Lightning Body Flicker

After returning home, Shiraishi Yoshijo took out a shuriken and hung it from a tree.

Takemoto Shuichi's remark about lightning's conductivity had given him a rather bold idea.

He wanted to use lightning's conductivity to perform the Body Flicker Technique.

It went without saying that lightning was incredibly fast. If he could really combine it with the Body Flicker Technique,

then anyone who tried using the Flying Thunder God in front of him would get their head smashed in.

This Lightning Body Flicker might not be as convenient as the Flying Thunder God, but in a head-on fight, it would be no slower than anyone else.

The idea was great, but how could he make it work?

Shiraishi Yoshijo looked at the steel wire pinched between his fingers. Chakra transformed into lightning and traveled along the wire to the shuriken.

The shuriken crackled with electricity.

The Raikage in the story had also used the Lightning Body Flicker. He used Lightning Release to stimulate his body's cells and increase their activity, granting him unparalleled speed.

That should count as Nintaijutsu. Shiraishi Yoshijo didn't have a body like that, so the Lightning Body Flicker he envisioned was more of a ninjutsu.

Ninjutsu?

Shiraishi Yoshijo thought about it and decided he could give it a try.

He wrapped the steel wire around his finger and began using the Body Flicker Technique.

The Body Flicker succeeded, but it had nothing to do with the Lightning Body Flicker.

He fell back into thought.

The Body Flicker Technique he had just used relied on a burst of chakra to accelerate. Did that count as Taijutsu?

And since this Lightning Body Flicker relied on lightning's conductivity, maybe he needed to turn himself into lightning?

But how could a person turn into lightning?

Could he cover his whole body in Lightning Release chakra?

He didn't have that kind of chakra reserve yet.

He remembered that the Flying Thunder God's Space-Time Transfer Jutsu required a special kunai. That must have served as a space-time marker.

Could he make a marker for the Lightning Body Flicker, too?

When the Lightning Release chakra reached the marker, would the Body Flicker activate?

This was way too difficult. He might as well just learn the Flying Thunder God.

Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed, then simply closed his eyes and imagined what it would feel like to turn into lightning.

The Lightning Release chakra flowed perfectly through his body.

A cycle.

He opened his eyes and stared at the steel wire wrapped around his finger, a strange light in his eyes.

What if he treated the steel wire as one of his own meridians, and made it form a cycle with the chakra inside his body?

Maybe he needed two wires?

He put the idea into action, quickly tying another wire to the shuriken.

Electricity crackled around his hand, and the shuriken lit up with sparks.

Then he closed his eyes and sensed the flow of chakra. He tried connecting his Lightning Release chakra to the chakra along the wire, then making it circulate through his body.

It didn't go smoothly.

Shiraishi Yoshijo opened his eyes and began forming the Lightning Release hand seals.

Then he closed his eyes again and sensed the flow of chakra.

There was still resistance, so he formed the seals again.

Whenever he hit a snag, he formed the Lightning Release hand seals. By the time the chakra in his body and the chakra along the wire formed a perfect cycle, he had performed six Lightning Release hand seals.

After memorizing those six hand seals, Shiraishi Yoshijo began forming the seals for the Body Flicker Technique.

A streak of lightning flashed across the courtyard!

Did it work?

Shiraishi Yoshijo was in midair, his face pale, unable to stop himself.

What was with all this momentum?

With a bang, he crashed into a tree. As luck would have it, he hit his nose, and blood immediately began streaming down.

"Ow, that hurts!"

After clutching his nose and rolling around for more than ten minutes, Shiraishi Yoshijo finally got up.

He went back inside to tend to his injury, then returned to the courtyard and stared blankly at the shuriken.

That attempt hadn't really succeeded. After he finished forming the Body Flicker seals, he had felt a pulling force, and following it, he had activated the jutsu.

He just hadn't expected it to be so fast, and had lost control of his body.

And what was that pulling force? He'd meant to use conductivity to perform the Body Flicker, so why had it turned into a pulling force?

Was it chakra flowing back?

Unable to figure it out, he went back inside, got some paper and a pen, and wrote down the Lightning Release hand seals he had just used, then added the seals for the Body Flicker Technique.

Ten seals in total.

After his last mishap, he didn't dare practice in the courtyard.

He went outside and found an open area. Then he stuck a branch in the ground and hung the shuriken from it.

He began forming the seals slowly.

The steel wire wrapped around his finger started crackling with electricity as he formed the seals.

"Lightning Release: Body Flicker Technique."

Almost the instant the jutsu activated, a streak of lightning flashed beside the shuriken, then shot high into the sky.

Shiraishi Yoshijo stared in bewilderment.

The jutsu had worked, but this powerful momentum was nothing like the Lightning Body Flicker he had imagined.

He was in midair, with nothing nearby to push off from.

He landed perfectly.

Shiraishi Yoshijo limped home.

He couldn't practice anymore today. Otherwise, he might lose his life.

And the chakra cost was far too high. He had only used the Body Flicker twice, yet it had consumed nearly all his chakra.

He was sure the general idea behind this Body Flicker Technique was right, but there had to be some minor details he was overlooking.

The only way to correct them was through repeated practice.

Maybe he could ask that old man, Takemoto Shuichi, to help him improve it?

If he could master this Body Flicker Technique before the graduation exam, even a jonin might not be able to keep up with him.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he got, and the smile on Shiraishi Yoshijo's face grew increasingly deranged.

Back in his room, he tended to his injuries in front of the mirror, then winked at his reflection.

The person in the mirror winked back.

Is that deranged-looking person really me?

He stuck out his tongue.

The lunatic in the mirror stuck out his tongue, too.

Ah, it really is me.

His smile froze on his face.

Shiraishi Yoshijo's mouth twitched. It seemed he needed to work on his facial expressions right away.

How could a villain wear a smile like that?

It was an embarrassment to villains everywhere.

Facing the mirror, he began adjusting his expression.

Before long, a sunny, handsome smile appeared on his face.

Not bad. It had a bit of Namikaze Minato's charm.

That smile deserved an eighty.

After giving himself a score, he held out his hand to his reflection.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Shiraishi Yoshijo. I hope we get along."

That evening, Teacher Kawano arrived right on time with his daughter, Mie.

After tending to his injuries that afternoon, Shiraishi Yoshijo had gone out to buy groceries and prepared a lavish dinner.

He was a decent cook, after all. His uncle was a drunk who often passed out and couldn't take care of himself.

Being able to fend for himself was especially important.

Shiraishi Eizawa had come home while he was cooking, and was now drinking with Kawano.

Mie sat off to one side, looking a little ill at ease. She barely said a word.

She hadn't been like this when she was around Shiraishi Yoshijo before.

Shiraishi Yoshijo pondered. Is this the class divide?

The Kawano family were commoners, while his own family, though fallen on hard times, still bore the name of a shinobi clan.

Commoners inevitably felt inferior around shinobi clans. No wonder Mie was so reserved.

This was going to be difficult.

Shiraishi Yoshijo groaned inwardly.

He had hoped to bring the two of them together and improve Shiraishi Eizawa's mental state in the process.

At this rate, it would all be for nothing.

As for his graduation exam, Kawano had told him the details as soon as he came in.

It was scheduled for a month later, at the underground training ground.

Mie helped her thoroughly drunk father home, and Shiraishi Yoshijo got up to see them off.

There weren't many people around their home. During the day, it didn't seem like much, but at night, the place gave people the creeps.

Even Shiraishi Yoshijo usually stayed inside at night. The more you walked along dark roads, the more likely you were to encounter a ghost—especially when their family was practically a clan of ghosts.

If he summoned the Ninja Butterfly and turned it into a person...

Just imagining it made his scalp crawl.

Shiraishi Yoshijo escorted them to the brightly lit main street.

When he got home, Shiraishi Eizawa had already cleared the table and was sitting on the steps waiting for him.

"Did you see them home?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

After those brief words, Shiraishi Eizawa got up and headed for his room.

Shiraishi Yoshijo called after him, "What do you think of Teacher Mikawano?"

He had wanted to ask his good uncle whether he had any feelings for Mie, but he didn't dare be too direct. If his uncle caught on, Shiraishi Yoshijo would probably end up tied to a tree and beaten.

"She's nice."

That was it?

Shiraishi Yoshijo scratched his head.

A new day began.

Shiraishi Yoshijo yawned as he got out of bed, then washed up and made breakfast.

Once Shiraishi Eizawa got up, the two of them sat down to eat together.

"Uncle, what happens if I fail this graduation exam?"

"You go back to the Ninja Academy and keep studying."

All right, then. He'd have to give it everything he had.

As Shiraishi Yoshijo headed out, Shiraishi Eizawa stared blankly at his back and suddenly asked, "Do you feel like anything's wrong with your body?"

"No. Why?"

"It's nothing."

Shiraishi Yoshijo glanced at him in confusion, then left.

Shiraishi Eizawa sighed, looking dejected.

He wanted to tell Shiraishi Yoshijo about Mei, but he was afraid it would make him wary of the Secret Technique.

His father's final request, his clan members' willingness to die on the battlefield, his brother and sister-in-law's resolve to hold off their pursuers for him...

Shiraishi Eizawa felt he was about to go mad. Even when he numbed himself with alcohol, the anguish and turmoil in his heart didn't lessen in the slightest.

The Third Hokage had been pressing him relentlessly. Recently, two more small clans had been won over by the Third Hokage, while Danzo kept making moves behind the scenes. And yet, Shiraishi Eizawa couldn't fight back.

After all, he was just a drunkard who wasn't even a ninja.

At this rate, once he died, the clan would be finished for good.

By then, the more talented Shiraishi Yoshijo was, the sooner he would die.

The hospital could only buy them time. He knew perfectly well that the clans led by Takemoto would never let Shiraishi Yoshijo live in peace.

He couldn't abandon those clans, either. Without their protection, he and Shiraishi Yoshijo would soon disappear from Konoha.

Like a stone dropped into water, they might cause ripples, but soon everything would return to stillness.

That was politics.