Bokuden looked over the top of the hill on which he was standing, staring out over the rice paddies and watching all of the hustle and bustle of manual labor go on before him. “It’s no wonder why Satomi refused to accompany me this time, this kind of work would wreak havoc on her coat,” Bokuden thought to himself with an amused smile on his face as he saw the large number of submerged paddy fields, “But still, she didn’t have to go crazy on me.” Bokuden allowed his mind to wander for a moment as he thought back to Satomi’s reaction to his news that he had volunteered to work on a paddy field.

“Have you lost your damn mind? Like hell I’m going to go work on a rice paddy! I JUST got my coat groomed yesterday and you want me to ruin in by mucking around in some muddy water for no reason? You would have a better chance of becoming Kage! I can’t believe you would even ask me something so ridiculous! Now get out and go tend to your rice fields before I bite your fingers off!”



“I knew I should have gotten a bunny,” Bokuden said to himself, narrowing his eyes at the thought of Satomi’s anger. Bokuden shook his head as he forced himself back to reality, “I have a job to do.” Bokuden made his way down the hillside, scanning the area around him and taking note of the various jobs being done and the laborers that were doing them, “This doesn’t look so hard.” He heard a loud squish and felt a rush of cold engulf his left foot. Upon looking down for the source he noticed that he had stepped right in to rice paddy and the water had rushed into his boot, “I knew I should have gotten the water proof pair.” Seeing as there was nothing he could do about it now, Bokuden proceeded forward through the submerged field and towards the building that sat at the center of the surrounding fields. “Well, this is where I was told to meet him,” Bokuden thought to himself as he rang the doorbell.

---

Training- Water Clone Jutsu: 370/1000

The door opened revealing a short middle aged man on the other side staring straight up at Bokuden. “So you must be that volunteer I was told was coming today!” The man exclaimed, clapping his hands together in excitement, “Well, there’s never a shortage of work to be done around here. An extra set of hands is always appreciated, especially free ones!” The man let out a loud laugh before seeing that Bokuden was not partaking in his joke, “Ahem, well I suppose you want to get started. Follow me.” Bokuden followed the man away from the house and towards the largest paddy field to the east of the building. The busy workers moved almost like a synchronized machine, there was clearly a process in place.

“They are more organized than most shinobi squads I have seen,” Bokuden mused to himself as he watched the laborers work, still following the old man. As a student of military tactics and strategies Bokuden was impressed with how well the paddy system was set up and a grin grew across his face as he remembered his reason for volunteering for this job in the first place, “This is even more perfect for my training than I thought it would be.” Bokuden continued to follow the old man as he walked Bokuden through each step of the harvesting process, explaining each person’s job in detail and how it effectively increased productivity. Due to the amount of detail involved the explanation did take up a bit of time, but it was so early in the morning that it was largely negligible.

Once the old man felt confident that Bokuden was fully prepared for the work that was to be done and was sufficiently familiar with the process he took him over to a location towards the end of the field. “Well, let’s get you set up with one of the other groups then,” the old man said with a smile, scanning the area for a suitable match.

---

Word Count: 705/1000

“No need,” Bokuden answered with a smile on his face, “I can handle a line myself.” Bokuden watched the man’s face take on a perplexed look after hearing his response. The old man’s confusion was understandable of course, it isn’t like Bokuden actually explained his true intentions for this volunteer work to the man. It was also unlikely that there was a large amount of ninjutsu casting going on in a rice paddy field. Bokuden decided not to make the old man sit in suspense any longer and reveal the meaning behind his words. Bokuden felt that demonstrating rather than explicating would best shed light on the situation. Bokuden deliberately weaved a sequence of hand seals and used the surrounding water to form three clones of himself. It was to train his water clone jutsu that Bokuden volunteered to work on the rice paddies in the first place. The pre-existing water made it easier to form the clones and the physical labor required on the paddies would allow Bokuden to experiment with the control and synchronization of the clones. “So let’s get to work then,” all four Bokudens said in unison to the old man.

The old man’s face lit up as he immediately realized what Bokuden was planning with the use of that jutsu. He wasted no time in designating all four Bokudens to an area of the paddies to work on. By Bokuden’s own admissions the clones were of relatively poor quality. There were obvious discrepancies in appearance between the real Bokuden and the clones, but that was to be expected from training a new jutsu. The clones were however, more than capable of completing the physical labor demanded on the paddies. Several hours passed as the group worked before the old man finally came back and informed Bokuden that his shift was over. Bokuden was in no rush to argue as maintaining the clones for that long had drained a huge amount of chakra. Bokuden left satisfied with his training and intent on never working in the paddy fields again.

---

Word Count: 1055/1000