With two palms, he spread the scroll across the wooded floor. Immediately, the golden parchment sprung to life with light and energy, producing a jumble of information and a perfect portrait of Kankuro of the Desert in his GNW garb.

“Any luck?” A pink-haired ANBU glanced over at the scrolls laid out all across the room. The owner, a Lightning-element user with white hair and a dark cloak, fell to the ground with a sigh.

“Used up sixty scrolls and no info on Utakata or Fu,” he murmured.

“Hey, this is a prototype system.” The ANBU chuckled. “It’s bound to be a bit tricky.”

Indeed, it was a prototype system. The experiment had originally been called “Project: Copycat”, in which a select few individuals from the ANBU organization were given the unique ability to create identical clones of other individuals.

In order to do that, these “Copycats” were required to obtain information on those they wanted to imitate. While scrounging info on Konahagakure locals like Kakashi Hatake or Asuma Sarutobi was easy, finding anything on those outside the village was often difficult.

As such, the village council had developed an easier way to gather info: through a series of golden scrolls, known as “Seal Scrolls”, that would obtain a random piece of information similar to a gacha system. The owner of the scroll would select a “category” of information, and the scroll would automatically do a light scan of the Konohagakure historical chronicles and information databases.

Unfortunately, the scrolls were still prototypes. Rarely would they provide enough information on the spot for anyone to activate “Copycat”; often, one would have to ac*ulate data on any one individual over a grueling amount of scrolls.

The Lightning-element user shrugged, glancing at the pink-haired ANBU. “Well it’s been a year since the Copycat experiment was introduced. I don’t know if they can still be considered prototypes. By the way, Asaka, have any spare scrolls?”

“No can do, Teal.” Asaka, the pink-haired ANBU, s* her head with a giggle. “But… well, it has been a year after all. Scar and I pooled our resources together and got you something.”

“Huh?” Teal shoved the used scrolls into a messy pile on the side of the room, where hundreds of similar ones sat dormantly.

“What do you mean, ‘huh’? When we get you a gift, you might as well say something like ‘Thanks, Scar! You’re awesome!’ or something like that.” Right on cue, a brown-haired Copycat walked into the room. Like many others in the group, he was a master of the fire element; a Scarlet Blaze, as they called them. With one hand, he was sipping a cup of sauce; alongside him was a perfect clone of the mysterious Akatsuki man known as Tobi.

“Well… thanks, guys. It’s been a great year working with you.” Teal’s usually-stoic face lit up with a smile.

“Here, take this.”

With one swift motion, the Tobi imitation reached into its cloak and tossed an eerily familiar piece of metal in his direction. Teal nimbly caught it.

No way… is this…

“I presume this is what you were looking for?” Scar smirked.

This was exactly what he was looking for.

•••

Within Teal’s first month as a Copycat, he was given a most peculiar assignment: to keep an eye on the local Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. In doing so, he managed to sign up with them in the Chunin Exams.

It was in those exams that he noticed him.

Teal wasn’t exactly sure when he first piqued his attention. Maybe it was before the first exam, when he forced a bespectacled young man to keel over and vomit despite not even hitting him. Perhaps it was in the Forty-Fourth training ground, when he aptly saw through Sakura Haruno’s traps, then promptly obliterated a log by touching it once.

It might’ve been when the ANBU captain sent him to retrieve a sample of the serpent that had randomly appeared in the Forty-Fourth training ground. He had been on the way back to the village when he encountered him again.

Even as he shouted “Hand over the sample or I’ll take it myself!”, Teal could see a mixture of uncertainty in his lone eye. His movements were almost reluctant, as if he was unsure about what he was doing. Interestingly enough, his two comrades showed none of this as they fought for the sample.

When he received news that the Shukaku had killed him, Teal was unsure how to respond. He felt like his story had been cut off so abruptly; that single, lonely eye, that wise voice seemed to hide an intriguing mystery… and Teal wanted to find out what it was.

As the time passed - through Sasuke Uchiha’s betrayal, through the District Merge between Village Districts 47, 51, and 55 - he kept looking for information on this mysterious boy. The golden Seal Scrolls were completely unhelpful in finding anything on him; he pleaded and pleaded to the Council for permission to collect data on him, but they were steadfast and stubborn.

“There is no reason to try and activate your Copycat powers on that boy. He was just an unimportant goon. Your effort would be better spent on attempting to Copycat some of the legendary Kages, such as Mei Terumi or our Tsunade Senju. The Seal Scroll system was developed specifically to easily gain information on people like Mei, who, as a Kage, is hard to Copycat due to the difficulty in obtaining data about her.”

Their answer didn’t satisfy him. He presented a lengthy and detailed argument to Qolem, an ambassador for Project: Copycat’s overseers, on why he should be allowed to investigate the boy. He outlined the sheer oddity of Seal Scrolls that provided data on things as specific as Hiruzen Sarutobi’s personal summon or two faceless, emotionless members of Konoha Root, yet had absolutely nothing on the mysterious boy. He lost countless hours of sleep looking over the Chunin Exam’s records in an attempt to find the tiniest clue as to what his story was.

His groupmates had always been jestingly supportive of him, never forgetting his devotion for this untold story. “How do we truly know he’s dead?” joked his group leader. “He might be in hiding somewhere. Heck, Danzo Shimura might be him in disguise!”

“I bet you probably have a body pillow of that boy,” suggested a Copycat from another District.

"Isn't that common knowledge?" offered another.

•••

Now… Scar and Asaka might’ve given him a ticket straight to his ultimate goal.

He slid the gauntlet over his right arm, testing its feel, embracing the cool metal’s texture against his skin. He wanted to know what it felt like to be in his shoes, how much chakra it took for him to use it...

Closing his eyes and focusing his chakra into the gauntlet, he-

*SHIIIIIIIIIIII*

The sharp sound shattered his concentration into fragmented shards.

“Ow,” muttered Asaka in a matter-of-fact tone.

“You *,” chided Scar jokingly.

Ignoring his friends’ comments, Teal slid his eyes shut again and focused. The boy had described his power as using chakra to control the sound and direct it…

*SHIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiii*

The sound formed a sharp spear and leapt through the imitation Tobi’s body, making his torso fluctuate in and out of existence with a chuckle.

“There we go,” murmured Teal. “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this. Thanks again, guys.”

“Care to try activating Copycat on him now?” Scar took a sip from his sauce. “Part of Copycatting is understanding their skills, after all.”

“Alright.” With the Melody Arm firmly wrapped around his wrist, Teal nodded and stood up. His fingers and hands began to dart around rapidly as he executed a string of lightning-quick hand signs.

It had taken an entire year, but he was finally going to see his wish granted.

“Secret Technique: Copycat Jutsu!”

*Congratulations! S47-Dosu opened a 1st Anniversary Gift and received a 3-star ninja, Dosu Kinuta!*

(Apologies for the messy formatting. I had copied and pasted this from a Google doc so things were a bit messy.)