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Chapter Fifty-Six: A New Grind
[Ding!]
[Special Quest: "The Hunt For The Crimson Clouds" Updated!]
[Quest Details: Eliminate every member of the Akatsuki.]
[Quest Rewards: Exp. 200,000, [?, [?, [?]
[NEW! Failure: Death.]
Great, as if I didn't already know that. Naruto thought grimly. Way to make me feel better.
A man had died because of him. Not just any man—it was the father of a close friend that he had. Naruto hadn't seen Shikamaru cry since they were little kids. The normally stoic boy with a dry sense of humor took everything lightly, and Naruto assumed that even the end of the world wouldn't faze the boy. Nothing could faze him. But he was wrong. The Akatsuki had shown up and tore everything to shreds.
The one thing he didn't want to happen was finally occurring. It was exactly as Fuu said—it was unsafe for him to stay in Konoha. It wasn't just unsafe for him—no, it was unsafe for everyone who lived in the village alongside him. Because of his presence, someone else's life was lost.
Naruto couldn't forgive himself.
He never would.
He would never forget the tears on Shikamaru's face, nor the sadness that had plagued everyone's mind since the tragic accident. It had been a day since the funeral, and Naruto hadn't seen Choji, or any of Team Ten for that matter, once. It was hard to miss any of the normally exuberant bunch that stood out in their own ways, and for the first time, they were nowhere to be seen. It was a shame—Konoha itself felt somber and less exciting without them.
"FUCK!" Naruto shouted into the air, trying to let out all of the anger that was stuck in his chest.
He couldn't do anything about it. That's what hurt him the most. Something had happened because of Naruto, and he couldn't even get the chance to fix it. There was no way for him to get Shikaku Nara back. Sure, there was the idea of trying to turn him into a shadow…but something about that put a bitter taste in Naruto's mouth. The shadow wasn't the actual person, and would never be. It would be tainting something pure. Secondly, getting into Nara's forest and finding that burial site again would be nearly impossible. If he were to be caught by any chance, it would be more than weird trying to explain his presence. Another gut feeling told him that Shikaku would despise being a shadow to begin with.
There was only one thing he could do.
Train.
Train until his bones shatter.
Train until all the pain goes away.
Train so that there wouldn't need to be a next time.
Train so that he didn't need to have another death resting on his shoulder.
So that's what he did.
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he pushed a ball of glowing blue chakra into the boulder right in front of him. The boulder trembled from the absurd amounts of pressure it was receiving, whining and moaning in pain as the sphere of energy pierced through its outer surface and drilled through its body.
He painted heavily as he let go of the technique and began to admire his creation. The boulder, which was once a mighty structure that represented the epitome of strength and endurance, was now merely a block of earth that was filled to the brim with holes that stretched as far as Naruto's hand could go. Holes were everywhere, with only a few inches of space between each one.
Naruto eyed his swollen hand with an impassive gaze. Red and lumpy, his right hand had definitely seen better days. Cuts and bruises that formed slowly healed, but the pain remained. That was good. Pain was merely an emotion.
Something which he could ignore for the time being.
[Iron Rasengan increased by a level!]
[Iron Rasengan is now Lvl 3!]
"Two levels…that's about as far as I can go with this for now," Naruto mumbled to himself as he slowly wrapped a long bandage over his hand. "Now, we need to start experimenting."
He kept his hands together in a very familiar way. "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Two clones appeared into thin air, looking for their orders automatically. They weren't as excitable or eager as they normally were, which was interesting to note. It seemed that they were somehow affected by the original's or the summoner's mood in some way, a fact which made no sense. Shadow clones were mere products of chakra, meaning they shouldn't be affected by emotions if the jutsu had been successful. At the same time, however, the clones were able to have distinct personalities and emotions despite being only chakra…that meant there was more to chakra than he just thought it was.
[Ding!]
[New Special Quest "The Truth" Created!]
[Quest Details: Discover the origin of chakra.]
[Quest Rewards: ???]
Naruto shivered.
The fact that this was important enough for the system to acknowledge the question with a special quest was more than telling. There had to be some sort of story behind the huge question mark that was chakra. He had a feeling that this was something which he would learn much later on during the course of his life. He shook his head, however. There was no time he mull on such vague topics.
"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing with this. But bear with me for a second. The moment I say 'Go' I need one of you to throw a punch at me, and then start alternating your punches," Naruto said calmly, stretching his neck as he did so. He took a deep breath. "Activate Observation Haki!"
He didn't need to say the skill out loud but did anyway so that the clones in front of him would understand what exactly he was doing.
[Observation Haki Lvl 1 Activated!]
An otherworldly feeling seemed to take over Naruto's vision. A sixth sense. It was a strange feeling, almost like he had another pair of eyes over his head that watched everything in the third person. Weird. Other than that, it felt totally normal.
"Go."
A punch straight for his sternum flew with great speed but was cleanly avoided by a turn to the right by around forty degrees. The next punch that was aimed at his chest was simply backstepped. A surprise kick was ducked under. Punch. Kick. Punch. Punch. Kick. Punc—
Naruto's eyes widened. "Go."
He turned his body instinctively, dodging the hand that pierced through the air where his sternum once was. Naruto took a step back, dodging another punch. The kick which was supposed to be a surprise wasn't one anymore, and a simple duck was more than enough to avoid it.
They couldn't touch him.
"Stop," Naruto said at once. "That was…interesting."
"Interesting?" One of the clones repeated. "That was amazing! You managed to dodge everything like you already knew it was coming. There was quite literally nothing I could do to hit you."
The other clone nodded in agreement, but clearly not as enthusiastic as the first one. "You're able to predict our moves?"
Naruto nodded. "It's almost like I see a few seconds into the future. The imagery is vividly clear. And you guys followed through with what the 'dream' versions of you two did as well. Observation Haki is somehow able to predict your movements. Let's do some more tests."
They were in for a long night.
[—-NTLS—-]
Naruto lazily got up from bed. Yesterday was filled with stressful hours on his body, resulting in several aches and pains that wracked everything from head to toe. His testing with Observation Haki had run for several minutes before his MP started becoming low, meaning he had to focus on other things. Physical training. Spars against Zabuza and Haku, with an occasional bout with Tayuya who was beginning to show improvements in her base speed and strength.
He brushed his teeth as he looked at himself in the mirror. It was a sad sight to say the least. His eyes were droopy, and dark circles invaded the space beneath his eyelids. Naruto's hair was growing a bit long, no longer the spiky hair that lifted up at all angles. Bands of golden locks bonded together to form thick bands that went downward over his forehead, reaching his eyebrows. Naruto wet his hands and tried pushing the mess backward in hopes of fixing it. No such luck. Ugh, I really don't wanna get a haircut right now.
He had his regular breakfast—a glass of milk along with a fruit. He preferred to go light because the amount of exercise he was about to do didn't sit well on his stomach when he was full beforehand. He kept on his regular clothes and not his Chuunin vest because he didn't have an official mission today. It was actually protocol to keep his Chuunin vest on at all times as there could be an emergency mission at any time of the day, but Naruto couldn't bother with all that. It wasn't like there was anyone who didn't already know that he was a Chuunin.
He made his way to the usual training ground that he used and proceeded to waste no time in beginning his training.
His morning exercise, mostly modeled after Lee's schedule, was a grueling one. Filled with strenuous workouts and various activities along with weights that added upon the pressure—it wasn't easy.
Naruto panted and fell to his knees once he was done with the last push-up.
[Ding!]
[Dexterity has leveled up!]
Sweet! Naruto thought as he pumped his fist into the ground.
"Are you done with your warm-up?" A familiar voice asked from behind him.
For blond tilted his head backward. "Old man?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had his one arm on top of a large staff as he slowly walked forward. "Yes, I'm old. And I'm a man. I'm sure there's others that fit that description as well, so why am I the only one who has to go by that less-than-flattering moniker?"
Naruto blinked. "Cus' you're the old man."
"Is that so?" Hiruzen said, chuckling. "Now, are you ready for our training?"
"Is that still happening?"
The ex-Hokage smiled sheepishly. "Ahh…I'm sorry about that. It looks like I deeply underestimated just how much work I still had left. It wasn't as easy as just handing over things to Tsunade and leaving it forever. The transition from Hokage to a regular man isn't an easy one, to say the least. But enough of that. How is your summon doing?"
"Sun? He's doing good, the last time I checked. He's as battle-crazy as me, and is pretty much training all day."
"Good, good. Make sure to keep your relationship with your summon as close as possible. There should always be as much trust as possible between the summon and the summoner. Your summon will save your life more times than you count in the future—I'm saying this from experience. Now, what do you think today's lesson will be?"
"What is it?" Naruto asked interestedly.
Hiruzen weaved his fingers through this goatee. "Let's see…let's call it a deep dive into chakra. I'll try to teach you some things about chakra that I've noticed through decades of practice. Ideally, you should learn these things on your own, but little shortcuts in life have never hurt anyone, have they?"
"Yep!"
Hiruzen kept a finger up. "To begin with, what do you imagine your chakra as?"
Naruto closed his eyes and felt for his chakra.
"Hmm…a big ball? Yeah, that's about right."
"That's normal. In fact, that's what most people think of it as. Do you know what I see? I see a massive waterfall falling from the sky, and an old man coming every now and then to fill his small cup with water."
He kept his hand in a seal. And breathed out. Mist poured out of his mouth and went upwards, before rapidly falling downwards. The vapor pooled at the bottom before slowly dissipating into the air.
A waterfall.
"You need to create a new system for your chakra entirely. A big ball, as you put it, is inefficient. There's no accuracy, no imagination, and no way to change things. It's better that you start this the younger you are. If I were to ask someone like Kakashi to begin changing the shape of his chakra source, it would most likely be more detrimental than useful. You, on the other hand, are young enough that change is accepted by your mind."
"What should I change it to?" Naruto asked curiously.
"It's your body, your chakra. I can't decide it for you. Everyone's experiences in life change them in certain ways that they can't really explain to others. Now, onto the advantages of this system. You noticed how I made that pretty waterfall earlier, didn't I?"
"Yeah…"
"How did I do it?"
Naruto paused. How? Well, it clearly wasn't a jutsu of any kind. So how did the vapor rise and dramatically fall like that? Why didn't I immediately question it when I saw it?
"Well, it was a bit of an unfair question," Hiruzen admitted. "The truth is, I used both fire release and water release continuously. The water release was obviously for the original production of water. The fire release was to excite the particles, decreasing its density and allowing it to rise. Then the inverse of the second step to lower the temperature of the vapor, letting it sink instead. Now, tell me what's missing from my explanation."
Naruto snapped his fingers in understanding. "You used wind release as well, didn't you? That's the only way to explain some of those movements that mimicked liquid water."
"Good," his teacher said with a smile. "So, do you think you can do any of that normally? The answer is yes, you can. But it's a hell of a lot harder. The imagery that I created helps in fine control and tuning of the chakra. I control the amount of chakra by altering the size of the cup, and the type of chakra is decided by the color that I assign to said cup. If I bring two cups at once, that means I'm trying to use two types of chakra at once. That's an overview on the simultaneous casting of chakra types. Step one of the deep dive into advanced chakra control."
"What's step two?"
"Single hand casting. Very crucial for someone with one hand, wouldn't you say? Hmm…I want you to choose an image for your chakra source. The method of chakra extraction will take a bit longer. For now, pick your storage vessel. As you already know, mine is a waterfall."
"I'll try."
Naruto closed his eyes. A source, eh?
He felt his chakra. The big ball of energy that he never paid attention to before felt lackluster now. It was a beautiful thing. Too beautiful to be contained in such a primitive shape. He heard it now. The chakra was crying…screaming to be heard and appreciated.
I've got you.
I'll neglect you no further.
It started as water from the tap.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Then it became a river.
A flood of water entered his vision and stayed there.
Whoosh.
Everything was blue.
He was drowning.
Naruto opened his eyes, breathing heavily, his eyes dilated.
"You've got an idea?" Hiruzen asked interestedly.
"No…I've formed my source."
Two eyebrows raised upwards. "Well done! What is it? A mountain? A lake?"
Naruto shook his head.
"An ocean."
[End]
My Pa tre on is back online for those who want to read THREE chapters or THREE WEEKS ahead (chapters 57, 58, 59) and support my endeavor to become an author. So if you can't wait for the next update–check out:
P a treon . com (slash) PaladinKaladin
Hope you liked the chapter! The death of Shikaku Nara will have serious effects, and won't be forgotten so easily. Anyways, Hiruzen is back. He was busy for a bit but managed to get some time out for Naruto.
Ly all 3 thanks for reading and cya' next week!
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