Lessons of Experience
Chapter 4: Inheritance
By: BukkakeNoJutsu
Disclaimer: Uzumaki Naruto is not my creation, but if he were he'd leave his tips for Ichiraku's inside Ayame. Bow-chika-wow-wow.
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San had a sad, faraway look in his eyes as he began. Naruto noticed that there was almost a kind of twinkle in his dark eyes as the old man spoke.
"My uncle grew up in a time before there were major shinobi villages. Times then were vicious and lawless.
Villages, large and small, were harassed by roving bands of bandits and ninjas. Most of the time, these assholes would pillage, rape, and kill freely unless a particular village could afford mercenaries or had their own private army.
Living in a smaller village, his family was attacked by one of these gangs. His father died in the attack and the gang's savagery left his mother and sister barely alive.
With few options left, my uncle, when he was about your age now, joined a mercenary band to provide for his family. His mother and sister would stay in a larger, fortified village and he would earn his keep on the battlefield to provide their accommodations.
One day, a crude explosive trap killed several of his fellow mercenary nins, and wounded him severely. It tore off his left arm below the elbow and mangled his left leg, leaving him with a severe limp.
Half-crippled, his family would eventually run out of money and be left to fend for themselves without the protection of a large village, unless he found a way to make a living.
So he adapted. With only one hand, most ninjutsu and genjutsu were beyond him. Taijutsu and weapons were not.
He fought, traveled, and learned all over the Elemental countries. Often times, people would teach him out of pity or duty."
Naruto could not help but interrupt.
"How did your uncle become a ninja with his injuries?"
San smirked.
"That tricky old bastard combined everything he had learned and made due with ironclad control over his body and his chakra, and by becoming extremely precise and efficient in his movements and chakra usage.
You have to understand that, technically, he was at a severe disadvantage against pretty much anyone he came up against. What made him extraordinarily lethal, even legendary, was his mindset.
The core mentality of our fighting method centers around killing every single opponent you encounter regardless of their advantages and your disadvantages.
We always assume our opponents will be faster, stronger, more skillful, in better health, and with more experience than ourselves. We will kill them all the same. Our enemies have the luxury of being sloppy compared to ourselves because they have perfectly functioning bodies. That is why they die in great numbers before us.
I'm training you to be a vicious bastard, and to take nothing for granted. You'll do so with finesse and ease by the time I'm through with you."
San nodded at Naruto.
"Pick up your knives, boy. It's time to put theory into practice."
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The training that followed put all of Naruto's previous training with San to shame.
First, Naruto became intimately familiar with the knives San gave him. Soon Naruto's knives felt like extensions of his body, as natural as his whisker marks.
He could switch basic grips with his knives faster than he could perform handseals.
Blade up, edge out. Blade up, edge in. Blade down, edge out. Blade down, edge in.
The best and most efficient ways to use these grips were hammered, and often stabbed, into him.
Blade up, edge out. Blade up, edge in. Blade down, edge out. Blade down, edge in.
The boy learned all manner of tricks with his knives, like how to spin the weapons in his palms to change grip, and how to subtly change grips mid-strike.
The boy learned anatomy and how it related to his techniques. San tutored him on where to strike to maim, to cripple, to immobilize, and where to strike where no tourniquet or skilled medic-nin could prevent death. The jinchuuriki learned how to create ragged wounds by stabbing and tearing, the kinds of wounds that could not heal cleanly if they healed at all. Naruto discovered how to disembowel a man with the least amount of effort, even a man with a belly like an Akimichi with a small 2-inch blade.
Naruto had asked San once why they used single-edged knives, instead of more dangerous double-edged ones. San's answers always related back to control and precision. He learned how switch grips and how to increase the power of his strikes by using various parts of his body as fulcrums against the backs of his blades.
He learned knife tactics and strategy, how to use someone's defensive reactions to cause their downfall, and how to confuse the predictive abilities of doujutsu users and other advanced ninjas with his own. San offered this important piece of advice.
"Don't rely on just one attack or basic combination of strikes. You have got to move and react with your enemy like a dancing partner, or even a lover that you will ultimately have to kill. If you get preoccupied with doing a particular technique, they will predict your actions and cut you a new smile through your throat. Move with them like a shadow would."
Later, San took the knives out of his hands and taught him how to apply his knowledge and precision empty-handed.
Naruto found that his hands and reactions were even faster emptied as San taught him things like how and where to strike, and how to cause a spiral fracture of the spine in three places with a single smooth movement.
All these things Naruto learned so far were done without the use of chakra.
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As per San's request, Naruto did not wear his weapons in public yet, but stored them in his backpack. He also still kept his training sessions with San a closely guarded secret.
Naruto trudged though his Academy work, often bored. The only area were he improved visibly was with throwing kunai.
Even during those rare instances were he was partnered up with a classmate for taijutsu exercises, he mainly dodged, occasionally placing a flat palm solidly along exposed vital areas. His partners occasionally would get frustrated and criticize him for running away, but no one actually recognized what he was actually doing. He was training the same distance, if had a knife, to sink his blade completely to the hilt. They were moving and he was mentally carving them up.
In his spare time, the blonde boy experimented with chakra and basic Academy jutsu. His henge and kawarimi were fine, but he still could not get a handle on the basic bunshin technique.
Gods, he hated that technique.
Naruto even experimented once with channeling chakra into his knives, but, after nearly decapitating himself and cutting his kitchen table in half, he wisely decided to wait for San to teach him properly.
Naruto sourly mentioned the difficulties he had with the basic bunshin jutsu to San.
The old man snickered, saying, "Don't worry about that jutsu, boy. I'll show you one better."
The young boy got all sparkly-eyed and giddy.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I guess it's just about that time."
With that, after weeks and months of teaching offensive techniques, San began instructing Naruto in the use of chakra.
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San spent a solid week teaching Naruto the tree-walking and water-walking, and had the boy practice them on his own in private.
After feeling that he had mastered these practices sufficiently, they began playing their twisted version of tag atop the water.
It helped build Naruto's chakra control immensely as nothing disturbed the concentration needed for sparring on water quite like horrendous knife wounds.
Best of all for the blonde, Naruto could finally create decent bunshin.
It wasn't hard for Uzumaki Naruto to notice how the intensity of their training sessons dramatically increased. San did everything to stack the odds against Naruto's favor while sparring, forcing him to rely on himself with or without weapons.
One day without warning, San made good on his promise to show Naruto a jutsu better than the basic bunshin. He did so by doing using it on him viciously. Dodging the old man's attacks, Naruto was caught off guard as a solid clone burst from the surface of the water catching him with a hooking thrust right below his jaw. The clone's knife slid behind his jawbone, piercing through Naruto's tongue and the roof of his mouth. Naruto was caught like a fish wriggling on a line as his mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood.
After sealing the boy's wounds, San told Naruto that the technique was called the kage bunshin.
"Its approach is the opposite of a regular bunshin. It requires loads of chakra, and is good for people with large amounts of chakra like yourself. The technique is also great for information gathering. If a clone is dispelled, you receive its memories."
After teaching the boy the theoretical aspects of the technique, San challenged his student to pump a good deal chakra into the jutsu.
Naruto, never being one to do things halfway, used as much chakra as he dared, filling their practice space with a sea of blondes.
It was San's turn to be surprised as he saw the blonde boy was barely winded.
"Well…fuck. I guess it's time for a break."
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San appeared in the Hokage's office with a package. He greeted his old friend.
"Sarutobi, I assume you know what I've been up to for the past few months."
The Professor smiled warmly.
"I don't think you could have picked a better protégé than our young Naruto."
The older man snorted.
"Yeah…I wish could spend more time teaching him, but I feel my allotted time growing short."
San tossed the Sandaime a fairly weighty package.
"This is for the boy in case something happens to me."
The Hokage accepted the bundle without saying a word.
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From the time Naruto had first met San to where he had learnt the kage bunshin no jutsu, it had been almost a year.
Uzumaki Naruto's third opportunity to pass the Academy exams was fast approaching.
When Naruto asked San how much of his ability could he display at his tests, the old man just smiled evilly before replying.
"Go nuts, kid."
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End Chapter 4
Author's Note: FYI, Naruto's training with knives is actually based upon my own experience of knifework. I'm no master, but it's fun. :)
C&C welcome