The mechanics of the original Jet Hand was simple; aim, slap and shoot the object. What Naruto wanted to do was control the release of his technique and transform it into something more complete; something he could produce, bend and supplement by his own free will and diversify his arsenal.
It was tough work, especially for someone with little to no talent like him, but he wasn't going to be let down by it. Not in the slightest. After all, he'd managed to pull this far through hard work, fighting smart and grit alone. All he needed to do was try a little harder, study up as much as he could on the material he needed, and bite through the storms standing in his way.
Speaking of which, he could use with some rain right about now but because it was a sunny forecast for the next couple of weeks he decided to hit the showers at home and make his own rain.
"A nice… hot… refreshing… shower," Naruto repeated out loud to himself, picking his ear as he ascended the stairs to his apartment. By the time he threw open the front door, shut it behind him and made his way across to the bathroom he was so focused on his intention to clean himself up, SO looking forward to a good scrub down, that he completely forgot about the fact that he wasn't living alone in his apartment anymore and hadn't been for the last two years.
That reality hit him the moment he threw open the door and found himself staring at a wet and naked Tayuya just stepping out of the shower and reaching for a towel. What then occurred was a complete worry free moment of both parties just staring blankly at each other before both their faces turned red and all hell broke loose. Tayuya shrieked and Naruto gave a startled yelp before slamming the door shut just as several dull thuds impacted against it.
"SHITHEAD!"
"I'm sorry, Tayuya-chan!" Naruto shouted desperately. "I had no idea you were in there! I swear!" He then blinked when he recalled the thuds. "And where the hell did you get kunai from? I don't remember keeping any in the bathroom."
"My uniform is in here you dumbass! Or were you so focused in staring at me that you didn't notice?"
Red as a tomato, the blonde sputtered fearfully, "I honestly don't know how to answer that question. Yes?" Kami, he didn't want to die at the hands of his flat mate at the tender age of twelve. His classmates would just laugh at him.
"Hmph. Pervert," Tayuya muttered, managing to cool herself down enough to dismiss the event and continue on with the task of drying herself. Though still flustered, which Naruto picked up through her prickly tone of voice, she was still able to change to a more suitable topic while he was still within earshot. "It's I.D photo day. I wanted to make myself look good before heading over to the administration office to have my picture taken."
Reminded of today's schedule, Naruto smiled over his shoulder while continuing to lean against the door. "Have you given any thought to the pose you want to take? It is a file photo after all, so it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to be put in your permanent record."
"No, not really. But… now that you mention it, I'm kind of thinking along the lines of a profile shot with a cool smile and my hair blowing in the wind. What about you?"
"War paint," Naruto said without hesitation, bringing his hands up to draw a metaphorical banner headline in front of him, "Tons of it. I want to strike fear and awe into the hearts of my enemies and friends when they start doing research on me; a white glaze with red tribal flames."
Tayuya laughed at this, grunting as she was now in the process of getting dressed. "Wouldn't that take you hours to have done and even more to pull off properly? And secondly, wouldn't that also just scare the living daylights out of everyone, if not make you look like a complete jackass?"
Scratching his head, Naruto reviewed his idea. "Hmm… yeah… perhaps you're right." He scrapped the concept and moved on to Plan B. Being Uzumaki Naruto, it was most likely a given that he had a Plan B. "Okay then, how about this; back turned, hand on goggles and an over-the-shoulder shot with leaves drifting across in the background? That seems pretty badass and with my face I'll definitely be able to pull it off."
"That actually sounds really cool." A click from the door's lock sounded, signaling Naruto to step away and allow Tayuya to come out at her leisure. Dressed in her khaki battle dress with a white musical note stitched to her back, black spandex shorts and sandals, the kunoichi was pretty much all set and ready to go, except for the fact she was still toweling her hair. She also still appeared a little razzed from the earlier incident, if the red in her cheeks and embarrassed scowl was of any indication. "Might take a bit of doing. How are you going to get leaves to float by while you're looking over your shoulder?"
Naruto grinned and placed his hands together in a ram seal. "Easy. By using the new jutsu I recently came up with."
"New jutsu?" Tayuya raised an eyebrow. "You were able to come up with one just this morning."
"Yup."
"Damn, shithead. Are you sure you're not like, super talented or something, because I swear to God you're kind of giving the impression that you are."
"No, I just knuckle down harder than the ordinary person would." Naruto replied, forming a couple more hand seals before ending on the rooster. He then folded his arms and looked off to the side. "Well… what do you think?"
For a full minute the pair just stood in place, watching and waiting in anticipation. After seeing Naruto flip through hand signs and finish, Tayuya immediately knew right then and there that he had just performed his new jutsu and waited expectantly for the results. Initially she wanted to speak out against using it indoors for fear of destroying the apartment should it yield a catastrophic outcome, but after a full minute went by and nothing happened, the redhead looked at the jinchuriki questioningly.
"Well?"
Naruto, smile dropping, looked back at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"
Tayuya looked up and down the corridor they were in before shrugging. "Didn't you just use your new jutsu?"
"Yeah. What? Can't you see it?" Naruto asked, gesturing to himself. "I'm using it right now. Take a good look." He then turned his head to the other side…
…and that's when Tayuya finally noticed.
She more or less felt it before she saw it; a light breeze that had previously been coming in from the direction of the kitchen before suddenly changing directions and starting to blow the other way. At first she thought one of them had left a window open in one of the other rooms or switched on the air-con, but after seeing Naruto rotate his body a few times and feel the direction of the wind change to match the angle of each of his poses, at the same time blowing a few leaves passed them so that they framed the jinchuriki's statuette forms, Tayuya quickly figured out what his new technique was.
The look she wore on her face upon realization was a cross between incredulous and confused. "This is your new jutsu?"
"Uh-huh," Naruto said proudly, his hair and clothes gently ruffled by the light gust as he turned on his heel once again, striking a 'cool guy' pose with his chin propped comfortably in his hand. He gave the girl one of his most dashing grins, which brought on a new shade of scarlet to Tayuya's cheeks when she got a full-blown flash of his handsome visage. "What do you think?"
"You took the concept of the directional changes in your Jet Hand ability and applied it to your entire body so that you could manipulate the airspace of your environment, right?" Tayuya said, earning another nod from the blonde.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
Tayuya grinned and lowered her towel from her hair. "That's awesome. What else can you do with it?"
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