The Eye of the Beholder
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashbacks
Demons and Higher beings
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 7: Elements
The next day Kaitou pulled out a few pieces of paper and was about to explain things when he was interrupted.
Sasuke's eye twitched when he felt a sudden weight was upon his shoulders and a rubbing on his right cheek.
"Sasuke-kun," squeeled the weight him Sasuke's shoulders. Said weight was a pale-blonde, blue-eyed girl wearing a violet top and skirt with bandages around her waist and thighs for modesty. Her hitae-ate was around her waist and her hair was in a ponytail. "I missed you."
"Ino, get off of him," Sakura told her.
"You're just jealous, you want to be in my position," the girl, now known as Ino, told her as she stuck her tongue out and pulled her eyelid.
"No, I mean get off before you hurt him, he can't take your weight at the moment," Sakura told her.
"Are you saying I'm fat?!" Ino demanded, sliding off of Sasuke's. She was now an inch from Sakura's face with a glare on hers.
"She's making no indication of you being overweight," Shino told her. "It's just that the coats all of us are wearing are weighted heavily and adding your weight to any of us while we're wearing said training equipment would cause more strain than we can take given the training regiment we are currently undergoing."
"Huh?" was Ino's only response. She was also surprised at how much Shino said.
"Mendokuse, Ino, they're saying that with your weight and those jackets on, it's too much for any of them to handle," said a boy with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, making his head resemble a pineapple. He was wearing a small jacket with a fish net mesh underneath, a pair of shorts and his hitae-ate on his left arm. "I wouldn't be surprised if those jackets weigh more than you."
"They do, Shikamaru," Naruto replied to the boy's comment with a snicker.
A man who looked to be in his late twenties walked up with an embarrassed look on his face. The man had a standard jounin attire, a beard on his chin, a cigarette in his teeth and his hitae-ate in it standard position on his forehead.
"Good to see you, Asuma-san," Kaitou said to the jounin.
"The feeling is mutual, oyaji told me that you were back," Asuma responded and looked down at the girl he pulled off of Sasuke. "Sorry about Ino. She saw Sasuke and just rushed."
"It's no problem, actually you being here helps with the demonstration I was about to perform alongside my assistants," Kaitou told him as a light brown haired boy holding a bag of potato chips and his hitae-ate also on his forehead approached the group. The cloth from said hitae-ate went through the center of his hair, effectively splitting it in two and making said cloth look like a pair of panties. In comparison to everyone else, the boy was certainly bigger than everyone else around his main body.
Asuma looked around and noticed Kakashi, Kurenai and, much to his surprise, Jiraiya, standing behind Kaitou.
"Jiraiya-sama, what are you doing here?" Asuma asked.
"Would you believe I was blackmailed into helping oversee their training?" the sannin asked.
"Given how oyaji has described you, I actually would believe that," Asuma replied.
"I wasn't aware that you called him oyaji as well," Naruto commented with a grin.
"He's my father, I'm pretty much given free rights to call him any fatherly term I want," Asuma chuckled.
"What are they talking about?" Kiba asked.
"I'm not sure, the only one I know of that Naruto calls oyaji is..." Sasuke paused and groaned while face-palming for not putting two and two together.
"Why are you groaning like that?" Kiba asked.
"Sarutobi Asuma," was Sasuke's only reply.
Kiba paused a bit himself, and thought. "I still don't get it," he admitted.
"He's referring to the fact that Asuma-sensei is the Hokage's son," Shino told him. "Apparently he didn't figure it out sooner. Though I think the real blow is the fact that Naruto had figured it out before him."
"Actually, this isn't all that surprising," Kakashi told them. "Prior to entering the academy, Hokage-sama would try and do a daily check up on Naruto as well as giving him a weekly allowance to spend on basic necessities. Asuma-san was probably with him during some of those visits."
"Minna, let's all get back on track," Kaitou called out as he held the pieces of paper. He handed a piece to each jounin and two to Jiraiya.
"As everyone here should be aware, there are five base elements in the shinobi world," Kaitou then motioned for the jounin and Jiraiya to use their papers while Kaitou himself did the same.
Kurenai's moistened, Asuma's split in two, Kakashi's crumbled, the one in Jiraiya's right hand caught aflame while the one in his left hand turned to dust and the one is Kaitou's left hand crumbled while the one in his right hand turned to dust.
"These pieces of paper are made from a special tree that has been grown while constantly being fed chakra," Kaitou explained. "As you can see there were five different reactions. Kurenai-san's paper indicates that her elemental specialty is water, Asuma-san's is wind, Kakashi, lightning."
"And what about you and Jiraiya-sama?" Sakura asked. "One of the papers you had indicates you have a lightning affinity, but the other one wasn't specified. Jiraiya-sama's one was the same as you and the other just burned."
"A very astute observation, Sakura," Kaitou told them. "You see, both Jiraiya and myself have a double affinity, in the sennin's case, it's not uncommon given how much experience he's accumulated throughout the years, however with me, I was born with both elemental affinity, with is common in only people with specific types of kekkei genkai. The other affinity that I carry is that of earth, and Jiraiya has the elements of both earth and fire." He held out the papers and said, "Each of you take one per hand."
They did as told and waited for further instruction.
"Before you all use you paper, we'll demonstrate the potency of each element," Kaitou then pulled a kunai out and showed it to the genin, he then walked over to a boulder. He slammed his kunai with a heavy amount of force, breaking said boulder into smaller pieces. He walked over to the genin and showed them the kunai he used. Sakura, Shino and Shikamaru just looked at the kunai with such bewildered expressions.
"What's up?" Naruto asked.
"The kunai is in the same condition as it was before," Shino told them.
Naruto looked surprised from this announcement.
"What's so surprising about that?" Kiba asked.
"Normally, in these circumstances, if you use a kunai or other metal object to strike even a tree you'll find some indication that the object has been used, he just used this on an average size boulder and there isn't even a scratch on it," Sakura explained.
Kaitou smiled at their explanation and told them, "There are two elements of power, earth is the power element of defense, therefore the douton user can strengthen most weapons they use to keep said weapons intact."
Kaitou then put his hands together in the hebi seal and another boulder came up from the ground.
"Kakashi-san," Kaitou said.
Kakashi nodded and put his hands in the saru seal and then pulled a kunai of his own out. He walked to said boulder and stabbed it into the boulder and pulled it out.
"What's so special about that?" Ino asked. "All he did was stab his kunai into the boulder and pull it out."
"Clearly a few of you aren't going to understand without a proper demonstration," Kaitou then spoke to Kakashi. "Hand Sasuke the kunai you just used."
Kakashi nodded and walked over to Sasuke, gave him said kunai and told him to do what he did.
Sasuke nodded and ran over and attempted to stab the kunai into the same boulder, he only was able to hit a very small, piece off of the boulder before the kunai stopped.
Kaitou then explained, "Lightning is the piercing and speed element, specified against those who specialize in defense and, in the elemental equation, dominates over douton types. Now, Asuma-san, if you would please, use a normal kunai."
Asuma nodded with a wave going, "Hai, hai." He pulled on of his kunai out and walked to a tree. He jumped and cut one of the branches off. He brought said branch to Kaitou and asked him to hold it.
Kaitou nodded and grabbed the branch from the jounin.
"Now watch the kunai carefully," Asuma told them as he moved the weapon in a swift motion.
The branch that Kaitou was holding was now cut at the base.
At this point in time the genin shouldn't be surprised given the two previous demonstrations, but most of them are still twelve years old so the surprised looked on most of their faces still happened.
"I'm not a wind type, so why don't you explain Asuma-san," Kaitou told them.
Asuma nodded and explained, "Wind is known as the cutting element, a fuuton user can actually make a blade from pretty much anything they have available, and in the case of bladed weapons themselves, can increase the range of the edge and therefore increase the potency." He then held up the kunai he was using and molded his wind chakra into it to make the longer edge visible to them.
Kaitou nodded with Asuma's explanation as he motioned for Kurenai to demonstrate.
The genjutsu specialist nodded and pulled pulled out a small canteen. She then made the ram seal and the water started moving as she molded her chakra for control.
"Suiton jutsu are probably the most flexible jutsu because of how they work, water moves according to the users will, its cutting ability is actually second only to that of fuuton jutsu and only the most solid defenses can stop it altogether without losing power. Meaning that suiton is beaten by douton in the elemental equation. Now for our final demonstrator," Kaitou explained as motioned to Jiraiya
The sennin nodded and said, "My initial specialty is katon, the other element of power, however katon jutsu are designed with the power of attack." He took one of the previous kunai used and put his hands in the tora seal. He then ran towards a tree and slashed at it with serious ease. "Katon users can increase the deadly potential of weapons they use without many drawbacks, the thing that's useful is what happens when a target is hit by a katon enhanced weapon. Take a looke at the slash I made," he finished.
The genin nodded and saw that there were burn marks where he had slashed. Sakura, Shino and Shikamaru noticed that the cut still seemed to be burning.
"Did anyone notice what is happening to the tree?" Jiraiya asked.
"The cut is still burning into the tree," Sakura replied.
"Exactly, even after several minutes, wounds given by katon enhanced weapons will still continue to burn, not just figuratively either, meaning that the after effects are more like a poison and the only way to stop it is to add the proper antidote, which is what fire is weak against in the elemental equation," Jiraiya explained.
"Kurenai-san?" Kaitou asked.
"Hai," the genjutsu mistress then splashed her water on the cut Jiraiya had made.
"As you can see, fire can be beaten by water, but it also has a strength against wind," Kaitou explained. "Now the elemental equation as far a strengths and weaknesses is incomplete in explanation because of certain aspects of each element, like metal, an element within the earth is capable of drawing lightning to it therefore severely weakening a lightning attack, or even negating it altogether, water can reduce an earth wall to mud or erode a stone wall, if there isn't a high source of water than fire can easily turn water into vapor, winds can make a vacuum that removes the oxygen from the flames and lightning is instantaneous and can move through winds with little trouble." Kaitou paused to let them take in this information. After a bit he continued, "On a side note, what would happen if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."
All the genin thought for a few minutes and couldn't answer the question.
"This question has baffled many for centuries, in my opinion, the answer is that a clash happens, and the force and the object are both destroyed," Kaitou explained as he put his hands in the hebi seal again. A sizable boulder came from the ground. "Now if Jiraiya will please attack this boulder with a katon jutsu," Kaitou said.
The Gama sennin nodded and went through a set of hand seals ending on the tora seal, "Katon: Endan no jutsu." The attack struck the boulder for a few seconds and then the flames died down and said boulder was melted.
"What he used was the most basic of katon jutsu, and with this kind of situation, the flames represent the unstoppable force while the boulder represents the immovable object. In the end both techniques cancel one another out as the one declaring the attack can keep up the technique as long as he'd like, he has to be able to see the results of using said technique," Kaitou told them. "Kurenai-san, if you will," Kaitou told her, indicating the very hot substance that needs to be cooled at this point in time.
Kurenai nodded and formed a suiton jutsu with the moisture in the air.
"I'll tell you more about some of the more advanced elements at a later date, and when we have a person that can assist with demonstrating. Now all of you mold some of your chakra into both pieces of paper given to you,"
They all nodded and focused.
Both of Ino's papers crumble.
Shikamaru's pieces became wet.
Shino's papers became wet as well.
Kiba's pieces caught a flame.
Sakura's pieces turned to dust.
Hinata's papers were suprising because both split in half.
Sasuke's and Chouji's were more surprising that the others.
The paper in Chouji's left hand ingnited and the one in his right turned to dust.
The paper in Sasuke's right hand ignited as well and the one in his left crumbled.
However, Naruto's was the most surprising. The paper in his left hand did nothing at all while the one in his right hand scattered apart and as they drifted to the ground some were on fire, some were wet, others were crumbled up while the last ones felt to the ground as dust.
"Okay, I've traveled the world completely and not once have I seen this happen," Kaitou thought aloud.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked curiously.
"It seems that your chakra is adept at all five base elements," Kaitou answered. "Some of the pieces were on fire while falling down, and you can see the ashes, some were dust, others are wet while the last pieces are crumbled up."
"But that doesn't specify wind," Kiba commented.
"That is answered by the fact that the pieces are scattered, the paper wouldn't have scattered apart like that if wind wasn't there as well," Kaitou replied.
"Well, at least I can honestly say that is one thing I have on you," Jiraiya said to Kaitou.
"You mean you actually met someone who was affiliated with all five elements?" Kaitou asked.
"Yes, his name was Nagato, he was among three students I had at one point in time, the others were Konan and Yahiko," Jiraiya said with a sad smile.
"What happened to them?" Kaitou asked.
"I hadn't seen them since I stopped training them, the last I had heard they had died in battle during the Third Great Shinobi War," the sannin replied with sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kaitou bowed his head.
"It's been years, I've had enough time to mourn," Jiraiya answered.
'I wish I was as strong as you,' Kaitou thought as he spoke out to everyone. "Before we start anything, Asuma-san, first, is it alright with you if your team goes through this training, and, if so, how far are they with their chakra control?"
"Actually, I've put them through tree climbing and water walking, so they should be able to handle the basics, and as far as doing the training, you'll just have to ask them," the Sarutobi replied.
"Mendokuse, I'll just go with whatever my team does," was the Shikamaru's lazy response.
"If I can help my team out more with this training then I'm alright with this," Chouji answered.
"I'll do it," was Ino's response, anyone with half a mind could tell why. Being a lightning type she thought she would be working alongside Sasuke. Little did she know that if there were more than one teacher with the same elemental affinity then the students would be divided in half to increase efficiency and giving the teachers an easier time.
"I'll be focusing on the earth aspect of the training so Sakura will be under me for the duration," Kaitou told them. "Now, everyone, split up into the necessary groups, those with double affinities, you choose out of the two, same to you, Naruto," he finished.
Everyone else nodded and Sasuke immediately went to Jiraiya along with Kiba.
Ino pouted as she walked over to Kakashi. Sasuke wasn't going to be training with her.
Sakura and Chouji walked over to Kaitou.
Shino and Shikamaru calmly made their way to Kurenai.
Naruto just shrugged and walked over to Asuma and Hinata, causing said kunoichi to blush.
Kaitou just looked around and thought aloud, "For the most part, this seems pretty evened out." He then told Sakura and Chouji, "Earth is the defensive element, the element of substance, so in order to properly mold the chakra you must be able to make the earth around you move to your whim, through this other douton techniques will be easier to control."
The two nodded as Kaitou picked a small amount of dirt. "The moment you are able to make this dirt condense together into a pebble with your chakra alone is the moment where you will be ready for the next step," he explained as he demonstrated what they needed to do.
With Kakashi and Ino...
"Yamanaka-san, lightning is considered the piercing element because of its speed and capabilities to bypass the majority of defenses," he tried to explain, only to notice that the kunoichi wasn't paying attention.
Ino was just sighing to herself.
Kakashi just sighed himself and moved his hand forward and flicked her in the forehead.
"Wuhh?" was Ino's intelligent response. "Kakashi-sensei, what was that for?"
"Why are you a kunoichi?" was Kakashi's retort. "If you're not gonna pay attention then why did you even bother agreeing to this training?"
"I thought..." Ino started but was interrupted by the masked jounin.
"You thought that you would be working alongside Sasuke because said Uchiha has a few katon jutsu under his belt and would try to learn another element because you thought he had already mastered fire," the scarecrow, the tone in his voice was starting to scare Ino with how serious he was being.
"Ah," was Ino's reply.
Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke is a tad hot-tempered and a little over anxious, but he's not foolish enough to think that he can master another element when he hasn't even mastered the basics to katon jutsu, he understands that just because he knows two or three katon jutsu doesn't mean that he has mastered them completely," Kakashi told her. "He probably also thought that if he were there you'd most likely not pay attention anyway so he decided he might as well get some more practice with what he knows."
Ino only looked down in shame, knowing what he said to be true.
"Sasuke himself mentioned once that he doesn't care about a person's background he only cares about whether or not they take being a shinobi seriously," Kakashi explained to her. "From what I've heard from Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and Asuma himself is that you've been vying for Sasuke's attention, and from what you've demonstrated today it seems to be true. Sakura had recently started taking this life seriously due to what Sasuke had told her. If you want his attention, prove that you're worth his time and train yourself more, then he might consider you, albeit that is a big might but at least it's a possibility," he finished, hoping he got through to her.
Kakashi saw a few things flash through Ino's eyes before they landed on the one that he wanted to see, conviction.
"If that's what it takes, then that's what will happen," Ino told the scarecrow, complete seriousness in her tone.
Kakashi just eye smiled before saying, "Very good, now pay attention."
Ino nodded.
With Jiraiya, Sasuke and Kiba...
"Well, Uchiha, you've certainly surprised me, I thought for sure that you'd take up the chance to learn another element," Jiraiya commented.
"I know a few katon that the Uchiha are known for, but that doesn't mean that I know how they work, I'd rather practice up on being able to understand how each technique of one element works to be able to control them better than learn another element of which I have no familiarity," Sasuke admitted to the sannin. "Power without control leads only to recklessness and maybe even self-destruction."
Jiraiya just smiled, "Now I'm even more surprised and impressed with you. Whether you have talent or not, I think I might enjoy teaching you." The sannin looked down and saw Akamaru just sitting. He then thought aloud, "I don't think there has ever been a situation where an animal other than summons have demonstrated elemental usage."
Kiba just looked at Akamaru and shrugged, "I've never heard of such a thing,."
Jiraiya produced another piece of paper before asking, "Would he be able to mold chakra into this?"
Kiba shrugged, "He does it well enough when we're doing our combos."
The sannin bent over and held the paper out.
Akamaru took the paper into his mouth after sniffing it for a bit.
"You know the drill," Jiraiya said to the puppy.
"Go on, Akamaru," Kiba told him as he saw that the puppy was nervous.
The paper in Akamaru's mouth caught fire.
"Well that's convenient," Sasuke commented. "Now we have another participant to this exercise."
Jiraiya nodded.
With Kurenai, Shikamaru and Shino...
The genjutsu user pulled out two pieces of cloth. "I figured we'd get one or two water specialists, though I didn't expect them to be you two," she said as she handed the clothes to the genin. "What you'll be doing is trying to gather the moisture from the air into the cloth using only you chakra, as a suiton user, this ability will be very valuable whether in battle or just for basic survival."
The two nodded.
Kurenai thought to herself, 'I was hoping Hinata, but another one of my students is still good, besides, she's in good hands with Asuma.'
With Asuma, Hinata and Naruto...
"Alright, the first thing we'll be doing is cutting leaves with only your chakra," the jounin explained as he pulled one of the leaves from the tree. He demonstrated his abilities as the leaf split in two, right down the center. "Now this isn't as easy as it looks for beginners, I just have a fair amount of experience."
The two nodded at took a leaf from the tree.
"Before you begin, when manipulating wind you've got to imagine separating your chakra in two and rubbing them together, then you have to sharpen the two chakra parts into fine pieces and compress them together, the thinner and sharper the line, the better it is, this allows you to cut even the most difficult of matter," the Sarutobi told them.
Both nodded and Naruto stepped away and created about one hundred kage bunshin. And before he started concentrating he looked at Hinata, smiled and said to her, "Ganbatte, Hinata."
Hinata, not used to being encouraged, and by Naruto no less, did the only thing she could in this situation. She passed out.
End of Chapter.
I thought of adding Gai to this chapter, but then that would just bring in Lee, and most likely Neji and Tenten would follow soon after and I didn't want them meeting everyone else too soon, besides, Neji might belittle Hinata despite her training. I brought in elemental training because I figured they could use a few more advantages than what initially happened in the manga. The elements I chose for each genin save for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura I figured would compliment their personalities more than anything and it would be interesting to think up different techniques for everyone else's unique fighting styles and family techniques, save for Naruto and Sakura. Anyway R&R.