55. Unpredictability on Fly

(350B, Guys, We are near the Top 10, Don't let the momentum vanish, It would be hard later otherwise, So Give me your Powerstones)

Despite Sora's superior body flickering speed, the sheer number of clones made it impossible to track them all. In an instant, he found himself surrounded. The clones grinned in unison before exploding in a deafening blast.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto's eyes widened. Where Sora had been standing was nothing but a quickly dissipating clone. The real Sora materialized inches from Naruto, kunai glinting in his hand.

But Naruto had grown since their last encounter. His situational awareness had sharpened, and he reacted instantly. Pivoting on one foot, he lashed out with a powerful horse kick aimed at Sora's midsection.

What happened next defied belief. Just as Naruto's foot was about to make contact, a hole opened in Sora's stomach. Naruto's leg passed harmlessly through the void, throwing him off balance. 

Jiraiya, watching from the sidelines, couldn't hide his shock despite reading the scroll on that jutsu. But Naruto had encountered Sora's strange abilities before and recovered quickly. From the same awkward position his leg was, his body flickered away, his hand leaving a small crater where it had touched the ground.

Naruto found himself teetering on the edge of a cliff. Seizing the opportunity, Sora's hands blurred through signs. "Earth Release: Slippery Mud Surface!" he called out. The ground beneath Naruto's feet turned to slick mud, sending him plummeting over the edge.

But Naruto wasn't done yet. Channelling chakra to his feet, he adhered to the cliff face, standing perpendicular to the sheer rock wall. He had barely caught his breath when Sora appeared above him, leg extended in a devastating axe kick.

Naruto crossed his arms, blocking the blow, but the force of it sent him skidding down the cliff face. Sora pressed his advantage, increasing his weight and raining down a barrage of kicks. Each impact drove Naruto further down the cliff.

Suddenly, inspiration struck. Naruto pushed off from the wall, summoning two shadow clones as he fell. One clone transformed into a solid trampoline, while the other braced itself against the opposite wall. As Naruto's feet hit the trampoline clone, the braced clone gave him an extra push, launching him towards Sora like a human missile.

Sora managed to block Naruto's punch, arms crossed defensively. "Aren't you a bit springy today?" he quipped, but the comment gave Naruto an another idea.

Mid-air, Naruto's hands flashed through seals, focusing his transformation jutsu on his shoes. In an instant, springs materialized, connected to the soles of his sandals. Using the cliff walls as launch points, Naruto became an orange blur, ricocheting between the rock faces with increasing speed.

Not to be outdone, Sora mimicked the technique, his own shoes sprouting springs. He launched himself after Naruto, and soon the narrow confines of the cliff were filled with orange and red blurs clashing at incredible speeds.

Their velocity reached levels that would make many jounin envious. Jiraiya, still observing, merely rolled his eyes at their antics. Deciding enough was enough, he called out for them to stop.

Reality set in for both combatants as they realized they had no idea how to halt their momentum. "Ero-Sennin, I can't stop!" Naruto cried out in panic.

Jiraiya sighed heavily. His long white hair suddenly extended, wrapping around both Naruto and Sora. Their high-speed acrobatics came to an abrupt halt as Jiraiya's iron-strong locks arrested their movement.

"I think I've seen enough," Jiraiya drawled, unceremoniously depositing both young ninjas on the ground. Naruto and Sora lay there, panting and dizzy, the adrenaline of their match slowly fading.

As they caught their breath, both realized how far they'd pushed each other, and how much they'd grown. Despite the intensity of their battle, matching grins spread across their faces. It was clear that this rivalry would only drive them to greater heights in the future.

"Brat you are going to focus on Summoning Jutsu, try to increase the chakra output" With that Naruto went back to his grind.

Then Jiraiya turned to Sora, his expression more serious. "And you... you're something else, aren't you? The application of your Shapeshifting Jutsu is not orthodox? Also, how did you exactly created this technique"

Sora rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit sheepish. "Well... I stumbled on Yang Transformation Jutsu, I wanted to evolve it somehow, During one of my Training Camp, I accidentally did some minor level of Shape-shifting, after gaining some Anatomical Knowledge and some experimentation I was able to recreate it on a better level."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. " Kid, your shapeshifting technique is bordering on kinjutsu. That's not the kind of thing an academy student should be messing around with." Jiraiya knew that This jutsu involved the rearrangement of Body organs entirely, Well, Yang Transformation also did that, but this was not conversion into a different body type, but the modification of one's original body type.

Sora's expression turned serious. "I know it's dangerous. That's why I want to learn from you, Jiraiya-sensei. I need someone who can help me understand and control these abilities."

Jiraiya studied the young boy for a long moment, then nodded. "Alright. Here's what we're going to do. Naruto, you keep working on your summoning. Focus on channelling as much chakra as you can."

He turned back to Sora. "You and I are going to have a little chat about your techniques. I want to know exactly what you can do and where you learned it all."

As Naruto moved back to the cliff edge to practice his summoning, Jiraiya led Sora to a quiet spot nearby.

"Alright, kid," Jiraiya said, his tone serious. "Let's start from the beginning. What exactly can you do?"

Sora took a deep breath. "Well... I can use Earth nature transformations, Some Jutsus related to Stealth like Chameleon Jutsu, Fuinjutsu as you know, Basic Three, A lot of Genjutsus too And then there's my shape-shifting Jutsu..."

For the next hour, Sora explained his abilities in detail, with Jiraiya asking probing questions and occasionally jotting down notes. The more Sora revealed, the more impressed and concerned Jiraiya became.

"This is... unprecedented," Jiraiya muttered, more to himself than to Sora. "A child your age shouldn't be capable of half of this. It's not just talent... it's as if..."

He trailed off, lost in thought. Sora interrupted "Hey, Shadow Clones are wonderful for training"

 Jiraiya looked back at Sora, his expression unreadable. "Indeed, they can be, but the memory overlap is not everyone's cup of tea, either way, You need supervision as the next step towards the development of your personal skills, as you have guessed would be towards Offensive Techniques and for that, you need Proper Supervision"

Sora nodded solemnly. "I know. That's why I want to learn from you, Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Alright. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to train both you and Naruto but in different ways. Naruto needs to learn to access and control... a different type of chakra. You, on the other hand, need to focus on refining your control and understanding the theory behind your techniques, You probably are good at it, but let's fill the gaps."

He reached into his pack and pulled out a scroll, handing it to Sora. "This contains information on a water-style technique called 'Heavenly Weeping'. It's a B-rank jutsu that creates water senbon. I want you to study it and practice it. It should help you refine your chakra control over elemental chakra and give you a solid offensive water technique."

Sora's eyes lit up as he took the scroll. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei! I won't let you down."

Jiraiya nodded, then glanced over at Naruto, who was still trying (and failing) to summon a toad. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go help Naruto before he falls off that cliff. We'll continue your training tomorrow."

As Jiraiya walked away, Sora unrolled the scroll and began studying the technique. He was so engrossed in the scroll that he didn't notice the thoughtful, slightly worried look Jiraiya cast back at him.