The Eye of the Beholder
This is all just training an redoing a few chapters. January 16, 2010
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashbacks
Demons and Higher beings speaking
Disclaimer: You know the drill, I own nothing of Naruto
Chapter 3: Training
Sasuke finally calmed down and walked to the lake to wash his face a bit, because who really wants to train with a runny nose.
When Sasuke returned Kaitou started, "First thing, Naruto, try making a bunshin with as little chakra as you possibly can."
"Ah," Naruto did as such, trying to hold back as much as possible. He called out, "Bunshin no jutsu."
Smoke appeared and when it disappated a sickly looking form that could barely be considered a bunshin appeared right next to Naruto.
Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped at Naruto's demostration.
"Hmm, I see why you didn't pass initially," Kaitou commented as he felt how much chakra Naruto used as the bunshin dispelled. "I believe the concept 'Divide and Conquer' would well represent this situation."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, clearly curious about his thought process.
"Naruto was restraining as much chakra as he could," Kaitou explained. "Though he has a very unique problem which gives him a vast amount of chakra, therefore pushing a great deal into his system. My thought is, maybe he should make as many bunshin as possible using the amount he was trying with just one," he finished.
"What exactly is his problem?" Sasuke asked.
"That's not my place to tell, and Naruto will answer when he feels the time is right," Kaitou admitted as he stepped away from Naruto. "Now, Naruto, execute."
"Yosh," Naruto said as he focused again. Naruto the called out, "Bunshin no jutsu," and a massive amount of bunshin appeared.
"My guess is fifty, minimum," Kaitou commented. "Is this still the final test at the academy?"
"Hai," all three answered as all of the bunshin were dispelled.
Kaitou just groaned, "You'd think that Konoha would have at least come up with a more accurate way of showing that genin are ready for the field; with this kind of test it's no wonder shinobi have such a high death rate at young ages."
The six flinched at this comment.
"Alright," Kaitou said as he pulled out a scroll. "First and foremost, everyone but Naruto will read this scroll."
The five genin nodded as he turned to Naruto, "Give them a few tips for proper execution. The scroll they're reading is for the kage bunshin, so with your experience, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Ah," Naruto said as he walked toward his team mates.
Naruto gave them his advice and for the next few hours Kaitou and Naruto watched with amusement as they continued with their training. Hinata was the first to get it down, followed by Sakura, then Shino, then Sasuke and finally Kiba. When the five finally got it down, Kaitou threw over a sack of soldier pills.
"You're going to need these," Kaitou insisted as they each took one and handed the rest back to Kaitou. Kaitou whispered into Sakura's ear and then ordered his charges for the moment, "Each of us will make one kage bunshin."
All seven did so.
"Now all four of us will go deep into the woods," Kaitou's bunshin ordered as he made his way into the woods. The genins' bunshins close behind.
About two minutes later everyone's eyes opened wider as they looked at Sasuke.
"Did you really mean that?" Sakura asked, a tad surprised.
"Ah," Sasuke nodded. "The fact is, most fangirls only want to gain the attention of someone and not improve themselves, and, in all honesty, I can't see myself with someone who not only can I not respect but also doesn't respect themself, as a person in general as well as a shinobi. The less seriously you take training, the more you put yourself and others at risk during missions such as these."
"I concur with Sasuke's logic," Shino agreed.
"Damn straight," Kiba added.
"I agree with Sasuke, why are you a shinobi if you don't train yourself seriously?" Kaitou asked rhetorically. After a few seconds, he continued, "As you have experienced, anything your bunshin finds goes straight to the user the moment the bunshin is dispelled."
"So what you're saying is that if me and one of my kage bunshin do the same kind of experience exercise..." Naruto said.
"You get double the results," Kaitou said to him. "Now, obviously, you can't use this for physical training because no matter how much work you use a bunshin with, they can't heal the same way as humans can. That being said you can use this kind of training to work on building up your chakra reserves as well as control or perfecting a technique. The possibilties are endless, but how much you can do at once is limited to a pretty low amount until your chakra reserves and your stamina have increased."
"So how many do we need?" Sasuke asked.
"Naruto can probably summon over a thousand bunshins," Kaitou said. "But we're not in a contest, so you three will only be using around fifteen. Now get to work." Kaitou turned to Shino and Hinata, "You two have been training in control for a few years, so the best thing for you to do now is increase your reserves, which is exactly what this exercise can do, you both will make as many kage bunshin as possible to wear yourselves out, that's when your reserves will increase." He turned to Sakura and said, "You're coming with me, I'm going to be giving you some private training to help figure something out."
Kaitou and Sakura walked off as everyone else summoned their bunshins.
Kaitou picked up the tree he cut down earlier and continued walking.
"What do you think their training will be about?" Naruto asked.
"I doubt it'll be anything too much for her to handle," Sasuke said as he kept going upwards only to make a mark in the tree with too much and jump back down with his bunshins doing the same.
With Kaitou and Sakura...
Kaitou brought Sakura to a clearing where he could move freely with the tree he was carrying.
"So how exactly are we going to be training?" Sakura asked.
Kaitou swung the tree in her direction.
Sakura, too scared to even scream, froze up completely, eyes shut. There was a familiar feeling that passed through her as she just stood there.
"Very interesting," Kaitou commented as he set the tree down.
Sakura, now over her shock and fear started yelling at Kaitou, "What was that all about!?"
"You have a very unique ability," Kaitou said to her. "It could very well be the manifestation of an exceptionally useful kekkei genkai."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, clearly confused about what he was talking about. As far as she was concerned, the only thing that she really had going for her were her book smarts and exceptional chakra control.
"I've traveled for fourteen years straight and studied up many generations of shinobi, and many kekkei genkai, and not once have I come across or read of a person with the ability to pass through solid objects," Kaitou explained to her. "I noticed this when Zabuza was going to slice you in two, it wasn't until the second attempt that an alarm went through my head. And this little test was all I needed for final confirmation."
"And what would have happened if the tree didn't move through me?" Sakura asked rhetorically, furious with his methods.
"You would have only been knocked in the air about twenty feet," Kaitou answered with a smirk. "Do you honestly think I going to put someone's life on the line testing a theory?"
"I don't know you very well, you just might," Sakura said to him, though Kaitou saw a glint of mischief in her eyes.
"I think we need to figure out how to properly control this ability because obviously your body knew how to do this instinctively," Kaitou said to her. "Don't you just love foresight?" he asked cryptically.
"Huh?" was Sakura's intelligent response.
"Kage bunshin," Kaitou said to her.
Noon at Tazuna's house...
Kaitou was eating with the Kakashi as he spoke with him about his discovery.
"Okay then," Kakashi said to Kaitou. "I'm inclined to believe you, but how exactly could a kekkei genkai manifest itself through someone who is a first generation shinobi?"
"Most likely it was due to the incident twelve and a half years ago, during the Kyuubi attack," Kaitou explained his theory. "Chakra exposure itself doesn't really affect an average person, this can also be said about an infant. That being said, the theory itself only specifies human chakra and doesn't include what would happen if someone was expose to youkai chakra, and a massive amount at that, given that Kyuubi no Youkou is the most powerful of all bijuu with a limitless supply of chakra. Now an average civilian would have a hard time taking that kind of power without any real repercussions and a shinobi wouldn't really have many side effects due to extensively chakra training, that being said I don't think there has ever been a case where an infant was exposed to any amount of youkai chakra save for jinchuuriki themselves. Sakura was nearly seven months old when the Kyuubi attacked, and his chakra seeped everywhere, including into the village's civilian districts. Massive exposure to youkai chakra, no matter brief it is, can cause genetic altercation or mutations in civilians, resulting in a kekkei genkai appearing, especially within a child whose chakra coils haven't nearly begun to develop yet. Perhaps a small child lay in a crib with the window open during that time."
"Okay, now I'm even more inclined to believe you after that informal explanation," Kakashi admitted to him. "How far in the near future do you think Sakura could use that ability in battle?"
"Too soon to say," Kaitou admitted to the scarecrow. "I'll tell you this much, as far as I can see, mastery of this ability could very well lead to serious problems for enemies, because I doubt there would be many ways to counter, if any at all."
"Well, let's see if we can get her to better control her ability," Kakashi said to him.
"Already far ahead of you in this case," Kaitou told him as took a bite out of an apple. He swallowed and said, "She can make up to about twenty kage bunshin so I get her to use half of that. And I train her through the physical aspects of being a shinobi. She's just started so I can't really expect much until a few weeks pass."
"Just how far are you going to push her?" Kakashi asked him.
"What ensures that a tree stands firmly in a massive hurricane?" Kaitou asked cryptically.
"Solid ground and firm roots, basically a good foundation, similar to a sturdy castle," Kakashi answered. "But that's only if the person taking care of the foundation knows what he's doing," he finished after a thought.
"Exacly," Kaitou told him. "I'm going to give those seedlings a foundation to grow off of and the nurturing to make them into magnificent trees."
"I feel like you're taking my students away," Kakashi admitted. "And a team finally passed my test."
"The bell test?" Kaitou asked.
Kakashi nodded.
"Don't worry about your students, you'll be with them," Kaitou told him. "You've been slacking off too much, and you're starting to wither."
"I'm not a tree," Kakashi told him bluntly.
"The metaphor still remains accurate," Kaitou told him. "You probably can't climb up a cliff one-handed with ease."
"I wouldn't know, I haven't done something like that in a while," Kakashi admitted.
"Which is why I'm going to be working you harder than Gai does to himself," Kaitou told him with a mischievous grin.
Kakashi just groaned.
Back in the Forest...
Kaitou was standing next to the three genin. "Well, let's see your progress," he told Naruto, Sasuke and Kiba.
The three nodded and started running up the tree. They made it about ninety percent of the way before they had to jump back down.
"Very nice," Kaitou commented. "Make your bunshins and keep them at it while you are going to work under me," he said.
The three did as they were told.
Kaitou motioned for them to follow. He pulled out a few scrolls while he was walking. As they reached the clearing he opened the scrolls and six jackets appeared. He threw each of them to the genin and said, "Put these on."
They caught them only to fall over as the jackets fell to the ground.
"How much do these things weigh?" Naruto asked.
"There are forty weights sewn into each jacket and each one weighs about ten kilograms,"
They looked at him like he was crazy.
"And you walk around with this kind of weight on every day!?" Sasuke said.
"Hell no," Kaitou told them. "I wear over fifty times that amount."
Sasuke and Sakura just looked at him and then Naruto while Naruto and Kiba were just staring, all four with their mouthes agape.
"Unless you want flies in there I suggest you close your mouths," Kaitou told them as he pulled out another scroll. He opened this one to reveal six sets of leg weights. "Put these on first, they weigh about thirty kilograms each."
They just nodded and put said weights on. They had a bit of difficulty with the jackets but they managed to get them on none the less.
"Ten push-ups," Kaitou told them. "Only ten for now. We can't have you wearing yourselves out. You still have to get use to basic movement." The instructor made a kage bunshin and walked off.
The bunshin simply kept his eye on the genin.
Kaitou himself headed to the local blacksmith.
Later that evening...
Everyone was waiting for the food to be served when Kaitou walked in.
The three genin just looked from Kaitou to the bunshin that was keeping track of them.
Kaitou just threw a kunai at the bunshin and it popped out of existence. Kaitou just received the information, "You six seem to have gotten a good start, in a few weeks you should be able to do seventy push-ups after running a mile within six minutes."
Team seven and Kiba just groaned.
"Why do I only here groans from those I teach? It's not like I had this kind of teaching when I was a genin," Kaitou said.
"That's hard to believe considering you were taught by the sannin Orochimaru," Kakashi commented.
"You have no room to talk considering you should be stronger given the age you acheived your ranks," Kaitou retorted. "That and the fact that Minato was your sensei."
"I may have been considered a genius, but I was still human," Kakashi admitted.
"I'd think you'd have been training a little more seriously, even after mellowing out," Kaitou said with an annoyed look.
After hearing about Kakashi's previous accomplishments the rest of team seven were looking at their assigned jounin sensei in surprise and a little more respect.
Tsunami walked in with the food and everyone started to eat.
End of Chapter...
I know, not much, but I figure that I could skip a few things, like the description of the training. they've pretty much gotten basic tree climbing down, all they need to do now is do the whole thing with the weights on, and in order to do that they need to be able to move properly first, so they'll need to physically train themselves first. Anyway Read and Review, I like constructive criticism. And I'm thinking of a name for Sakura's bloodline.
And anyone who doesn't know much about weight a kilogram is two metric pounds.