Chapter 45.3- One Thousand Hands

“Not like that’s a high bar to clear” I said with a sigh.

“You need the clones to have an even better bearing of their bodies. They must not summon without ensuring the they take everything along” She said. I knew that. Of course, I know that. But it was easier said than done, and that as the problem. I made another clone, taking note of who the previous clone had tried and forming a new strategy.

—

“Test Five Hundred and Seventy Three” I called out, already beginning to be done with the whole thing, but I had a good feeling about this one. Grandmother Mito had already transitioned to sitting on a throne of mud I’d made her while the sun had crested and begun to set. The clone I had taking notes watched the whole process with his byakugan.

The sacrificial lamb weaved the twenty-seven seals with the ease of long practice and in a flash, he was gone. He appeared at the seal set aside next to the tree. I waited for him to pop, for something to go wrong, and nothing did.

“Yatta” The clone said, jumping in the air and pumping his fist. Instead off cringing like any sane person would have, I smiled, brightly and strongly. I’d done it. Finally.

“Again” Grandmother Mito said, pointing to the next seal, significantly dampening our shared enthusiasm. He weaved the seals even faster this time, and was gone again. Except that he dispelled as soon as he appeared at the next seal, having left his arms behind. I compartmentalized the dissapointment and pain that the clone passed to me with his memories, instead focusing on the initial success. Grandmother tapped my shin with her cane, making me curse in exaggerated pain.

I formed another clone, and it went forward with more pep in its step than I felt.

“Test Five Hundred and Seventy Four” I called out.

—

“Hey Kushina, come here” I said, calling over the girl I’d begun to see as a younger sister. There was no chance of me having younger siblings in this life. For one, my father was dead. And even if he wasn’t, there was the fact that my mother was basically insane. She wouldn’t be remarrying anytime soon— ever.

“Yes, Shori-niisan” She said, walking over to me as Grandmother Mito packed her bag for the academy. It had become a ritual at some point when I’d been gone between the two ladies. Considering we’d already been forced to reject two recommendations for accelerated graduation for Kushina, she was ready to be a genin on her own but it was a ritual that Mito would not let go of.

“Turn around” I said to her as I went down to one knee.

I reached over to her shirt and lifted it to reveal her back. I closed my eyes to concentrate and mould chakra before I placed a single finger between her shoulder blades. The chakra flowed easily, forming into my hiriashin seal in a matter of seconds.

“Oohhh that tickles” Kushina squirmed, before I dropped her shirt back down. I’d marked Mito already, and marked several areas of the house already. I hadn’t gotten the flying thunder god jutsu down to Minato’s level, but I was at least as good at it has my Granduncle had been, and that meant I could now use it to keep those I cared about safe.