Two Years Later
Naruto whirled the two blades expertly around him, his face scrunched up in concentration as he focused on his footwork. It was all for nothing, however, as his foot caught on a rock sending the blonde face first into the ground. With a muffled curse, Naruto pulled himself up to a sitting position while making sure to sheath his paired kodachi carefully into the daiya strapped across his back at the waist.
"why the hell can't I get this right," he cried out in frustration. "Two damn years and I'm still stumbling over the damn footwork. My blade work's fine, but it's worthless without being able to move in the right ways. I don't care if jiji claims it's because I'm still growing, other students don't have the same problems!"
Since receiving the scroll detailing the basics of his style, Naruto had read it from end to end literally a dozen times. It had seemed like a godsend to the blonde as the style was all about spiraling movement and slipping around an enemy's guard. The problem lay in Naruto's own complete lack of fluidity and grace. For some reason, his body never reacted in the right way no matter how long he'd practiced the movements.
"Ah, to hell with it," Naruto cursed. "I still got class at the Academy today." The blonde rose to his feet and made sure that the scroll was packed away into a waterproof nylon bag along with his swords before secreting it inside a hollowed out tree, moving some branches across the hollow to obscure it. It didn't pay to keep anything in his rundown apartment unless Naruto wanted something to be destroyed or stolen by some random drunk villager one day, so he'd prepared a hidden cache here at his favorite training ground and kept everything he considered important in it.
Naruto dashed out of the woods a short time later, glad that the Academy was closer to the training grounds than to his apartment. He managed to slip into the classroom just as the bell was ringing, hiding among the last stragglers and taking his seat relatively unnoticed. He sat next to Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji; glad that the phlegmatic boy and his food obsessed friend were friendlier than most of his classmates, but never pried too deeply into the blonde's persona of the barely competent prankster. Naruto had an idea that Shikimaru suspected he was more than he let on, but the Nara boy's native laziness blunted the insight of his incredible intelligence.
Most of the class was fairly worthless, in Naruto's opinion. Despite the high number of children from prominent clans, few of them would be ninja that the blonde would consider trusting to watch his back on the battlefield Nara Shikamaru was smart , but too lazy to ever be truly effective in the field. Akimichi Chouji had potential for some real power, but he was too easy going unless someone called him fat. Inuzuka Kiba was fairly solid, if a bit of a loud mouthed braggart. He didn't even have one of his clan's nin dogs to back up his bravado either. Aburame Shino was deep. The stoic boy who sat in the back of the room was very skilled even though he appeared mediocre in his scores. His bugs allowed him a great deal of flexibility even if they deprived him of the chakra needed for most jutsu.
Most of the class's kunoichi were clearly a waste, since they spent their time fangirling rather than training for their future. Yamanaka Ino, despite being a major pain in Naruto's rear, had some potential if she ever gave a damn about developing it. Sadly, she cared more for her looks and chasing her Sasuke-kun. Haruno Sakura was practically useless except for her book smarts, but that was outweighed by her competition with Ino to be the number one stalker of Uchiha Sasuke. Hyuuga Hinata was probably the most promising kunoichi in the class and she wasn't a member of the Uchiha's fan club, but her complete lack of self confidence crippled her. It baffled the blonde that anyone with Hinata's advantages could think so poorly of themselves, since he'd had to build his self-confidence the hard way over the years through scraps of grudging acknowledgment from the village that hated him.
Naruto shook his head to clear the abstract thought about his classmates away as the one person he hated more than anybody in the world entered the room. Uchiha Sasuke. He was the exact opposite of everything Naruto was. Where Naruto had grown up poor, Sasuke had been raised in privilege. Naruto had never had family, had never known the loving touch of his mother; Sasuke had taken his family for granted and then lost it when his clan had been massacred. Naruto had to struggle to get someone to teach him and had to search for a single shopkeeper who wouldn't rip him off too badly or outright refuse to serve him; Sasuke had people tripping over each other to teach him and shops gave him outrageous discounts on the highest quality merchandise. Suffice it to say, Naruto loathed the stuck up emo bastard with every fiber of his being, but he never let it show. After all, a ninja should never allow his emotions to show or they could be used against him. So Naruto plastered his cheesy grin across his face and played the cheerful class clown.
Iruka-sensei's entry into the room quieted everyone down as the scarred chuunin settled his papers and began to call attendance. He's a hell of a lot better than Tanioka-sensei ever was, Naruto thought as he watched the teacher. I could almost swear that he's purposely restraining his chakra, though, and it's a really subtle technique too. It's not like what I use when I ghost out my chakra and disappear, it's more like he built a dam and is controlling how much is let loose…
"Uzumaki, are you paying attention," Iruka said, interrupting Naruto's thought and causing him to flush. "If you think my decision to move on to new material isn't a good idea, perhaps you'd like to come up and give the call a demonstration of your proficiency with the bunshin no jutsu?"
Naruto fought back a stab of irritation as he rose and moved up to stand in front of the class. He really couldn't take exception to being called out since he had been lost in thought for longer than he'd realized. Naruto made the handseal and channeled the chakra into the jutsu, trying desperately not to wince as the malformed and half-dead clone appeared on the floor. Why couldn't it have been Henge or Kawarimi? He had those two jutsu down pat.
"Dismal, as usual, Uzumaki," Iruka said sadly, shaking his head as Naruto returned to his seat. "Can anyone tell me why his bunshin failed so pathetically?"
"Cause he's an idiot," Kiba shouted, causing the class to snigger. Iruka leveled a glare at the rowdy boy, causing him to shift uncomfortably and quiet down.
"Ano, Iruka-sensei," Sakura offered. "He might not be using enough chakra for the bunshin to form properly."
"That's is certainly one possibility, Sakura-kun," Iruka said with pride before turning to the rest of the class. "Can anyone think of another possibility?"
"Perhaps he used too much chakra and overloaded the jutsu, causing it to misfire," Shino proposed quietly.
"That is also a valid possibility, Shino-kun," Iruka replied. "Too much chakra can be as much if not even more of a problem than too little chakra. A surplus will lead to a misfire and with elemental techniques, it can also cause the jutsu to explode in your face. However, today's lesson is going to be about chakra control." A chorus of groans erupted from the class at this. Chakra control was one of Iruka's favorite topics and was always the subject of an incredibly boring lecture.
"I know that many of you are tired of hearing me lecture on the benefits of chakra control, but it is one of the cornerstones of any ninja's abilities. I'm not going to bother with my standard lecture since I know you've heard it forty-seven times. No, today I'm going to tell you about some of the more advanced chakra control exercises you'll learn when you make genin and see if you'll understand the importance of working hard at the basics." By this point, virtually everyone's eyes had glazed over in boredom. Except for Naruto. He had his eyes narrowed in intense concentration. After all, this was brand new information and not the same old lecture.
"Tree climbing and water walking are chakra control techniques commonly taught to genin before they begin training in elemental techniques. Not only do they teach the advanced chakra control necessary, but they also provide other abilities. Tree climbing allows a ninja to walk up sheer surfaces and generally teaches how to channel chakra to one part of the body to cling to something. Water walking allows the shinobi to walk on top of an unstable surface with chakra and is the basis for enhanced jumping as it teaches how to channel chakra to repel yourself from surfaces." Naruto could feel the wheels turning in his head at the sudden influx of new information and he suddenly came to an interesting realization.
That's what I've been missing, Naruto thought. I've been concentrating on my footwork so much that I forgot there was more to it than the movement of my feet. What I need to do is figure out how to do the water walking thing and use my wind chakra to create a cushion to move around on! This is awesome! Who'd have thought I'd find the answer I was looking for in class of all places?
Class droned on for some time after that, but Naruto's mind was already running full tilt on new training ideas. When the bell for lunch break rang, he was the first one out of his seat and bolted out the door. The blonde had already decided that he was going to skip afternoon classes, since the morning session had already yielded amazing results. Naruto headed out of the schoolyard and deep into the woods, hoping no one paid too much attention to him leaving the Academy grounds. There was a deep pool near one of the village walls that he liked to use to cool off in the summers without anyone else noticing.
Naruto took the precaution of stripping down to his boxers before approaching the pool of water, not wanting to have to deal with wet clothes on the way home. Putting one foot out of above the water Naruto tried channeling chakra to it and slowly lowered it to the surface, only to immediately break the surface tension. Looks like this will be harder than I thought, Naruto considered ruefully as he set himself to work.
It took Naruto a little over three months to walk shakily on the water and another six weeks of work to figure out how to create the cushion of wind chakra beneath his feet. It was almost like learning to walk again, since the pad of chakra kept him from experiencing friction. Naruto had to learn how to move in all directions, how to stop and how to keep his balance while doing all of these things. The blonde spent weeks mastering his new style of locomotion until molding the chakra for the air pads and acceleration became second nature and instinctive.
With his newly acquired ability, Naruto found his use of the Ryuusei no Ugoki was improving by leaps and bounds. The forms went much smoother when he wasn't worrying about his footwork tripping him up. He'd even started practicing channeling his wind chakra into the blade and was thrilled to see that the blade was holding up to the stress. With the use of his wind chakra, Naruto found himself able to extend the cutting range of the blades by as much as six feet at a time.
Satisfied that he was making sufficient progress on his fighting style, Naruto pondered the other deficiencies in his arsenal. He had mastered the Kawarimi, the Henge and escape techniques, but he knew that he couldn't get the bunshin right nor was he any good with genjutsu. He had no combat ninjutsu and jiji had been stingy with even the promise of new jutsu.
What I really need is some kind of information on creating jutsu, Naruto thought as he flowed through one of his kata. Something about how the hand seals work in manipulating the chakra…Naruto's train of thought derailed as one of the trees he'd damaged with his wind blade finally snapped and fell towards the blonde. Naruto froze in horror as the trunk descended, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in front of his face.
Seconds passed into minutes and as Naruto realized that the tree still hadn't hit him, the blonde opened his eyes and lowered his arms to see the trunk suspended in mid air. He reached out tentatively to touch it and was surprised to see that his hand was stopped by something before it actually touched the tree. Moving out of the path of the suddenly halted object, Naruto saw the trunk slide off to the side and fall the rest of the way to the ground like it had been moving along a curved surface.
"Holy shit," he exclaimed, staring at the downed tree in disbelief. "How the hell did I do that?" Naruto reached out to where he'd felt the obstruction that had blocked the tree and found nothing. "I wonder if this is what jiji meant about accessing my wind chakra subconsciously. I must have made some sort of solid shield of air to protect me. That is so cool! If I can learn to do that at will…damn, I'll be awesome!"
Naruto sheathed his blades and plopped himself back onto the ground. This was going to require a lot of intense practice, but oh the possibilities the blonde could imagine were endless.