At the same time as my words, Lee managed to grin with all thirty-two teeth, assume his stance—"left hand behind the back, right extended palm-out toward the opponent"—and flash a thumbs-up.
Fucking cringe...
It felt like this train was nonstop, and the more I ran into characters like this... the more I'd want to grab my service pistol again...
"So, what? Is the Uchiha up for a fight, or is he chickening out?" He took advantage of everyone's stunned reaction to rile Sasuke up even more.
"What did you say, you damn bastard?! Who're you calling a coward, you bushy-browed fatty?! Who gave you the right to doubt—" Sasuke cut off Sakura's torrent of girlish screeching by raising his hand and holding it out toward her.
"Hold on, Sakura." He stepped forward. "If you're the strongest... which I'm highly doubtful of... then this should at least be interesting." He said it with his eyes half-closed, taking another step forward and to the side, fully shielding Sakura with his body.
"Sasuke..." I began. "If I were you, I wouldn't do this..."
"Sorry, Naruto, but you're not me, so let me decide for myself!"
"Hm... Suit yourself." I crossed my arms over my chest. "But still... those weights are gonna be a hindrance. Don't underestimate him."
"You're right..." Sasuke said as he removed his weights. First from his legs, then his waist, and wrists. "Be grateful... Lee, or whatever your name is? I'm not holding back, and you'll learn why my clan's shinobi were respected by the whole village."
"I am grateful." Lee replied crisply, seeming to grow more serious as he met my eyes while Sasuke removed his weights. "Through your example, I'll prove the folly of respecting a ninja for their name alone."
"Do you even know the influence that name carries?!" Sasuke demanded, clenching his fists. Lee nodded and added...
"Undeservedly high."
"Tch..." Sasuke clicked his tongue. "Fine, you're done for. Here I come!" With the warning, Sasuke charged at full speed, and Lee nodded in response.
There were about thirty meters between them, and Sasuke covered it in just over a second. Left hook to the face. Too crude and straight to be real, especially for Sasuke. He doesn't usually throw punches like that on a charge—they're too predictable for him. And sure enough, Lee easily dodged with a single step aside. They moved at roughly equal speeds, but Sasuke was already visibly straining, while his opponent stayed calm, composed, and focused—without even tensing much. The left punch whistled past Lee's face, and as I expected, it was a feint—Sasuke didn't stop his fist mid-swing but drove it forward and down, letting his body follow toward the floor, where he planned to push off with his hand for a half-spin.
With that motion, a right heel strike flew at Lee, followed by a full roundhouse kick to the head from front-right to left along an arc. Sasuke didn't fully commit to the floor, sensing the strike had missed. He lightly touched down with his fingers, gathering chakra in them, completed the pivot on his left foot, and leaped up to his own height for a spinning kick.
If he'd simply arched his back—eyes closed, without shifting stance—for the first strike, the second forced him to pull his hand from behind his back and lean forward. Sasuke sensed the danger from his opponent's movements, and rightly so. Lee couldn't sense chakra himself, but he had it, and up close, Sasuke could feel it sharply. Sasuke's right foot hit the ground just as Lee raised his left leg, turning sideways for a strike. Sasuke threw up a solid cross-arm block, but...
"Aaagh!" Sasuke cried out from the swift kick to the center of his chest. The force sent him flying three meters, and he couldn't even roll with the fall. Lee had pierced his guard effortlessly, without strain. A perfectly aligned kick. You can't see or block a perfectly executed strike because its impact point is unknown. I recalled Teacher Iruka's words and a boxing coach from my old world—they rang true right now... Sasuke, wincing in pain and unable to stand on the first try, was living proof.
Lee didn't move from his spot.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried, running to him. She tried to help him up.
"Aaaargh... Sakura, please, step back..." He pushed her away with a hand. "Looks like..." He continued, standing with his eyes closed, rubbing his chest. "I'll have to use this against this guy." Opening his eyes, he revealed the Sharingan.
"What the hell was that? I didn't even see the strike... Genjutsu or ninjutsu? Doesn't matter... These eyes will see everything." Sasuke thought. Lee nodded as if confirming he'd seen and grasped the opponent's intent. Sasuke whipped his hand from his waist, hurling three shuriken at him. Lee stepped forward and aside. The weapons flew past and embedded in the wall. Sasuke had forced his foe to step where he wanted. He knew shuriken wouldn't faze him... A counter-charge and right punch to the face, perfectly presented like a target...
Miss!
In an instant, Lee shifted stance. Sasuke's Sharingan caught every motion. His fist hadn't gone through Lee's head—the guy had matched his arm's speed perfectly, syncing without Sharingan. That speed was nothing to him!
The opponent's fist was heading for his solar plexus!
I couldn't watch anymore, but Sasuke's Sharingan reacted, trying to predict—which backfired.
Lee seemed to know every detail of countering Sharingan and read him like an open book.
The gut punch was a feint to bypass the face block. In reality, the opponent's knees bent, and Sasuke's Sharingan caught the subtle motion. Circular sweep incoming—he leaped up.
Mid-jump, a kick nailed his chin.
Sasuke did a triple backflip and barely landed on his feet from the uppercut. Only his upward momentum softened the blow. Even so... split chin, busted lower lip, teeth rattled for sure. Don't get me started on the neck strain. An unprepared person could die from whiplash. Neck snaps—*crack*...
You died.
"No way..." Sasuke muttered.
"Way." Lee replied.
"So your technique..." He finally got it.
"Right. No ninjutsu or illusions. Just taijutsu—and only taijutsu!" With that, Lee attacked. Even I was stunned by the speed. Sasuke dodged the first strike only thanks to Sharingan. The rest hammered his blocks, and Lee seemed to throttle his speed just enough for Sasuke to barely keep up.
Even so, the combo looked insanely fast.
Thud!
Sasuke eats a fist to the skull.
A few more blocks and a dodge giving false hope.
Bam!
Gut punch—Sasuke spits blood-mixed saliva, flies toward Sakura, slams back-first into a pillar, and slumps to the floor, gasping.
"Pathetic." Lee said. "Is that all the Uchiha clan amounts to?"
"Keh... Sh-shut up!" Wincing and rising—pushing Sakura aside with a hand—Sasuke spat. He took a shaky first step. His head was probably ringing, vision swimming.
I didn't know about Sharingan, but I'd taken those Lee strikes before. Last time was sparring on his academy graduation day.
I never beat him—he showed his full power then. From his glance and smile at me, that was the same clumsy combo that floored me painfully.
That progress in just over a year!
Sasuke didn't stop.
If there was a moment to yield, this was it—but unfortunately, Lee mastered provocations too.
Sasuke's pride was stung. I wanted to intervene, but...
Knowing Sasuke, he'd hold it against me forever. So he'd learn the hard way.
He charged in a desperate last attack, using shadow clones. He made six—attacking from all sides, three with weapons—forcing Lee to tense.
Dodging lethal strikes—predicting trajectories and evading lines—green boy unleashed hyper-fast elbow and knife-hand strikes to pressure points. Three clones poofed. The other three leaped—and ate Lee's "Leaf Whirlwind." Triple spin looked cool from afar, not so much up close. Three more gone. Sasuke hit max speed while clones distracted, Body Flicker behind him, hands forward forming seals on the fly. Double-hand fire barrage didn't faze Lee.
Not just me and Sasuke could Body Flicker.
The flame stream nearly singed Sakura behind Lee—and Sasuke hit hard, damn it!
I surged at full speed, knocking Sakura down, grabbing her awkwardly mid-stride to escape. Weights fucked it up—we tumbled rolling across the floor.
Sasuke's flame cut short by Lee's brutal kick to the chin. He one-hand vertical-jumped like with two legs—another gut kick, then another!
It spun Sasuke, spewing blood parallel to the ground. Lee landed, unwrapped his hands, and Shadow Substitution behind him.
Shadow Substitution—peak instant teleport. Master it, and glory to you. No academy grad matched Iruka's demo, including us. We didn't get it then. Now, even knowing to read foe's ki and match chakra direction—like swapping with their shadow inside it... I can't replicate. Sasuke probably can't either, especially mid-air. Reaction too slow.
Lee pulled it off airborne, sans ki sense. His chakra sense is worse than a normal person's here—near zero. He senses something but... even training it, he hit only academy triple-plus standards. And how he trains...
Suddenly, a turtle—outta nowhere—pinned his bandage to the wall with some flanged shit.
My clones caught Sasuke. Without them, he'd be exam DQ'd for health. He looked like shit, but a minute after Lee went to explain to the turtle, he recovered enough to stand.
Limping to Sakura with my clones, he could barely stand on bent legs, rubbing his battered torso.
Ribs probably cracked, if not broken.
Nobody cared what Lee mumbled...
Then Gai appeared...
Fucking cringe...
He looked like Lee, but taller, bulkier, more muscular—which was more plus than cringe. His muscles stunned me... Dude's carved from stone. Why wear that open vest-harness? Leaf headband as belt, like Lee.
Bowl cut. Greasier, straighter bangs, thicker, wider brows. "Gai" fit... True Roman profile. His face made me crave pizza...
"God, that's his teacher... He's even worse..." Sakura couldn't hold back.
"And I lost to that?" Sasuke whispered.
They heard everything...
While we gawked, Gai full-force punched Lee's face. No pull-back—pure dad smackdown! Lee's face swelled all day, nose bled...
Then they both cried and spouted youth power bullshit my brain auto-deleted as trauma.
"Hey, don't mock Teacher Gai!" Lee yelled our way as Sasuke and Sakura let slip comments. Gai stopped him.
"You're Kakashi's students?" He turned to us.
"You know Kakashi?" Sasuke countered.
"Know Kakashi?" Gai pressed. "Ha! We're eternal rivals." Sakura and Sasuke's faces said disbelief. And fuck, wrongly so...
"Guess... better to show once..." On the last words, his voice echoed the floor as he vanished.
Instantly, my danger sense screamed air raid siren! Inside, Kurama stirred, claws growing from his chakra!
"Damn... Stop!" I mentally commanded...
Cold sweat down my spine, cockroaches up my ass. Felt like death's breath—his ki during that approach was lethal.
All in a second. One blink, and I'd be heavenly bound. His speed dwarfed Kakashi's. This guy...
Fuck!
He's probably the village's biggest threat! Even Kurama's pressure didn't scare like that. Felt like a minute to me!
"Score... 49 to 50 in my favor! So I'm stronger than Kakashi." Sakura and Sasuke believed now; I nearly shat myself.
"Anyway, forgive my student's childishness. Youth makes mistakes..." We nodded like idiots.
When Gai left, Lee—hands rewrapped—approached, bowed apology, extra to Sakura for endangering her. Leaving, he added...
"Though Naruto told everyone I'm the strongest genin, that's not quite true. The real strongest is on my team..."
"Lee!" I replied. "No need to downplay. I know your power and its source. Believe me... Hyuga won't stand if you're serious." His face mixed shock and joy. He undervalues himself too much. Years of humiliation bore fruit... "Nobody... will stand." Lee nodded and hurried off.
"Naruto..." Sasuke said. "What was that? How did you... You knew I'd lose?" I nodded.
"I let you fight to feel it yourself, and Sakura see it firsthand." I crossed arms. "Guys, this exam's no joke. You'd be smart to bail to hell and back."
"So you're sure you're ready, huh?"
"Nobody's ready!" I snapped. "But... Sasuke. If you can't swallow pride and ditch overconfidence, we got no business there. Sakura." I eyed her. "I don't get what you want from this exam. If you wanna go, go—we'll understand. No obligation." Hoping to end it before start. I remember too well... Orochimaru... If right, this meeting could doom us. He needs Sasuke, but might kill me as threat. Worst: can't warn outright! They won't believe!
"Naruto. I said I'm part of this team and wanna stay, no matter what! I'll get stronger—this exam's what I need! I wanna be here, pass and win!" She declared firmly.
"Fine, then... let's go. We'll be late."
On the third floor, Kakashi met us, surprised we were all there—said if one missed, all disqualified. Hoped for that, but no dice. No new info from Kakashi.
Opening room 301—a big lecture hall where Iruka once briefed us on Itachi and emergencies—we saw we were last. Over a hundred eyes of all ages and edginess locked on—rattling even me.
Sighing loudly, I realized crossing that bloodthirsty crowd itching for sabotage or provocation was dumb. I leaned against the wall—pack and sheaths on it—waiting as InoShikaCho approached horizon, smiling at oncoming Shikamaru.
"Oh, Naruto, looks like they haven't killed you yet." He joked greeting.
"Not yet." I noted Ino bullet past, leaping to hang on Sasuke's neck, mauling Sakura. Successfully.
"Naruto, Sasuke!" Another voice. "All nine rookies here this time!" Kiba approached louder, in gray hooded jacket. Clan face paint on, bigger snow-white pup on head.
"Oh, you guys too?" Sasuke asked, gently peeling Ino off. She got she overstepped and dropped calmly.
"Yeah, our teacher's tough too—but right, we're way stronger. I'll kick your ass for sure!" Kiba boasted.
"Dream on." Sasuke shot back.
"You too, wall-leaner!" He yelled at me. I ignored; he riled more. "Hey, talking to you!"
"What?" I went thug mode, glancing under brow. "Can't hear ya! Use my name."
"Sorry, Naruto, Kiba doesn't mean harm..." Hinata murmured beside him.
Meanwhile, Shino and Choji let a roach through.
Hinata speaking forced Kiba to pause bragging/outrage at me, asking what.
"Hey, what the hell's this?!" Fumed approaching gray-haired glasses guy.
Knew Kabuto easy. Anime looks mostly: half-Asian like Iruka, but ponytail braid. Odd purple vest over tee—no armor. Field pants in boots, tactical belt loaded.
Kabuto's harness, apparently. Separate scrolls on belt. Two (!) medkits—one full surgical, he said later. Gut a intestine in woods post-stab? He could field-op it.
Didn't ask about eye swaps.
"You nine fresh... er, rookies." He noted. "Better lay low. Look around." Right—talks hushed. Over half stared. Fuck knows their deal, but yeah.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked.
"Me?" Question back. "Friendly warning. Vet to rookies."
"Vet?" Sakura echoed. "Not your first exam? That tough?"
"Not first... Ha! Seventh."
"Shit..." Shikamaru blurted. Others jumped; I didn't care.
"S-seventh..." Sakura trembled.
"No sweat—I'm alive, unscathed, barely. Wanna share intel? You seem clueless..."
"International military drills to show nations foe village power layouts, plus mission client demos—mercenary ad." I cut Kabuto's smugness.
"Right, you're no fool..." He noted. I just hmmed.
"Why so complicated?" Shikamaru griped.
"Want neighbors learning our forces in real fights? Better volunteer some, profit off it..." Kabuto showed cards.
"Exact participant nations/shinobi counts. Hosts—us—way ahead. We reveal more, but..."
"Necessary politics. Not just ad. We're vulnerable. Fourth's death—near-god, world-saver—Uchiha tragedy. Can't hide. Forgot Nine-Tails attack, sure." Someone in my head hmmed... "Need this show now. Power demo. Despite setback—no Fifth Hokage—we're strong. Mess with us, get wrecked!"
"Wow... Deep insight from rookie genin. You're..." Public recall. "Naruto... Uzumaki Naruto."
"Yep." "Why all rookies this time? Needed numbers boost. No quality? Quantity beats class."
"Not quite—we got elites. Targeting someone specific?"
"Dossiers on all?" Sasuke asked.
"Almost..."
"Sharing just like that?"
"Not enemies. Konoha kin. Friendly gesture—or not..."
"Fine... Cards on two: Konoha's Rock Lee, Sand's Gaara."
"Those? Easy..." Two cards flew to Kabuto's hand. "Here!" He showed—not thrilling me. Especially as danger sense pinged.
Kabuto noticed crowd surges too.
I backed to my group—this targeted him.
Sound shinobi struck sudden—for most.
Kunai at Kabuto—he deflected with wrist flick from sleeve, chakra-infused.
Solid!
"Ha! Update dossier: Sound shinobi survive!" A hunched, bandaged guy charged Kabuto fast—not Lee-fast, but doubt I'd react like him. Kabuto leaped back casually, dodging wild haymaker—no glasses lost. But... glasses cracked...
"Idiot..." Shikamaru muttered. "Missed glove—vision blurred now?"
"What?" Sasuke said. "The fuck?"
"Got it... That's the attack." Kabuto tossed glasses—then hurled, puking on spot.
"What bullshit? Kabuto fully dodged!" Sasuke thought.
"Sound, huh..." I started, cut by proctors.
"Shut up! What's this mess?!" Head proctor barked entering. Sixteen field-geared leaf headbands behind.
Bandana'd, deep-scarred face. Hand blade seal, yelling on.
"Hey, Sound genin! Who said use force?!"
"Sorry, we just wanted—"
"Shut it! No dumb excuses! One more rule break—even faces—and you're all out, got it?!" Bandaged guy nodded wisely.
"I'm Morino Ibiki! Chunin Exam starts now! First stage!"
Bandana'd stern special jonin explained rules post-numbers/seating.
Rule one: 10 points, minus one per wrong.
Rule two: Minus two per cheat.
Rule three: Zero disqualifies team.
Rule four: Tenth question—later.
First, planned original Naruto: sit ass-down faking effort, pass. But if I can excel, why not? Implemented plan.
Shadow clones library-sent morning, grabbed books. Test start: voiced tasks aloud assessing.
Mda...
Heavy bag. Me? Only first two. Rest disaster. Trig, physics/chem, advanced med/evac timing... Fucked.
Dispelled pack-clone on desk. Proctors noticed; I shrugged—fuck off, stowed gear.
No marks.
Clone relayed tasks; others rustled books for answers. I waited.
Ten minutes: answers for four/six hit. Retasked three/one, dispelled sword-sheath clone.
Proctors grinned, getting it—but powerless.
Recording solutions, a kunai whizzed past my face into guy's paper behind—peeking via mini-binoc glasses rig. Attention on him.
"You're out!" Proctor declared. He whined rights/duties/hard test. Post-rant, Asian-eyed bandaged-head proctor Shadow Subbed to desk, gut-punched him hard. "Get it? Out means out! Your two—55/56. Out!" Team deflated seeing curled teammate.
More later. While solving cryptogram/shuriken problem, 13 teams bounced. Stuck first two for fun—grab sheet later for scores.
Hour in: all but ninth solved. You'd love it—total clusterfuck. Foe position from vague terms, mystery map-scale-less pseudo-river, your dot.
"And tenth. First, decide answer or not. Answer wrong? Banned from exams forever!" Lame-ass bluff. Try harder. "Leave? Take zero-team, retry next year."
No stopping outrage. Proctors amped injustice/despair. Intervene? Nah...
Watched masses bail on ploy. Glanced Sakura/Sasuke—visible now. Smiled, shook head at Sakura. Hope she got it.
60 left. 20 teams passed. Ibiki announced pompously, explained real test. Wanted to interrupt like Kabuto, but gut said no—listened quietly.
Window shatters—woman flies in, sheet-congrats pinned walls/ceiling kunai.
"Congrats on stage one! Second proctor: Mitarashi Anko! Why smile?!"
"You reading vibe?" Ibiki jabbed.
"Wow, so many passed. Slipping!" She shot. "I'll cut half on mine!"
Stir/whispers. No shocks for me. Two scrolls/team—steal opposite. 10 Earth/10 Heaven? Half pass max. Forest claims more...
"Won't scare ya. Fear/despair ahead!" Yeah... "Tomorrow noon: 'Forest of Death' gate! Ask jonin guides! Dismissed!"
Leaving the classroom, I decided to grab a bite at Ichiraku. After such an eventful day, I still had a full training session ahead with memorizing a new technique. Realizing that I couldn't avoid the Chunin Exam either, which meant real combat ahead and opponents totally off their rockers, I decided to screw secrecy and start training the rasengan. I'll try not to get caught by Jiraiya. Even if I do get caught, I'll figure something out.
At Ichiraku, I ordered a small portion and half a cucumber sliced into pieces for a snack.
As always, a bit of juice and a sweet bun for dessert.
Ordering ramen at Ichiraku isn't the same as brewing some cheap instant packet at home. Here you get meat, a boiled egg—in this case, half. Fresh noodles in hot broth with pepper and salt. I don't eat here every day, but it's tasty and pretty nutritious. For a genin—it's not cheap, and if I lived on mission pay, I could afford to eat my fill here maybe twice a month or three-four times a regular portion.
If I survive, I'll try to become a Chunin and pass the selection so I can get paid more for assignments. Even D-rank missions cost more if there's a Chunin on the team. In practice, my share would be bigger even if I stay on the team with Sasuke and Sakura because of the rank. It'd be 50%—Kakashi, 40% of the rest to me, and 30% each to Sakura and Sasuke if they stay genin. Worst case, Sasuke and I split 35% each.
After eating, I thanked them for the food, paid, and headed home, where I tidied up a bit, took off the weights, grabbed my sword just in case, and rushed to find a shop selling water balloons. They're usually not far from the entrance, maybe even in the red-light district, where most tourists hang out.
I bought about 20 balloons and headed to the third training ground outside the village. The same one where we did the bell test. It wasn't a weekend or memorial day, so no one should be at the monument. After warming up and stretching properly, I jogged around to get the blood flowing. Did some push-ups and squats, and threw some kunai and shuriken. Lately, my low throws have been off, so I paid extra attention to them. After finishing the morning routine, I summoned 10 clones and started the first stage of rasengan training.
A couple of hours later, sunset hit, and I was lying there without clones and almost out of energy.
Out of 10 balloons, only five burst, and not even how I wanted. With two hands, I could already direct chakra and spin it in all directions, but... one hand is really a problem.
Even if you're a Mozart at chakra control—it's bullshit! I'm experienced enough, but such fine control with fingertips, plus holding the "Kyū" shape since you have to accelerate the chakra. Plus rotation control and adding power.
On top of that, the damn water balloon is bulging in all directions, and holding it with fingers isn't a huge issue, but fuck... It throws off the whole control.
And the Fourth Hokage figured all this out himself, brought it to life, and not only could use the technique on the fly with his eyes closed in maximum danger, but also came up with a training system? Plus, don't forget the potential for improvement. Based on rasengan, you can churn out super powerful techniques. Just increase the size of this thing and done.
Yeah... That guy really earned having his face carved on the rock and being revered. Real Mozart of ninjutsu.
Anyway...
Done whining, back to it.
"Eeeh..." Raising my legs up while lying down, I stood on my hands for a moment and pushed off, thrusting my belly and legs forward to flip my body vertical. "Shadow Clone Technique!"
Five clones...
Grab the water balloons.
Direct chakra, stream it, spin the water in one, two, three...
Okay... Speed up!
Four directions! Balloon changes shape... Accelerate and add the fifth, now ramp up the damn volume and just try not to lose it!
Pop!
Water splashed all over me, and the balloon burst. And I didn't use my second hand!
Success!
Am I awesome? Awesome!
But the clones weren't doing as well. Looks like only one in five pulled it off. One clone burst outright. The second tore the balloon. The rest just dropped theirs and couldn't do it right.
Gathering info from the clones, I got a headache realizing their mistakes.
I burst the remaining three balloons too, doing it right to reinforce the lesson.
But after the third balloon soaked me, I found myself in front of Kurama's cage, who was clearly pissed judging by the atmosphere... I still couldn't see him through the darkness, but I could make out the outline of his massive head better now.
"Wanderer..." he said, opening one eye without lifting his head from his paws. "What are you doing here? Your chakra's almost depleted, and you're wasting it on games with water balloons?!"
"Did I disturb you, Kurama?" Damn, the sudden return of my voice and shift back to my main body threw me off. "Sorry... It's training. I'm trying to learn a new technique. I just finished one of three tough stages and managed it in a single day!" The Fox's gaze changed. He wasn't upset, but his eye clearly said I was an idiot.
"Hm-hm-hm-hm-hm..." He chuckled restrainedly. "I see. If you think this'll make you stronger, go ahead, entertain me. But right now, you've really hurt yourself. If not for your stamina, you'd have a brain hemorrhage—you were one step away, and I saved you."
"Thanks..." I didn't even know what to say. "Really, thanks."
"Ha! No words needed... Even if you're sincere, they're worthless. You don't need that kind of power." He said, closing his eye, and I felt the cage dissolve into air. Turning around, I was back on the training ground. In the distance, I saw Sasuke's silhouette.
"You need me!" echoed in my head.
"Yo, Sasuke!" I called out as he got closer and inspected the traces of my training.
"Playing with balloons? You should be training..." My eyebrow twitched nervously. Damn, his look reminded me of Kurama. Pity and incomprehension like "Oh, idiot..."
"Did you finish that technique I told you about?" He nodded. "Good. I finished the first stage. I'll have a new A-rank technique soon."
"Huh?" He perked up. "Stronger than cloning?"
"It's a striking technique, but I've only mastered a third. It's really tough..." I started whining. "Anyway, show me the "Fire Shield."" I said with a grin.
"Hope this one's more useful than the last..." He began and started demonstrating...
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: patreon.com/Granulan