5 Chapter 5
Authors Note:
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Chapter 5
[Naruto Uzumaki]
Roaming his eyes over everything he took with him from his parent's home, he suddenly stopped on one specific book.
"That's it! I will start with, The Basics of Chakra." exclaimed Naruto.
That is presumably the best point to start. Considering that every shinobi skill is based upon the manipulation of chakra, it is the best starting point.
Clearing the table of everything, other than the book on chakra theory and a notebook for notetaking, he delved immediately in the book and started taking notes.
One month passed since that evening and Naruto read two of the three books he had on the topic of chakra. He unfortunately did not have a ton of time, considering he had to attend the academy at the same time and work on other things as well.
He would have loved to just sit at home and pour over his books and delve into the theory of chakra manipulation, but he had to work on other things as well. For one he had to work on his physique. And he did not mean Taijutsu by that. That was a can of worms on its own he needed to tackle at some point.
No. What he meant was getting a suitable body for a shinobi. Ok…maybe he should not exaggerate. It was not like he was fat or particularly weak. He was just…average. At the biweekly physical test the academy conducted throughout the year, he was always somewhere in the middle. He was not particularly fast or strong, which considering that he was an Uzumaki Jinchuuriki is pitiful.
That is why he trained his body by doing the basic exercises they were taught by the academy. Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, sprints or weighted runs, etc.. Considering he only started two months ago with this new routine he already saw the benefits of doing them. No longer was he merely averaging in the physical tests. He was slowly approaching the upper third of the two 40 strong classes of his year. Climbing from the 46th place to 27th place in two months was a nice motivation for keeping his exercise routine up and even increasing its intensity.
Apart from that, he still practiced the twelve standard handsigns. Considering his extremely large chakra reserves, it would be a sacrilege not to become exceptional in Ninjutsu, for which the accurate and fast forming of handsigns is a must.
I can still remember the incredible speed, that Itachi was able in forming them.
Reaching that level of competence and even surpassing it was something he thrived for.
Unfortunately, he soon realized that only forming the handsigns could bring you so far. His fingers were simply too stiff at the beginning, which was why he needed to increase his dexterity. It was also the first time he asked for help, because he did not know where to start with training something like that.
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Flashback
[Iruka Umino]
Iruka did something he began to do quite frequently the last few weeks, since Naruto Uzumaki returned after his month-long absence from the academy.
He observed one of his students. Specifically, Naruto Uzumaki himself.
He really changed extensively since he returned. was a thought that not only crossed his mind, if the glances the Nara heir were giving to his red-haired classmate was anything to go by.
Naruto became incredibly more focused and even caught up with the curriculum. If his newest theoretical test results would not have been proof enough, the answers he provided to the few probing questions Iruka directed at him cemented that theory.
Was it really the near fall, that changed him so much?
Iruka had his doubts about that but did not want to intrude too much in his students personal life.
His thoughts were interrupted by the bell, which coincided with the end of the day and his students were just to happy to get out and enjoy the day. Turning his attention back to the paperwork on his desk, he was just about to start grading the latest test about navigating the desert of the Land of Wind when he heard a throat clearing if front of him.
Looking up he was surprised to find himself looking at his redhaired student, who occupied so much of thoughts lately.
"Naruto? What can I do for you? Do you have a problem with the assigned work?" he questioned with a small smile at the boy.
"No. I just wanted to ask you for some advice concerning something I was practicing." replied Naruto.
Surprised, but always ready to help, he motioned for him to continue.
"Well, since a few weeks I am practicing the hand seals to form them correctly and faster than before. My problem is that I reached a bottleneck. I am stuck with the speed I have since before two weeks ago and my fingers are feeling stiff. Is there something I can do, to get better at them?" asked a slightly nervous Naruto.
That's a surprise. He is practicing his hand seals. I think he did not even know half of them two months ago.
Thinking about the problem for a moment, he asked Naruto to demonstrate his hand seals. Observing him for a few seconds, he asked him to stop.
"You already are on the level of genin concerning the speed and accuracy of your hand seals." he began. "What should help is doing a few dexterity exercises targeting the fingers and hands."
Showing him the necessary stretches, Naruto was about to leave the room, when Iruka called out to him.
"Naruto!"
Turning back to Iruka, Naruto heard something that made him smile, when he left the academy for the first time.
"I am proud of how hard you worked the last few months. Keep it up and I am sure you will become a great shinobi one day!" he told his student sincerely.
He might have not liked Naruto at the beginning and did his best just to ignore him, but over the years he could not lie to himself and say, that the boy did not remind him of himself, when he was an academy student. Naruto may have the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, but he no longer felt hate or blamed Naruto for the burden he carried. Naruto was just another one of his students he tried to help to the best of his abilities.
A few seconds of silence later, Naruto answered with a "Thank you, sensei!" and left the classroom for maybe the first time with a genuine smile.
Flashback end
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The help Iruka-sensei gave him, allowed for his progress to accelerate again.
Working on so many aspects of his shinobi life meant that he did not have a lot of time solely to study the books, he took from his parents' home. Nevertheless, he did finish the basic and intermediate books on chakra theory. They were in one word, enlightening.
He never understood how important that knowledge was, and the memories of his past life did not contain much information about them either, excluding some fan theories he did not pay much mind at the time.
Chakra in its most basic explanation is simply one type of energy every living being possesses. It consists of Physical Energy and Mental Energy.
The physical energy, also called Yang, is obtained by the vitality of every single cell in the body and can be increased by physical exercises.
The mental energy, also called Yin, is obtained by several factors like intelligence, wisdom, experience amount of knowledge.
These together form Chakra.
Because of the individuality of every person, it is considered next to impossible to have a perfect Yin-Yang balance of 50%. While Yin-chakra grows while we are alive and cannot be stopped or decreased, that is not the case for Yang-chakra. The human body can get stronger, but also can get weaker with less training, injury, or age. Thus, every person has a unique Yin-Yang balance.
In comparison it is important to know, that certain jutsu need a specific amount of Yin or Yang chakra, which means that if an individual has a limited amount of the required type, their overall chakra is ill suited for that specific jutsu.
As an example for Konoha, the Yamanaka and Akimichi Clans are suitable as a representation. The signature mind related jutsu of the Yamanaka are heavily focused on the manipulation of Yin-Chakra. In comparison the body enlargement of the Akimichi lean more to a requirement of strong Yang-Chakra. This means, that if the chakra of a Akimichi clan member is, for one reason or the other, more inclined to Yin-Chakra, their ability and effectivity to their own Clan-Jutsu will be reduced.
Fortunately, there only is a small amount of Jutsu, which require a strong inclination to Yin or Yang. Therefor it is advised to thrive for a balanced Yin-Yang ratio. This will allow one shinobi to master a more widespread amount of Jutsu.
Another aspect which is inherited beside the inclination are the so-called nature transformations.
There are five basic nature transformations which every shinobi can learn to use. These five are Water, Fire, Lightning, Earth and Wind.
Some individuals are inclined to one or more of these and it comes to them more easy to use Jutsu of that kind. The cause for such inclinations is founded in the chakra pathways and chakra points or tenketsu. The human body possesses a total of 361 chakra points which are connected to each other by chakra pathways. These tenketsu and pathways define with which speed and intensity we can move our chakra from one point to another.
That is possible because these limit the chakra flow in the body. While the tenketsu work like a valve by slightly opening and closing, the chakra pathways are the pipes which allow for the chakra to flow from on valve to another.
Consequently, the amount of chakra is restricted by these two factors. By continues use of the tenketsu and chakra pathways, they can be widened, which ultimately means that more chakra can be used without damage. These correlates with the power of the Jutsu.
What is important concerning elemental affinity is, that specific pathways in our system are naturally wider than others. That means that Person A, who has naturally wider chakra pathways between tenketsu, which are more used for Nature Transformation of Nature A, has a 'Chakra Affinity' for Nature A.
This means that people can learn to use every of the five basic nature transformations and is not restricted by their chakra affinity. It only means, that they are naturally more inclined to one(more) specific element(s) and can use them more easily at the beginning because these specific pathways are naturally wider.
'This was only the summarized information on the first two books I took with me.' Naruto thought to himself closing the second book he read on chakra theory.
"That was really interesting information." mumbled Naruto to himself. He was of course aware of the Yin and Yang aspect of chakra and that there were things called Chakra points where the chakra was coming out, but the academy never got into so much detail.
There was not even such a detailed explanation on the different nature transformations.
Looking over at the third book on his bookcase, he thought about starting to read it, but one glance at his clock told him, that it would not be his best decision.
Sigh.
