Page 83 of The Serpent and the Silver Wolf

When none of them answered, Kiba’s gaze found her, his one visible eye studying her intently. “Aimee?”

She raised an eyebrow.Making me do the work again, are you?

Kiba's mouth pulled up at the corner, as if reading her thoughts.

“Well, Sensei,” she drawled, taking her time. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was some combination of all three Mana techniques.”

He tilted his head. “Go on.”

Her fingers curled in her hair, wanting to impress him despite her irritation with him.

Kiba in teacher mode is... She cut off the thought before it wandered into dangerous territory and forced herself to focus on the question at hand.

“Well,” she started, “first, you’ve got to convince yourself that hanging off the side of a cliff is perfectly normal. So, a little bit of mind Mana for that. Second, you’d need to adjust the surface, somehow, maybe convince it to grip onto you, create little spikes, or whatever, so you stick. That’s your elemental Mana. And…”

“And?” Kiba prompted.

“If you wanted to move or do anything other than just hang there, you'd have to adjust your balance and strength significantly. Otherwise, you’d need to train for that movement for hours every day. That’s where body Mana comes in.”

Kiba stared at her, his gaze thoughtful, as if considering her answer more deeply than she expected. There was a flicker of something—appreciation, maybe—in his eyes before Taiga sputtered, breaking the silence.

“That’s impossible, Aimee. It’s got to be easier than that!”

“It’s not,” Kiba said with a small cough, breaking eye contact with Aimee and turning back to the group. “I’ve never heard it explained quite like that, but Aimee’s right. It’s a mix of all three types of Mana. You have to convince both the rock, or whatever surface you need to traverse, and yourself that you belong there.”

“How on earth are we supposed to do that?” Iruka folded his arms.

“Control and repetition,” Kiba replied calmly. “It takes most shinobi at least a year to feel confident using this skill on different surfaces and angles. But it’s a skill you need to master before we can move on to anything more dangerous.” He shot a glance at Taiga. “Like fireball.”

“I don’t know,” Taiga frowned, glancing nervously at the nearby cliff. “Seems pretty dangerous if we try this and fall off the edge.”

Momoka sputtered a laugh as Kiba gestured to a large boulder and the trees around them. “Then don’t practice on a cliff.”

“Idiot.” Iruka stepped toward the boulder and inspected it with a calculating gaze.

“Right…yeah, that makes sense.” Taiga blushed, quickly turning to pick out a tree for himself.

Momoka cast a glance at Taiga, then followed Iruka, taking a spot on the less steep side of the rock.

“And you?” Kiba asked, his eyes turning to Aimee. “Got a good tree in mind?”

“Something like that.” She scanned the area.

I can think of one tree I’d like to climb, the thought slipped into her mind before she could stop it. The memory of the previous night clung to her like the heat of the afternoon sun, simmering just beneath the surface no matter how hard she tried to focus on the hike or Kiba’s lesson. The feel of his hands on her skin, the fire in his gaze, the unspoken words that hung between them. Being this close to him now wasn’t making it any easier.

“Show me,” he said.

“Right here?” She cleared her throat, quickly looking him up and down before turning away.

Color crept above his mask, tinting his cheeks as he blushed. “Not on me, you deviant,” he choked out. “That tree. Over there.”

“Really? I’m the deviant? That’s not what—”

“Aimee,” he cut her off as he ran a hand through his silver hair, clearly flustered. “I know last night…I said…I…look. We need to focus. On the mission. Can we do that?”

She cocked a hip, arms crossed.

“Please. We can talk later,” he added, his voice softer.