NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Chapter 8 - Limitless
6 Days Later…
'Haaah… After collapsing a dozen times making Kage Bunshin, I can now create 4 comfortably. Five if I really push it.' Sabuko stood in the guest room the Bruger family lent him, facing his three clones.
"Alright, you lot. Time to brainstorm."
"...About the Sexy Jutsu?" one clone asked, raising a brow.
"I don't wanna! If we're banging; that's gonna be weird—and we don't have enough chakra to sustain it! Besides, I don't wanna have sex with you being the guy!" the second chimed in, just before being silenced.
"NO, dumbasses!" Sabuko barked. "We're not gonna fuck. At least not until much later—after we master everything and dramatically increase our low-as-fuck chakra pool. I'm gonna be transformed into a petite girl, after all. You know that!"
"Oh thank god," both clones sighed in sync.
"No. What we're experimenting with is the limits of Kage Bunshin for now."
"Now that's more like it!" one grinned.
"Training time?" the other asked.
Sabuko shook his head and flopped down on the bed. "Yeah. I've been thinking… In the Narutoverse, they've got Chunin Exams, right? All kinds of techniques, terms, and strategies that kids our age already know—but we don't."
The clones nodded.
"We need to cram all that into our heads before the 15th."
"But Original," one asked, "why go this hard? Takos said we could stay here."
"You already know. They're not keeping us here for free."
"...Right."
"Good point."
"If we don't become full-fledged genin—or if we get dropped by the jonin we're assigned to—we'll get thrown back into the Academy. And that bastard father of ours sure as hell won't pay for that. And I doubt the Brugers will, either."
They looked at each other grimly.
"So we're basically screwed unless we pull it off…"
"But how exactly are we pulling it off, Original?" one clone asked. "I get it, you want me or him to study while you do other things, and then when we poof—boom—all the info gets crammed into your head, right? You could even use one of us to study while you sleep. But that's not even the main problem."
Sabuko and the other clone stared at him.
"Our main problem's Taijutsu!" the clone continued. "Big, BIG part of being a ninja—probably even more important than ninjutsu, if Rock Lee's anything to go by. And we don't know jack squat about it!"
"He's got a point, Original," the other clone nodded. "If we had massive chakra reserves, we could probably train like hell and get the basics down before the 15th. But right now, it's taking everything just to raise our chakra to—what—slightly above average? We're not Naruto. I bet even if we trained for a full month, we could maybe, at best, do 15 clones and that's being generous."
"…Yeah. You're both right," Sabuko sighed.
But then a smirk crept onto his face.
"However, you're also forgetting something insane about this world."
"…?" They glanced at each other.
"They know the past and their present. We know everything that's going to happen."
The clones tilted their heads, curiosity rising.
"And most people in this show never use their jutsu to their full potential. Naruto had that technique for years—trained with it nonstop—and still never thought to use a clone to study while he screwed around."
"I'm still mad he never once thought to leave a clone doing the Hokage paperwork while he was at home blowing Hinata's back out… or, I don't know, actually spending time with his kids," Sabuko muttered, a hint of a growl in his voice.
Both clones' eyes widened.
"What I'm saying is… we've got the strongest weapon in this entire world."
"…We're not limited by Kishimoto's creativity."
Sabuko grinned. "We'll figure something out."
"As for the taijutsu part, look at Shikamaru. He doesn't even use Taijutsu."
"Shikamaru has an IQ of over 200 though," A clone complained, "Even all of us combined aren't that smart."
"... Whatever."
---- 9 DAYS LATER ----
Sabuko walked with Takos all the way to the Ninja Academy. The day had finally come: Jonin orientation.
"Right, Takos," Sabuko said, "You're still hoping to get Yuhi, huh? Kurenai-sensei, I mean. But how do you even know we'll be under her? Isn't the Jonin assignment totally random?"
Takos froze.
"IT'S RANDOM!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
He collapsed face-first into the ground.
"...."
'...Dumbass.'
Sabuko looked up at the Academy building.
'Back in the lion's den. Gonna face the all-stars again… Jesus, I'm still not used to this.' He took a breath as he and Takos walked in, going through the hallways until they made it to the classroom.
'I've prepped all I could. Time to go in.'
He and Takos pushed through the doors.
'For my clone harem.'
Kids were still settling into their seats. Sabuko scanned the room — there they were.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji. The all stars.
"OH! SABUKO!!! WHAT'S UP!" Naruto yelled from a middle row, waving like they were best friends.
Almost everyone turned toward him — except Sasuke.
'So jarring... having the main character act all friendly with me. But kind of cool too, I guess.'
'... Also, wait a minute. If I remember Naruto correctly; shouldn't he be having his first kiss with Sasuke right now? The scene is right... All the girls are fawning on Sasuke... Why's Naruto on his seat instead of staring down Sasuke?' He wondered.
"Hey, that's him, right? The weirdo who told Naruto all that crazy stuff?"
"Is he, like… in love with Naruto or something? Gross."
"So stupid. Naruto's alone because he's always screwing around."
"It's his own fault for being a slacker. Imagine defending that."
'Welp, that aside... Figured they'd react like this to me, though. Kids don't do nuance. At least the main cast doesn't throw out insults so easily…'
Sakura kept fawning over Sasuke, something Naruto clearly hated. Hinata stared down at her desk while occasionally sneaking glances to Naruto. Shikamaru looked half-asleep, with Choji chowing down on some snacks. And Ino... yep, fawning over Sasuke like the rest of them.
Still, both Ino and Sakura tossed a quick glance at Sabuko. Shikamaru, head resting on folded arms, cracked one eye open toward him too.
"...?" He hummed, catching their glances.
The two girls quickly looked away. Shikamaru scratched his head lazily, clicking his tongue before shutting his eyes again. A faint "What a bother..." Coming from his lips could be heard.
'...Odd. Anyway...'
Sabuko tapped Takos on the shoulder.
"Come on, let's sit with him."
"I don't wanna," Takos muttered, stopping in place. "Naruto's your butt-buddy. Not mine."
"..."
"But I'm your buddy, right? You ain't sitting with him, then sit with me, Taco Burger."
"Who cares!" Takos raised his voice. "I don't wanna be seen with him! You sit with him if you love him so much — God!" The whole class heard that.
Sabuko felt the sharp gazes.
'Takos ain't a bad kid... but sometimes I really wanna kick his ass. Not that I could. I still don't know Taijutsu.'
Either way... Don't make a scene.
He sighed.
"...Alright. Suit yourself," he said, then walked casually toward Naruto. Takos' eyes narrowed behind him, his face flinching with confusion and disgust.
Sabuko turned and waved at Naruto, fully visible to the class, ignoring every whisper and sneer.
"Hey, Naruto," Sabuko called out.
Another glance from Ino.
And one from Shikamaru.
"Sabuko! You're late! You almost missed the rotation!! Even I woke up early for this—You better believe it!" Naruto puffed his cheeks out, arms crossed, clearly annoyed, as Sabuko sat beside him with a blank expression.
"Well, I made it after all, didn't I?" Sabuko replied.
"But you could've been earlier!"
"I guess you're right."
"Man... You're really unmotivated..." Naruto pouted.
"I could say the same about you on everything not ninja-related. Or paperwork-related."
"Gehhhk!"
Ino gave a subtle chuckle.
Even Hinata gave them a glance.
'I'm so glad... Someone is being nice to Naruto-kun... And Naruto-kun seems happy too...' Hinata thought.
Sabuko didn't notice.
'I hope I didn't break the canon group assignments...' Sabuko shivered, 'Team 7 needs to happen as it did in the original canon if we want the world to make it...'