So I know it's been a long time since I've updated this story but what can I say. My other fanfic was just more popular than this one. However, I will try and update this story just as much if I can but to do that I need you to fav, follow and leave a review on this story to show me you want more.

P.S next update will be 'The Red Chain Of Fate'

Ch 17 Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

"Holy cow, Jake!"

"Jake where did you get this?"

"Got it from a secret room in the Ice King's bedroom and trust me when I say you don't want to know how I found it. Seriously, I'm going to have nightmares about it for at least a few days."

"Don't care Jake, just put it back where you found it along with all the other stuff you have stolen."

"What, but why!" Both Finn and Jake called out in unison.

"Jake, this is a wizard's book and in the wizard's code of conduct, 'thou shalt not steal another wizard's book.' Put it back, the Ice King is a very crazy powerful ice wizard. If he found out you stole his book, especially one as valuable as that one if it's real, he'd come after us."

"Huntress, why are you bringing up the wizard's code for? No one really follows it anyway. I mean we've taken on loads of wizards that broke the wizard's code all the time when they try using dark magic and stuff."

"Actually using dark magic isn't really against the rules. It's just… what the word I'm looking for? Frowned upon? Yes, it's just really frowned upon… in public that is."

"Okay that's very disconcerting but whatever. The point is wizards break the rules all the time."

"Actually, very few wizards break the wizard's code," she corrected.

"Can you let me finish? What I'm trying to get at is that this book doesn't belong to the Ice King. It belongs to Finn."

"Jake, what do you even mean by that?"

"Well, you see Huntress before you came along Finn, Jermaine and me."

You mean Finn, Jermaine and I." she corrected again.

"STOP DOING THAT!" Jake shouted. "As I was saying, Finn, Jermaine, and I were doing research on Finn's Human ancestors and we learned a lot about Finn's heritage."

"Yeah, Finn told me about that."

"I really did. Just today in fact when you were gone looting."

"Well let me guess, you also think I did nothing and just lazed about doing nothing did you?"

"No, I don't think that. I know you did nothing besides reading ninja comics all day because Finn told me."

"It true Jake I did tell her that."

"Well, what you don't know is I did do real research and I learned how to tell real genuine human artifacts from fake ones and let me tell you this sister. This book right here is a real human artifact from before the war. Suck it!"

"And how can you tell that? Most stuff from back then is all mostly damaged in some way and that book looks somewhat new to me."

"That's the easy part," Jake rolled his eyes and flipped the book over to the back cover and showed Huntress the fine print. "Printed in 2022 in Tokyo, Japan."

"Lucky find," she groaned crossing her arms.

Smiling to himself Jake stared to flip through the book to find the jutsu he saw before and show it off to Finn and Huntress.

"Hey Jake, what are you doing?" Finn asked curiously at his brother's actions.

"Trying to find a spell… I mean jutsu." He corrected himself. "I saw before and wanted to show it to you."

"Cool."

"Not cool, Jake you can't just use a spell just by reading a book. It takes years of practice, study, and understanding to learn even some basic spells."

"It's not a spell Huntress, it's a jutsu. And you don't read all of whatever you just said. I read the introduction page when I found it and it said all you need to do is do the hand signs and focused on the jutsu and BAM ninja power."

"I'm still pretty sure you still need some practice fist before you attempt this Jake."

'True but, the jutsu I want is among the lowest ranked one's here. Even a total novice with little magic can pull it off and since I'm a magical dog with stretching powers it'll be a cinch for me."

"Jake you're not magical in any way shape or form. Trust me on this, I've got wizard eyes. Your power is more of a mutation than anything else and even if you have stretching magic that's considered the lowest of the lowest forms of magic."

"Trust me on this Huntress, I'm magical. I've been magical ever since I played in a magic mud puddle when I was a puppy." Jake defended his magical power as he was still flipping pages to find the one he wanted.

Huntress could only roll her eyes at Jake's explanation on where he got his powers from.

"Uh bro, I think you only prove Huntress's point with that explanation," Finn added.

However Jake didn't hear Finn, nor would he really care as he had just found the jutsu he wanted to do.

"Ah, here it is. Ice nuncuhks," Excited, Jake started reading the enchanted text out as well as doing the hands signs needed and when he finished. Nothing happened. "Hey, what gives?"

"Did you do it right, Jake?"

"I think I did. Just wait I'll do it again." Jake repeated the jutsu but again was met with failure. "AHHHH!" Jake screamed out in fury "Finn here, hold this for me." Jake demands as he shoves the book onto Finn too hold it open for him.

With Jake busy trying and failing with no progression with the jutsu Finn looked over to Huntress.

"Hey Huntress, do you think you could do ice ninja jutsu? Because if you could that would be sweet."

Huntress blushed at that but straighten herself out quickly. "No, I don't think I could Finn. You see Jake is both right and wrong about that jutsu thing not being real 'Magic' but it's very close to it."

"So what, like apples and oranges?"

"Kind of like that yes. For you see Finn my people are one with the forest and nature. This ninja stuff that Jake is trying to use is of the cold and ice, whereas mine is of warmth and growth. They are of two conflicting forces that do not mix that well with one another."

"So like water and fire ten?"

"Yes, Finn that is a more adequate comparison."

After a few more minutes of failure on Jake's attempt to do the jutsu he and finally given up on trying to make the ice nunchucks. In a fit of frustration, Jake fell down on the icy cold floor and just laid there for a moment until Finn spoke up.

"You okay there, Jake?" Finn asked worried that his brother might have overexerted himself.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jake waved off. "Just tired is all."

"I told you it wouldn't work for you, Jake."

"I don't want to hear it for you and beside you can't do it any better than I could."

"Jake, I know I can't do it as I've said to Finn that this is not within my reach to do because unlike you I fully understand my powers and have trained to hone them to a fine point for years with intense training. While you use your power on a more instinctual level of understanding."

With all of this back and forth between Huntress and Jake, Finn was just standing there saying nothing to their conversation. As he was just watching their conversation unfold like he normally did, he started to get curious about the book in his hands. Jake had said this book belongs to his human ancestors and so by default it sort of belonged to him since he was the only known human alive in Ooo and the Ice King was... Finn didn't really know what the Ice King was, but he couldn't be a human that for sure.

Finn could somewhat feel the book calling out to him much like when he first saw his sword but not as strong. Feeling the urge to read the book that was still open on the ice nunchucks jutsu that Jake was doing not too long ago. He started reading the page, following the instructions word for word, and examined the small illustrations that they came with. When he was done with that he laid the book down gently on the floor and did the hand signs.

With both Huntress and Jake arguing spiraling off topic from Jake's powers being legitimately magical in nature to how one properly skins an evil bear, it was Huntress that saw what Finn was doing and abruptly stopped her argument. Jake, seeing that Huntress stopped arguing with him, stopped and looked over to where she was looking at, both and seeing that Finn was trying out the jutsu.

Finn was an expert with using his hands to do stuff with as he was a pretty self-reliant kind of guy which he kind of picked up from seeing other people do stuff. Like seeing how Jake would cook and play instruments or how Huntress hunted and tracked game or crafting a bow and arrow out of twigs. Granted he was no master like Jake and Huntress in their fields of expertise, but he liked to think he was well rounded in comparison to them. As Jake couldn't make anything that he couldn't eat or how Huntress can't cook anything that required fire as she mostly liked to eat meat raw. She said it more flavorful that way.

So when he was doing the hand signs he could have easily blitzed through them, but he chose not to. Instead, he took his time when he did each hand sign, concentrating on them. He was so focused, he didn't notice that Jake and Huntress were looking at him from the side. They just stood there quietly, unmoving, watching, and waiting for Finn to do what he was doing.

With bated breath, Finn finished the jutsu and then a small, bright blue and white flash of light formed a cold pair of ice nunchucks in his hands. Seeing the two conpanions now quiet, he felt them breathing in all the details they had to offer him and what he found out wasn't what he expected. The ice nunchucks he conjured were of very, very poor quality. The chain links were uneven in both size and thickness. The handle on one side was hollow and light which would shatter upon coming into contact from anything other than air. The other handle, however, had the exact opposite problem. It was far too weighty and the grip had one noticeable spike on the center. All and all, not a bad first attempt considering what he just saw from his brother.

"Holy cow, Finn! You did it!" Jake cheered running up to his brother to bear hug him. "You did the jutsu and may I say, not bad bro." Jake congratulated Finn before he took the ice nunchucks from Finn and began swinging them around.

"Jake no! Those nunchucks are…" Finn tried to warn him but he was too late.

As Jake was twirling the nunchucks around like a fool he gripped the hollow handle with too much force and it shattered in his hands. This made Jake loss control of the other half of the nunchuck causing the heavy spiked end to implant it on his forehead. Luckily for Jake, the spike was small and was nowhere near strong enough to pierce his thick skull, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jake screamed out loud, the pain he felt toppling him over onto the floor in tears.

"Looks like you need some practice with this new jutsu, Finn," Huntress pointed out.

"Yeah, I already know that."

"Just so we're clear, when we get home make sure I'm around when you do practice with these ninja ice powers, so that I can help give you some pointers on how to use it properly."

"Thanks, but didn't you say before that this ninja ice stuff and your nature jazz is like fire and water?"

"Yes I did say that, but even with all their differences there are some similarities that I could help you with."

After Huntress finished what she was saying, Jake got off the floor having recovered from the nunchuck to his face incident still with a bit of pain in his head but nothing he couldn't handle.

"Yeah, Finn needs the help." Jake agreed with Huntress's plan for helping Finn. "I don't think my head can take another hit like that. Also what gives? How can Finn do the ice ninja jutsu while I couldn't?" Jake asked but soon came to a conclusion. "Wait a minute, Finn might have some kind of ninja bloodline heritage or something like that. I read it in a book of ninjas once. That's how some ninjas get their start in their ninja careers, they're just born into."

"That would totally be mathematical if that is true. Just think about it, my ancestors kicking evil in the butt all stealthy and such."

"Mmm, that is a possibility," Huntress pondered that thought that Finn may be from some ancient family of ninjas but something wasn't felling right. "Hey Finn, hand me the book, I want to check something."

"Oh, sure thing."

When Finn handed the book over, Huntress thanked him and started to read through trying to uncover if anything in this book that may lead to some answers to Finn's ability to use what she perceived as magic. It was strange seeing Finn use any form of magic as she herself tried seeing if Finn could use her type of magic only for him to fail. He didn't have the strong connection to nature needed to use it.

"Hm, that explains it."

"What is it?"

"It says here in fine print on the first page 'human use only.' Guess that's why Finn can use it and not you Jake," she pointed out.

"Oh, that's bull shit!" Jake burst out in anger at his wasted effort and time but he immediately calmed down. "But it also proves my point. Finn was meant to have this book its part of his heritage and I don't care what rules we break. We're keeping it, right Finn?"

"I don't know Jake, Huntress said-"

"I agree," Huntress spoke over Finn.

"But I thought you said it was against the wizard's code to steal from wizards?"

"I did," Huntress said her voice calm and collected as she handed the book back to Jake. "But that rule really doesn't apply to you and Jake also this book isn't really wizard related so you're safe by a technicality." With the book in hand and Huntress's somewhat blessing to steal a real book he then handed the book to his brother.

"Here Finn might as well have you do some light reading before we save the princesses. You never know, you may learn a cool ninja move before we face off against the Ice King."

"Thanks but you're still going to put the other stuff you stole back bro," Finn added. "I know that the Ice King may not be a good guy, but Gumball did say he wasn't a bad guy and the other stuff you got kind of makes me feel like a petty criminal."

"Fuck! Fine," Jake huffed in disappointment as he walked off back in the secret room where he got all the secret ninja stuff from. "But I'm keeping the ninja outfit!" he called out from the hall.

Both Finn and Huntress rolled their eyes at that, but they let it slide and waited for Jake to return from where he got the stuff. Once he did, it'll be then they will face the Ice King and save the princesses he had captured. Hopefully with no setbacks or with unfortunate events. Hopefully.