I look down as Hiruzen looks at me. I am seated in the Hokage's Office, right in front of Hiruzen. Hiruzen sighs, rubbing his eyes like he is drowsy, before looking at me.
"Naruto, could you explain what happened? From the beginning please." I still have my head down, but I nod numbly, starting to speak about what happened.
"After I failed the Graduation Exam, Mizuki…came to me and-" as i recount what had happened, Hiruzen interrupts me with a calm voice. His voice is soft, more encouraging.
"Naruto, look at me. You are not in trouble, all I want to know is what really happened, that's all." I blink, trying my best not to think of anything other than the script I made while coming here. Dealing with Hiruzen is gonna be the biggest challenge I have ever faced, and I need to make sure that he doesn't find any trace of me hiding something, like Iruka did.
My plan was to explain things while keeping my head down, so that Hiruzen couldn't read my face, but it seems that is out of the window, so plan B-
Emotionless robot, like the majority of the main characters in the fanfiction universe.
I raise my head, looking directly into Hiruzen's eyes, not looking anywhere else.
"Mizuki came to me with a secret Exam, saying that if I stole the scroll of seals from the hokage's tower, and learnt a single Jutsu, I would be able to pass and become a Genin. Then I came to the Hokage tower and met you ... .and you know how 'that' went." Hiruzen Coughs in his hand, trying to distract himself from the 'embarrassment' of being knocked out from a little kid using a transformation jutsu to turn into a naked girl.
"I took the scroll and went to the forest, opening the scroll and learning Jutsu's from it." Hiruzen 'comes' back to his senses, looking at me, rather, my eyes. He is looking at my eyes just as I am looking at his eyes while talking, keeping eye-contact.
"What Jutsu's did you learn from the scroll of seals Naruto?" Hiruzen asks an innocent question, and the old naruto would have accepted it as it was, but i can feel something deeper. It seems he wants to see how much i am hiding and how much i am telling the truth-
Sorry for you old man, but i came with the intention of telling every single truth to the questions you ask.
Honesty is the best policy they say.
"I learned Shadow Clone Jutsu, Multi-shadow Clone Jutsu, Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, and Clone Great explosion." Hiruzen's eyes widen a little, which makes me confused for a second. Is he acting here or is he genuinely surprised? I don't know, as I don't have enough knowledge nor capabilities to determine if the "Professor" Of the Village is acting or not.
I'll just think he is acting, as that allows me an easier time to think ahead.
"I even wrote a couple of Jutsu's in my scroll. The spirit transformation technique, the Flying Raijin Jutsu, the Four symbols seals, and String light formation." Hiruzen's eyes widen even more, as I bring out the Scroll from my jacket. Hiruzen looks at the scroll, before looking at me, seriously.
"Naruto, do you know…well, I'll ask later. Continue." Hiruzen stops himself from saying something, making me continue. I put the scroll back into my jacket, continuing with my story.
"As i finished my training, Iruka..Sensei came. I told him the same thing I am telling you, and for that, he kicked me in my back and asked me who I was. So, I used Multi Shadow Clone to defend myself." I try to portray myself as the victim here, as Naruto would have acted. While I am telling the truth here, I am telling it like how Naruto would tell it, simple, and in a story-telling way.
Hiruzen has an eyebrow raised, before opening his mouth.
"Fox, could you tell me how Iruka is currently?" Hiruzen looks to the side as a voice speaks up, almost spooking me if I didn't register what Hiruzen said right now.
"He is stable now, Hokage Sama. He has 150 broken bones, ribs broken, lungs pierced because of the broken bones, kidney failure, twisted hands and legs, muscle tear, ligament tear, nerve damage, and most importantly-" the Fox Mask starts saying the injuries as if he is buying groceries in the supermarket, making me wince.
Okay, the damage might be a little higher than i thought.
"His Testicles are destroyed and his Rectum is punctured." I wince in pain, even as Fox Mask continues telling me, the pain and guilt I am feeling for doing this to someone is…
Well, it doesn't feel good, that much is obvious.
"While the Medical Ninjas have stabilised his damaged body, he won't be able to move for at least a year or two, and has to quit Being a Ninja permanently." Hiruzen turns to look at me with the same eyebrow raised, as if asking me without speaking
"Does that look like self defence to you?" I look down, still wincing.
"Oh, and he cannot birth kids anymore. Poor guy!" I look at the Fox Mask in horror, as he says the last sentence in a Faux Horror tone, making me question the dude's sanity.
"Thank you Fox, you may leave." After a small bow, the Fox Mask just disappears from my vision as if he wasn't even there. I turn to Hiruzen, who still is looking at me with his eyebrows raised. Hiruzen sighs, before taking his smoking pipe from his desk cupboard and lighting it, taking a puff and releasing smoke from his mouth.
"Now Naruto, do you know what the Jutsu's you have in your jacket are?" I blink, a little surprised by the change in topic, but I gather myself easily, not really THAT bothered by it. I bring the Scroll from my jacket once again, this time opening it and putting it in front of Hiruzen, making him take a glance at it before looking back at me.
All in a second, so he has read everything in that scroll in just one second? That's really fast, but it makes sense for the "Professor" to be this fast when reading something.
I wrote it in a way that only someone like Naruto, a dope, can understand. It is the simplest of the simplest explanations, like Flying Raijin having the seal which needs to be drawn in something. Or, how the Spirit Transformation technique is basically chakra coming out of the body and forming a spirit of the user.
"While the details in the scroll are…interesting, you need to understand the implications of using such techniques. Especially the Spirit Transformation Jutsu. The jutsu literally allows your spirit to leave your body, and if you do one thing wrong, you..will die." Hiruzen looks concerned, but I can't really tell if he is faking it or not. Honestly, I don't really know what to think of Hiruzen.
From what i know, Hiruzen is an incompetent Hokage, constantly letting others walk all over him, keeping him in check even though he is the Hokage. From Danzo to the elders, people walk all over him. His incompetence lead to Naruto's loneliness, Sasuke's trauma, and many more incidents. While i know he did his best with what he was given, he was too old and couldn't adapt to the increasingly rapid changes around him, not making the best decisions even if he is the Hokage.
I dont know which Hiruzen this is, the Canon Hiruzen who cared for Naruto like a grandson but was incompetent, or is this a manipulative Hiruzen who let Naruto be in loneliness so that he could be loyal to the village by wanting its acknowledgement? From Naruto's memories, it might be the former one, but that all could be an act.
So it is best to thread carefully, making sure every answer that comes out of my mouth is Naruto-like, but also something that can satiate the curiosity. That being, honesty.
"What is Spirit anyways?" Hiruzen blinks in surprise at my questioning tone, before being silent for a couple of seconds, seemingly thinking. He looks back at me before opening his mouth.
"A spirit is another name for the soul. Every person has a spirit that-" as Hiruzen starts lecturing me on what a spirit is, I interrupt him, sensing an opportunity to learn a concept that I am not fully sure about.
"What is a soul though?" Hiruzen blinks before nodding. He opens his mouth, seemingly realising that he needs to explain EVERYTHING to me so that I could 'Understand'.
"A soul is the Will of a living creature according to my Sensei, Tobirama Senju, the second Hokage. A soul is what allows a person to live in the world, and without it, all they are is an empty vessel without a will. When someone dies, they pass on towards something known as the Pure Land. That Soul is what you call Spirit, which exists in every person, good or bad." Hiruzen looks at me patiently, to which I realise that he wants me to make a sign if I understand what he said.
I nod, which makes him nod as he continues-
"As every person has a spirit inside of them, having the ability to leave the body is very dangerous. The spirit and the body are connected, which is what helps in creating chakra. So if you disconnect your spirit from your body in order to-" i interrupt Hiruzen again, this time genuinely curious.
Did he just say Spirit and Body is what creates chakra?
"What did you just say now?" Hiruzen looks confused for a second, before realisation dawns on his face as he understands what I mean.
"Chakra is the energy you use to do Jutsu's, and it is created by the body's generation of energy whenever you do something, and the Spirit creates energy whenever you think and make decisions. Your consciousness activities basically. By moulding both of these energies, you get what is Chakra." I blink in surprise, as I had a different understanding of what Chakra was compared to what is being said.
I thought Chakra was the mix of Body's energy and the mental Energy, NOT the spiritual Energy. That means, if my brain is somehow damaged, I can still use Chakra since my Spiritual Energy comes from my..well, Spirit. My will.
That means-
"Basically, Chakra is used through effort and intent, wanting to mould your chakra and use it however you wish. Now Do you understand Naruto?" Hiruzen looks at me expectedly, and I..well, nod obviously.
"I think so, yeah." Hiruzen sighs at my answer, but I still have to keep the act. The change in perspective of what a chakra is was a really good thing to me, as things that didn't properly make sense before now make sense.
How the Reanimation Fighters were Able to use their original Jutsu with their original chakra even though they were reincarnated into a weak body with a weak and inexperienced mind.
This also means that just because my mind is more mature than Naruto's, that suddenly doesn't mean my chakra will increase, unless my Spirit is stronger than Naruto, nothing will change. Hell, I might even lose a little amount of chakra I use.
Chakra doesn't have a set Amount, as it only depends on the amount of chakra that can be generated by both body and Spirit. There is no 'Chakra Reserve', it is just the amount and output of chakra one has when their Spiritual energy and physical energy mix together.
That would make sense as to why someone would die if their chakra is empty, since they basically use all of the energy being made in their body and Spirit, having no energy left to even function.
Without a spirit, no body can live, and without a body, no spirit can live. Both are dependent on each other, and are opposite of each other. The perfect Ying-Yang.
This gives me goosebumps as the realisation hits me. Hiruzen notices this, and narrows his eyes a little.
"What happened, Naruto?" I look at Hiruzen, while still having the realization being heavy on me. I don't know what to say, as the literal realization of knowing that my life is hanging due to the mixture of my soul and my body, while both of them are hanging by a delicate balance. While i don't know how i came into Naruto's body, i don't know if i died or not, so the concept of dying is still there-
Hell, it is even more evident in this world which is hanging by a delicate balance, not at all including the shit i am supposed to face in the future. What did i do to deserve such a fate of a scythe hanging on my head-
Memories of my clones, which I left behind, come to me, making me distracted for a second. This distraction allows Hiruzen to speak again-
"Naruto, what are you thinking?" I look at Hiruzen and remember the situation at hand, and me having an existential crisis is not gonna work to my benefit in this situation. I'll get out of this situation first before continuing my existential crisis
"Y-yeah, i am okay." i try to chuckle it off like Naruto would do, but Hiruzen narrows his eyes. He pushes his seat back a little as he lays on his seat, taking a puff from his pipe before sighing. He then becomes serious.
"What is it that you are hiding Naruto?"
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THE END
AN:- WITH THE CONCEPT OF WHAT CHAKRA IS AND HOW IT FUNCTIONS BEING EXPLAINED IN THIS CHAPTER, I HOPE READERS WILL HAVE A MUCH CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE POWER SYSTEM THAT MASASHI KISHIMOTO CREATED, AS MANY FANS OF THE SERIES SEEMS TO MISUNDERSTAND THE POWER SYSTEM ENTIRELY.
UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER, JAA-NE!