Ryoshi found himself some free time to train before the allotted time to meet his team. As Shinry had classes he found himself alone with Ino again, something he knew would happen a lot from now on. He was excited to try using sand manipulation, but a problem occurred, there wasn’t any sand nearby. All just soft dirt and he doubted he could convert stuff into sand already.

“Ino, help me find some containers.” He said turning to Ino.

“Sure!” She responded happily. After ransacking the hovel for carryable containers Ryoshi spoke again.

“Can you lead me to the nearest playground?” Ryoshi asked.

“Of course!” Ino responded. Strangely she didn’t ask questions or even hesitate. At which Ryoshi raised an eyebrow, thinking it was strange that she did not ask anything and just obeyed. She even seemed happy to do some menial tasks, which may even lead to manual labour. As they walked towards their destination Ryoshi addressed the issue.

“Aren’t you curious what we are doing with these?” He asked.

“I am. I will probably see though, unless you want to keep it hidden, in which case it’s none of my business.” She answered, still chipper. What she said made sense, but it was a strange chain of thoughts for an eleven year old. Someone her age should not show that level of patience and forward thinking. Perhaps it was just a ninja thing in this world, although his sister hasn’t shown such ability.

Once they stole sand from the sand pit in the children’s playground and walked back to the hovel, Ryoshi asked.

“Ino. Don’t you think it’s strange that you did as I asked without any questions?”

She froze still holding the sand filled containers. Looked down at them and back at Ryoshi.

“Yes… that is very strange. It didn’t even occur to me that this is strange. She answered, still thinking about her actions.

“Might be something to tell Tsunade.” Ryoshi said.

“Yes, I will note it down.” Ino answered.

“I just made you carry heavy sand filled containers for the last hour, Ino. You haven’t even asked me why. Doesn’t that worry you?”

“Strangely, no it doesn’t. But I know it should. The strange thing is that my mind feels crystal clear. It just felt right, so I had no need to question it” She explained thoughtfully.

“I see… that is a bit concerning. As long as you feel it’s right, it’s fine… I guess.” Said Ryoshi.

“Anyway, come spill all the sand here.” Ryoshi said, pointing to a spot a couple of metres away from the house. He sat down in front of a pile of sand, considering how to do this. Taking some safety precautions, he told Ino to sit behind him. He placed a hand on the sand and pushed his chakra. That is all he knew how to do. Watched in amazement as the sand shifted a little. All he managed to do was draw a line in the sand as if someone used a finger.

“Oooh! You can do that!?” Ino asked, with happy surprise.

“I guess I can. Don’t tell anyone though.” Said Ryoshi smirking at his achievement.

That is all he did for the next couple of hours until it was time to meet with the team. The line in the sand had gotten longer, but there was no other progress.

The four man team stood in front of a dishevelled Anko.

“Goddammit! What am I supposed to do with a team of four!?” She asked no one. The bags under her eyes indicated a sleepless night. Irritated mood indicated discomfort. Slight alcohol smell in the air explained her mood. Ino looked a bit downtrodden at the proclamation.

“Here you go blondie, let’s see what you got first.” Anko said as she handed a small paper to Ino. As Ino took it, Anko spoke again.

“Pour some chakra into it.”

Ino did as asked and under everyone’s eyes the paper wrinkled harshly, almost forming a ball.

“Lightning… that’s good. Now the team has all five natures. Let’s see…” Anko mumbled.

“Do you know why Konoha has teams of 3 genin and a teacher?” She asked the team, she didn’t expect an answer and when none came, she continued.

“Because it is meant to be that each member of the cell will specialise in one of the major jutsu, so the team as a whole won’t have an apparent weakness. The Genjutsu specialist will cover the team against other specialists in the field, while providing debilitating effects on the enemies in support of the team. The Taijutsu specialist will defend the team in close quarter fights where the other specialist will usually be weak and takedown opponents in melee range. While the Ninjutsu user causes destruction in a bigger scale than the other specialists. That’s the general idea anyway. Some teams are specialised, could be made of three trackers, so they go on missions where tracking is needed in support of other teams. Anyway, forcing ninja into too specialised roles can cut their potential, so I don’t want you to think of this as something set in stone. I mention this because it is something to consider when fighting other teams and something to keep in mind as you guys train together in teamwork.” Anko explained.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Sensei.” Ino called out before asking.

“What would a theoretical fourth member do?”

“That doesn’t change much. They would probably just reinforce one of the others, two Taijutsu experts, would just mean better at defending against ambushes and so on. You get what I am saying?” Anko asked.

“Yes! Sensei.” Ino exclaimed.

“Argh! Keep it down.” Anko said, while waving one hand up and down in a lowering motion and one on the side of her head.

“Today’s lesson is chakra control. All you gotta do is release a steady stream of chakra from your feet, to keep you attached. Like this.” Anko explained and demonstrated by walking on a tree. The students gasped in awe. Even though Ryoshi knew about this application of chakra, he was still surprised at the way Anko stood sideways. Just attaching your feet to a wall did not make one able to stand straight as gravity would still pull the rest of your body down. Shinobi fitness was what amazed him, the amount of core strength it takes one to stay like that was massive and Anko did it hungover with a splitting headache and without even noticing it.

“You all managed to activate the chakra paper, so this isn’t much different. You should be able to learn it. Now don’t disturb me unless someone is dying. I am going to take a nap.” Anko said as she slumped down to the base of the tree she was climbing and pulled on her giant trench coat to wrap herself.

“Now shoo.” She continued as the students stood flabbergasted.

Now with an exercise in mind they walked to the opposite side of the open field and started attempting to climb trees without hands. Half an hour in they had mixed success but Ryoshi was evidently behind his peers. No matter how little he pushed, the chakra exploded beneath his foot pushing him back. Obviously he was too dumb, or too unused to shinobi stuff to learn this the normal way as others did. He decided to try the Sharingan copy thing. First he looked with the Byakugan around him to see if there was anyone outside of his team. Finding nothing he activated the Sharingan and tried to observe and copy the chakra movement the girls were demonstrating. Perhaps he should have used the morning to get used to his new eye or spend time comparing the two Doujutsu, because he realised he had the eye of hypnotism part of the Sharingan and not the eye of insight at that moment. He didn’t get any better vision than what the Byakugan provided.

He kept looking back and forth while trying to emulate the same chakra flow as Akari, since she was doing the best. The problem he realised very quickly, was simply the amount of chakra. That raised the issue, that any less chakra than he already used he could not feel, it was simply too little for his body to recognise it. The downside of having an engorged chakra network because of a tailed beast. So instead of feeling how much chakra he released, he had to see it with his eye. This also confirmed another issue he had considered earlier. Since he had hypnotism Sharingan, he would have to focus on Genjutsu, which required good chakra control. He foresaw many chakra control exercises in his future.

Imitating the same amount of chakra release as Akari had a better effect giving him mild success. He had managed a few steps before the change in perspective disoriented him enough to slip up on the wisps of chakra he was using to grab onto the tree. This had put a bandaid on the issue. Ino and Akari were taking gentle, shaky steps while Yui was using a running start to use the momentum to climb higher. Ryoshi tried to get a feel for the wisps of chakra he had used to stick to the tree. Then he rushed at the tree, he managed a few steps with stickiness, and a few more after losing the tenebrous control over his chakra. Then he plunged backwards towards the ground. Those few moments in the air, he realised he would need to learn another trick. A trick for shifting his body in mid air so he would not fall on his back or worse head in the future. He hit the ground, getting the air knocked out from his lungs. Then he heard a voice.

“Nice try kiddo.” Said Anko in a jovial tone. “It’s always funny to see genin drop from trees.” She said with a chuckle. The boy just sighed in defeat, on the bright side she was almost close enough to flash him her panties, with that short skirt of hers. He edged ever so slightly towards her, only for Anko to notice at the last second and step back.

“Get up! You perv!.” She said still jovial.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He sighed and got up to continue trying to feel the little chakra he needed. Anko just scoffed in response. Deciding learning on the go was more his style he ran at the tree and fell after a few steps. As a soldier he had training to paratroop, which included air mobility even without a parachute, so it only took him several hard falls, before he started twisting his body enough to fall on his feet. Not to mention the agility and strength this new body possessed compared to a normal earth human. There was progress however small it may have been. He couldn’t feel it, but he could estimate and each run made them more and more accurate.

“Wooo. Look at freckles go!” Anko exclaimed suddenly. Ryoshi went to go and ask Yui for the trick she had uncovered as she suddenly rocketed higher than the winning duo of Ino and Akari.

“Hey. What did you figure?” Ryoshi asked, the out of breath girl. She paused in her rush and looked around to notice everyone was waiting for an answer from her.

“It’s not sticky, it’s magnetic.” She responded shortly, when they still looked at her confused, she continued further.

“The feeling of sticking to the tree, its not like glue, just stick and let go. It is more magnetic, where the flow of the chakra determines the strength of the pull. So it’s more of a push and pull relationship instead of dumping it all and going.” Everyone’s faces lit up in understanding, even in the tired state everyone was, since they were doing this for hours now.

“Well would you look at that. Freckles seems to be the brain of the group.” Anko chuckled again. With newfound enthusiasm they rushed the abused once again. The girls seem to have mostly gotten the hang of it, after the revelation of the little trick. For Ryoshi the frail control he had over the chakra lessened even more as he had to constantly mess with the output, now that he knew the trick was to constantly manage it instead of having a set amount all the time. Before he had been consistent with the few steps he could take before unsticking. Now he had occasions with more steps and reaching higher but he also had early falls with few steps. He was getting there though, slower than the girls perhaps but he was getting there.

The sun was already setting by the time Ryoshi made it high enough to be considered adequate. The girls had already sat down to rest after their adequate progress.

“Fucking finally.” Anko said as she stood up. “Let’s go eat. My treat. I am starving.” She continued.