It's been a long time since the last Naruto chapter. and for that, I'm sorry! This is the least popular one of my stories, so it got kind of sidelined when I got hit with writer's block.
(Word Count: 3,062)
When everyone was conscious again, we moved on to the next portion of our training for the day. The chakra control exercises.
"Alright team, the first step to becoming a good Iryo-nin is to master your own chakra! Having proper chakra control is essential in all aspects of a ninja's life. Without it, any jutsu you want to cast will use up several times more chakra than you want it to! This is especially true for Iryojutsu and Genjutsu. Sakai! What are the first three exercises for chakra control?" Tsunade asked.
"Leaf sticking, tree walking, and water walking," I answered tiredly.
"Correct. You've all learned the leaf sticking exercise in the academy. Sakai's already learned all three, but do either of you know the other two exercises?" Tsunade looked at the two girls.
They both nodded! Kurenai raised her hand shyly and said, "Um, my dad taught me tree walking, but I haven't moved on to water walking yet."
Tsunade looked at Shizune. "Is that the same for you?"
She nodded.
"Okay, then it looks like we'll be working on our tree walking. We'll stick with this exercise until you get to the point where you can cast a jutsu while standing on a vertical surface, then we'll start on learning your first medical jutsu," Tsunade decided.
"Hey, Tsunade, what about me? I've already mastered my chakra control," I asked.
"You'll be helping these fine ladies with their practice. Think of this as team building. You want to get closer to your teammates, don't you?" She asked. Behind her, Kurenai's head started steaming.
"Well, sure, but…" I trailed off. Was I really going to be stuck as the teacher's assistant?
"While you do that, you can also read through these," and she took out two scrolls from her pouch. "This first scroll is for my super strength. It doesn't have any specific name for it though. You're actually on the right track already, with your 'chakra-ryu' training you've been doing. Read through that to get the key points and you should actually be able to get it within the week."
She tossed the first scroll, labeled in Tsunade's handwriting, "Chakra Expulsion for Creating Super Impacts!" I grinned, ready to run off to read, but she stopped me.
"Wait just a moment! You're forgetting the other scroll!" She chided. I turned back sheepishly.
"Sorry, I was too excited," I apologized.
"This is the scroll for my Strength of a Hundred seal, the Byakugou Seal." She tapped the diamond tattoo on her forehead. "Read through that very carefully. When you're ready to apply the seal, come to me first. Don't try to apply it to yourself on your own. Also, your priority should be focusing on helping Shizune and Kurenai. I'll be here today, but the next few days you three are training on your own. I've got some work to do at the hospital."
I snatched the scroll out of her hands and grinned. "Thank you!"
Tsunade, Kurenai, and Shizune just watched as I ran off with both exasperation and amusement. She turned back to the two remaining girls. "Right, let's get you two started!"
Without bothering to pay any more attention to the team, I plopped down under a tree on my own and began reading. As much as I wanted to dive right into the Byakugou Seal, I opened the "Chakra Expulsion for Creating Super Impacts!" scroll first. From what Tsunade said, it should be really easy for me to get the basics down.
I spent the next hour or so reading through the scroll.
The way her technique works was indeed similar to what I've been doing already with my Chakra-Ryu technique, based off of the HxH nen ryu technique. In my own technique, I take advantage of the properties of chakra. If I apply a small amount of chakra, it sticks. That's how the tree walking and water walking techniques work. If I apply more chakra, it repels. I use that repulsion to add a bit of oomph to my punches, but it requires precise timing or it will actually work against me.
What Tsunade's technique does is it gathers your chakra into your fist or foot, whatever part of your body you want to use to make the attack, but not release it. Then, at the moment of impact, release all of it from one tenketsu point, in one giant burst. It was like taking my own technique, and dialing it up to 100.
Despite the similarities, there are a couple of key differences in our techniques. The first being gathering and holding the chakra beforehand, not letting any of it go until impact. With my Chakra-Ryu, I've only moved my chakra and released it as soon as I could, timing it to my punches. This does make it so I have to consciously store chakra, adding another step, but it allows for more chakra to be used.
The second difference is the point of release. In my own technique, I didn't really care about that and released from any tenketsu point in my fist that connected with the target. In Tsunade's, I'll need to release all of the chakra from one single point. This focuses the chakra into one point, making for a bigger burst of impact.
The downside to this is that it will cause a lot of strain on that one tenketsu point, so that means I'll have to train it up to handle bigger and bigger releases. This is probably why Tsunade, even knowing how good my chakra control is, said it will take me several days at least. Jutsus have a real effect on the body. What jutsus you train determines the shape of your chakra pathways. If you want to train a jutsu that uses a different part of your body that you're not used to, then even if you can dish out other powerful jutsus like it's nothing, that new jutsu will still start out pretty weak.
It's why body-disposal ninjas are a thing. If you can get the body of an enemy, you can see which pathways and tenketsu points were used the most and piece together how their jutsus worked.
Because of this I've been making sure to practice every part of my pathways during my chakra control exercises. More relevant to this particular technique, I've also practiced the Rasengan, so the tenketsu points in my hands were already used to the level of chakra expulsion it required.
So I was already good to go on that front.
The other downside to this was just the level of precise chakra control it required. To hold so much chakra in place without letting any bit of it escape before you let it, and even then to only allow it to escape through the one specific tenketsu point? That was some next level stuff for even Iryo-Nin, known for their chakra control. Luckily, I wasn't a normal Iryo-Nin. My chakra control surpassed anyone I know. It was my main focus in any training I did.
The last difference was the timing. My Chakra-Ryu only required that I release after I hit. Tsunade's technique requires that I release the very moment of impact for the greatest effect. Sure, if I use Chakra-Ryu's timing, it would still cause a crater, but it won't have the same earth-shattering effect.
Satisfied that I've understood all of the principles of the technique, I rolled it back up and stood up, stretching. I looked over to where my team was. Tsunade was chasing the two girls around, though it looked like they weren't allowed to stand on top of any flat surface. They could only use the sides or bottoms of branches.
Occasionally, one of the girls would lose concentration and slip and fall. Of course, they would reorient themselves mid air to land safely. Though they were treated with a bap on the head from Tsunade for falling.
I went to the training posts that were in the center of the clearing. Focus my chakra, punch! The post exploded out away from me.
Tsunade paused her chase, and stared. "No way! You got it on the first try? I spent months getting it down!"
"To be fair, Tsunade, you didn't have anyone to tell you precisely how to do it right. This is very similar to my Chakra-Ryu, so it feels like I've been training to do this technique all my life, without knowing it," I said.
"Do it again," Tsunade said, flickering down next to me.
I did it again, this time on the ground below me. Just like when Tsunade does it, the ground shattered and was ripped up around us.
'Hahaha! If it's like this with normal chakra, how will it be when I add a nature transformation to it? S-rank for sure!'
When the dust settled, I was breathing hard. This had the same level of chakra output as the Rasengan, so it could be classified as an A-rank jutsu. I only had enough chakra to cast around 3 of those before my chakra was exhausted, and I was still recovering from the earlier fight. Even with the pill I took, I was running on empty again.
"Gah!" I flopped onto my back.
Tsunade stood over me, impressed. "I knew you had great chakra control, but this is crazy! What were you training before, to already have the needed level of chakra expulsion? As far as I'm aware, no Iryojutsu gets you that far, and I know for sure I didn't teach you anything else yet."
If I wasn't her student and clanless, that would be an inappropriate thing to ask. Still, Tsunade was like an aunt to me. She had been around since I was 2. "Minato showed me his Rasengan technique, and I've been training it on my own since. I even managed to replicate it."
I wasn't too concerned about Tsunade knowing my abilities. She wouldn't tell anyone, not even the Hokage. By now, Hiruzen had lost all trust any of his students had in him. Tsunade had long since realized that while he didn't help Danzo in any of his actions against the Senju clan, his inaction was a tacit allowance of it. She hated his guts now.
"That's amazing! Er, you alright there?"
"Don't mind me, I'm just dying of chakra exhaustion. I'll be good as new in a couple of hours," I said, giving her a grin from where I laid on the ground.
Kurenai and Shizune came over to us. "Are you okay, Sakai?" Kurenai asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," I stood up on shaky legs. "There, see? Nothing to worry about."
No one believed me.
"Well, it's about time for lunch anyway. Why don't we call off our training now, and get some food?" Tsunade suggested.
"Are you paying?" I asked.
"Wipe that cheeky grin off your face. And yeah, I'm paying today to celebrate us becoming a team. I don't think we've done that yet, so now's as good a time as any," Tsunade said.
"Ichiraku Ramen? They've got some vegetarian options for Shizune," I suggested.
Tsunade looked at the girls. "Does ramen sound good to you two?"
They agreed, so we were on our way. Because it was lunch time, the streets were busy. Many people were out and about running errands, getting lunch, etc. As we walked past some of them, I could hear a portion of their conversation.
"No way, did you hear? Apparently, Lord Danzo had been kidnapping kids right from the orphanage!" A guy said to his friend.
"Eh!? Tch. A guy like that, I wouldn't put it past him. How'd he even get to be an elder of the village again?" The friend responded.
"Of course, it's because of the hokage, who else? They're old teammates, so he lets Danzo get away with anything. They're both crooks!"
"Sh! Man, don't be saying something like that! Who knows if you'll be silenced or something!" They looked around and sighed in relief when they didn't see anyone paying attention to them. I glanced at where Tsunade was and saw that she had discreetly henge'd into someone else, appearing casual, but I knew her enough to she the tension around her eyes.
Ever since I had gotten out of the hospital years ago, Tsunade, the Senju's, and I have been running a rumor smear campaign against Danzo to ruin the man's image. If Danzo can do one against someone like Sakumo, then why couldn't the Senju clan do it against him?
It had escalated into a full blown rumor war, and Hiruzen and the other elders were dragged into the crossfire. The results made the entire village divided on the opinions of the current council of Konoha. They had lost a lot of trust from the civilians.
As for the ninja clans, when it was revealed how exactly Danzo had treated the ninjas the clans had sent to be a part of his ROOT, they were pissed and the council had lost most of their support. Really, the only clans that still supported the Hokage were the Ino-Shika-Cho clan trio, as they were a part of his inner circle. The Hyuugas and Uchihas, in a rare moment where they actually agree on something, started countering any of the policies they put up.
It was only due to the Fire Daimyo's support that they were still in power.
It didn't exactly earn me any favors with the Hokage—he and Danzo weren't fools to not know who was helping spread these rumors, not to mention I openly tell anyone that asks about my scar that Dano gave it to me—but the old man had burned any sort of bridge of trust that he was trying to build when he didn't punish Danzo.
No one commented on the conversation we overheard and kept walking past. We were silent the rest of the way.
"Yo!" I yelled a greeting as I entered. "Teuchi! I brought my team for lunch!"
There was no Ayame yet, she hadn't been born yet, so a much younger looking Teuchi was manning the place by himself. He may be younger, but he was still the god of ramen himself. His ramen was still divine.
"Oh, Sakai! Welcome back! And you've brought such lovely young ladies with you! Either one of them your girlfriend yet?" Teuchi asked.
"No, Teuchi, neither one's my girlfriend. They're my teammates."
"Haha, sure. Anyway, what can I get for you?"
"I'll have the katsu bowl, extra katsu," I said. Shizune shot me a glare, which I ignored.
"I'll have the miso ramen," Kurenai said.
"Beef ramen for me, a cup of sake to go with it," Tsunade said.
"Um, do you have any vegetarian options?" Shizune asked.
"Sure thing, I've got both spicy and non-spicy tofu ramen. I also have some ramen with lentils. Do you eat eggs?"
"Yes, eggs are fine. I'll have the spicy tofu ramen with an egg," She replied.
"Coming right up!"
Teuchi stepped away from the counter to the kitchen, leaving us to our conversation.
"So, Kurenai, I saw in your spar with Tsunade that you managed to land a genjutsu on her. That was amazing," I praised.
"T-thank you, Sakai," Kurenai blushed.
"You seemed to be using a lot of different things as triggers for your genjutsu. As far as I knew, genjutsus usually call for a specific trigger. Do you actually know that many genjutsus, or am I missing something?" I asked.
"Ah, no. My dad only taught me a couple of genjutsus. I could use so many different things as a trigger because dad also taught me how to slightly modify a genjutu's trigger to something else, as long as it still uses the same sense," she explained.
"That's amazing, Kurenai," Shizune praised. "I wish I knew how to do cool stuff like that."
"Don't you have an uncle that's a jonin? Dan Kato, right? Could you go and ask him to teach you any special tricks he has?" I suggested.
For some reason, without my direct influence, Dan Kato had managed to survive the 2nd Shinobi War. My best guess was because he never got into a relationship with Tsunade, so he wasn't targeted to get to her.
In canon he died somewhere around the beginning of the war. Now, he was a bit of a war hero. Nowhere near the level of Minato, Sakumo, or the three Sannin, but he was definitely up there. I would say just under Kakashi's level of fame in the anime. Who knows, maybe if he survives the 3rd Shinobi war, he would be a contestant alongside Minato for the Hokage's seat.
"Ah, yes, he's the one that's been teaching me about tree walking. He said that when I'm able to master water walking, he'll teach me his Spirit Transformation Technique," Shizune said.
I whistled. "Wow! That's an amazing technique to learn. You should ask him if he can use ninjutsu as a spirit. If he can, that'll mean you could use Iryojutsu on the front lines without too much risk to yourself."
It's been way too long for me to remember much of anything from the anime. All I remembered about it was that he could use astral projection, sending his spirit out. He could even kill enemies while as a spirit. It made him very dangerous.
I was honestly a little jealous.
Shizune grinned. "Yeah, my uncle's really cool. I'll ask him later."
"So what are your plans for the rest of the day? We aren't doing any D ranked missions yet, are we?" Kurenai asked.
"No, I'll be too busy at the hospital for the rest of this week. Though I suppose you three could take some on your own if you want," Tsunade said.
"Nah, I can't today," I said, "I've still got my Seal Master's exam this afternoon, so as soon as we're done here, I'm heading over to the sealing department. That will take up the rest of the day for me."
"I'm free the rest of the day," Kurenai said.
"Same here," Shizune said. "I might just continue my tree walking practice."
"Oh, do you mind if I join you?" Kurenai asked.
Shizune smiled, "I'd love that!"
Teuchi brought out our bowls. "Here you are, folks! Enjoy!"
We all dug into our food.