Chakra Nature

"Yui... you're amazing..."

Nai Hyuga was generous with her praise for Yui's performance.

Yui smiled, then shook her head.

"Hmm... was this your first time throwing shuriken?" Yamada Hideko asked. "Your throwing stance was fairly good, but you applied force the wrong way."

Yamada Hideko began demonstrating how to put force into a shuriken throw.

When she heard that her teacher would demonstrate for her, Yui paid close attention.

After listening to Yamada Hideko's explanation for a while, she seemed to have a sudden flash of understanding.

She picked up a shuriken, wanting to try again.

But Yamada Hideko stopped her.

"Yui, it's time for the next activity," Yamada Hideko said. "We might run out of time. If you want to practice, please wait until after class."

Hearing that, Yui could only withdraw her hand sheepishly.

"Come on, let's go to the training ground."

On the training ground, Yamada Hideko gathered all the students together.

"All right, all right. Next, we'll move on to our next exercise."

"Pair up for one-on-one training."

"Remember to form the Seal of Reconciliation before you start and after you finish."

At that, everyone on the field grew excited.

"Wahaha... Orochimaru... this time, I'll definitely beat you all."

Jiraiya declared indignantly from the crowd.

But Orochimaru only gave him an indifferent glance and paid him no further attention.

Seeing Orochimaru ignore him, Jiraiya grew anxious.

"Hey, hey, Orochimaru! Don't even think about running away."

"Otherwise, you're a coward."

"Childish..."

Watching the noisy scene in the crowd, Yamada Hideko felt a headache coming on.

"All right, all right. Jiraiya and Orochimaru can go first."

"Oh, yeah..." Jiraiya grew excited when he heard their teacher call their names.

The two slowly walked toward the open space ahead.

Jiraiya reluctantly formed the Seal of Reconciliation with Orochimaru.

"Hmph... Orochimaru, I'll show you what I can do in a minute."

"I'll have you crawling at my feet, begging for mercy!"

Jiraiya took his stance, preparing to charge forward and attack.

Suddenly, dark clouds covered the sky.

Heavy raindrops began falling.

Jiraiya stopped in his tracks.

"How could this happen..."

Jiraiya was speechless. A perfectly good duel had been ruined.

By then, he was soaked from head to toe, yet he still stood in the rain, while Orochimaru had long since run under the eaves for shelter.

Seeing Jiraiya still floundering in the rain, Orochimaru chuckled.

"Idiot..."

As the rain became a downpour, Yamada Hideko felt rather helpless too.

"It's raining now, so we'll end today's activities early!"

"Hurry home, everyone."

With that, the students began looking for places to shelter from the rain.

"Yui, Yui! Over here!"

Nai Hyuga had found somewhere to take shelter.

Hearing her, Yui hurried over.

"Phew..." Looking at her half-soaked clothes, Yui sighed helplessly.

Just a moment ago, the sky had been clear, without a cloud in sight.

But a second later, the rain had come pouring down, catching them completely off guard before they could prepare.

Who could possibly deal with that?

"Looks like we'll have to head home for today."

Yui nodded.

After a while, the downpour finally began to ease.

The two took advantage of the lighter rain to run home.

"Nai, let's split up here!" Yui said to Nai Hyuga.

Her home and Nai Hyuga's were not in the same direction.

One was in the branch family compound, the other in the Main Family compound; one lay to the left, the other to the right.

Nai Hyuga nodded, then headed off in the other direction.

Watching Nai Hyuga walk away, Yui set off in the opposite direction too.

However, she was not heading toward the branch family compound.

She activated her chakra waterproofing mode.

Yui entered the woods and found a tree with an unusual shape.

This should be a chakra tree.

She had heard her teacher explain in class that there was a kind of chakra tree whose leaves could reveal a person's chakra nature.

The leaves of this tree were dark green, with serrated edges.

This is probably it.

She had searched shops of all sizes, but Konoha did not yet sell chakra paper in this era.

So she guessed that people in this era mainly used these leaves to test their chakra natures.

With that thought, she plucked a few leaves from the tree.

She pressed her hands together, holding the leaves between her palms, and silently channeled chakra into them.

Sure enough, these leaves could absorb chakra.

After a while, Yui opened her hands.

She froze for a moment at the sight of the leaves.

Unlike the chakra paper in the anime, the leaves had neither split nor wrinkled.

They showed no changes corresponding to any chakra nature.

That puzzled her. Why was this happening?

After studying them for a while, she finally discovered the problem.

Perhaps the leaves were too thick and full of vitality, so any chakra she poured into them was simply absorbed.

Still, she felt that once they absorbed enough, the chakra tree's leaves would undergo a nature change as well.

With that thought, she selected a few thinner leaves.

She placed the leaves between her palms and began channeling chakra into them again.

"Phew..."

Only when she started channeling chakra again did Yui realize she had taken too much for granted.

The leaves were like a bottomless pit, endlessly absorbing her chakra.

Her meager reserves were almost sucked dry.

She finally understood why someone had invented chakra paper.

She finally understood why no one used these chakra tree leaves.

These things eat way too much damn chakra!

Just as her chakra was about to run out, the leaf in her palm finally stopped absorbing it.

"Phew... looks like it worked!"

Feeling an unusual sensation in her hands, Yui knew a nature change had occurred.

She opened her hands and looked at the leaf in her palm.

The leaf had split into two halves, one wrinkled and the other wet.

"Wind, water, and lightning!"

Seeing the changes in the leaf, Yui could not help feeling excited.

She actually had three chakra natures.

Although she did not have all five, three was already very good.

Even Naruto only had one chakra nature transformation.

Yet she had three.

That meant she could learn more ninjutsu too.

Still, in the original story, even if someone lacked other chakra natures, they could acquire them through extensive training.

Now that she knew the result, Yui could finally go home satisfied.

Before heading home, however, she peeled a layer of bark off the chakra tree.

That stuff seemed to absorb chakra too.