Chapter 5: Chakra

Chapter 5: Chakra

The following days became regular and monotonous. The ninja school's curriculum originally included both theoretical and practical courses, but due to the early enrollment for this batch, a cultural class was added. The cultural class focused on teaching students how to read and write. Excluding a few prodigies, this subject was the one most poorly understood by Ishiro's class. First, they were still young, and their minds weren't stable. Second, compared to ninja theory and practical training, it was far less interesting, so there was a strong inner resistance.

Practical lessons weren't very popular either, since, as beginners, the practical classes didn't involve actual combat. At this age, if they were to fight, it would just be two kids grabbing each other's hair and spitting at each other—there would be no real effect. So, practical lessons mostly consisted of physical training, laying the foundation for improving their physical fitness.

The most popular class was actually the theoretical one. In this class, Teacher Ishikawa would discuss various ninja-related knowledge and occasionally share stories from his personal experiences in the field, making the lessons quite engaging. Ishiro also enjoyed the theoretical classes. The only regret was that Ishiro couldn't learn the chakra training methods that were taught in theory class. It wasn't just Ishiro; many of the students hadn't managed to train even a trace of chakra. According to the teacher, this was because their bodies were too weak to extract the energy needed.

As a person who had transmigrated, Ishiro knew that chakra was extracted from the 130 trillion cells in the human body, created by the fusion of physical and mental energy. But how to train it, he had no idea.

Teacher Ishikawa spent an entire class explaining the chakra training process and the various theoretical principles behind it. Essentially, the method involved a meditative approach to sense the body. As one concentrated on the body, the mental energy would resonate with the physical energy, leading to the creation of chakra.

Ishiro could barely manage to concentrate on his body, but he couldn't create the resonance. Every time he tried, he felt as though his body would break down if he continued. This sensation was his body protesting, using its self-protective instinct to warn him that his physical strength was insufficient to generate chakra.

Ishiro privately asked Teacher Ishikawa if there was a solution. Teacher Ishikawa explained that there were methods in the ninja world for training chakra even when the body's strength was insufficient, but these methods had severe side effects and would cause irreversible damage to the body. He advised Ishiro to be patient and focus on physical training.

Ishiro had no other options. He didn't have any special resources, and he didn't dare to take risks. So, he quietly increased the intensity of his training. However, increasing the training intensity required extra energy. Although the students had started school early, the village hadn't yet distributed the compensation funds. Ishiro had to use the little money his parents had left to get by. Thankfully, this was still the beginning of his training, and as long as he followed the practical training methods outlined by the teacher, he didn't need to buy any special equipment. The only expense was food.

The food needed to replenish energy was expensive. Ishiro estimated that it would last about six months. If he still couldn't train chakra after six months, he would need to find another way. At the moment, Ishiro didn't want to be distracted by earning money. If he were to make money, it would have to be through the ninja path.

Thus, Ishiro's life became like that of a machine with no emotions, strictly following a set schedule.

He woke up at 6 AM every day, ate food to replenish his energy, then trained for an hour at home before heading to the cafeteria for his second meal. Afterward, he went to the ninja school. Before classes began, Ishiro spent his time studying various theoretical knowledge, using books borrowed from the school.

In the morning, there were two classes. The first was the cultural class, which Ishiro ignored. He always scored full marks in the tests and chose to read books instead.

The second class was the theoretical class. Ishiro took this class seriously, especially when Teacher Ishikawa discussed the details of ninja missions. These details could one day save lives. In the theoretical class, Ishikawa would also dedicate half the class to chakra training. Even though Ishiro and others still couldn't extract chakra, they were still required to try. According to Teacher Ishikawa, only when the body and mind fully adapted to the process could chakra be trained at any time, even during combat. Once they reached that point, the class would be free to do other activities.

Next was lunch, which Ishiro always had in the cafeteria. However, unlike before, after the meal, he would force himself to eat some food that quickly replenished energy. During the afternoon break, thanks to his strong mental power, Ishiro didn't sleep in the classroom. Instead, he practiced hand seals on the practical training field. He had learned the hand seals from Teacher Ishikawa. Due to his excellent performance in cultural and theoretical classes, Ishikawa took the time to provide Ishiro with extra guidance.

Ishiro would mix up the twelve hand seals and prepare different sequences. He would then practice each one in turn. By the time the practical class began, the teacher and other students had started arriving at the field. Initially, some students, like Ishiro, also came to practice before class, but after a few times, they found themselves exhausted by the end of the afternoon. Eventually, no one joined Ishiro at this early hour.

In the practical class, Ishiro focused on completing the various basic training exercises required by the teacher. Afterward, he concentrated on training that required special equipment, like throwing kunai and shuriken. Although they used wooden tools for now, they were still expensive, and Ishiro couldn't afford them. So, he made use of the school's resources.

Although the practical class lasted longer than the morning sessions, it still ended earlier in the day, leaving Ishiro some time before dinner. After the class ended, he returned to the classroom for chakra training and recovery.

At dinner time, he ate in the cafeteria and then had some extra food to replenish his energy, packing a couple of meals for the next day. After slowly returning home, Ishiro sat by the window, reflecting on what he had learned that day, checking his notes, and reviewing the theoretical class or borrowed books to identify anything unclear. He would make notes and ask questions the next day.

Once he had finished, he would digest his dinner and then begin physical training. The intensity was higher than during the day. When he became tired, he would wash up and rest. Since he had already worn himself out, sleep came easily. After joining the ninja school, Ishiro had never stayed up late or had trouble sleeping.

Of course, this daily routine wasn't without some fun. Most of the classmates had never encountered so many peers before, so there were plenty of jokes and conflicts.

For example, Moku Kaze, Tatsuya, and Fujino would argue over who said they wanted to become the Tsuchikage first. These three had the most fights in the class. It was funny because there were so many others who wanted to become Tsuchikage, yet these three couldn't get along.

Additionally, Ishiro himself wasn't at peace. A student who resembled Deidara, named Shouhara, had somehow developed a rivalry with Ishiro. Shouhara had decent talent, and his background seemed quite impressive—he had already trained chakra before school started. However, his grades in cultural and theoretical classes were at the bottom of the class. During every class, he looked restless, and was often criticized. He sat in front of Ishiro, always turning around to look at Ishiro, who had special privileges.

Because Ishiro scored full marks every time, he was allowed to skip classes and read books, while Shouhara, despite listening, couldn't understand what was being taught. Perhaps, in Shouhara's mind, they were both skipping class, so he would often try to disturb Ishiro, preventing him from focusing on his books.

Ishiro had considered changing seats, but then thought to himself, "If I can't even focus with this little distraction, how can I become a ninja?" Besides, with how busy and tiring his days were, he needed some diversion. So, Shouhara's attempts to distract him either went unnoticed or caught the attention of the teacher, leading to inevitable consequences. Shouhara, who hated Ishiro the most, became quite upset.

After class, Shouhara would challenge Ishiro to a duel. However, sitting beside Shouhara was the kind-hearted Tanaka, who always stepped in to stop the fight. Tanaka was from a large family and sympathized with Ishiro, whom she considered an underdog.

The surprising thing was that Shouhara, despite his arrogance, actually listened to Tanaka. Every time Tanaka intervened, Shouhara would shout at Ishiro, saying he'd duel him during practical class, though there was no duel practice in the curriculum.

Ishiro suspected that this might be a one-sided crush. Shouhara, the scheming boy, seemed to be trying to get Tanaka's attention through this method.

In Ishiro's class, there were more boys than girls, but the ratio wasn't as extreme as one might think—around 1.5 to 1. Most of the girls, like the classmates of Naruto in his previous life, were obsessed with a cute boy named Ikura. He was a little cool, but not quite like Sasuke. Ikura was kind-hearted, came from a good family, and was one of the top performers in the first two rounds of tests.

Tanaka also liked Ikura, but out of shyness, she didn't approach him directly, though she often watched him from afar. To provoke Shouhara, Ishiro sometimes showed Tanaka how to subtly approach Ikura and start a conversation. Seeing Tanaka's subtle reactions always seemed to make Shouhara uncomfortable, which brought Ishiro some amusement.

In the end, listening to the Tsuchikage hopefuls argue and watching the little girls star-struck by Ikura was one of the few moments Ishiro could relax. Originally, Ishiro came to the school just to train to become a ninja, but now, without realizing it, he had already started forming small connections and bonds with this world.

This continued for a full month. Then, one day during the theoretical class, while everyone was training to extract chakra, Ishiro felt a distinct difference. In the past, every time he tried to resonate, his body would resist, preventing the resonance from happening. However, after months of training, the resistance gradually decreased. Today, Ishiro noticed that resistance had completely vanished. With that, the fusion of his mind and body's energy led to the creation of his first trace of chakra.

There was no special feeling, no excitement—just a sense of fatigue. Ishiro snapped out of his focused state, looking up to see Teacher Ishikawa casting a look of approval. Ishiro was one of the last students in the class to train chakra. After all, his physical strength had been a hindrance. Most of the students in the elite class had better physical capabilities.

Through his persistent effort and his strong mental power, Ishiro had finally completed the first step of training after a month. From casual conversation, Ishiro knew that only three or four students hadn't trained chakra yet, and their feelings were similar to his from a few days ago—they were on the brink of success.

At this point, Ishiro had gone from being one of the bottom-ranked students to finally catching up with the rest.