"The Body flicker jutsu is one of the most important jutsus in any shinobi's arsenal. Had to convince the Hokage for quite a while when I requested it for you. It's usually only given to Chunins."
Maruboshi thought back to his time in the Hokage's office when he reported about Tahcibana's regular schedule.
"Is he learning well Yosuke?"
Kneeling in front of the Hokage, Maruboshi spoke, "Yes Hokage-sama. Although he doesn't have exceptional amounts of chakra, he is still better than most civilians. And his learning speed isn't bad either."
"Any particular fields he stands out in?"
"His Taijutsu is the fastest to develop Hokage-sama. But even in taijutsu it isn't his skill to fight that has developed the most, but it is his ability to predict his opponent's moves. In time this should extend to make him a Taijutsu specialist."
"I see. And his ninjutsu skills?"
"His ninjutsu skills are average. But given his ability to sense his chakra pathways being much better than even a few other geniuses in the village he can catch up to the students who've studied much longer than him quite easily."
"So if he's given a ninjutsu he'll be able to learn it well, but not make or modify his own?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama for now that should be true. But in the future, it will be possible for him to begin modifying ninjutsu as he learns more about them."
"Hmm…I see."
"Hokage-sama, if I may, I have a request."
"Oh? And what is that?"
"I want to take him on a bandit extermination mission after two weeks, after teaching him the Body flicker jutsu for his safety."
Hiruzen frowned when he heard that but he asked, "Are you sure he's ready for that?"
"He is a lot more mature than his peers my lord. Even though I've taken him on several D-rank missions he doesn't argue much about it. It's as if he already knows the dark side of the world."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and sucked a puff of smoke from his pipe.
"....must've learnt about it while he was under the Daimyo."
There was a short pause before Hiruzen asked something else, "Has he told you about any of the messages he has sent to the Daimyo?"
"I have never asked him about it directly, but from what I've learnt while we've spoken is that he has been greatly excited to become a part of the Konoha Shinobi force. He's often quoting the Will of the Fire of the First Hokage as he speaks during our breaks."
Hiruzen's eyebrows lifted and a smile formed on his face.
'I knew it! Putting those books in those shelves at the Senju house was bound to be for the good. It seems those books have done well in educating Tachibana-kun about the village.'
Hiruzen quickly controlled his expression and nodded.
"You may take a bandit extermination mission after two weeks, after teaching him the Body flicker jutsu. Keep up the good work Yosuke. You've done well in teaching Tachibana-kun and being a mentor to him in other aspects of Konoha."
Maruboshi nodded and was about to leave but Hiruzen's words stopped him.
"Do you still not want to become a Jonin Kosuke?"
Maruboshi shook his head and wordlessly left the Hokage office leaving behind a *sighing* Hiruzen.
Breaking Maruboshi's flashback was Tachibana who asked him a question.
"Is this why water walking works sensei?"
Maruboshi looked at Tachibana and saw him pointing at the portion of the scroll that indicated how the Body Flicker jutsu actually worked.
"Yes. Chakra has two properties for every material known to man. For a precise amount of chakra, it can do one of two things, stick to the material or expulse it. Water Walking uses chakra to cause the surface tension of the water to increase by making it stick to your soles-"
"-while the Body flicker jutsu uses the ability to expulse the ground by gathering chakra at your feet and forcefully propelling you in the selected direction."
"I see." Tachibana nodded and carefully studied the scroll before placing it in his pocket and looking at Maruboshi.
"Go ahead, try it out. I didn't give it to you only to read it!" Maruboshi encouraged Tachibana.
Tachibana nodded and stood in a running stance before concentrating chakra on his feet and in a burst expelling them outward so he would be shot in the opposite direction.
Except once the chakra was expelled from his feet, there wasn't a great explosion or even a crack on the ground.
With a soft *puff* dust suddenly shot out from under Tachibana's feet and clouded the surroundings.
"Pffttt~."
Tachibana waved away the cloud of dust around himself and looked at Maruboshi whose shoulder's were trembling as he tried holding back his laughter while looking at him, causing him to frown.
"Why are you laughing?"
Maruboshi waved his hand as if he didn't want to offend Tachibana by saying the wrong thing, but Tachibana didn't let it go. He walked closer to Maruboshi and looked into his eyes as he asked him again, "Why are you laughing!?"
Maruboshi bit his tongue to keep himself under control as he spoke, "Worry not Tachibana, it isn't anything detrimental to you."
Tachibana only rolled his eyes and softly punched Maruboshi, "Come on, tell me! It's not like I'm going to eat you for cracking a joke."
Maruboshi looked at Tachibana and then gauged him for a few seconds before whispering, "...art."
"Art?" Tachibana asked confused.
Maruboshi shook his head and said in a little louder voice this time, "Fart."
"Fa- FART!???" Tachibana's brows furrowed but then his eyes met Maruboshi's.
And within seconds the two of them were rolling on the floor laughing.
"Seriously!? I paid so much attention to the expulsion of chakra from my feet and you called it a fart!? Old man why don't you grow up?!"
"...but your face! It was so scrunched up and once you finished you were so relaxed!!!" Maruboshi countered while holding his stomach.
"Hahaha~ I can imagine that…I must've been like ooooooo and then aahhhhh~~. Hehehe~"
There was another round of laughter before Maruboshi and Tachibana calmed down and were ready to continue learning the Body Flicker Jutsu.
"So what did I do wrong? I collected exactly the amount of chakra the scroll said and expelled it at the exact time it mentioned and the angle too. What was wrong?" Tachibana asked calmly.
Maruboshi shook his head and explained softly, "That's the problem. The scroll is written with my height, weight and chakra pathway structure in mind. What you need to do is modify it to suit your body. I could do it for you, but-"
"-you want me to learn how to modify jutsus on my own." Tachibana completed.
"You took the words out of my mouth." Maruboshi said as he went back to sitting on his tree stump and observing Tachibana as he tried to modify the jutsu to suit his needs.
Tachibana crashed into the floor face first, eating dust, multiple times, he even crashed into the trees at the border of the training ground a few times, but he never gave up.
After every crash, Tachibana walked it off and continued to train without caring how many bruises he got.
Maruboshi observing this only had one thought, 'Is he so driven only because of love for ninjutsu? Or is something else driving him? Perhaps a political assassination attempt? But I never heard of any news where the Daimyo and his family were attacked.'
'Each time he talks about Hashirama's jutsus his love for ninjutsu is apparent, almost like a child's love for their toy. But is that all?'
'Is it to do with his strange claims about being a seer?'
'Has he seen something in the future that requires him to polish his skills quickly to save himself?'
'But if it was a single event a noble would simply hire guards and protect themselves against the one person, or even assassinate him. Plenty of people have been killed for less.'
'So what's his motive?'
Maruboshi was once again broken out of his thoughts when Tachibana collapsed to the ground without much chakra left in his body.
"I'm tired! I'll take a short break and then continue training Sensei!"
Maruboshi nodded but his contemplative gaze remained as he looked at the bruised and battered young boy who was taking deep breaths on the training ground floor.
'No way, if he'd seen the future he would've just used the Daimyo's help to avoid whatever was coming, he wouldn't have had to leave his family and arrive in Konoha. It's probably some strange noble thing to pretend to be able to see the future.'
'Maybe he just wants attention like our village prankster?'
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A/N : Who do you want Tachibana to fight in the upcoming missions? He won't unrealistically win every fight and might have to get saved if the opponent is too strong, so suggestions are welcome.