Two weeks has now passed since Naruto had entered the academy. And they had finally started to get into the interesting stuff, only two days ago had they gone over basic chakra theory as well as a simple exercise that was devised to 'unlock' their ability to utilize chakra. And much to Narutos surprise it had basically been the same thing he had achieved instinctually two weeks ago.
Currently Naruto was alone in one of the training grounds once more, ever since his discovery so had he sneaked off to try to improve his ability to manipulate the iron sand. While he had not improved much in terms of controlling the shape of the sand he had however made the discovery that he could not move the iron sand to far away from himself or it would simply fall harmlessly to the ground. He had also discovered that he could manipulate other iron objects and not just the sand that used to be his kunai. Because of this he had sneaked out during the night to loot kunai and shuriken which had been left and forgotten in the sand by different shinobis. He had also found out that the more iron objects that he attempted to control the more chakra it used, and that manipulating five kunais at once for more then ten minutes left him more or less drained, which in turn left him panting on the ground for minutes.
Of course he didn't just train solely his iron sand but also his aim with throwing kunai and shurikens. He had also tried to do some physical exercisers but his body was only six years old hence he lacked the stamina to truly improve in that field. Because of this he had decided to abandon that aspect of his training for the time being. Hopefully his aim and iron sand would be enough for now, after all he was still only six.
Naruto was sitting in his seat and could feel the excitement roll off all the other children in the class, himself included. Today was the day they'd be learning a chakra control exerciser and possibly some ninjutsu. As the door of the classroom opened up and their teacher strolled into the classroom and stood behind his desk.
The teacher coughed slightly to get the children's attention before he began."Good morning children, as some of you might have heard it's time for you to start learning to control your chakra and-" however before he was able to finish his sentence a child named Burei decided to speak.
"But Sensei, we can already use our chakra we learned it three days ago." questioned the boy as he narrowed his eyes.
Their teacher could only sight at the boys question. "What you learned was to access your chakra and use it yes, however using your chakra and being able to control it is two completely different things." he paused so that the words could sink into the boy and anyone else who lacked the understanding between the two. "Lets say you use the Wind style: Great Breakthrough jutsu without controlling your chakra, while the technique would work it would be weaker then if you had actually controlled your chakra. Not only would stronger but it would actually take far less chakra to use, in other words by controlling your chakra you are able to preform the same jutsu with greater results then if you would not." he finished and received understanding nods in from the students.
"Now, this chakra control exercise that I am about to teach you hails from our allied village Konoha." pausing once again he this time pulled out a scroll from his pouch and unsealed the content within. "It is called Leaf Concentration, and as the name suggests you have to concentrate you chakra onto the leaf after you've placed it onto your forehead. If it falls down pick it back up and try again."
As the teacher stopped talking so ran the children as if they were in a frenzy to collect one of the leaves that the teacher had unsealed from his scroll, as Naruto sat cross legged with a leaf on his forehead he had to admit that the exercise was harder then he had though it would, he could currently hold the leaf in place for about two minutes before his concentration began to waver or he'd end up using to little chakra, causing the leaf to fall. As the leaf fell to the floor once more he wondered, could you use more then one leaf once you'd gotten the hang of it? And could he possibly use his iron sand as a substitution for the leaf? After having decided on what he was going to experiment with once he got out of the academy for the day he picked the leaf back up and continued with the exercise.
As Naruto once again found himself at his usual training spot he quickly began to manipulate his iron sand to float out of his pocket and against the back of his hand, while his hand was turned with the palm facing the sky. As the iron sand pressed against the back of his hand he began to focus his chakra into it the same way he had with the leaf, before he let go of his control of the iron sand. However must to his displeasure the majority of the iron sand simply fell off his hand while a few grains remained latched onto the back of his hand.
"I guess I won't be able to master it right away after all." he signed to himself. He had been able to hold the leaf onto his forehead for a whole five minutes once the class had ended and he had hoped that it would've been enough for him to be able to get his iron sand to stick onto him in a similar fashion. After repeating the exercise for what felt like an hour with only minimal improvement he decided that he's focus on his shape manipulation of his sand instead and leave the chakra control exercises for the academy, for now anyway.
Pulling out two kunais that he had found last night and gripping them tightly in his hands so began he to focus his chakra into the two kunais. He had found that while he could make object made from iron crumble into its black sand like state he could not do it with any other material.
As the kunais finished to slowly crumble into iron sand so focused he it into one of his pockets. He did this every time he found some more kunai and shurikens, he didn't own a pouch that he could store them in nor did he have money to buy one. He could also not keep them in a pocket, as the sharp edges would surely tear holes into his only robe. All and all this was the reason he did this, by turning the tools into iron sand he could store it away in his pockets without having to worry about ruining his clothes, however he had begun to realise a glaring problem with his seemingly flawless plan. His pockets were almost full, so not only did the sand weigh down his clothes, it also raised questions about why he carried iron sand around every time he fell over during the short taijutsu spars or every time he sat down. Due to this issue he had been trying to think of ways that he could store the iron sand without it looking to suspicious. At first he had been considered using a gourd that a lot of the Suna shinobi had to store water in, but he still didn't have any money. However thanks to what he had seen his academy teacher do today he believed he had found the perfect solution. Fuinjutsu. While he still didn't have any money nor the knowledge required to use the art he still knew one thing. Basic fuinjutsu was one of the standard things they would be taught in the academy, so as long as he tried his best to learn the basics then he would be able to use the scroll he'd make in the academy to store his sand. Grinning to himself he guessed that the years to come would hopefully be interesting.
The first two years of the academy had passed rather quickly in Naruto mind, as he and his classmates had 'mastered' the Leaf Concentration technique so had they been taught what their teacher had called 'sand walking' which was apparently Sunas equivalent of water walking, the basic idea was that they'd learn to walk on top of the sand dunes of Suna without sinking into it, which in case would stop them from leaving footprints behind in the sand, something that was crucial for missions that required stealth in the desert. They had also learned two simple ninjutsus; the Clone Jutsu and Transformation Jutsu, the clone jutsu being used to create an intangible copy of the user in order to confuse the enemy. While the Transformation Jutsu was used to change the user into someone else, or even an animal or an inanimate object.
They had also been taught what Naruto had been waiting for, fuinjutsu. While the art was even harder then what he had though that it would be, he had managed to pull trough and created his first functional storage scroll, in which he stored most of his iron sand.
Of course a lot more had changed in the spawn of two years, the former wind daimyō whom had outsourced many jobs to Konoha who were less expensive, had died from 'natural' causes and been replaced with a new one, who attempted to assist with the recovery of Sunas economic state. Thanks to this the orphanages budget had now increased to the point where they could afford to give the children an actual allowance, sure it wasn't much, but for a child who'd never even held a single penny before it was a strange feeling.
Using his allowance he had bought a pouch which he could store kunai and shuriken in, he also bought a holster for his scroll. All and all, Naruto was feeling like life was slowly getting better and better, and he wasn't the only one, plenty of people shared his feelings. The streets of Suna had been nearly empty and only when buying food or clothes did people leave their homes, but now the streets were buzzing with people chatting, stalls full of merchandise and even children playing with balls and other toys ran around by the side of the roads.
However the one thing that had most likely impacted Naruto the most over the two years was learning about the third Kazekage, and that he had possessed the same ability as him.
He had been stunned upon learning it, how could he, a no named orphan possess the Jiton, the same bloodline that had gotten third hailed as the strongest Kazekage to this date. And how were they related? He knew that they had to be related somehow, he had seen the pictures of the man. The same dark almost black gray hair and yellow eyes. He knew he couldn't be the man's son, he had disappeared almost twenty years ago now, and Naruto was only eight. Maybe he was the man's grandson? That would fit in with his and the man's age.
Sighing to himself he decided to drop his thoughts and got up from the bed he'd been lying in, the academy would start in a few hours, and from the looks of things a small sandstorm had kicked up, meaning he'd most likely need those hours to make his way over there.
"Troublesome." he muttered after he sighted once more, unaware of the hundreds of people in Konoha who had sneezed as he uttered at that very word.