Reborn as a Nara

sixteen

C H A P T E R       1 6
— The Season of Change

It comes to her attention that she could be considered to have only a single friend in existence, and that friend was Neji. Sasuke and Naruto became friends with her and vice versa out of the conditional experience which evolved into emotional bonding. But without their team placement, Shirayuki was quite certain that she would never truly acknowledge them as her friends. The only one she had truly allowed herself to feel bonded to in terms of friendship was Neji, and that bothered her a lot.

Because it sort of made her sound like a complete and utter bitch.

"Shirayuki, you're up. Against Sasuke, Genjutsu and Taijutsu only." Kakashi ordered.

Obediently, Shirayuki pushed away from her personal contemplation and pushed herself up against the tree. She walked closer to Sasuke who looked tired, as he usually did after every spar against Naruto. Shirayuki stepped into a familiar sparring position and looked at Sasuke.

"Are Kekkei Genkai allowed?" Shirayuki asked.

Kakashi hummed, "Sure, Kekkei Genkai are allowed. Naruto, take a break."

"Hai~" Naruto responded, walking to the tree Shirayuki was resting at before.

Kakashi counted the mark, once the countdown was over, Sasuke's eyes bled into a familiar red. Shirayuki jumped back, far away without even looking at his face. She spread out her shadows, and for good measure, she held her hand up and muttered 'Kai' softly. No illusion then. Shirayuki looked at Sasuke who was standing a good distance away from her. She kicked a pebble that was by her feet away, before turning back to look at Sasuke.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then, Sasuke dashed forward. Shirayuki allowed herself to stay still before bringing her arms up to block his kick. She jumped back, pushing away from the continuous barrage of attacks as she dropped down to avoid another hook. Shirayuki stopped, turning on her heels.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu," Shirayuki whispered, the area dissolving around her. She replaced herself with a pebble she kicked away before, disappearing from direct Genjutsu view. The demonic illusion art didn't last long, seeing how it was D-ranked and Sasuke had his Sharingan on. She tossed a kunai over to Sasuke, her shadow stretching accordingly to the kunai.

"Magen: Jigoku Hyomen no Jutsu," Sasuke responded before switching his Sharingan off.

For a moment, Shirayuki felt the floor shatter beneath her and fire began licking the edge of her shoes. She clicked her tongue and slammed her feet directly onto the floor, directly ignoring the shattered ground. Her hands flashed through a series of hand signs, before replying quickly with an attack of her own.

"Ryusei-gun," Shirayuki smiled. The sky seemed to darken and soon, boulders began falling, casting a large shadow overhead. Sasuke looked up with widened eyes before jumping away, he frowned and mumbled 'Kai' only to find that it didn't dispel the illusion. Meaning, it was a reality type rather than a mental type of illusion.

However, before he could move, Shirayuki grinned.

"Kagemane no Jutsu: Completed."

Sasuke looked downright sour now, reactivating his Sharingan. He looked up at the falling meteors only to look even more pained when they disappeared into the ground upon contact. With the Sharingan, he knew what was going on now. These are all illusions infused with the water element, giving a more 'solid' approach.

Kakashi clapped his hands, "Good job, Shirayuki. However, you're still using too much Chakra. Tone it down a bit or don't use Jutsu your reserves can't handle yet. Don't overestimate your own capabilities, pushing against one's limit is good but overdoing it is just stupidity. Sasuke, while it's good you're deliberately trying to avoid over-reliance on your Sharingan, you need to take into account that there are a lot of Ninjas who think like Shirayuki, out of the box. You're too fixated on what was already 'known to exist' that you forget we're continuously growing the existing pool of techniques. Ignorance is your downfall."