"...And really, the way they use chakra is just sad. Sticking to things? Really? You can use chakra to spit fire from your mouth, and yet the only common chakra control exercises you can think of are to stick to things? Sure, it's got great utility, but it's so limited! Try paying attention to a kid's chakra when you teach them! You could use light nature training as chakra control training, like the red-eyed brats do! Take a wind-nature like this kid, and teach him to infuse chakra into his breath! Now he can make his breath much quieter, control his chakra output, and sense things in the air that others couldn't! It would even increase chakra reserves, because you're draining your chakra a little with every breath. Or use sensing as a chakra exercise; have a kid reach out with his chakra to brush another's chakra, and try to do it undetected. Now the kids are learning how to use chakra to sense and read targets, and do so undetected! Honestly, the lack of imagination is ridiculous."
Kurama was starting a little early with Naruto's chakra education. Oh yes, some shinobi could do quite impressive things with their chakra, but most shinobi seemed to have such a limited mindset! Besides, Kurama had his doubts that the Academy teachers would treat Naruto fairly. Start early and start right. Plus, not like Naruto could get a better teacher in the ways of chakra than a literal millennia-old chakra construct.
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-Naruto-
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Naruto was scaring the workers again.
He was just sitting there... doing nothing. Staring at signs again would have been better. No one could tell what he was plotting or when he was going to run off to set up whatever he was plotting, but everyone was terrified.
Naruto, however, was just paying attention to his breath. His dream last night had told him that ninja were cool, but if he could use chakra better than them, then he would be even cooler! And he just needed to get really good at breathing!
Naruto focused and reached for that big ball of energy in him. He breathed. And nothing happened.
Naruto was bored. He kept at it anyway.
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-Kurama-
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Kurama supposed he shouldn't be surprised that it would take a little time. He couldn't exactly instruct Naruto while he was training, and Kurama didn't really have any experience as a teacher anyway. Perhaps a different approach?
Kurama wasn't exactly sure how humans taught each other to find their chakra. He was literally made of chakra, finding and using it came as naturally to him as simply existing. But chakra is energy, so it made sense that following the energy's path through the body would help Naruto grasp his chakra.
"Next time you eat, pay attention to how you feel. Where does the food go when you swallow it? Where does it go after that? Does it stay in one place, or does it spread out? Does it stay in you, or do you breathe it out? Follow it, then stop and try to find it again. Once you're comfortable finding it, try following your breath next."
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-Naruto-
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Naruto figured that his dream's plan should probably wait until after he ate, so he could actually pay attention to where his food was. That was perfectly fine with him, since he was pretty bored from spending most of yesterday trying to breathe right. He wanted to try out that squirrel idea!
As it turns out, catching a ton of squirrels is hard. Naruto didn't really have anywhere to keep them, either. He ended up settling for putting ketchup on everything in the Akimichi storehouse that really shouldn't go with ketchup and calling it a day.
Luckily, it was a lot easier to "follow the energy" than it was to do fancy breathing. Naruto had it down in just a few days. Following his breath was a little harder, but he got that down too. His dreams were right again - this chakra stuff is a lot easier to do once you know how to find it!
He even started doing that sensing thing his dream mentioned - he couldn't even get close to the animal mask guys, but it was fun to watch them jump every time he tried!
