Naruto: Snow Cold

----------Sora's POV---------

A few more minutes of practice went by, and the bell rang. It was time for recess, and we both knew we had to move fast. It was finally time for us… to check out the jutsus in the library!

We had only 20 minutes, so Amai and I rushed through our lunch and began exploring the area to find the library.

After a bit of asking around and wandering through the hallways, we finally found it. The library was tucked away in a quieter part of the Academy, its wooden double doors adorned with intricate carvings of scrolls and kanji. Bingo.

"Aren't you excited, Sora?" Amai asked, her voice filled with awe as she gazed at the entrance.

"Yeah, I am." I grinned. Who wouldn't find jutsu exhilarating? Certainly not me.

We made our way inside and were immediately greeted by the librarian. She looked like she was in her late 40s, her sharp eyes softened by a faint hint of curiosity. She seemed a little surprised to see us and said,

"Welcome to the Academy's library, little ones. What brings you here today?"

Amai nudged me to speak. This girl really isn't great at talking, is she? Taking the hint, I responded, "We'd like to browse a little and see what we can learn. May we, please?" I clasped my hands together for good measure. If you want something, a little politeness goes a long way. That's a trick that always worked for me—especially back in college. Saved me in multiple tests, pfft.

"So polite." The librarian smiled faintly. "Of course, you can. Just stick to the E and D-rank sections, okay? If you find anything you'd like to borrow, make sure to register first, and then give me the details of the scroll so I can record it in the logbook."

"Thank you, miss!" we said in unison before heading to what seemed to be the E-rank section. It was decent in size, with about four bookshelves lined up neatly.

"There are so many scrolls..." Amai said. I know, right? I accompanied her and checked out some of them. I found several techniques, theories, and guides for elements and other subjects.

Fire Release scrolls had techniques like the Torch Jutsu, Heatwave Palm, Cinder Strike, Fireball, and a few others.

Water Release... Fish Spit Jutsu, Water Gun, Water Puddle, Water Ball, and more.

Earth Release. Mud Ball, Pebble Barrage, Dust Veil, Ground Ripple.

Wind Release. Gale Palm, 

To be honest, I had no idea where to start. If I remember correctly, you need an affinity to wield these elements, right? Or does having an affinity just make it easier to use them?

"Look what I've found, Sora!" Amai said, showing me a few scrolls that read 'Body Replacement Jutsu,' 'Clone Technique,' and 'Transformation.'

"Those look pretty cool. You want to take them?" I said, examining the contents. The instructions were pretty clear, listing the number of hand signs required and their types. Perhaps we'll need a book about hand signs.

"Yup, being able to transform should be exciting. Like, imagine if I transformed into you or something!"

"That'd be crazy," I said, looking around. I eventually found a book titled 'Introduction to Hand Signs.' Perfect. I wasn't much of a weeb myself, so I had little to no experience with those.

"We should take this one, too." I presented it to her, and she nodded with a "Mm."

We returned to the librarian, and registered our IDs as students. We had to return those in two weeks, so that was nice. We stored the scrolls and books, and rushed back to class, since we were running out of time.

Somehow, we managed to arrive right when the bell rang, so we were safe.

The day was pretty much uneventful. We began learning how to add numbers, and apparently that meant they expected us to already know them, from 0 to 10. Surprisingly, most of the class picked it up quickly.

We were also taught about the oh-so-great history of our village, and how we should be proud of being part of Konoha. According to what I heard, the hidden leaf village was founded after a long war that was fought between the Senju clan and Uchiha clan, by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, here in the Land of Fire around 56 years ago.

Interesting, right? We also had been learning the letters, and how to write. To my surprise, Amai already knew how to do it. There's no way, is there? I was still getting the hang of it, while this little prick already knew how to do it and never told me!

After class ended, I packed my things quickly, eager to get the hell out of there and head home so I could practice with my own copies of the scrolls. The academy really had nothing challenging; it was just a bit more demanding than usual. I hoped it stayed that way for the next few years.

I bid Amai goodbye and took off to my house with Mika. There, I ate and quickly got to work outside, lying on the ground, feeling the sun on my skin and the blades of grass rustling around me.

Let's see... Introduction to Hand Signs, eh? I flipped the cover and got to page one:

'Seals are used to perform many ninjutsu, genjutsu, and other secret arts. They are designed to aid people in properly summoning and molding the chakra necessary to perform a technique, and there are different sequences of hand seals for every technique, each one varying depending on various factors, such as the element, function, etc...'

The gist of it was that there were twelve basic hand seals:

Rat, Ox, Tiger (usually used for Fire and Earth Release), Hare, Dragon, Snake (used for Earth and Lightning Release), Horse, Ram, Monkey, Bird (meant for Wind Release), Boar, and Dog (this one was utilized for Water Release).

They were all pretty weird-looking to me, and I just thought...

This is gonna be totally embarrassing. Like hell, imagine if you were caught practicing those in the real world. That'd be awkward.

If this is what it takes to learn magic, jutsu, or whatever, then I don't mind. I don't care as long as I get to hurl out fireballs and raise earth walls from the ground.

I looked at my palms and thought... I'm gonna start with the easier ones.

I formed a fist with my right hand and laid my left hand flat on it. Dog. I switched it up and interlocked my fingers together, with my thumbs and little fingers being apart, but still touching each other. Dragon. I kept practicing the other hand seals.

Magic... Magic, Magic! I'm going to achieve it, no matter what!

I'll keep practicing like there's no tomorrow!

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(A/N: Gang, I'm cooked. I failed two subjects, so I'll have to catch up with school and slow down uploads a little. Sorry!)