Sora Uchiha sat at her desk in the Hidden Leaf Village Academy, glancing around the classroom as the other students engaged in conversations. Her dark, expressive eyes locked onto Renjiro as he approached, a faint smile on her lips.
'He finally came.'
Classes were about to begin and since Renjiro did not appear at their designated meeting point, her brother, Kaito, became impatient and they had to leave for the Academy.
Thankfully, Renjiro did not have to worry about his seat because, for some weird reason, everyone seemed to stick to the same sitting places they had on the first day of school. It was like some unspoken rule.
Seeing Renjiro walk in and just sit without even saying a word, Sora decided to initiate the conversation. Glancing at Renjiro, she said,
"Hey Ren, are you alright? You were late this morning."
Sora had made it a habit to shorten Renjiro's name and since 'Ren' did not have an issue with it, it continued.
"About that, I just overslept a bit. Sorry for that." Renjiro answered.
"Well, tell that to Kaito, he was the one mad about it," Sora said.
"No worries, Kaito is always mad about something." Renjiro looked over towards Kaito, who was busy talking to another boy and retorted.
This caused Sora to release a soft giggle. It seems she was also aware of Kaito's attitude towards Renjiro, which was a bit unbecoming.
'Maybe it is just a phase. Wait do children in this world go through the rebellious phases? They have to mature early, after all.'
Renjiro's relationship towards Kaito was shaky as they rarely talked, yet the guy seemed to have an issue with him while his relationship towards Sora was more amicable.
Just then, Ryuji entered the classroom and the lectures for the day started. Since the first lesson was History, Renjiro paid attention to the class and learnt some interesting facts. Ryuji was teaching them about the formation of the Hidden Leaf Village.
It was interesting to learn that the majority of the clans that joined Konoha did so out of request from the Uchiha clan and not the Senju Clan.
This was shocking as one would have assumed with Madara's vengeful nature and Hashirama's benevolent nature, it would be the other way around.
'I guess they were both black sheep in their clans in some way. But knowing Madara's power, I am sure they thought that they did not have any other option.' Renjiro mused.
After the History Lesson, Renjiro decided to focus on his Earth chakra nature training. He had begun his training on it the previous night out of sheer excitement.
As Ryuji was writing something on the board, Renjiro brought out the clay he had brought. He first observed every one of his classmates. Just like how the Uchiha trio was sitting together so did the other children from different clans.
Since their batch had thirty students, they had five rows and three columns. There was a pair of students sitting on every column.
The two hyugas, Kenta and Haori were diligently paying attention to what Ryuji was teaching. The two Naras, Hayate and Sho, were dosing off at the back of the classroom. The Inuzuka trio, Makoto, Mitsuki and Siba, were also busy messing around. The rest of the clan kids were either distracted or paying attention or somewhere in between.
Renjiro began channelling his chakra into the clay. As he was doing this, his attention was on Ryuji to see whether he noticed the chakra fluctuation.
'Either he isn't a sensory ninja and if he is, he must be really bad at it. Fortunately, both scenarios are fine with me.'
Renjiro mused when he realised Ryuji did not sense anything strange.
Renjiro took a deep breath, allowing the steady flow of chakra to build within him. His chakra, an invisible force, began to flow from his palm towards the clay.
The sensation was subtle but tangible as if he were extending an invisible hand to manipulate the material. The clay responded to the touch of his chakra, softening and becoming more pliable.
Renjiro's brow furrowed in concentration as he started to shape the clay with precise movements of his fingertips. He envisioned his chakra melding with the clay, allowing him to mould it into the form he desired. It was a slow and meticulous process, but one that he approached with dedication.
The clay yielded to his chakra-infused touch, taking on new shapes and contours under his guidance. As he continued to work on the clay, Renjiro could feel the connection between himself and the earth strengthening.
'This feels like I am back in kindergarten playing with playdough.'
Pleased with his rate of progress, Renjiro decided to repeat the cycle for the rest of the day.
By the time they were breaking off for the fitness class, he had already gotten a good grasp of it. This came at the cost of mental fatigue as earth was not one of his elemental affinity.
'I should move to wind, but that isn't something I can do during lectures. I guess I should change my routine to fit in working on wind, water and lightning chakra transformation. I also need to start working on my ninjutsu.'
In as much as Renjiro had managed to learn the great Fireball Jutsu, he only learnt it from Miwa with the help of his Sharingan. He had just mimicked the hand signs and was able to perform the jutsu.
'The Sharingan sure can be a cheat code when used well. But I am sure my fire affinity played a large role together with practice since I had to try numerous times to finally succeed. Otherwise, I would be able to plagiarize every jutsu available.'
He had only brushed up on the different hand signs as the majority of his focus was on his physical training. Speaking about his training, Renjiro had started feeling like his workouts were beginning to lose their effectiveness.
'Should I get weights with seals? It might help. No, let me first finish up on the chakra nature transformation training then I can think about it.'
With that thought, Renjiro headed to the clan library. Lately, it had become a second home to him. Renjiro had already visited the public library but he realised the information there, apart from jutsus, was shallow as compared to the clan library.
He could have asked Miwa about this but for the past weeks, she has been away, properly on a mission. Renjiro looked for scrolls containing information regarding hand signs.
His main objective was to deepen his knowledge of it. Since he had been quite impulsive in pestering Miwa to teach him his first jutsu. But it was understandable, right?
Hand signs were a fundamental aspect of performing ninja techniques. They were intricate, specific sequences of hand and finger movements that helped ninja mould and control their chakra to produce a desired jutsu.
There were a total of twelve basic hand signs, which are represented by different animals of the zodiac. Each sign corresponded to a specific set of finger placements and movements.
For example, the Rat sign involved interlocking the fingers, while the Snake sign requires the fingers to be intertwined and curved.
Different hand signs are used to manipulate chakra in various ways, such as shaping it for a fireball jutsu or creating a protective barrier.
Some jutsu require only a few hand signs, while more complex techniques demand a longer sequence. High-level techniques often require a greater level of chakra control and precise hand movements.
Only mastery of jutsu would lead to the reduction of hand signs required for a jutsu. This was what Renjiro dreamt about.
Some advanced shinobi are capable of performing hand signs with only one hand or even no hand signs at all. This demonstrated their exceptional chakra control and mastery.
After digesting the knowledge, Renjiro was ready to restart his Ninjutsu Training!
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