Chapter 6

The Next Morning, Training Ground 7, 8am

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yells at our sensei. I'm just glad it is not at me, that girl has one hell of a temper.

"Well you see, I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi cheerful greets us. Surprisingly he's only two hours late.

"Did you find your path? There are many perils on the road of life, pitfalls and wrong turns. I would hate for you to lose your way." I cheekily sass my new sensei.

Sasuke looks pretty mad at me for saying that. Sakura still looks pissed at Kakashi.

With joy on his face (I think, that mask is very effective) Kakashi ruffles my hair.

"You know, I think you are going to be my favorite." Kakashi sighs and gazes forlornly into the distance.

What a drama queen.

"So! Training! What do you all want to learn first?" Kakashi is asking us what we want to learn? How does he expect us to possibly know what our options are?

Let's see, crazy elemental just is out. Not only is this our first real training day but we are gennin. We don't have enough chakra yet. It's actually impressive that Sasuke can already use the Grand Fireball.

I really don't want to deal with him teaching taijutsu. I bet he'd beat us into the ground and call it practice. I want to put that off for as long as possible.

Like taijutsu, I don't want to be put through Kakashi's genjutsu training. He'd either show us horrifying things or scar us mentally by using his favorite novel for inspiration.

That leaves low level ninjutsu as our best option. It is the least likely to get us hurt. Unless he decides to demonstrate them by launching them at us. What can't be do that with?

"Chakra strings. I want to learn how to use chakra strings." I have some pretty cool ideas that require chakra strings and they're relatively safe to learn.

"No. Pick something else." He dismisses my suggestion instantly.

"Kakashi-sensei. Consider teaching me how to make chakra strings you paying me back for the Thousand Years Of Death move. You owe me for that. That was the most humiliating moment of my life." I desperately need to repress that memory.

"Alright. Just never mention that technique again. I don't think I could ever live that down if the other jonin heard about that." Kakashi sheepishly replies.

Blackmail material! Wait a moment. Something feels off about this.

"You just made that move up right then?" I ask him. He couldn't have, it was too well executed. He must have done it before.

"Yep! Spur of the moment kind of thing."

"How did you even come up with that? NO! Don't answer. I know what is in that book."

"I don't think you are my favorite anymore." Kakashi tenderly pulls out his orange book and lovingly cradles it.

Nope! Not having this conversation. I don't care if Icha Icha is good or not.

"Whatever you say. So. Chakra strings? How do they work?" I press forward. I desperately want to change the subject.

Kakashi opens his book and eagerly sticks his nose into it. He's not taking this seriously at all, just like the bell test.

"Just push chakra out of your fingertips. The strings themselves are not hard to make, and they use very little chakra. Once they are formed you only need to add chakra if you want to make the string longer. The difficulty with chakra strings is manipulating them to do what you want. That is why puppet masters usually use one puppet. It is hard to manipulate that many strings at once."

Huh. That was surprisingly thorough. He really knows what he is talking about. Maybe he is taking this seriously.

Kakashi turns a page and breaks into a giggle fit.

I was wrong, he's just good at multitasking.

"Ahem." I clear my throat to try to get him back on task.

"Oh, right you're still here. The easiest way to start with strings is to attach it to something you are touching, then moving it away from your hand. The longer the distance, the more difficult it is to manipulate."

Can't believe he's still reading. You'd think he'd have the common decency to at least watch my first attempt to see if I screw anything up.

Picking up a rock off the ground I attach my chakra to it. I let it extend a couple inches from my index finger. I poke it with my other hand and the rock swings back and forth like a pendulum.

"Like this?" There is no way it is really that easy. I could have started practicing this months ago.

"Yep! Just like that. You're a natural." Huh. I guess it really is that easy.

Sasuke demandingly stomps forward. I guess he had enough of being ignored.

"Kakashi, teach me how-"

"Nope! Sorry but Alvarcus took up all the time! Let's go to the mission desk and get our fist D-rank!" Kakashi cheerfully starts walking away, his nose still centimeters from his book.

Sasuke pulls me to the side and glares at me. "Tomorrow. You don't say anything."

"He-he, yeah. He's all yours."

"Come on boys! Kakashi and I are going to beat you there!" Sakura is way too happy. She must not know what D-ranks mean.

One Week Later

"I hate D-ranks! Why is painting a fence a mission!" Sakura angrily smacks her paint brush into the half painted fence after a measly five minutes of silence.

Poor Sakura, she can't stand silence. It must be hard for her being on this team. Sasuke and I both don't talk that much, and Kakashi... well he's Kakashi.

"I find painting fences to be one of the better missions. I get to use my chakra strings!" Yep, that's right. I am painting a fence with 10 paintbrushes at once. One brush per finger.

Best. Mission. Ever.

Chakra strings are so useful! I can't believe more shinobi don't use them. Is something out of your reach? Chakra string. Will one kunai not cut enough? Use chakra strings to hold 10. Is your pregnant kaa-san being lazy and doesn't want to bend over so she calls you from across the room to pick up what she dropped? Chakra string!

Okay so kaa-san wasn't being lazy I was. I admit it! But I need the practice! Three birds with one stone! I picked up the bowl for kaa-san, I got in some more chakra string practice, and I didn't have to get off the couch!

"You know Alvarcus, when you asked me to teach you chakra strings last week I didn't think you would stick with them. Only puppet masters use chakra strings as much as you do. Do you want to be a puppet master?" Kakashi has a good point.

Do I want to be a puppet master? Eh, not really. That sounds limiting. Besides, I don't think Konoha has any puppet masters that could teach me. I have no idea how to begin making a puppet, not to mention how to use one.

"Nope. Puppet masters rarely use any form of ninjutsu. They rely on poisons to get the job done. I don't want that. I want to make elemental chakra strings. One for each element on each hand! How cool would that be! I could call it Elemental Strings!" Now that sounds bad ass.

"That's never going to work." Go ahead and crush my dream Kakashi. Go ahead, do it some more.

"Why?" I ask. He has to have a reason and it better not be because he doesn't want to teach me that many elemental chakra changes.

"That would require you to have natural affinities for all 5 elements. Chakra strings are unique in the fact that they require a natural affinity to have an elemental change. They become too unstable otherwise and don't form."

Oh. That is actually a very good reason.

"So I could make an elemental string for each affinity I have?"

"Yep! Although shinobi don't usually have two affinities. You can train in a second one, but having more than one affinity is usually a jonin trait. Even at the jonin level it is rare to have dual affinities mastered."

"How can I figure out what my affinity is?" Chakra paper. I already know this from the anime, but as a new gennin I should have no clue. Besides, maybe Kakashi will bring some to training tomorrow!

"Alvarcus." Oh boy, Sasuke sounds mad. "You're hogging the sensei again."

"Sorry! Your turn! You ask him something!"