I do not own Naruto
The following afternoon, training ground 7
"Heads up, little hatchlings, today I'll be teaching you a new jutsu."
The three had just gotten back from their D-rank mission, a search and retrieval mission for a cat named Tora. The exercise was fairly straightforward: the same skills used tracking and capturing an animal were the same skills used to track and follow ninjas. Unlike the mission at the retirement home, Risu had assigned Sasuke the role of team captain. If Sasuke wanted to kill a certain man, he had claimed, he would almost certainly have to become a hunter nin. Tracking and capturing skills were essential in that line of work, and as such Sasuke was put in charge. The three had found Tora rather quickly, but the cat had proved to be a slippery target, successfully escaping three times before they could return the cat to madam Shijimi. Unfortunately, since the cat had successfully escaped once cornered, Risu sensei had decreed that they would need to try the mission again.
On a positive note, Naruto and Sasuke had made great progress in their tree walking exercise and were almost ready to start running. It would take them a few more days to complete the exercise, but since Sakura had finished her storage scroll, Risu had decided to teach them something else.
"What are you teaching us sensei?" asked Sakura, while the boys were shaking with excitement
"Actually I'll be teaching you two jutsu. The first one is more of a training tool than anything else, but you still need to learn it. The second one is a two-parter and will work best if used in collaboration with your next fuinjutsu exercise."
Naruto couldn't contain his excitement "C'mon, sensei! Teach us these jutsus!"
"Patience, Naruto. I was getting there. But first, I believe a demonstration is in order"
Risu started gathering chakra, his frame glowing with energy. He started flashing through a long series of hand signs, his chakra swirling around him to the point it was almost visible to the naked eye. With a final hand sign, Risu opened his palm, the chakra swirling around him gathered at the center of his palm in a sphere of blue energy, With a cry, he pushed his hand forward
Dama no jutsu
And the sphere of chakra disappeared into nothingness.
The genin looked around, trying to figure out what exactly the jutsu was meant to do, but couldn't find anything
"Uh… sensei, did the jutsu fail?" asked Sakura, cautiously
"Nope, it did exactly what it was meant to do."
"But like what did it do? Nothing happened" pointed out Naruto
"Exactly"
The three genin looked at their sensei with confusion
"The Dama no jutsu does absolutely nothing."
"Then why are you teaching us this jutsu, sensei!?" shouted Naruto
"Well… saying that it does nothing isn't entirely accurate. It does consume a large amount of chakra"
"So instead of being useless it's actually detrimental" frowned Sasuke
"It depends on the context. There's a reason why I called this justu more a training exercise than an actual jutsu. Do you know what happens when you start running low on chakra?"
"Uhm… you risk chakra exhaustion?" suggested Sakura
"Yes, but before chakra exhaustion you strain your chakra coils. This stress forces them to enlarge and grow thicker, which in terms allows you to draw more chakra from your body with greater efficiency. In other words, your chakra reserves grow larger. Hence why you and Sasuke are going to learn this jutsu and use it every day before going home to sleep. Your chakra coil will slowly adapt and your chakra reserves will grow larger during the night. This way you will have recovered by the morning and the rest of your training is not going to suffer because of it."
"Uh, sensei…" said Naruto, hesitantly, "Why can't I learn it as well?"
"Oh, you will learn it as well. It's just that this technique can only strain your coils up to a certain point. Once your chakra reserve reaches mid-chunin level, the Dama no jutsu doesn't really help in growing your reserves. You are way past having mid-chunin level reserves and have been for quite a few years."
Naruto nodded, not sure how to take what his sensei had said
"The reason I'm making you learn this justu is… well, let me start with a little explanation. This jutsu fails to do anything because the collected chakra dissipates as soon as it's no longer in contact with the ninja. However, if a tailed beast performs this jutsu, their chakra does not dissipate, and this jutsu carries enough power to level mountains."
The genins were shocked
"For centuries a large number of people have tried to discover how the tailed beasts can accomplish this task, including our own Yondaime. While many have tried applying some form of nature transformation, the Yondaime was convinced the secret was shape manipulation rather than nature transformation. Even though he failed to recreate the jutsu used by the tailed beasts, he managed to create something else: an extremely powerful jutsu that became one of his signature techniques. Now, don't get me wrong: I do not expect you to complete Yondaime's research on the tailed beast' jutsu, but… You do wish to become Hokage, right? Following the footsteps of one doesn't seem like a bad idea now, does it?"
"What are the tailed beasts?"
"Uh?" Naruto was snapped out of his daydream of performing a super amazing jutsu not even the Yondaime was able to master
"You said the tailed beasts can level mountains by using this jutsu properly. What are they?" repeated Sasuke
"You might have heard of one of them: the Kyuubi no Yoko"
Later, training ground 7
Dama no jutsu
The three genin shouted together, Sasuke and Sakura falling to the ground immediately after. For an extremely draining jutsu with such a long history, actually performing it was extremely easy. All three managed to perform it on their first try, and now Sasuke and Sakura were laying on the ground, shaking on the ground as their chakra coils groaned in pain.
"Well done you three. Naruto, why don't we take a walk while we give your teammates a few minutes to recover? We can go over the theory for the second jutsu I want to teach you today once they have recovered enough to stand up."
Naruto nodded, a bit winded due to the jutsu, and followed Risu-sensei into the treeline.
"Now, Naruto… do you understand why I taught you the Dama no jutsu?"
He frowned "It's because of Kyuubi, isn't it?"
His sensei nodded "As the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, you are one of the few people that may actually learn their mountain-destroying jutsu."
"Third?! There were others before me?!" shouted Naruto, not even hearing the mountain-destroying jutsu part.
"Indeed. While I do not know the identity of the second, the first one was Mito Uzumaki, wife of the Shodaime Hokage. To my knowledge, however, none of the previous hosts has ever used the chakra of the tailed beast, merely relying on the threat that they could. Personally, I think this is a waste. You have a source of near infinite chakra within you, letting it sit there and doing nothing with it is a waste of potential."
"So you'll be training me on how to use it?"
"Most likely not. To be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no idea how to draw out the fox's chakra and I'd rather not start fucking around with a seal I don't fully understand. I will introduce you to Jiraiya-sama, Konoha's sealmaster, when the opportunity arises. You should discuss your Kyuubi training with him. I'm simply trying to lay a foundation for your future developpement."
Naruto nodded. He had no idea who this Jiraiya guy was, but if Risu-sensei trusted the guy, then he was probably strong.
"Now, how about you show me how well you can fight?"
Naruto smirked
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu
Over a hundred Narutos popped into existence, knives ready.
Risu extended his arm, activating a storage seal on his wrist, and an almost two meter long naginata with a thick curved blade at the top popped into his hand. Risu entered a low stance, activating his Byakugan.
With a shout, the Naruto clones charged his sensei in a wave of orange. Risu lept, swinging his weapon, popping multiple clones with every single swing
"Half your clones are doing nothing! Don't they have shuriken?"
The Naruto clones in the backlines reached for their shurikens and started to throw. Risu smirked, tossing his spinning weapon in the air to clasp his hand together, forming hand signs.
Doton: Domu no jutsu
Risu's skin turned pitch black in color, his hand darted to retake control of the naginata, no longer worried about the rain of shuriken that impacted on his skin and bounced off without so much as a scratch. One of the Naruto clones managed to get close enough to punch the Huuga in the face. Risu let him. With a wince of pain the clone popped, his hand hurt as if he had just punched a wall.
Risu lept back into action, his new defensive jutsu allowed him to concentrate on his offense, cleaving through waves of clones. Once only about 50 clones remained, he stopped.
"Not bad. You need to vary your tactics a bit more. Next time, try to use the distraction your clones give to set up a few traps, ok?"
Naruto nodded, dispelling the remaining clones
"Sensei, can you teach us that thing you did when you turned black?"
Risu smiled. "Asuma-san already has. Domu is just an application of Chakra Nagashi using earth chakra, the only difference is that it flows into your body rather than into your weapon."
Naruto nodded enthusiastically "Are you teaching us how to use earth chakra then?!"
"With time. I have another technique to show you first." He led the boy back to the clearing where Sasuke and Sakura were sitting on the ground, completely spent but now able to wobble on their feet
"Ok, little hatchlings. This will be the final lesson of today. Since two of you are spent, I'll be only teaching you the theory and tomorrow we'll start the real exercises. Can you tell me what this is?" He pulled out a small paper tag with a seal inscribed on it
"Easy! It's a paper bomb!" shouted Naruto
"The actual name is either Kibaku Fuda or exploding tag, but yes. It's one of those."
"Are we learning how to make them?" Asked Sasuke
"Tomorrow morning. The jutsu I want to teach you is called Katon: Kibaku Enjin no jutsu, and allows you to control exploding tags at a distance. I don't think i need to explain how versatile and deadly such a technique can be, but I will tell you this: this technique was a favorite of Hanzo of the Salamander, the leader of Amegakure and a man so powerful he was able to single-handedly repel multiple invading armies from the leaf village, the rock village and the sand village. Be glad I'm your teacher, because I'm the only one in the village that knows this jutsu."
"Wow! You're teaching us the signature technique of a Kage!" shouted Naruto in excitement
"One of. Hanzo was mostly feared due to his poison techniques, but I'm not teaching you any poison jutsu until you learn how to heal the poison. Back to Kibaku Enjin, this technique only works on Kibaku Fuda that contain your chakra, which means you can only manipulate the Kibaku Fuda you made yourself. Once you learn how to make exploding tags, I expect you to start mass producing them and put them away in a sealing scroll. Now, Naruto, would you mind making a clone so I can demonstrate the technique?"
Two weeks later, Konoha hot springs
Risu was satisfied. Over the course of the past weeks, his team had finally mastered the various techniques and exercises they had learned on the first days. His hatchlings were all capable of making their own exploding tags, with Naruto having amassed a few too many, to the point Risu had to ask him to stop making them. He didn't want one of them to accidentally go off and start a chain reaction. Sasuke had mastered Kurenai's genjutsu, while Naruto sometimes just failed to perform it. He would probably get better with time, but Risu wasn't sure the boy would ever be particularly adept at genjutsu. Risu had discovered that Naruto had never learned the Nawanuke no Jutsu, the rope escape jutsu, and he had dedicated an entire afternoon to make sure the blonde had learned it, as well as forcing all his students to explain exactly what they had learned at the academy in painful details. Fortunately for Risu's sanity, there were no other glaring gaps in knowledge to be patched, even though some topics, such as geography, had been rushed to the point of being near useless. Nothing that Risu couldn't patch, but that didn't mean that he wasn't annoyed. He filed a complaint with the academy that had caused some strains with his relationship with the chunin teaching there. The boys had finally mastered the tree walking exercise and Chakra Nagashi, with Sasuke on his way to learn how to infuse his sword with fire chakra. Soon, he would introduce the boy to Katon: Engeki to properly enhance his weapon with fire. Sure, there was probably a similar technique in the Uchiha clan's library, but the boy could learn about it on his own time.
That day, he had taken his genin to a large pond near the hot springs and introduced them to water walking. As expected, Sakura had immediately learned the exercise while Naruto and Sasuke were going through a cycle of falling in the water, climbing back to shore and falling in the water again.
"Sakura, can I have a word with you?" he said, while gesturing her to follow him in the middle of the pond
The pinkette nodded and followed him
"So… it has been almost three weeks since we became a team. Have you thought about your future career?"
Sakura scratched her head "A bit… I know I'm good at chakra control, and Kurenai-sensei wants me to become a genjutsu specialist."
"You certainly have the potential for it. But you also have great potential as a medic, and if your control is as good as I think it is, you might even pick up a page from Suna's book and learn puppeteering."
Sakura was shocked "You know puppeteering?"
"I've been a spy for over a decade, remember? While I can't really do anything more complex than throwing the puppet around like a ragdoll, I have picked up a couple of Suna's combat puppets as well as a couple scrolls on how to control them. It's pretty advanced stuff, but it's also a very interesting read if you're up for it."
Sakura took a moment to consider it "Well, sensei… I don't think I will become a puppeteer, but I would very much like to read those scrolls and see the puppet, if you'll let me."
"Then we have a deal. The only thing that I'm asking you is that, once you finish the scroll and have analyzed the puppets, you do a small presentation for the boys explaining everything you've learned. Who knows…" he leaned forward, conspiratorially "...it might impress Sasuke enough to convince him to take you on a date"
Sakura blushed violently, dropping her concentration and falling in the water, slowly trying to regain her footing.
Risu chuckled, walking back to the shore.
"Ok, hatchlings, gather round"
The three drenched genins approached their sensei
"For the next few days we will train here to make sure you have mastered the water walking exercise. I will also exploit the situation to teach you a Suiton jutsu. Now, Suiton jutsus can be used without water, I have seen water users fight in the middle of the desert, but using ambient water makes the jutsu easier to use and noticeably reduce their chakra cost. For that purpose, from today onward you will always carry a waterskin on your hip. Not in a sealing scroll, although I suggest you pack a few spares in your sealing scroll just in case, but on your person where you can swiftly use it to cast Suiton jutsus."
The three nodded in agreement
"The first jutsu I'm teaching you is Suiton: Suijun no jutsu. It is rather simple: just infuse the water with chakra, like you do with Chakra Nagashi, perform these hand signs and the water will create a shield to block the attack. Keep in mind that at first the shield will form in front of you, learning to manifest it where you're not looking will take some practice."
Later, Konoha's front gate
Team 7 was getting ready for their D-rank mission, a simple shopping run to a nearby farming town. Risu had announced to the team they would be chased by some of his larger centipedes to add a challenge to what would otherwise be a rather boring mission.
It was there they met up with team 8, signing some papers with Izumo and Kotetsu, the genin duo nicknamed the eternal gate guardians. Together with team 8 there was an old man holding a bottle.
"Hey guys! What are you doing here?" asked Kiba
"Hi Kiba! Risu-sensei picked up a D-rank mission to another town, you?"
Kiba's smile grew as he puffed his chest in pride. Before he could say anything, Shino spoke up "Kurenai-sensei picked up a C-rank mission. We are escorting Tazuna-san here to the land of Waves and guarding him while he finishes building his bridge."
"What! you're already doing C-rank missions!? Sensei! Why aren't we taking C-rank missions yet!?" shouted Naruto
"Because you have yet to finish the secret mission at the potato farm and the sewer cleaning job. If you hadn't taken so long to properly catch Tora we'd be the ones taking their mission."
Naruto frowned. It wasn't his fault that the damn cat was so slippery.
"Secret mission?" asked Shino, curious
"Sensei wants us to stay in the sewers without becoming nauseous and differentiate between edible and spoiled potatoes while we harvest them." replied Sasuke "It's easier said than done, but says this training will pay off in the field."
"You train while doing stupid D-ranks?" asked Kiba
Team 7 looked at him quizzically. "Well, duh." replied Naruto.
Before he could say anything else, a cloud of smoke attracted everyone's attention. Risu sensei was standing in front of ten six meters long albino white centipedes. "Ok hatchlings, the paperwork is in order. The secret mission is rather easy: don't get caught by these babies. They will stop chasing once you enter the village, but if they catch you you'll have to carry all the groceries back to Konoha by yourself, no sealing scroll allowed, and we'll have to take this mission again next time. Now…" Risu stopped a second to laugh maniacally "Start running."
The genin dashed out of the village, immediately followed by the centipede swarm.
Tazuna dropped the bottle, spilling its content on the ground. Perhaps he had underestimated the ninja of this village.
Kurenai approached Risu "Was that really necessary?"
Risu shrugged "A 20 km run is good for your health. Plus, the white ones are totally safe, big softies that love cuddling. Now, if you don't mind, I have to catch up. It'll be embarrassing if my little hatchlings could outrun me." without another word, he disappeared in a Shunshin
Next day, Konoha hot springs
Risu was looking at his students' training. They had grasped the basics of the Suijun no jutsu and even though their shield was a bit too weak, it was good enough to block shurikens and kunais. Risu had put Sasuke and Naruto on shifts, alternating between water walking and an exercise with Sakura where they would throw shurikens at each other while defending with their water shield. Progress was slow, but it was progress. Perhaps tomorrow he could start them on another water jutsu. Suiben no jutsu? Suiro no Jutsu maybe? They needed a jutsu to capture the enemy and it was a bit early to start working on sealing tags.
He was interrupted in his musing by an ANBU appearing next to him. Apparently, he was summoned to the Hokage's office for something urgent.
"Hatchlings!" he shouted, drawing the attention of his students. "Hokage-sama needs me in the office. Try not to kill each other while I'm gone, ok?" After receiving their confirmation, he took off to the tower.
Notes
The Dama no jutsu is a brand new jutsu. As you have read, it is utterly useless for anythign except as a training method
Doton: Domu no jutsu is Kakuzu's hardening technique. I know, it looks like Armament Haki, but it's a canon jutsu
Katon: Kibaku Enjin no jutsu is a canon jutsu used by Hanzo to cripple Nagato's legs. The only added detail is the fact it only works on explosive tags made by the user.
Suiton: Suijun no jutsu comes from Ultimate Ninja Storm 3