Naruto: Snow Cold

December. She was finally free from the Academy—yet again. It was a given that she'd pass the year and move on to the third. Soon enough, she'd turn eight.

The finals weren't too hard. As previously mentioned, they consisted of five parts: Theory, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Chakra Control, and Shurikenjutsu. Each section had a maximum score of 20 points, with grading scaled based on the general performance of all students.

For example, if everyone landed at least three out of five shots dead center with the kunai—yes, kunai instead of shuriken—and you landed all five, you'd receive the full 20 points, while the others would get around 14 or 15.

Amai assumed it was merely to spur competitiveness. Unlike one of the pieces of literature she had read before, the top students wouldn't receive any sort of reward, which was kind of disappointing. She would have liked to be recognized with something—perhaps a special water technique from the Hokage himself.

She had scored full marks on the theory part, which consisted of math problems, general history and politics. She struggled a bit when it came to the Kannabi Bridge, what purpose it served to Iwagakure during the Third Shinobi World War and how it was destroyed, but pulled through after some hard thinking.

The math was somewhat easy, having problems such as solving for X, or finding the value of Y. Still ridiculous that they were teaching this to seven-year-olds.

Taijutsu? She did decently, she thought. This part consisted of sparring against an instructor—a chunin who clearly wasn't going all out—while being graded on form, reaction time, adaptability, and strength. She had scored exactly 14 points, which made sense.

Despite how much she had been training, there were still others who excelled in this area, such as the Hyuuga. Their precision and mastery of gentle fist techniques made them a nightmare to face in pure hand-to-hand combat. Amai hoped she'd at least compare to the Inuzuka kids in this area.

On Ninjutsu, she scored 14. Not too bad, but not amazing either. Amai had been outclassed by the Senju, who boasted large chakra reserves, and the Uchiha, who had finally gotten over the trauma of using Fire Release.

She noted that Yuuma had come of age, according to his clan's traditions, since he managed to perform the Great Fireball Jutsu—one of the Uchiha's signature techniques.

Why couldn't she have been placed in a more average class? That way, she wouldn't be surrounded by freaks of nature. Who the hell uses the Great Fireball jutsu at 8?

Oh, yes. She was one of the younger students along with Sora, and most of her classmates were older by a month or more. Unfortunate as it was, that was the case.

Onto Chakra Control—she scored a full twenty points.

This time, she did not hold back and decided to demonstrate her knowledge of the Water Walking Technique. That alone was enough to earn her full marks, as most students were still refining their Tree Climbing. Needless to say, she could do way more than just walk on water, but she wouldn't go through the trouble of showing it.

Too troublesome, as her Nara classmate would say.

Shurikenjutsu? Fifteen points.

It was basically a contest of who could land the most dead-center shots with ten throws—using kunai instead of shuriken—on targets that were moving at least twice as fast as before. Clearly, this was in favor of the Uchiha. She had no doubt at least one of them scored full marks on this part.

All of these summed up to be 83 points.

She had seen the results, and sincerely? She did not expect to be in the top five—even if it was at the very bottom. It listed the amount of points in the same order she mentioned; Theory, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Chakra Control and Shurikenjutsu.

1. Hatake Kiyoshi – 91 points (20, 18, 17, 18, 18)

2. Hyuuga Itsuki – 90 points (20, 20, 14, 19, 17) 

3. Sora Shiraishi – 88 points (20, 16, 16, 17, 19)

4. Uchiha Yuuma – 86 points (15, 15, 20, 16, 20)

5. Amai Hashimoto – 83 points (20, 14, 14, 20, 15)

'Quite good, quite good.' she thought, at the ease of her home.

"Meow."

"What's wrong, Mochi?"

Mochi, her fluffy white cat, leaped onto her lap, rubbing its head against her arm. Amai absentmindedly scratched behind its ears, still staring at the results.

"Guess I did alright," she murmured.

Mochi purred in response, as if agreeing. She would've never expected to make it into the list, but here she was.

Top five.

It felt strange. Satisfying, sure, but also... unsettling. As if it cemented the fact that she wasn't just some average student blending into the background. People would start noticing her more, paying attention to her progress.

Mochi pawed at her hand, demanding more attention.

"You're so clingy today," Amai sighed, setting the paper aside and scooping the cat up instead. "Let me have my moment of glory, will you?"

Mochi, naturally, had no interest in her existential crisis and only meowed in protest when she stopped scratching its chin.

Amai chuckled to herself, rubbing her thumb over Mochi's fluffy head. "You're so cute, you."

Mochi purred louder, leaning into her touch with clear satisfaction. Amai couldn't help but smile.

'I should start planning what to do during the break. I have almost three months worth of free time, so exactly what should I learn? Should I just keep improving my chakra reserves, learn a new jutsu, or keep mastering the ones I currently have?'

She reached out for her pouch, the one she kept her diary in. It was the notebook Hana had given her back then, and it was still having some use. Most of what was in it was in English, so she didn't even have to worry about anyone finding out what was in it.

Flipping through the pages, Amai skimmed over her past entries—detailed notes on the timeline, significant figures, and potential turning points she needed to keep in mind. The Tailed Beasts, the Akatsuki, the Uchiha Massacre… all written in English, as to guard against prying eyes.

There was one specific entry for Obito Uchiha, filled with every detail she could recall about him—the events he orchestrated, the people he manipulated, the destruction he would bring, the total count of his abilities and exactly what did they do.

Her grip on the notebook tightened.

One day, she'd take revenge.

That day would still be several years away, but it'd eventually come.

For now, she had to be patient. To build herself up, piece by piece, until she was strong enough to make a difference. Until she wasn't just another pawn on the board, but a player who could dictate the game.

Amai loosened her grip, closing the notebook with a quiet thud. She had almost three months of free time ahead of her, and that time had to be well spent. Learning plans needed to be made.

'Right now, I have to think up of ways to increase the tools in my arsenal. I lack completely in offense, and all I have is Shurikenjutsu and Gale Palm. No chance that I can use the Shadow Clones, I'd run out of chakra extremely fast.'

Amai clicked her tongue in frustration. She needed a solid offensive technique—but what? Should she just focus on Ice Release entirely, or learn more jutsu? Perhaps train a new sense or two?

She still had sight and smell, but what about taste?

'What purpose would it serve, and how would it help?'

Amai paused, tapping her fingers against her knee. Taste didn't seem like a practical battlefield sense—at least, not in the way the other four senses could be.

She could use the Shadow Clone to learn the theory needed to apply enhancement on those senses and save time. The headache would be annoying, though.

'But if I can endure it, the benefits should be worth it,' Amai reasoned.

She should start devising up ways to refine her chakra control even further, too. Amai thought up of many different methods during the year, such as running up a waterfall, which would be a hundred times harder than simply walking on water. She estimated it would take at least a month, even with three or four shadow clones.

Another method Amai knew she could try was separating different-colored sand grains using only her chakra and placing them into groups. It was an exercise she had read about in fiction before—tedious, but excellent for fine control.

One variant that she knew was used in medical training, was separating liquids using one's chakra. This would prove useful for separating poison from a patient's bloodstream, and she could practice this with a glass of juice or whatever liquid, to separate the sugary content from the water itself, or even forcibly mix oil with water.

An additional method would be to use the gases in the atmosphere and compress them using chakra alone, or to use the Dihydrogen monoxide molecules present to create water.

It must be how Tobirama created water from seemingly nothing—by pulling moisture from the air and manipulating the hydrogen and oxygen molecules with his chakra. If she could refine her control to that level, it would open up entirely new avenues for her Ice Release.

Then, the simplest method she could think of was chakra threads.

Chakra threads were an underrated but highly versatile technique. Puppeteers used them to control their puppets, but their applications went far beyond that.

If they were strong enough, they could possibly be used to sling around weapons mid-air, latch onto surfaces like some kind of whip, or even used for medical purposes, such as short-term makeshift splints when you don't have the materials, or even temporarily stitch up injuries.

She could also use chakra threads to restrict an opponent's movements mid-fight, binding their limbs even for a split second—just enough to create an opening.

'That could work, but all of that would take me years to learn. Perhaps I should just focus entirely on Ice Release and my senses,' Amai thought, resting her chin on her hand as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through Mochi's fur.

"Amai, come out of your room! We're celebrating—you made it into the top of your class, and your dad's here too!"

'Oh well. That's for future me to figure out.'

"Coming, mom!"

Amai quickly laid everything down, giving Mochi a final scratch behind the ears before hopping off her bed.

Strategizing could wait—right now, there was food to be eaten.