Chapter 6: Mana Sense
-Back with Hatada-
'Mana Sense'
Hatada expelled a miniscule film of mana as far as he could manage. It quickly passed the 10, 20, 50, and 70 meter mark, stopping at ~80 meters in radius.
"*Tsk*" 'Only 80 meters… well, that is to be expected.
'I just developed my second ring yesterday, afterall.'
Despite his apparent annoyance, Hatada knew how fast mana sense progressed, meaning that this 80 m mark would be quickly surpassed. Even still, his slight "annoyance" was more ridiculous the more one knew about the spell. The average first try of the spell failed outright. The few who do it on their first try typically only had the mental fortitude to extract 50 meters out of it despite (as the spell relies more on mental fortitude to expand the range as opposed to mana cost), on average, having more mana and more mana depth than Hatada has currently!
It should be noted, however, that Hatada was quite skilled with the technique in his past life, using it constantly due to the dangerous missions he had to undertake. This was especially the case in his last year of his life where he became the most wanted man on the planet.
After taking this information under consideration, his performance was expected.
'Still, I won't get much out of sensing the people in this orphanage…'
In order to increase his range, a few things needed to happen. One was to simply use the spell more. This would naturally increase his ability to both activate it quickly, and to better sense those inside it. Next was to increase the total mana his body could hold. This would increase the range at which his field could stretch.
The range, however, was not purely dependent on total mana reserves. Instead, the most important factor for that was "mana depth".
Mana depth is, in layman's terms: The strength of each "unit" of mana.
This concept prevents certain spells from being used (or at least safely used), which leads to the system of classifying spells as "requiring" 2 rings, or 3 rings, etc. Additionally, the more depth one's mana has, the more options a spell can have, and the more powerful it becomes despite not using more mana. Both the age of the individual, the number of rings, and the time put into practicing magic/enhancement increases the depth one's mana has (although the most impactful of these factors is the number of rings).
Sadly, these three aforementioned ways of increasing the range of Mana Sense take considerable time and effort for them to show results, none of which could be expedited this instant.
Instead, Hatada was going to use the next best method: "The mana tracking method." Simply put, "the mana tracking method" has the caster (or an instructor/peer) create the most simple balls of their personal mana element they can, maneuver them around as fast and unpredictably as possible, while the person casting Mana Sense tracks them with as thin lines of Mana Sense as they can.
The spell Mana Sense's shape is not only that of a dome/sphere. In fact, it can become whatever the caster desires. The main types are: dome, cone, and "porcupine". The first two are self explanatory, and the porcupine form is too. Essentially, one creates thin lines of Mana Sense, kind of like the spines of a porcupine, to increase the range more than that of the dome, but less so than the cone's, while still maintaining the basic area covered.
The less "spines", the more range. Same goes for the cone; the less width, the more range. Each has their use cases (usually determined by knowledge of the area/where the entities of interest are), and in the case of the mana tracking method, porcupine is used.
Hatada spawned 20, 2 inch diameter spheres of light, allowing them to slowly float around him. They were made to be about as bright as and the same color as the sky in order to attract as little attention from those below as he could currently manage.
'Mana Sense: Porcupine"
20 spines of mana sense originated from his body, finding their respective ball of light. The amount of mana he infused into them was intentionally low, both because he didn't need much to make them, and because he needed to to increase the difficulty.
The less mana something has, or the less it shows, the more faint they show up on a Mana Sense cast.
The fact that he was both the one sensing and the one controlling the balls made it much harder. He had to figuratively separate his mind, making sure the "side" controlling Mana Sense doesn't know how the "side" controlling the light balls will move them, or else it would invalidate most of the usefulness of the process.
He closed his eyes. 'Time for the grind to begin'
-Hokage's office-
Hiruzen was speechless, but recovered from his stupor quickly. As expected of someone who had seen countless battles and had lived through multiple great ninja wars.
'A kekkei genkai… I would have never expected it.'
He leaned back in his chair and pinched his nose. 'I've never seen one like it, so I truly have no idea what it could be. Light, maybe? I've never even read about one like that.'
He shook his head. 'Although I am interested, I cannot bring any attention to this. I'll call the boy in on the pretense of giving him the key to his apartment, and then I will question him about it.
'Because if Danzo hears about a new kekkei genkai…'
Hiruzen could only sigh. The situation with the Uchiha had deteriorated faster than he could have ever imagined, and it only added to his ever present list of stressors. 'I'm getting far too old for this. If only Jiraiya would have accepted the seat…'
.
.
.
The next day, Hatada was "awoken" by a knock at his door.
'Odd…'
He used Mana Vision to see who was knocking on his door. 'Iwamida? Why is he…'
'Mana Sense'
Hatada sent out both a minuscule and light pulse of Mana Sense just in case there was a sensor ninja around. His training had increased his zone to ~100m, so he could at least tell if anyone was in, or around the orphanage that wouldn't normally be.
'A ninja? I guess it was a good idea to keep the Mana Sense light.'
He sensed a ninja at the front door. They weren't trying to hide their presence at all, so he assumed it had something to do with the academy, since he had no other meaningful interaction with any group of ninja.
"Coming~" he said in a fake-groggy voice, trying to mask the fact that he was actually using Mana Meditation.
Hatada put on his shirt and shorts, finally opening the door to see Iwamida's concerned face.
"(whispering) What did you do this time?"
"Hmm? I don't know what you mean, Iwamida-san," Hatada responded.
Iwamida looked exhausted, but a hint of concern and fear leaked through. "*Sigh* It doesn't matter… follow me."
Hatada simply nodded and obeyed, feigning ignorance despite guessing, at least partially, what was going on.
Iwamida opened the door, revealing the ninja. He looked unremarkable, but Hatada knew not to judge a ninja by how they looked.
"Are you Nobokuni Hatada?" the ninja asked curtly.
"Yes."
"You are needed at the Hokage's building. You will be assigned an apartment, as is customary for orphans entering the academy."
Hatada nodded. He hadn't expected to be called over before the first day of school, since they could just give him and all the other orphans their keys there. 'Oh well, I guess the Hokage wants to make an impression on the orphans. We technically have nothing tying us down to this village, so it's not a bad tactic, but this early? There must be another reason…'
"Okay, lead the way," he said calmly.
The ninja smirked. It was a little comedic how the "adult" was practically shaking in his boots at the sight of a "great" ninja while the little kid was perfectly calm and composed… almost indifferent about getting called to the Hokage's office.
"...follow me."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone