More For the Honor of the Corps.
The first month where Ichiro and Naruto became acquainted with each other was something of a learning experience for both of them. For one thing, Ichiro had to learn, first hand, just what it would have been like to try to train Kushina-sama without the benefots of her parents and Mito-sama there to exert some kind of authority over her. Naruto may have had his father's hair, but he was every bit his mother's son. Right down to his rebellious attitude toward things he thought were "boring."
Learning the basics of explosive tags? Well that came naturally to him and was a quick lesson. Besides, anything that went "boom" was like candy to a young boy training to be a ninja. Lessons in proper calligraphy techniques or the best way to infuse chakra into your sealing ink? Not so much.
Thankfully, Ichiro was able to tie that lesson about Naruto-sama together with another truth: Naruto was a very hands-on visual learner. Not to say that the child was incapable of learning from a scroll or being told something (although he DID tend to pick things up from scrolls easier than when they were just explained to him) it was just that he did his best learning by doing. Which is why Ichiro let the child mildly electrocute himself with a couple of homemade shock tags and singe himself with a low-yield explosive tag that was sloppily written to drive the point home that the boy needed to practice his penmanship.
Still, there was always that drive to know the "why" of things as they were shown to him that was occasionally irksome about Ichiro's new Lord and technical charge.
"Fishing? Why would going fishing be today's lesson, Ichiro-niichan?" Naruto all but whined as his new tutor explained the day's topic of review.
Ichiro fought the urge to roll his eyes as he recalled Kushina saying the exact same thing to Ichiro's own father many years ago as he replied, "It is not the fishing that is important, Naruto-sama. It is the method you will use."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with open curiosity.
"You are aware of the chakra control exercises we have started, the leaf-sticking exercise and the wall walking exercise. As I explained before, those are stepping stones to greater control and power with your jutsu as well as better stability in your seals. They are also good for certain chakra manipulation exercises developed by the Uzumaki," Ichiro explained even as he bit back the urge to mention that Naruto should have been started on them a good three or four years ago. Damned politics.
"Huh?" Naruto asked as he scratched his head.
Ichiro took a cleansing breath before he explained, "It will take several steps. The first step is to infuse a regular fishing line with chakra until you can control it enough to manipulate the lure in a way that will draw in a fish. The next step will be to study a scroll I will give you on the formation of chakra strings. The third will entail replacing the line with a thread of chakra, although that will take you weeks to master, I imagine."
"Okay. But what's the point to all of that?" Naruto insisted.
Ichiro paused to scan the area around his drafting room/apartment before he answered. It had become a custom for Naruto to meet him there after the Academy rather than he meeting Naruto for the sake of security. Ichiro did not put it past certain meddlers to try to spy in his lessons despite Clan Law and he trusted his security seals more than whatever ones might have been places on Naruto-sama's apartment. When he was certain that the proverbial coast was clear he formed a gesture with his right hand as if gripping a whip before his hand snapped out to his side.
To Naruto's shock a band of chakra, roughly the thickness of heavy twine, shot from Ichiro's hand and lacked like a whip before it wrapped around the cup of tea left on the desk to Ichiro's right. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the ANBU operative pulled to cup to him with relative ease and looked at his charge with a raised eyebrow.
"Cool," Naruto whispered with wide eyes as he thought of how he could use such a skill with his pranks in the future.
"Indeed," Ichiro agreed. "Although most would consider what I did a useless waste of power. Most shinobi that use chakra strings, which are usually puppeteers or other weapons specialists, try to make them as thin as possible to make them virtually invisible. As with many things with the Uzumaki, we chose to... think outside the box. Given the potent nature of Uzumaki chakra, and it's density compared to that of the average shinobi, we can solidify a chakra string without making it too brittle or chakra intensive to be of use. As a member of the main family, I imagine that will be especially true for you. In fact, while think twine a bit stronger than ninja wire was the best I could ever manage, your mother was noted for her chains made of chakra. They were... quite resilient."
"Kaasan used them?" Naruto asked reverently. Although it was still a sore subject that Ichiro could not tell him about his father, Naruto had soaked up stories about Uzumaki Kushina and her exploits like a sponge. Ichiro and Yuugao both though it was adorable haw the boy had spent two days destroying ever tomato he could find, much to the Uchiha heir's disgust and dismay.
"Yes. There seemed to be no limit to what she could contain with them. Some said that with her skills she could have bound the Kyuubi itself with her chains," Ichiro said with a somber look. In truth, it was more like "Reports of what appeared to be Kushina-sama's signature technique being used to attack the Kyuubi after it was teleported out of Konoha were corroborated by several responding ANBU..." as it was written in the official record of the attack submitted to Sarutobi-sama before it was destroyed.
"Kaasan was awesome," Naruto breathed, unaware of the memory Ichiro found himself lost in.
Ichiro smiled sadly for a moment before he agreed, "Yes, she was. And so shall you be. And that... is why we are going fishing today. But if anyone asks, we are taking a day off to teach you to be calmer and improve your diet."
"Yeah, yeah. Loose lips get you killed. Clan secrets. I know," Naruto grumbled. Ichiro was insistent that, as a Clan Heir in Konoha, that Naruto needed to keep Clan techniques to himself unless there was no choice. That had sounded a lot cooler before Naruto realized it meant he had to keep quiet about all the awesome stuff he was learning about seals and explosions and only talk about how they were working on things like chakra control and why he had trouble with the Bunshin. At least he got to show his improvement in taijutsu and thrown weapons.
"Your time will come, Naruto-sama. After all, you do not see Hinata-san using her family's special techniques in the Academy, do you?" Ichiro said by way of consolation.
"Nah. I didn't even know she had special techniques like that. Or that Shikamaru;s family could use shadows. Or that Ino's can read your mind," Naruto agreed.
"Don't worry, Naruto-sama. Someday you will remind the whole world what it means to be an Uzumaki. I will do all in my power to make certain of it," Ichiro promised.
"And then I'll become Hokage just like Kaachan dreamed about, dattebayo."
At that Ichiro could only nod in agreement.
The first month where Ichiro and Naruto became acquainted with each other was something of a learning experience for both of them. For one thing, Ichiro had to learn, first hand, just what it would have been like to try to train Kushina-sama without the benefots of her parents and Mito-sama there to exert some kind of authority over her. Naruto may have had his father's hair, but he was every bit his mother's son. Right down to his rebellious attitude toward things he thought were "boring."
Learning the basics of explosive tags? Well that came naturally to him and was a quick lesson. Besides, anything that went "boom" was like candy to a young boy training to be a ninja. Lessons in proper calligraphy techniques or the best way to infuse chakra into your sealing ink? Not so much.
Thankfully, Ichiro was able to tie that lesson about Naruto-sama together with another truth: Naruto was a very hands-on visual learner. Not to say that the child was incapable of learning from a scroll or being told something (although he DID tend to pick things up from scrolls easier than when they were just explained to him) it was just that he did his best learning by doing. Which is why Ichiro let the child mildly electrocute himself with a couple of homemade shock tags and singe himself with a low-yield explosive tag that was sloppily written to drive the point home that the boy needed to practice his penmanship.
Still, there was always that drive to know the "why" of things as they were shown to him that was occasionally irksome about Ichiro's new Lord and technical charge.
"Fishing? Why would going fishing be today's lesson, Ichiro-niichan?" Naruto all but whined as his new tutor explained the day's topic of review.
Ichiro fought the urge to roll his eyes as he recalled Kushina saying the exact same thing to Ichiro's own father many years ago as he replied, "It is not the fishing that is important, Naruto-sama. It is the method you will use."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with open curiosity.
"You are aware of the chakra control exercises we have started, the leaf-sticking exercise and the wall walking exercise. As I explained before, those are stepping stones to greater control and power with your jutsu as well as better stability in your seals. They are also good for certain chakra manipulation exercises developed by the Uzumaki," Ichiro explained even as he bit back the urge to mention that Naruto should have been started on them a good three or four years ago. Damned politics.
"Huh?" Naruto asked as he scratched his head.
Ichiro took a cleansing breath before he explained, "It will take several steps. The first step is to infuse a regular fishing line with chakra until you can control it enough to manipulate the lure in a way that will draw in a fish. The next step will be to study a scroll I will give you on the formation of chakra strings. The third will entail replacing the line with a thread of chakra, although that will take you weeks to master, I imagine."
"Okay. But what's the point to all of that?" Naruto insisted.
Ichiro paused to scan the area around his drafting room/apartment before he answered. It had become a custom for Naruto to meet him there after the Academy rather than he meeting Naruto for the sake of security. Ichiro did not put it past certain meddlers to try to spy in his lessons despite Clan Law and he trusted his security seals more than whatever ones might have been places on Naruto-sama's apartment. When he was certain that the proverbial coast was clear he formed a gesture with his right hand as if gripping a whip before his hand snapped out to his side.
To Naruto's shock a band of chakra, roughly the thickness of heavy twine, shot from Ichiro's hand and lacked like a whip before it wrapped around the cup of tea left on the desk to Ichiro's right. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the ANBU operative pulled to cup to him with relative ease and looked at his charge with a raised eyebrow.
"Cool," Naruto whispered with wide eyes as he thought of how he could use such a skill with his pranks in the future.
"Indeed," Ichiro agreed. "Although most would consider what I did a useless waste of power. Most shinobi that use chakra strings, which are usually puppeteers or other weapons specialists, try to make them as thin as possible to make them virtually invisible. As with many things with the Uzumaki, we chose to... think outside the box. Given the potent nature of Uzumaki chakra, and it's density compared to that of the average shinobi, we can solidify a chakra string without making it too brittle or chakra intensive to be of use. As a member of the main family, I imagine that will be especially true for you. In fact, while think twine a bit stronger than ninja wire was the best I could ever manage, your mother was noted for her chains made of chakra. They were... quite resilient."
"Kaasan used them?" Naruto asked reverently. Although it was still a sore subject that Ichiro could not tell him about his father, Naruto had soaked up stories about Uzumaki Kushina and her exploits like a sponge. Ichiro and Yuugao both though it was adorable haw the boy had spent two days destroying ever tomato he could find, much to the Uchiha heir's disgust and dismay.
"Yes. There seemed to be no limit to what she could contain with them. Some said that with her skills she could have bound the Kyuubi itself with her chains," Ichiro said with a somber look. In truth, it was more like "Reports of what appeared to be Kushina-sama's signature technique being used to attack the Kyuubi after it was teleported out of Konoha were corroborated by several responding ANBU..." as it was written in the official record of the attack submitted to Sarutobi-sama before it was destroyed.
"Kaasan was awesome," Naruto breathed, unaware of the memory Ichiro found himself lost in.
Ichiro smiled sadly for a moment before he agreed, "Yes, she was. And so shall you be. And that... is why we are going fishing today. But if anyone asks, we are taking a day off to teach you to be calmer and improve your diet."
"Yeah, yeah. Loose lips get you killed. Clan secrets. I know," Naruto grumbled. Ichiro was insistent that, as a Clan Heir in Konoha, that Naruto needed to keep Clan techniques to himself unless there was no choice. That had sounded a lot cooler before Naruto realized it meant he had to keep quiet about all the awesome stuff he was learning about seals and explosions and only talk about how they were working on things like chakra control and why he had trouble with the Bunshin. At least he got to show his improvement in taijutsu and thrown weapons.
"Your time will come, Naruto-sama. After all, you do not see Hinata-san using her family's special techniques in the Academy, do you?" Ichiro said by way of consolation.
"Nah. I didn't even know she had special techniques like that. Or that Shikamaru;s family could use shadows. Or that Ino's can read your mind," Naruto agreed.
"Don't worry, Naruto-sama. Someday you will remind the whole world what it means to be an Uzumaki. I will do all in my power to make certain of it," Ichiro promised.
"And then I'll become Hokage just like Kaachan dreamed about, dattebayo."
At that Ichiro could only nod in agreement.
