Ch-10

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Training ground fourteen was smaller than most of the other training grounds and contained only a few trees and a pond. I took a quick look around to see if Dan had arrived in advance, but found no traces of the blue-haired ninja. Mikoto and Shikaku were both standing next to me and were also on the lookout for our teacher. None of us thought that this was strange, as Dan was a jonin and did tell us that he had jonin duties to do before training us. While we were waiting, we began to do light warmups to get ready for whatever training the jonin threw at us. After several minutes of waiting, a blue blur flew into one of the sparse trees in the training ground. When I turned to look at the tree, I caught sight of our temporary teacher, "Sorry I'm late! I was visiting one of my old genin teams and lost track of time."

"It's no problem Dan-san! We were just getting warmed up for your training!" Mikoto exclaimed, "What type of training are we doing today?"

Dan scratched the top of his head as he looked at us individually, "I remember all three of you since you three were at the top of your class for the Transformation Jutsu. Since you all have a basic understanding of molding and controlling chakra, I'll get you started on some more advanced chakra control training."

The jonin jumped off the tree and landed on the ground with a loud thump. "Alright so, from what I understand, you guys started on the Leaf Concentration exercise a few weeks ago, correct?"

My friends and I nodded in unison, the three of us practiced that exercise on a daily basis. I knew that chakra control was vital for a variety of different jutsu and arts, so I put a special emphasis on the training early on. Our nods made Dan clap his hands together, "Excellent! The Leaf Concentration exercise is great for building up your chakra control in the beginning. Since you have to focus your chakra to make sure that the leaf is rotating and balancing on your forehead, it helps you develop your ability to focus chakra to a certain point. However, it is not nearly enough to prepare you to use jutsu that are C-ranked or above. The exercise is more than enough for you to start using E-rank, such as the Transformation Jutsu and the Substitution Jutsu, but you'll find it difficult to use advanced jutsu with just the Leaf Concentration Exercise alone."

"Which is why I have brought the three of you here today," Dan gestured to the trees and the pond in the training ground, "From now on, this will be our designated training place. I will give you exercises to practice with and I will spend a few hours each week training the three of you. When I'm not here, I expect all of you to train hard here, at home, or at the academy. If anyone asks, you're getting tutored by Jonin Dan Kato."

Dan paused and looked around before continuing, "Now for the exercise, I'll teach you today, it's an exercise that is a step above the Leaf Concentration exercise as it helps you develop better chakra control. It's called the "Tree Climbing" exercise, and it's exactly as it sounds. You'll be climbing the tree with solely your feet. The point of this exercise is to be able to control and maintain your chakra perfectly while moving up the tree. You'll have to make sure that each step you take has the perfect amount of chara so that you don't fall off."

I cracked a smile when I heard him talk about the Tree Climbing exercise. I had seen it in the anime and it felt odd that I knew about the exercise despite being assumed as an "ignorant" academy student.

"But there's a twist; you're going to do the Tree Climbing exercise as you do the Leaf Concentration exercise."

I'm sorry, what?

I didn't say those words out loud, but my jaws dropped in surprise as I disbelievingly looked at the man. Mikoto's reaction was similar to mine, while Shikaku only widened his eyes slightly more than usual. The jonin eyes' flashed playfully as he gave us a knowing grin, "Sounds difficult, huh? For you kids, it'll be really difficult. Freshly graduated genin are barely able to do the Tree Walking Exercise, but you'll be doing that and the Leaf Concentration exercise at the same time. I have several reasons why I'm starting you off with this exercise combo."

"The first reason..." Dan placed a leaf on his forehead and began to walk vertically onto a nearby tree without breaking a stride, "...is balance. I don't mean just your balance as in just your physical balance, but your chakra balance as well. I lectured you yesterday about the two types of energy that are needed for chakra molding: physical and spiritual. The Tree Walking exercise will help you sharpen your ability to maintain balance while molding chakra. If you use too much physical energy, which is when you use "excessive" chakra, then you will splinter the tree while you walk on it. This often happens when you focus on using your physical body too much while climbing, thus pushing more chakra into your steps than you realize."

As a demonstration, his next step on the tree was heavier than his previous steps, resulting in the tree cracking under his feet. "If you use too much spiritual energy, it's the opposite. You're using too little chakra for each step because you're thinking too hard about walking up. You become too focused on maintaining chakra on your feet, thus you neglect the actual act of taking a step. In battle, you can never let one side completely dominate the other. Otherwise, your body will not respond to what the mind is saying and vice versa. This is why it's imperative that you study hard and exercise hard. If you place too much emphasis on a single side, then your body's energy will naturally shift to that side. Once that happens, it becomes harder to maintain a balance while molding chakra and in some cases, prevent you from utilizing your chakra effectively."

I found myself interested in what he was saying because the anime never covered the specifics in such detail. In a way, what Dan was saying made sense. It was probably the reason why Naruto and Sasuke failed numerous times when doing the Tree Walking exercise. Naruto focused too much on the physical energy, trying to brute force his way to the top. Meanwhile, Sasuke was obsessed with completing the exercise and allowed his spiritual energy to dominate.

"As for why I'm combining it with the Leaf Concentration exercise... It will help you keep your focus on two things at once. Since you have to maintain the leaf on your head and make sure you're using the right amount of chakra to rotate it, it can be seen as a much simpler version of the Tree Walking exercise. By doing both at once, you're increasing your ability to focus on two difficult tasks at once and maintaining balance through two contact points on your body."

"Which brings me to the second reason: focus. As a shinobi, you will be required to focus on several things at once. The exercise combo will help you learn how to focus on two difficult tasks at the same and adjust your chakra and body to suit your needs instantly. This will also allow you to become less reliant on hand seals for jutsu, as you will be able to mold and focus chakra however you like immediately. Handseals are to help you focus your chakra on the jutsu you will use. Which is why more powerful jutsu tend to have more hand seals, as it gives you more time to prepare the necessary chakra and control to use the jutsu. With excellent chakra control, focus, and balance, you'll be able to bypass most of the hand seals and implement your jutsu on your opponents almost immediately. Thus, you'll be able to react faster in combat."

Shikaku was blinking rapidly as if he was transcribing the information directly into his brain while Mikoto leaned in closer to his words. I was also drawn into his words as he was giving us information that could let us become faster and better shinobi. I made a mental note to research more about chakra theory in the academy library whenever I was free. Dan looked surprised that the three of us were listening so intently, but he leaped from the tree and landed in front of us, "The final reason for this exercise is simple: endurance. I predict that it will take all of you at least several months to master this exercise. But if you practice this daily and add in your training and studies from the academy, then you'll increase your stamina, endurance, and chakra reserves all at the same time. Training hard at a young age is crucial because it is when your chakra reserves grow the fastest. As you grow older, your chakra reserves will eventually stop growing and start declining. By doing this difficult exercise, you'll be pushing yourself to the limits constantly and become stronger. Even so, it is important that you get enough rest and not injure yourself while doing this. Work hard, but also work smart."