Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 20 CHAKRA NATURE

“These are chakra induction nature sheets,” my father said. There were thousands of the small 3 inch by 3 inch sheets of paper on the table in front of us. “Clans in the area raise trees with chakra as nutrients then make this paper out of them. They are specifically attuned for this sort of testing. What you will do is channel your chakra through them. Reina has been training you on how to bring it out of your hands, so this should be easy.” 

I nodded. The lust chakra had been easy to learn when the prize was being able to make women quiver with pleasure. I had never worked so hard in my life to figure out a technique. 

“When you channel chakra into the sheets of paper they would react depending on your primary chakra type. Crumble up if you use lightning, tear in half if you can use wind, become soggy for water, burn for fire, crumble away for Earth. Most people have 2 types of chakra. You have Lust Element as your main chakra like I do.” 

“What happens if I channel lust into them?”

“Test it out,” my father said with a confident smile. I grabbed one of the thin pieces of paper. It felt like newspaper to me. Flimsy and easily burned. I channeled lust chakra into it. Nothing happened. I channeled more. My father noticed my confusion. “Lick it.” 

I frowned but did. “It tastes sweet.” 

“Exactly. Shadow element would have made the paper darken, crystal would have made it harden, etcetera,” father said. “Normally you find your second chakra nature after a lot of training, but lust isn’t the best at protecting yourself. We find it easier to simply do this a lot. You will be using all of these pieces of paper until we find out what you have. Like winning the lottery, it will be found at some point.” 

I gulped. There were thousands of tiny sheets. “Begin,” father said. “Find me if you get it.” I nodded and began. It was monotonous work. At first I had to test how much chakra it took to get a reaction from the paper. I would have to channel chakra for about 3 whole seconds before the paper became naturally sweet. After that I monotonously went through the papers.

I didn’t test if all were sweet, but if there was no change after 3 seconds I dropped it. It took 4 hours to get a change. At first I thought I was seeing things, but after continuing to channel chakra the paper became noticeably soggy. Running to my father’s study I showed him the results of my labors. 

“Water Element? Good,” he said with a smile. “You finished earlier than I expected. It’s still early. I think your trainer will still be available.” 

“Trainer?” I asked. “Already?” 

“I knew you would either be water or earth. I am earth element and your mother is water. But she is busy with the household. I was able to get a trainer that is an expert of both elements just in case.” 

“Both?” I asked. He nodded but was soon running us off to the administrative section of the ninja academy. After some running around between people I was taken to meet someone I actually knew. More specifically knew of. 

“Yamato,” my father said with a nod. The stoic man turned around to look at us. He was the substitute for Kakashi for Team 7 after Kakashi was hurt. He eventually became one of Naruto’s trainers. A master of the earth and water elements, he was able to mix it to make wood. I knew there was some drama with him and Orochimaru as well but I couldn’t remember. He was a clone of the founders of the village or something. 

Yamato was a big man. About 6 feet tall he had a tuft of brown hair. I knew he was part of ANBU, the Konoha special forces or assassins, but I wasn’t sure what he was doing currently. He had rings around his eyes and an emotionless stare. 

“This him?” Yamato asked, looking down at me. 

“Yes, sir,” I said reaching out my hand. We shook and he nodded. 

“Have figured out what you wish to train?” 

“I seem to have the water element,” I said. “But I don’t know how to call just that.”

“That’s fine. We can work on that. Thank you Watanabe,” he said with a nod to my father. 

“Thank you, Yamato,” my father said with a slight bow and was off. 

“I hear you wish to train this for the upcoming Chunin exam,” Yamato said. Turning to walk away I followed. 

“Yes sir,” I said. “I want to be as ready as possible. I can really only use Genjutsu in a fight. Which if my foes are expecting it, Genjutsu is easy to defend against.” 

“Very true,” Yamato said as we walked out of the administrative building. “I know of your main element.” I nodded. I had hoped he did. “We will first be working on distinguishing between the 2 when you use them. How many chakra sheets did you go through to figure water out?”

“4 hours…at least 1,200 sheets,” I admitted. 

“Not bad. I’ve seen it take 5,000 before.” We continued to walk in a direction he led us. “I don’t know if you know this, but I am a master of the Earth and Water element. I too had to learn to distinguish between them. It is all about mindset. And to consistently work on awakening your Water Element we will be going through 6 stages of training.” 

“6?” I asked. I remembered 3 or 4 for Naruto when he awakened wind. He had to cut a leaf, cut a waterfall, then…maybe that was it. Sure felt like a long time for him to awaken it.

“Of course,” Yamato said. “There are less steps if it is your primary element, but since this is a secondary we will have to add steps. You have a month. I believe we can get through the first 5 steps in that time. If you do nothing but that.”

“5 stages? But-but I was hoping to learn a new technique,” I said. 

“That would be impossible,” he said. “Unless you’re an ultra genius. You won’t be able to learn the full use of water element in that time.” 

I frowned, remembering that Sasuke learned lightning and Chidori within that time. I wasn’t a genius, but I did know Naruto’s method for learning. I stayed silent. I began to prep myself to focus on learning water element. There could be no distractions…maybe Reina and Hina, but that was it. 

“Whatever I have to do,” I said. Yamato nodded as we stopped in front of a pond near the edge of town. “Your first step will be to distinguish between and actively call upon your specific elements. We need to consistently be able to make the chakra induction paper wet. The best way to do that is while in water.” 

“Why’s that?” I asked. 

“No idea. The elements are just that, elements. Your feelings and emotions affect which element you are using. For some reason, standing in water makes you mirror that. You will continue to charge chakra paper in the water until you get the feel for it and can switch between the 2 types on land. Do you understand?” I nodded. 

“Good,” He said pulling out a stack of the papers. “The more time you spend learning this step. The more quickly we will move. If you’re lucky maybe you can pass through all 6 steps before the exam.” 

I nodded and created 2 shadow clones. My chakra was about 8 times what it was when I arrived in the world. I didn’t have Naruto’s skill but I was getting there. 

“What are you doing?” Yamato asked. 

“These are shadow clones,” I said. “Since I will receive all of their experience and memories I figured I would get 3 times as much training if I used them too.”

“Interesting,” Yamato said. “I don’t know if that will work, but it’s worth a shot.” We nodded and stepped into the water. We took stacks of paper. Feet soaking in the water only after 10 sheets was I able to make it soggy. Amazed we continued to do it. When we got to about 1 out of every 2 I ended the shadow clones. Absorbing their memories instantly I processed the information. We had all come to the same conclusion. Thinking of cold, flowing, calm, and wetness made me draw it out easier. I charged another 10 sheets like that, and all 10 became soggy. 

With a smile I stepped out of the water. Doing the same another 1 out of 3 were soggy. Focusing harder than I ever had before I pictured being submerged in water as I channeled the chakra. Eventually every paper sheet was wet. 

“Amazing,” Yamato said. “And your main element?” 

I nodded. Thinking of Reina my chakra was back to lust instantly. Imagining being at the bottom of the ocean, the paper became wet. 

“Wow,” Yamato said. “Very good. Perhaps you will reach all 6 stages…but you are exhausted. We will pick this up tomorrow. I looked at him oddly but then stumbled. Dizzy and tired, the exhaustion hit me instantly. Almost losing consciousness I had never used so much chakra in a day. Barely making it home I wasn’t even able to enjoy the girls. 

—

The next few weeks passed in a daze. I would wake up. Meet Yamato at the pond outside of town, and train. The other steps weren’t completed in a day. I tried, calling upon my shadow clones as much as I could. But after a week I barely had my chakra replenished when I tried again. A good reaction from using my chakra so much I felt much more confident with it, but I was a zombie by the end. 

The second step of the awakening was to control a drop of water. Using my chakra like a grabber arm I had to pull out a single drop. It took intense focus. My water element chakra was able to control and interact with water. I had to condense it and try to keep just a drop in the air. That took me 2 full days to get done. 

After that I had to control more water. About a fistful of water held by just my chakra, it felt like trying to lift a person over my head. There was no margin for error as I made a water balloon-like enclosure of chakra to hold the water. That took me another 4 days to get right.

The 4th stage was a huge amount of water. Car sized. I had to pull it out of the pond about 20 feet out. Sending my chakra out it was a pain in the ass to not be able to see it like Hinata could. I had to feel it move through the air and scoop the water. The interesting thing was it really did feel like a muscle. My reserves of chakra had been depleted so many times I slowly got used to being low on strength. Gripping the huge reservoir of water like picking up a glass of water I was able to lift it about a foot off the water. That took 10 whole days. 

Of course the step after that was to make an orb of the huge amount of water. Smoothing it out I couldn’t let it be an unruly water balloon thrown in the air. It had to be perfect with no blemishes. Every day I controlled the water. Getting better and better each time. Able to lift and manipulate it easier and easier. The step took only 5 days this time. And I was able to hold up a bus sized amount of water without much control of it. I was getting stronger day by day, and I loved it. 

The 6th and final step was to actually create water from my chakra. I hadn’t thought of that. Naruto was able to create wind, of course my chakra could turn into water. I couldn’t drink it of course, since it was water natured chakra, but I could use it as an attack when no water was present. 

All of the other steps had led up to that point. I had bathed in water for hours on end, feeling it around me. Trying to understand the unruly nature of it. Making my mind as much like water as I could. I thought of the Bruce Lee quote. “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, and it becomes the bottle.”

My chakra was water. There was no other way to think about it. Condensing it. Forming it how I wanted. My chakra became the bottle. It became my weapon. What I needed to win the tournament that was destined to be interrupted. But I had to do my best. The past had already changed during the preliminary fight. I needed to do well, and get an amazing reward from my quest. 

On the 3rd day my chakra turned into water. A thick stream of violent rapid like water it shot out of my hand like a kamehameha. Yamato was as proud as I was when it succeeded. I had been using chakra replenishers for days because the technique required so much chakra to be condensed down. And it had paid off. 

“I didn’t think you would make it,” Yamato said. “Took me 2 months to get to this stage kid.” 

I nodded. Tears in my eyes I had completed something that I had been working on singularly for 25 days. I had 5 days until the tournament for the Chunin exam. 5 days to learn the proper utility of my elements. 

“What?” Yamato asked. 

I noticed I was frowning. “I uh, don’t know if this is going to help in my fight.”

“No,” Yamato said. “Maybe a little, or maybe a lot. You could go up against the Uchiha, he has the fire element.”

“And lightning,” I said with a frown. Water was weak to lightning. 

“Yeah, well you can’t plan for everything, kid. If you had more time, maybe…” 

That reminded me of something. Something I had nearly forgotten as I lived in the Naruto world. I had all the time I needed. I brought up my Status Screen. 

I hadn’t failed my other world quests. That meant that time had to have stopped in them. If I left this world, maybe I could train somewhere else. A smile slowly split my face.

“Would you mind showing me an attack with water chakra?” I asked. 

“Of course,” Yamato said. “You won’t have time to learn it, but you can work toward it. These are the hand forms you use to release the chakra.” He began to cast chakra in the water and a great dragon serpent made of water rose up in the air. Flowing over the water it crashed into a line of trees knocking many down in a huge tsunami wave. I was impressed and excited. I had a goal to reach. 

Without too much hesitation I said, “World Escape.” 

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM