Body Flicker Technique Talisman

That morning, Kiyoshi sat on the edge of his bed and pulled the Ninjutsu Scroll out of his system inventory. Other people lingered in bed after opening their eyes. He took stock.

The ball of light solidified in his palm: a scroll the length of his hand, its paper yellowed, its seal covered with a paper talisman.

He had confirmed the acceleration card's effect. Today was the perfect time to use it.

He unrolled the scroll across his knees, formed hand seals with both hands, and fed a wisp of chakra into the paper.

The writing on the scroll lit up. The ink turned into tiny points of light, which floated up one by one and slipped into his forehead.

It did not hurt. It felt swollen, as though someone were stuffing books into his brain at high speed, their pages fluttering.

The sequence of hand seals, the proportions of chakra, and a mental image: treat his shadow as a second person and make it stand up from beneath his feet.

The last specks of light vanished, and the scroll turned into gray-white powder that sifted onto his bedsheet.

The system panel appeared.

[Ninjutsu Scroll · Clone Technique used]

[Clone Technique: beginner → nearly proficient]

[Tip: reinforce with at least ten complete hand seal sequences within three days]

Fine. Ten times in three days. Too many people and prying eyes at school. I'll need somewhere deserted after class.

He got up and washed. Passing the entryway, he paused for half a second and glanced out the window.

No one in the alley. No one on the rooftops, either.

But he knew that feeling was still there. Since yesterday, the back of his neck had occasionally tightened.

He did not look any longer. He opened the door and headed to school as usual. Even his walking speed stayed the same.

The highest level of a poker face was making even your footsteps expressionless.

Third period that morning was throwing practice. Ten-meter targets, three throws per person.

Kiyoshi's turn came. He planted his feet, raised his hand, and stopped moving.

Three seconds. Five seconds. Ten seconds.

At first, no one beside the stands spoke. Then someone muttered.

"Did he crash?"

"Why isn't anything coming out after we put the coin in?"

Someone in the front row could not resist imitating him: hand raised, body frozen, eyes completely still. It was a pretty good impression. Half the stands collapsed with laughter.

Amid the laughter, Kiyoshi flicked his wrist, and the Shuriken buried itself in the bull's-eye.

The laughter caught for half a beat, then grew even louder-not because of the throw, but because his face had not changed at all between crashing and hitting the target.

The system panel flashed.

[Awkwardness value +30]

What's so funny? I was calculating wind drift.

He lowered his hand and returned to stand straight in line. The teacher glanced at him while collecting the targets. "Your aim's good. Just move faster next time. Don't give everyone a fright the moment you raise your hand."

"Mm."

At noon, Nakajima sat down beside him with his tray. After two mouthfuls of rice, he could no longer hold back.

"What were you doing in throwing class this morning, standing there with your hand up?"

"Calculating wind drift."

"...For ten whole seconds?" Nakajima put down his chopsticks. "It's already spread everywhere. They're saying the Uchiha Clan produced a vending machine that won't dispense anything when you put a coin in. People are imitating you, too. They're really good at it."

"Who?"

"Does that matter? The point is, you hit the bull's-eye and walked away like nothing happened. Not a single reaction."

Kiyoshi lowered his head and kept eating. Nakajima stared at him for a while, then shook his head in resignation.

During the afternoon classes, Kiyoshi split his attention between listening and practicing hand seal gestures beneath his desk.

The feeling of being watched had persisted through the morning, faded in and out during the afternoon, and disappeared by the last period. A shift change, or had they withdrawn? Either way, this was his window.

After parting with Nakajima at the school gate, he went home for a drink of water, waited twenty minutes, then took his canteen and small bag out the back door. He followed the dirt road west of the village before turning toward the Back Mountain.

It was a roundabout route. But detours had one advantage: at turns, he could use reflections to check behind him. No one there, at least no one visible to the naked eye.

He avoided his usual path, headed another two hundred paces into the woods, and chose a hollow in a dirt slope surrounded by trees on three sides. Little light would escape.

Last time he had drawn from the face value pool, half the mountain had lit up with it. This time, he needed to smother the commotion under a blanket.

He stopped and checked his surroundings. No bird nests. No Wooden Training Post.

He brought up the panel.

[Awkwardness value: 1245]

[Perform ten draws? (Costs 1000 awkwardness value)]

[Yes/No]

The extra thirty had come from this morning's audience.

Without changing his expression, he selected "Yes."

The panel dimmed.

The hollow lit up.

Pale blue light rose from the shadow of the slope, more restrained than last time, its motes circling close to the ground. Even so, when it formed a vortex, a clump of light still escaped through a gap in the canopy.

Several sparrows erupted from their nest and fluttered skyward.

...Does this system have a grudge against sparrows?

The vortex split open. Ten rays of light dropped to the ground and became ten glowing orbs.

Nine pale blue, one tinged with purple.

[Ten draws complete]

[Body Flicker Technique Talisman ×2 (SR-Rank): instantly move to a visible location within thirty meters]

[Note: landing posture is the Jiahao-style finishing pose (downward press). Fixed motion. Cannot be disabled.]

Kiyoshi's gaze lingered on the note for three seconds.

Cannot be disabled?

He looked farther down.

The familiar [Instinct Soldier Pill ×2 (R-Rank)].

Everything else was R-Rank, too.

[Silver Bracelet Fragment ×2 / Awkwardness Value Double Card · Small / Smoke Bomb · Jiahao Colorway / Random Teleport Card · Comedy Version / Sharingan Eye Drops / Screaming Kunai]

[Items stored in system inventory. Available for retrieval at any time.]

The Body Flicker Technique Talisman's a lifesaver. Nice, nice.

Two fragments. Two more to assemble the silver bracelet.

The double card could double his awkwardness value gains. Unfortunately, the bonus was capped at 250 points.

The rest were a pink smoke bomb, a teleport card that sent him beside a trash can, and a Kunai that screamed.

Shouldn't the ratio of serious items to gag items in this pool be sixty-forty, instead of the other way around?

He tapped the purple orb first. The Body Flicker Technique Talismans became two finger-width strips of paper that fell into his hand, their patterns pale gold.

He pinched one between his fingertips and looked at a bush thirty meters away.

One test. A lifesaving item I haven't tested is as good as not having one.

He infused it with chakra. The paper flashed.

His vision blurred.

He was already beside the bush. A dry twig snapped beneath his foot with a crack.

Then his body moved against his will. Both arms rose, crossed above his head, and pressed down hard. His right foot ground against the earth as he struck a finishing pose.

A textbook Jiahao-style finishing pose.

Two tits burst from the bushes, shrieking as they shot into the sky.

Kiyoshi remained frozen in the downward-press pose, his expressionless face stiff.

...Imagine doing that while trying to save my life.

He released the pose and brushed leaf fragments off his sleeves.

Whatever. Half a second of social death, then I stay alive. Worth it.

He stored the remaining talisman in his inventory. The soldier pills, double card, and fragments followed, and the bracelet entry updated.

[Jiahao Bracelet · Silver fragments: 3/5]

When he reached the eye drops, he did not put them away immediately.

The light dispersed, revealing a small bottle with a white body and blue label. A line of tiny print read: Uchiha exclusive · red edition.

He held the bottle and stared at it for three seconds.

He really wanted to ask the system what it meant by giving him this.

The bottle would not answer. The system never answered.

Can't awaken the real eyes, so I'll stock up on a fake bottle first. That counts as...

He paused, swallowed the rest of the thought, tightened the cap, and stowed it in the deepest part of his inventory.

Darkness fell quickly. He smoothed out the scorched blades of grass and covered them with dead leaves, much more practiced than last time. The slope was shaded, and the scorch marks were inconspicuous.

Down the mountain, then home. On the way, he adjusted his pace back to normal.

A masked figure crouched on the rooftop opposite the alley entrance, a new arrival. He held the record handed over by the previous shift. There was little written on it: target attended school as usual today. Spoke with a male classmate during lunch break. Returned home after school, remained approximately twenty minutes, then went out. Took a detour along the dirt road west of the village, entered the Back Mountain, and returned approximately one hour later. No abnormalities.

One extra sentence appeared at the end: target purchased a bag of sugar beans at the intersection today and ate them while walking.

He stared at the words "sugar beans" for a while, circled them, and added no comment.

A six-year-old Uchiha, crouching by a wall and eating sugar beans.

He gave this assignment a rating: boring.

Kiyoshi opened his front door, changed shoes, washed his hands, boiled water, and put the sugar beans in a drawer.

After dinner and washing the dishes, he sat on the edge of his bed and brought up the panel.

[Awkwardness value: 245 / 1000]

[Face value: 0 / 1600]

[Total draws: 40]

He looked at the last line and tapped his knee twice.

Sixty draws to go. He did a quick mental calculation, then gave up. Either way, it would not be fast.

Build it up slowly. Wait for a big one for the face value pool. For the awkwardness value pool, make a little progress every day.

He closed the panel, lay down, then sat up again. He retrieved the eye drops from the deepest part of his inventory and placed them beside his pillow.

The crack in the ceiling was still the same crack.

Before the night of the massacre, this was probably the only Sharingan he would get to see.

He pushed the bottle farther into the corner between his pillow and the wall, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Outside the window, the shadow on the rooftop shifted position, then went still again.