Paranoia of the Starved |Kankuro|

Chapter 14

I groaned as I got nudged away. I glared up at the sky. My head was still pounding. "There she is," Shiruma-sensei chuckled.

"Fucking, hell.." I stared up at the clear sky. The air was crisp as less hot. 

Shiruma-sensei sat next to me a moment. His hair was down at the moment. He let out a little snort, "you did really good today kiddo.. a lot better than what I expected to be honest. You have very good control for someone your age, y'know? Not even a day out of the academy and you're pulling off elemental jutsu," he chuckled. 

"Although, your mother was always excellent in control. You know those kata I taught you today, well they were based off of your mother's dancing. She was spectacular at it, your chakra flowing with your movements," as Shiruma spoke I simply quietly listened .

"I'll figure out some more kata for you tomorrow, alright? Although lay off the jutsu for a bit. Your reserves are still similar to a civilian child, although meditation should help with raising your reserves," he explained. Shiruma-sensei stood up and stretches, holding out his hand towards me. I took it, as I stumbled upwards.

 "How about you get home now, we're gonna be training tomorrow, and starting some missions!" 

I nodded. Taking in a breath I asked, "who do I look more like?" I asked.

He had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Well.. you have your father's hair, and his nose.. but the rest of you is your mother," his voice was filled with sadness as he explained this. 

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At home, I couldn't force myself to fall asleep. No matter how much a tossed and turned, and no matter how many sheep I counted. Or even the lullabies I sing myself. Nothing absolutely nothing worked.

I feel like my midday nap effected this. So, on my little desk, covered in papers and ink stains, the only light in my room being a little lamp glowing on my nightstand across the room. My brush scrawling across the paper as I analyzed a piece of chakra paper I stuck to my wall to reference. 

Studying the seal, it was in a circular formation. Each section was designated for a separate element. There was a smaller center circle that stated the command: "True Nature Revealed". This was the simplest way of describing the seal. Making up each element was a bunch of different tiny seals, made up of even tinier seals. 

Overall it was very complicated. It was still hard to copy it, although being able to recreate it would probably lead to being able to make some big money. The seal was done. After hours of meticulous work. And it was only 2 in the morning. 

I had time for more..? Maybe? After cleaning off my desk of notes, and shuffling all of my papers into a folder I labeled "Chakra paper" and throwing away my failed attempts, I dropped the folder onto a growing stack of manila folders next to my desk. 

After staring at my empty desk for a few long moments I felt my stomach rumble. No, food can wait for now. Right now it was time to work! 

I pulled some of the papers off of the wall, setting some tacks to the side. I pulled out a small piece of paper and began doodling little drawings. Then something hit me, what about a mouse? 

A puppet mouse, with little wheels to move around. It couldn't really be used for much, but it could be decent for stealth and paralysis. Your standard sebon needle is 6 inches. I noted this down on my little sketch of the mouse. I would probably need an extra 1 inch on each side of the mouse. I noted that the body of the mouse should be about 8 inches long. 

Cool it was a stealthy little mouse that could shoot about a single sebon, 3 if I set up an artillery system. Although that seems out of my range of mechanics and money at the time being. Right now I just want to be able to make a small army of these fuckers and control about 10 of them at a time, probably 5 at the beginning. Because at most one of these mice would take 2 fingers to control. 1 finger for movement, and the other to shoot. 

I need to start working on poisons, preferably paralysis poisons.. I also need to start working on actually controlling puppets; because I haven't actually started, I've mainly just studied the theory behind it. Holding out my left hand I extended my chakra from my fingertips. Reaching out for a piece of paper on the desk I raise it shakily into the air. 

It needed to be thinned out. I strained a bit, furrowing my brows as I thinned out my chakra into smaller lines. It was still visible to the naked eye, although that could be worked on with time I guess. Once I get a proper instructor, maybe Kankuro knew? This was mainly his thing. 

After a few moments of messing around with floating a piece of paper throughout the room lazily, with my feet on the desk I got a bit bored, and added a few more papers to the mix. Maybe I could create something out of this? A flurry of papercuts. I think I remember that from a show actually.. Other than Konan. 

I sighed out, and got to carving a small piece of wood into the rough shape of a mouse. Hollowing out the belly, inserting a tiny spring mechanism I drew up. Then drilling a small hole into the mouth and behind. Then I popped 4 small wheels into the spokes of the wheels. Pushing in a small wooden plate into the belly to keep the innards safe. 

I set the little mouse onto the floor, slipped chakra strings in through the hole in the back, around the spindle in the center of the mouse and spun it, moving the mouse around. It's movement was wonky at best, and primarily linear. I noted that down on the sketch and brought the little mouse back to me. Plucking it off the ground I loaded a sebon in through the back. Setting it back down, I pulled a trigger with my string and released. Sending a sebon into the wall. 

Well, now I have a small hole in my wall. Although what house in Suna doesn't have a few cracks in it? 

Picking the mouse back up and placing it on my desk, I decided to work on it more tomorrow. 

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The next day we had team missions. Which I was not excited for, as it meant I had to interact with my teammates, villagers, and other ninja. I wasn't a fan of interacting with anyone but Kankuro, Shiruma, and Aoba. Temari on a good day, but other than that it was a bit dicey. 

So whenever we all met up the next morning at training ground 12, and Shiruma-sensei announced that we would be doing a total of 5 missions that day, D-class no less, I was rather miffed. I would rather be training than doing chores all day. 

In the first mission we ended up sweeping the sand off of the main road, which I found to be rather redundant as we were in the middle of a desert, but I suppose I am the one being paid after all. 

Next we had to go to the oasis to collect some water. During this time he had us practice some water walking, both to cool off a bit, and to get our chakra control down pat, as we don't exactly have a lot of water around the place, and the oasis was quite a walk out. 

Our next mission we had to walk some dogs, it was something easy, and the dogs were adorable. This was the only thing worth it about my day. 

And then finally, we had to catch a lizard named Ryuu. Ironic. Although the fucker was an annoying little shit that was fast on his feet and probably the fastest regrowing tail imaginable. It reminded of Tora from Konoha. 

Overall, our missions went decent, and I didn't have to interact too much with the team. How nice. 

After our missions we went out for barbecue, which was a rather awkward affair. We sat at the table, each awkwardly spread apart from eachother. A pregnant silence filling the air. Shiruma-sensei being the social butterfly he is, chatted up the table with random, rather awkward questions. 

Shiruma-sensei called it team bonding, but it was anything but. I don't have high expectations for our team if I am being completely honest.

The day ended with the most awkward team picture of the century. The most pained smile on my face, Toru not even attempting a smile, and Akane simply glared at the camera. Meanwhile Shiruma-sensei grinned like a madman as he held his thumbs up.