Naruto : A Fool's Errand.

But as soon as Maruboshi attempted to grab Tachibana's wrist and pin him down there was a sudden *PUFF* as the grab failed.

Maruboshi became a little stunned as his brows raised.

Tachibana was incredibly happy that his plan had worked and he'd pulled it off.

'I knew I could time the substitution jutsu such that he'd think I'm a clone too.'

With a stealthy step, Tachibana who'd just shifted in position with a log brought his nail towards Maruboshi's neck, a smile on his face to show he'd won.

Except out of nowhere, Maruboshi turned around to grip Tachibana's hand as he pulled him over his shoulder and tossed him into the dirt.

*PUFF*

This time the puff came not from Tachibana being a clone, but because he *coughed* up air as his chest was slammed into the ground.

Maruboshi opened his eyes and looked at Tachibana on the ground, face first, eating dirt.

"You thought you could get me by confusing me with clones and a well timed substitution jutsu?"

Tachibana with a frown complained, "How do I defeat you if you can be that ridiculously fast!? Isn't that just cheating!?"

"Hahahahaha~ You surely have a good sense of humour, you make this old man laugh."

"Ha.Ha.Ha." Tachibana laughed sarcastically but then he felt his potion digest a little.

'System! Are you mocking me? Why did you digest the potion now!? Which part of me looks like a clown right now!?'

A melodic robotic voice sounded in his head in response.

[ According to the system, the host digested the potion because even in a pitiful position, the host chooses to laugh and hide his sorrows behind a mask. ]

'Tsk.'

Finally, Tachibana let go of his loss and stood up with Maruboshi's help.

"I guess that isn't enough?" Tachibana asked looking at Maruboshi.

"Hahaha~ did you really think you needed to win to go on a serious mission with me? Kids these days have begun making good jokes. As long as I deem you're qualified you are."

Tachibana's eyes shone and he looked at Maruboshi with anticipation.

"But I deem you unqualified.", Maruboshi said and caused Tachibana to deflate comically.

"What have you done sensei? You've betrayed your only student!" Tachibana voiced dramatically.

"But there's good news for you." Maruboshi said with a smile as Tachibana looked back at him with anticipation, "I think it'll take you another week to become good enough and for me to declare you qualified."

"Tsk." Tachibana clicked his tongue and then paused for a second before asking, "Did you already confirm the mission for next week? Is that why you want me to wait a week? Because you can't prepone it?"

Maruboshi felt a slight tingle as he laughed away Tachibana's question and talked about something else, "You didn't use the body flicker jutsu, why?"

"I wasn't confident in using it while fighting you. I'd probably make some egregious mistake that you'd take advantage of and beat me even worse. I didn't want to break my nose just because you slammed me into the ground too hard."

Maruboshi smiled and patted his shoulder, "Good job. Because if you did use it, I was planning on extending the 'week' you'd have to wait to a month."

Tachibana's mouth hung as he looked at Maruboshi, "You can't be serious."

"I'm serious. And this is something you must always know. Never use experimental techniques, not even if your life depends on it. Especially if your life depends on it. Make sure you always remember that."

"But what if I have no other options?"

"Then you shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. While fighting you said old people in a profession where people who die young are treasures right? Then think of this advice, something that I treasure very much."

Tachibana nodded as he looked at the serious expression of his teacher, thinking back to his time as a seer.

'Before inviting a dangerous situation, always use divination to check the balance of your fate.'

That was how he walked from the capital to Konoha without encountering bandits or unsavoury shinobi.

With the warning done, Tachibana started to sneakily slip away from the training grounds since his body ached all over because Maruboshi wasn't holding back during the fight and he felt like he couldn't take any more training for today.

Alas, he should've checked his fate before he arrived since Maruboshi easily placed his hand on Tachibana's shoulder, causing him to freeze in place.

"Where do you think you're going? We have several more spars to complete!"

"Haha~ Erm…I was just walking around to warm up."

"Brat! Don't think I'm old enough to fall for your ponies."

Tachibana *sighed* and turned around, complaining as he did so, "Then why did you hit me so hard!? It feels like a single punch I take from you is equivalent to hitting the tree a hundred times!"

"Fine! If you don't want to spar we'll do something different." Maruboshi conceded.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You've been introduced to Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, but not to Bukijutsu yet. Let's train your shuriken and kunai throwing skills for now."

Tachibana's eyes lit up as he heard this, "If I can hit a hundred shuriken and kunai in the centre of the target then can I go home?"

Maruboshi showed a slightly confused expression but seeing Tachibana's spirit to train he nodded, "Sure. Here, this scroll has shuriken and this one has kunai. There are about fifty in each."

Tachibana grabbed the scroll and summoned a single shuriken.

With a *puff* of smoke, the small but sharp shuriken appeared, one that required careful handling and care otherwise it would cut anyone.

"Let's see if you even know how to hold o-" Maruboshi started but even before he could finish his sentence, Tachibana chucked away the shuriken like he was throwing a piece of trash.

"What're you do-!?" Maruboshi shouted but froze when he saw the shuriken Tachibana had thrown land on the target painted on the tree. It was a perfect bullseye.

"Ho-" Maruboshi attempted to question but in that time, Tachibana had summoned and thrown about six shuriken which all pierced the target at the same spot.

The next few minutes were filled with Tachibana summoning Shuriken and holding a comical posture like looking between his legs, with one leg raised, standing upside down, spinning on his head and standing on his fingers while throwing shuriken.

Of course, all of them landed on the bullseye.

"How'd you do that!?" Maruboshi finally asked when Tachibana relaxed after finishing throwing all those shuriken and kunai.

"I've been practising throwing things since my childhood." Tachibana lied as easily as breathing.

"I see." Maruboshi nodded. But he still couldn't believe how impressive Tachibana's throwing skills were.

'He's even better than most Uchiha I've seen using shuriken.'

With his quota of Bukijutsu done, Tachibana made his way home uninterrupted to study seals with the extra time he had.

'I was getting to the interesting part yesterday but couldn't stay awake. I think I'll be able to make seals from now.'

'Not anything advanced, but at least have paper accept my chakra even if nothing happens.'