Chapter 6: Ninjutsu

((Sasuke PoV))

//3 days later//

I've been training my chakra control for almost half a week now. When I say training, it's more of searching for a small hole in the chakra pathways around my palm. I could say that it has become significantly easier to move my chakra around because of it, albeit in small amounts.

Right now, I'm in the training ground with Naruto. We still have an hour left before the class begins. Although the Hokage is not present, we still continue our training.

While moving around my chakra, I felt something strange.

'Hmm? Is it finally it?'

I tried to increase the pressure on the strange spot I'm feeling and suddenly, a blue transparent fog poured out of the small region on the top-right of my left palm, just under the root of my pinky finger.

"Haha, finally got it."

Hearing this, Naruto's ears twitched and turned his head in my direction. He immediately got up and run towards me.

"Let me see, let me see."

I move my palm in front of him. He observed it for a couple of seconds then touched it to see what it felt like. As expected, it reacted exactly like a formless gas and dispersed in the air.

I tried moving the fog-like chakra in my palm to form a more concrete shape. Initially, I thought it would be easier to do so as it definitely feels connected to me. However, it didn't even move a milliliter.

'Hn, looks like it will take time before I tame this power.'

After finally seeing it in person, I have a vague idea on how this energy actually transforms into something.

Pushing it aside for now, I picked the chakra paper out of my pocket and placed it on top of my palm. As soon as it touched the chakra, the paper was engulfed in flame and turned to ashes.

"Fire, it is." I said out loud.

"Woah!" Naruto was amazed by my show but soon realized he was being left behind as he shook his head around with an impatient look on his face.

Seeing him like this, I decided to just let him be. "I will be leaving first, Naruto. I need to report to Hokage-sama."

As I left the ground, I heard a scream from behind. "WHY WON'T YOU COME OUTTTT!!"

…

I went to the Hokage building but the receptionist said that the Hokage is not there. He is probably away on a meeting or something.

With 30 minutes to spare before class, I just went back to the training ground and saw the hard working Naruto holding his wrist for support with watery eyes.

I walked towards him and said "Hey, are you crying?"

Hearing my voice, he quickly wiped the tears that were threatening to slide from his eyes.

"No way! Anyway, why are you here? I thought the old man is going to privately tutor you for doing great or something."

"Well, he's away so I went back and saw you crying."

((Naruto PoV))

"Well, he's away so I went back and saw you crying."

"What? I said I'm not crying!"

He is so smug whenever he beats me on something. Why would I cry for something so small? Me? Never.

'Just wait and see, I will beat you for sure.'

Although I try to believe that, I've been training harder than him yet I still haven't win anything.

'No no no, that's not right. You stupid Naruto.

…He's from a well known family and has been good since the beginning, yet I was able to catch up to him in just a few months. I'm definitely special as well. Mm mm, that's it.'

I cheered myself up internally and continued my training. While focusing on my palm, I heard a hoarse voice. "What a pathetic kid." ??

'Huh? Did Sasuke say something?'

I looked towards Sasuke who was busy 'playing' with his chakra a few meters away from me.

'I wonder where it came from.'

Now distracted because of the voice, I continued looking around me. It's definitely not Sasuke's voice.

"HAHAHA!" ??

This time, I was surprised by the creepy laugh and stood up.

Sasuke took notice of my strange behavior, looking at me weirdly. "Is there a problem?"

Awkwardly, I replied to him "N-no. Nothing."

I sat back down on the grass and just shrugged it off. 'I'm probably just thinking stuff.'

And so, I continued my training.

((Sasuke PoV))

Naruto is acting very weird today. He seems to be looking for something. There's something definitely up.

But that's not of my concern right now. I need to figure out how to control the chakra when it's outside of my body. This is the time where I really need the Hokage's guidance but he's away. He's a busy individual after all so even though I'm his student I will still have to rely on my own knowledge and the library from time to time.

But that's okay. The reason I sacrificed my chakra training for a year was because of the magnitude of the techniques he can provide.

//A month later//

It took Naruto another week to complete the task of infusing chakra to the chakra paper. I didn't expect for him to take that long really.

As for me, I'm kinda satisfied with my progress. With the Hokage's guidance in the past month, I've learned the 3 basic academy techniques quite fast. The [transformation jutsu], [clone jutsu] and [disguise jutsu].

Unexpectedly, [substitution jutsu] is not one of them. Rather, it was replaced with [disguise jutsu] which is a technique that allows you to blend in with the environment by covering yourself with a cloak or cloth. It's also the jutsu used by little Konohamaru in the series.

Considering the nature of the [substitution jutsu], it's understandable that it had become a C-rank. You will not be able to use it without knowing the art of high speed movement, the [body flicker jutsu].

The 3 basic academy techniques usually take a couple of months to learn according to the Hokage. But because of the one-on-one guidance from him and the efficiency of his method, I learned all of it in just 2 weeks.

Having someone point out your mistakes and shortcomings which will usually go unnoticed by your average ninja-sensei really does increase your progress exponentially.

As a sensor type ninja, the Hokage can express chakra into representational numbers which makes it easier for me to understand what he's implying.

Right now, I'm standing upside-down on a tree branch. In order to master the ninjutsus I just learned, I need to have good chakra control so the Hokage made me master [tree climbing jutsu] without doing hand signs to mold chakra at my feet.

It took me another 2 weeks to master this technique with me taking a good week just to find the chakra points on my feet.

"Looks like you've completed your task." The Hokage said, looking upward towards me.

Hearing him, I released the chakra on my feet and landed on the ground.

"With your chakra control, I don't think you will be limited with one nature transformation anymore. But before moving to other elements, master 2 to 3 fire styles first since it's your affinity. Then after that, widen your horizon with other nature transformations to find what element suits your fighting style.

As a ninja, versatility is very important if you want to have an advantage in a fight. But for now, focus on your affinity." The Hokage said.

((3rd PoV))

Standing in the clearing with his eyes closed, Naruto formed a tiger seal with his hands

"[Clone Jutsu]" He called out and a puff of smoke appeared beside him. When the smoke dissipated, it revealed a chubby version of himself.

"Not again!' Naruto yelled, clearly not satisfied with the result.

He managed to learn the [transformation jutsu] and [disguise jutsu] in just less than 3 weeks but the [clone jutsu] is proving very difficult for him.

This is supposed to be an E-rank technique and Sasuke did it quite easily. On the other hand, Naruto's already having a hard time with such a low ranking basic technique.

Seeing his frustrated look, after handing a scroll to Sasuke, Hiruzen approached him. He massaged his goatee and thought of something. 'His reserve is too huge for him to control his chakra with precision. An E-rank ninjutsu that doesn't need much chakra would be hard to perform even with the level of control he has now.'

[Transformation jutsu] consumes more chakra than the other 2 basic academy techniques as it literally manipulates your physical body into different shapes and forms. This allows one to even mimic smaller objects.

On the other hand, [clone jutsu] only needs the gaseous form of chakra to create a copy of one's self. If the amount of chakra is too much, the chakra will find a way to get out of the container that maintains the shape. Since this technique was created for the sole purpose of tricking your opponent, the membrane-like container made out of chakra is very thin in order to minimize the consumption. This made the technique very sensitive to physical contact and easy to destroy.

'I should teach him a different cloning technique if that's the case. [Wind style: wind clone jutsu] should suffice. Although it's a nature transformation cloning technique, it's a D-rank unlike the others in terms of difficulty.'

"Looks like you're having a hard time. You haven't shown any progress these past few days."

Hiruzen paused for a moment and continued. "Alright, we will postpone your training with the [clone jutsu] for a while. It's not suitable for you. Although you've only been training it for 3 days now, continuing with it would be a waste of time. There are just other, better, similar techniques."

Hearing this, Naruto showed a relieved face. "Finally! I'm not getting anywhere with this."

After that, Hiruzen explained the technique to Naruto in every detail.

[Wind clone jutsu] is not much different from a [clone jutsu] as it's also quite easy to destroy. The only difference is that instead of raw gaseous chakra, wind nature is applied. As a technician himself and a master of all changes in chakra nature, Hiruzen has created a set of hand signs for transforming chakra into elements easily. Although it does not work on techniques that require a high amount of chakra or anything that uses advanced version of chakra control - the chakra manipulation, it's enough for a D-rank technique.

Once this jutsu is hit, the wind inside of the clone would be released, creating a gust of wind around the range of 1 feet which can cause a knock back effect.

Hiruzen also made sure he taught Sasuke a set of hand signs for fire style so that the child can master the techniques he gave him faster.