Rise of the Science-Nin

Chapter III: The difference between a Genius and a Hard Worker

Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: "Chakra exhaustion happens when you run out of chakra, right? Somewhat right, and somewhat wrong. Young academy students and genin often train until their reserves are almost completely empty, but they don't pass out or die. Even a Kage with chakra reserves larger than twenty typical jounin can succumb to chakra exhaustion, often before their reserves are even halfway depleted. Chakra exhaustion is the physical stress of your body doing something it was not designed to do – mold chakra. Molding chakra, not emptying your reserves, is the main cause of what is commonly referred to as chakra exhaustion, though some higher level ninja are known to have forcibly used all of their chakra up, which can cause their immediate death. Some people's bodies are better at molding chakra than others…"

Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow and turned the crescent wrench a final time, securing the last of the bolt on the large machine he had unpacked from one of the many storage scrolls he had brought with him from his home in Snow Country. It was one of his most prized inventions, a multifunction device that allowed him to tweak his seals and jutsu to perfection. It was a large immobile device weighing several hundred pounds. It was inscribed with passive seals designed to sense a ninja's chakra capacity, elemental alignment, and several other datum. It also measured the speed, angle, and amount of chakra coming from the body's various tenketsu as jutsu were performed. Basically, it could measure almost every relevant factor in using any chakra technique, and then, thanks to the small computer connected to the device, tell you exactly what to correct to optimally perform the technique in question. Naruto also used it liberally in his experiments, to gather raw data and test new hypotheses. Naruto had begun building this device when he was nine years old, and had just finished two years ago. He had made several improvements to his jutsu and chakra armor using the machine, which he called simply his "chakra analyzer". Since its completion, he had had visions of creating a portable device with the same functions, mounted in a heads up display in the helmet of his chakra visor. It would allow him to instant scan his opponent's capabilities, and to store any techniques he witnessed for later analysis. Basically, it would be the closest machine technology could take him to having an eye-based bloodline limit. Such a thing was still years away, as most of the components for a device like that would have to be painstakingly crafted by hand. Not to mention, he would have to miniaturize hundreds of components... As it was, his first version of the device weighed several hundred pounds, and stood seven feet tall.

Ever since he had first learned what a kekkei genkai was as a small child, Naruto had been fascinated with them. His Father's bloodline limit was intrigued him beyond belief, causing him to spend literally hundreds of hours trying to duplicate the man's innate ability to use ice jutsu using seals. He finally succeeded when he was ten years old, giving him hope that other bloodlines would be able to be "copied" in a similar manner in the future. All he had had to do was use his early versions of the chakra analyzer on his father while he performed jutsu, then reverse-engineer the techniques into their kanji-seal equivalents. He had learned that his father's ice jutsus used a fusion of wind and water chakra to create a completely new element. Theoretically a ninja would be able to use true ice jutsu by combining wind chakra and water chakra, and then molding the result into a jutsu, however it would take years or decades of practice, and he suspected that this method would never approach the ability of a true ice wielder. Naruto never bothered learning any of the fake ice jutsus that were popular among the shinobi of Snow Country that didn't share his Father's bloodline. They were just water techniques with a little shape manipulation thrown in, and couldn't even be used unless there was already ice or snow present. The real Hyoton jutsus created more powerful results, and could be used anywhere, cold or not. Plus, they were as perfect as could be accomplished by a human. By etching the seals for the exact method his Father used for those jutsus, he was able to perform then as flawlessly as his father could, and he being the premier ice user in the elemental nations, meant that Naruto could use them just as well. He had high hopes that there would be bloodline users in Konoha that would allow their skills to be analyzed, so that he could develop translation seals in order to share them. His Father has told Naruto that most bloodline users would probably attack him for even suggesting such a thing, but he thought that he might be able to change their minds by offering up sets of chakra armor in trade. Crafting chakra armor was a skill far more unique than any bloodline, except maybe the sharingan, and he was the only one south of Yuki no Kuni that possessed the skill.

His work finished, Naruto stood up, looking around the enormous room that would be his laboratory once finished. The room bustled with activity as several dozen of his shadow clones moved about, unsealing his equipment from scrolls and setting it up. He was very pleased with the small cottage Iruka had brought him to last night. It was set in a large patch of forest that might have been a training ground at some point, near the southern walls of Konoha. There was a lot of land he could use to train on, and no one had any business coming here unless they needed to see him, which Naruto appreciated. His whole life, he had spoken to no more than three dozen different people, and most of those he had met since leaving Snow Country. He was a social, boisterous person by nature, but the vast throngs of humanity present in Konoha were quite shocking to the sheltered boy.

The house he had been given contained three bedrooms, two smaller and one larger, a bathroom, kitchen, sitting room, dining room, attic, and basement. It was more than enough for his modest needs, especially after he had etched spacial expansion fuuinjutsu into the walls of the basement, expanding it from a 20x20x10 foot room to a monstrous 100x100x25 chamber capable of housing all of his equipment and experiments. Despite his familiarity with them, fuuinjutsu seals continually impressed and amazed the blond jinchurikki. The work progressing at a steady rate, he looked at the seal-reinforced LCD screen embedded in the right sleeve of his chakra armor. It constantly displayed the status of his chakra armor, as well as being the visual interface for the small computer he had added to this, his eighth complete chakra armor. All of the meters showed 100%, but that was not what he was looking for. Above the status display, was a small digital clock, which read 7:15 AM. He nodded to the boss shadow clone, who acknowledged the unspoken command with a nod of his own, and Naruto ascended the now towering staircase to the upper level of the house.

He emerged in the kitchen, and began eating a breakfast of sausages, eggs, toast, oatmeal, and waffles that another two clones had been working on. He had only awoken two hours ago, to see where the clones he had created the night before were in their progress and maybe help them a bit. He had to be to class by 9:00 AM, so that gave him a good hour and fifteen minutes to get to the ninja academy. He would have plenty of time to meander through town and to find his homeroom once he arrived at his destination. Naruto threw a loose brown cloak over his chakra armor, and exited his home, following the directions Iruka had given him the night before. As he walked, he admired the sights as his journey took him through a few of the residential and commercial districts of town. He spotted a few ninja supply shops as he traveled, and made note of their locations. He wanted to compare the ninja tools that Konoha nin used, to see how they stacked up to the ones made by himself and his father.

Shortly, Naruto arrived at his destination, a large multi-story building surrounded by small training grounds and obstacle courses. One field was entirely dedicated to marksmanship, evidenced by the wooden training dummies full of kunai and shuriken shaped gouges. In front of the school was a tall oak tree, a quaint rope swing hanging from it. The blond shook his head; it was still weird and mildly disconcerting to see trees that weren't covered in ice or snow. And so many leaves! He was used to forests of coniferous trees. Several students were milling about in front of the school waiting for class, most of them talking together in small groups. The sight of so many children, people at or near his age was somewhat unnerving. He had only spoken to a few others his whole life. He didn't know how to approach them, either. Well, hopefully he would have a chance to interact with them in class, to get used to them. Maybe he would even make a friend or two. He saw some of the children begin to file into the building, and pulled up the sleeve of his cloak to take a look at the time. It was 8:45, time to go inside and find his classroom. He walked through the double doors and quickly made his way down the hallway, stopping to check room numbers as he went. His classroom was room 129, so it wasn't hard to find.

Naruto stepped into room, glancing up at the tiered seats and below, to a single large desk behind which sat Umino Iruka. Several students were already in their seats, a few of which gave him a curious look, including a weird looking student with dark hair and completely white eyes. Naruto guessed that this was the famed byakugan, and fought a shudder. That bloodline limit was much creepier than he thought it would be. Iruka noticed his new student's arrival, and motioned him over.

"Good morning, Naruto. Class will be starting in just a few minutes, so just wait a moment, and I'll introduce you to your classmates." Naruto nodded.

"Hai, Iruka-sensei." replied the blond haired jinchurikki.

Over the next five minutes most of the empty seats were filled with students, then suddenly a bell rang out. Naruto was surprised, but he was too well trained to show it. He guessed the bell was some kind of warning that it was time for class to begin, as no one else seemed alarmed by it. Iruka smiled, and motioned for Naruto to follow him to the teaching space in front of the students.

The scar-faced chunin began, "Class, today I would like to introduce a new student. Uzumaki Naruto will be joining us for the last three weeks of the term, and will join our class for graduation. Please welcome him." There were many curios looks, and he noticed the student before with the doujutsu was looking at him intently.

Iruka quietly asked Naruto to take a seat. The young ninja walked to one of the middle rows and took one of the few empty seats, next to a fairly nondescript girl with brown hair. She gave him a long look, before smiling slightly, then turning back to the front of the class.

Iruka began to lecture, "All right class, we are going to be having the graduation exams in less than a month, so for the next few weeks we will be reviewing all material covered this year in order to make sure everyone is ready. I have confidence that you all can pass if you try your hardest. This morning we will be reviewing the henge no jutsu. In the afternoon we will have taijutsu practicals as well as open target practice. Now, is there anyone who can tell me how the henge no jutsu works?" The young teacher looked around the classroom, waiting for a hand to be raised. Usually a certain kunoichi would raise her arm the fastest and whip out a perfect answer, but today she was silent. He waited for the one he thought would be the rookie of the year to raise his arm, but that boy was quiet as well. "Anyone?" he asked. The new student hesitantly raised his hand. "Uzumaki, please go ahead."

Naruto smiled, a bit intimidated to be speaking in front of such a large group. "The henge no jutsu, or the transformation technique is a technique that allows the user to take the shape of any person or object that they can mentally visualize. This works by cloaking the user in a thin layer of chakra that breaks down and re-arranges itself into a thin layer of photons linked to the user's brain by thin strands of chakra, much like the hooks of a single-layered genjutsu, but with a data-consciousness stream traveling in the opposite direction. The caster uses these information pathways to direct the chakra-reinforced photons to take a particular shape, and bends them using controlled bursts from several tenketsus. The henge is a very versatile jutsu, because it can allow the caster to appear as either smaller or larger than their true size. In the case of a henge increasing the user's mass, a 'padding' of chakra forms between the caster and the photon shell, and also several other chakra strands are create to pass data from the photon 'skin' to the nerves of the user, so that they will be able to feel what is happening to the shell as if it was their own skin. In the case the jutsu caster transforms into a smaller shape, no one is exactly sure what happens to the remainder of the body, though I have created a mathematical model that would seem to indicate the presence of an N-dimensional storage seal woven into the lining of the henge, much like a fuuinjutsu storage seal, but with three dimensions partially emerging from the collapsed space." Throughout his long winded speech, many of his classmates begin to grow wider and wider eyes, and Iruka's mouth had dropped open. That was the kind of description he would have expected a man like Sandaime-sama, or perhaps the 4th Hokage to give. He himself didn't know nearly as much about the inner workings of that particular jutsu. It did sound plausible, and the boy had been trained by an S-class ninja who was a master of science, so Iruka was inclined to believe Naruto knew what he was talking about.

"Very well said, Uzumaki-kun. That is to say, that definition was mostly above my level of understanding, but you did touch on all the points I wanted to convey. A more simplistic way of putting it, is that henge works by imagining who or what you wish to transform into, then coating yourself in chakra while making the appropriate hand seals," explained Iruka. He knew there were a few in the class who had not understood what the new student had said, so he had to explain it in more basic terms. Naruto smiled at his new teacher. His father had explained it in much the same way when he was four years old.

"Now, time for a henge practical. Form a line, and perform the technique when it's your turn." said Iruka.

The class milled around for a moment, getting themselves into a ragged line. Naruto followed ended up next to the brown haired girl again, somewhere near the end of the line. She looked at him again in curiosity. He smiled back this time, a bit more comfortable with the classroom environment now. Other students were talking in quiet voices, so he decided to introduce himself formally.

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you." he nodded his head slightly.

"I'm Tenten, it's nice to meet you too," she replied, nodding back. Smalltalk was exchanged for a couple of moments, in which Naruto learned a few interesting facts about the bun-haired girl, including that she was a tool specialist. Naruto had shared that he had been raised in Yuki no Kuni, only recently arriving in Konoha, and getting raised eyebrows and a wide-eyed look from the girl.

They didn't have much time for conversation, as their turn was rapidly approaching. The boy in front of Tenten had just finished, and she was up. The girl made the requisite hand seals in what Naruto thought of as a very slow and clumsy manner, but Iruka nodded in approval. There was a small burst of smoke, and she transformed into a passable copy of their teacher. Naruto found himself unimpressed, but she had been the best of the lot so far. He wondered what these students had been doing for the last 6 years of their lives to be at this low of a skill level. Tenten walked back to her seat, and it was Naruto's turn.

"Please henge yourself into me, Naruto-kun," directed the teacher. Naruto nodded, and was suddenly a mirror likeness of Iruka. No hand seals had been used, and there was no smoke. He was suddenly Naruto one moment, and Iruka the next. Iruka, wide-eyed, cocked his head to the side. As he did so, Naruto followed his every motion, completely in sync. Iruka felt a chill go down his spine, it was as though he was looking into a living mirror. "Excellent, Naruto-kun." he said, and as he began speaking, so was the new student, perfectly copying his voice, tone, and inflection. The timing on his speech were spot-on as well. Suddenly the blond boy was Naruto again, who gave the instructor a quick nod before going to take his seat. Iruka wondered just how skilled Naruto truly was.

The rest of the class finished their henge test soon enough, with only two more standouts. The white-eyed student from before, a somewhat tall boy wearing formal white clothing and sporting the girliest haircut Naruto had ever seen performed a henge slightly better than Tenten's, earning the praise of Iruka, which he met with a stony, unflinching face. The other was a boy wearing a white gi and loose, block pants, who tried to perform the henge several times, but could not. Iruka smiled at black haired genin indulgently, but Naruto could tell his smile was forced. After trying his hardest for two straight minutes with no discernible results, Iruka reluctantly asked the boy to return to his seat. Round eyes hung in shame, the boy did so. Several snickers could be heard throughout the classroom, and Naruto saw the byakugan wielder look at the failed boy with a condescending smirk on his face. The jinchurikki decided then and there that he did not like the doujutsu user.

After the review, Iruka spent over an hour individually critiquing their performances, though in a very kind manner, and giving them several tips in order to perform their techniques. He noticeably skipped over Naruto, Tenten, the white eyed boy, and the bowl cut boy. Naruto wondered if he might be one of those rare people who simply couldn't use chakra. If so, he wondered why he was in a ninja academy at all.

Shortly, it was time to break for lunch. Naruto had forgotten to bring anything, and it seemed they were expected to remain on school grounds for lunch, even though there was no place to purchase a meal. Many of his classmates went to sit outside, taking advantage of the beautiful climate. It was novel to Naruto that someone would travel out of doors to become more comfortable. If he went outside to train, he would always look forward to coming inside where it was cozy and warm for his meals. Quickly deciding on a course of action that would result in a full belly for him, he slipped into a stall in the bathroom, and created a shadow clone. It immediately dispersed itself, letting his already-formed shadow clones at home know of his predicament. One of them would fetch him lunch. He just had to find somewhere to sit and wait for it. He exited the academy, and looked around for a place to sit and eat. Most of the other students of the school, ranging in age from about six to thirteen were sitting in groups and eating. He noticed a blond girl with a pony-tail and a pink girl with a huge forehead, both about a year younger than him, crouched in the bushes spying on a boy with black hair shaped like the ass of a Snow Country goose. He shook his head at the oddness of Konoha people, and wandered off to find a less crowded spot.

He circled the school, walking toward the target field he had seen earlier that morning. There were far fewer people back here, and as he looked around he spotted the boy who had failed the henge sitting alone under a small tree, eating some onigiri. His eyes were downcast, refusing to meet anyone else's. On a whim, Naruto decided to talk with him. He walked over to the boy, who had noticed him approaching, and stood a few feet away. "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice you meet you. Mind if I join you?" The boy simply nodded, chewing a large mouthful of onigiri. Naruto sat beside him a few feet away.

"My name is Rock Lee, academy student and aspiring ninja. Though as you saw, I will probably not be able to become a true ninja unless a miracle happens." A sad look appeared on his face. "A genius of ninjutsu like yourself would probably not understand, but even though I can produce chakra just fine, and even mix it, I have never been able to mold it into a ninjutsu or genjutsu correctly. The other students look down on me for this, even if I'm the second best in taijutsu among our classmates, and the first in speed. Even though I can enhance my movements with chakra, it will not be enough to pass. Despite that, it's my nindo to never give up, and to keep trying until I can become a great ninja even if I can only use taijutsu." Toward the end of his speech, Lee's head began to rise, until he was looking at Naruto with a determined expression on his face, his round, black eyes blazing.

Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine. Lee reminded him of himself so much it was scary. When he learned that he would never be able to perform genjutsu, medical ninjutsu, or any regular ninjutsu that required even above average chakra control, he had felt the same determination to prove himself. It was only because his Father had taught him fuuinjutsu that he was able to find a way to overcome his handicap. The boy sitting near him had a similar problem, but on a much larger scale. Naruto wondered if he would be able to use the same methods to help this new student.

While he had been thinking, Lee went back to eating his lunch, apparently unconcerned whether Naruto had anything to say in return or not. Naruto noticed someone running around the side of the academy building carrying a large bento box. He could make out his own features, even from here, and from the gasp of the boy beside him, Rock Lee had noticed the new presence as well. The clone ran up to Naruto, and dropped off his lunch. "Mission: Bring the Boss lunch accomplished!" it said, before dispelling. Thankfully no one other than Lee was close enough to have noticed.

"A solid clone?" asked Lee, his eyes still wide. "You truly are a genius. You might even be better than Neiji."

"I'm not a genius," said Naruto, uncomfortably. He was still thinking whether to try and help Lee or not. He still didn't know anything about him, or what he would do if his handicap was reversed. He could be as bad as that white eye, or worse. He decided to try and get to know him, at least a little bit, before he made a decision.

"You can make a solid clone, and it can even carry your lunch to you. You can create a perfect bunshin with no hand seals and no smoke, in less than a second, and you say you aren't a genius?" Lee looked incredulous. "If you aren't one, I don't know what a genius is."

"I've worked really, really hard to get to where I am now," replied Naruto, thinking of the countless hours he spent learning, training, and working. He had been using the kage bunshin no jutsu since he learned when he was six. He had been creating hundreds of them a day since he was seven, and even if it wasn't his hands that turned the pages of all those books, that wrote out all of those seals, that were torn apart from the explosions of the many, many failed experiments… he still remembered every experience as if it was alone. He knew that in addition to a complete copy of his mind, each kage bunshins carried a piece of the his soul with them, so in the ways that counted most it truly was his hard work. "I sweated, I strained, I read, I forged, I climbed and lifted and carried and worked and worked and worked, to get like this. Since I was three years old, I have been training continuously."

Lee looked shocked. Most ninjas began their schooling at age six when they entered the academy, and some didn't start until they were eight or nine. No wonder this boy was strong, he had been training for an extra three years. Lee would have been shocked to find out the truth, that Naruto had actually trained for the equivalent of hundreds of years, due to his shadow clones."I didn't know, I'm sorry if I offended you."

Naruto sighed. "You didn't offend me Lee. In fact, I respect you for carrying on in the face of adversity. When I was little, my Father told me that due to a condition I have, I would never be able to have good chakra control. I would only be able to use techniques that didn't require any control to speak of. I worked so hard, and I was able to change that, but only because there was someone there to help me, to teach me." Naruto had made his decision, even if Lee was a bad person, which he didn't seem to be, it would be cruel of him not to try and help. Besides, there was no guarantee that he would even be able to do anything for him.

"Lee, what would you do, if you could use ninjutsu?" asked Naruto softly. Lee looked him in the eyes, trying to sense if Naruto was mocking him.

"If I could use ninjutsu… I would use that ability to become a better ninja, so that I can protect Konoha, and everyone in it," he replied in an equally low voice.

"I might be able to help you, Lee. There are no guarantees, but the method I used to learn ninjutsu and genjutsu might be able to help with your problem as well." The black eyed genin looked startled, but nodded, his face lighting up.

Lee jumped to his feet, knocking the remainder of his lunch to the ground. "What training method do I have to use, Naruto-sempai?" asked the black haired boy. "Even if I have to fight a bear or run one-hundred laps around Konoha on my fingertips, I will do it!"

Naruto sighed. "It's nothing like that, Lee. First, we need to go to my house and run some tests, gather some data, and try and figure out what is happening when you try to mold chakra. Depending on what we find out, we might eventually proceed in any number of directions." Naruto was already thinking that putting Lee into the chakra analyzer to see what happens when he tried to mold chakra would be a good first step.

Lee grabbed Naruto's hand, and pulled him to his feet roughly, spilling the blonde's lunch everywhere as well. "Yosh!" cried Lee, his fist held high in the air. "Neiji, with the help of my new friend Naruto, I may yet find a way to surpass you!"

"For Science!" yelled Naruto, his own fist punching the air. He felt a little silly doing that, but he realized that he had made his first friend in Konoha.

Author's Note:

So, yeah, I've finished the third chapter of 'Rise of the Science-Nin'. I worked on it for a long while, and it turned out almost as long as the first two chapters combined. I hope to make future chapters at least this length, around 5,000 words or so. I ended up sticking Naruto into a moderately sized house out in the boonies of Konoha, he's still suffering from being antisocial for most of his life and he needs a retreat from the pressures of the big city. I tried to make it surprising that he's one year ahead of the 'usual suspects', and I thought I did a decent job. There are so few Team 10!Naruto fics, that I thought I would make this one of them. Plus, in cannon the kid failed three times… how the flying fuck did he do that if he's the same age as Sauske? I'll be Sauske would have taken the test at 8 if he could have, and passed it too; I mean, he already knew a katon jutsu by that time. If he could do that, then he could do the basic three. I absolutely love Gai and Lee as characters, they are hilarious and hard working, as well as moral people in a world filled with immorality. They can get a little annoying at times, but I plan to have Naruto tone them down quite a bit. A free nothing goes to anyone who can guess who won't be on Team 10, as it's completely fucking obvious.

In the next riveting installment: Will Rock Lee be able to use ninjutsu? Will Naruto dissect Lee to find out if his humors are in alignment? Are exploding tags powered by the combustion of phlogiston? Does Tenten really have an overly clichéd crush on Neiji, as she does in almost every fanfic? Find out, in chapter 4 of 'Rise of the Science-Nin', which I haven't named yet.