Training and Chakra Nature Transformation

"Ice Release: Dragon-Breaking Fierce Tiger!"

A tiger made of ice slammed into the Water Dragon Bullet! The water dragon was utterly helpless against it and shattered, scattering water that pattered down like a heavy rain!

When we looked again, Zabuza had vanished from the surface of the water without a trace...

"Did he retreat, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I'm afraid so... For now, stay on guard here while we rest!" Kakashi sat down first and pulled his Forehead Protector down over his Sharingan. "I'm already getting tired, and Zabuza must be even more tired after fighting our whole team alone. I don't think he'll be back anytime soon. Sakura-"

"Got it!" I made several Shadow Clones to keep watch around us, just in case. I hadn't noticed during the fight, but now I saw two puddles near Sasuke and Naruto too. It looked like they hadn't had an easy time either!

"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke suddenly asked, "why-"

"You want to ask about the Sharingan?"

"That's right. The Sharingan... is a special trait that only a few members of the Uchiha Clan have. Why-"

"Hold on, what's this Sharingan you're talking about, anyway?" Naruto cut in.

"The Sharingan is a special Dōjutsu. Someone with those eyes can see through Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu in an instant... They can even copy an enemy's Ninjutsu on the spot!" Sasuke explained.

"That's right. The Sharingan gives someone a huge boost in combat power. Anyone who has it can become a master among masters!" I glanced at Sasuke and added my own comment.

"I'm not a member of the Uchiha Clan. As for where my Sharingan came from..." For a moment, Kakashi seemed to be lost in a sea of memories. "That's a long story."

The three of us immediately looked at Kakashi expectantly, ready to hear it.

"So I won't tell it!"

"Kakashi-sensei, how can you do that?! You got our hopes up and now you won't tell us! Don't you know how frustrating that is?!" Naruto complained without holding back!

"Whew! I'm rested. Let's keep moving! It isn't safe here!" Kakashi-sensei once again ignored our looks of disdain!

The Land of Waves, Tazuna's house.

After a night's rest, the next morning.

"Zabuza will very likely attack again, so we'd better prepare," Kakashi told us, leading us into the woods. "I've arranged some special training for you!"

"But Zabuza could come back at any moment. How are we supposed to train under these circumstances?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't worry. Zabuza didn't get away unscathed either. He'll need at least a few days to recover!" Kakashi held up three fingers. "That's enough time for you to finish your special training and gain the strength to fight back if more enemies come. In the meantime, Sakura and I can handle the job of protecting them!"

"Before we start training, let me give you a quick explanation of chakra-"

"Chakra? What's that? I feel like I've heard of it, but then again, maybe I haven't." Naruto looked completely lost.

"Idiot!! Where did all those explanations of chakra I gave you go?! Get them into your head already!" I rapped Naruto hard on the head without mercy!

"All right, all right. Sorry for the trouble, Sakura, but could you give them a detailed explanation?" Kakashi looked rather exasperated.

"Listen up! Chakra is energy produced by the perfect fusion of spiritual energy and physical energy. It's the energy needed to use Ninjutsu. Physical energy is the energy drawn from each of the ten trillion cells in the human body, one cell at a time. The other kind is spiritual energy, tempered through extensive training and accumulated experience."

"That sounds complicated, but even if you don't know all that, can't your body just remember it?"

"Right. You can still use Ninjutsu without knowing it, can't you?" Sasuke didn't seem to care either.

"You're wrong! That alone isn't enough to control chakra completely! To truly control chakra perfectly, you should be like Sakura!"

After a great deal of talking, Kakashi and I finally explained the importance of chakra control and the point of Tree Climbing practice. They finally understood that the chakra control exercises I usually did weren't just me playing around.

"That hurts!" Naruto fell after climbing only a few steps, and Sasuke didn't do much better. I'd told those two before that this exercise was useful, but they'd dismissed it as basic training and couldn't see the point, so they refused to put in the work. Now they were paying for it!

Still, compared with the original story, they at least had some foundation. Maybe they really could finish in three days!

"As for you, Sakura, let's train somewhere else."

Another clearing in the woods.

"At the moment, the only way for you to quickly improve your combat power is to perfect your other set of Water Release techniques, the ones using ultrapure water. Right now, everything hinges on producing Blue Water. If you can make large quantities of it, then the other issues won't be problems for you, right?"

"I'm not good at solving problems the way you do, but perhaps I can give you some ideas from another angle."

"If I remember correctly, you mastered the nature transformation of water-natured chakra when you were nine."

Kakashi looked at me as he spoke.

"That's right. I learned Ninjutsu quickly, and Dad didn't have anything left to teach me at the time, so he had me practice nature transformation."

"Everyone focuses on different aspects when they master nature transformation. So, what's your understanding of water nature transformation?"

I cleared my throat and began to speak at length.

"Because there are five nature transformations, a lot of people confuse them with the five elements. I think that's completely wrong. If you believe the elements of fire, earth, wind, lightning, and fire come from nature transformation, then if the environment already contains elements like fire, earth, wind, and lightning, you should be able to use release techniques without nature transformation. That's a completely mistaken idea."

"That's just chakra mimicking something, taking the form of elements we're familiar with. They only have properties similar to the elements found in nature; their essence is completely different. Clearly, chakra mimicking the five elements is no different in essence from chakra mimicking oil, poison, snakes, or various weapons. So why should oil be considered a conversion of chakra, while water comes from nature transformation?"

"Wind Release nature transformation is [cutting], not [forming wind]. Fire Style nature transformation is [high temperature] and [combustion], not [forming fire]. By the same logic, Water Release nature transformation obviously isn't [forming water], but [flow]."

I told Kakashi everything I'd learned over the years.

"[Flow]?" Kakashi asked.

"Exactly. Isn't that the very reason this nature transformation is called [water]? It's because it flows that it has impact force and can defend against impacts. That's why Water Clones are highly mobile but have poor defenses. In a water environment, like a lake or river, their weakness of dispersing after one hit is made up for, which makes Ninjutsu like Five Feeding Sharks especially troublesome."

Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks was a powerful B-rank Water Release technique that released five sharks from the user's five fingers to devour enemies underwater. If the sharks were attacked and destroyed in the water, they would automatically repair themselves. In the original story, Kisame Hoshigaki had used this technique and its vastly advanced version, Thousand Feeding Sharks. They were extremely troublesome.

"Because the environment has such a huge effect on Water Release, it's important to use a large amount of chakra at the start of a battle to create favorable conditions. That's why many people believe a good Water Release ninja must first have a large amount of chakra. The second series of Ninjutsu I created is less Water Release than Yin Release, or Azure Water Release, because the techniques in this series need neither nature transformation nor shape transformation. I use water summoned from nature or water I've stored."

"Then have you ever thought about adding Water Release nature transformation to your Ninjutsu? Perhaps that's the key to solving the problem?"

I thought for a moment. "How would I add it?"

Although the water blade series of Ninjutsu used natural water for high-pressure cutting, the core secret-creating ultrahigh pressure—was accomplished with chakra water. So the series was pure Water Release Ninjutsu. But the core secret of Azure Water Release was no longer ordinary water or chakra water, but ultrapure water known as Blue Water. Was there really anywhere Water Release nature transformation could be used in it?

"I don't know. It's just a suggestion. Maybe it'll give you an idea," Kakashi admitted readily.

"...No, that won't work. If that's what you mean, I've actually thought about it already. The most I came up with was this-"

I held out my right hand and produced an enormous amount of chakra. Without making any Hand Seals, I formed a wildly spinning ball of chakra in my hand!

"Water Release: Spiraling Vortex!"

"Wait, isn't that—and you even added nature transformation-!" Kakashi stared in shock at the chakra ball in my hand!

That's right. This was the Rasengan, an S-rank Ninjutsu with water nature transformation added and an incredibly high rotational speed!!

"Uh, this was actually a centrifuge. I originally wanted to use one to purify water, so I developed this. It didn't work, but I seem to have accidentally developed an incredible Ninjutsu. It just uses a bit too much chakra to be practical; one shot and I'm down... So I've never used it. Speaking of which, doesn't this move look a little like the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan? Huh, Kakashi-sensei? Kakashi-sensei?!"

That wasn't just a little similar. It was the Rasengan through and through! And not an ordinary Rasengan, but the advanced version with nature transformation that the Fourth, his teacher, hadn't lived to develop: the incredibly powerful S-rank Ninjutsu, Water Release: Rasengan Vortex!!

Though he'd been told again and again that the young girl before him was a genius, Kakashi now understood just how feeble words could be. Sakura Haruno, a girl who had only just begun to develop, had at the age of just one already developed a series of S-rank water blades and an S-rank Rasengan that the brilliantly gifted Yellow Flash had never managed to complete before his death. At the same time, she was developing a new Water Release that surpassed S-rank and the Shinobi World's understanding of Water Release!

The waves behind drove the waves ahead. Kakashi had always thought he was among those doing the pushing, but at this moment, he suddenly felt he had already been left dead on the shore.

If she had chakra to match her talent—no, even chakra a level or two weaker-then in another two years, she could probably thrash him with her Water Release...? Kakashi felt both relieved and regretful.

Seeing that Kakashi-sensei's mind was wandering, I quickly waved a hand to call him back.

Come to think of it, I really hadn't thought of the Rasengan while developing this Ninjutsu. I'd simply needed an extremely high rotational speed, so I made a rapidly spinning chakra ball and added Water Release nature transformation. And instead of pure chakra like the Rasengan used, I'd used water mimicked by chakra. Later, I accidentally discovered that this Ninjutsu was very effective for attacking, so I streamlined the unnecessary parts and increased the amount of chakra-good grief, wasn't that just the Rasengan? And a Water Release: Rasengan at that! No wonder I'd made it so easily back then. I'd done this kind of practice before!

In short, I'd accidentally stolen another one of Naruto's moves.

"Then if Water Release won't work, what about Wind Release? Or Ice Release, the combination of Wind and Water Release?" Kakashi remembered the Ice Release technique that had saved Zabuza.

"Well... I haven't practiced that before. I've never done Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation. My nature is water!"

"That's true, but ninja can develop other natures later in life. Jonin usually know two or more nature transformations," Kakashi said, having found a rare chance to feel like a teacher. "For example, I know lightning and earth."

"Huh?! I didn't know that! So which nature transformation should I develop?"

"The five basic nature transformations and Yin-Yang Release make six in total. Usually, you just pick one you have an affinity for that can complement your Ninjutsu. The one you have the greatest affinity for is obviously Yin Release. You were born with strong spiritual energy, so you'd naturally get twice the result with half the effort using Yin Release, but..."

"But what?"

"Your teacher doesn't know Yin Release transformation either! My Genjutsu is actually pretty ordinary!" Kakashi-sensei scratched his head sheepishly.

"What?!" Kakashi, you're playing with my feelings!

"In any case, I've mastered both lightning and earth nature transformations. And although I haven't practiced wind nature transformation, I know plenty about it, more than enough to teach you. So which one do you want?"

"Earth Release and Water Release can combine to make Wood Release, and Wind Release and Water Release can combine to make Ice Release... I really want to learn both! Kakashi-sensei, do you have any suggestions?"

"Forget about Wood Release. So far, no one has succeeded except the First Hokage. Earth Release Ninjutsu also uses quite a bit of chakra, so I'd recommend learning Wind Release! Adding the property of sharpness would help your Ninjutsu, and it doesn't use much chakra. If you want to study Ice Release afterward, information on it isn't hard to find. Quite a few people actually know it. More importantly, wouldn't Wind Release be a bit more reliable than Earth Release for purification?"

"I'll give it a try! If Wind Release doesn't work, I'll learn Earth Release too!"

Kakashi handed me a few leaves. "Hold a leaf between your palms and cut it with your chakra. Keep at it until you can slice it clean in two. Didn't you learn the Shadow Clone Technique from Naruto? Make a few Shadow Clones and practice at the same time! Shadow Clones are also a way to cheat and speed up your training. With your ability, you can control how much chakra goes to your Shadow Clones instead of dividing it equally. But don't make too many. You still need to save half your chakra for the mission!"

"Also, although your spiritual energy is very strong, be careful not to release all your Shadow Clones at once. Otherwise, the accumulated fatigue will do you serious harm..."

"For the next few days, I'll stand guard at the house. When they go out, you go with them and protect them. Understood?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Then do your best! Sakura, I'm really looking forward to seeing how long it takes you to master Wind Release nature transformation!"

I'm also looking forward to the moment you add Wind Release nature transformation to the Rasengan... Minato-sensei, you are too, aren't you?

"Just watch!" When it came to Ninjutsu, I was super confident!

"Maybe I'll even be faster than those two!" I stared straight into Kakashi's eyes, where my confident smile was reflected!

Early morning, three days later, in the woods.

Naruto and Sasuke had trained all night and fallen asleep right there on the grass...

A figure slowly approached Sasuke, a right hand quietly reaching toward his neck-

"-That's cold!" Sasuke woke with a startled cry, waking Naruto in the process.

"Huh? What's this-"

I opened my hand and smiled at them!

In my hand was a crystal-clear object, giving off waves of cold!

[PS: Um... Seeing our book reach the first page of the weekly recommendations, I really want it to stay there a little longer~~ So I'm continuing to ask for recommendations, bookmarks, and comments~!]