3 Team 7

Naruto and his team once again returned to the missions office with claw marks all over their faces. Except for Kakashi. Naruto and Sasuke, though they hated each other, would proudly admit they agreed that Tora the cat was their worst enemy. That hellspawn was no mortal creature. They would prove it one day. War plans aside, they were beginning to get restless with the constant D-Rank missions. The only time they even had a remotely exciting mission was just under two months ago when they went on the mission that brought Adrik to the village, and it didn't even involve anything besides carrying two jonin and a kid back to the village.

Speaking of Adrik, he had been assigned as backup for Team 7, training with them every day in both ninja and social fields. Needless to say, the experience was...enlightening...to the boy. Adrik was practically a brother to Naruto and Kakashi, but he absolutely despised the other two. For one, Sakura made his ears bleed the first few days he was with the team. Secondly, Adrik didn't actually mind Sasuke too much at first. That was until Adrik learned their language, which he realized was eerily similar to Japanese from what little he could recall of his world's version.

Ever since he became fluent, Adrik had been somewhat aggressive towards his emo teammate. The sheer arrogance in his voice, body language, and even his eyes was downright maddening to work with. The only good thing about Sasuke in his eyes was that he wouldn't talk as often as his other teammates. The moody bastard even tried to "prove his superiority" whenever he could, whatever that meant. The dumbass actually tried to match Adrik in his training once.

For Adrik's training, let's just say that he and Naruto shared the trait of being stamina freaks. Whereas Naruto had unholy amounts of chakra and a strong life force, Adrik was nearly inexhaustible physically. It would take jonin level training for him to even start breathing hard. Well, it would have if not for one simple fact.

Adrik doesn't have chakra. Plain and simple. He had no chakra coils, no chakra points, not even a chakra pool. In fact, when Hiruzen tested the village's various chakra sensing techniques on him, all had the same conclusion. There was nothing there. Even the esteemed all seeing Byakugan couldn't find a source of chakra in him. The only reason those eyes could even see him was due to the fact that there was a blank spot where there shouldn't be.

To explain, the Byakugan can see chakra and its points, pathways, and coils. However, as far as everyone alive knew, there was an incredibly small amount of chakra in the atmosphere at all times, that being their world's nature. Adrik was a null zone in terms of chakra sensing. You could only sense him if you knew to look for what didn't exist.

So how did Adrik train without even containing the bare essentials? Well, he supplemented it with his element. Can't stick to walls without chakra? He used his element. Can't cast jutsu? He used his element. Can't use hand seals to focus his power? He doesn't need them. All of the problems he would have had were solved by his element. Where chakra would have been hard to control, his element was like it was always a part of him, like he had always been able to control it perfectly. And so began Adrik's path to power. And no, it wasn't some eventual jutsu thief's revenge fueled conquest.

Adrik had also trained with Naruto so they could better themselves. Naruto had excitedly taken to sparring and exercising to increase his physical strength and technique. He hadn't learned much if anything in terms of jutsu other than the fact that his chakra nature was naturally attuned to the wind and water elements. Let's go see how that happened, shall we?

X

Kakashi announced his arrival by appearing at his team's training grounds on time, surprisingly. In his hand was a little orange book that Adrik had actually read over his shoulder a few times. He had to say, the author was one ballsy man to write that kind of stuff and sell it so proudly. 

"Alright, team. The Hokage threatened me with solo Tora missions for the rest of my days unless I start taking my job seriously, so here I am. With paper."

Before any of the genin could blink, they had a small sheet of paper in their hands. Adrik stood next to Naruto staring at his paper. Since he didn't have chakra, he was exempt from this little test.

"Hey, Kakashi sensei, paper is cool and all, but what do we do with it?"

Kakashi eye-smiled as he took out a sheet of his own. The paper wrinkled up after a second of the team staring at it. This literally didn't answer anything and only confused the genin more, to which Kakashi chuckled at.

"Chakra paper. Channel some into it, results tell us what your affinity is. For example, mine is lightning. If it starts to burn, it's fire. If it gets damp, it's water. If it splits, it's wind. If it crumbles to dust, it's earth. Just so we're clear, having one chakra nature doesn't mean you can't learn jutsu of a different nature, it just means that jutsu of your chakra nature will come more naturally to you. I've also heard that element combinations like ice release can also affect the paper. It's not really to make you think you'll have one, just a bit of a fun fact. So, who's first?"

With that, Sakura went first. The corners that her hands were holding onto began to crumble to dust in her grasp. 

"Earth nature, decently versatile. Great defence, fair offence. Perfect for someone with your kind of strength, actually."

Sasuke went next. His paper wrinkled up somewhat at the corners, the center giving off faint wisps of smoke. The boy smirked as he smothered the paper before it could grow into a small fire.

"Lightning and fire, heavy on the offense. Lightning has great offense for single targets, some counter attack capability. Fire is good for area damage and area denial. Perfect for cornering your opponent."

Naruto glanced at his teammates' results before focusing on his own. Over the past month and a half, he had made great strides in controlling his chakra. In fact, he had mastered water walking within the first two days of learning it existed, thanks to over 300 shadow clones working on it, being dispelled and replaced every ten minutes for six hours. He held back as much chakra as he could when channeling it through the paper, trying his best to match the levels his teammates put out. A single drop of his chakra later, and the results somewhat shocked the boy. The paper split into a few dozen pieces, each piece becoming damp.

"Wind and water, making the last two of the five elements for the team. Wind is highly versatile, capable of defending, supporting, and damaging. Water is much the same, though used a bit more for utility than other natures. Both styles are practically representations of you. Unpredictable as the wind, as soft as a gentle stream of water, but can be as violent as a maelstrom if need be. All in all, I think you guys will be a force to be reckoned with if you can work together with your elemental chakra."

The three genin each gave Kakashi an appreciative nod for the confidence, Sasuke's being much less noticeable. Adrik walked over to Kakashi with a gleam in his eyes.

"Kakashi sensei, may I use the energy paper?"

At this point, Adrik's speech needed a little work, but was otherwise basically his first language. Kakashi nodded as he handed the boy a piece of paper, also curious as to what effect his element would have on chakra paper.

Adrik channeled some elemental energy into the paper, letting his teammates and sensei see the results. To their surprise, there actually was some result. It wasn't like the chakra nature reactions, but it was definitely something.

The paper folded in on itself, folding and unfolding several dozen more times until it formed a shape. When it stopped, everyone looked on in confusion at what looked like some form of canine. Kakashi was the first to recognize it definitely wasn't a dog, after all, he could summon ninja dogs. The front shoulders and spine were somewhat elevated compared to the hind legs, the head having a shorter snout than most dogs. The creature had short spikes that went from above the shoulder blades to the top of its head, looking like some kind of hair. Two horns, like that of a ram's, sat on top of its head. Last but definitely not least was the fact that the paper was folded at the rear making it look like it had an uncountable number of tails. Everyone blinked as the paper statue turned pitch black with tiny embers flickering in and out randomly. A single second passed as the paper crumbled and the tiny pieces scattered, ashes to the wind.

"Okay... So we have learned that channeling elemental energy into chakra paper makes origami... Cool."

Kakashi had an eyebrow raised as he pointed out the obvious. Everyone was left stumped. None of them knew where to even begin trying to understand what this meant, if it meant anything at all. Kakashi looked at his four students' puzzled expressions. His mind raced for some sort of theory about the effects. He had some ideas of what this could mean for Adrik, but he shot them down as he remembered this might not even be something his world could explain.

Adrik's teammates shrugged off what they just saw, putting it at the back of their minds.

"Well, now that you three know your chakra natures, here's some scrolls on beginning to control them."

Before Kakashi showed up to the training grounds earlier, he had gone to the ninja section of the library to get five scrolls detailing elemental chakra training. He hadn't actually thought that he'd need to give out all five, though. He was lucky that he didn't need any extras. 

The three genin ran off in different directions, Naruto hiding to make sure he could create his shadow clones without the others knowing. He had already told Adrik of his training method once the two could communicate well enough. He had suspected that his sensei also knew about him using it, though the man didn't show any reaction.

A large cloud of white smoke appeared, barely covered by the trees, signaling the creation of 300 shadow clones. Naruto gave orders for them to split up into 2 groups of 150, set to dispell in teams of 10 every half hour. Naruto looked on as Adrik entered the clearing. 

"Should I be concerned about your reliance on shadow clones? You are already spawning enough to put the Hokage in a coma from energy exhaustion. This seems cheap."

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I'm only using them to get through the basics. I haven't used them for much besides chakra control, anyways. Everything else is all me! But I'll probably use a bunch to perfect a jutsu I master."

Adrik raised an eyebrow.

"What is the difference between perfecting a technique and mastering it?"

Naruto looked down with a drop of sweat on his face.

"Uhh I kinda forgot since it was a while ago that we learned it. I think Iruka sensei said mastering a jutsu was...being able to use it a bunch of times in a row the exact same way? And then perfecting a jutsu was like a step up from that. I think he said something about using it being 'second nature', whatever that means. But yeah, I'll learn and master a jutsu, then I'll let my clones have a go at it!"

Adrik was still trying to understand chakra. Well, he was still trying to understand just about everything.

"Your clones will work on that for a while. Let us spar until they fade."

As fluent as Adrik had become, Naruto still had some trouble getting used to hearing someone speak so... eloquently? Hell, he barely knew what that word meant or when to use it.

The two boys got into battle stances, beginning their daily spar.

X

This brings us to now. Team 7 was tired of the constant D-Rank missions. Naruto even began begging on his hands and knees for anything higher. He cheered as the Hokage finally relented, the old man merely testing when their patience would run out.

"Very well. I suppose doing two D-Rank missions a day for two months would qualify for a C-Rank. Call him in, please."

Hiruzen gestured to the two ninja guarding the door, opening it to see an old man with a straw hat and glasses. He wore a sleeveless grey shirt and shorts that went to his knees with sandals. Naruto was already having issues with the man and it hadn't even been a second since he entered the room. Honestly, the stench of alcohol made it in the room faster than the man himself. Naruto put his hand over his nose in a poor attempt to filter the air.

"Huh? These're the ninjas you guys hired for me?"

The man took a swig from his bottle of sake, burping loudly as he apparently just finished it.

"These brats look like they'll fall over if a breeze rolls on through. The clown in orange is built like a twig."

Adrik had to hold Naruto back with ropes made from his element, wrapping around the blonde's torso and arms. 

"Mister Tazuna, I can assure you that this team is perfectly capable of fulfilling your request for an escort back to the Land of Waves."

Tazuna grumbled to himself and scratched his beard, pulling another bottle of alcohol out of his backpack.

"Team 7, you are tasked with escorting the bridge builder known as Tazuna back to the Land of Waves and ensuring his safety until his bridge is complete. Be wary of bandits that you may encounter on this mission. I wish the five of you the best of luck."