Shinra stood there for a second. "I want to make sure that I am fully prepared for the exam. I still feel that there are things that I can learn in the academy."
Reigen looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said, "You do know that if you manage to get yourself a jōnin sensei, he will be able to teach you almost anything that you are taught in the academy."
Seeing Shinra remain silent, Reigen carried on, "The next graduation exam is in three months. Some of your classmates have already applied to partake in it."
Shinra sighed inwardly and thought, 'If I keep on stalling, it might raise some questions about my reason. The last thing I want is to have my "loyalty" to the village questioned.'
"Alright, sensei. I will participate in the next exam," Shinra said as he saw Reigen nod his head.
"That's good. I will contact you to tell you whether or not he will accept teaching you his Lightning Release ninjutsu," Reigen said as he watched Shinra walk away.
Upon returning home, Shinra dispelled himself, and a wave of memories transferred into the real Shinra, who was training in the field using the Transformation Jutsu.
'Graduation exam… I wonder if it would be as easy as canon showed it to be?' Shinra wasn't surprised that he would be asked to graduate. Although he could choose to delay, he didn't have a viable excuse to use.
After learning the Rasengan, Shinra noticed that his chakra control had already reached a very high level, maybe comparable to a chūnin or higher. He could maintain leaf concentration for as long as his chakra could last, and he could tree climb and water walk subconsciously.
'I guess calling it an advanced chakra control exercise isn't wrong.' With more free time on his hands, Shinra began practicing one of the last available jutsu in the academy that he hadn't learned: the Body Flicker Jutsu.
'This jutsu uses chakra to vitalize the body and force it to move at extreme speeds. Its downside is that although the speed of the user is very high, the enemy can guess the distance and where the user would reappear, but this can be solved by using smoke to disguise the movement.'
He began practicing the jutsu, and it didn't take more than a few hours to learn it. 'After spending months on a single jutsu, it feels a little weird learning a jutsu on the get-go. It does help that it is quite similar to the Substitution Jutsu of the academy. Even better is that I can use small amounts of chakra to keep practicing.'
Shinra formed the Tiger seal and used a bit of chakra to activate the jutsu. He disappeared from his position and reappeared a few meters away.
For the next three days in the training field, Shinra kept practicing the Body Flicker Jutsu until he received a response from Reigen about his tutoring request.
"He agreed to teach you. Meet him at Training Ground 31 tomorrow afternoon. You will know him when you see him. His name is Fujiwara Ikki." These were Reigen's exact words.
Shinra stood in the training ground, feeling a bit uncomfortable. This training ground was closer to the center of the village, so it wasn't as empty as the one near the outskirts.
"Are you Kamikaze Shinra?" A man with a missing left arm asked in a grumpy voice.
Shinra nodded. "Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Ikki."
"Follow me for a bit." Ikki flickered away from his position.
Shinra sighed and flickered behind him. 'I guess he doesn't want to teach his jutsu out in the open. I just hope he doesn't ask for an exorbitant price.'
Ikki observed the boy tailing him before stopping. "Alright, here is good. Tell me everything you know about Lightning Release."
"Changing the nature of chakra by forcing it to vibrate causes it to take the shape of an electrical current, which can be projected outward, resulting in Lightning Release," Shinra explained as he released a small streak of electricity from his finger, dissipating almost instantly.
Ikki nodded, quite impressed. "That is indeed correct. Lightning Release can be used to cut, pierce, enhance the body, or even act as a medium for genjutsu."
"Although Lightning Release is the most destructive element, it is also the hardest to master. Unlike other elements that are common to come across naturally, lightning is quite rare. For example, Water Release or Earth Release mostly depend on manipulating pre-existing sources, so they consume less chakra than fire or lightning."
Shinra nodded to show his understanding.
"Let's fix your first problem." Ikki raised his hand and formed one-handed seals. A streak of lightning shot from his finger, similar to the one Shinra used, but it was clearly stronger and lasted longer.
"You are skipping quite a few levels by trying to use elemental ninjutsu without hand seals. It's like trying to run without learning how to walk. Hand seals are designed to aid a ninja in molding chakra, and the same goes for elemental ninjutsu."
Ikki moved around Shinra as he explained his mistakes. "Now that the basics are explained, I am going to show you two Lightning Release jutsu that I can perform."
He formed five hand seals, and lightning started gathering around his arms. Shinra's eyes widened. 'Is this Chidori?'
Yet Ikki's next words extinguished his hopes. "This jutsu is called Lightning Palm a D-rank jutsu. By covering your hand with lightning, you are able to paralyze your opponent if you successfully grab them, and naturally, each of your strikes will be slightly stronger."
Without waiting for Shinra, he pulled out a kunai and performed the next jutsu. It took slightly less time than the first, and streaks of lightning began flowing around the weapon. He threw the kunai into a nearby tree. It easily pierced through the first tree and landed in the second.
"This is a C-rank jutsu called Lightning Flow. It is derived from a more advanced concept called Chakra Flow. Unlike it, you won't have to constantly channel chakra into the weapon. Just charge it with lightning chakra and throw it. As you can see, it's quite lethal."
Ikki moved to the tree, dislodged the kunai, and held it toward Shinra. "The downside to this jutsu is that it turns your weapons into consumables. See this—the pointed edge of the kunai is damaged after a single attack. You will keep running into this problem unless you somehow get your hands on chakra metal."
'These are both quite handy jutsu. I really should properly thank Reigen-sensei after this session,' Shinra thought, impressed.
Ikki's next words burst Shinra's bubble. "For the D-rank jutsu, I will charge you 20,000 ryō. As for the C-rank jutsu, it will be 80,000 ryō, in addition to the session fee, which will be 10,000 ryō."
'110,000 ryō? Why don't you rob me instead?!' Shinra's feelings of gratitude toward Reigen vanished instantly, replaced by regret for asking in the first place.
Seeing Shinra's silence, Ikki sighed softly. It appeared the kid was broke. "So, what will it be?"
"…The D-rank jutsu, please," Shinra said begrudgingly.
For the next two hours, Shinra was personally tutored on the hand seals and chakra molding. By the end of the session, he could perform the jutsu quite easily, yet he couldn't bring himself to feel happy.
Ikki watched Shinra leave the training ground and thought, 'I can see why Reigen wanted me to tutor him. He is quite talented. Managing to learn a D-rank jutsu in two hours is impressive, but what's truly surprising is his shape transformation of Lightning Release.'
Ever since Ikki lost his dominant hand, he had lost his ability to perform the majority of his ninjutsu, which led him to retire from the ANBU. 'Maybe becoming an academy instructor isn't a bad choice.'
On the other hand, Shinra walked toward his house, thinking about how to earn money before graduating, as he was currently almost broke.
'A D-rank jutsu for 20,000 ryō and 10,000 ryō for tutoring… that jutsu is the same rank as the Body Flicker Jutsu, something lying in the academy library collecting dust.'