"Teacher! Can't I really learn it now?"
Having seen the power of the Rasengan, Naruto turned back again and asked Hagoromo.
Hagoromo nodded solemnly and said without yielding an inch, "That's right. If you don't have a certain foundation in Chakra control, learning this would only harm you."
"A foundation in Chakra control?"
Naruto frowned when he heard this. After all, he hadn't learned about that yet.
Even after graduating from the Ninja Academy, Naruto would only learn Tree Climbing and Water Walking under Kakashi's guidance, let alone now.
"Then, teacher, can I learn the basics of Chakra control first?"
Seeing this, Naruto hurriedly asked for a different goal.
"You can."
Hagoromo had already been thinking of doing that, so he nodded immediately.
He then turned and went to a towering tree near the training ground. Under Naruto's horrified gaze,
he quickly walked up it at a ninety-degree angle, as if he were walking on level ground.
"Th-this... this is so cool!"
Naruto's eyes shone brilliantly as he looked at Hagoromo standing leisurely atop the tree and shouted.
Having successfully demonstrated, Hagoromo dispersed the Chakra beneath his feet and jumped down in a free fall.
Just before reaching the ground, he released Chakra from his feet and landed steadily.
"Naruto, this is the first step in Chakra control: Tree Climbing."
"The principle is to cover the soles of our feet with Chakra to create a force of adhesion. With that force, you can do what I just did."
"Do you understand?"
With that, Hagoromo looked at Naruto beside him.
Naruto folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. After a long while, he shook his head.
Smack—
Hagoromo slapped Naruto on the head and said irritably,
"If you didn't understand, why did you put on such a self-assured look?"
"Ow!"
Naruto clutched his head, crying out in pain as he explained,
"Teacher, you made it too complicated. I couldn't understand."
"..."
Hagoromo looked at Naruto, somewhat speechless. He had already tried to make his explanation as simple as possible, but he hadn't expected Naruto still not to understand.
There was no helping it. Naruto was his disciple, so he had to teach him one way or another.
After psyching himself up several times, Hagoromo spoke again.
"Have you seen a suction cup, Naruto?"
Hearing this, Naruto quickly nodded to show that he had.
"To climb a tree, you control Chakra and make it cling to the soles of your feet, so they become like suction cups and can stick to things."
"Do you understand it that way?"
"Now I understand, teacher!"
Naruto struck his right palm with his left fist and said confidently, "Then, teacher, can I give it a try?"
"Go ahead."
Hagoromo tilted his head, indicating that Naruto could start whenever he was ready.
Naruto went to the tree and brought his hands together, forming a hand seal to draw out his Chakra and gradually gather it beneath his feet.
Once he was ready, Naruto planted his right foot directly on the trunk.
He tugged at it to make sure it was sticking, then quickly brought up his left foot.
The next moment, he was standing sideways on the trunk at a ninety-degree angle.
"Teacher! I did it!"
Naruto looked up at Hagoromo, his face full of excitement.
But the very next second, he fell straight down and landed on his back.
Hagoromo pressed his right fist against his brow, feeling utterly helpless.
Popping champagne the moment you step onto the field? If you don't fall, who will?
Naruto hurriedly got up, clutching his back. He didn't dare turn around, afraid Hagoromo would scold him the next moment.
He quickly repeated the steps from before and walked onto the trunk again. This time, he didn't dare show off.
Looking at the straight trunk, he slowly walked up it, one step at a time.
At first, it was fine; he wasn't far from the ground.
But as Naruto walked higher and higher, the wind kept blowing around him.
Naruto couldn't help looking down. Teacher Hagoromo had already become very small.
The dizzying height made Naruto, who had never climbed so high before, swallow.
A drop of cold sweat slid down his face, and the Chakra beneath his feet became erratic.
The next second, Naruto fell straight toward the ground.
"Aah—!"
Naruto flailed wildly, screaming all the while.
Hagoromo immediately pushed off the ground, swiftly caught the falling Naruto, and returned to the ground.
He looked at Naruto, who was still thrashing about in his arms like a fish out of water.
"All right, I've caught you."
Hearing this, Naruto stopped flailing and opened his eyes.
He saw Hagoromo's irritated expression.
Naruto hurriedly jumped down and waited meekly for Hagoromo's criticism.
"Naruto, mental energy is an important foundation for controlling Chakra."
"So you can't be nervous. Once you get nervous, you'll lose control of your Chakra."
Hagoromo didn't criticize Naruto. After all, the Nine-Tails had fallen asleep for the time being.
And without the interference of Nine-Tails Chakra, Naruto's performance just now, compared with his later performance in the story, when he and Sasuke needed a whole day to succeed in their practice,
couldn't have been more perfect.
Learning wasn't something that happened overnight. When a student made progress, he had to praise him.
And it wasn't as if Naruto couldn't do it. He had just been nervous for a moment because it was his first time at such a height, which was understandable.
After all, people had an innate fear of heights.
"There was nothing wrong with how you climbed the tree. You just need to overcome your body's fear of heights."
"I think once you've overcome it, Tree Climbing will be easy for you."
As he spoke, Hagoromo also patted Naruto's hair to comfort him.
"Yes, teacher! I understand!"
Naruto looked up again, as if he had been given a new lease on life, and replied with a smile.
Hagoromo said no more and simply told Naruto to continue.
As he watched Naruto climb the tree again, Hagoromo pondered.
Besides Water Walking, perhaps he would have to add a few more exercises later to improve Naruto's Chakra control.
After all, Naruto had been able to learn Tree Climbing so quickly because the Nine-Tails wasn't interfering.
But once the Nine-Tails woke up and interfered again,
if Naruto relied only on his current practice, it would be far from enough to control his Chakra.
What was more, the building he already had might collapse, and practicing again could be even harder than it had been in the original story.
But what methods were there to practice Chakra control?
Hagoromo searched his memories of looking for information in the Konoha Library. Before, he hadn't had a system and could only rely on himself for everything.
And the library was the only way for civilian ninjas to learn about such things.
I've got it!
Hagoromo thought of one method, though it wasn't from Konoha. It was a Land of Wind Chakra control training method that had been seized on the battlefield.
Because this method made no difference to Konoha whether it had it or not,
it had been placed in the library.
Chakra Threads, a combat method used by Sunagakure's puppeteers.