Puppet Master of Konoha
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Naruto is the creation of Kishimoto-sensei.
"Argh," groaned Naruto in frustration, "why is this so difficult?"
It had been several weeks since Naruto had begun studying everything he could find in the library about Sasori and Sunagakure's Puppet Brigade. He had made progress in researching the techniques and theories behind the Jutsu used to control Puppets, but every time he attempted to project the Chakra threads that were essential to the Kugutsu no Jutsu, it always blew up in his face. Literally! One time he had to make up an excuse as to why he had severe Chakra burns on his hands.
Iruka-sensei was not impressed.
"What am I doing wrong?" asked Naruto as he went over the information he had copied from the library books again, "I followed all the steps. Channel your Chakra to your hands…"
As Naruto focused, a blue glow appeared around his palms as his Chakra was channeled to them.
"Concentrate the Chakra…" continued Naruto as he worked on the technique, causing the glow to intensify.
"And refine it into threads from your hands…" finished Naruto.
…and as he did that final step, the Chakra promptly destabilized as he tried to form it into threads and exploded in his hands.
"Damnit!" swore Naruto as he shook his singed digits to alleviate the pain.
It's not like he had a plethora of people he could ask for advice on the subject. He doubted most people would rather spit in his face, or worse, than help him out, and he doubted Iruka-sensei was active during the Third War. No offence to him, but he didn't look that old.
"Argh!" groaned Naruto as he wracked his brain. There had to be someone he knew (that would be willing to help him) that knew about the techniques used by Akasuna no Sasori and some trick or step he was missing in his training.
Suddenly, Naruto remembered something he read in a passage on some of the battles between Konoha and Suna during the war and the answer hit him like a cartful of bricks.
"Jiji!" exclaimed Naruto as he pounded his fist into his hand in realization, "He was active during the war and probably knows all kinds of cool things being Hokage and all. He'll definitely know what I'm doing wrong!"
Grinning like a madman, Naruto leapt to his feet and bolted out of his apartment, dashing across the rooftops in the direction of the Hokage Tower. Upon arriving, he quickly raced up the stairs and burst through the doors of the Sandaime's office. The ANBU and various Shinobi guarding the Hokage knew to let him pass. Most of them were skilled Sensors, and had a standing order from the Hokage to let Naruto pass so long as they detected no irregularities with the blonde's Chakra.
Hiruzen chuckled to himself as the hyperactive blonde burst into his office. He had always had a soft spot for Naruto, and he was often a welcome distraction whenever the horrors of paperwork. In fact, it was staring to seem like the stacks of forms waiting to be signed were growing instead of shrinking.
"Jii-san!" exclaimed Naruto upon entering the office.
"Ah, Naruto-kun," said the Sandaime as he picked up his pipe and lit it with a quick application of Katon Chakra, "how are you doing today?"
"I'm fine Jiji," said Naruto, "but I could really use your help with a project I've been working on."
"Oh? A project for the Academy?" asked Hiruzen, "Have you thought to ask Iruka about this?"
"It's…not exactly an Academy project," admitted Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"I see," said Hiruzen before taking a pull from his pipe and breathing out a ring of smoke, "well, would you like to tell me more about this project?"
"Right," said Naruto, "well, it began after Iruka-sensei caught me after my last prank. I wanted to add a bit of color to the Uchiha Clan compound."
"I believe I recall that one," said the Sandaime with a faint smile, inwardly repressing the memory of the migraine dealing with the Council after said incident had given him.
"So, after Iruka-sensei caught me, we made a deal," said Naruto, "I promised to actually listen to one of his lessons in exchange for a week of Ramen from Ichiraku's."
"And I assume you heard something interesting in your sensei's lesson then?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly, "So, Iruka-sensei was talking about the awesome Shinobi that participated in the Third Shinobi War, and I asked him about some of the Shinobi that weren't from Konoha, so he started talking about someone named Asakuna no Sasari?"
"I think you mean, Akasuna no Sasori," corrected Hiruzen.
"Right, him!" said Naruto with a nod, "Iruka-sensei told us about how he became an awesome Shinobi with his puppets, so I started thinking…"
"That you could possibly be 'awesome' as well, if you learned to use the Puppet Technique?" asked Hiruzen as he began to put the pieces together, "I was wondering why I received a report the other day about you overloading several of the Tenketsu in your fingers the other day."
"That's kind of what I wanted to ask you about," said Naruto, "I've been having some trouble with the technique and was hoping you'd know something I'm doing wrong."
"What kind of trouble are you having?" asked the Sandaime.
"Well," said Naruto, "when I try to follow the instructions in the scrolls I read to create Chakra threads like Sasori used, it always overloads and blows up in my face."
"I see," said Hiruzen, "well, I believe I might have an idea what's going wrong, and truthfully, it isn't anything you're doing wrong."
"Really?" asked Naruto in surprise.
"Indeed," said the Hokage deciding on telling the blonde the truth, with the classified details edited out, "the fact is Naruto-kun, you have unusually large Chakra reserves for someone your age. Because of that, and because of how potent your Chakra is, you don't, and may never have the delicate Chakra Control needed to create Chakra threads."
"What!?" exclaimed Naruto before his head dropped in despair. He had been trying so hard, but now, it looked like his dreams were shattered once again.
"Haha," laughed Hiruzen, "don't be disheartened, Naruto-kun," he told the young blonde reassuringly, "while you might not be able to perform the normal Chakra thread technique, I might be able to provide you with a few techniques that could help."
"Really?" asked Naruto hopefully.
"Indeed," said the Sandaime as he rose from his desk and walked over to a bookshelf full of old tomes. The Hokage scanned the shelves, running a finger over the dusty books before stopping and pulling one out that had an orange spiral emblazoned on the cover.
"This is a book written by a former Clan of Konoha that was known for their immense and potent Chakra reserves," said Hiruzen, "unfortunately, the members of said Clan have all died out, but their techniques on controlling and manipulating their unique Chakra have been thankfully preserved."
Hiruzen took the tome and handed it to Naruto with a kind smile, "I hope this helps you with what you're looking for."
"Thanks, Jiji!" exclaimed Naruto as he took the book, "You're the best!"
"You are most welcome, Naruto-kun," said the Sandaime, "now, while I would like to ask you to stay out of trouble, knowing your reputation, I'll simply settle for keeping the chaos to a dull roar."
"I'll try Jiji," said Naruto with a grin as he ran out of the office.
Chuckling to himself, Hiruzen returned to his paperwork, but his thoughts kept drifting to the blonde, and the book he had just given him.
'Forgive me, Minato and Kushina," he thought to himself solemnly, 'but Naruto-kun is not yet ready to fully learn the truth about his heritage, but I hope that this will be enough for now.'
xXsceneXx
"Alright then," said Naruto once he was back in his apartment, "let's see what this book says."
Opening the tome, Naruto began to read through the text, but the first thing he noticed, was that there were several lines of text that were blacked out and censored from the rest of the book. Naruto was curious as to why so much of the information in the book was omitted, but he hoped that, from what he could still read, it would have the information he wanted.
A Guide to **** Clan Chakra
Welcome young ****. If you are reading this book, you are probably on the path to learning to become a Shinobi of ****gakure. Now, Shinobi of the ****Clan are known to have larger Chakra reserves than others their age, and thus have a harder time learning to control said reserves. Luckily, the ****Clan has been dealing with this issue for Generations and has developed several techniques and practices that will help you gain a handle on your Chakra and maybe even utilize some of our Clan's secret techniques one day.
The first thing you should know, is that many of the techniques the rest of the Shinobi world teach to aspiring Genin, will be beyond your reach until you've mastered several of the exercises you'll find here in this book.
The introduction continued on to elaborate more about this mysterious Clan's traditions and aims for prospective Shinobi, so Naruto flipped ahead to the section on the actual Chakra control exercises.
As stated earlier, members of the ****Clan can have potent Chakra reserves that far outstrip others their age, and thus, the standard techniques taught to Shinobi are significantly more difficult for us to learn. Because of this, the ****Clan has developed our own series of exercises to help prospective Shinobi learn to control their unique Chakra.
The first step is to focus on the flow of Chakra within your body and to take hold of it within you. Once you do that, you must direct it towards the Tenketsu in your spine. Remember, your Chakra reserves are larger than others your age, so feel free to grab what Chakra you can, instead of attempting to limit yourself to a tiny amount.
Take hold of that Chakra, and then focus on it as it flows towards your Tenketsu. Focus on weaving the energy together to form the links of a chain, condensing the chakra you gathered to reinforce the links as you weave them together before pushing it outwards through your Tenketsu.
Naruto's interest was thoroughly piqued by this, and he quickly placed the book down on his bed and began to go through the exercise detailed in it. Focusing, he reached inwards and grabbed hold of his Chakra once again, but this time, he didn't limit how much he grabbed, and instead took a large chunk of it and began focusing on molding it like the book had directed, weaving the energy together into thick cords that he began form into the links of a chain. Surprisingly, this task felt a lot easier than all of the Chakra control exercises that his teachers in the Academy had tried to drill into him, and Naruto could feel the Chakra within him molding into the shape he wanted. Smiling, he pushed it outwards through the Tenketsu on his back…and that was where things went wrong.
As Naruto pushed, he heard the sound of fabric ripping apart before a loud crash was heard from behind him, and when he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see that about a dozen gold chains had sprouted from his back, ripping apart the shirt he had been wearing, before smashing into the far wall of his apartment, taking out his desk in the process.
Quickly looking back at the book, Naruto had to facepalm in embarrassment as he realized that he had accidentally flipped too far into the book and skipped past the basic Chakra control exercises and into the more practical uses of those with this special 'potent chakra.' Something called, Chakra Chains. Frantically looking through the chapter, he managed to find a passage detailing on how to dispel the Chains, and, upon focusing like directed, he managed to retract the thick chains back into his body, thankfully sparing the wall of his apartment, save several deep gouges in the wood.
His shirt was completely ruined though.
The technique was a complete success though, he thought to himself, but Naruto wondered how he could apply it to his attempts to use the Kugutsu no Jutsu. After all, it wasn't like he could control the puppets with chains instead of strings…
Wait. Why not?
What were chains but thicker and more durable strings, right? All he had to do was make them a bit smaller and make them come out of his hands instead of his back and then maybe…
Nodding to himself, Naruto focused on the Chakra Chain drill again, but this time, grabbing less Chakra and pushing it towards the Tenketsu in each fingertip, focusing on condensing the chains even further and weaving the Chakra tighter together to form smaller chains that were closer in size to the Chakra Threads traditionally used in the Kugutsu no Jutsu. Pushing the new chains out through his Tenketsu, Naruto grinned as the technique didn't explode violently and directed said chains towards a wooden toy figure he had bought from a small shop, one of the few that didn't hate him.
The figure wasn't anything remarkable, just a wooden figurine with limbs attached with joints that allowed for a wide array of movements, and when the modified Chakra Chains made contact with the toy's limbs, Naruto's grin practically split his face as the toy twitched and got up from the floor as the blonde Shinobi directed it to move around.
"Yatta!" exclaimed Naruto, causing the toy to fall limp as he lost focus on the technique, "Dang it. Gonna have to work on that. But still, step one on my path to becoming a badass Puppet Master Hokage is complete!"
Smiling, Naruto went to grab a sketchpad and the books he had been researching about Suna's Puppeteers and their Puppets, and began to work on designs for his first Shinobi Puppet.
To be continued…
Author's Note: So, before anyone objects to Naruto suddenly learning the Chakra Chains technique, he hasn't mastered it yet, and probably won't for a LONG time. It just fit as an alternate for the Chakra Thread technique, which probably requires a higher level of Chakra control than Naruto was ever capable of pre-timeskip, (or even pre-new era). He just managed it due to a similar reason that he was able to master the Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: it's a drill designed for people with far more Chakra than what the average Shinobi has, and Naruto is better at learning on his feet, and isn't an idiot like people assume he is. He mastered Tree Climbing, a drill that would be hard for him due to his Chakra reserves, in a few nights, and Water Walking, an advanced drill, in a few days, and even devised a workaround for the Rasengan that allowed Genin-level Shinobi like Konohamaru to use it all on his own.
In any case, he isn't going to be using Kushina level or even Karin level Chain techniques, rather it's going to be used for his Puppets, and not much else.