I awoke in my bed, clothes from the night before tossed on the floor lazily. My own body lay sprawled in my bed like some starfish. I could barely see the clock between my tired eyelids. It was barely seven am. Yawning, I sat up in my bed, feet dangling off the edge, and stretched. The groan that came out of my body must have rivaled roosters. Well, that's what it felt like. Sliding off my bed, I landed on a wooden caltrop. "GAHHHHH!!" I screamed. I hopped backward with my injured foot in my hand. As I kept hopping, my foot caught on a sturdy box, causing me to fall backward onto my butt. "That's it!" I yelled into the air, "We are cleaning the house today!"
"I'm aware that I still have a full academy week of classes left before final exams, but I'm not planning to attend any more classes until the final exam day." I thought aloud. I had started tossing the smaller wooden weapons that littered my floor into a chest I had found. "If I can't do the shadow clone Jutsu, I won't be able to pass anyway, so it's better to focus on the important stuff." I looked around, happy with the progress I had made so far, before seeing the box of scrolls that I had gotten from the Library. It's what caused me to trip earlier. Then a little idea popped into my head. "If I can make a shadow clone, I can get this work done way faster." Bending over and picking up the box of scrolls, I set them all in my bed one by one. Some of the scrolls were just manuals on Chakra usage and hand signs, but luckily, while I myself don't know the hand signs by heart, I have a handy assistant who can help with such a dilemma.
"Hey, Fuma? You there?"
Ping
"Affirmative," Fuma responded in my head. I was a little surprised because I expected a little screen to appear in front of me, as it always had. "The 'Panel' is a byproduct of using the skill Chakra God to monitor your stats."
"Ah-Man, you answered me before I could even ask! Can we memorize these hand signs to make learning easier?
"Chakra God already gives an inherent knowledge of hand signs and certain techniques. You only need to hear a detailed account once for information about Chakra techniques, forms, etc., to be memorized by the skill." Fuma lectured. "Learning whatever skill, however, does not mitigate any Chakra usage or lack of skill and experience that you may need to perform the Jutsu at its peak.
I nodded slowly, thinking carefully. "Does that mean I could also learn any Jutsu if I knew its inner workings?" I could become a Uchiha without the eyes!
"Negative. You can only gather the understanding of Jutsu with Chakra Natures that you can wield through practice and study. You do not have the necessary visual acuity for such a feat as Jutsu mimicry." Fuma's monotone voice was the needle that popped my bubble as I sighed. Fingering the other scrolls, I pulled out the one that said "Clone Technique." The other Sunagakure had begun adopting parts of Konohagakure's testing system for its own academy. One of those is that you must know the clone Jutsu to graduate from the academy. The Genji from before could never muster any drive to train or study properly, and typically slacked off without learning anything. If the current me hadn't come along, Genji may have turned into some deadbeat who depended on Kankuro for everything. I shuddered at the thought.
Unrolling the scroll, it read as follows, "The clone technique is a Jutsu meant to deceive your enemies to create an opening for an attack or for an escape. The hand signs are-," I followed along, mimicking each hand sign while I read, "- Ram, Snake, Tiger." As soon as I finished the seals, Chakra drained from my body. A soft pop of displaced air, followed by a puff of smoke, materialized. As the smoke faded away, a husk lay on the floor. It wore a faded black shirt that clung tightly to its body. And it wore a faded stripe- Wait. Looking at myself and the husk on the floor, I realized the failed clone was wearing a faded version of my outfit. While the definition of the word 'clone' was not lost on me, seeing yourself, no matter how grotesque, as another being was an astounding thing to witness firsthand. Both creepy and surreal simultaneously, it was certainly something.
While the initial method for using the Jutsu was straightforward, the execution eluded me for some reason. I made hordes and hoards of clones, not a single one was functional. I hunched over, sweat dripping from my nose as exhaustion hit me. I had been practicing for a couple of hours, trying different ideas to get the clone Jutsu down. A side effect of the training, however, was that my Chakra reserves were steadily growing. Thanks to my reserves being tiny, bottoming out of my Chakra essentially happened every two clone attempts. But because my reserves were so small, they refilled very quickly with a half-hour rest, although the time was gradually increasing.
"Ok," I huffed. "I got one more idea." I had been letting the Jutsu dictate the Chakra it took from my body, but what if I gave it only a portion of what it wanted? Steadying myself for my final attempt, I flashed through the signs. I focused on controlling my Chakra, trying to keep it to myself selfishly with a familiar pop and puff of smoke. A husk once again tumbled to the ground. Falling to a knee, I hunched over, fighting to get oxygen in my lungs.
"Another failure." I clicked my tongue, falling on my back beside the clone. Glancing at it again, I realized it hit me hard. "Isn't it a little more vibrant?" While my first clone looked like a pencil drawing coming off the page, this current clone, you could say, had light shading with a color pencil. Holding up a fist, I weakly celebrated my progress. Now that I knew that I just needed to limit the Chakra for the Jutsus I used, I was confident I could definitely produce a functional clone by the exam and finish the quest long before that. Grinning at the box of scrolls, a newfound fire, lit and raging in my heart, refused to go out anytime soon. My Chakra, however, had other plans as it once again bottomed out. This time, I let my consciousness fade; I deserved a little nap before getting back to training. As Genji fell into a deep slumber amidst his half-clean room, the Clone Jutsu was released harmlessly with a puff of smoke.
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Sunagakure, the village hidden in the sands, was inhabited deep within the deserts that painted the Land of Wind. A deep Cavern, smoothed by countless grains of sand over a millennium, was where the smallest hidden village lay. Through intense lobbying and many years of construction, Gaara carved out dozens of caverns in the cliffsides around the village. Gaara designated each cavern as a residence district, a storage area, and many other facilities that helped enrich the village. It is in one of these very caverns, located next to the Sunagakure Academy, that we see a restless group of Ninja Academy students shuffling in place in front of three adults. They were all on the Academy's personal training ground.
Baki, a veteran Jonin who had retired as an Academy Headmaster, stood before his graduating class. Behind him, his two Chuunin teaching assistants stood on standby. Taking a step forward, Baki addressed the restless children. "Today, you all will be taking a three-part exam." Baki stifled a chuckle as the children groaned in unison, "The written exam will go over Chakra theory and the History of Sunagakure. The skill portion of the exam will have you perform the Clone Jutsu. And lastly, the practical part of the exam will be a spar against your classmates using your full abilities." Excited whispers reverberated through the crowd, prompting the assistants to hush them. Now, Baki let himself openly chuckle, "Alright! We figured you would all be excited to spar with each other, so we have decided to give you one more day to study for the written exam. Today will be for the Skill and Practical Exam only!" Cheers erupted throughout the cavern, echoing on the walls. Baki pointed to the stands that stood off to the side of the field. "Take a seat! We shall begin momentarily."