I woke up to find the sun set almost upon me. I sighed, thinking that the soldier pill's side effects sure were brutal. As I sat up in bed, my body felt like it was broken into pieces. I stretched and moved my waist to wake my muscles, which had been fixed in position for almost twelve hours. Unfortunately, when I sleep, I sleep like a Victorian child, tucked in without moving at all.
My mind finally caught up as my eyes widened, and I looked to the side to find Shizuru staring out the window at the almost pink sky. "Shizuru, are you okay?" That finally caught her attention as she turned toward me. "Ah, you're finally awake." I scratched my head. "Yeah. Listen, Shizuru, I'm so sorry for what happened. I honestly didn't expect that jutsu to be so powerful."
Shizuru smiled while looking back at the window and said, in a slightly louder voice, "It's fine. I signed up to help you with that jutsu, so I'm happy it worked. Accidents happen, and I'm not stupid enough to think you did that on purpose."
I smiled, feeling grateful for my choice of friends. I could handle interacting with immature people like Kaen, but I preferred spending time with Sena, Shizuru, and Genta. They acted far beyond their age, and it was much easier to talk, plan, and work with them.
"What we did there was no small feat. It's incredible that we actually created a new jutsu."
Shizuru looked back, smiling and almost grinning with the same pride I felt. "Yeah, it's incredible indeed. That's no small feat," I replied. "Divine, at least."
Shizuru chuckled and nodded. "My mother, father, Sena, and Genta were here earlier, along with my sensei and my other teammate. You were completely out of it, and that made them panic until the medical ninja assured them you were fine and only needed rest. Later, your sensei Shisui and your teammate Kaen came to check on you, though Kaen was annoying as usual and kept clashing with Genta."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked around. "Where did they go?"
Shizuru replied, "They were kicked out by the medical ninja since it was getting late and they were making a commotion. Kaen was grinning for some reason while looking at you, and my sensei looked tense because your sensei was there."
I facepalmed and sighed. "Did you tell them what happened?"
Shizuru turned her gaze back to the window. "I just told them I insisted on sparring with you to compare levels, but your jutsu was too powerful, and you had to step in to keep me from getting hurt."
A complicated mix of emotions stirred in my chest as I asked, "Why did you say that?"
Shizuru lowered her head. "It was the only logical thing to say, to keep what happened a secret and shift the blame away from you."
I replied, irritated, "And onto yourself? I wouldn't want that."
She answered, equally irritated, "It was what I could come up with under all those eyes." Her tone grew tense. "So don't come at me like they did. They all looked at me like I was stupid for trying to match your strength."
I scratched my head, thinking about how Shizuru always compared herself to stronger people her age and how that always seemed to hurt her more than help her. "Shizuru…" I said softly.
She raised her hand to stop me. "I already made peace with the fact that I'll never catch up to someone like you. That jutsu we created required so much chakra that it completely exceeded mine. It would have killed me from exhaustion before I could even complete a single strike like you did."
She took a deep breath. "There's not much I can do. None of them said it, but I could see it in their eyes. It was like they wanted to tell me it was stupid to even try to spar with you. I'm the weakest in my team, and we haven't even gotten a C-rank mission because of that. Your team is going to the Chunin Exams while we might still be two years away."
I moved from my bed and walked over as she began to sob quietly. I hugged her sitting figure and gently patted her back while she spoke through broken breaths. "It's like I never get stronger. I'm just as weak as the last time I cried at the hospital after the Academy final exam, while you're improving at a breakneck speed."
"I told you already, Shizuru, each person is different. You just need to find your own strength and build from there."
She was trembling as she said, "I do. I work so hard and train every day, but I'm still weaker than Sena, Genta, and you. Much weaker." Her words broke apart as she started crying again. "I feel like I don't belong with you guys anymore."
I shook my head and stayed beside her, letting her cry it out. When she finally began to calm down, I gently pulled her back so she could see me. Smiling, I said, "For someone so smart, you really miss some important details."
Her red, puffy eyes blinked up at me, confused.
"Do you really think I could've come up with that jutsu alone?"
She took a quiet breath before answering. "Honestly… yeah. It would've taken you much longer, but I think you would've done it eventually."
I shook my head slightly. "Honestly, without your expertise, I never would've figured this out. After performing it, I'm even more sure of that."
I continued, "I can't do everything alone. I'll always need help. I believe in relying on the people who know their craft best so we can come up with something greater, faster."
"You're just lazy. You don't like overthinking," she said, a faint smile drawn on her face.
I laughed quietly. "That's true. I can barely keep up with all the things I'm training for at once. Besides, I like relying on my friends. They're amazing, and I could never ask for better ones than you, Genta, and Sena."
That seemed to lift her spirits a little. Her face softened as I said,
Shizuru smiled softly. "You're a good friend, Noa."
I chuckled and patted her shoulder before moving back to my bed and lying on it. "You're a better one. You helped me create a new jutsu, and all you got for it was a ruptured eardrum and a concussion."
She sounded intrigued, her mood visibly improving as she started talking about the jutsu she had helped create. "I caught a few glimpses of the jutsu while I was getting slammed into the ground. It's incredible, but you ran out of chakra after one use. It takes too long to cast, and the chakra cost to maintain it is insane. It's not practical for real fights."
I nodded. "Yeah, but now that I've used it once, I'll start improving the control, speed, and efficiency until it becomes viable. That'll probably take years until my chakra capacity reaches the right level."
She sighed. "Training it would basically mean you'd be out of chakra for the rest of the day."
I stared at the ceiling, my voice thoughtful. "I've got an idea to scale it down so I can train without draining myself completely."
Shizuru looked at me, puzzled. "And what are you going to test it on if you scale it down? Bugs?"
I nodded and said in a vengeful tone, "Yes. They had it coming after attacking me before."
Her eyebrow twitched at my tone and declaration as she lay down on her bed. "Working on that jutsu with you gave me an idea. The fact that we succeeded showed me the right path to take, to create something new. A possible path forward for me. I'm going to work on developing my own variation of my clan's secret technique, and I'll need help and a test subject."
I gave her a thumbs up and said, "I'd be glad to help you figure that out. Wait… did you just say test subject?"
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A/N: If you read Chapter 179 and have not voted yet, open this link (https://discord.gg/SmpXHEwPhE) and help choose the name of that jutsu. There are no fixed options to pick from. You can suggest your own, and whichever one gets the most votes will become the jutsu's official name forever. The poll will be open for 4 more days only !!!
It is the story's Discord channel, so feel free to hop in anytime. I am always around if you want to chat with me or some awesome people about this story or Naruto in general, heheheh. I cannot wait to see all your amazing and creative ideas for naming this divine feat of a jutsu, because I promise you, it is going to be something huge and important in the future.