Adventure 8: Chakra Paper Test!
Minato's face fell. Jiraiya scratched his head but looked not too dissapointed. "Ah, try again. It's only your first try," and Minato sighed.
"Tell me again why you even care to show me this?" he asked forming the hand seals again.
"Well, it's obvious you haven't really had any actual ninja training and you struck me as a firm worker and persevering sort…thought I'd try and…I don't know…help you out a little, plus, the old man sort of asked me to help you train…" Jiraiya said breezily. Minato wasn't sure how much of that escuse was true, but it didn't sound like Jiraiya was lying.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
Tadpole.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
Tadpole.
After an hour and half of summoning.
"Kuchiyose….no…jutsu!"
Poof. Smoke cleared. Tadpole.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Tadpole.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Tadpole. Minato poked it broodingly.
"Ah, don't feel too bad….look, this one has legs," Jiraiya said, pointing.
Minato looked closer and saw some small legs wriggling along with the rest of the tadpole's body. He sighed. "At least…it's some progress." Minato sat back on his butt, panting. He felt tired, and that odd weight had returned. He wondered if he'd strained himself too much with trying to summon a toad.
"Want to take a break? You've been very diligent," Jiraiya said, observing Minato calmly. Minato shook his head. He wasn't done just yet. What had started out as a simple task had quickly shifted into something more important.
Minato wanted to be able to at least make a small baby frog at least. "Why can't I at least summon a frog…"
"Toad, it's a toad," Jiraiya said patiently.
'Right," Minato corrected himself.
"Have you done the paper test?" Jiraiya inquired.
Minato frowned, looking at jiraiya. "No?"
"Hmm, perhaps we should figure out your base element before we continue," Jiraiya said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small slip of paper. "This is chakra paper, it's specially designed in order to help you discover which chakra nature you are," he explained, handing it to Minato who held it in his hands. Minato stared at it.
"Go on, focus your chakra into it. It'll react according to your chakra nature," Jiraiya said promptingly.
Minato did as he was told. He tried closing his eyes, and calling upon his chakra nature. It felt like something was pushing its way through his system and he felt some odd tingles. He took a deep breath and looked to the paper, cracking an eye open.
Nothing happened.
"Well…try a bit harder," Jiraiya said encouragingly, "Or perhaps you're just tired."
Minato shook his head stubbornly, and he stood up this time since he'd been on his knees previously. "No, I want to get this right!" he said determinedly. Jiraiya shifted, watching Minato accutely as Minato closed his eyes once more. For the first time, Minato felt a rush of more energy, and he managed to summon a small circle of chakra around his body. But when he tried to make the circle bigger or push it towards the paper, it faded quickly as it'd come. Panting Minato sank back to his knees. "Damn…" he panted.
"You look exhausted, as enthused as I am at your perseverence, you should know your limits," Jiraiya said, sounding like a sage for once.
"How can I know my limits, if I don't push them?" Minato replied, wiping an arm across his sweating brow. He scratched his nose before sitting back on his butt, his palms behind him supporting his wieght as he looked at Jiraiya.
"True. Well, since it's hot, I believe less layers may help your focus," Jiraiya pointed out.
"Wha? I'm not going to strip," Minato said indignantly, glaring at Jiraiya suspciously. Jiraiya waved a hand quickly to indicate he was trying to make a point.
"Ah, what I mean to say is, water is a soothing element. It's fierce but powerful and yet can also represent peace and tranquility. Perhaps, if you stand in the middle of the pond, you'll feel a better sense of nature. You're also sweating and perhaps if you cool off you'll feel nourished," Jiraiya explained.
Minato shook his head. "Ah…No…I'm fine."
"Nonsense," Jiraiya said, "If you don't want to take off your clothes that's fine. I'm just asking for you to perhaps take off your shirt."
Minato thought that was an odd request indeed. "No, I don't want to," he said as politely but warningly as he could.
"Alright, we'll do it your way. Continue sweating away," Jiraiya shrugged.
"I'll just give it a few more goes…then I have to go…" Minato said. He closed his eyes and tried to summon his chakra once again. The paper stayed untouched in his palm. With a sigh, Minato plopped to the ground.
"Why can't I get it?" he asked to no one in particular.
"Try extending your arms out in front of you and above your head," Jiraiya suggested.
"What the heck. How will that help me?" Minato asked, looking at Jiraiya suspiciously.
"Don't question everything I say. You see, the best way to summon this chakra of yours is to have your body get into a comfy form. I find that many ninjas do better when they summon their chakra in this form I just suggested," Jiraiya said and Minato was pretty sure he pulled that out of his ass.
"I'm not going to buy in that easy," Minato retorted.
"Look, you want to figure out your chakra nature, right?" Jiraiya pressed, a little impatient but calm as ever.
"Yes…" Minato agreed.
"Then just do this," Jiraiya said.
"No funny business, ok?" Minato said, as he extended his arms out and above his head, like he was going to do jumping jacks. He stood again.
"Cross my heart and hope to die," Jiraiya said promptly. With Minato's eyes closed, he watched as Minato took a deep breath. Quietly and with the sneakiness of a cat, Jiraiya stealthed over to Minato and as Minato was trying to summon his chakra, Jiraiya quickly pulled up Minato's sweatshirt and undershirt in one hand, and there faintly, on his stomach, he saw ….
A navel, which was quickly replaced with a fist as Jiraiya found himself flying backwards. Minato was instantly pulling his shirt down, glaring at the old sage. "You stupid pervert!" he glared.
Jiraiya was seeing mini narutos screaming "Believe it!" before he came to. He quickly rolled out of the way as he felt a kick aimed for his face graze his left cheek. Easily he flipped Minato who let out a yelp. He quickly hopped backwards.
"Look, I didn't mean to startle you, alright?" Jiraiya said quickly as Minato sat up, still glaring accusingly at him.
"Startle me? You practically stuck your hand up my shirt!" Minato retorted.
"Ah, hey, before you get the wrong idea, I like women. Only women!" Jiraiya retorted.
Minato blushed. "Then don't go pulling stupid stunts!"
"I was doing it for your own good!" Jiraiya retorted.
"My own good?!" Minato exclaimed.
"Yes! I wanted to see if perhaps there wasn't something on your stomach preventing you from having adequate chakra flow, alright?!" Jiraiya growled, finally getting a little pissed.
Minato narrowed his eyes. "Is that so? Is that why you wanted me to take off my shirt?"
"Yes."
Minato was taken aback. The answer was simple, direct and honest. He was still a little fuming at Jiraiya's stunt but now he wondered if perhaps the old man had a reasonable hunch. Still, Minato felt very uncomfortable with having another guy going and putting his hands where he pleased. He took a deep breath. "I'm done… I really should be going."
As he got up and dusted himself off he felt Jiraiya grip his arm. Looking to Jiraiya he felt a small jolt. Jiraiya looked serious.
"Minato, I'm certain there is something blocking your flow of chakra…at least let me see if I can't help," Jiraiya said and Minato shivered at how serious he sounded. He bit his lower lip.
"Alright, but at least let me take off my own shirt," Minato finally consented.
He took off his shirt and sweatshirt and folded them up, setting them on the ground. He then turned to Jiraiya who was looking at him analytically. Minato felt self conscious but he resumed his chakra summoning pose but this time with his hands in front of him clasped in the summoning pose.
"Feet together, palms pressed against each other, that's it, and now take a deep breath," Jiraiya was saying encouragingly.
Minato did as he was instructed. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and just focused on summoning his chakra. He felt a faint prescense of chakra course through his body. Jiraaiya watched Minato's stomach the whole time but nothing appeared at all. "Well, can you see if there is something blocking the flow or what?" Minato asked, a bit impatient.
Jiraiya furrowed his brow. "Try summoning more chakra," he suggested.
Minato did his best although. It felt like an invisible force was surrounding him, crushing him from the outside . Minato sensed something else…some other presence within himself. He couldn't tell. Was it his imagination? What was this weird constricting feeling. There was a blockage, he could feel it.
Minato.
That same voice.
Minato.
Who was it? Who belonged to that voice? Minato tried to call out to it but suddenly felt a force push him back hard. With a gasp, he sank to his knees panting hard.
"Are you alright?" Jiraiya asked, concerned and by Minato's side in an instant. Minato shook his head, eyes opening to the bright sunlight of the current moment, the sunlight coining through the leaves of the trees and dancing and swaying off of objects and Minato's face. Minato's eyes adjusted to the light as he was propping himself up on one hand, sitting with his legs splayed. He blinked a little. Taking Jiraiya's hand, he allowed the pervy sage to help him stand.
"I'm fine…." Minato murmured.
"Well, what did you feel? Did you sense a chakra block? I didn't see anything," Jiraiya asked, and Minato detected seriousness.
Minato wanted to tell him that there was a definent chakra block. That there was something else living inside of him. He cleared his throat though. He didn't know anything about Hidden Leaf Ninja. He didn't want to end up a project. If his village or whatever were looking for him, he didn't want to just blabber and give up possibly valuable information. Minato knew this old man was trying to be helpful but he realized that this was something he didn't feel like sharing. The perverted hermit had indeed been correct. Minato reached for his shirt and began to pull it on over his head. Jiraiya waited patiently for Minato to respond.
"I …I felt something. I think…I think I didn't practice enough chakra control, it's most likely just a chakra block from my lack of experience," Minato did his best to spin a fib.
"Well, if that were the case …is there something you're not telling me?" Jiraiya pressed. Minato felt uncomfortable. He suddenly didn't feel comfortable with telling everything to this stranger he'd only just met so recently. Sure the jutsu practice had been a bit entertaining but this …this wasn't the hermit's business. Minato pulled his sweatshirt on over his head.
"Nothing," Minato simply replied. "I'm feeling tired, I'm going to go back and lie down," he said pointedly. Jiraiya crossed his arms, leaning against a tree stump as he watched Minato tidy up. Minato handed the chakra paper back to Jiraiya but Jiraiya shook his head. It was apparent he wanted Minato to hold onto it.y
"Look, I'm not trying to make you feel like this is an interrogation or anything, I just want you to know that you can talk to me," the old hermit said with a sigh. Minato looked at him warily.
"I appreciate your concern," Minato said bowing politely. "I can take care of this, I have my team to assist me but the jutsu training was interesting," he added.
"Feel free to keep practicing, let me know if one gets arms next," Jiraiya said with a small smirk. Minato could tell a lot was going on in the hermit's eyes.
"Why does the Sandaime want you to overlook my training methods?" Minato asked, crossing his own arms and facing Jiraiya. Jiraiya looked at him and scratched his head.
"He just wanted to make sure that you have the right level of training for the Chuunin Exam finals," he replied.
Minato shook his head. "I'm not competing," he said firmly, getting ready to really walk away.
"Not competing?" Jiraiya furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm sure the old man will think of-"
"I'm not interested, ok? Please, just…leave me alone about this," Minato said, giving Jiraiya a firm stubborn look.
"Well, if you had the chance to compete, would you?" Jiraiya pressed.
Minato frowned. "I don't know," he honestly answered.
"Well, I suppose you'll cross that bridge if you come to it," Jiraiya said with a shrug. "It was nice to meet with you, have a nice day. If you ever want to learn some tricks, come talk to me," and with that, the great Jiraiya poofed away.
Minato stood still, staring a bit emptily at the spot where Jiraiya had stood. There was so much he had yet to learn about himself. This nagging feeling wouldn't go away either, that something was going to go wrong at the Chuunin Exam. The light breeze rustled lazily through Minato's hair. Minato stayed still, standing, and lost deep in thought. Who did that voice belong to? Why couldn't he summon his chakra normally? Minato felt like instead of finding some answers to his already existing questions, he'd just uncovered questions to more questions.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! The Chuunin Exam is just around the corner!
