Day 2
-Essentials-
"Now then, can you read?" Shizune pointed at a child's picture novel. Naruto instantly bristled before remembering Tsunade's three promises. With a sigh, he concentrated on the text in front of him with an open-mouthed: "Uhhhh."
"The duck." He paused, "Swam." He paused again, searching the page for more words when none came up. "What the hell, Shizune-san? I'm not stupid-ttebayo!"
"Illiteracy doesn't mean stupidity." She said with a pressing tone. "Sight, brain activity, visual reaction etc. There's lots of factors in literacy. The big one being... whether or not someone took the time to teach you." Shizune stared at him hard before she sighed. "You can call me Shizune-nanny cuz I'm literally going to teach you everything from infant to Chuunin."
"...Everything?"
"Everything."
A sheet of paper was placed in front of him with barely noticeable outlines for the hiragana and katakana characters.
"Now, remember what Tsunade-sama-" She made an angry noise, "-illegally did with the Scroll of Seals? After Tsunade-sama finishes helping your basic chakra controls skills, I'll get you to do it with this sheet of paper."
"Ok-ttebayo. Wait... hold on a second, how many pieces of paper will I need to write out?" He gaped at her.
"You make it sound so bad; once I get you into the right 'mode' it won't be as boring as the Academy probably made it seem. First watch this; it's one of the most basic but most important Bunshin technique to use. It's not as hard as it looks."
"I don't know, Shizune-san." He squinted down at the paper before glancing back up at her. "I suck at the normal kinda Bunshin-ttebayo."
"This is different so don't worry. And you know the 'normal' Bunshin technique used to create illusions are practically useless, right?" She reassured him with a laugh. "I'm sure you've seen people do this with other objects like shuriken or whatever but you could say they're 'Kage Bunshins' of an object."
"Which means-" Naruto slammed a fist onto his open palm, "-I should be able to do it dattebayo!"
"You'll definitely be able to do it. I'll teach you the proper method to do the steps. How you do it is actually very easy." Shizune placed a finger onto the sheet, "You need to touch what you want to 'analyse'. And then you gather a bit of chakra in your hands and then push it into the paper."
The sheet stiffened minutely, a slight ripple within it.
"Usually, people don't do this step and just copy based on what they see." Shizune lectured, unoccupied hand on her hip. "But what's bad about that?"
"Um. Uh- What?"
"Ok ok," Shizune repeated after a slight pause. "You have a box and inside that box, there are many different kinds of chocolates. You want to make an exact copy of that box. Based on what you can see, would you be able to copy it properly?"
"No." Naruto stroked his chin as he declared with a victorious voice. "Because you don't know what flavours the chocolates are!"
"Right." The Jonin beamed. "That's why you get your chakra and use a mini 'sensing' technique. ...Can you use Kawarimi no Jutsu?"
"Of course I can." He rolled his eyes. "The Academy 3 are easy peasy except for the Bunshin one."
Shizune chuckled, "Tsunade-sama snagged up a talented one then! Well, when you Kawarimi with something, how do you 'find' what to swap with?"
She waited patiently as the boy fumbled with his words, "Uhhhhh, I just know?" He grimaced. "...That was a bad answer, wasn't it?"
"No no, you're actually spot on!" Shizune gave a thumbs up. "It's the same with this. Your chakra tells you everything you need to know. You 'analyse' the object by running your chakra through it and then-" She lifted up her hand and placed it to the table. "And then you let your chakra do its thing and create-" A small poof of smoke. "-a Bunshin out of it." An exact copy of the paper appeared under her palm.
"Woww, and you can do this with anything? Even ramen coupons-ttebayo?"
Shizune opened her mouth then clicked it shut, "Um- well, yes, I guess? Tsunade-sama sometimes cheats by making Bunshin out of money but that's actually against the law so..."
She placed her hand back down and an entire pile of papers materialised under her hand. "Anyway, summon a Bunshin for each of these papers to copy out the words. It has to be neat by the way, otherwise we'll never get to the next step."
He stifled a groan of annoyance; this was his worst ever!
"What's the next step?" Naruto asked instead of complaining.
"Advanced art and Fuuinjutsu." Shizune gave him a wink. "Just remember not to rush and try to think of it as relaxing drawings or something."
"Easier said than done, Shizune-san." He groaned, already bored. "Just staring at the paper gives me a headache dattebayo." Nevertheless, he brought his hands up in a seal and a line of reluctant Naruto's each grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil.
"I'll tell you a story while you write. That'll make it a bit less monotonous... I think. Remember what I said about chakra telling you everything you need to know? Well, there's this technique called the 'Kagura Shingan'. Only some people within a certain Clan can do this technique because you need a lot of chakra for it. And I mean as much chakra as you do. You also need enough control to throw out that chakra. Your chakra then tells you everything about what's there and that's why it's named the most absolute technique for sensing."
"Would I be able to do it-ttebayo?" Naruto absentmindedly said as he stared at the end of the pencil handed to him. The other Naruto's were listening, stretching, getting dizzy from the paper and- was one of them sleeping? Already? "But what is that Clan anyway-ttebayo? I thought Clan stuff was all about fancy pants eyes and stuff."
Shizune gave a small, mirthful smile. "You aren't wrong about that. Many Clans have Kekkei Genkai powers and in Konoha, most of the time, it's a Dojutsu. And you would certainly be able to do this technique because this Clan is..."
She hesitated, wondering whether or not she would reveal such a thing already. "Well, I'm here for all the essentials so I guess you'll get an entire session on who that Clan is exactly and I can assure you you will be interested-"
'Bah! Who cares anymore!' Shizune inwardly groaned. 'Tsunade-sama already screwed up so much so why do I need to stay nice and obedient?'
"...I will give you the answers you want so don't panic when I say: today, I will be telling you about the heritage of the Uzumaki Clan."
Tsunade/Shizune private notes:
- Constant reassurance is needed
- Novice in nearly all academic subjects
-Meanwhile: Chakra control-
"I'm not going to run you through the normal routine for chakra control." Tsunade warned. "But I'll give you a feeling of what it's meant to be like." With ease, she strolled up a nearby tree, chakra planting her feet to the bark while Naruto- head tilted sideways in bafflement- gaped up at her. She jumped down, "Now you try."
She leaned back slightly, crossing her arms as she watched the boy back up and sprint towards the trunk. Tsunade tsked. A strategy to use momentum never worked with control.
Naruto dropped on the second and a half step.
"Ok ok ok," She pulled him away from the tree when he went to start again. Tsunade beckoned for Naruto to sit down cross legged. "I told you I wasn't going to do it that way, right?"
She prodded at his position before she nodded in confirmation. "There's no point in doing that exercise; it gives you a process that's too goal-orientated and you can't even apply the control technique to other Jutsus. The practice actually cuts so many corners and it isn't even the best way to harness chakra! All the Senseis need to do is stand around and wait for their students to figure it out and most of the time, that technique is bullshi-..." She stopped her rant with a clearing of her throat.
Naruto thinks she definitely has a personal grudge against the tree walking thing.
"And... actually, yeah. Just don't do it. You can try it again next week or something to see your progress but otherwise there's no point. I'll give you a better routine that makes you truly understand chakra."
Naruto bit his tongue when he felt his brain automatically order himself to spit out a: "Of course, that'll be easy peasy!"
"Close your eyes and concentrate in your lower abdomen." Her voice was different- mechanical but almost soothing. "Relax and try and catch some energy moving in your system."
He scrunched up his eyes as he tried to feel...
Nah, he's pretty sure that was just yesterday's dinner. It was a healthy one with vegetables but for some reason, it actually didn't taste that bad!
"Focus." Tsunade said.
Oops.
He focused. Trying to feel whatever was definitely not there because there was nothing there, what the heck.
A warm hand touched his own, a foreign, tingly energy threading through his hands. Naruto resisted to jump up in shock because he could feel that energy filtering through his veins-
"That's your chakra network."
Oh oops. Meh, network, veins, same thing.
"Focus." She repeated. "Relax."
When Naruto forced himself not to tense, he felt a ripple of... something- in his stomach. It felt unexpected- like the feeling of sudden rainfall on sunny days. A tad too warm for the usual rain and a bit too forceful for simply drizzle. His eyes blew open at the sort-of-familiar feeling, "Oh hey! I think I found my thingymabobbo. What the heck was that-ttebayo? Catka- I mean, chaka?"
"That was your chakra." Tsunade's voice sounded mirthful. "Focus again and try to draw a little bit out into your hands."
Latching onto the energy- it was easier than before- he gave it a little nudge. Frowning when nothing happened, he pulled on it a little more. ...Then a little harder...
Nothing.
It was like trying to pull an egg out from the neck of a deflated balloon.
Feeling increasingly irritated, he gave it a vicious yank and almost got a heart attack as an explosion of energy ripped from his upturned palms, projecting him into the air as he winced, skin peeling and burning slightly from the harsh energy. He reflexively twisted himself mid-air to land on all fours.
Then he groaned, a hand slapping his skull. Tsunade released a tiny snort.
The ground beneath him had cracked haphazardly and when he gave a yelp of pain at his stinging hands, the Sannin's eyes snapped to them. Naruto glanced down at the bright red skin.
It was like the egg exploded onto his face.
"Yeah, it seems impossible, doesn't it? And that wasn't even 'step one' to the exercise I'll have you doing." She gestured to him, "Kage Bunshin is also your impossible cheat code so you'll manage. Come here for a sec, I'll take a look at your hands."
Wordlessly following her gestures, he let her prod at his hands, feeling slightly confused and flustered as to why someone was paying so close attention to his injuries. It would heal in a minute anyway. It wasn't that big of a deal!
But he couldn't deny that he liked the feeling of tingly chatka fixing up his hands. It was like cool river water except it wasn't, well, water. It made his skin do a wearing thing where it twisted and attached itself back together like watching a rewound video clip.
"Hm." She put his hand down. "Interesting. I'll need to take note on your healing rate as well."
The woman then brought out another scroll, unrolling it and slamming a palm onto it.
An empty tub was placed in front of him. Then another tub beside it.
Tsunade flicked through quick hand seals and then one tub was sloshing with water filled to half way. Naruto rubbed at his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Naruto stared dumbly as she made another few hands seals- another dozen copies of the set up was shown across the area. He had never felt so un-shinobi like in his life before. Was that even possible? How much ramen could he eat if he learnt that technique?
"Summon fifty Bunshin to do what I told you to do. Try and concentrate on your chakra, manoeuvre it into the water, use your chakra in the water to lift it up then dump it into the other tub without it spilling. I'm 90% sure Suiton is actually your second Nature element but it's better for Iryo Ninjutsu and it'll enhance your overall skills anyway. Chop chop. I made it a bit easier because that water is made from chakra. After you master this, you'll move onto real water."
"Huh." I'll ace this in one go-ttebayo! "Baa-chan I totally didn't get that."
"Hmmm, I'll give a demonstration then while you're suffering, I'll explain it again." She pulled him to sit down again. Tsunade flicked two fingers and a string of water was raised, twisting and turning like a live snake.
"What the fu- heck?" Naruto gaped, feeling even less like a shinobi. "Are you a magician, dattebayo? That's impossible!"
"Kage Bunshin is also your impossible cheat code."
"You said that before already."
"I know I did."
By the end of the first hour, Naruto managed to meditate and channel chakra in the most effective way possible. Even though Tsunade had praised him, saying that this technique was the most time costing and would usually take ages, he still felt exhausted and frustrated. One entire friggin' hour of sitting! His butt hurt!
By the end of the next hour, he could shift the water.
Naruto looked heavenward when he finally managed to lift up the contents of the tub-... Before his control slipped and the water crashed back down, splashing up into his face.
"Damn it all-ttebayo!"
"Giving up?"
"Never!"
Tsunade/Shizune private notes:
- Surprisingly, Naruto has the patience of a saint given proper motivation
- Prodigious amounts of progress (in chakra control) when taking in consideration the amount of chakra he has
- The more Kage Bunshins he creates, the easier it is for him to control chakra. Consider: chakra limiters/suppressant/seals etc.
-Evaluation-
"Come at me."
Naruto had the gut feeling that he'd been doing a lot of dumb staring lately as he looked at the woman who was boredly standing with arms crossed.
"Come at me with the intent to- well, come at me with any intent. Try to befriend me, interrogate me, intimidate me, seduce me-" "-ewwww, but I'm a pro so 'm not complaining-" "kill me, defeat me, steal from me, capture me... blah blah blah. Just try everything and anything. Don't limit yourself to just Bunshin, you can use time to set up any traps, which are pranks by the way, or whatever blah blah. I'll attack you after two hours. You have the entirety of today to try anything you want."
Naruto gulped, suddenly feeling way more nervous than he ought to be.
"Ready... timer starts... NOW!"
Tsunade/Shizune private notes:
- Ridiculous levels +: Stamina (if used efficiently), recovery rate, chakra capacity
- Chuunin level +: Reflexes/instincts and sensing, strategy (unpredictability), manipulation*, resistance
- Genin: Taijutsu, Bukijutsu
- Below novice level: Stances (all of them), agility (surprisingly) (failure in applying his natural agility into fighting), chakra control (wasteful), all Elemental Ninjutsu and Shape Transformation, Genjutsu, emotional manipulation resistance (too gullible with Tsunade; may be different with real enemies)
- No signs of special techniques
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*'Oiroke no Jutsu' is an original Jutsu and is actually transformed purely from chakra not unlike Kage Bunshin. Naruto needs to be educated about using the female body for distraction purposes. Is he too young for that? In wartimes, even seven year olds went on honeypot missions. May want to research about the standards nowadays. The technique has been reported to have been extremely effective.
Lying/acting skills are amazing. (Managed to fool me into thinking he was exhausted/finished = takes advantage of his own weaknesses)
-
Kage Bunshin: Naruto claims that he's 'not used' to the backlashes of Kage Bunshin but would 'be fine'. Be aware of potential psychological backlashes (his maturity may grow too quickly).
Naruto still has chakra left after all that. Ridiculous. Both recovery rate and capacity are off the scales.
Work on: basic/proper foundations, improve flexibility/agility. Brute/raw strength is decent (consider introducing Nintaijutsu). Overextends too much. Work from there.
*Three years is a short time. Don't expect too much. Don't push too much. Be aware of psychological influencers.*