Hello my beloved readers! I hope you're all enjoying this story still, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. It's training time for Naruto! Anyway just to update you guys I seem to have gotten over my block somewhat and finished the chapter I was stuck on, though you guys may not be so happy when you get there 'cause I am an evil person and there will be suffering! *cue evil laughter* anyway, read and review please!
Naruto had been led outside after the revelation of how she'd be trained she was led outside by Jiraiya and Fukasaku to a large area surrounded by stone toad statues, the biggest of which had a waterfall pouring from its mouth and several steps leading up to the pool that the water landed in.
The blonde looked around with wide eyes, taking in the sights. "So what do I do?"
"First Naruto-chan, I have to explain to you that what I'm about to teach you is not ninjutsu but senjutsu and there's a big difference between them."
"Right." Naruto nodded, "I'm listening." she had a determined look on her face.
"Instead of using internal energy as you do for ninjutsu, you're using external energy. You do know how ninjutsu works yes? Your chakra-"
"Of course Fukasaku-sama. My mom taught me that when I was little."
"Good." Fukasaku nodded, "To use senjutsu you must take the internally generated chakra and add the natural energy from outside of you to it, enhancing your chakra, which boosts all of your abilities-your physical skills and your jutsu will be given a serious power boost."
"Right." Naruto nodded slowly, "That makes sense."
"Mental and physical energy from within you, and natural energy from outside of you, the jutsu and other techniques born from the chakra when these energy's together form Senjustu."
"I think I understand it well enough."
"Good." Fukasaku nodded, "Any questions?"
"Okay. So the natural energy is like the energy from everything around me right? Like the air and the ground."
"Exactly. Let me show you what I mean." Fukasaku hopped towards a giant stone toad, forming a hand sign before, pressing his hands against it as Naruto and Jiraiya watched.
"Uh..." Naruto spoke slowly after a moment, "Ero Sennin what's he doing."
"Just watch brat." Jiraiya looked highly amused as he gently batted the back of her head. "He's using Senjutsu."
"But-" her eyes widened in shock as the toad strained, clearly struggling and then-then it was lifted above his head, and he let go with one hand so he was holding the giant statue up one handed, and he turned to look towards them.
"This is the power of Senjutsu!"
"But... how did you do it? All I saw was you doing that handsign!"
"Of course you don't see. You're not able to sense nature energy yet. And nor can you take any into yourself yet."
"How do I do it then?" Naruto asked eagerly, leaning forward, her eyes wide, "If I'm supposed to be this prophecy child or whatever then I need to be as strong as possible!"
"Calm down." Jiraiya chuckled, looking incredibly amused as he grabbed the back of her coat and yanked her back when she nearly toppled forward from leaning so far.
"Ero Sennin!"
"You're going to learn brat, just breath."
"You will need to become one with nature." Fukasaku told her seriously as he set down the statue. "To become able to absorb nature energy means gaining the abilities to sense it around you. To draw it to you and into yourself. In addition in learning to become one with nature you also gain full control over nature energy leaving and entering your body. Practically speaking, in regards to your training you must be still."
"Still." Naruto blinked, "What's that supposed to mean? How does being still help-"
"Brat don't interrupt." Jiraiya flicked her ear, rolling his eyes fondly, "Just pay attention."
"As I was saying, you must learn to sit still. Animals like us may only appreciate and learn nature energy when we stop all our own movements and synchronize ourselves with the nature around us."
"Uh..." Naruto hesitated, "Doesn't that sound kinda easy?"
"Hah." Jiraiya laughed, "You wish brat. You have to be completely still-"
"I mean, yeah I'm not used to it but... it doesn't sound hard like some of my other training."
"You'll be surprised."
"Well, if that's what I gotta do." Naruto shrugged her shoulders, "I'll do it."
"Good. But it's impossible to do it right away. This training will take some time." Fukasaku gave Naruto a serious look, "Luckily we have a way to speed it up somewhat." he hopped up to the waterfall, gesturing for her to follow, and as she did she noticed that it wasn't normal water, it almost looked like some kind of oil.
Her brows furrowed as she looked at it curiously, "Oh? What do I need to do?"
"This waterfall behind me is the secret Toad oil of Mount Myoboku. It has several special properties." the toad dipped his hand into it, "Hold out your arm Naruto-chan."
"Okay Fukasaku-sama." Naruto did as she was told as she knelt down in front of the pool of oil.
"You must not take this lightly Naruto-chan."
"I won't I promise." Naruto gave a serious nod, "I know that I'm gonna have to face some powerful people. I need to do this."
"Good." the toad rubbed a circle of oil into the skin of her arm. "This is far more than ordinary oil. It attracts Nature energy. It will advance your training."
"Wow." Naruto grinned, "Now that's pretty cool."
"Wherever you rub this oil onto your body, Natural energy will be able to enter through that spot, and then gradually as you learn to feel it you'll gain the ability to sense the energy." as he spoke Naruto could feel something, it made her skin tingle, made her feel light in a strange way.
"I think I can feel it." she giggled, "It feels weird."
"Since you're just beginning this is just a tool to help you grasp the concept. With time you won't need to use the oil at all to sense the energy. But there is a risk." there was a warning in his voice that made Naruto frown in confusion.
"What's that Fukasaku-sama?"
She followed his gaze and looked down at her hand-her eyes widened in shock at the sight-there was webbing between her fingers and they looked strange, almost toadlike.
"If a Neophyte who cannot control nature energy uses it they start transforming into a frog."
Naruto lurched forward to look into the oil-and she let out a startled yell, jerking backwards, hand flying up to her face. Her eye shape had changed, and there was orange around it and she span face Jiraiya, "What the hell Ero Sennin! Why didn't you warn me!" She nearly shrieked the words, and then Fukasaku smacked her over the head with a long black stick from behind and she yelped, clutching her head.
"Ouch!" her hands flew up automatically to press against her tender head and she glared at the toad, "That hurt!"
"Stop your wining Naruto-chan."
Naruto lowered her hands, shooting Jiraiya a dirty look, since he was snickering at her suffering.
At that point she noticed that her hands were no longer webbed.
She was on her feet instantly and scrambling up the steps to stare into the pool-she was normal again and she gasped loudly. "I'm normal again!"
"It's all about balance. You're already used to turning your mental and physical energy into chakra, so you've already got balance when it comes to that. Now you need to add nature energy into the mix and finding the balance when it comes to that is extremely difficult."
"Balance?"
"Take in too little and it won't let you reach Sage mode, take in too much and the energy will turn you into a frog. Of course if you only take in a little too much the transformation is reversible, but get beyond a certain amount of it and you'll never turn back to human again. You'll become a frog."
"I..." Naruto swallowed hard, her eyes wide as they flicked to Jiraiya, who gave a reassuring nod.
"I did this Naruto-chan. If I can do it I'm sure you can." his voice was reassuring.
"I... I could turn into a frog."
"That's not all. Once you've turned into a frog you'll progress further towards permanently being one with nature. The students who progressed this far in the past and remained unsuccessful turned into the statues all around us." Naruto blinked, eyes turning to the statues around them.
"All of them?"
"Yes, but don't fret too much. I'll be right by your side." Fukasaku told her, "And this baton can beat the energy right out of you if I see you starting to transform I'll beat you thoroughly to reverse the process."
"Okay." Naruto nodded slowly, brushing her hair out of her face."
"I'll be honest with you. Even Jiraiya-chan hasn't perfected this technique. When he enters Sage mode he gains some frog like features."
"I do." Jiraiya nodded, "Every time."
"I have to ask." Fukasaku said, "Though I have no doubt in your resolve. Do you wish to take the risk."
"I do." Naruto took a deep breath, back straightening and a gleam in her eyes as she did. "I'll do it." she paused, "Can I use Shadow clones? It's how I usually train, I can train a lot faster that way."
"Hm..." Fukasaku rubbed his chin thoughtfully and nodded, "You are right. But I must warn you, if your clone transforms then so will you-"
"I understand."
"You may only use four. I will need to be able to get to each clone in time if they do start transforming."
"Alright!" Naruto beamed at the toad, quickly forming the handsigns and summoning four clones. "Let's do this." she dropped down onto the steps as her clones did the same, though they all rubbed some of the oil into their arms.
Then she was crossing her legs and closing her eyes, confident that her clones would be doing the same as she sat as still as she could, focusing on the energy she could feel seeping through her skin.
She was sat like that for a few minutes before she heard the first wack and a yelp, and felt the memories surging into her mind.
She forced herself not to flinch at the sensation, holding as still as she could, focusing as much as she could.
It was a few minutes before the process repeated, and another few minutes, and then another few minutes, and Naruto couldn't stop herself from flinching at the last one- it might not cause any physical damage but she could remember the pain of each time Fukasaku smacked a clone with the baton.
Then it whacked her over the head and she yelped loudly, toppling over. "Ah!"
"Focus!" the toad ordered, "You must focus Naruto-chan or you'll become a toad."
"Of course." Naruto swallowed hard, taking a deep breath. "I can do this."
"Of course you can Naruto-chan." that was Jiraiya's voice, warm and reassuring, "Breath and focus, you're going to do this."
Naruto nodded, once more summoning four clones and doing exactly the same thing again, and she forced herself to focus. She could feel the energy seeping into her body.
She focused on it, focused on it as much as she could, on the sensation, trying to balance it. She could feel it entering her body, she familiarized herself with how it felt-and then she was whacked.
And she did it over and over again, repeating it constantly despite the wacks she got when she lost focus and started transforming.
It took time after time, if it wasn't for Naruto's healing she was certain that she wouldn't have been able to continue after the first few whacks.
As it was she could feel Kurama's warm silent support pushing her to keep going.
It was after the twenty sixth-and yes she had been counting, whack, and that wasn't including the wacks her clones had been receiving, that she finally realized that she could sense the natural energy all around her.
She let out a stunned gasp, a huge smile spreading across her lips as her eyes snapped open and she leapt to her feet, "I can feel it! I can sense it Fukasaku-sama!"
The toad nodded, smiling at her. "You've done very well Naruto-chan. You still need much more practice but you have done extremely well." she could feel the power of it all around her, inside of her. She felt the urge to laugh-she'd never felt anything quite like it.
"Well done Naruto-chan." Jiraiya clapped, a proud grin on his lips, "Looking real good. I knew you'd get it. You're faster than I was."
"She'll surpass you in no time."
At that point Jiraiya's stomach rumbled and Fukasaku rolled his eyes, "Shall we take a break and get some food."
"That is the best idea you've ever had Fukasaku-sama." Jiraiya made his way to Naruto, draping an arm over her shoulder, "C'mon Naruto-chan. Let's go get us both fed." and with that he started dragging her with him, and as much as Naruto loved her training she was glad, she could really use a break.
