The Strength of Blood
Chapter Five: Elemental Mishaps
Genjutsu, Alex was beginning to hate the field. He had thought that his third year at the Academy would be pretty easy; it was after all a year mostly focused on learning Genjutsu with the other subject's being thrown in around it and since he was immune one would assume that all would be good, if you did you would be wrong. When the year started Alex had to choose between two outcomes for this year.
On one hand he could show phenomenal skill in being able to break any Genjutsu which would be easy because of his immunity and he could then pour all the time everyone else had to learning to do the same into the theoretical and understanding for the written half of it. On the other hand he could totally bomb both sides of it showing a complete inaptitude for the field. So biting his pride he chose the latter of the two and in doing so sealed his fate for the year. Throughout his year at the Academy he was known as the worst in Genjutsu even worse than Natsumi and Sai, but he would bear with it as long as his overall grade didn't drop below twenty-five. As it was he was walking a fine line when it came to his grade.
Although there was a silver lining in all this, with him not having to spend a lot time on Genjutsu, it opened up a large space in his studying schedule and he needed to fill it. Luckily he had a friend in her fourth and final year, a friend who was learning the Academy Ninjutsu's, a friend he's been tutoring in Fùinjutsu. How could he pass up on such an opportunity?
So during his next session with Tenten he brought it up. She was overjoyed to help; apparently she had been looking for a way to repay him for all his help. They began with 'Kawarimi no Jutsu' and over the next couple weeks he learned the 'Henge no Jutsu' and 'Bunshin no Jutsu' he made sure to practice the 'Kawarimi no Jutsu' till it became second nature to him. Sadly by that point he had learned the three major Ninjutsu's of the Academy and Tenten no longer had anything to teach him. Once again he had an opening in his Schedule; it looked like it was time to up the ante once more. So began by stopping by 'The Iron Forge' with his weekly shipment.
The bell above the door rang as Alex entered the shop. He found it empty besides himself and Kenshin manning the counter, who looked up and smiled at his entrance. "Alex? I'm surprised to see you, Tenten's still working on the exercises you gave her and your next shipment isn't due for another few days."
"I finished it early… and I wanted to ask a favor." Alex said handing Kenshin the Scroll.
Kenshin chuckled "you need a favor, should I be excited or worried"
"Ha ha very funny, I need two pieces of Chakra Paper."
Kenshin's eyebrows rose at the request. "You want to learn your Affinity, at your age? Isn't that a little early, and why two?"
"No I don't think it's too early to learn. I've already learned the Academy Jutsu's from Tenten and while I have absolute faith in the products you supply, it never hurts to double check."
Kenshin accepted the point, better safe than sorry, but he was still curious. Why did Alex want to learn such advanced Jutsu's when he only just entered his third year at the Academy? "This sudden interest wouldn't have anything to do with you low Genjutsu grades would it?" he asked. "Tenten has told us you're barely passing, but I've known you for a couple years now and I know you're a lot better than people think."
Alex sighed. "I should have known that subject would come up, while I won't tell you why… I will tell you that I have Genjutsu covered. It's actually the reason I'm looking for something else to learn. I have to fill my time-table with something."
He studied Alex for a few moments before nodding. "I believe you and I can't wait for the day you become a Ninja. At this rate you might just become one of the greatest Ninja this Village has ever seen." He then grabbed two pieces of paper from beneath the counter and handed them to Alex. "Do you know how these work…?" at his nod Kenshin sighed. "Of course you do. Try not to get yourself killed, it would be a waste to lose such a good supplier" he joked. Alex just shook his head and left after grabbing the Chakra Paper.
"Are you sure about letting him have those? You know how dangerous it is to practice Elemental Jutsu without a teacher, especially for one so young." Aiko spoke as she appeared from the back room.
Kenshin nodded. "I do, but someone like Alex doesn't come around very often. He has a drive to learn and practice everything he can get his hands on beyond that of his peers and of those years older than himself. That kind of drive should be fueled, not staunched." He embraced his wife with one arm. "And besides do you really think it will be any harder for him then learning Fùinjutsu all by himself. You have to admit the kids a natural at being self taught, I'd be willing to bet he already has some low level Jutsu's that he can practice."
Aiko rested her head on Kenshin's shoulder. "I guess your right about both points, though I am curious where he's going to get Jutsu's Scrolls from. The Library won't allow someone into that section unless they're a registered Ninja, and The Nara Clan doesn't really practice Elemental Jutsu."
Kenshin shrugged. "Who knows, Alex is a very resourceful individual. So we'll just have to wait and see." He then gave her a confused look. "Wait, both points?" he asked. "What's the second?"
She smiled. "The point you made about him becoming one of the best Ninja this Village has ever seen."
Alex was in a great mood as he left 'The Iron Forge' he had two pieces of Chakra Paper and a full year at the Academy to learn Elemental Jutsu's. Though first he has to know if he had an Elemental Affinity, before he started leaning any jutsu's. He made his way to an empty training ground. Once he was sure it was empty, he pulled out the Chakra Paper and channeled some Chakra into it.
Now Elemental Affinities weren't uncommon, almost everyone had at least one, but there were those rare few who didn't. The Chakra Paper showed your Affinity by doing one of the following. The paper dampens to signify a Water Affinity. If the paper crumbled into dirt you have an Earth Affinity. If the paper wrinkled you have a Lighting Affinity. If it split in two you have a Wind Affinity. If it lit itself on fire you had a Fire Affinity. Sometimes people would have dual Affinity's and even rarer than that were people who had three Affinity's, which were unheard of outside Elemental Bloodlines like Ice which was a combination of Wind and Water or Storm which was Wind and Lightning.
So when the paper in his hand split into four equal pieces. One of which turned to water, one crumpled into a ball and sparked with black electricity, one hardened into rock and one burst into blue fire. He blinked, grabbed the second piece and tried again, with the same result. Never had he thought he would have more than one Affinity, but to have all five. That was unheard of.
Shaking off his surprise, he started going through the hand seals to reverse summon himself back to the mountain home with a puff of smoke. He waited for the smoke to clear away, before setting off to find Tanya, who he found in the audience chamber and bowed respectfully. "Hello Tanya. How does the day find you?"
"It finds me well young one." She said inclining her head. "To what do we owe the pleasure today?"
"I was hoping to be granted access your Jutsu vault, if you would allow me."
"Of course, every resource we have at our disposal is yours. If you follow me I can show you the vault." Standing up she led the way for Alex.
The vault turned out to be an old library like room, with bookshelves lining the walls and then several running across the room. It was run by the smaller tigers who could navigate the shelves more easily. After greeting the Tigers on duty, Tanya led him to a sealing array in the middle of the room. "Most of what we have is the history of the clan, but this sealing array leads to where most of the Jutsu's are kept. All you have to do is stand in the array and push chakra into it." She explained.
"Thank you Tanya. I can't express how helpful you have been in the past year."
"If you need any help you can ask Kim our chronicler, she knows everything there is to know about this place." she paused on her way out the doorway to lend him one last bit of advice. "Just don't try waking her up from one of her naps, she likes them a lot."
"I'll keep that in mind" he thought. Crouching down he pressed his hand against the seal and found himself inside another room entirely. If he thought the last one was nice, this one was magnificent. Rows upon rows of shelves that reached the ceiling, all stacked to bursting with scrolls. There were entire sections devoted to Jutsu's alone, with more for Taijutsu styles and Kenjutsu and pretty much every skill there was out there. He was pretty sure he'd died and gone to heaven, there was no way he would be able to learn half these Jutsu's in his lifetime. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he got to work. He started by picking out the basics on affinity manipulation for each element and then grabbed a single Jutsu to learn from each, he could come back for more at a later date. With scrolls in-hand he stored them in a seal on his arm and left via the way he came in. He stopped just long enough to say goodbye to Tanya before leaving the World of Summons and making his way towards an unused training field after picking up a few items at the store.
Upon arriving he sat down and unsealed the scroll containing the basics for fire manipulation. Having an affinity for fire was common in Konoha, he would start with that and if something happened that he didn't foresee it would be easy to get help without being to suspicious. After all, everyone would only see him as an Academy student who'd managed to learn his Affinity and get a hold of a Jutsu to practice, not all that uncommon really, it had happened before. Sitting down cross-legged he began.
The first step to fire manipulation was learning to extinguish a small flame with just your chakra. So he grabbed one of the candles he'd bought at the store and lit it with a match. Holding his hands on either side of the flame he began channeling chakra between his hands. It was a slow process, but after awhile he managed to make the flame flicker, before finally extinguishing it all together. He did this several times to get the hang of it before moving on to the seconded step, which was to ignite the candle instead of extinguishing it. That took him a bit longer, but it to he got in the end. Now it was time for the final step. After igniting the candle once more, he slowly lifted his hand upwards, lifting the flame for the candle and holding it suspended between his hands. Now the fame was entirely dependent on his chakra to stay alive. Just out of curiosity he channeled more chakra into the space between his hands and watched as the flickering flame grew into a fireball the size of his fist. Feeling his chakra reserves dropping fast, he reduced it back to its original size.
For the next couple hours he practiced this, igniting and extinguishing without the use of a candle, increasing and deceasing its size repeatedly and making it move back and forth between his hands. He left just enough chakra in the tank to practice Fùinjutsu that night, the rest he trained away.
This pattern continued for the next two days. He would wake up and head to the Academy. Then he would head to a random training ground. After practicing his Taijutsu, Kunai and Shuriken throwing and fire manipulation, he would head home with enough chakra left for an hour or two of Fùinjutsu before bed.
On the third day he decided to learn his first Elemental Jutsu. 'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu'(Great Fireball Technique). Which was a C-Rank Jutsu, in fact all five of the Jutsu's he'd grabbed where C-Rank. He started by slowly copying the hand seals, than he ran through them a couple dozen times going faster each time. Finally he began to mold his chakra along with the hand-seals, kneading it within his lungs.
"Katon: Gokakyu!"
A blue fireball the size of his fist flew from his mouth and stuck the target he'd set up not far away. Pumping an arm in success he tried again, this time molding as much chakra as he could into the Jutsu.
"Katon: Gokakyu!"
The fireball was twice the size of his head this time. Unfortunately he missed the target this time and instead left a large scorch mark on the ground. He was able to do two more full powered Fireballs before running out of chakra. But unfortunately he'd set the whole training ground alight at that point so he had to get the hell out of dodge before he was caught in a place he technically wasn't supposed to be. He'd have to be more careful, it didn't occur to him that his flames would be so powerful so quickly, their blue lights danced across his back as he fled.
The next morning the incident at the training ground was talk of the Academy, apparently it had taken quite a few Ninja to extinguish. Alex pretended to be interested about who caused it when both Tenten and Shikamaru talked about it, but he think only Tenten bought the act, although Shikamaru didn't call him out for some reason, maybe because they were friends? Well Alex wasn't going to press it if he wouldn't.
Once the heat had died down (no pun intended) he found another training ground. Training Ground Sixty-Four fit his needs nicely. It was unused, had a large stream running through it, it was secluded with tall trees densely packed around it preventing anyone from spying from a distance and he placed security Seals all around to notify him if someone approached whether he was there or not and to prevent any spying of other means as well. The spying seals were a favorite of Mito's, they were actually the same seals around the women's hot springs in town, though for some reason they'd been deactivated until he came alone and reactivated them and added his own touch so they couldn't be deactivate again. The Training Ground itself was perfect. It provided the solitude he wanted, away from prying eyes and the stream would allow him to practice any number of Water Jutsu's. After placing Barrier Seals around the Field to prevent a repeat of the last Training Ground he began, these seals weren't on pieces of paper, but carved into rock columns to make them permanent and he could activate or deactivate them with ease.
He'd brought actual training dummies this time and set them up on the opposite side of the Training Ground, he made sure they all had Chakra resisting seals carved on their backs so they wouldn't be destroyed after only one Jutsu, but he had a Scroll filled with replacements if he had to replace them.
With a quick one-handed hand-seal the Barrier Seals activated and he was free to start throwing Jutsu's. Alex had pretty much gotten the Fireball Jutsu down, but he'd only practiced it standing still and that wouldn't do. So as he went through his katas he randomly threw Kunai, Shuriken and the random Fireball Jutsu at the dummies. For the next couple weeks this was the norm as he slowly increased his Chakra reserves. By the time January rolled around he could do several Fireball Jutsu's in a row before having to rest, which was good progress for only a month.
Next on his list was Earth Manipulation and 'Doton: Doroku Gaeshi' (Terra Shield). Since Alex already knew an offensive Jutsu he wanted a defensive this time. Earth manipulation consisted of holding a rock in one hand while trying to make it crumble and reform just using your Chakra. The bigger the rock the harder it was. Like with fire manipulation he practiced earth for three days before learning the Jutsu.
Going through the hand-seals slowly, he slammed both hands against the ground.
"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi"
A stone wall rose slowly from the ground. It wasn't perfect and was a weak in some areas, but Alex continued to practice until it was solid and he could raise it in the blink of an eye, but he still couldn't do as many as he wanted. His Chakra Reserves were hampering him in the Jutsu department, but there was little he could do about that.
As the days rolled by and his Reserves increased, he began adding the earth Jutsu to his Kata mix. The stone walls mad perfect targets for his Fireballs, that way he could work on making them both stronger at the same time and also saved him a bunch on training dummies. He trained with 'Doroku Gaeshi' until he only had to slam one hand into the ground to get the desired effect.
He had the same success with the other Elements. Water, Lighting and Wind they all went smoothly. He did them much like the last two, practicing Manipulation for three days before trying the actual Jutsu's. And by the end of March was practicing them all together. 'Katon: Gokakyu' 'Doton: Doroku Gaeshi' 'Suiton: Teppoudama' 'Raiton: Raikyu' and 'Fuuton: Daitoppa' were the five C-Rank Jutsu's he learned. Although he noticed something was wrong with his Jutsu's. Well maybe not wrong per say, just odd. His Katon was blue. His Doton grew dark. His Raiton was Black. His Fuuton was almost opaque. Only his Suiton seemed to be normal, if a little violent. Whatever was happening didn't seem to be having any adverse effects so he left it alone for the time being, in fact he thought it made them more destructive, but that could just be because he didn't have a comparison.
With the Jutsu's learned, Alex returned them to the vault and grabbed a scroll on a Chakra exorcise called 'Tree Walking' it was supposed to be a lot more taxing and helped refine your control a lot faster than 'The Leaf Balancing Exorcise' there was another for 'Water Walking', but he left that one alone for the time being. He would come back for it when he mastered 'Tree Walking'.
'Tree Walking' took him some time to get. If you concentrated too much Chakra into your feet they would go right through, if you focused too little you'd fall off. There was a fine balance between the two that Alex had to find and after a few hours, trees and falls later he did. While he hadn't mastered it yet, he had at least gotten a feel for the aforementioned exorcise. It was too late to really get into something new, so Alex decided to go home and make some dinner. It was during this action that he got a surprise visitor.
He had just started the noodles and was cutting up some spices for the broth, when he heard a knock on his door. Frowning he glanced at the clock on the stove. Nine-forty PM it read. Who would be calling this late? Setting the knife aside he wiped his hand off on the towel over his shoulder, before going to answer the door. Alex kept a hand on his Kunai holster he'd left on, just in case. Looking through the peephole he sighed before unlocking the door and pulling it open revealing Kenshin Yamada standing there. "What brings you at this hour Kenshin? Where my latest batch of Seals unsatisfactory, if so I apologize greatly and when the next batch is finished their free of charge."
"No, no, they were up to your usual standards" Kenshin denied vehemently.
That brought the frown back to Alex's face. "Then why are you here? Did something happen to the shop?" his words caused Kenshin to chuckle weakly.
"Is that really all I am to you, work? Can't I just come say hello to a friend?" Alex gave him a look. "Ok, ok. It smells like you were just cooking dinner. Mind if I join you and we can discuss this over food, I've not eaten since lunch"
Stepping back to allow him entrance, Alex closed the door behind him and promptly returned to cooking. "Make yourself at home. Dinner should be ready soon."
Kenshin followed him into the kitchen appraising the apartment as he went. "Nice place, though you wouldn't know it from the outside."
"The apartments cheep, not many people seem to like the idea of living in the same complex as my fellow renter." Alex commented, while adding the spices to the noodles. "I don't find it too bad myself. Take away the occasional acts of vandalism and many a warning for my health about living in the same building as the aforementioned tenet and it's actually quite nice, very peaceful in fact."
Kenshin sighed sadly behind him. "I still can't believe she's still receiving this treatment after almost thirteen years after the incident"
Dishing out two bowls Alex set them at the small table before taking a seat, while Kenshin followed suit across from him. "I don't suppose you could tell me why. I've asked several people, but they won't ever answer me and quickly run off or change the subject." Alex asked.
"Sorry Alex, it's an S-Rank secret."
"And yet most of the civilians know it?" Alex argued.
"I wish I could Alex, but I can't. Only the Hokage or a Jònin can do that. If Natsumi knew she could tell you according to the law, but even she is unaware of It." he explained ending the conversation.
With the end of that particular conversation they put their hands together and said. "itadakimasu" before beginning to eat. Kenshin took a bite of noodles paused then began wolfing down the contents of his bowl. Alex just watched him finish his bowl before holding it out for seconds, which Alex gave him and he downed that too and was on his third, before Alex had even finished his first. By the fourth bowl he slowed down and finally stopped setting his chopsticks atop the bowl and pushing it away.
"I should come by for dinner more often." Kenshin chuckled. "That was even better then my wife's cooking and I find hers the best." He paused a moment before adding. "Please don't tell her is said that."
Alex finished his second bowl and glanced at the now empty pot, at least there wouldn't be any leftovers. "While I thank you for the complement, I think it's time you tell me what you came and I know it wasn't the food." He said turning his full attention to Kenshin.
"No, I did not. I want to ask if you want to company me to the Land of Iron." At Alex's surprised look he elaborated. "Tenten or Aiko would usually be the ones to accompany me, but Tenten graduates this year, and she'll have her hands full with her new team. And Aiko is needed to man the shop, business is too heavy at the moment to even consider closing for a few weeks and my attention is needed in the Land of Iron. So what do you say?"
Alex thought about it. While it would ruin a lot of his plans for training this summer, it would also be a good chance to experience the world outside his village before he became a Genin. "I accept. When do we leave?"
Kenshin smiled. "Wonderful! We'll leave a few days after Academy ends."
There was little more than idle talk after that and Kenshin left soon afterwards. Alex went to sleep that night excited for summer to begin. Too bad it was still two months away.
A/N and there's another chapter down. Only two more till canon starts. I'm working on how i present the names of things and their translations, so advice is welcome. If I can't get it though I might just go full English. As always have yourself a great day and I'll see you next time. (Usual disclaimers here.)