Disclamer: I don't own Naruto nor any characters or abilities created by Masashi Kishimoto. Original characters, abilities and bloodlines in this story (there will be) are mine. If someone out there thinks an ability or character of mine is cool and wishes to use it, feel free. I only ask that you give me credit.
Date: 05/19/08
Summary: While running from an angry mob on his birthday, seven-year-old Naruto finds himself in a strange land where a shinobi turned priest offers to train him as a ninja. Naruto eventually discovers there is more to the world then just shinobi when he unlocks his spiritual power. Not a super Naruto fic (I hate those ones) but more of a smart and wise naruto fic.
Reviews: Please review. I enjoy reviews, even if its only one or two words. I do not appreciate flames. If you don't like this story, its concept, or my writing style then don't read it. Don't read it then complane to me about it.
Spiritual Fox
Chapter 4: Kage Bunshin
Three days later, Naruto felt like crap. There was no other way he could describe himself. Anything else could do a bunshin, a simple bunshin, after three months of working at it. His sensei had been trying to help him, but he just couldn't get it right. Yoshi hadn't actually come out and said what the problem was, but Naruto hadn't expected him to, it went against his style. His sensei usually asked questions, specific questions that made his student think of the answers for himself. It was annoying and slow, but the priest was adamant that it would help in the long run, much like his taijutsu. His physical training and taijutsu had also taken a dip, Naruto's low self esteem had also been effecting his other work.
The blond didn't want to get out of his bed, it didn't seem worth it. He wasn't surprised when is sensei came into wake him, but he was caught off guard when the man hauled Naruto out of bed and said, "What's the matter little Naru, don't tell me your giving up on being a ninja that easily."
"What's the point Sensei? If I can't do a bunshin then I can't pass the exam. If I can't do that, then I'll never become a ninja or Hokage. And I just can't get the bunshin down, it's impossible." Naruto felt like he was rubbing salt into his wounds but he couldn't help himself.
"So, you noticed it was impossible too, huh?" If the boy didn't know any better, he'd say the man actually seemed proud of his student. He was smiling that damn little smile of his as he continued, "No need to despair little Naru, get dressed and lets eat. Then I'll show you something cool."
With that Yoshi left and Naruto was completely baffled. I've never heard him say something like, 'I'll teach you something cool.' What exactly is he planning. Curiosity peaked, he got dressed and went to have some breakfast. Soon they were out in the archery field, Naruto ready for a lesson. Yoshi's words had the desired effect of replacing Naruto's doubts with curiosity, the boy really couldn't focus on more then one thing at a time even in the emotional realm.
"All righty, you're going to be learning a new jutsu today Naruto, so you can forget about Bunshin no Jutsu."
"HUH?!" The boy thought he must be hearing things. It was the same teacher as before, he had the same stance, the same height, and that annoying smile hadn't changed. Something was going on. "But sensei, you said I'd have to learn all your lessons. That I wouldn't progress until I mastered what I was currently working on."
"I also told you that all things change. You yourself admitted that it was impossible for you to use bunshin no jutsu, do you know why?" It sounded like his teacher too. That serious look was the same and he was asking questions.
Yoshi's look was serious, but it wasn't negative. It was more like he was curious about what the boy in front of him would say. "I keep flooding a bunshin with chakra, it over loads it and causes it to fail. I've been trying to put less into it, but it just isn't working and… why are you smiling like that you twisted jack-off?!" While Naruto had been talking his sensei had gone from having a serious face to his usual happy smile. It just pissed the child off that his sensei wouldn't be serious while his student was talking about why he failed.
The man just looked at the boy gently and answered, "I'm smiling because I'm proud of you Naruto. Its rare to find someone who can see his faults and try to fix them. Normally, a person has to go through a near death experience to learn that ignoring ones weaknesses don't make them go away." Naruto had a little bit of color on his cheeks as the priest continued. The blond was getting used to being praised, but it still embarrassed him slightly. "I knew your chakra control was going to be horrible from the get go, and after two weeks of practicing bunshin no jutsu I had a feeling you might not be able to complete the exercise. After last practice, I decided to just scrap bunshin and teach you a different bunshin."
"If you knew my chakra control was so lousy, why didn't you say anything? And what do you mean, 'a different bunshin'? How many bunshin jutsu are there?" The child was experiencing a strange mix of angry and curious.
Yoshi closed his eyes and began holding his chin as he answered the boy. "To answer your first question, I didn't tell you because it would be pointless to do so." What's he talking about. The man seemed to understand his student's confused look as he clarified. "Faults and weaknesses are things you have to recognize and fix by yourself. As your teacher, all I can do is try and guide you to understand your own weaknesses. If I told you 'Your chakra control is terrible' at the beginning, you'd probably have ignored me. It wouldn't matter if its true, if you didn't accept it as a real problem then you wouldn't have put any effort into fixing it."
Naruto bristled at that. He didn't know whether he'd agreed with that statement completely, but it didn't seem like it was all untrue. Despite his anger, he was curious about something else, "Sensei, did you have to go through a near death experience to learn that?" I wonder if he's included in the 'most people' part.
Yoshi visibly sadden and he fell silent. The boy thought he might not even answer the question until he finally spoke up. "Yes Naruto. I was only a young and stupid fool, my ninjutsu and genjutsu were great, but I couldn't use taijutsu at all. I didn't even try to learn, I just ignored it. My teacher and even my teammates all warned me about leaving a skill completely untrained, but I didn't think of it as important and ignored them. One of my team even tried to forcibly teach me, but I only got angry and pulled away even more.
"Then one day we went on a mission, and came face to face with a team of taijutsu experts. I couldn't get off one technique, I couldn't even defend myself. The opponent was too fast for me to beat or catch with my skills. I nearly died, and in the process, I almost got one of my teammates and my best friend killed as well. That's what hurt even more then anything else, the fact that my stupidity had almost killed someone I cared about."
"Sensei…" Naruto tried to wonder what he would feel in the same position. To have someone he loved get hurt because of a mistake he himself made. It didn't settle well with him. "You know you could have just told me what I was doing wrong, I would have listened."
"The problem is that I won't be around for the rest of your life Naruto. Eventually you'll be on your own and have to find your weaknesses yourself. Its best to start you on the path of self discovery early then making you dependant on me to help see what's wrong. But I am very proud of you Naruto, I never expected you to just come out and admit to your weakness. All I had in store for you today was teaching you a different lesson." I could just teach him chakra control exercises, but I'd have to teach him up to the water walking exercise to get his skill to the right level. And what's the point of teaching him a weak bunshin when I could just teach him a really strong bunshin instead.
Yoshi flashed his familiar smile and decided to return to the main topic. "All right, little Naru, your second question was about various bunshin right?" 'Nod' "That also brings us to your next lesson. The truth is that there are many types of bunshin, almost as many as there are physical elements." Naruto was listening intently as his teacher explained various bunshin. Books had talked about this, but it nothing really definite. "The academy level Bunshin no Jutsu only creates an illusion of a person. Its something which can only be seen, but you can't touch it or smell it. There are other bunshin, however, which take physical elements and animate them to give the clones a physical aspect. For example, Misu Bunshin use nearby water for their clones."
Naruto was getting excited. He could see where this discussion was heading. Leaning forward, the boy asked, "So your going to teach me some sort of elemental bunshin, right sensei?"
"Nope." Blond boy fell flat on his face. "With your chakra levels, you can learn the highest form of bunshin. It creates a physical clone from nothing what-so-ever, the technique known as Kage Bunshin. After you learn this technique you'll create real clones which can fight, lift, do anything you can do. Its labeled as a Jonin class ability, so I doubt any other Genin you meet will be able to do it."
Naruto's eyes were wide with excitement. It was exactly what he wanted, a powerful jutsu which would shock everyone around him.
"There are some drawbacks to this skill, little Naru." Yoshi was looking serious, which told Naruto he still needed to listen to his teacher. "The first being the amount of chakra needed to create and maintain the clones. Other physical clones take elements to make them solid, but Kage Bunshin makes clones from your own chakra pools. The technique uses a large chunk of chakra to create the clones, then divides the rest of your chakra among the clones to sustain them. Once a clone is dispelled the remaining chakra in the clone will return to you, but it doesn't change the fact that it takes a lot just to make the copies in the first place. Its labeled as a Jonin level jutsu for a reason, Naruto. Mainly because Jonin level ninja are the only ones who have enough chakra to make it work without exhausting themselves."
Naruto understood what his teacher meant. If he used the jutsu too much, he'd loose all of his chakra in no time. It still sounded like an awesome technique but it had a down side. Yoshi continued, "If you learn this jutsu, then it'll be even more important that you improve your taijutsu little Naru." The boy gave a struggled squawk as he began complaining. Cutting him off with a wave of his hand, the priest explained further. "Naruto, the clones you make will have the same strength, speed and skills as you do. If you learn this justu, you should try focusing more on your taijutsu because Kage Bunshin will only amplify that discipline. Ninjutsu shouldn't be ignored though, each Kage Bunshin will have its own chakra supply and will, so they'll be able to perform jutsu just like you." Yoshi gave his mischievous smile as he watched his student shake with excitement. "So, you ready to start today's training, squirt?"
The boy jumped to his feet, pumped his fist into the air and yelled "Hell Yes!" Thus starting the blond on his new jutsu. As before, it took Naruto a week for him to gain control of using the jutsu itself but he found it took three months of lessons before his sensei told him he'd "mastered the jutsu". It wasn't that Naruto couldn't learning anything, it was just that there was a lot to learn about the technique. By the end of the time, however, Naruto would have spent twice as long on the jutsu if it meant he could use Kage Bunshin. All the things he could do, mid-air maneuvering, weapons transformation, multi-bunshin attacks, it made the child want to drool.
The last week had been the most frustrating though, his teacher had shown him his sadistic side and given him another mini-test. They were out in the training fields, Naruto revved up to learn more about Kage Bunshin, when the priest told him his surprise.
"Now, for the day's lesson Naruto. You've mastered various aspects of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but there's one more aspect which you still need to learn." The man fell silent and seemed to be waiting for something.
After a few moments of silence Naruto couldn't stand the wait and finally asked, "What aspect is that, Sensei?"
Yoshi gave Naruto his usual smile and the boy was suddenly filled with dread. He realized it was a day he'd hate his teacher. "Your next test, little Naru, is to figure it out for yourself." The man turned around and began walking back to the temple. He gave a backwards wave as he said, "Have fun and don't hurt yourself. Now, what should I read today."
"Hold it old man!" A pissed off child pointed an angry finger at the priest. "What do you mean, 'figure it out for yourself'!?"
Yoshi turned around and gave the child a questioning look, as if he was confused by the boy's demand. "I'd think the meaning is clear, you're to figure out the final secret of the Kage Bunshin without my help. Until you discover the technique I'll refuse to teach you anything new."
To Naruto, his teacher was being completely unreasonable. Through clenched teeth he growled, "And how exactly am I suppose to figure out this ability if you won't give me any hints?"
The man began looking serious and replied, "You can use Kage Bunshin, right?" The blond nodded. "You have the ability to think for yourself, correct?" An impatient and slightly angry nod was given. "Then use your brain and experiment with your jutsu. Try using it in ways I haven't shown you and see what you come up with. And for the record, I have given you a hint." Naruto narrowed his eyes at his instructor, angry but curious about what the information had been. "I've told you that there's something to find, that in and of itself is valuable information."
"You're not making any sense you old priest!" Yoshi had said that he was older then he looked, so the boy figured it was ok to call him old. He only did it when he was steaming mad, and this was one of those times.
With a sigh, priest began telling the boy specifically what his intention was. "Naruto, if I had never told you there was something else to find, do you think you'd ever have found out about the ability? And I'll assure you, you'd never find out anything if you only use Kage Bunshin in the normal way."
The boy's anger was lost under the intense look his teacher was giving him. Without anger clouding his judgment, the boy was able to answer honestly. He wasn't able to look at his teacher's eyes as he said, "No. If you hadn't told me there was something else to find, I'd probably never had even looked for something else. But Sensei…" There was one thing which Naruto couldn't let go of. "If there's something else, why don't you just tell me what it is?"
"The same reason you need to learn to recognize and fix your faults by yourself." Yoshi soften his look as he continued. "I won't be around to help you for every jutsu. You'll find there are some techniques you'll only learn from scrolls, and you won't have anyone to tell you every aspect of the jutsu. There may even be a way of using a technique that nobody has though of using before, so nobody can teach you. But if you can learn to think for yourself and experiment with your jutsu, then you might just find something unique."
The child was only half convinced, but nodded his understanding. At the very least, he knew that if he didn't complete the exercise he wouldn't move on. "This is good experimentation training Naruto. You have to try various things to see what your missing, and you'll continue to work because you know there's something to find. And for me, I'll get to start reading my new book." The blond turned his head sharply and glared at his teacher who was holding a little orange book titled, Icha Icha Paradise.
"I don't remember that one being in the library, sensei." It was true, Naruto had read most of the fiction that the priest owned and that orange book hadn't been among the collection.
With his happy smile, Yoshi said, "Correct. I was looking at a book store last week when I went into town. The shopkeeper said this series was fairly popular, so I decided to get one." The man started walking back to temple while reading his book. "Lunch will be at noon, so be back by then. Good luck to you." With that he left a disgruntled Naruto to work on his own.
It took Naruto the whole of a week to finally figure out the secret of the Kage Bunshin. At first he didn't try anything new, he just went over what he already knew. Multiple fighting, mid-air maneuvering, diversions, the boy eventually tried to other things but he only thought about the fighting aspects of a jutsu so he didn't get anywhere. After a week of getting nowhere, the boy was angry. He finally snapped when he came in for lunch to find his sensei so engrossed in his orange book that he'd forgotten to make the meal.
Naruto was tired, he'd just gotten back from making a clone pyramid (he didn't know what that might accomplish but it was better then nothing) and had hoped to get something to eat, not to come home to find nothing.
The blond began seeing red as he just looked at the man, sitting at the table just reading. He couldn't help himself as he asked, "Yoshi, have you just been reading that damn novel all morning?" I all ready hate that book, and I'll never read it as long as I live.
With a happy nod, the priest replied, "Yep. I never knew they printed such trashy and perverted garbage, its actually quite fun. I went 'outside' and got the rest of the series this morning." With that, he just returned to reading, leaving Naruto with even redder eyesight then he had before.
"What about lunch?" The blond asked. He didn't want to go hungry.
"What about it?" The Yoshi replied. "You've gone days without eating, is there anything wrong with skipping one meal?"
"Ye-" He could take it, the boy let his rage overflow. "YES THERE IS YOU USELESS PERVERTED PIG!!"
The man watched with amusement as his student began ranting with even more verve then usual. He cut him off slightly towards the end when he finally suggested, "If you want lunch that bad, why don't you just make some yourself." The boy had seemed like he was calming down, but Yoshi's comment riled him up again.
"Maybe I will you freak!" The child shouted. "I'm making ramen and you're not having anything!" With that he began his preparation, he got his noodles and began chopping up his meat and vegetables. Eventually the child remembered that ramen required water, but when he turned the tap nothing happened. Slowly turning to his sensei, he asked a question but thought he already knew what the answer would be. "Yoshi-sensei, why isn't the water running?"
Looking up from his book with a confused look the man responded, "Water?" He paused with his thinking pose before coming up with his answer. "Oh yes, that wasn't working this morning. I forgot to look into it, I had just gotten to a great section of my book and couldn't put it down." This maxed the boy's red vision as he thought, If I ever meet the person who wrote those books, I'll beat them into a bloody pulp. "If you need some water you can get as much as you want from the river."
Naruto didn't want to waste time, so he let his hands fly through familiar signs and he created four Kage Bunshin, two to fetch water and another two to get some wood and start a fire to boil said water. He briefly had a fantasy of tying up his teacher and using his Icha Icha books to cook his meal, but knew it would never come true.
Yoshi couldn't help but tease his student while he was in such an agitated state, so he made another suggestion, "Your room was messy, so you might want to clean that up too." To his surprise, the child stopped his cooking and let his hands fly through the familiar signs again creating three Kage Bunshin which he sent to clean his room for him. Soon after, the kitchen helper clones came in with he wood and water. Soon the noodles were cooked to perfection, and Naruto dismissed his helper and cleaning bunshin as he sat down with his food and began eating straight from the pot.
While he was eating, the priest just looked at him with his smile stuck on his face. It got too annoying so the blond finally yelled, "What is it this time?"
Leaning on the table with his hands resting in his palms, the man simply asked, "So little Naru, how'd you enjoy cleaning your room and fetching water?"
The blond only gave his teacher a confused look as he responded, "What are you talking about, my bunshin did those tasks. How could I…" Except, once he thought about it, he did know. He had memories of himself going and fetching water as well as memories of himself cleaning his room. It finally donned on him what the final aspect of Kage Bunshin was. "Sensei, what you wanted me to learn was that Kage Bunshin sends back what they learn after they dispel, right? And you set up this whole lunch thing just to help me realize it."
Yoshi only smiled as Naruto figured everything out so easily. He's getting smarter and smarter every day. "You seemed like you could use a little bit of help." He got up and started making some tea with the remaining fire in the stove. "That final aspect of Kage Bunshin is for information gathering and training. You've only been using it in order to fight, but shinobi do much more then getting into battles. They steal, protect, inform, beginner ninja even do missions such as search for missing pets and baby-sit."
Naruto was only half listening to what Yoshi was saying, his mind was focused on something else. "If a Kage Bunshin sends information back after its dispelled, then could I use it to learn multiple jutsu at once?" The more the blond thought about it, the more he thought it was possible.
The priest had finished making his tea so he sat down in front of his student with cup and pot in hand. He pored himself a helping of the delicious liquid and slowly had his first sip before answering. "Yes Naruto, it would be easy. Once a clone is created, it has the same knowledge and abilities as you. It also has the ability to learn so any skills it perfects while created will be transferred to you as well. However, this does not include physical training. Strength and speed are part of your own physical body so a Kage Bunshin cannot help you with that. Other skills however, chakra control, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, are things which are perfected through mental preparation and can be trained with Kage Bunshin."
Naruto was more excited then ever before, I can focus on increasing my speed and strength personally, and have clones work on the other stuff.
Yoshi, however, simply took another sip of tea and proceeded to burst Naruto's bubble. "I know what you're thinking little Naru, but unfortunately I will not allow you to speed up your training like that. From this day forth, for the remaining time you have under me, you are forbidden from using Kage Bunshin to quicken your training."
"WHAT!" Naruto just couldn't believe it. He'd finally mastered a powerful jutsu, and now he couldn't us it to its full potential. "Why not, damn it!"
"Because learning that way is extremely dangerous Naruto." Yoshi looked at blond straight in the eye and the boy could tell he wasn't kidding. "The human mind is a fragile thing Naruto. In a normal mind, one has only one set of memories and experiences at a given time. To give yourself multiple memories of the same time puts a strain on one's mind. The impact is lessened if one's clones are doing the same thing, such as fighting an opponent. However, if you have ten separate clones learning ten separate skills, after they're dispelled the memories become difficult to fuse together into one mind, even if you don't do it all at once."
The man visibly saddened as he continued. "I've seen it happen many times, Naruto. Someone learns Kage Bunshin and decides to continually speed train with their bunshin. They either have a mental breakdown after trying to learn 15 jutsu at once, or after a number of years, the continual strain of having multiple memories is too much and the person has a breakdown even after only learning two or three jutsu at a time or just from speeding the training of a single jutsu."
The thought of that made Naruto's blood run cold. That was exactly what I had thought of doing, learning a lot at once or speeding up over time. "So its ok to use Kage Bunshin in a fight against an opponent, as a distraction, or to gather intelligence, but using it to train too much can backfire an destroy your own mind, correct?" Naruto's voice sounded mostly calm, but there was a hint of fear in it. He wanted to make sure he had the facts down completely.
"Yes Naruto. I've told you before, though it bears repeating, everything comes at a price. Usually, one sacrifices his time in order to gain power and skill, but that's because time has proven to be the best trade overall. If one tries to gain power in a different way something else must be given, training with the Kage Bunshin is an example of sacrificing mental health instead of time. Other ways sacrifice physical heath, emotional support, even one's own life. Over the years, people decided that time, while a very precious thing, is much more preferable to pay then their minds, health, or emotions."
The man did his best to convey his words to the child in front of him. "You may think that a power or ability is wonderful, Naruto, but the stronger a skill is the more it costs to not only obtain, but also to use. The price for using some jutsu is so high, that retreating is a better option."
After finishing his cup of tea, Yoshi concluded his lecture. "I can not force you to listen to me after you leave here, but I advise you to never use Kage Bunshin to speed train unless you have little to no choice. It's far more advisable to simply spend longer training then to risk mental damage. Everybody is different, so it's impossible to set a limit for anyone. Some people can last seven years worth of continual speed training while others can only handle four." With a smile to his student, Yoshi told his student a brighter piece of news. "Because you've mastered the three basic ninjutsu, I'll be spreading your training out to include other aspects of a shinobi. More advanced trap setting, and hunting among the criteria." Naruto began to weakly protest, but the priest cut him off. "You may have mastered the basics, but its far more difficult to trap an intelligent creature like a human then it is to snare or hunt an animal. I'll also be showing you the basics of Genjutsu as well."
Naruto was deep in thought, however. So much so that he'd stopped eating his ramen. It made Yoshi worry about his student. Huh, I wanted him to understand the dangers in speed training with Kage Bunshin, but I didn't thing he'd take it this hard. I need something to lighten his mood. He decided that making the boy angry would be the most effective, and amusing, way to accomplish his goal, so he grabbed the chopsticks out of his students hands, swiped the bowl from the blond and began eating.
Naruto had been brooding a little too much about the revelations behind Kage Bunshin so he wasn't able to stop his teacher from stealing his food and utensils from him. The man had already eaten a mouthful of noodles before Naruto could react. "What the- What do you think your doing? That's my lunch you bum!"
"Well, you weren't eating so I assumed you were done." He slurped a mouthful of broth and gave a contented sigh. "You're cooking is great Naruto. Maybe you should give up on being a shinobi and become a cook instead."
His anger rose again and the boy gave an angry growl. "I'm not giving up on being a ninja, not now or ever. Now give me back my lunch, damn it!"
Yoshi only gave his student a soft smile as he replied, "Feeling better now, Naruto?" The blond was about to protest, but he realized that he was feeling better then before. The silliness of the priest's actions and the familiarity of anger had helped Naruto be more at ease. "There's no need to be angry with yourself for having an idea, Naruto. I'm actually proud of you figuring out the training aspect of Kage Bunshin, and if the results wouldn't have been so disastrous then I would have let you use the clones in training. A teacher's real job is to guide his student and help him think for himself. To let him make his own mistakes and help him learn from those mistakes, but not to let him make deadly or life threatening choices. There will be few things I'll forbid you from doing Naruto, but you can be sure that those things will be so dangerous that one wrong choice would be life threatening or life crippling."
Yoshi gave Naruto his food and chopsticks while smiling a kind smile. "Don't be upset or afraid of failing, Naruto. Everyone fails sometimes, but if you learn from those mistakes you can make up that lost ground and maybe even more. You have the rest of the day off, so enjoy it to your hearts content." He got up and left the room, Naruto remained behind and a smile slowly spread across his face as he returned to his noodles. This is one of those times when I love being here.
(TBC)
A/N: I'm loving the dictionary and thesaurus on my word processor. If I'm not sure what a word means I can just look it up, and if I find myself using one word too much, I can just use the thesaurus to find alternate words.
I didn't think I'd dedicate an entire chapter to Kage Bunshin, but by the end of it I had 10 pages of material (5,482 words) so I just decided to end it. If not I'd probably have gone on another 5 pages to get into the next chunk of material, which would be another five days before I updated.
I have no clue whether or not that is true about training with Kage Bunshin. I haven't actually read the part of the manga where Kakashi trains Naruto's wind element chakra that way, Wiki says that a person can be overcome by the information during training, but that didn't seem good enough. It seems too good to be true that after one can learn Kage Bunshin that they can just learn multiple things at once or speed train with multiple clones with little to no negative impact. So I added my own catch, and it makes sense too.
On a serious note, I need to translate English named Jutsu into Japanese, anyone know where to go and ask for that?
Next up, Naruto learns about the spirit relm and of priests.