Chapter 73.3- One Thousand Hands

My clone walked towards her and now I covered them both in fire. I felt my clone pop a few seconds after the fire touched him and I took note of the memories as they came to me.

“A failure then” Uzume said with a shrug.

“Not so quick. My clone only dispelled a few seconds after the fire reached him. If the fire did sit ought then it should have dispelled much earlier. No, I think you can project your ability, but you just need to get a bit better at it”

“Does that mean..”

“Training time, ‘Zume!” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could project into my voice.

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“Do we have the votes?” I greeted her with as she walked into my office, Uzume at her side. Instead of replying, she just arched a brow. A well-manicured brow that framed her pupil less eyes perfect and contributed to the aristocratic beauty the Hyuga were famed for. There was a reason they had managed to be the only Ninja clan to successfully manage to marry into proper Land of Fire nobility. The beauty of Hyuga women was such that even the fear of shinobi had not been enough to dissuade quite a few Lords of the Daimyo’s court. Of course, any offspring they produced was carefully monitored to avoid the Byakugan developing outside Konoha’s walls.

“I meant, how are you Cousin? I hope you’ve had a lovely day.” I pivoted when her brow did not drip after a few seconds of staring at each other. She hummed, dropping the brow and moving to take her seat.

“I am fine, Cousin. It is lovely to see you well, and I have had a fruitful day” She said, accepting a cup as I stood to begin making tea. I could imagine my teacher’s voice in the back of my head as I went through the steps of a particularly simple tea ceremony. Superhuman dexterity, incredible memory ad unreal balance should have made even the most difficult tea ceremonies difficult, but of course shinobi had to be shinobi. The most complex tea ceremonies required all three along with near-perfect chakra control as a minimum.

“To answer your question, yes we do. All the holdovers needed was the confirmation of Hiruzen’s unsuitability and the fact that you had the votes even without them” She said, humming as I spun my fingers, sending a tendril of chakra into the teapot that forced the tea to rise from it, following my movements as it spun forming a tight, controlled tornado. This one had been a nightmare to learn, I remembered. I could hear him saying, ‘tighter, Shorirama. Tighter. Spill one drop and you start again.’ I spilled nothing as I forced my fingers apart. A perfect amount of tea split from the tornado, forming three tendrils that each went into a cup. Now all three of us were served.

“Six” Uraume graded as she took a sip.

“Nine” Uzume said instead.

Uraume grunted, “Trust the Uchiha not to know good tea or ceremony” She whispered it into her cup but she had clearly fully expected the both of us to hear.