Kuroichi was laying on his stomach, legs swinging in the air and his head held up by his hands on his elbows, watching the egg with rapt attention. It was, of course, just sitting there, with nothing happening, but Kuroichi had a feeling that it would soon be time to hatch for the little chick.
It had been a few days since he brought the egg back, and since then he'd been eagerly anticipating the hatching.
In the meantime, he still kept the same focus and intensity in his training as before, though with much more more breaks in between.
2 days ago Kuroichi tried the transformation jutsu for the first time, and already had good success with it. Since he was already familiar with the transformation aspect of the clone jutsu, it wasn't hard to figure out the rest for him. While it was not the exact same thing, the principles and execution were very similar.
Molding the Chakra correctly, and manipulating it so that it was calmly washing and flowing over himself uninterrupted, picturing his desired appearance and making it actually feel and look realistic to himself with a lot of details added in within his mind, plus smoothly controlling the chakra made the technique straight forward enough for him to learn.
Now that Kuroichi had the basic ability to transform himself into anyone he could imagine, whether it was someone he had seen before, or someone he made up in the first place, he was excited. While not offensive in nature, he could imagine many situations in which it would come in handy.
This jutsu, while being very basic and something pretty much every ninja in the world could use, was also one like the quintessential ninja assassin technique. Though it is deceptively simple at first glance, it is a very versatile tool for any shinobi to have.
There are countless scenarios in which a transformation technique would come in handy. Infiltration, for example, would become effortless when one can adopt the appearance of a guard, servant, or civilian, slipping into heavily fortified areas without raising suspicion.
As stated before, it is the ultimate disguise for assassination, a shinobi could approach a high-value target as a trusted ally or even a harmless passerby, striking only when the moment is right.
Also, in the realm of psychological warfare, the technique could be used to sow confusion, fear, or dissent, appearing as a known figure to deliver false orders, or committing an act that frames another.
The jutsu also holds immense value in manipulating public perception. A skilled user could impersonate political figures or well-known individuals to influence crowds, create alibis, or even spread misinformation. Danzo and his puppets are grandmasters at this.
When paired with precise chakra control and acting skill, the transformation jutsu could become more than a disguise, however the jutsu is also easily seen through by other shinobi. Whether it be small details not blending in perfectly, the transformed body's balance being off, making it obvious something's up, or perhaps simply the leaking of constant chakra while using the technique are all reasons as to why it isn't more of an overpowered jutsu.
Kuroichi realized, however, that there must be different stages, or levels, to the transformation jutsu. The scroll detailing the technique only described how to use it in this particular way, however it also hinted at a deeper level of understanding and mastery.
Combined with the fact the he clearly remembered some shinobi being able to transform into inanimate objects in the anime and manga, which wouldn't be possible with just this jutsu, he was sure there was room for improvement.
Kuroichi imagined that advanced transformation technique to be very useful, for now, however, it would not have helped him much anyway.
While it was a normal thing for shinobi of this world to perform simple jutsu such as this one, Kuroichi, coming from a mundane world was absolutely ecstatic to be able to alter his appearance.
The main thing he would continue to work on were the amount of hand-seals he used. He imagined to be able to use any jutsu with just one or even no hand-seals at all, however reality proved harder than that. Even minimizing the seals for simple D-rank jutsu took a lot of effort, he couldn't imagine the difficulty of bringing the water dragon from 44 seals to only single digits.
Steady and continuous work on his chakra manipulation skill would surely make leaving a number of hand-seals out easier for him, so he made the decision that before he learned the last of the academy three, the substitution jutsu, he'd improve his chakra control.
The next step for that would obviously be the water walking exercise. However, just as Kuroichi was deep in thought, he noticed a little tremble coming from the egg. He was right next to it, eyes wide with quiet awe, his breath shallow so as not to disturb the moment.
A faint crack appeared, at first small and thin like a hair. It deepened slowly, growing methodically until a tiny shard flaked away. Then, with a push that came from within the egg, the shell split even further, revealing a sliver of wet downy feathers and a trembling beak. The newborn owl chick let out a faint cry, eyes sealed shut, its body still slick from the warmth of the egg.
Kuroichi leaned in even closer as he watched it. He had looked over the egg for multiple days, and now, witnessing this little one's birth, made him feel like it somehow mattered.
The tiny creature shifted, pressing against the shell until it finally collapsed around it. It lay there, weak but alive, fragile but burning with a spark of life.
'Should I name it already?' Kuroichi asked himself. He was unsure whether he should or not. He couldn't feel the same sensation he got from it's mother, meaning the owl chick had no chakra, however it was also only just born and Kuroichi could not imagine that human baby's were already being born with an amount of chakra that could be felt by him.
If the owl did not have any chakra in the future, Kuroichi would have to let it go back into the wilderness. He knew that a normal animal companion would be either to weak, not intelligent enough, or simply hold him back in the future.
'I will name it as soon as it shows any signs of developing chakra.'
The little chick had come to its senses by now, having gradually opened it's eyes. It looked around and clearly identified the big hairless monkey child as it's mother. While it's feathers were puffy, fluffy and white, the little bird, in truth, looked kind of ridiculous to Kuroichi.
It's tiny little body was round and unsteady, it's eyes too large for it's head and since they were barely open, it made the little owl look tired and sleepy. It's beak was small and pale, slightly hooked, and its legs and talons were awkwardly big for its size, hinting at the predator it will one day become, but for right now it just made for an awkward first attempts at walking.
As the chick let out faint screeches, probably beginning to feel hunger, Kuroichi quickly left the chick's side, but quickly came back with two worms. He cut them up into bite sized pieces and fed them to the little chick.
Kuroichi was enjoying himself, he wasn't used to being completely alone for such a long time before, and a companion to give him some company was greatly appreciated by Kuroichi.
The following days were noticeably more stressful for Kuroichi. The little chick had begun to really find it's voice, and loud crying, or rather loud screeching, was a constant whenever it was hungry.
He had to feed it every few hours, and it was noticeably growing day by day. Kuroichi was mildly annoyed at first, however the first night when he saw the little owl laying flat on it's stomach, sleeping, too weak to hold it's head up while sleeping, he couldn't help but laugh and his heart melted a little bit.
Time continued to pass, Kuroichi's training was still intense, but now that he had more responsibilities, he had toned it down somewhat. He couldn't leave the owl chick out of his sight for too long, otherwise anything could happen, he thought.
There were enough predators around that Kuroichi himself was being careful on a daily basis, without him, any bigger predator around could get the little chick.
The fact that he had to feed it constantly, plus hearing it's loud, incredibly loud, cry whenever he wasn't in it's direct line of sight became a real issue for him. He had a stable routine before, but it had gotten completely derailed because of the little one.
Still, Kuroichi didn't want to admit it at first, but he quickly became attached. He wasn't so sure himself anymore, that if it turned out to not be able to use chakra, that he'd still be able to just let it go into the wilderness. He thought he'd just wait and see, without putting too much pressure on himself.
For the first time in what felt like forever, the forest didn't seem quite so silent for him. The presence of the tiny owl chick brought a warmth Kuroichi hadn't realized he was missing.
Where before his days were filled with survival, training and solitude, now there was something else, a sense of companionship, however small. He felt lighter and more grounded. The weight of loneliness had eased somewhat, replaced by quiet responsibility.
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