4 Class
"Settle down everyone! Today we will be learning about the start, the battles and the end of First Shinobi World War." The instructor of Naruto's class, Iruka Umino declared while walking to the fron of the class. The chattering died down as Naruto prepared to sleep.
Iruka is a man of average height and build. He has brown hair that he keeps in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose which he has had since his youth.
He wears the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket. His sleeves are also rolled up about ¼ way.
"The First Shinobi World War was the first major conflict to occur among the Five Great Shinobi Countries. The war's outbreak plunged the world into a chaos not seen since the end of the Warring States Period, for which reason there are very few records about the war." Iruka started explaining.
"In the lead up to the war, Konoha's First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, distributed the tailed beasts to the other hidden villages, something that was discussed and agreed upon at the first ever Kage Summit."
Hearing the word Hokage and Hashirama Senju, Naruto perked up and paid attention to the class. The only thing Naruto excelled at in history was knowledge about who the Kages of the Five Great Shinobi Countries were.
He admired them for their strength and leadership skills and hoped that one day he could be just as powerful as they were.
"Lord First and his fellow Kage hoped that dividing the tailed beasts among their villages would create a power balance, thus establishing peace between them. Although this did bring an end to smaller wars, conflicts of the era began to escalate and Lord First ultimately died in battle."
"His successor as Hokage, Tobirama Senju, attempted to continue Hashirama's pursuit of peace, but even his efforts could not stop the beginning of the First Shinobi World War."
" Lord Second would go on to die during the war, killed in battle with Kumogakure's Kinkaku Force; he acted as a decoy so that his subordinates could escape. Before he died, Tobirama appointed one of his students, Hiruzen Sarutobi, to be the next Hokage. Does anyone have any questions? "
"Me! "
" Ah, Sakura. Please stand up and tell us what your question is. "
" Iruka sensei, I want to ask about the battles that changed the tide of the war."
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The lesson went on with Naruto surprisingly managing to not fall asleep due to hearing a lot of information about the Kages of the Five Great Shinobi Countries that he didn't know.
Shikamaru, already knowing all of these things was fast asleep while sitting beside Naruto. The blonde ignored him and paid attention to Iruka's lesson.
'It seems like Naruto is paying attention today. Let's see if he can answer this.' Iruka thought before pointing at Naruto.
"Naruto, answer this question for me. What Kekkei Genkai is Lord First famous for?" Iruka asked as Naruto stood up.
Kekkei genkai are DNA anomalies that allow their wielders to use unique techniques. A kekkei genkai's name describes both the anomaly and the resulting technique.
Most kekkei genkai are passed down between generations of a clan, an exception being Hashirama's Wood Release. Likewise, most individuals with kekkei genkai only inherit one kekkei genkai, however this is not always the case.
"Uh.... It's Wood Release right?" Naruto answered nervously. He has a bad experience with answering questions because most of the time, Iruka would call him up to answer questions while he was fast asleep like Shikamaru was.
"Correct! Let's see if you can keep it up! Name one Jutsu that Lord Second created. " Iruka asked while having a smile on his face. Naruto hummed softly as he thought about an answer.
" He created the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Naruto answered confidently, gaining more confidence after he got the first question right. Iruka smiled and nodded.
"Correct again! Last question, what is the Fourth Hokage's nickname—"
"Yellow Flash!!" Naruto answered instantly with a big grin on his face. Out of all the Hokage he admired, the Fourth was the one he admired the most.
He was the fastest person in the whole world, being able to out speed A who is currently the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure. Iruka's smile widened a bunch hearing Naruto's answer.
"Great job, Naruto! You got it right! Give it up for Naruto everybody!" Iruka declared as most of Naruto's classmates started clapping their hands.
Naruto laughed while having an embarrassed blush on his face. It's not a usual thing that he gets applauded by everyone like this.
After the applauding calmed down, Naruto sat down and the lesson continued. 'This is kinda fun, answering questions you know the answer too.' Naruto thought to himself as he tried to focus on the rest of the history lesson.
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"Damnit, I thought today was sparring day." Naruto grumbled as he sat down with a rest of his classmates. After they took a break, they were then guided to an empty room to start their lesson on chakra control.
"Sparring classes are next week, Naruto. This week we're focusing on chakra control." Shikamaru mumbled lazily, making the blonde haired child groan.
"Alright class, you know the drill. But for those who need a refresh on what we're doing, this is the Leaf Concentration Practice. This training method is done by placing a leaf over your forehead and then you direct all your chakra onto the leaf, using it as a focal point."
" This exercise is a way to teach you kids how to control your chakra more effectively. However, the true purpose of the exercise is actually to hone the individual's concentration and to keep their mind from becoming distracted. Remember, only those who have worked hard on their ability to concentrate can become excellent shinobi." Iruka added with a serious expression on his face.
Naruto sighed and rubbed his face. He sucked at doing these kinds of things. It was so hard to control his chakra.
"Hey Shikamaru, what's chakra again?" Naruto asked Shikamaru who palmed his face.
"You should really come to class more man. Why do you always wanna be troublesome and skip the classes that teach the important stuff?" Shikamaru wondered.
'Because the teachers kick me out of the class that's why. ' Naruto thought to himself. Shikamaru sighed.
" Fine, I'll tell you. But I'm not repeating myself so you better pay attention. " Shikamaru started explaining what chakra was. Chakra is essential to even the most basic jutsu.
Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, chakra can be controlled and manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire, or creating illusions.
Chakra is ordinarily not visible to the unaided eye unless it is highly concentrated or manifested in large amounts. chakra has become a form of life energy that all individuals produce to some degree; those who run out of chakra will die. Produced within and manipulated by organs such as the heart, the energy circulates throughout the body in a network called the 'Chakra Pathway System', which is similar to the cardiovascular system.
Groups such as shinobi have learned to generate more chakra and release it outside their bodies through pressure points called tenketsu in order to perform jutsu.
Chakra is created when two more primal energies, known collectively as one's 'stamina' are moulded together. Physical energy is collected from each of the body's cells and can be increased through training, stimulants, and exercise. Spiritual energy is derived from the mind's consciousness and can be increased through studying, meditation, and experience.
These two energies becoming more powerful will in turn make the created chakra more powerful. Therefore, practising a technique repeatedly will build up experience, increasing one's spiritual energy, and thus allowing more chakra to be created.
As a result, the ninja is able to do that same technique with more power. This same cycle applies for physical energy, except the ninja needs to increase their endurance instead.
At any given time, a ninja will have a "maximum" amount of chakra that they can form and use before it runs out and they need to rest to replenish it.
With practice this maximum can be increased, but to a certain extent as they are limited to the quantity and strength of chakra that their genetics grants them.
Obviously Shikamaru didn't explain all of that theory stuff to him. He knew that Naruto was more of a tactile learner and a remarkable one at that, he was able to learn better through executing a task rather than understanding the theory of it.
Shikamaru just simplified it to the extreme and used some analogies to make Naruto understand it clearly.
"So that's what chakra is. How the hell is this leaf exercise gonna help me? " Naruto's wondered. Shikamaru sighed and explained why chakra control is important to a Shinobi.
Because chakra takes time and a great deal of training to gradually build up, the key to its use is not actually having large amounts of chakra but instead being able to sufficiently control and conserve it. This is called Chakra Control.
In order to have good chakra control, a ninja should only mould as much chakra as they need to perform a given ability. If they mould more chakra than is needed, the excess chakra is wasted and they will tire out faster from its loss.
If they don't mould enough chakra, a technique will not be performed effectively, if at all, likely creating problems in a combat situation. Because chakra consists in part of spiritual energy, the user is more easily able to mould the correct amount of chakra by remaining calm and focused.
"You understand now, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked lazily after dumbing down the theory to the extreme once again so that Naruto's single brain cell could understand him.
"Yeah, I do! Thanks for explaining. This exercise is gonna help me get stronger. And then I'm gonna be able to fo more powerful Jutsu in no time! Let's start!! "
" Troublesome blonde..... "
To be continued...
