Chakra control

„First you will start with these." My father said as he handed me pieces of paper.

"What are those?" I questioned, examining the pieces of paper. "Chakra induction paper again?"

"Nope. This is a normal paper."

"And what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Stick the pieces of it on your forehead."

"…"

"…"

"Excuse me?" I asked with an incredulous expression. "Did Sasori convince you to prank me?"

"Not at all." He said with a chuckle. "The idea is that you put pieces of paper on your forehead and hold them there by directing your chakra there, that way it won't fall off. The more different pieces you try to hold at the same time the more difficult this challenge becomes. You're a sensor so it should be easier for you to accomplish, when compared to your peers. Let's start with a single piece and try holding it there for five minutes. Don't get discouraged if you fail, it's normal."

After hearing his explanation I just shrugged, put a piece of paper on my head and started directing chakra there. It wasn't difficult to be honest.

After holding it there for some time my dad spoke up with a slight surprise in his voice. "…Five minutes has passed. I see that you succeeded, but don't let it get to your head. It's merely the first step to perfecting ones chakra control. Let's step it up and increase the number of pieces."

And so I did just that, easily getting to the stage where I had around 20 pieces of it stuck on my forehead, without failing once. Though the more pieces I was practicing with the dumber I felt. I mean, I had paper just stuck to my head, looking like a dumb*ss. Yet the expression on my father's face was worth it. I wish mother was here to take a picture…

"…What? How?" I heard him mutter as he stood there with a blank gaze.

"Hallo, Sunagakure to dad, are you there?" I tried waking him up out of a daze while snapping my fingers in front of him.

"Huh? Oh, how did you accomplish it with such an ease?" He asked with a disbelief.

"What? I had to learn that much for the sake of survival." I answered with a matter-of-fact voice.

Oh, the way his face started to express even more confusion was hilarious.

"*snort* Oh this is too funny." I spoke while trying to hold my laughter.

After calming down I explained. "Once in the book I read that by directing chakra into your own limbs one can increase their physical capabilities. I didn't really pay to it that much attention, but after mother 'graciously' gave training weights it became a matter of do or die. Getting dead tired at 1 P.M. every day does get boring pretty quickly after all." I said with a shrug.

First practical attempts were VERY awkward. At first when I tried directing chakra to my legs while walking I faceplanted into a sand, getting a nice, solid mouthful of it. How? Because my feet got stuck to the ground while I was trying to walk. Not the greatest start I would say.

"So after learning how to strengthen my muscles while being active I would say that this paper exercise is relatively easy…" I continued while dad looked as if I grew a second head.

"So you self-learned something impossible for your age, just to make it easier for yourself when outside…?" He summed up with a disbelief.

"Do not look down on human desire for ease and convenience. Most often that desire is responsible for improvement and progress." I nodded like a sage speaking about purpose of life.

Father stared at me for a few seconds with a disbelief before laughing at me.

"What?" I asked annoyed.

"Oh, I cannot wait to let your mother know that you are cheating out of her training weights." He said while wiping tears away from his eyes.

"You wouldn't." I said/demanded with a grim voice.

"Oh, and that isn't going to even be the biggest of your worries." He said with an ominous voice.

"…why?" I asked with a bad feeling.

"You realise that you were practising something that could cause some permanent damage to your body right?"

"…"

"…"

"Can we forget that this talk ever happened?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm screwed?"

"Yep."

"…on totally unrelated note I will be doing a month long stay over at Aki's house. Thought you should know."

"*smirk* You know it won't save you, right?" He said with an amusement.

"It's worth a shot." I answered with a determination.

"Okay, back to the topic son. So how did you train it?"

"Well the first and obvious way was through practice. Whenever we were outside and doing strenuous activity I strengthened my muscles while my attention was split with the surroundings." He said while gazing into the distance.

"I also was forced to practice my chakra control during many 'strenuous' nights with your mother." My dad muttered something that I didn't quite catch.

"I'm sorry?"

"No matter, and the second way?" He hastily asked, switching the topic.

I felt like showing him instead of answering, so I knelt down, touched sand with my palm and raised it, facing it vertically towards him. What he saw was my palm covered in sand, where about half of it fell off after five seconds, while the other half remained glued to my hand.

"And this is the second way I trained it. Took an inspiration from when we were doing chakra nature test and my legs stuck to the floor." I said with a shrug, though my dad didn't share the same nonchalant attitude as he stared at my hand and the sand on it.

"…keep at this practice for now. Maintain this training until you can keep your hand fully encased in sand."

"Sure, sur-wait. Hand? As in all sides, not just front?"

"…Yes, only after you can accomplish that we will be able to proceed to the next stage." He said pouring water over my determination. However his next words poured a bag of thermite over it, right before mixing it with fuel and throwing a lit matchstick. "Once you can do that I could teach you a puppet related jutsu.

"Hoh, it's on sand! You're stuck with me now!" I screamed a burning desire that could almost turn the sand on my palm into a glass. I could faintly make out my father's amused laugh.

"I believe in you Teruya." He said with a loving voice as he brushed my dull blonde hair.

"Yes!" I smiled.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

'What a talent.' I thought to myself.

Average students in academy take weeks to even be able to keep a piece of paper stuck to their forehead for five seconds, and only throughout their entire academy educational career do they learn to keep it stuck to their body for prolonged periods. Honestly speaking I could teach Teruya some basic ninja techniques already, the minimum requirement was to keep a single piece for five minutes, yet not only did he surpassed my expectations that were based on the fact he is a sensor, he lapped them multiple times.

Normally after learning the paper concentration practice one would learn to walk on vertical surfaces and then try walking on water. Though in recent times with resources becoming scarce water walking practice isn't available for aspiring shinobi, not when the village is already struggling with supplying water for consumption.

In my entire career I have never seen such a mind bogglingly difficult chakra control practice technique. Practitioner of it needs to direct chakra to each individual grain of sand that is in in contact with your skin. The said chakra would need to be directed in tiny strands, at the width similar to a single hair, as the size of a sand grain is miniscule when compared to a piece of paper.

'Yet he had half of his palm covered in sand. How many grains did he have on his hand? Hundreds? Thousands?' I thought as I saw him train with his own practice technique with a burning zeal.

'I'm a jonin from a Puppet Brigade, where chakra control is seen a thing of highest importance, and even I would struggle to accomplish what he did.

'He was even talking with me at the same time while keeping sand glued to his hand. His talent is monstrous and his ideas progressive. He will go far, but it also means that he will also see a lot of evil and danger on his path.' I realized it, as I felt my pride and concern intertwining together, forming a weird mix of emotions.

It was still before noon, after which is a time which Teruya heavily dislikes for its heat, as such both of us could still feel a cool, morning breeze.

'I cannot wait to see what the future generation will bring.' As I looked towards the village, I felt my lips curving upwards and continued to brush his hair with fondness.