Will of the Oath Breaker, Chapter Two: Training and Trepidation
Naruto opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. He tried to move but found it remarkably difficult. He wondered how much time had passed outside the walls of his mind. It seemed such a long time since he had first met the Nine-tails, who kept his training focused on theory until Naruto awoke from his coma. He tried to sense his 'Kitsune-sensei's' presence, but all he came up with was indistinct rumbling.
"That's normal, kid. You're still recovering from your injuries, which were extensive, you are also under heavy sedation. It will be easier for me to connect to you."
Naruto tried to vent his frustration, but it came out as soft groaning.
"Don't try to talk just yet, wait until the sedatives wear off. I'm sure that someone will be along shortly."
Naruto spent the next few hours, directed by the Kyuubi, trying to test his muscle movement. In the middle of stretching his arms above his head, the Hokage walked in the door. Seeing his ward was awake, Sarutobi smiled.
"I see you're awake. Good. You've been under for two months."
Naruto smiled as best he could, and said, "Hi, old man."
"Now that you're doing a bit better, we can get to the important part. I have reinstated your status as an Academy student, and you should be able to attend classes in a week's time. But, for now, you need to get used to moving around again, and to the waking world once more."
After a quick check-up by the Hokage's personal medic Naruto was cleared to leave.
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Having been declared healthy, Naruto started going to classes, and soon found all his free time being spent in one of the local training grounds, being taught by Kitsune-Sensei. It became routine for older nin to stumble upon Naruto, mostly looking like he was staring off into space.
"Now kid, you may have more chakra than an entire gaggle of brats your age, but you also have no real control over it, making it mostly useless. To remedy this situation I have decided to teach you your first jutsu, but remember that it will not come easily. It is called The Shadow Fist, and it is the first technique in The Shadow Strike series of jutsu. But this jutsu is not only a ninjutsu attack, but a way of training, though it is not a 'true' jutsu in its own right."
Naruto fidgeted from excitement finally he got learn cool jutsu!
"Basically this jutsu involves is channelling shadow chakra into your fists, and then punching something. This, if done correctly, will crush pretty much anything it comes in contact with. It may sound easy, but don't underestimate this jutsu. Combined with brute strength, or vast speed it can enhance Genin level taijutsu to being on par with that of a Chūnin."
Naruto looked on with a wide-eyed expression of awe.
"Learning the technique is easy, it's making it efficient that's the hard part. Once you get the technique down, you need to gradually lessen the amount of shadow chakra you add, until you find the minimum needed."
Naruto thought about this and asked, "If this jutsu is so easy to learn, and has such great effects, then why isn't it taught to everyone?'' He could feel the Kyūbi's smirk.
"That's simple: Virtually no one can use manipulate shadow chakra, and trying to use regular chakra in this way would just blow up your hands unless you had amazing chakra control.
"But how do I use shadow chakra?"
"Just channel a bit of chakra, then get a feel for the natures within, until you find some chakra that feels 'shadowy.' That's the best way I can describe it, you'll know it when you feel it.
Naruto nodded, and got to work finding the elusive shadow chakra. Focusing on his core, he began feeling around. All he could feel was the rush that his chakra normally had. Peering deeper he began to notice that it was not one coherent whole as he had always thought, but rather a gurgling, churning mixture of chakras. He had always thought of his chakra as being dark purple, but he began separating the chakra into four distinct streams. One of red, one of blue, one of white, and one of black. Kyuubi, sensing Naruto's confusion, spoke to him.
"The red is fire chakra, you got that from me. The blue is water chakra, and the white is wind chakra, you most likely inherited those. The black chakra is the shadow chakra, you also got that from me."
Naruto wondered about what he meant by 'inherited,' but followed his instructions and pooled the black chakra into his fists. Naruto found that it was much easier to find the black chakra the second time. Naruto ran over to a stump and punched with all his might, the stump shattered into a rain of wood chips, but Naruto wouldn't get to see his results because he passed out from chakra exhaustion.
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Naruto practised the jutsu every day that week, and then every other day for the first month of the academy before he got the amount of chakra used by the technique down to levels where he could use it in a fight without passing out. After which he moved on to learning the shadow kick, and to enhancing strikes from his knees, elbows, and head. He mastered this in less than two months, once he got the shadow fist mastered it was easy to apply what he learned there to other things. A year passed before the Kyūbi thought he was ready to move onto weapons training.
"When using a blunt weapon you can enhance it just like you would your arm or leg, but a sharp weapon is different. You need to first pool shadow chakra into the blade, which is something you should always be doing when using a cutting weapon as it will keep it sharp, and make it more resistant to damage. It will not make your attacks do any more damage, however. For that you need to add wind-natured chakra. This will be a little difficult, but the results will be worth it. This combination will make the chakra grey and will take a cheap cutting weapon, and allow it to behave as if it were master-crafted. It will slice through damn near anything, and most importantly will stop doing so the moment you wish. Thus making it useless in the hands of your enemies."
Naruto grinned, wishing he could start going on missions to really try it out. He found the two chakras in his core, then tried to pool and merge them together. He passed out before he had enough for even one blow, and this alone would take a week of practice, before he could even begin to utilize the pooled chakra. After choosing to focus his weapons training on using a katana, Naruto split his training between focusing his control over the grey chakra and getting his kenjustu to acceptable levels.
At the Ninja Academy, he had been scoring high marks in taijutsu and armed combat. and Because of the tutoring that the Fox had been giving him, he had also been getting good marks in history and tactics. Which left genjutsu, ninjutsu, stealth, and interrogation to work on.
The Kyūbi felt that stealth was a good a place as any to begin, and thus Naruto took up pranking, which may have been one of the more unusual training methods, but still helped immensely.
...To be continued