The next day. Tuesday.
The Ninja Academy doors swung open and children poured out. Among the stampede of young shinobi, five nine year olds' huddled together and fought their way through the crowd. Soon, they arrived at the end of a stone wall with a forking path ahead of them.
"Straight takes us to the heart of the village." Said Ando Kaze.
"Left to the Training Grounds." Mori Fūma added.
"What about right?" Okuda Tomomori asked.
"My house." Natsuko Sarutobi replied.
They chose the Training Grounds–a portion of Konoha reserved strategically beside one of its most vast forests. Not the Forest of Death, nowhere near as dangerous, but a forest with just as much depth.
Along the edge of the forest–remnants still of the First's authority–wide outcrops of dirt were positioned beside one another. These were the Training Grounds, and this section of the forest contained grounds 21 through 40.
At Training Grounds 33, the group of kids settled.
"So?" Ando Kaze asked.
"We need information." Mori Fūma quipped.
"Well, duh." Okuda Tomomori interjected.
Mori glared at him.
"Raise your hand if you're familiar with Naruto's story. That means from Genin to Hokage." Natsuko Sarutobi started, herself raising her hand first.
Ando Kaze and Mori Fūma swiftly followed suit.
Okuda Tomomori raised a limp, wobbly ligament–likely symbolizing he knew about as much as a poster revealed.
Sen Aburame didn't move at all.
"What do you know, Okuda?" Natsuko Sarutobi asked.
"I've played a couple of the mobile games." He said.
"Wha-" Natsuko Sarutobi choked.
"Mobile games?" Ando Kaze repeated. "Of Naruto?" He seemed perplexed.
Okuda Tomomori's eyes lit up. With a grin on his face, he launched into an explanation.
Think Mortal Kombat, but Naruto. Fighting games, basically.
"So you know the fighting moves? The jutsu and taijutsu, I guess?" Ando summarized.
"And what about you, Sen?" Natsuko asked.
"Nothing." Said Sen.
The quintuple talked for a while. Until nightfall again, as a matter of fact. On this night, they attempted to catch Okuda and Sen up to speed; they started with the founding of Konoha Village and ended with the Fourth Shinobi World War as well as Naruto's subsequent journey to Hokage.
From the genius Kakashi, ruthlessly tore down by the manipulated suicide of his father as well as the murder of his two best friends; from the sacrifice of his Sensei Minato Namikaze to the subsequent planned shunning of his Hero's son.
From the murder of Shisui Uchiha to the vile and atrocious acts performed by Danzo Shimura; the human experimentation, the abduction of children, the malicious slaughter of the Uchiha. Danzo Shimura was a cancer. Nothing more.
From the defection of Orochimaru to Jiraiya's training of the current Rinnegan wielder; and what the hell all of that meant: Who the Sannin are. What the Rinnegan is. Asura and Indra. Senju and Uchiha. Hashirama and Madara. Naruto and Sasuke.
White and Black Zetsu.
And lastly, the Infinite Tsukuyomi and Mother Kaguya herself.
The five returned to their respective homes mentally worn-out and spiritually exhausted. Although Konoha was without-a-doubt the safest, most prosperous, and best of the Five Great Shinobi Villages–that did not change the fact that their future was pre-packaged to be as bumpy a ride as possible.
And with the Third Shinobi World War just around the corner—"the bloodiest of them all," they said–the five kids simply could not rest easy. As such, the five experienced another sleepless night.
Wednesday. After school. Training Grounds 33.
"So we need power." Ando Kaze declared.
"Yeah." Natsuko Sarutobi agreed.
"We can't be weak!" Mori Fūma barked.
"Isn't that what it's all about?" Okuda Tomomori posed.
"Hmm." Sen Aburame nodded.
Ando gathered the group.
"First, chakra. What it is. And how to wield it." He began.
Chakra is a combination of spiritual energy and physical energy. The spiritual energy comes from the mind while the physical energy comes from the body.
Spiritual energy, or mental energy, is matured throughout one's life as they naturally grow and experience. It can be cultivated even further, however, through meditation, self-study, or even through strong emotional breakthroughs.
It is, in some respects, a manifestation of the "folds" found on the brain; if each "fold" or wrinkle on the brain is a result of learning something new, then the more one learned—the more one experienced—the more "folds" that person would then have and thus the more spiritual energy that person would also have.
On the other side of things, physical energy is pulled directly from the flesh; or more precisely, from the 13 trillion cells found in childhood to the 40 trillion cells found in adulthood. Moreover, the better the quality of the flesh—the greater the quality of the physical energy as well.
It is for this very reason why physical conditioning is a must for a Ninja. It is a direct relationship: the better in shape one is, the better in shape their physical energy is too.
Thus, with the combination of both spiritual energy and physical energy, chakra is born. For those that are still following, that is the reason why babies and infants cannot produce chakra—because they lack enough of the two energies to do so.
Their minds are too fresh.
Likewise, they are too young—and their flesh too supple—for them to produce adequate physical energy. Similarly and yet conversely, this is also the reason for why chakra declines with old age; as although one's spiritual energy is still increasing, the deterioration of their flesh and blood leads to the production of not only less physical energy, but physical energy of a lesser quality, as well.
On the topic of chakra and physical energy, this also relates to the various bloodlines that exist across the Shinobi World. To put it simply, the purer the bloodline—as in the closer in relation to Mother Kaguya—the greater the quality, and usually the quantity, of chakra as well.
This means that those belonging to a "Noble" bloodline, or those from any of the Shinobi Clans, are likely to not only have more chakra, but also better chakra.
Chakra that burned a fire greater for the same amount of fuel.
Chakra that invigorated the flesh faster and smoother which allows for quicker heal times and stronger reinforcements.
Chakra that flowed calmer and allowed for easier control.
All of it and more was kept hidden away behind the immovable obstacle that was Lord Genetics Himself.
"Unfortunately…" Ando looked around. "none of us are from any of the major Clans."
For once, Okuda looked at Sen and Sen actually looked back! Then, the two boys looked at Ando. Then, at Natsuko.
"I thought she was from a big Clan?" Okuda pointed at Natsuko Sarutobi.
Sen nodded in agreement.
"Oh boy.." Ando grumbled.
"It's like his ears don't work." Mori added.
"Actually, Natsuko and Sen are each from two prominent Ninja Clans within Konoha Village, but their Clans became Ninja Clans from specialized jutsu their ancestors created, rather than through bloodline inheritance." Ando tried to explain.
"But I thought you said all Shinobi from a Clan have a bloodline?" Okuda repeated what he thought he heard.
"Well, it's kinda like…" Ando stumbled over his words.
"Just give up on him at this point." Mori fumed.
"Mori! Be nice!" Natsuko reprimanded the girl. "It's confusing all at once. It's not his fault!"
Okuda's head bobbed from one child to another, tracking the conversation. He still didn't understand.
So, was Natsuko like, the strongest of them all by default then? That didn't seem very fair to Okuda.
The pink-haired boy looked at Natsuko.
She was smaller than him. Had thin arms. She wore a semi-formal white kimono—Okuda couldn't be bothered with remembering all of the niche terminology for the clothes here.
She was pretty, Okuda guessed. Red shoes to match the sash that wrapped her up, and bright pink cheeks, just like his hair.
Or maybe she was just really pale.
"Or a vampire?" Okuda thought, but then he shook his head. Nobody had mentioned vampires yet, and he was sure they had already finished the history lesson.
Then, Okuda Tomomori noticed the others staring at him again.
"…so do you get it?" Ando Kaze asked, eyes bright and blue, filled with seemingly endless amounts of hope.
In response, Okuda nodded.
"Yup." He said aloud.
"Nope." He said inside.