Naruto : Path of Wind

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough is an odd jutsu. At first glance, it seems to be yet another subpar wind jutsu that requires elemental manipulation and little else.

There's no control or shape to it when it's released, as it manifests itself as a big, raging gale. Kind of like Wind Release: Speeding Wind Bullets, except not as good. Plus, it's a C-ranked ninjutsu. How complicated can a C-rank be, really?

As I hunch over clutching my throat, doing my best not to cough my lungs out, I realize it can be very, very complicated.

"That's the funny thing about this jutsu," Kakashi pipes up happily beside me. "Contrary to what you might think, it requires some shape manipulation while in its preparation stage. While you're gathering wind chakra, you need to keep it tightly contained into a shape that fits the inside of your throat perfectly. If you don't, you'll experience an extreme tickling sensation." He chuckles. "You've already found that out, though."

I give him my very best glare, though my red face and still infrequent coughing no doubt lessen the effect. "Any reason you didn't tell me this before I tried forcing it?"

"Oh, but I did," he says, hopping off of his log perch and snatching the scroll he gave me yesterday up off the ground where I'd dropped it. He unravels the whole thing with a flick of his wrist, and shows me the last few lines of writing on the last couple inches of the scroll.

Warning: While preparing the wind chakra in one's throat, it is important to note that shape manipulation will be required to keep the jutsu stable and...

Oh.

"I wanted to see if you'd read the whole thing like a good little student, or if you'd get too excited about the jutsu and skip some parts," Kakashi explains. I avert my eyes from his smug gaze, snatching the scroll out of his hands.

"How am I even supposed to do this stupid jutsu, in that case?" I gripe. "Wouldn't it be easier to do something that only involves elemental manipulation first?" I've said it before and I'll say it again, elemental shape manipulation is hard.

"Not at all," Kakashi says, shaking his head. "It won't be that difficult- it's C-ranked for a reason, after all. Besides, it's better to refine this particular skill sooner rather than later." With that he reaches into his weapons pouch and pulls out a small plastic bag, which he promptly tosses to me. I tear it open curiously, and find a tangle of balloons inside.

"Blow one of those up," he orders, and I stick a finger into the little bit of plastic obligingly, channeling chakra through my fingertip. When it's slightly bigger than my fist Kakashi holds up a hand and I tie it off. "Here's what I want you to do: Try channeling wind chakra into that balloon, but without causing any distortions in the balloon itself."

"How long do I have to do this?" I ask suspiciously, manifesting a little orb of chakra inside the balloon. Immediately, a wave of ripples spread across its latex surface. Hum.

"When you can pump a steady stream of chakra into it for five minutes straight without causing any distortions, you should be more than ready to give the Great Breakthrougha real try," Kakashi answers. I try pulling back on the current, but that just sets the other side of the balloon to rippling.

"Seriously though, is there any reason we can't focus on jutsu that don't need this first?" I press, squeezing my hand and my chakra simultaneously. For a few seconds the balloon is perfectly still, and then my control slips and it bulges outward as the wind slips free.

"Since I don't have to worry about the elemental side of things, I could build my fighting style around those types of ninjutsu instead of these," I ask reasonably, waving my scroll. "Wouldn't that be a lot quicker?"

"It definitely would be," Kakashi agrees. "If those sort of jutsu existed, that is." I look sharply at him, letting my chakra fade from the balloon.

"Excuse me?"

"Why do you think your instructors at the Academy didn't teach you any ninjutsu, Naruto?" He asks offhandedly. "It would make sense for them to equip you with at least a couple to make up for your inability to perform the Academy Three, wouldn't it?"

"Sure." I'd hounded Iruka-sensei many, many times during my time in the Academy for that very reason. I'd always assumed his excuse of it being too advanced for me was nonsense, but... "What's your point?"

"My point is that there's a reason elemental jutsu are so difficult to master, and it isn't just channeling the chakra for them." He holds the palm of his hand out, and bright blue sparks of chakra dance alongs his fingertips.

"This is what straight elemental chakra will get you. I can channel as much of it as I want, but in the end it isn't going to do anything serious." An instant later his hand is covered in sparks, so much so that they're actually dripping down to the ground. He lightly grabs my wrist, and I feel a jolt travel up my arm, but nothing else.

"This, on the other hand, is what elemental chakra combined with shape manipulation can get you." He holds out his hand again, still covered in sparks, but then they begin to coalesce, bunching together while he pumps more and more chakra into his hand.

The subdued crackle of electricity rises to a piercing shriek, and then evens out into a myriad of chirping. All of a sudden I'm staring with wide eyes at a ball of lightning completely engulfing his hand.

"You're not grabbing my wrist with that, are you?" I ask weakly. He smiles.

"Of course not. A demonstration probably wouldn't hurt though..." He trails off thoughtfully, heading for a tree. I follow behind, chancing a glance at my teammates as I do. I only catch a brief flash of Sasuke, darting through the trees with Kakashi hot on his trail, but I spot Sakura in plain sight just outside the range of a tree's shadow. She's working on that scroll of hers again. Her Kakashi is standing over her, but I can't tell what he's doing from this distance.

My Kakashi raises his hand in front of one of the larger trees of training ground seven, locking his fingers together. He draws his arm back slowly, and with one sharp movement drives his hand through the tree.

Literally through the tree and out the other side. Yanking his arm back out, he makes a show of shaking out his hand until his jutsu dissolves back into formless sparks before jabbing at a different part of the tree. There's a loud crack as he breaks through some bark, but besides that the trunk is undamaged.

"As you can see, elemental chakra is much more potent when used in conjunction with shape manipulation. Because of this, there isn't a single elemental ninjutsu out there that doesn't require the skill." He pauses. "That I know of, at least."

"Will I be able to do that with my wind?" I ask hopefully, admiring the gaping hole in the tree.

"Probably not." I turn surprised and disappointed eyes on the silver-haired jounin, but he just waves a hand, smiling. "That has nothing to do with your skill level, it's just how the elements work."

"I don't follow," I admit. He smiles wider and ruffles my hair, making it even spikier than usual with the residual static left on his palm.

"That's what the exercise is for, my cute little student."

I swat his hand away, scowling. "You're saying I only have to get this one exercise down and I'll be good?" If that's the case, Iruka really was just a lazy bastard.

"It'll prepare you for the Great Breakthrough," Kakashi says. "And it'll provide a foundation for further study, doubtlessly. But this isn't something that can be learned in one go. There's a reason you're usually a chunin or a jounin before you start focusing on the finer arts of chakra." His voice turns wry. "Unfortunately for you, your defect doesn't give you much of a choice in the matter."

Great. "This is probably for the best anyway," I sigh, heading back for my spot by the logs with Kakashi at my heels. "I've been meaning to work on shape transformation." My buzz at finally learning a jutsu is pretty much killed, but at least now I won't have to go crawling back to the old man to beg for the missing piece to the puzzle of a jutsu he gave me. Though needling information out of Kakashi probably won't be much better...

I slump down my preferred log, focusing my attentions once more on the balloon. I try squeezing with my hand and forcing my flighty chakra into a ball just a little bit smaller than the balloon again, but I barely manage to hold it for ten seconds before my control slips and the balloon bulges with escaping wind. I try again, and manage eight seconds this time. Again, five seconds. Three seconds.

I grit my teeth, gripping the balloon firmly, and squeeze. The latex surface remains perfectly still. Ten seconds tick past. My hand begins to shake. I squeeze harder on my little ball of chakra. Five more seconds, and sweat begins to bead on my forehead. Another three tick by at an agonizingly slow pace. Nineteen...

My control shatters all at once, and after a single moment of grotesque stretching the balloon pops.

A shadow falls over me, and I crane my head to see Kakashi perched on his log again, looking down at me amusedly. "No, no, keep going," he encourages, just earnestly enough that I can't call him out on it. "You can't expect to get this on your first try. It's going to take a while before you learn the trick of it."

"You mean the trick that you probably know and could tell me right now?" I ask pointedly.

He cocks his head. "What would be the fun in that, though?"

The worst.

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