Chapter 16
We were in the woods standing in a line in front of Kakashi with a set of four trees parallel to us at our backs. The order went from Kakashi's right to his left. Sakura, Me, Naruto, and Sasuke. I was relieved that for once I wasn't near the emo boy but then again I was more sulking from being placed between the two loudmouth idiots of the squad. Looking up towards the sky I found myself sighing. A beautiful day, darkened by my own heart and the fact I will have to put up with Sakura, Naruto, and whatever training Kakashi has me so worried over. I mean seriously. If he wants me to be comfortable with him and trust him. He shouldn't laugh at my fears and then scare me with sarcastic remarks. Even standing here before knowing what the training was going to entail, my palms were sweating and my lip feels raw from how hard I've been biting it.
Biting my lip again nervously I look from the sky back towards Kakashi Sensei. "Alright. Training starts now!" He claims as he leans on his crutches looking at all of us. His lightweight demeanor suddenly changed to a more serious one as his gaze was no longer soft but hard. Rather cold.
"Right!" Naruto was the only one of us willing to speak up anxiously.
"First we are going, to begin with, a review of Chakra, the ninja's basic source of power. Understanding Chakra is essential." Now he's trying to be a teacher. For some reason, this persona doesn't really suit Kakashi Sensei in my opinion. I mean yeah, his eyes can go soft and he can actually be caring. But, I've always seen him as one to be most comfortable out in the field on assassinations. He can be just downright cold.
"We know that." Sasuke says as he sets his right hand on his hip trying to look all cool. I thought only guys who are more feminine act like that? Hmm... Maybe I can add this to my ammo when I go to get under his skin. Smirking briefly at my own thoughts I fight to keep a giggle down.
"He's right. A long time ago we learned about. A.. uhh... Catra." Naruto tries to sound like he knows what he's saying but only causes me to roll my eyes.
"Chakra... Idiot." I mutter as I cross my arms.
"Go ahead Sakura." Kakashi speaks up giving her his approval for her to show off her book intelligence that she was just itching to let loose. I watch as she turns more towards Naruto rather than the rest of us and I scoff causing her to close her mouth again. "Yes, Kira?" Kakashi asks me causing my gaze to fall on him again.
"Do you really need a long-winded explanation from the girl who loves to hear herself talk? We all know she's book smart but she'll use this chance to talk until our heads spin." I mutter causing Kakashi's mask to wrinkle in a smirk.
"Just bear with it a little, Kira. It is obvious there are some in this squad that need a review." Sighing I look down showing I've given up my argument. He wasn't going to let the explanation be shortened anyway. Sakura needs as much motivation as any of us. If this makes her feel better about the fact she is overall weak then I guess I can put up with it. "Go ahead Sakura." Kakashi repeats so Sakura knows she can speak now.
"Alright, Naruto. I'll explain it simply so you can understand it. Chakra is the elemental life energy a ninja uses in jutsu. It's the source of all his power. Now, this energy has two forms. Physical energy which exists in all the cells in the entire body working together, and spiritual energy. The primal source of power which is intensified from training and through experience… As you can see these two types of chakra must be drawn out and brought together in order to perform jutsu… Notice the interplay between physical and spiritual power. That's the key… Finally, hand signs focus and unleash the chakra." At some point in her explanation, she had pulled out a scroll about chakra as if she just carries it around with her wherever she goes.
"Right, on all points. Iruka Sensei really did have some excellent students." Kakashi stops her there causing me to look up. Oh good, he didn't let her talk too terribly much. Sakura gives a chuckle of victory putting her hands on her hips as if she is better than everyone.
"What's the big deal with all these complicated explanations? The whole point is to learn the jutsu isn't it?!" Naruto protests. It's obvious he didn't understand Sakura's form of simple explaining.
"Naruto's right for once. We are already using chakra energy in our jutsu." Sasuke agrees with Naruto causing me to look towards him stunned. Why the hell agree with the idiot? Rolling my eyes I scoff at them.
"Isn't it obvious, dorks?" I mutter then realize everyone was looking at me again causing me to sigh. "We may be using energy in our jutsu but we have yet to master it. There is so much more than to build up chakra and do hand signs in order to get the jutsu to work." Kakashi smiles at me as Sakura glares. The two boys however were waiting for me to explain.
"Go on, Kira. Finish what you were saying." Kakashi coaxes me to continue. Nodding to him I now turn towards the two boys to look them in the eyes.
"What I mean about it taking more for jutsu is as Sakura already explained. The energies must be equal and well balanced otherwise the jutsu will fail or even be so weak that it's more of a joke than a jutsu. You must learn to….." My eyes widen as I suddenly turn on my toes to face Kakashi gasping. "I know what basis this training is!" I exclaim to him. "It's about Chakra control since you must have chakra control so you do not use too much or too little energy in a single jutsu. To learn chakra control can be a deciding factor in a battle. If you use too much chakra in a jutsu then you could be left weakened and nearly out of chakra in the battle. Rendering you ineffective. But if you use too little chakra your jutsu will fail or not work properly which would be useless and could get you killed."
"You are correct." He smiles down at me.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto shouts behind me causing Kakashi to look above me towards the two boys.
"Calm down and listen. It's just like Sakura and Kira said. You have to draw on spiritual and physical energies and then combine them within yourself. But, how do you do that? Each jutsu requires different types of chakra in different proportions. You must select and combine them in exactly the right way. Up till now, you've just guessed at the proportions hoping they'd come outright. Even if you produce a lot of chakra unless you can balance and control it. It's all worthless. The jutsu won't work at all or it'll just be a joke. You waste so much energy that way, then you're out of chakra and you can't fight at all. You're just a target."
"Uhh... So how do we change that?" Naruto asks as I decided to move from in between them and Kakashi and take my place back in line.
"Train so hard that controlling your chakra becomes second nature. To achieve this goal you must be ready to put your life on the line." Kakashi closes his eye and pauses waiting for someone to speak.
"What… do we have to do?" Sakura questions nervously as I bite my bottom lip. Kakashi just chuckles and holds up his finger.
"Climb a tree." What?!
"Climb a tree?" We all question in unison. Though I doubt they had the same reason for the question as I did. So this is why he was laughing!
"That's right, but, there's just one rule… no hands." Turning away from Kakashi I look towards the trees behind us. Following their height with my eyes. Feeling a lump grow in my throat as I realize they are taller than most of the buildings in the village.
"What? Your kidding." Sakura speaks disbelievingly.
"It... Could be possible." I blurt out as I try to take my mind away from the heights. "I mean, I can use chakra in my feet to propel myself higher in a jump. So why wouldn't this be possible?"
"Let's see if it's possible." Kakashi calmly states behind me causing me to turn to look at him. He then raises his hands in a seal before turning towards a tree and crutching over to it. Once to the tree, he puts one foot on the bark than the other. Crutching slowly up the tree. My eyes widen watching him as the others gasp. This seems so familiar.
"He's climbing!" Naruto exclaims in shock.
"Straight up. And he's only using his feet!" Nodding to Sakura's words I watch as Kakashi stops while he is upside down on a branch looking at us. The very idea of it causes my stomach to clench in knots while trying to painfully turn. I wrap my arms around myself with a groan. I knew this training was going to be bad.
"Well, you get the idea." Kakashi speaks drawing my attention back to him. "Focus your chakra to the soles of your feet and use it to connect to the tree. This is one way to apply the power of chakra."
"Wait a minute! That's a nice trick but how does it help us fight Zabuza?!" Sakura yells pulling my thoughts away from my fear.
"How do you think Kira could go against Zabuza's clones by herself? It's the only way to fight him, Sakura, that's the entire goal of this training. First, you'll learn to draw a precise amount of chakra to a precise point in your body. This is difficult even for advanced ninja. This type of climbing requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy and the bottoms of the feet are the most difficult points to gather chakra. Are you getting the picture? It's tougher than propelling yourself off the ground. If you can master this you can master any jutsu! Well, theoretically. The second point is to maintain your levels. When a ninja is focused in battle it's even harder for him to control and maintain his chakra levels, a deadly mistake. To avoid this, maintaining chakra must become second nature. Effortless… Well, I can talk about this all day but that won't advance your skills. Will it? You need to apply the power of chakra. Through training." He says as he pulls out kunai and throws four down towards us. Causing one to stick in the ground in front of each one of us. "Use the kunai knife to mark the tree at the highest point you can climb, without using your hands. Then try and get past that mark the next time and the next. At first, you are going to need to run at the tree so your momentum will take you as high as possible. Until you get used to it. Ready?!" He calls down so we know it's time to pull the kunai out of the ground in front of us.
Reaching for my own I gulp back some saliva in an attempt to erase the lump in my throat. "I'm more than ready! This is going to be no sweat all the way! Believe it!" Naruto claims holding his kunai out at the ready looking towards his tree. I myself stand straight looking at my own, so not ready to try and reach the top. "Remember what you said Sensei! I'm the one who's grown the most!"
"You're definitely the one that talks the most. Now get focused and do it!" Shaking my head I close my eyes not even bothering to raise my hands into a hand sign. Feeling the hum in my veins I push the energy down towards my feet gathering the more stubborn of energy from my body's cells along the way. Feeling a steady flow at my feet I open my eyes and run towards the tree first. Stepping onto the tree I begin to run up. My eyes seeing the top come somewhat closer made my heart stop. The top that is taller than the buildings at home! Closing my eyes I felt my feet slip and I fall, back first onto the ground knocking the wind out of me. It was only then I felt my heart begin to beat again. "Kira! Don't think about your fear! It will only cloud your focus!" Kakashi yells down at me causing my eyes to flutter open to look up at him. Only realizing now the others had stopped on their way to their own trees to stare at me.
"Fear?" Sakura questions before smirking down at me.
"Hahaha. You're afraid?!" Naruto laughs causing me to growl. I swear Kakashi said that on purpose! Getting up I wipe the dirt off of my butt and back looking up at the tree again.
"Don't look at the top of the tree, Kira! Don't think about how high it is!" Kakashi yells again causing me to glare at him.
"Will you shut up old man!" I yell with a growl. "Not everyone is supposed to know that!"
"Wait... You're afraid of heights?" Sasuke questions causing me to pin him with a glare as well. Feeling my temper boil and rise as if it were a pot of boiling water getting ready to bubble over the top of the pan. Ignoring any other comments I turn back to my tree hearing my blood pounding in my ears.
Stepping back to where I started I focus my energy back to the bottoms of my feet and with an inhuman growl I push myself forward as fast as I could. Adjusting my energy at the bottom of my feet as I run on the bark. Who do they think they are?! I mean really? I could tear them apart with my bare hands! Rip their tongues from their stupid faces! It's perfectly natural to be afraid of something! Those stupid, ignorant, idiot… what?! Feeling my foot not touch anything beneath me I go to mark the tree but end up falling forward. Now falling headfirst towards the opposite side of the tree I had ran up. My heart rose to my throat, my chest so tight it feels like I can't breathe. I felt tears sting my eye, before without thinking I moved my chakra to my hands and grabbed onto the nearest tree branch. Stopping my descent. Yet, instead of pulling myself up I just sort of hang there with my eyes closed. Trying to get control of myself.
"Well, it looks like the female members of the squad are the most advanced at chakra control. Well done Sakura.." Kakashi speaks calmly as I finally pull myself up onto the branch I had grabbed a hold of. "Well done for conquering your fear, Kira."
"Yeah! Way to go Sakura! I always knew you were awesome! Believe it!" Naruto yells as I set myself down and keep my eyes closed. How far up did I manage to grab a branch? Do I even want to know? Did I really just go past the top of the tree in order to fall down the other side?!
"Kira! Now you know you can do it. I want you to do it again but this time, not blinded by rage. Now, it's time for you to get down from there." He spoke finishing with a lighter tone as if he found my predicament amusing. How I hate him… I growl under my breath.
A few hours later I'm kneeling in front of my claimed tree. It felt like every part of my body was weakened. Exhausted. While Naruto just keeps going. Humph. He's lucky to have the nine tails inside of him at times like this! I glare ahead of me looking up at my own markings on the tree. Ever since that first time I haven't made it up to the top since! I've only managed three quarters at most and my progress is declining with each passing attempt. I'm reaching near my limit and I don't know how much longer my body is going to be able to keep healing me after every fall.
A sudden throb causes my world to become momentarily blurry before clearing back up. The red haze around my vision was an old reminder of what was happening. The excruciating pain now aflame in my throat caused my hand to automatically touch my throat. My vision darkens as I feel a new pain radiating through my body. Focused in my mouth as my teeth begin to elongate. Hidden by my lips. Closing my eyes I fight now to hold in a cry of pain. I try to keep my breathing even and focus on the sounds of the others still trying to climb.
Moving my hands from my throat up to my face. I find the braids on my forehead. Removing the hair ties before I begin to detangle my bangs. Situating the tendrils over my forehead to cover my eyes. Knowing right now they would be scarlet red. The visible sign of my… blood lust. This is the sign my training is finished for today.
"Kira, are you alright?" A familiar smooth voice reaches my ears from right next to me. I give a nod even though it seemed to cause my throat to burn worse. "Kira?" He questions again.
"I. I'm f. f. fine Sasuke. Guess, I'm still worn out from yesterday." I decided to add to prevent his next question. Of why I am breathing heavily and having a difficult time speaking. It was then I felt him grab onto my arm raising me to my feet before I even felt his shoulder wedging itself in the crook of my armpit. His arm then slipped around me and gripped just above my opposite hip. "W. What are you doing?!" I squeaked in surprise, as his closeness caused a new wave of pain to rush through my body. Causing me to jerk briefly in an attempt to get away from the source of this newfound pain.
"Tch. I'm taking you back to the house. You are in no condition to continue training." Sasuke muttered as he grips hold of me tighter to keep me from slipping from his grip before I heard someone walk up to us.
"That's alright, Sasuke. I'll take her. You need to continue training with the others." Kakashi's voice emerges before I felt myself being tugged out of Sasuke's grip, and my feet leave the ground as Kakashi's arms cradle my body loosely against him. Closing my eyes I bite my bottom lip. Kira. Just deal with it until you are alone within a room of the house. I silently told myself and held my breath.
