Chapter 11 - Chakra Induction Paper

At the Armory Shop, only a few people were looking for something to buy, most of what was on display were not for sale, you had to decide what to buy before asking store employees to pick it up for you.

The exception is the few unique products for sale, such as swords forged by famous masters, or other similar products. Besides the common tools used by ninja, you could also buy training scrolls with detailed instructions on how to wield certain types of weapons, there were various schools of techniques available, but the most expensive ones were those from the samurai, as it incorporated the usage of Chakra on everything.

After going through all weapons available he scratched his head in helplessness.

"Hey, little brat, what are you looking to buy exactly, perhaps I can help you decide?"

An old man sitting at the corner of the counter spoke with his head lowered, never once did his eyes leave the magazine so it was a wonder how he knew that Tetsuya was there and that he was feeling troubled.

Tetsuya coughed somewhat embarrassed and turned to look at the man, he was very old, wearing something that reminded him of traditional Chinese robes, and he had a strange tattoo on his forehead, it was an X in the area in between the eyes and what seemed like a hook on both sides but with inverted directions, so one was facing upwards and the other downwards, the most striking element of his appearance was his white and deep featureless eyes.

"You are... from the Hyuga Clan?"

"Hm, what gave me away? The eyes?"

Hearing the snarky remark, Tetsuya laughed a little embarrassed.

"I'm looking for a good weapon, something with a lot of tenacity and weight, but why is it that there are only swords here?"

Hearing this, the old Hyuga finally turned away from the magazine to look at him.

The old man was very experienced, he was once a jonin, and he's among the oldest living members of the village. When you live as long as him, you tend to notice certain patterns, and one of them is that most people, no matter where they came from, prefer the sword, the reason behind it is beyond what he could hope to understand, but it was a fact nonetheless.

So seeing this kid, who was the first customer to ask something like that in almost ten years, he found it quite surprising, at least enough to pull him away from the magazine.

"Give me an accurate description, just what are you looking for?"

Thinking for a moment, Tetsuya came to a conclusion and answered. "I want a spear, but not a trash wooden spear, it needs to be something that can accompany me for a long time, endure powerful impacts, and have a nice durability!"

"Spear huh... How long has it been since I saw someone who liked Sojutsu? Well... I'm afraid we don't have anything matching your description, but if you're willing to wait for a week I can forge one for you."

"You can? That's fine as well, how much will it cost?"

"Thad depends on the quality, I'm not trying to brag but with enough money, I'm confident of forging you something that wouldn't break even in a direct fight with one of the legendary Kusanagi swords. So, the minimum price is 100.000 Ryo, and with the materials I have, the best spear I can forge would be no less than 5 million Ryo, but it would be truly one of the best, perhaps strong enough to endure even S-rank jutsus so long as you used something similar to the Chakra Sabre Technique of the Samurais."

Hearing this, Tetsuya almost felt like his heart was getting pierced by lightning, how expensive!

Biting his lips, he considered the man's words. One weak should be enough for him to complete at least three more missions if they are fast enough, but...

"Old man, I want the cheapest option, but give me two weeks to pay! I assure you I can pay it if you at least give me this much time!"

The old man snorted hearing this but still nodded. "Fine, but you must pay 10% upfront, no deals here!"

Clenching his teeth, he nodded and then paid for the things he needed, such as shurikens, money storage seals, and common storage seals!

As most of his money has disappeared like a cloud of smoke, all he could do for the rest of the day was training.

The next day he went to the training grounds Ikkaku had talked about, when he arrived he noticed the man in question standing under the shadows of a tree.

"Tetsuya, do you know what this is?"

Hearing his question, he turned to look at the small square-shaped piece of paper in his hand. If his memory didn't fail him, this should be what they call Chakra Induction Paper. According to the books, one of the first steps to learning Nature Transformation, but he couldn't afford to buy one of those things yet as they cost no less than 50.000 Ryo.

Since he had to choose, of course, he would focus his expenditure on things that would ensure his survival in the next mission rather than that, after all, he still had to buy the books on Nature Transformation before trying out this thing and then finally buying a new Ninjutsu.

The books themselves were only a few hundred Ryo, but he would then have to spend quite some time on that before he could go on to try learning something like fire release Ninjutsu or some other elemental Ninjutsu.

"This is Chakra Induction Paper, Ikkaku-sensei."

"Um, very good! Your knowledge never ceases to amaze me, you're much better than my son if only he could be half as dedicated as you..." Ikkaku sighed and coughed to forget those thoughts. With his mind back on track, he gave the paper to Tetsuya. "Here, let your chakra flow through it, since you know about it, you should know what the results mean."

With a nod, Tetsuya did as asked. With his Chakra flowing through the paper, the first thing he noticed was hot air gathering around his fingertips, then the smell of burnt paper, and finally, the paper itself caught fire as he let it fall down.

Seeing it turn to ashes on the ground, he looked up at Ikkaku who was nodding.

"Fire affinity huh... You're lucky that fire is among one of the natures I've mastered. Now... let me think about what to teach you... how about the Great Fireball Technique? It isn't as fast as Kakashi's technique, but the damage is a lot higher!"

"Thank you!" Tetsuya nodded gratefully. He wasn't expecting to be taught this kind of useful Ninjutsu! No matter what, his burdens would be lessened a lot from now on!

What happened next was a whole day of training.

Tetsuya had first to learn the theory behind Nature Transformation before he could be taught how to use Fire release, after all.

During the explanations, he came to understand many things and infer others through the knowledge he had previously been taught by the many books he had read as well as the things he knew about Arcane Energy from his previous life as a source of inspiration.

If his conjectures regarding that were right, it meant that hand seals weren't a requirement when performing Ninjutsu, they just acted as a medium that greatly reduced the level of complexity in something called Shape Transformation.

Simply put, Chakra itself is non-elemental in its purest form, like a white canvas waiting to be painted, but that's only when looking at the surface.

At the many steps of using Ninjutsu, Nature Transformation could also be called nature conversion. By consciously immersing yourself within your Chakra by using your spiritual energy, you can manipulate it by altering its structure, similar to how atoms had protons, neutrons, and electrons, the five natures were also present within Chakra in the forms of... configurations.

Having an elemental affinity actually means that your soul has an elemental affinity, that's why it's easier to feel the configuration most related to your own affinity.

From this and his next attempts at learning the Great Fireball Technique, he discovered that it was also helped him to feel the wind nature slightly as well, although he would have to work a bit harder to start using it.

By mixing what he learned from this round of practical learning with the theory in the Academy books, he could almost confidently say that by having one elemental affinity, the path two learn at least two elements were eased, implying that due to him having fire affinity, it was also easier for him to learn the one nature that was weaker against fire, meaning wind, and probably more difficult for him to learn the one that's stronger against fire, meaning water.

Astonished by his discoveries, by the time the stars were already shining high up in the sky and he was gasping for air, he couldn't help but chuckle. "If I can elevate my chakra control to the utmost level, I should be able to not only freely manipulate Chakra without hand seals but also create new jutsus out of thin air based on necessity... Also, by increasing the power of my soul, aka spiritual energy, learning other chakra natures should also become easier, when everything I learned is combined, it seems that Chakra also holds a few mysteries that might lead to power beyond belief..."

"What?" Ikkaku asked when he heard Tetsuya muttering something.

"It's nothing... just thinking out loud."

Drawing a big mouthful of air, Tetsuya recomposed himself and asked about something that he had been wondering for a while since Ikkaku started training him.

"Ikkaku-sensei, what about fusing Chakra natures? Based on what you told me... It seems to me that shape transformation should also be able to do it?"

"Eh... If it is, I've never heard of anyone succeeding besides those with Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tota. Supposedly they are the only ones able to do it thanks to their bloodline."

Hearing this, Tetsuya was skeptical but decided to leave his opinions to himself, if any of his conjectures were right, they could become powerful weapons in the hands of talented Shinobis, and he wasn't willing to create more troublesome enemies for himself, and that if they don't exist already.

But he didn't believe that no one in this world ever thought of trying to fuse the many Chakra natures, it would be naive to think so, that probably means that it is a very tricky thing to do. If only there was a way to study the genetic material of those individuals with Kekkei Genkai... There should be a lot of ways to witness the biological process responsible for facilitating the fusion.

Besides, it could also be that it's related to one of the more complex nature transformations such as Yin and Yang... if that ends up really being the case, then there would be no escape from this issue, only by mastering those two exquisite natures would he be able to try fusing chakra natures.

Looking at the bright moon, Tetsuya chuckled, most of his theories came from his previous experience with Arcane Energy, this knowledge was proving to be quite precious.

He couldn't tell when, but he started feeling more confident about himself, all those studies were making him realize the potential behind Chakra and allowed him to theorize many ways in which it could be used, the more he learned it, the more hungry for knowledge he became because every newly opened door seemed to lead him into a new row of doors only waiting to be opened as well.

All in all, he could say that Chakra itself was a very versatile form of energy, and that slowly but surely he is unveiling many things about it. In the future, there would come a day where he might even become a supreme existence in this world based just on the possibilities he could imagine with his current knowledge.

After two days of constant training, Tetsuya finally mastered the method to cast Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, and also understood the underlying mechanic behind any jutsu: If it's an elemental jutsu, you need to start with Nature Transformation, which again, relies on Spiritual Energy, but if that isn't the case, then all you have to do is Shape Transformation, which, surprisingly, relies a lot on Physical Energy.

That meant that even if he mastered an S-rank Ninjutsu by stealing the memory of a Shinobi that could do it and had enough chakra to do the technique, there was a possibility that his body itself might become a burden when trying to execute it!

(A/N: Think of Naruto's first Rasen shuriken, Tsunade warns him that his body can't bear the burden to cast it. It's a similar situation, except that it isn't purely because of the way in which the technique works.)

Unbeknownst to Tetsuya who wasn't yet aware of how much he guessed right about Chakra, a snake that took decades to figure out most of this was currently meeting Hiruzen, and making preparations to take both him and Anko under his wings.