Chapter 6 - Talent

Arriving in an empty dirt field surrounded by trees, Sakumo then beckoned the pair over to the middle of the field.

"Alright, Kakashi, give me a moment before we get started. I need to gauge Mikumo-chan's ninjutsu talent first before we start training."

Kakashi nodded a bit before muttering 'Mikumo-chan?', but put it to the back of his mind and just prepared himself to pay attention to how his father is going to test Mikumo.

Sakumo then came over and sat down next to Mikumo.

"Alright, first off, we need to check your chakra pool. Chakra reserves can grow over time with training and hard work, but to a certain extent, your starting pool can be an indication of where you will most likely reach in the future. Today I'll be testing three things, your chakra pool, your chakra affinity, and your learning comprehension. If I find all three to be acceptable, then I will start training you in ninjutsu."

Mikumo nodded firmly, excited to get started.

"Okay first, let me teach you how to access your chakra. Everyone has chakra, no matter if they are born in a civilian family or a ninja clan. Children of clansmen usually have either a decent chakra pool due to their bloodline or they train from a young age with the clan's teachings to grow it to an acceptable amount. Although you were born from a civilian family I know you have clansmen lineage in your bloodline, so your starting pool shouldn't be that bad."

Mikumo nodded in agreement, as she already knew from the fact that her chakra was almost visible the first time she tried to use it, her chakra pools can't be that bad.

"First sit down and relax. It'll help you feel for the chakra in your body. There are two things to know about chakra, first, chakra is produced in your body, mainly from your heart. Second, your chakra travels through your body's chakra pathway system from your organs to certain pressure points in your body known as tenketsu. There are numerous tenketsu in your body but the most important ones are in your hands, by using hand signs, shinobi are able to guide and mould their chakra outside their body to perform ninjutsu. Do you have any questions so far?"

Mikumo shook her head confidently.

"No, I got it, you can continue, Sakumo-sensei."

Sakumo peered into Mikumo's eyes to affirm her words and found no trace of confusion, so he nodded and continued.

"You don't have to call me sensei, I'm just helping a friend."

"But I want to, Sakumo-sensei!"

Sakumo chuckled understanding the meaning behind her words.

"So you're that confident huh? Alright then, next is for you to learn the 'ram' hand sign. This is one of the most basic hand signs and it will help you aggravate your chakra so you can feel its presence."

Mikumo nodded and did the 'ram' hand sign perfectly. Sakumo was surprised, although the hand signs themselves are not too hard to do, it has to be done perfectly to have any effect, and it's very normal for people to have slight errors in forming hand signs when first practicing.

Mikumo focused inward on herself, feeling the warm chakra slowly expel from within her body. This time, she was prepared and didn't panic at the unfamiliar feeling, only pushing her chakra enough so that it slowly manifests around her.

If Sakumo was surprised before, now he had a shocked expression on his face. Chakra is usually an unseen mystical energy, visual manifestation of chakra can only happen when it's very dense.

"Mikumo-chan, you're a genius! I can't believe you managed to summon your chakra on your first try, never mind this chakra density."

Mikumo opened her eyes and stopped doing the ram hand sign to calm her chakra down. As she did she looked over to Kakashi with a smug glint in her eyes.

Kakashi scoffed at her provocation but he too was deeply impacted by what he saw.

Mikumo chuckled and focused her attention back on Sakumo.

"So, sensei, do I pass?"

Sakumo laughed and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Whether it's chakra pool or learning comprehension, I have no complaints. Lastly, let's check your chakra affinity. This is a chakra induction paper, if you seem a little bit of your chakra into it, it'll let you know what your chakra has a natural affinity for. Most people only have one type of affinity, although this method doesn't test non-elemental types such as yin and yang nature transformations, it's still a good indication. Since you can't use a hand sign to help you as you're holding the paper, this will also test your comprehension for moulding chakra at will without the help of hand signs."

Mikumo took the paper and focused on the feeling of moving chakra. It took her a few minutes of pulling and tugging at the chakra in her body, but eventually, she felt her fingers get warm, an indication that she succeeded.

The paper in her hand quickly became wet and dripping with water.

Sakumo nodded approvingly at the sight.

"Good, you have an affinity for the water element. I was worried that your Kurama bloodline would cause you to only have an affinity for yin style, as there's no way to test that other than gauging your ability to learn and use yin style jutsu."

"I see, how will I know if I really do also have an affinity for yin style?"

"Well, actually I said there's no to test, but when you learn yin style jutsu such as genjutsu techniques, we'll just see how powerful your genjutsu are. If you can trap me in a genjutsu, I think it's safe to say that you have the affinity, haha."

Mikumo didn't know whether to laugh or not.

"Sakumo-sensei, you expect a six-year-old to trap the Konoha's White Fang in a genjutsu?"

"Haha, well, I'm just casually mentioning it. If you really can though, I would be very happy."

Mikumo pouted but then had a bright idea.

"Okay then sensei, teach me a simple genjutsu. Let's see what I can do."

Sakumo thought for a bit before nodding.

"Okay why not, but before we begin let me give Kakashi his instructions, I can tell he's getting impatient, hahaha!"

Mikumo then looked over to see Kakashi doing push-ups on the side.

Seemingly noticing their gaze, Kakashi got up and just shrugged.

"What, I was just bored."

Sakumo chucked and then took out a piece of paper.

"Alright Kakashi, here is your training regimen for today, you can go ahead and get started and we'll join you soon. Don't think that just because I'm not focused on you that I'm not watching, alright?"

"Hmph, I know it even if you don't tell me."

Kakashi took the paper and read it for a moment before starting to go on a run around the field.

Sakumo nodded at his son's diligence and sat back down in front of Mikumo.