Chapter no.5 Chakra Echolocation Jutsu

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Iruka had brought Naruto outside to the obstacle course field that was now deserted seeing as school was not in session, "Okay Naruto I'm about to teach you a move that I created myself." Hearing that Iruka had created his own jutsu made Naruto stare at him in awe, making Iruka feel pretty cool. People never think he's cool so it was refreshing.

"Did you really make your own jutsu Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, gasping when Iruka proudly nodded, "Wow…"

"Yep." Iruka rubbed under his nose pridefully, "It doesn't need any hand-seals, and it's pretty simple in theory too, it just takes a burst of chakra really. It's kind of wasteful, but for someone like you I don't think you'll have any problems with it, especially after your little exhibition on Mizuki." Naruto laughed, remembering what he had done to get his rank, "Alright it's called Chakura Hankyouteii no Jutsu (Chakra Echolocation Jutsu). It can be used to find things around you, like finding the location of things that you can't see. It's really good for tracking, or for scouting ahead for traps, or all kinds of things. It's a great sensor technique." Naruto squinted at Iruka throughout his entire explanation as if deep in thought, eventually unnerving the man, "Naruto do you have a question."

Naruto simply kept staring at him with his closed eyes expression before he pointed abruptly, "That's how you were always able to find me when I did stuff?" Iruka face-faulted, seemingly validating Naruto's theory, "Damn it I knew I wasn't making mistakes of leaving tracks! Do you have any idea how insane that kept driving me? I thought I just sucked at hiding, I was about to throw all those stealth lessons away and start just running in before fights since it looked like I could never stay hidden, dattebayo!"

Iruka stood up and rubbed his face. If one thing was for sure, whenever he did his pranks Naruto definitely got some training in, "So you started wearing that orange jumpsuit because I kept catching you and you decided to just discard all of the stealth lessons?"

Naruto looked away, "Um no. I started wearing this last year remember? Well that was when I had the idea to paint the Hokage Monument. Ha, I had it all planned out at the start of this school year I just needed to test it… that and orange is awesome!"

Iruka looked at him strangely, jutsu lesson temporarily on hold so he could make sense of this, "Wait. So you wore an orange jumpsuit to help you pull that off?"

Naruto nodded with a huge grin, "Yeah! See I started painting before the sun came up and I kept painting all through the sunrise in the suit. No one could see me when the sun wasn't up because it was pitch dark out and during the sunrise-."

Iruka's jaw dropped. The idea was actually brilliant. In the early sun, Naruto's jumpsuit would blend right in as the sun hit the mountainside, making the mountain glow orange, and as the sun rose over the direction of the mountain anyone looking that way would be blinded by the sun, even if they could distinguish Naruto while he was working. Did he even know how tactical that was? He needed to make sure Naruto cultivated that before he lost it, this kid might be able to write a book on tactics when he got older.

Iruka shook that thought off for later, he wasn't letting this one go, "Alright Naruto, now it's really simple. All you have to do is gather your chakra throughout your entire body and exert it outwardly in a single layer burst. You should get a feeling of everything around you, closer objects should give a stronger presence than things further away. Got it?"

Naruto nodded, "I've got it Iruka-sensei!" He placed his hands in the ram seal. When Iruka gave him a questioning look Naruto blushed out of embarassment, "I kind of don't know how to focus my chakra without making hand-seals yet."

Iruka shook his head, "That's another thing you need to work on Naruto, but it's alright for now."

Naruto did as he was instructed and projected his chakra outwards in a quick burst. He looked at Iruka after doing so and blinked blankly, "So how was that?"

Iruka scratched his head, "I don't know, you have to tell me. Did you feel anything?"

Naruto shrugged, "How am I supposed to know? Can you tell me what it feels like when done right?"

Iruka took a moment to think, "I'll be right back. Just yell for me when you're ready to do the jutsu again, I'll hear you and come running. Just see if you can feel which way I'm coming from. That should work." With that, Iruka disappeared from sight, leaving Naruto to build his chakra again.

Naruto stood for a moment before getting an amount he thought was good before shouting at the top of his lungs, "Alright Iruka-sensei! I'm ready!" He waited a second before letting the pulse go. He felt something moving at 7 o'clock and turned in the corresponding direction, "Got you Iruka-sensei!"

A few seconds later Iruka made it right next to Naruto, "You felt me coming from all that way?" He sounded surprised, 'That was from 400 meters away... That's a quarter of a mile.' He tried to hide his shock under a guise of indifference, "That's pretty good for just having gotten the jutsu down, but you need to get better at sensing things and reacting before they get close. If someone was throwing something at you being able to sense it wouldn't do any good if you still can't dodge it. You'll get better the more you try it."

Naruto had been expecting something big and flashy, but this was cool to him as well, "Ha, no one's ever going to sneak up on me again with this Iruka-sensei. I'll get better with this jutsu than you are, and then I'll rename it to something cooler, dattebayo."

Iruka curled over by a tree with a raincloud over his head, "Why does everyone say the name of the jutsu isn't cool? I think I came up with a great name for it…"

Naruto ignored his thoughts on his jutsu and kept talking, "I mean it explains what it is and all but you've got to come up with something that just screams 'bad-ass'! Something like, 'I-see-you-motherfucker-jutsu' or 'get-out-here-and-get-your-ass-kicked-jutsu, you know?"

Iruka coughed and got over his momentary lapse in self-esteem, "Well that's it Naruto. That's all I've got for you."

Naruto smiled up at the man, "Thanks for everything Iruka-sensei. I promise I'll make you proud."

"I know you will Naruto." Iruka said, "But remember the most important weapon a shinobi could ever have."

"A kunai?" Naruto guessed.

"No."

"A log for Kawarimi?"

"N-… Well yes, but that's a lesson a lot of ninja don't know until much later so good for you." Naruto grinned widely at the compliment while Iruka continued, "I'm talking about your mind." He accentuated by tapping his temple, "Your mind is the most dangerous weapon that an enemy can encounter… especially your mind. Because I'm not really sure what goes through it 90% of the time and anything you can't anticipate is always scary."

Naruto nodded, "Right. My mind is scary. Got it."

Iruka palmed his face and dragged it down, "Ugh, just don't be afraid of learning things Naruto. Trust me, the smarter you are, the tougher you are to beat. Just look at Hokage-sama, they call him 'The Professor' because of all of his amassed knowledge. The better understanding of things you have the stronger you can be."

Naruto laughed, "Well then I'll just have to get smarter than the old man too! Thanks a lot Iruka-sensei, I'll see you later!" Naruto turned and took off away from the Academy, "I'm going to get some ramen! Wait until I tell everyone I passed!"

Iruka watched Naruto leave with a smile on his face, "Konoha wasn't built in a day I suppose… Heh, you know I think he actually listened to me more today than any other time in the last six years."

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Hiruzen was watching Iruka and Naruto's impromptu session from his crystal ball, "Good work Iruka. It seems that you're one of the most willing shinobi out there when it comes to passing the torch to the next generation." The old man let out a fond laugh, "If only we had more shinobi like you in our ranks."