"Don't let the heel of your feet touch the ground, and keep your head straight, avoid unnecessary bobbing." A strict voice cut through the silence and I made an effort to fix my posture even as I kept running.
It was now Saturday morning and time for my scheduled lesson with Ebisu where he was teaching me what he taught his students about physical conditioning.
I had arrived half an hour earlier than our agreed meeting time, only to find my temporary teacher already there waiting for me and I had to suppress a smile at the care and effort he was putting into teaching me if he came early even in such a chilly morning.
Not being an ungrateful jerk, I had arrived to the academy grounds with two bags of sweet treats I had personally cooked, one of which I had given to Ebisu as thanks for taking time out of his busy day for me.
The lesson had started with a lecture from Ebisu on the importance of the body and soul for Shinobi and the role it played in the creation of chakra.
I personally believed I had meditated enough to never have to worry about the soul part of the equation, in an amusing reversal of how the real Naruto's life had gone with his focusing on physical energy for most of his childhood.
Ebisu had then started me off with stretches, followed by making me run around the courtyard, showing me the correct posture and shouting instructions at me to fix any mistakes he spotted.
"Yes, that's good enough." Ebisu told me after I finished a lap and came back near him. "In order to improve your speed, sprint for as long as you can, but the second you are no longer going as quickly as you can, stop running and slowly walk for a full lap to catch your breath before doing another sprint."
I nodded my assent, even as my breath transformed into mist from the chillness of the early January morning.
"For an increase in stamina, run for as long as you can without stopping, even when you can only jog or walk quickly." Ebisu continued. "Never under any circumstances start exercising without knowing exactly what it is you are trying to achieve, it will do you more harm than good in the long term."
Everything he had told me I had read about, but it was nice to have it confirmed by a Shinobi, rather than the civilian materials the Hokage had provided me while at the orphanage.
"How often can I train without risking injury?" I asked, wondering what my limits were to reach Guy and Lee levels of progress.
"With chakra, we do not require as much rest as civilians. So long as you have a full night's sleep, you can train multiple times everyday until collapse and not risk injury." Ebisu answered and I almost jubilated in happiness at the news.
I was confident Kurama's blessing would have allowed me to recover quicker than most anyways, but having the official confirmation that overstraining wasn't an issue physically speaking was a boon and a half, though I should have expected seeing how Guy and Lee behaved.
The next half an hour had seen my impromptu teacher showing me how to achieve the exercises for body conditioning and correcting my form for each one, starting with push ups, sit ups, jumping jacks, lunges, squats, pull ups, burpees and ending it all with the plank.
Had the lesson ended there, I would have been extremely grateful to Ebisu for his kindness and taking me seriously, but the man had gone even further in his devotion to his craft and called upon me to sit in front of him.
"Open your hands so you have your palms vertically facing one another with a distance roughly the width of your head separating them." The man started, showing me an example which I promptly copied. "This is called the blank slate."
"Hand seals are not an absolute position of the hands or fingers, but rather the process of going from the blank slate into any given hand sign." He added and I looked at him flabbergasted.
This hadn't been in any of my books. Even the actual Naruto series had not shown this information, Kakashi quickly switching hand seals without ever returning to this blank slate.
Was the series different from real life, or was the knowledge not put into books so only those having access to a real academy instructor could learn to use chakra?
"Each seal has to start from the blank slate position, and while it is possible to eliminate the need for it for a specific technique with enough training, it should never become the default as you will lose much in potency."
I nodded my understanding, paying closer attention to the lesson, not wanting to lose even a second due to my lack of concentration.
"For example, to do the Ram seal, you have to start from the blank slate, then hook your thumbs, indexes and middle fingers together, before hugging your remaining fingers separately, with the left pair above the right one, like this." He demonstrated what he meant and I did my best to emulate him despite it being far from intuitive.
"You need more distance between the thumbs and the rest of your fingers." Ebisu corrected me, physically moving my finger until it was in the correct position. "Your middle pair also needs to be straighter, not leaning to the left like it is."
His fiddling with my hands went on for a few seconds, with him subtly moving my hand around until he was satisfied from my positioning.
"Now, unhook your hands from one another and return to the blank slate." He ordered and I obeyed without question.
"If you learn to start from the blank slate, do the seal and return back to the blank slate, you will be able to chain any combination of hand signs regardless of your starting point." Ebisu let me know and I agreed with him, eager to master this concept.
"Try it again." He ordered and I did so immediately, ending up with the perfect position he had shown me.
"Very good." Ebisu complimented. "You are a quick learner it seems." He sounded pleased with himself, and honestly, he should, the man was a great teacher. "You are still slightly awkward in transitions, but that will come with time and experience. Let us show you how the Horse seal is done."
And so, over the next half an hour, Ebisu showed me every single one of the twelve common hand seals, and every time I memorized it immediately.
It wasn't exactly Sharingan level of perfect copy, my movements still sluggish in transition, but the final position always being a perfect replica of what Ebisu showed me.
He didn't comment on it, but I could tell the man was impressed.
"Can I try something, sir?" I asked, and at Ebisu's nod, I flew through a few hand seals with the blank slate as a separator.
Dog, Boar, Ram.
'Ninja Arts: Transformation Technique'
A puff of smoke covered my immediate surroundings and Ebisu's mouth opened in surprise at my already knowing the steps to the jutsu, though he regained his composure quickly.
"You failed." He let me know and a quick glance at my clothes confirmed to me that he was right.
I had tried changing the color of my shirt from navy blue to red, but nothing had happened beyond the puff of smoke.
"Chakra usage is all about visualization." Ebisu lectured and I listened to him carefully, trying not to show how disappointed I was in my failure. "Not only do you need to visualize the final result of your technique, you should also mentally imagine the process through which the step is achieved."
"So, if I wanted to change the colors of my clothes..." I started trailing off in the middle.
"You not only have to visualize the final result, but also the steps in between where they slowly start transforming into whatever it is you wish to happen." He confirmed and I nodded in thanks for his explanation.
It was similar to how visualizing only the final product was not enough when I had first worked on changing the blue flame into the first node of my constellation.
"The more drastic the technique, the more important it is to visualize every step of the way." Ebisu confirmed.
I really should have seen it coming...
"Thank you so much, sir." I bowed politely.
"It's fine." He waved me off. "It is my job to teach. Apply your exercises every day and come back to me at the beginning of term and I will show you the basic katas for Taijutsu" the man said before leaving me to my own devices.
I had to physically hold myself back from doing a victory dance once Ebisu left me alone in the training ground. I was ecstatic with the way the lesson had gone, not only could I now start exercising without fear of screwing myself forever, the man had given me all the tools I needed to start my plan of learning all the Academy Jutsu and start spying on people in search of more techniques.
Deciding to start applying what I had just learned, I quickly ate through the second bag of food I had brought for myself before preparing to go for a run, having decided the most important for me was to start building up stamina so I could train for longer periods of time and generate more chakra, since speed was useless in that regard.
That was how fifteen minutes later had found me running around for the first time of my life, going as fast as my short little legs allowed me to and only stopping after I had trouble breathing and having gotten two side stitches, forcing me to walk around slowly, holding them and pressing a finger on each one in order to lower the pain threshold while breathing heavily.
It was a little disappointing to know that I could barely run a half lap on my own before I collapsed, but I knew everyone had to start somewhere and that was ultimately okay.
Honestly, after seeing how quickly I had recovered from my chakra usage, I was confident I would very quickly jump leaps and bounds above my current level and as if to prove me right, barely a few seconds of pause had seen me recover from my sudden bout of fatigue.
As a result, rather than leave immediately, I had walked around for an additional full lap to calm my labored breathing and aching limbs enough to allow me to go sprinting for round two, tiring myself thoroughly and having my legs wobble all the way back home, though the satisfied smile never left my lips. I had wished for so long to be able to move and run around. Being able of accomplishing it was just as exhilarating as I had hoped it would be.
Now that I was capable to work on it, my physical fitness level was one of my top priorities, not only due to how important it would be to my fighting skills, but also because it played a huge part in the amount of usable chakra available to me, as the mythical energy was a combination of the mind and body working in harmony.
I would soon be abusing my healing factor as much as I could to have multiple body conditioning sessions a day, no matter how pathetic my stamina was showing itself to be compared to my regeneration ability.
Once I found myself unable to take another step, I dropped to the floor and immediately went for a few push ups while I regained my breath.
I was only a small four years old boy whom had never run before today, and even with the Uzumaki boost, it would take a bit of time for me to build up my reserves of energy and reach a respectable fitness level, but in the end I had about four years to ensure I would be the most athletic civilian in the academy.
It was while completely exhausted and dripping in sweat that I had gone back home that day, collecting a few dozen leaves on the way, eager for a quick shower, a hearty meal and a long session of chakra control.
Kakashi had been a Genin by five.
I had no excuse to not be a force to be reckoned with by the time I was eight.