"Tell me a story, Haru."
I looked up from the book I was rereading. It was a weird request but I guess a few days of meditation and chakra theory would make most people want for mental stimulation. "It wouldn't hurt to indulge Naruto a bit, I guess."
"Long ago, before ninja existed, there was a beautiful princess. She lived in a world torn apart by fighting and endless war. Desperate for peace, she stole the demon fruit of the World Tree and became the first person ever able to use chakra. With its great power, she quelled the fighting of the world, and created peace through fear.
"She gave birth to two sons who were also able to use chakra and they were even more powerful than their mother. However, the world tree was furious that the princess had stolen and passed down its power and he became a rampaging monster. Together, the brothers managed to stop the monster and seal it within one of their bodies.
"That brother then traveled around the world. He used the massive chakra of the World Tree within himself to help people. Unlike his mother, he tried to spread peace by helping others and trying to get them to understand each other. To that end, he gave people the ability to use chakra, hoping they would use it to better understand themselves and each other. He called this way of life 'ninshu.'
"The brother himself had two sons. The elder son was extremely talented, good at using chakra and anything else he did. The elder son was also very prideful, not wanting to rely on anyone else and to become strong on his own merits.
"The younger brother did not have any talent to speak of, unlike his brother. That meant he had to work extra hard to improve himself. Along the way, he made friends and allies and learned from them, growing as a person and eventually became strong like his brother.
"The founder of ninshu eventually chose the younger brother as the next leader of the ninshu way because he wanted people to work together to make a better world. This made the older brother angry. After all, hadn't he spent his whole life trying to make his father proud?
"The older brother then fought with the younger brother, unable to accept his father's decision. And to this day, their descendants still fight, using ninshu to do battle, and that is where ninjutsu comes from."
At this point, I ended my impromptu genjutsu puppet show. Naruto was actually clapping. I neglected to mention the tailed beasts or any of the three great dojutsu. That would raise questions later on that I wouldn't be able to answer.
"That was great! Do another one!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Maybe later, after you manage to get a leaf to stick." Only three days in, I could already notice improvement in my conversational skills. I had pretty much accepted my stilted way of speaking as unavoidable, but Naruto was helping me catch up.
"Okay, but if ya want me to stick a leaf to my hand, why am I using rocks? Ain't a rock way heavier than a leaf?" Naruto asked, bringing up a valid point.
"You weren't able to do it with a leaf. I want to see if this will work instead."
I lazed on the ground outside as if I were about to fall asleep while cloud gazing. In reality, I was trying to spread out my chakra as far as possible, seeing what I could sense. ANBU were probably trained to hide their chakra but I might get lucky. I could get maybe a couple blocks if I had time to concentrate. And I couldn't sense behind walls either. I still had a lot to figure out.
Naruto grumbled but kept trying, alternating between holding a leaf to his forehead like I showed him and trying to get a round stone to stick to his hand like a yoyo.
"The three great dojutsu. How do you fight against something like that?" It wasn't like I had a kekkei genkai of my own, nor could I imagine a kekkai genkai that could counter the Sharingan, much less the Rinnegan. "Time travel? Bloodline theft? Nukes? Nah, the Rinnegan could counter a nuclear explosion pretty easily." I did have one idea percolating in my head that I wanted to try. But it'd have to wait until I was sure it wouldn't kill me. I opened my eyes and stared up at the clouds, just like my genjutsu illusion was doing in the eyes of anyone looking from the orphanage. Late summer afternoons were really pleasant in Konoha.
