Sealing Salientia - Chapter 28: Teachers - Author: PenSmoke
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.
Previously on Sealing Salientia: Naruto's mind whirled with new possibilities. A seal activating a seal meant that you could chain a sequence of seals together. His biggest problem was most of his ideas was that he knew how to do most of the individual parts separately, not the all at once. But, an avalanche of triggered seals cascading to the desired effect would work perfectly! He just sat there in stunned silence while thinking of all the ways that he could use this knowledge.
Konoha
Tuesday, October 13th, Year 71
The next morning, a ray of sun shone through the window of Jiraiya's apartment, landing squarely on the whiskered cheeks of Naruto. The light bounced through the currently closed eyelids of the boy, into the retinas and through the optical nerves, triggering a reflexive start of the cognitive process. Said process was to turn over and hide his face into the couch cushions while groaning audibly, of course.
Eventually the inexorable progress of the beams of light made it so the boy was completely awake, whether he wanted to be or not. He was decidedly not wanting to be alert and up already, but that was not his choice any longer. The sparkling sunlight had assured that.
Naruto sat up from the comfortable couch cushions, blearily rubbing at blue eyes. He immediately ascertained that Jiraiya was yet snoring from the bedroom, the sound resonating through the short hall separating the areas. A quick look at the position of the hands on the clock on the wall confirmed that he wasn't yet late for school, and would have plenty of time to eat and get ready.
He briefly contemplated going to see if the ramen stand from last night was open for breakfast, but realized he didn't really have any money to buy anything. Quickly gathering up the supplies that he needed for breakfast, he cooked up a simple meal of fermented soy beans and grilled fish on rice. It was enough to get him going for the day anyway, he could eat more later.
Apparently, the smell of food was enough to rouse Jiraiya from slumber as the older man stumbled out of bed towards the kitchen, stomach growling loud enough to be heard. Naruto was used to making breakfast for the elder toads already, serving Pops wasn't much different. The man was much like Naruto if that he would eat nearly anything placed in front of him.
"Thanks, kid. Always good to start a day off right." Pops mumbled as he shoved a slice of grilled fish into his mouth. The bite was quickly chewed and swallowed with gusto and more food swiftly followed.
"No problem, Pops." Naruto took a couple of bites more and cleaned his plate off with a quick swipe. Getting up and placing it in the sink, he decided to try and continue a line of thought from the previous day. "Is now a better time to tell me about my mom?"
Jiraiya paused from another bite of rice to consider it. "I think that perhaps tonight or tomorrow night would be best. Let me come up with something."
Naruto was slightly disappointed that the topic was getting pushed off again, but he also trusted that Pops wasn't just pushing it off for no reason. He would get his answers eventually, it was just a matter of time.
The pair both polished off the rest of the prepared food and started to get ready for the day, Naruto packing up the schooling materials that he needed and Jiraiya stuffing a sack with some scrolls.
Naruto noted the behavior and asked yet another question. "Why are you packing all that up Pops?"
"Oh, nothing really major. The scrolls are just my intelligence gathering from while we've been travelling. The Fifth wants to talk to me directly about what I've been providing back to the village and what may have been missed in the meanwhile. I'll probably be meeting with him most of the day." The reply came matter-of-factly back to him, spoken while yet more scrolls were loaded up into the pouch.
Nodding wordlessly in acceptance, Naruto continued to load his own necessities for the next couple of minutes, double-checking to make sure he got everything. After verification, he hoisted the pack onto his back, slipping the straps on over his arms. He hopped up from his seated position and headed for the door.
"Hold up a moment. I figured we could walk together, since the Academy is on the way to the Hokage Tower." Jiraiya called from behind him.
Naruto stopped and waited a moment for the toad sage to finish his preparations, which took only a few more seconds. The man then stood up and joined up in exiting the building.
They walked through town together, no words needing to be exchanged, just enjoying the time spent in the simple activity. Upon reaching the Academy, Jiraiya gave him a little push, with an accompanying "Have fun, kiddo." After which, the man waved and continued towards the Hokage Tower down the road.
Naruto had wanted to arrive early on his second day to try and prepare a couple of things. First off, he wanted to get a better seat, not sandwiched in the middle of the room. While nothing had happened, letting people be behind him all day had made the first day far more nerve-wracking than it could have been. Next, he wanted to investigate more on that boy, Shikamaru. The ponytailed ninja trainee had basically slept through the entire class, but knew every answer if asked and never once seemed to be taken by surprise. Lastly, he wanted to ask their teacher a few questions. After it had been revealed to him that Mikoto was one of Jiraiya's students alongside the Yellow Flash, he thought that he could perhaps get some information out of her about her old teammate and sensei.
Walking into the school, he made his way to the classroom, pleased to see that the floors remained clean from his trick the previous night. As he entered Room 101, he looked up to the back row to see his target apparently sleeping in the back row already. It was almost 30 minutes before class began and the thought crossed his mind of just how early the other boy must have arrived to get here and sleep already.
Naruto made his way up to the top row of seats, selecting the one right next to Shikamaru. At the movement of the chair, the lazy boy turned his head over to look at him, pineapple like hairdo getting smushed into the desk.
"You know, there's plenty of other seats available." His dark brown eyes peered directly into Naruto's blue irises, not quite upset, but more along the lines of just being bothered by the unnecessary presence.
"Yeah. I know. But I wanted to talk to you." Naruto responded with a cheery smile, putting his hands behind his head in a disarming manner. "I'm really curious about how you knew the answer yesterday without looking at the board."
"Oh." Saying that, the boy turned face-down again and remained unresponsive for an entire minute before Naruto grew aggravated at the lack of response.
"Well, are you gonna tell me or not?"
"Nope. I just want to sleep." Shikamaru said in a disinterested fashion, as if he was already done with the conversation. However, the response just gave Naruto ammunition to use against him.
"So, you just want to sleep? Then, here's the deal. I'll prank you until you tell me how you did it. But if you tell me now, I'll leave you alone." The previously disarming smile turned into a mischievous one.
The hair got crumpled again as Shikamaru turned to stare at him again, this time the annoyance plainly written on his face. The boy studied him for a moment without saying anything. Finally, he huffed out a breath, puffed his cheeks and sighed. "You're almost worse than my mom." Shikamaru rolled his neck around, eliciting a couple of cracks. "You're not going to leave me alone about this, are you?"
Naruto insistently shook his head, the smile still firmly in place.
"Fine. I'll tell you. Just make it quick so I can get a nap in before class still."
"How did you answer it correctly?"
A long dramatic inhalation and sigh later, "I just knew the answer from listening to it. I could tell what she wrote by listening to the sounds of the chalk on the board. Then I did the math to be ready. She only hits you with the erasers if she thinks you aren't paying attention, so I just had to show her I was enough times that she let it go."
Naruto's eyes widened. His hearing was good, but that was on the next level. "But, if you're that smart, why are you so lazy? Couldn't you be the best student in class with that?"
Shikamaru looked at him as if he just didn't get it. "You're right, I could be. And then what would that get me? Sasuke would be trying to one-up me all the time. All the other clan kids would see me as a threat or a target, someone to go after. All the teachers would expect amazing things from me." He rolled back to resting his head on the table. "On the other hand, if I flunk, my parents get really mad. And then I'd fail at becoming a ninja. My mother would hate that and I'd never hear the end of it." Another sigh. "So much easier to just be average. I get to sleep more and don't have to worry about new kids trying to take me down, or my parents yelling at me." Shikamaru then sat straight up, mimicking Naruto's pose with his hands interlaced behind the head.
"But, why would you want to be average? That doesn't make sense. I want to be the strongest ninja ever." Naruto retorted.
"And that's your dream. Not everyone shares it. You know what happens to the most powerful ninja? Other powerful ninja seek them out and fight them. No thanks. I'd much rather everyone think I'm average, hide my true skills and let other people underestimate me as a slacker. Much easier. For example, try to move your hands."
Naruto went to move his hands from the back of his head, only to realize that he couldn't. His eyes tried to widen, but that wouldn't happen either. He was locked in place.
A moment later and his head bent downwards as Shikamaru moved his own, while the boys mouth spoke. It was strange, his mouth was moving as if the words were coming from his own lips, though no sound emanated. "Shadow Possession, success." Naruto's eyes focused on the darkened area beneath him and was intrigued by the odd extension of the boys' shadow, as if there was a line connecting the two of them.
The weight that prevented him from moving relented and Naruto was free again, though the only thing that he did was raise his eyes to meet the shadow users gaze in astonishment.
"See? When someone underestimates you, it's easy to gain the upper hand. Now that you understand, can I go back to sleep now?"
Naruto had no words to respond to that. He realized that he had known the boy for one day and had fallen right into the boy's plan. He had vastly underestimated the abilities of his classmate because he bought into the idea that the lazy boy couldn't amount to anything. If it had been an opponent trying to kill him, he could have easily died right then and there. His mouth just flapped open, but nothing sounded out as he had nothing to say.
Shikamaru accepted the look, realizing that he got his point across. As he placed his head down, he added one more thought to Naruto's confused brain. "Never let them know just how good you are until it's too late for them to turn back." With that, he laid his head back down and the desk, and resumed his 'sleeping', though Naruto was beginning to suspect that it was more along the lines of meditation, considering the boys' awareness levels.
Naruto stayed true to his promise and left the boy alone for the rest of the morning before class. About 10 minutes before was scheduled to start, the next person entered the room, a familiar head of pink hair. Sakura quickly scanned the room and upon seeing Naruto, her eyes lit up as she waved at him from the doorway. With a few quick steps, the girl ascended the stairs and quietly sat next to Naruto.
"Why are you sitting up here today?" Sakura questioned politely, a smile on her face.
Naruto was about to respond with the truth, that he didn't like having his back to other people, but was still thinking about what Shikamaru had said. Perhaps not telling everyone everything and not showing off his skills was a better way to go about it. Instead of telling her the real reason, he made something up on the spot. "I just wanted to be able to see everything, that's all." Immediately, he started to feel slightly bad about lying to the girl, but it was too late. She had already accepted the answer and moved on.
Sakura pulled out the seat on the other side of him, leaving the three occupants of the room all sitting next together in the top row. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to sit up here next to you. You know, so I can help you if you need it again." She beamed out a smile at him as she spoke and sat down.
Sakura was being genuine as best as he could tell, no intended insult hidden or veiled underneath her words. Though he wanted to take it as a slight against him that he couldn't do it on his own, he relented, realizing that she wasn't being mean-spirited about it. "Thank you, Sakura. I appreciate that."
Her seating arrangement accomplished, Sakura started getting out notebooks and equipment, obviously preparing for the day.
"Uhm, do you know what we'll be studying today?" Naruto asked, realizing that he had no idea. He didn't remember Mikoto saying anything about tomorrow's lesson, though admittedly he hadn't been paying attention during the aftermath of the kunai training with Sasuke.
"Chakra natures and control exercises." The pinkette replied in a matter-of-fact tone, her pencil already beginning to write an outline for taking notes.
That was good, Naruto knew a bunch about chakra already. Jiraiya and the toads had made a big deal about it, especially guiding him in the ways of developing it. He felt confident that he could keep up better today than he had previously.
The door swung open again, and in walked the same trio of Kiba and Shino, along with the boy who he wasn't sure if he remembered a name for. Kiba raised an arm in greeting before continuing his conversation with his friends. Behind him walked a quintet of girls, including Ino and Ami. They sent glares at the upper row, directed at both him and Sakura, before filling into the front row where they conversed about hairstyles and clothes.
A moment later Mikoto wheeled herself in, creating a quiet atmosphere as the extraneous talking lowered to whisper levels. As the class rom filled in, he noted Sasuke walking in with just a couple of seconds to spare, glancing up at Naruto with a smirk, sitting down in the seat where Naruto had spent the previous day exactly as the second hand of the clock struck the hour. Naruto idly wondered if the boy was always exactly on time to everything, before ridding himself of the spare thought and paying attention to Mikoto.
"Now, today, we will be talking about chakra, the different types of it, and practicing some basic control exercises. Let us start with where we left off last week. Who can tell me how many chakra natures there are?"
Multiple hands shot up from across the room, including Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke with many others. Mikoto pointed to a brown-haired boy in the middle of the front row that was wearing a white cloth hat, "Yes, Hibachi?"
"Seven, Miss Mikoto!" The boy proudly enunciated his answer. Naruto frowned and kept his hand up as the rest of the class put theirs down.
"Can you name them?" Mikoto replied, casting a stray glance up to Naruto's still raised hand.
"Uhm… Fire, Water, Wind, Ground… uhm… Lightning… uhhhh… Yin and Yang?" The boys' confidence went down as he answered, voice going from full of bravado to insecure questioning at the tail end of his response. Naruto frowned even more and continued to hold his hand up high.
"Very good, Hibachi. That is correct." Mikoto replied to the boy, before turning her attention to Naruto. "Yes, Naruto, do you have a question?"
Naruto looked around to see everyone's face turning towards him. Sakura was worriedly looking at him as well. "Miss Mikoto, he missed one. There's Nature chakra too, as well as all of them that he said." Naruto's own confidence that he was right pushed him through saying it, though now that he spoke up, he wished he hadn't at all. He very clearly understood Shikamaru's message now. This attention made him feel super uncomfortable and he could feel everyone judging him. The hardest gaze came from Sasuke. It felt like the raven-haired boy was trying to stare through him.
"Naruto, I have never heard of nature chakra before. It is not one of the seven types that I know of, nor is it a combination of those either. What is nature chakra?" Mikoto kept a pleasant tone throughout her speech, a note of curiosity building in the woman's sentences.
"The toads taught it to me. It's really dangerous, but you have to be able to sense the energy in everything around you, bring it into yourself and try to mix your own chakra with it. The toad elders said that you have to only ever try to learn it with them nearby though, because if you don't control it right, you'll turn into a rock statue of a toad." At this, several guffaws of kids holding back laughter erupted from across the room. He stood up defiantly to start talking louder. "No, seriously! They had to whack me with this huge stick a bunch of times to stop me from turning to stone." More laughter could be heard, even as Mikoto tried to shush the other kids. "I'm not kidding! They showed me the people who had turned into rock!" Naruto's voice was rising as the explanation continued to be ignored by the class.
Mikoto called for silence, "Please, children. Let him speak." After the crowd had settled down enough for Naruto to speak normally again. "Naruto, can you show us this chakra?"
"Uhm… I don't think I should try it here without having Pops nearby. I'm still a novice at it and I've never tried without the elder toads around." At this, he heard a loud ruckus coming from multiple kids that were obviously not believing that he could do it. They were probably thinking that he was just making an excuse up. Now he was doubly sure that Shikamaru was right. Getting all the attention was just asking for trouble. Either you made yourself a target to be taken down, or a target to made fun of.
Mikoto was nicer than the other children were about it though. "Well, I shall see if we can get Jiraiya-sama down here for a demonstration some day soon then. For now, I think it best if we stick to what can be demonstrated, yes?"
Naruto sat back down, relenting. "Now, each of you will have a tendency to create one type of chakra over the other. We call this your chakra nature. Most people have the capability to make one type of chakra far easier than others. The best can even form two or more different types of chakra. We will tell today what chakra nature you are first, and then start with some exercises related to your nature." Naruto frowned again, though this time it wasn't because he knew something else to be true, but because of a rumbling in his gut. He swore that he heard a deep voice scoffing after she finished.
"This is chakra-sensitive paper," Mikoto said as she wheeled to the front row and handed a stack of small squares of paper to each child in the front row, with instructions to take one and pass the rest behind. As Shino turned around to hand him the remaining square from the small stack being passed back, he looked at it. It didn't seem anything special, just a blank piece of paper, smooth to the touch. He watched as Sasuke turned around and stuck the paper in Shikamaru's hair, seemingly unbothered by that the boy was apparently still sleeping. The shadow using boy was unruffled by the intrusion of paper and snagged it with a flick of his hand, not moving the rest of his body.
After all of the squares had been disbursed to the students, Mikoto continued. "These squares of paper will react to the slightest of chakra input, revealing what type of chakra that you have a natural affinity to." Another grumble from Naruto's stomach had him making a face, which caught Sakura's attention.
"Are you alright?" She whispered over to him.
"I think so, just have a stomachache." That was at least honest, though not entirely. He was feeling a bit queasy from the earlier attention. But, he had a feeling he knew where the disturbance in his gut was coming from and that was certainly not a topic he could discuss with the girl. Sakura looked concerned still, but said nothing further as the teacher continued.
"I would like all of you to channel a bit of chakra to your hand holding the paper. If you are not able to be that specific, just try and channel chakra as best you can, it should work as the paper is very sensitive." Mikoto's instructions weren't even completed before several bursts of activity came from throughout the room.
Naruto's eyes perceived several flickers of flame from in front of him as pieces of paper burst into sparks and died away, Sasuke's burning brighter than the rest. His own paper split in half and drifted to the floor, while he felt a couple of droplets of water splash on his right arm. He turned to look at Sakura to see her paper sopping wet and dripping water. Looking over at Shikamaru, he saw the paper in his hand had turned into a clump of dirt, which the boy was eyeing with mild interest.
Mikoto's voice once again rose to the forefront over the commotion of excited children. "You should have noticed one of five reactions. If your paper burst into flames, that's obviously fire nature. If it got wet, that's water nature. Split in half is wind, crinkled up is lightning, and turned into dirt is earth."
Naruto wanted to ask about why there were only five reactions if there were seven types of chakra according to them. He also didn't want to open his mouth again in class after the first occurrence today. Thankfully for him, Kiba asked the very question on his mind. "What about if someone had Yin or Yang nature chakra?"
Mikoto replied with an even voice, "I don't believe that's possible, Kiba. The elemental transformation are what people have as their affinity. Some people can use yin or yang chakra, but it's not their natural affinity. And it's not really typical for people to be able to use those. The elemental chakras are much more common to the point where yin or yang affinity is practically unheard of." Naruto's stomach grumbled even more, causing him to almost double over while clutching at his midsection. This time he was certain that he heard "Fools."
Sakura clearly noticed the discomfort and immediately turned to ask, "Are you sure you're okay?"
Naruto pulled himself together enough to answer, "Yeah, I think I just ate something bad for breakfast." He kept one hand over his guts and raised the other. "Miss Mikoto, may I be excused?" He repeated the phrase he had heard other kids say the previous day, and it worked. Mikoto nodded and motioned for the door.
"Be back shortly, please. We will be starting chakra control exercises next."
"Yes, Miss Mikoto." Naruto responded as he walked quickly down the stairs and pushed the doors aside, practically running for the bathrooms. Locking himself inside the stall, he sat down and quickly entered his mindspace.
A moment passed and he found himself inside his carefully constructed area of meditation where he stored all of his ideas. He had built it himself in the area he had discovered inside of him where he had met Kurama the first time. It was well away from the giant fox, out of direct sight and to the farthest extent to he could go in the opposite direction. The room itself was supposed to be isolated, but he could feel the rumblings this time. He exited his study area and meditation chamber, and started to trek across the broken rubble of the space within.
Once he exited, he could already hear the great beast talking aloud about foolish humans. Even though he still couldn't yet see the massive kitsune, he was sure that he could imagine the expression. Eyes blazing, tails waving wildly and paw clenched.
Sure enough, as he crested another piece of destroyed pillar and Kurama came into view, it was exactly as he pictured it. It had been a while since he had last spoken to the fox, only having done it twice before, but it was just as he remembered it. He stopped on the same prominent point as he had previously, just close enough to see the outlines of the fox but not too close to risk getting attacked.
He decided to make himself known after a few moments of listening to the foxes continued rant. "So, Kurama, why are you so angry this morning?" His voice was loud against the broken stone and pillars of iron, reflecting and bouncing off of everything, creating multiple echoes that returned to him moments later.
The slitted eyes of the fox burned brightly, turning their gaze upon him. "Those blasted fools think they know how chakra works, do they? They know nothing!" The fox was practically hissing with anger. "I do not mind when the monkeys teach the lies they've told themselves to the next generation. But, when they are trying to corrupt my container with their misinformation that will only make him weaker in the long run, I do not like that at all."
That's right, Naruto thought for a moment. Kurama could sense everything that happened around him. But, that left Naruto confused. Mikoto didn't know about nature chakra, true, but that didn't feel like she was trying to corrupt him. She even asked him to show it off. "How's that?"
"This whole falsehood about having a chakra affinity. And that Yin and Yang aren't normal for a person to have or use. And there's so much more than 8 types of chakra. There are thousands. I don't know why you humans have to try and condense them into nice neat little categories, like you do everything."
Naruto looked at the nine-tailed fox curiously. "Thousands of types of chakra? What do you mean?"
"Since you are my container, I need you to be strong. I can't have you suffering from these delusions that they are trying to teach you." Kurama spoke authoritatively, as if he had already decided that Naruto was working for him. "Something that you should know. Humans are always trying to put everything into sorted piles, label them with a name and pretending that they understand it. The truth is that chakra, like nearly everything, is ridiculously complex and beautiful in its own way. And it doesn't fit into the neat little lines that the humans try to box it into."
Naruto nodded along, not really understanding yet. But, he wasn't about to try to speak over a beast literally made from chakra about what chakra was.
"Chakra is just energy. Gather enough energy in one place and you can feel it. Even more energy in a place and you can shape it. As you control the energy, you can do more and more with it. Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth, those are all good. But those are just the categories that you silly humans are most familiar with. There is so much more. You've already experienced some of it. My presence fills you with Yang energy. That's the energy of the spirit, of lifeforce, of endurance. Your meditation with the toads taught you Yin energy. The mind, concentration and illusions all rely on that. And then there is the nature energy from living plants that you learned about. But there is SO much more to it all."
Naruto sat down on the rock promontory point that he had climbed to, paying full attention to the chakra beast in front of him. It felt like a master was explaining the secrets of the universe to him.
"There is energy from the sun. You feel it when the light hits your skin. There is energy from feelings. You can feel it in your veins when you get emotional. There is energy in so many forms all around us, in ways that you humans cannot even perceive. If only you could sense and control it, you could be so much more powerful than you ever dreamed of."
Curiosity reigned in Naruto's head. First, why would the Kyuubi volunteer this much information? Thy had barely spoken before now. Next, why would he offer Naruto a chance to gain such power? Wouldn't that just make him capable of controlling the nine-tails better?
"Valid questions both." Naruto had forgotten that the chakra beast could hear his thoughts in this place. "Simple answers to each. The first is because when you are stronger, I am stronger. You are my representation to the outside world. If the container is weak, I am viewed as weak, and that will not stand." Naruto supposed that made sense. "Second is that it doesn't matter what your power level is compared to mine. That tiny human kid was surprisingly smart for his age. A powerful being will draw powerful enemies. You will be powerful, having me inside of you is a guarantee of that. You will have to face others throughout your life that will fight you with everything they have. And if you do not succeed, not only do I lose my reputation as the strongest, but I could die along with you. That is obviously not something that I wish to have happen." Naruto's eyes widened at the thought that if he died, Kurama would go to. He didn't particularly care for the fox, it having been the entire reason his parents had died, but he didn't wish it death either. He hadn't even thought it could die.
"Yes, I can die. Your father tried and nearly succeeded. Had he been more powerful in his ability, it is quite possible that he could have completely sealed away my energy completely."
Naruto had no idea what to think of that, so he decided to backtrack a bit. "How many types of chakra are there?"
"That's the wrong question. There are no types of chakra, really. There is just energy, formed in different ways to do different things. You are made up of tiny parts with energy inside them, as is everything else, from humans to plants to beasts, even the planet and stars. What you call chakra is just trying to harness that energy. Once you control that force, you can do whatever you want with it."
"How do I learn to control it?" The question left his mouth before he even realized that he had asked it.
"The same way as you learn anything else. You find someone that knows how and learn from them. Practice and experiment. Create and discover. Question everything."
"Do you know how?"
"Now you're asking a better question. Yes. Yes, I do. And I can show you. But not now. For the moment, you should be going back to your world."
With that, the colossal slitted eyes closed and the area was bathed in the subtle blue light emanating from above, no longer reddened by the glow of the orbs of the kitsune. Naruto was left to wonder about what had just happened, as he slowly drifted back to reality. Finding himself back in the bathroom, he quickly unlocked the stall and hurried back to the classroom, unsure of how long had passed.
Mikoto gave him a stern look as he came back in but didn't say anything to him directly about being late, instead continuing her lesson to the class while he took his seat. "Try keeping the piece of paper stuck to various parts of your body using chakra. The hands are the easiest, keeping it on your palm with your hand faced down is where you should begin if you are unfamiliar with the exercise. The feet are the next point you should try after that. From there, work on any part of the body, as it will all build control.
Sasuke gave Naruto a bored look as he sat down, handing him a piece of regular paper. Naruto quickly said "Thanks," while the Uchiha stuck his own piece of paper to the underside of his tricep and held it in place using chakra.
Three things immediately conflicted in Naruto's mind. One, the impulsive desire to show off that he could do it too. The challenge had been proclaimed and he didn't want to back down. That was immediately countered by his prior experience of challenging Sasuke ended up in them competing and getting in trouble. And the impulse was overridden by Shikamaru's words from earlier that Kurama had repeated. If you were powerful, you would attract powerful enemies. Hiding your skills could prevent that to some degree.
Mentally nodding to himself, he put the piece of paper on his hand, turned his hand over and watched as the paper drifted straight down. He hadn't applied any chakra at all, knowing that it wouldn't stick. He grabbed at the paper again, snatching it from mid-air, put it on his palm again and turned his hand upside down again, and let it drift down again. He huffed in mock frustration and watched Sasuke's eyes turn away from him, having seen enough to dismiss them as a potential threat to his presumed superiority.
The ruse successful, Naruto proceeded to work on holding the leaf under his hand by using the absolute minimum chakra possible. He knew that one of his largest difficulties was that he had massive reserves of the life-giving energy, and thus it was fiendishly difficult to exude only a tiny amount. It was like trying to divert a steady rivulet of water droplets from a raging river, not impossible but very labor-intensive to accomplish.
After practicing with the piece of paper for an hour and being able to stick it to each finger, it was time to resume lessons. Mikoto spoke of how to mix chakra and what it could be used for. The differences between Yin and Yang chakra were explored, as well as the cycle of the five elements and their advantages over the others. After another hour of lessons, she dismissed them for lunch.
Naruto was happy to get out of class. He could feel the looks of several of the other students throughout the day watching him and it had made him quite uncomfortable. There were several moments that he contemplated laying his head down like Shikamaru, but he knew that he didn't possess the ability to both meditate internally while keeping tabs on everything happening around him. He wanted to figure out a way to accomplish that, so that he could work on his seals in his mind, while keeping track of what Mikoto was talking about.
He sat down in the lunchroom, absorbed by his thoughts until a flash of pink sat down on one side of him and a black blur landed on the other. Apparently, he was not going to be able to keep to himself today either.
"I see that you lack chakra control. I would think your training with Jiraiya would have helped with that." Sasuke stated, his flat tone attempting to convey a neutrality to the statement, but Naruto could hear the smirk underneath the words.
The softer voice spoke up from his right. "That's not fair Sasuke." At the glance from the son of the Hokage, her voice faltered immediately, reducing down to a whisper. "Not everyone can be trained by a Hokage."
Naruto looked back and forth between the two of them, food temporarily forgotten on the table in front of him. He wasn't really sure what to think about the two of them yet.
Sasuke was nearly insufferable, the high and mighty attitude that he had where he basically claimed his superiority over everyone else by just existing. It was horrible. But, there was something else under there that he had caught a hint of during their encounters over the past two days. A drive to be the best, proving himself to everyone that he was there and he mattered. It felt like Naruto's own ambitions.
Sakura was basically the exact opposite in outward personality. Shy and demure, she seemed to latch on to Naruto after that initial meeting and hadn't really left his side during school hours yet. She was kind-hearted and generous, helping him without him even asking for it. But, he could see underneath that she too was driven to better herself. The studying and the effort she put into learning everything was immediately obvious to anyone that watched her in class.
He wondered if this is what friendship really felt like. Even as Sasuke leaned forward to gaze directly at Sakura after her response, Naruto could still feel as if this was an enjoyable way to spend his time. He spent the rest of lunch period talking and joking with his two friends, enjoying the camaraderie.
When the bell dinged to indicate the end of lunch period, the three walked back to class together, talking within their own little group. This earned a renewed glare from Ino, who had unsuccessfully been trying to get Sasuke's attention throughout the mealtime.
They took their seats, as they had earlier in the day, Naruto and Sakura sitting in the back by Shikamaru, Sasuke, dead center, one seat diagonally forward from Naruto.
After all students had returned to the classroom, Mikoto wheeled herself in, organized a few papers and began to speak. "This afternoon we are going to talk about the other side of chakral manipulation. Whereas, this morning we discussed what sort of elemental transformations you could apply to molded chakra, the next topic is shape manipulation. Can anyone tell me a technique that uses shape manipulation?"
A couple of hands raised in the class. "Yes, Sakura?"
"The Fourth Hokage's Rasengan is shape manipulation without any elemental additions." The pinkette stated without hesitation, obviously knowing the answer.
"That is correct. Thank you."
Sakura beamed a smile and turned to Naruto, teeth still encased in a grin. Naruto gave her a quick thumbs-up, which caused the smile to fade out into a much smaller version that felt more sincere, accompanied by a small tinge of pink on her cheeks.
"Shape manipulation without elemental transformation is useful for many things, such as creating the size and shape of an illusion, or covering our hands in chakra like you did earlier for the paper sticking exercise." Mikoto explained further, writing several examples down on the board.
Naruto was intrigued by this and started writing down everything that he could copy. His own technique that he had been working on fell short in the shape manipulation, so perhaps he could get some ideas on how to expand his repertoire during this discussion. As his teacher went on and on about the different ways to form and shape chakra, his notebook filled up page after page.
When she called the end of the day, he hardly felt like stopping. He had come up with several new ideas that he wanted to try right away. He bid goodbye to his new comrades, waving to Sakura and Sasuke as they trailed behind him.
Naruto sprinted out of the main doors, down the dusty streets and into the residential district. Quickly finding the apartment building that he and Jiraiya had stayed in the past couple of days, he climbed the walls and stepped in through an open window. Jiraiya had already recoded the seals on the apartment to let him have access without setting off any defensive mechanisms, so he was unworried about the sneaky entry.
He retreated into his mind space after a short moment to place himself in a spot where he wouldn't be intruded upon. Naruto needed to write the ideas down quickly before he lost them, and he also wanted to talk more to Kurama about their discussion earlier today. He filled two mental scrolls with the ideas on shape manipulation and how it could be adapted to the different ideas that he had before heading outside into the ruined sealscape.
Unlike the last time he was here, Kurama was not causing a ruckus or even awake. The eyes seemed to have remained closed in the interim, undisturbed. The white-haired whiskered boy climbed to the promontory point of the steel rod sticking out high above the concrete rubble around him, as it was his most favored position.
"Kurama, are you awake?"
A large ear flickered up for a moment, detecting the sound and carrying it to the beast's unconscious slumber. A moment later, an eye cracked open partway, the red aura emanating from it only illuminating a small portion of the cavernous area, bathing the boy in the crimson light. The mouth opened slightly, pointed vulpine teeth poking out and separating as the creature spoke. "I see you have returned. What brings you here this time?"
It was not too late to turn back, but Naruto was not a coward. "I'd like to learn about chakra from you." Naruto said resolutely.
AN: A new teacher for young Naruto, where will this lead to? And who will benefit more from the arrangement. Next chapter, we discover what Jiraiya and Fugaku talk about, and then after that, there may be some more time jumping.
Constructive criticism welcome, please let me know what I can do to make the story better. We've hit 150k words now, and it's only just getting going.