Finally finished with the next chapter my dearly beloved readers! I apologize for the wait, but you know how it takes trial and error before you finally get a product you're satisfied with and I would like to give a big thank you to my friend who is a die hard Naruto fan who was kind enough to beta read this chapter for me. I would tell you their name, but they would like to remain anonymous for some reason. Anywho, on with the chapter!
Chapter Seven: Lesson in Chakra
'Is this old man really a ninja instructor?' I thought as I stared at the older man sitting across from me with his arms crossed looking at me with a thoughtful look on his face in the sitting room while Mrs. Shinomiya was in the kitchen brewing some tea. 'He's so old I bet even a nine year old with no prior training can kill him.' I saw his eyes narrowed and I started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. 'Why is he staring at me like that?'
"Tell me kid." Ryuji said breaking the silence as he leaned forward a little resting his arms on the table until his face was inches from mine. "Are you really a boy?"
'Ever heard of personal space old man?' I thought in irritation at hearing he doubted my gender but didn't voice my thoughts choosing to nod my head instead. "Yes sir."
He just hummed eyeing me from top to bottom before backing away to sit properly. "Well, if you say so." He crossed his arms again giving me a serious look. "As you already know my name is Ryuji Yozakura and I'm an instructor at the academy. I mainly overlook the students' training in unlocking their chakra, teach them the history of the ninja world, and how to properly handle kunai and shuriken." He then nodded to me. "Now it's your turn, introduce yourself."
"Introduce myself?" I asked before shrugging. "Okay, my name is Kojiro Kurosawa, nice to me-"
"NOOO!" Ryuji suddenly shouted getting in my face startling me by how loud his shout was that I recoiled back losing my balance and fell to the floor. "What I meant by introducing yourself is that you say your name along with your likes and dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future!" He then took a deep breath before sitting up straight again and gestured to me. "Now try again."
'What is with this guy?' I thought rubbing the back of my head to feel a small bump form from when I hit the floor by the old man's shouting as I sat back up. "My name is Kojiro Kurosawa, I like curry and senbei." I frowned a bit as I continued. "I don't like always being mistaken for a girl and close minded people." Ryuji raised an eyebrow but I didn't notice as I broke into a smile. "My hobby is learning about different herbs and their uses."
Ryuji nodded in approval. "And your dreams for the future young man?
"I don't know yet." I replied looking down in thought. "I think I want to be a medical ninja but..." I look at my hands as I closed them into fists and opened them again. "I don't think I can."
"Does this have anything to do with the favor Midori called me here for?" Ryuji inquired as Mrs. Shinomiya walked into the living room carrying a tray with three cups and a kettle.
"That's right Ryuji." Mrs. Shinomiya replied before I could open my mouth placing the tray on the table. "Kojiro's chakra is unstable for some unknown reason. It would be better to show you than try to explain." She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a leaf and handed it to me. "Here Kojiro, please show Ryuji your problem."
"Okay." I took the leaf and placed it on my forehead before taking a deep breath and focusing my chakra to the leaf to have it stick to my forehead. I slowly let go of the stem and I watched how Ryuji had his gaze on the leaf with a speculative look in his eyes. After a few minutes, I started to smell something burning before the leaf fell off my forehead and onto the table for me to see that it was damp with the edge burned and the stem brown. I looked up to Ryuji to see his eyes were narrowed and his arms crossed which made me a bit nervous. 'Does he know what's wrong with me?'
"Before I tell you what's wrong, I would like to ask something." Ryuji said looking to me making me stiffen a little. "Kojiro, how long have you been practicing this exercise?"
'How long? What does that have to do with anything?' I thought in confusion but I thought about it before answering. "About two weeks I think. I stopped after I..." I paused and looked down to my hands that were resting on my lap biting my lower lip. "After I learned of mama and papa's disappearance."
"I see." Ryuji nodded uncrossing his arms thinking it would be a good idea to get back on subject and picked up the leaf. "My best guess for why your chakra does this to the leaf is because you are unconsciously splitting it."
"What do you mean Ryuji?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked in confusion.
"As both of you know, chakra is a mixture of physical and spiritual energies." Ryuji explained getting a nodded from me and Mrs. Shinomiya before continuing placing the leaf back on the table. "Physical energy comes from every cell in the human body and can be increased when you train or exercise. Spiritual energy comes from the mind's consciousness and can be increased through experience, meditation, and studying. After mixing the two energies together you get chakra."
"What does all that have to do with why my chakra is unstable?" I asked in confusion trying to figure out how learning about how chakra is formed has anything to do with why it's unstable.
"I'm getting to that." Ryuji said patiently. "Now this is normally not taught genin, but I'll have to tell you in order for me to further explain why your chakra splits." He reached into the folds of his kimono and pulled out a scroll, a bottle of ink, and a brush. He laid the scroll on the table and unfurled it before taking the stopper off the ink bottle and dipping the brush inside. "There are five basic natures in chakra that ninja are capable of using." He took the brush out of the bottle letting the excess ink to drip back into the bottle before writing in the scroll showing five kanji in a circular form. "Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water." He started to draw arrows starting from the fire kanji to the wind and so on until it formed a circle. "Every nature is naturally weaker than and stronger than another. Fire is stronger than wind, wind is stronger than lightning and so on. Every ninja has an affinity for one of the five chakra natures which means that they have an easier time molding their chakra into that nature."
"So what your saying is that it's Kojiro's chakra nature that's doing this to the leaf?" Mrs. Shinhomiya asked looking down to the leaf.
"You're partially right Midori." Ryuji replied looking to Mrs. Shinomiya. "Yes it's his chakra that's doing it, but it's not one nature that's the cause of all that's happening to this leaf." He looked to me. "Young Kojiro here doesn't have one chakra nature, but three." Both Mrs. Shinomiya and I looked at him in shock as he picked up the leaf to examine it again. "Just by looking at this leaf I can see that Kojiro has water, fire, and earth chakra natures with water being his affinity."
"I-I have three natures?" I asked in shock, my eyes focused on the leaf. 'And he figured all this out just by watching me do the exercise?! I judged him too quickly.'
"Yes." Ryuji nodded twirling the leaf. "And it's because you have three that you keep unconsciously splitting your chakra to use all three instead of having the leaf stick to your forehead." He sighed placing the leaf down before crossing his arms. "It also explains why your chakra is unstable, if you can learn to not split your chakra then chakra control exercises will no longer be a problem." He hummed in thought before looking to me. "Kojiro, I want you to close your eyes and picture your chakra being a blue flame."
"Why?" I asked tilting my head to the side in confusion.
"Just do it kid." Ryuji ordered. "I want to try something." I continued to give him a confused stare doing what he asked and closed my eyes. "Take deep, even breathes and clear your mind of all distracting thoughts. Picture a bright blue flame and nothing else." I did as instructed and started to take deep breathes as I try to picture my chakra being a bright blue flame. After a few minutes have past, I was finally able to create a blue flame in my mind. "When you succeed, try to maintain that single flame for as long as you can." I nodded showing that I heard him and struggled to maintain the flames form.
The flame flickered for a moment before feeling it starting to split and I struggled to keep it from separating but couldn't hold it as the flame split into three different colored flames. The flame on the left was red, the right flame was brown, and the flame in the middle was bigger than the other two and was still blue before I lost my focus and my eyes shot open breathing hard.
"Not even a minute." I heard Ryuji mutter and I looked up to him to see that he had a contemplative look on his face. "This is going more difficult than I thought."
"Do you think you can help him Ryuji?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked giving me a concerned look taking out a handkerchief and scooted over to me to wipe away the sweat on my face.
"I'm not sure right now Midori." Ryuji replied with uncertainty in his voice. "You weren't kidding about his chakra being unstable if he couldn't keep it from splitting for at least ten minutes." He crossed his arms looking down in thought. "I've never had to deal with someone so young that already has three chakra natures." He then looked up to Mrs. Shinomiya. "The only advice I can give right now is to have him not practice his chakra control until he enters the academy before I even think of allowing him to try again."
Two months has past since Ryuji paid us a visit and told me not to practice the leaf exercise until he thinks I'm ready to try again. Since I couldn't practice my chakra control, I decided to use my time to study to be a medical ninja so I would be ready when I do practice again. After a week I got bored of just studying and decided that when I finish studying for a few hours, I would at least give the leaf exercise a try only to get the same results I always get when I do the exercise. Ryuji comes by to visit every now and then to stop me when he catches me trying to practice my chakra control and give me lectures about patience being a virtue and let's just say he's not quiet with his lectures.
'I swear I'm going to go deaf if he keeps lecturing me.' I thought as I sat in front of Ryuji who was giving me another long and loud lecture since he caught me trying to do the leaf exercise again. 'It was only for a few minutes, what's so wrong about that?'
"How many times do I have to tell you not to practice your chakra control before it finally gets through that thick skull of yours?!" Ryuji shouted causing me to cringe at the volume. He let out a frustrated sigh rubbing his forehead to ease a coming headache. "Kids these days, never listening to their elders and recklessly doing whatever they please without thinking of the consequences."
"Consequences?" I asked in confusion. 'What does he mean by that?'
"There's a reason why I told you not to practice your chakra control." Ryuji said as he lowered his arm giving me a stern look that says clear as day that he's not messing around. "I'm not going to sugarcoat anything and I'm only saying this once so listen up brat. If you keep practicing your chakra control while it is still unstable, you might end up killing yourself one of these days." My eyes widened at that but he continued not giving me a chance to say anything. "If you continue to practice your chakra control while it's still unstable, then one of your three chakra natures will go wild and out of control. Let's say your fire chakra nature for instance." I flinched at the thought of my chakra going out of control. "Like how the leaf village's second Hokage who can use water jutsu without an outside source, your chakra would mold itself into the fire nature and burn whatever it touches, like this house for example, and burn it and everything nearby to the ground killing yourself and everyone that was unfortunate enough to be nearby."
'I could kill people by accident?' I had a look of horror on my face at the thought of a burning building with people inside screaming as the flames engulfed them and I would be the cause of it. 'All because I was doing chakra control exercises?' My body shook when images of Mrs. Shinomiya and Noriko burning to death in front of me popped in my head and my hand found it's way over my mouth when I felt something crawling up my throat. 'Oh god, I'm going to be sick.'
"Now do you see why it's dangerous for you to practice chakra control right now?" Ryuji asked rhetorically getting my attention. "This is why I want you to wait until you enroll in the academy before you start practicing chakra control again. That way if you still have trouble with your chakra, then at least there will be instructors nearby to limit the damage done and maybe help you get your chakra under control." I removed my hand from my mouth and opened it to speak but he gave me a look that stopped me from getting a word out. "This isn't up for debate young man."
"Did you really have to say all that Ryuji?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked as she walked into the sitting room giving Ryuji a disapproving look. "He's still only a child."
"He may be a child, but sooner or later he needs to understand the consequences of his actions Midori." Ryuji replied not taking his eyes off me. "I gave him two months to let my warnings sink in but since that wasn't working he left me with no other choice but to tell him what he has been doing to himself."
I looked up from my hand to Ryuji giving him a curious stare. "What I've been doing to myself?"
Ryuji sighed before reaching into his sleeve and pulled out a dull and rusty kunai that had cracks that went from the handle to the tip before throwing it where it embedded itself on the floor in front of me. "Kojiro, let's say this old kunai is an injured shinobi and you tried to heal him while your chakra is still unstable, what do you think will happen?" I shuddered when a myriad of gruesome thoughts from burning them alive to filling their bodies with water until they burst came to mind. "You unlocked your chakra at the age of five which is rare, but it's even rarer for someone your age to already have a chakra nature let alone three. It's because of this that your chakra's unstable since your three chakra natures fight for dominance when you do the leaf exercise thus making it even more unstable."
"So what you're saying is that I'm making things worse just by practicing chakra control?" I asked as realization dawned on me when I thought back to when I was doing the leaf exercise earlier before Ryuji stopped me. 'Now that I think about it, the leaf did suddenly burst into flames the first try then crumbled to dust on the second and on the third it just got so wet that water was running down my face.'
"Now you're catching on." Ryuji's voice forced me out of my thoughts and I saw him nodding his head in satisfaction. "You're not giving your chakra enough time to settle in your chakra network." He gave me a stern glare that made me squirm where I was sitting when I only just now realized what I was doing to myself. "So there will be no more chakra control exercises until I say so, am I understood?"
"Yes sir." I lowered my gaze to my shaking hands that I clenched into fists were gripping tightly on the cloth of my kimono to try and stop the shaking to no avail. 'I can't stop shaking. All this time I was making things worse without realizing it?' I shut my eyes tightly trying to will away all the gruesome thoughts and Ryuji's words in my head. 'I'm such an idiot!'
I felt something touch my hands and opened my eyes to see a pair of wrinkled hands holding my small ones in them. I looked to the side to see it was Mrs. Shinomiya holding my hands giving me a warm smile. "It's okay Kojiro, you didn't know." She then looked over to Ryuji. "Isn't there any way you can help him Ryuji? I can see from the way Kojiro studies everyday that he really wants to be a medical ninja."
Ryuji crossed his arms closing his eyes as he hummed in thought. "Like I said two months ago, I've never dealt with someone like Kojiro before. If I'm being perfectly honest, I don't even know if it's possible for his chakra to be stable enough to become a ninja let alone a medical ninja." He opened his eyes and reached into his sleeve pulling out a scroll which confused me. "I'll discuss this with the other academy instructors and see if we can find a solution about his chakra problem." He unfurled the scroll across the floor that had the kanji for weapon surrounded by other kanji that I can't even read before slamming his hand on it and in a puff of smoke were five wooden kunai and shuriken. "For now just practice your aim with these if you're dead set on being a ninja."
"I can really have these?" I asked in astonishment as I looked at the wooden kunai and shuriken.
"Of course." Ryuji nodded pushing the wooden weapons closer so they were in my reach. "Why else would I bring them other than to give them to you?" He then smirked. "After all, they're meant as a present."
"Huh?" I looked up from the wooden weapons to give Ryuji a confused look.
I heard Mrs. Shinomiya giggle and turned to her to see she had her hand over her mouth. "Don't you remember what day it is Kojiro?" I continued to give the two elderly people a confused look as Mrs. Shinomiya stood up and walked into the kitchen. When she came out I gasped when I saw that she was holding a cake with six lit candles and when she placed it in front of me on the table I saw that it said 'Happy Birthday Kojiro' on it in white icing. It was then that I remembered the date, it was April 7th, the day I was born in this new life. "Happy birthday Kojiro."
I looked to both Mrs. Shinomiya and Ryuji to see that they were both smiling, Ryuji's was actually a grin, and I could feel a smile working its way across my face too. 'How could I forget my own birthday?' I looked back to the cake to see that it was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
"Well, are you going to make a wish?" I looked back to Ryuji who was gesturing to the cake.
'I'm normally a person that doesn't believe in this kind of thing but...' I looked back to the cake staring at the candles just waiting to be blown out. 'If I could have one wish, I guess it would be that mom and dad come home soon.' I took a deep breath before blowing extinguishing all six candles.
"Happy birthday Kojiro!" Mrs. Shinomiya and Ryuji said at the same time clapping. Mrs. Shinomiya removed the candles from the cake and went inside the kitchen coming back with a knife, forks, and plates. She cut the cake placing a piece on each of the plates and handed two of them to me and Ryuji.
I was about to start eating my piece when Mrs. Shinomiya stopped me before reaching into the folds of her kimono and pulled out a rectangular box with a blue ribbon tied in a bow around it. "This is my present for you Kojiro." She handed it to me and I took it undoing the bow before lifting the lid to see what was inside. What I saw was a scroll and when I took it out of the box to unfurl it to see what was written inside. I had a big smile on my face when I saw that it was about different medicinal herbs I've never seen before and their uses on injuries and illnesses. "I'm sure you don't know about those herbs yet so I got that for you."
I couldn't contain my excitement and gave her a big hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Ryuji chuckled at my excitement. "The kid must really love herbs to get that excited."
I sat on my futon reading my new scroll for the fifth time not wanting to put it down yet. After having cake and having fun until the sun was starting to set, Ryuji told me one last time not to practice my chakra control before leaving.
'I learned my lesson this time.' I thought as I continued to read the scroll. 'Now that I know what I was doing, I'm willing to be patient for a while.' I furled the scroll and placed it by my futon before crawling under my blanket resting my head on my pillow looking up at the ceiling. "Who knew there were so many kinds of herbs in the world?" I turned my head to the side to look out the window to stare at the full moon illuminating the night sky. 'It was a full moon back then too.' I thought back to my first birthday to how my parents were frantically running around the house blowing up balloons and putting up streamers. My mother humming in the kitchen while making cake batter that soon turned to cries of help when she accidentally spilled the entire bag of flour in the mixing bowl. My father standing on a ladder trying to hang a banner that said 'Happy Birthday!' only to lose his footing on the ladder and fall flat on his face taking the banner with him. In the end, we spent my first birthday moon watching. I had a nostalgic smile thinking about my time with them and closed my eyes to get some sleep before I felt hand over my nose and mouth and my eyes shot open in panic to see something red before my consciousness faded to black.
And now, it's time for me to reply to your reviews.
SilverDragon1218: That it is. I'm happy too. I was originally planning that, but then it suddenly ended up like this without me realizing it. And I can't wait to read your future reviews and have a nice day.
tosca: I'm glad you're enjoying it. I thank you for reviewing and I look forward to read your thoughts on future chapters.
Sterr: Thank you for catching that and rest assured I fixed that mistake.
Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: Uh oh indeed. You can't blame him for not liking Ryuji right off the bat since he was mistaken for a girl again. Like with SilverDragon, I was originally planning that, but without realizing it I ended up writing it like this.
guest reader: Glad you like the idea of Kojiro being a medical ninja and I do remember Haku using herbs to heal Zabuza. Only time will tell the fate of the Akatsuki.
CriticalFanatic: Glad you're satisfied and I look forward to reading your future reviews.
With that I bid you adieu until we next meet.
