Chapter 13: The Definition of Talent VI

It was at dusk after Shiki passed out from mental exhaustion in the morning that he finally woke up but much to his surprise, he was not alone in his room this time.

Mito was sitting right next to the bed, it reminded him of the day he woke up in his current home for the first time. It was merely a week ago but it definitely felt longer.

"So child, are we going to have a conversation or are you just going to attack?" The redhead teasingly questioned.

Shiki thought back to earlier in the day and realized that in honed focus of landing a hit on his mistress in the day's spar, he might have neglected to hear out if there was going to be a spar at all.

For the first time, Mito saw Shiki blush in embarrassment, rubbing his hair in awkwardness, unsure of what to do.

'I have to find more opportunities to embarrass him.' The redhead quickly decided.

'He's just too cute with his snow white hair and skin, the blushing looks even more pronounced and his bright big violet eyes swimming around . . . Just priceless!' The Uzumaki matriarch internally rejoiced while showing nothing on her face.

It was then that Shiki felt something was up.

Perhaps due to the strange phenomenon they had experienced when Mito dove into his mind however, he was particularly sensitive towards her emotions and could read her face and body language quite well.

But just as he focused his gaze on his mistress to check, she rubbed his head, embarrassing him further and taking his mind off her state.

The boy did not consider himself starved for affection but he was certainly not used to it either, not to mention Mito was someone he respected and was warming up to, considering all she was doing for him.

'It was my fault in the morning and nothing will change that I guess.' Shiki mused, electing not to pursue the matter of his mistress' strangeness which he felt.

"So tell me about your jutsu, that strange breathing technique, the body flicker variant and what you used today to completely change the way you fight." Mito brought the boy out of his thoughts.

Before he could begin his explanation however, she added one more tidbit.

"You do not have to explain the mechanics behind the jutsu, just the effects."

"Because jutsu are not meant to be shared carelessly?" Shiki asked.

"Exactly. A shinobi should never reveal the secrets of their personal jutsu to anyone other than family, no matter how close. Hidden jutsu are sometimes foundation enough for a whole clan to be built upon." The Uzumaki matriarch explained.

Her words brought a bright smile to Shiki's face, the brightest Mito had ever seen. His young and innocent face along with his big bright eyes stunned the redhead in place but his following words brought even greater shock.

"Mito-sama is my only family right now so who would I teach my jutsu to, if not Mito-sama?" The boy questioned, his bright smile never leaving his face as his eyes formed smiley crescents.

It was like an arrow through the redhead's heart.

'What a cute, responsible child. He tries to understand what I am doing for him and repay it in his own way.' The Uzumaki matriarch smiled as well and did not try to dissuade him further.

Shiki then got on to explaining his original jutsu.

"The simplest one, at least conceptually, is Flicker Flash, the Body Flicker variant Mito-sama spoke of" The boy started.

"Initially, I imagined it as a sort of specialized Body Flicker that sacrificed the ability to perform long distance movements and maneuverability for rapid, short and intense bursts of speed."

"This would enable me to rapidly doge or close the distance to a target while using multiple short bursts to achieve a measure of maneuverability."

"But due to that mental jutsu I used in our last spar, my chakra control and thought speed were greatly increased so I figured another way of using it." He continued to explain.

Mito however, finished his explanation, showing her own understanding of the jutsu, gained from that single sparring session.

"That other way was using the bursts in a more localized and precise manner, similar to how Gentle Fist users release chakra from tenketsu all over the body."

"You do the same to not only accelerate your movement but also your strikes, with the bursting chakra further amping their power." The redhead explained her perception of the jutsu.

"Exactly!" Shiki exclaimed with bright eyes, his enthusiasm shocking Mito a bit as it was so unusual.

"When I realized I could control my tenketsu chakra emission to such an extent, I figured that accelerating every single one of my actions while also strengthening by striking power in a way similar to Mito-sama's Chakra Enhanced Strength was not only possible, but very doable!"

The boy excitedly continued explaining his thought process.

"Next is to compensate for the loss of striking power that comes from early chakra emission for speed when compared to Chakra Enhanced Strength by pumping the chakra into the target's body for internal damage line gentle fist!" Shiki showed no signs of slowing down.

"Once I figure that out, I'll work on extending the range of the attack to further boost power and eliminate my reach weakness due to my small body!"

Looking at the white haired boy, excitedly rambling on and on about his jutsu with his bright violet eyes wide open, Mito found it truly endearing.

It was a bit weird for a child to like jutsu developing so much but what truly shocked the Uzumaki matriarch was something else.

'I had no idea he put that much thought into his jutsu . . . What I believed was a child prodigy experimenting with chakra and finding creative ways of using it was actually a prodigious mind filled with radical yet brilliant ideas.' She realized.

The redhead already knew Shiki was at home in the more theoretical side of jutsu but she had no idea how much at home he was and how much enthusiasm that boy actually had.

'It is not just a jutsu prodigy's intuition, sama as Madara or even Hashirama. No, this boy's approach to jutsu is much more similar to Tobirama's but . . ." Mito paused.

'Tobirama was a pragmatist that created jutsu according to current and possible future needs and he later understood some of his more deviant creations had no place in the world.'

'This boy however . . . He would create dangerous and catastrophic forbidden jutsu just because he could, for the joy of developing the jutsu alone and without any regard for need or actual use.'

'In fact, he might not even show it off, just keeping the jutsu as a "fun personal project".' The redhead shivered at the possibilities such a chaotic mind could unleash.

'I have to carefully guide him onto a better path or he'll become a mad jutsu developer.' Mito determined.

She was not wrong . . .

But she would not succeed either.

+++++

Hey, Author here!

Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.

I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.

Just so you know. While I would immensely appreciate your pa-treon subscription, the chapters will all eventually become available on this site.

Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -