16 Dango and His Journey to Become a Magical Ninja
Dango became Jiraiya's fourth student that he trained during his time in Amegakure. Jiraiya stayed in Amegakure for around four months.
The first day Jiraiya taught Dango was the same day Dango completed his shinobi rank-up mission.
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[Rank-Up Mission: Academy Student]
Description: You have reached five years old. Surely, you have already unlocked your chakra... hopefully. Now, are you strong enough to qualify as an academy student?
Progression: 1/1 Unlock Chakra
1/1 Be taught by a high-ranked shinobi
923/100 Possess 100 units of chakra
Reward: [Shinobi Rank: Academy Student], 10 CC
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At first, he was slightly disappointed with the little rewards. But what can you expect from such an easy rank-up?
He then looked at the rank's description to see if anything changed and was surprised by it. According to the description, his rank granted a boost in his chakra regeneration. Though he didn't know how much it was before, he recovered one chakra point every ten seconds.
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Jiraiya taught Dango the basics of jutsu and chakra manipulation. His siblings also helped whenever needed.
Rapidly, Dango did his best to take in everything he was taught. Thanks to his intelligent stat, he had a much easier time learning and understanding everything than everybody expected.
Amazed by Dango's learning capabilities, Jiraiya decided to give him a chakra induction paper to learn what his affinity was. It would give him a good idea of what he should specialize in.
Generally in the Naruto World, everybody's chakra has an affinity towards one (or multiple) of the five basic nature transformations. Affinities can be genetic, or at least be common in specific families such as the Uchiha Clan and their affinity towards the fire nature.
Chakra induction papers are used to determine what affinity a person's chakra has. These papers are made from special trees that are grown and fed with chakra. When exposed to the slightest hint of chakra, it would react differently based on the chakra's affinity.
Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato all came to watch Dango's attempt. they were curious to know what affinity(s) their little brother would get.
When Dango held the paper and released his chakra. Thankfully, the paper reacted to the chakra. He and Jiraiya were worried it wouldn't sense anything.
Immediately, the paper displayed two different reactions simultaneously.
The first half of the paper started to expand and swell in size. Soon after, it began to shrink. It continued to cycle between the two different sizes.
The other half became hazy and transparent. It looked like someone could stick a finger through that part without affecting the paper as a whole.
Dango was confused by the reaction. It didn't look like any of the basic nature transformations that his teacher had described beforehand. Seeing his confusion, Jiraiya quickly explained.
The two affinities that the chakra induction paper sensed were Yin and Yang Release. They exist asides from the five basic nature transformations, acting as the source for all non-elemental jutsus.
Yin Release uses spiritual energy to control imagination and create form out of nothingness.
Yang Release uses physical energy to control vitality and grant life to forms that have none.
Jiraiya also mentioned that it was rare for an individual to have either one of the affinities and were usually concentrated in certain clans like the Nara and Akimichi clans. Furthermore, it was even rarer for someone to have both of those affinities at the same time.
"Jutsus under the yin and yang release categories require advanced chakra control. It'll take a lot of effort to reach the required precision. One of my affinities is to the yang release nature transformation. With it, I can grow and manipulate my hair." Jiraiya said as his white hair grew longer and picked up Dango with zero effort.
"I'm sorry, but I don't wanna learn that," Dango replied as he uncomfortably squirmed around in Jiraiya's hair.
"That's fine, wasn't expecting you to, I was just giving an example. It is better to discover your path."
"I also have yang release!" Konan chimed in as a paper shuriken levitated in front of her, "I use yang release to manipulate my paper!"
Jiraiya let Dango down and released him, "Just like that. There are two well-known categories of jutsus that fall under the yin and yang release. They are genjutsu and medical ninjutsu. I can only teach you genjutsu since I have some experience with it. As for the latter, I know little to nothing about it unlike my comrade, Tsunade. Do you remember her? Maybe I can ask her to tell you some basics about it."
Dango was interested in those two, "I'd like to learn those, please!"
"Very well. I'll do my best. I'll contact Tsunade tonight."
Soon after, Jiraiya began to teach Dango the basics of genjutsu. As for medical ninjutsu, he managed to obtain some basic books about the topic that Tsunade still had soon after.
Konan and Nagato both have yang release as one of their affinities. They wanted to learn about medical ninjutsu. While Dango wasn't reading the books, they would look through them. Jiraiya sternly warned them to never use practice it on another human being without a teacher properly guiding them.
While Dango was steadily compiling his knowledge with medical ninjutsu, he made remarkable progress in genjutsu. Jiraiya was very surprised by Dango's capabilities. He told him to continue practicing it to get better at genjutsu.
Jiraiya also kept his promise to training Dango's body and teaching him how to wield different weapons. He practiced with shurikens, kunai, swords, and bows. However, Dango didn't feel a connection to any of them. He didn't know which weapon he should main.
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[Vitality: 6] >> [Vitality: 8]
[Strength: 7] >> [Strength: 10]
[Agility: 5] >> [Agility: 8]
[Intelligence: 13] >> [Intelligence: 15]
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Other than that, Dango learned something new about the jutsu section. He needed to be proficient in them for them to show up in the section. It was similar to how he obtained skills as he had to perform actions repeatedly.
When it was time for Jiraiya to return to Konoha, he sparred with his students for the last time. Dango also participated in the fight against his teacher's shadow clone. Though he didn't do much except lead the clone to certain areas where his siblings could successfully attack it, defeating it at last.
Now that they were ready to survive on their own, Jiraiya said his goodbyes and left Amegakure.
"Goodbye, Sensei!" Dango, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato yelled as they waved at their sensei.
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[Status]
Name: Dango Sumihara
Age: 5
Sorcerer Grade: None
Shinobi Rank: Academy Student
Cursed Coins: 80
Vitality: 8
Strength: 10
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Cursed Energy: 4,622 (Recovers 1 per 20 seconds)
Chakra: 1,638 (Recovers 1 per 10 seconds)
Innate Cursed Technique: Dungeon Formation
Jujutsu: None
Jutsus: [Summon: Random Tiny Toad], [Summon: Random Tiny Snake], [Summon: Random Tiny Slug], [Expand for E-Rank Jutsus (3)]
Skills: [Expand for Older Skills (11)], [Basic Ninjutsu], [Basic Taijutsu], [Basic Genjutsu], [Basic Medical Ninjutsu], [Basic Shurikenjutsu], [Basic Kenjutsu], [Basic Kyujutsu]
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[Expand for E-Rank Ninjutsus (3)]
Body Replacement Jutsu
Clone Jutsu
Transformation Jutsu
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[Basic Ninjutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in ninjutsu. The ninjutsu you use will feel slightly alive.
To advance the skill, successfully cast ninjutsu from each of the basic nature transformations.
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[Basic Taijutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in taijutsu. You take less damage when getting attacked while you are using taijutsu.
To advance the skill, defeat several ninjas of the same rank with only taijutsu.
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[Basic Genjutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in genjutsu. Your genjutsu will become slightly unnoticeable to entrapped foes.
To advance the skill, defeat several ninjas while they are trapped in your genjutsu.
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[Basic Medical Ninjutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in medical ninjutsu. Wounds bandaged by you heal slightly faster than normal.
To advance the skill, heal several minor wounds and concoct a very weak poison.
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[Basic Shurikenjutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in shurikenjutsu. If you catch a foe's shuriken (or any bladed, hand-held weapon), you can throw it back twice as strong.
To advance the skill, defeat several ninjas of the same rank with only shurikenjutsu.
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[Basic Kenjutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in kenjutsu. You can hold the blade of any type of sword with your bare hands without taking much damage.
To advance the skill, defeat several ninjas of the same rank with only kenjutsu.
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[Basic Kyujutsu]
Description: Slightly boosts your proficiency in kyujutsu. It is difficult for your bow to break when you are wielding it.
To advance the skill, defeat several ninjas of the same rank with only kyujutsu.
