Konoha, Training Ground 7, Near Uchiha Compound
Naruto liked Iruka. At least he thought he did, for a while the relationship was touch and go, but then there was the kunai incident and since then the academy teacher seemed to really look out for him. So, yeah he liked Iruka… Probably. Still at the moment that liking was in question because Naruto just couldn't get these jutsu down. They were called The Traveling Ten and they were some of the basic jutsu required to learn. He had already been out in the field for over three hours and it showed, he was an awkward combination of singed, cut, wet, and muddy from all of the failed attempts. He had read the scroll over several times and it was so frustrating. The Katon: Hibana (Fire Style: Spark) which was supposed to be a basic technique to start a fire would, literally, blow up in his face. Doton: Ana (Earth Style: Hole) which should have just made a small hole would sometimes be nearly a meter deeper, barely a few centimeters deep, or super muddy for some reason. Whenever he did the Suiton: Ketsuro (Water Style: Condensation) either nothing happened or water from the lake would soak him. The only two he had even somewhat relevant success with were the Futon techniques. Both Futon: Soyokaze (Wind Style: Gentle Breeze) and Futon: Shoshu (Wind Style: Deodorize) were easy to learn, at least in comparison. Natuto didn't notice any problems with Shoshu, but Soyokaze did still have some weird effects at first; the supposedly gentle breeze blew hard enough to slam a rabbit into a tree, but luckily that just meant he had something to eat for lunch.
Naruto rested against one of the sturdy oaks that populated the training ground and looked up at the sky. It was three weeks ago he had decided on his dream; to be recognized by the village by becoming the Hokage. Now Naruto might be dumb, but he's not completely brain dead. To go from no name orphan to village leader would be a tall task, especially when an entire village seems out to get from the jump.
"If I can't master these basic jutsu by next week…" Naruto sighed. There was a difference between being the class clown and being laughed at for ineptitude. This was the chance to gain some respect from his peers, to impress Iruka and show that he was learning, he needed to get these, he needed to-
"Naruto-kun." He jumped, sky high and quickly turned to see who had addressed him. It was an old man, worth about one and half of him at 138 cm. His gray white hair was shaggy and his beard seemed cropped short. Naruto eyed him with suspicion. He might've been a kid, but he was a shinobi in training, sneaking up on him shouldn't be an easy feat for a lot of people, let alone an innocuous old man.
"Calm yourself, I don't mean any harm my boy." The old man stated wearing a patient smile. That simply set off more alarm beels in Naruto's head. Very few people meant him no harm, any other time Naruto had heard those words he could see the lie in their eyes, and wisely avoided them. Hiruzen saw the look on the young boy's face, it was a look of suspicion and mistrust, a look that searched for deception, a look that searched him openings to take advantage of, it was a look perfectly befitting a shinobi. Hiruzen hated it, he despised it. It was a look that suited a shinobi, but it was not suitable, not tolerable, on a child.
"How far has this village strayed..? How far have I let them stray?" Hiruzen could feel the age creeping into his bones, his shoulders sagged, the smile he was wearing faded and…he looked old, so old. In another time, another place Naruto saw the look on his face and didn't know what to say. Hiruzen would quickly snap out of stupor and would spend time with Naruto telling stories. It would be a nice moment that truly wouldn't amount to much for either except a nice memory. In this time, this place Naruto could swear he felt the hopelessness that was coming from the old man. He could remember that feeling, that helplessness. He could admit that he didn't know the exact right thing to say, but he had to say something. So he started with a question.
"What's wrong, ojii-san?" Naruto wasn't really sure how to go about the whole honorifics. Hiruzen looked over at the boy pulled from his thoughts.
"Nothing my boy, nothing… Just the realization of a lifetime of mistakes…" Hiruzen gave him a tired smile, not expecting the boy to have a response. In a different time Naruto didn't have a response, but now?
"Well your lifetime isn't over yet, right? Doesn't that mean you still have time to fix'm?" Hiruzen blinked and looked at the small boy. It wasn't some kind of hidden secret. It wasn't wise beyond the years' wisdom either, it was the off-hand remark of an un experienced child. It shouldn't have meant anything, but here staring at the result of years of mistakes tell him it wasn't too late. It was a revelation because he was right as much as he might claim otherwise, HIruzen knew in recent years he had given up. If he had been the kage he used to be, the Uchiha Massacre would have never happened. He had let Danzo take charge and left a good, young man alone with no guidance tossed to the wind. Hiruzen let his advisors and the council walk all over him and drown him in busy work so he stayed blind and deaf.
"You're quite right my boy. Perhaps there's some life still hiding in these old bones of mine" Hiruzen hummed. It was a short talk but he felt rejuvenated, he stood a little taller and Naruto could see the difference in the old mean and he felt a warm feeling blossom in his chest forcing a smile on his own face. Seeing his face brighten up, Hiruzen decided to take a chance.
"Enough about me, I noticed you seemed to be struggling with some jutsu?" Naruto felt his budding good mood get crushed and as he nodded disappointedly, hanging his head.
"Yeah, I can't get these stupid Traveling Ten Jutsu… The fire one blows up in my face, the earth one opens up a hole twice as big as it should be, the water one gets me soaked..!" Naruto's previous suspicion lies dead in the back of his mind as hours of built frustration pours out to someone who seems willing to listen. Hiruzen looked down at the frustrated boy, who seemed to be barely holding back a full blown tantrum and hums thoughtfully. Naruto looks up at the old man who seemed to be actually considering his problem, which Hiruzen was. It seemed like the boy was struggling with chakra overload in his jutsu.
Hiruzen looked down at the boy, "What do you know about chakra, Naruto?" He saw the young boy look up at him with confusion, not as if the question was foreign, but as if getting questioned was foreign. Hiruzen kept the aged lines traced across his face from contorting into a frown, "I suppose I have a little extra time to live up to that moniker of "Professor".
"Well it's like our life energy that we use to do jutsu…right..?" Hiruzen watched as the visibly unsure boy gave up a rather rudimentary answer. Getting the wrong answer at the academy was always met with jeering and clowning at no one else's expense but his and Naruto really didn't want that to be the case here.
"Sit down, my boy," Hiruzen took a meditative lotus position, hearing his old bones creak and groan. "This truly has been a wake-up call, I need to get back in shape… If the village were to come under fire as I am now…"
He shook his head, right now he, The Professor, needed to focus on teaching this youth in front of him. Hiruzen looked to the side to see that Naruto had joined though he was completely lost by now. Hiruzen smiled and told the blonde to close his eyes, with the old kage following suit after him.
"What you said wasn't wrong per say, Naruto, but it wasn't the full picture. Chakra is the second life-blood of a person without it you will die, of course I'm sure you knew that too, but chakra being so entwined with a person makes it unique to each person. The density of their chakra, which of the five natures it will lean to, how much they have. When all of those factors, plus the many more that exist, are put together you get chakra that is completely unique to the individual." Naruto found himself nodding, not that anyone could see it. There were a lot of big words flying around, but he was getting it mostly; people's chakra was unique.
"Now with most of the children your age they are instructed to pull or tug on their chakra in order to perform jutsu, this is because their reserves are smaller and therefore require more effort to manipulate. This however might be different in your case. I want you to do me a favor, my boy. Sit. Sit still and feel, really feel, your chakra. Feel how it moves, its presence in your body." Naruto decided to humor the old man, figuring it was something that he didn't try so he might as well. He sat perfectly still for maybe the first time in his life and felt. At first, he was going to call it quits, he had never been all that patient and this particular method seemed to require a lot of that, then he felt it.
"How have I never felt this before..?" That was Naruto's thought as he felt his chakra coursing through his body, it was like a crisp breeze along his skin, cooling flow throughout his body. It all spiraled into a dense ball in his gut, flowing outwards from there all the way to his suddenly energized fingertips. He felt like he had to move, but he needed to still. He wanted to go and to stay. The feeling was almost over wheeling for him. Hiruzen now had is eyes open as he watched the child he see, see, Naruto's chakra swirling around him.
"Between his heritage and his… circumstances I knew he would have a lot chakra, but to have so much already… The academy lessons would have put him so far behind." Perhaps the academy needed a bit of an overhaul. With this much chakra, Naruto's control would never be anything beyond pretty good and that certainly wouldn't be enough to perform a Bunshin. He decided to handle that later, for now he needed to focus on the pseudo student in front of him. "As I thought, you have far more chakra than the rest of the students your age. Therefore, when you follow the usual advice of pulling or tugging on your chakra you end up overcharging your jutsu causing it to fail, usually in fantastic fashion I assume."
Naruto scowled slightly when he heard the man chuckle, but somehow it felt different to the normal jabs his peers would make at him. Besides, he couldn't really get too upset this controlled feeling of his chakra had to excited to hyped up, He felt like he could run a hundred miles, climb the Hokage Monument, like he could do anything. Hiruzen saw the boy getting slightly jittery and decided now would be the best time to have him apply that energy. "Now I want you to try that fire jutsu again."
"Tora! Uma! Saru! Katon: Hibana!" Naruto flew through the three hand seals and time instead tugging at his chakra, pushing it out and blowing the basic fire technique from his lips. To his credit it didn't blow up in his face, however to say all he did was make a spark would be wholly inaccurate. The mid sized ball fire flew forward, like a bat out heel before crashing into a tree,while quickly seemingly detonating causing enough of any explosion to fell the tree forward. Both the old kage and the young boy stood in shock for a slight second.
"Seems you'll still have to practice with control, my boy…"
"Yeah…"