endgames | 027 -- [Voice || Written || Action] Backdated to the 6th

[It's been two days now, since the mission at that hospital. It feels awkward coming to the journal like this... he didn't even know Precis all that well, outside of two missions. But reviewing journal conversations, it didn't seem as if she knew anyone well on the last one either. A village-wide announcement seems callous.

In the end, he winds up crafting a wide filter, based off of her journal responses and the two mission experiences he's aware of. Tl;dr: if you've ever had a public thread with Precis, or went on a mission with her, you're good to be included in the filter.]

[Filtered to Associates of Precis F. Neumann || Unhackable]

On the fourth of September, Precis Neumann died participating in a mission outside the enclosure. No doubt she saved countless lives, but...

[...]

If you knew her, I offer my condolences for your loss.

[/end filter]

[For the rest of the day, Shikamaru will be in the forest surrounding CH1. Looking back over the journals revealed something else too. You'd think with the way he memorizes things it'd have hit him sooner, but he was never so good with dates.]

Two years... Tch. How troublesome.

[He'll be out here, training primarily with his shadow, but watching clouds too. Not for too long. Within the hour, he's cracking out another filter on the journal.]

[Filtered to Uzumaki Naruto || Unhackable]

Let's take care of that thing we discussed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[So noted. He'll cross his fingers and hope Naruto's on the money with that.]

I'm listening.

Don't listen, just watch! [Naruto takes the marker and unpops the cap, then gets to work on some of the most quality artwork Shikamaru will ever see.

Ever.] Y'see this donut here, right?

[.....]

I'll stretch my imagination. [He stares at the paper thoughtfully.] Yes. I see it.

Alright, cool! Imagine the hole in the middle [He points to it, nearly covering the entire thing up.] is where you're buildin' your chakra. This is where it gets tricky, so try to keep up!

You gotta put just enough of it to fill it up! Put too little, and when you cover it all up it's gonna cave in and be nasty. Put too much and it's a huge mess!

[It's almost like he's describing the theory behind walking on water and trees.]

[Given those are the exact things he's been teaching Masaomi recently, he quickly makes that connection. So then if that's the same...]

And then it has to be maintained.

Edited 2012-11-01 19:18 (UTC)

Right! Not only by you, but by the clone too! They've gotta put in just as much work as you do!

[That's the catch.]

--that's a hell of a catch.

[He scratches the back of his head for a moment, working out how he'll manage to do that. It explains why his first clone popped though - he'd performed the jutsu and considered executed as soon as the copy was made.]

Both the clone and I will only have half our chakra. How troublesome... All of our focus will be going to keeping him solid.

I don't think you gotta focus too hard. If you want it bad enough, it'll probably happen without too much concentration, y'know? It'll be second nature before you know it.

[In fact.] Think of it like climbing trees back when we were all Genin! All that effort and fallin' off trees before it was as easy as breathin'! [Naruto might have been one of the few to fall off the trees regularly and dangerously.]

You fell off the tree more than once?

... No?

[SKEPTICISM.]

[C'mon, dude. Believe it.]

[NEVER.]

All right, let's get back on track. What other tips do you have for it?

Uh... [Oh yeah. This is important.] Probably not to put too much into the clone. It takes a lot of chakra to manage 'em, especially if you're gonna make more than one of 'em at once. You've gotta be careful or you're gonna end up wastin' chakra.

[And he knows how you are with managing everything carefully and with calculation. One little misstep can end up in a lot of wasted chakra.]

[YEAH, PRETTY MUCH. But it presents an interesting question.]

If chakra is evenly split up among your clones, some can obviously function with less than half. Is there a way to do that with just one...?

[He's kind of thinking out loud, but if anyone would know it would be Naruto, he supposes.]

Kinda... There's like a cap you can hit and they'll function on their own instead of pushing into too much chakra. But the more the better, y'know?

[Probably doesn't help that Naruto has monstrous chakra reserves that helps this purpose quite well.]

Right. [Right, he needs to remember who he's talking to.]

Did that make any sense?

Surprisingly, yes. You lost me a little on the last part, but I imagine I'd need a fox in my stomach to get that.

Really? I think I've seen a few people manage it pretty easily.

Kakashi-sensei? Konohamaru?

Kakashi-sensei's pretty good about it! It shouldn't be all impossible!

He's also a jounin. [Shikamaru picks up the simple drawing and gives it another look.] Not that that gives me excuse... I'll find a way to catch up.

Exactly! No excuses! You'd be jounin material in a heartbeat, anyway!

[Now for the main point of this entire exercise. Naruto crosses his arms and nods.]

That's pretty much all I can do besides watchin' you practice, so... we're gonna get ramen, right?

[It's weird how that makes him happier than annoyed these days. One step closer to being a cool adult, right?

He can't even be annoyed enough to do more than roll his eyes at that suggestion.]

Yeah, yeah. [He moves to stand, folding up that stupid donut drawing.] Even if it's supposed to the the teacher that treats...

027 -- [Voice || Written || Action] Backdated to the 6th

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