[X] While Lupin and Elan from Sidereal Quest adjourn to the patio to kick back, down some cocktails, and call out unhelpful instructions...
It didn't take either of you long to discover that neither of you can teach worth dick.
"No, you're holding it too tightly," Ami says, yanking the kunai out of your hand. You glower at her as she once again 'demonstrates' in a way that doesn't actually explain what she's doing.
"I still don't see why all of us have to learn to throw stuff," you grumble.
"God, you're lazy," she scowls. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised; you did grow up with Shikamaru, after all. Are you seriously incapable of learning stuff unless you're good at it right away?"
"Maybe?" you offer sulkily. You weren't this mean when you were showing her how nested-trapping works.
"Well, become capable, then! Have a dream about your Goemon-san practicing shurikenjutsu or something, instead of magic rifles."
"There's a way to make those, there has to be."
"Stop talking and throw the damn knife!"
"Fine!" You don't even bother to look as you whip it away.
There is a distant shattering sound.
"... Ami?"
O.O "Yeah."
"Did I just...?"
O.O "Throw a kunai right through Kiba's mom's front window? Yeah. Yeah you did."
You bolt.
Naturally you make it all the way home without getting caught, but that just means Inuzuka Tsume shows up at your house after dinner and lets Mom and Dad know what you did. Stupid nose-based sensors.
They make you apologize to her, and once she leaves you get a lecture from Mom about responsibility and owning up to your actions.
You don't entirely follow. If you had let yourself get caught, wouldn't Dad have been disappointed in you?
Still. You don't like it when Mom is sad, so you promise to be more careful when practicing in future.
She... doesn't seem satisfied by this, and you wonder if somehow you've missed the point of what she was saying.
Eventually, over the course of the school year, your Weaponry marks get better. They aren't great, but you aren't barely getting by anymore, and for that you're thankful.
Ami, with painstaking effort, brings her Handseals average up to an 80, but the best you can say about her Trap-Making is that she's a lot better at taking them apart without setting them off now.
=
[X] Here in the middle of Imagination...
Shahera-sensei kicks so much ass and Genjutsu is awesome.
She starts off with an explanation of how to identify that you're in a genjutsu, and seems delighted when you turn out to have lots and lots of ideas about little details that could tip you off. Then she casts an illusion that turns the classroom into a beautiful garden full of exotic flowers and birds.
When she releases it, she holds up various items she's taken from each of your desks.
That first class is what decides it for you. Before, you wanted to learn about genjutsu because of what Itachi did to you. Now you want to know all about it because it's wonderful, and it deserves better than him.
=
[X] Bridging the Gap
The Byakugan adds a little something extra to Hinata's frown.
"... Ino-chan, you know if you didn't have such good chakra control you could easily permanently paralyze your hand using this method, don't you?"
You laugh. "Aw, it can't be that hard, I've been doing it since I was a baby."
"That story is true? Wait," Sasuke interrupts himself with a sigh, "of course it's true, it's you."
"Is this really that different from what you do, Hinata-chan?" you ask. "I mean, when you push chakra out of your fingers or Ami pumps it into whatever weapon she's holding, do you guys stop and think about how much chakra is too much or too little, or do you just do it?"
"D-don't be ridiculous! This is on a different level from that!" Hee. She doesn't blush as much as she used to, but you seem to have a knack for bringing it out of her. "Only seal masters are supposed to be able to do this kind of thing! Promise me you won't try to do this with a more complicated seal without studying under a seal master first!"
You blink. "I promise. Dad already made me promise that."
"Good," she says, with visible relief. "And Sasuke, please promise me you won't try to learn it until you activate your Sharingan."
"Ino does it without a dojutsu!" he protests.
"But I do have a rare and elusive mimijutsu!" you declare, striking a pose.
"Ano, I don't think that's a word, Ino-chan," Hinata says.
"My ears hear all~!"
"Promise, Sasuke," Hinata says, trying to get you both back on topic.
"... I promise," Sasuke finally says sullenly.
"Well, since that lesson's been put on hold... wanna learn how to get past a normal lock?" you ask.
Hinata gets the basics down quicker than Sasuke, but Sasuke picks it up much faster than would be realistic to expect from someone who can't make their eyes give them a cross-section of the lock.
=
You, Hinata and Ami are walking home from school for a sleepover at your place when you come across Lee-sempai and the older boys in the park.
They aren't all that much older, really, but both of them are taller than him and both of them are fighting him at once. He's fending them off all right, but it looks like it's taking everything he has to do it.
"C'mon!" one of them says. "What about all that tough talk earlier about making it without genjutsu or ninjutsu? If you can't even manage this much, how do you expect to ever be a ninja?"
[X] Go help him fight!
[X] Make a plan with Ami and Hinata to distract these assholes and get them to go away.
[X] Lee would be crushed if you had to rescue him; he's very big on the whole sempai-protecting-and-guiding-their-kouhai thing. Have faith in your sempai's ability.
