to restraints was only an analogy.
Cannai: hey Hazō are you a bit thick-
Cannai panted in amusement. "No. Not unless you transform yourself into an animal and become the leader of a Seventh Path clan. If you elect to do so while pursuing the deeper mysteries of the Paths, I request that you pick a clan whose leader is already unpleasant. Perhaps you could be Cat. Or Pangolin
[><] ACTION PLAN BECOME A CATBOY WE HAVE PERMISSION AND EVEN REQUEST
"Before you go, Summoner," Cannai said, "I do want to commend you. The Dragons are the Seventh Path's problem first and foremost, but you dedicate yourself to fixing it, all while shouldering your clan's burdens simultaneously. It is not an easy task, but it is a task fit for a hero. That you need to undertake it so young is a tragedy, and that you are able to walk around as if you've had worse days is an achievement in its own right. Do not despair, Hazō. You will have the strength to overcome these burdens and rise beyond them, in time. Until that day comes, know that you continue to have my deepest gratitude for the work you've done to try to save my Path."
That is
so heartwarming.
"Yep," Noburi said. "That's me. Another dead end."
SWEETIE BABY NO
Yes, this also means that Hazō can no longer turn granite into corundum.
The Grue: hey don't look at me, I'm as surprised as you are! Usually I get to eat something!
Hazō could instead make much more short-term money by traveling outside of Fire and crashing their gemstone markets. Asuma prefers that Hazō make the Hyūga deal as it has minimal economic implications, and it builds a Gōketsu-Hyūga relationship, but will give Hazō the trade data he needs to effectively ruin other country's gemstone markets if Hazō desires it.
I wonder how much we could damage an economy? Past the gemstones market I mean. That's a kind of covert war-retardant ace-in-the-hole a Kage could enjoy.
(invoke "Promising Sealing Student" lol)
We'll be promising sealing students again when we resurrect the Fourth!
Hazō is quite confident in his ability (possibly overconfident), and will just yolo no-prep it.
Sealmaster: YOLO
Ishimura Junior: Are you
sure you live once?
Rock: It is very important that someone remember room 112 is empty. No one lives there.
