Chapter 29: The Weapon
In the forest, Naruto stood in the center of a clearing from within.
All around him, the trees were damaged and riddled with various injuries. Some were stabbed by what looked to be some kind of kunai, others had slash marks, but most had long stream line markings that looked like they were whipped or strangled by some kind of rope.
"Hah... Hah... one more time" Naruto mumbled as he desperately breathed in the air. He was disheveled. With only a thin chainmail shirt on, his usual jacket discarded. He was sweating profusely while he felt his muscles, especially the ones on his arms and shoulders aching.
On both his hands, there were chains wrapped around them. At the end of these chains, there was a kunai like blade on both of them, though the ones he currently were using were already blunted and dulled. Though if he swung hard enough they could crudely cut something.
He clenched his teeth and tensed his muscles as he swung on of his arms. Next second later, a loud bang resounded, like a whip, the chains slashed at a tree leaving a gash on it. Sap dripped out as it emulated blood spilling out of an open wound.
"I've gotten better" Naruto mumbled.
For the past few weeks, He's been practicing using chains for combat because of one lesson from the academy. Their instructor touched upon the use of weapons and how it could help boost a shinobis physical power.
Although he already had his chakra chains, they used up his chakra. And even if he had a monstrous amount of chakra, it still wasn't his go to move to use.
He looked at his hands as they were wrapped up in chains before moving to go under the shade of a tree. Briefly remembering the day a few months back. When their instructor talked about the use of weaponry.
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"And now, let's discuss another topic" Their sensei, Iruka stated.
Naruto gazed at the man, for the past few weeks, he changed from indifferent to actually giving him attention. He was confused but the change was welcomed. After all, it benefited him greatly.
"The use of weapons" He said getting most of the students and as well as the red head's attention. They were all children after all, and most of them fantasized about using weapons. The boys with cool weapons to show off and the girls fantasizing about using weapons gracefully.
"It's no secret that using weapons greatly boost a shinobi. This dates back to the warring states period. Though most would just choose the standard katana or chokuto, most shinobi don't actually care to master their weapons" Iruka stated gaining questioning looks from the students.
One person raised up their hand and asked a question.
"Yes?" Iruka stated as the student began to ask.
"Wait sensei, if weapons make them stronger, then why don't they want to master it?"
"Well, that's quite simple" Iruka said before he began "Although most shinobi do carry weapons, it's mainly for convenience. But why most of them don't really rely or master them is because of the difficulty. They already need to master their ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Most already have trouble with the three, why bother training another"
"Not to mention, it might just stunt their growth more if they lack the affinity or talent. As well as following the way of a weapon is needed to have a strict discipline. Not all see success in them." He explained
"That is why, it it best to make sure that if you really want to master a weapon. Don't limit yourself, check out which weapons you feel are the easiest and most comfortable to use" He said
"Some use swords and become accomplished in the art of kenjutsu. Some prominent figures known for their swordsmanship are the Mist's seven ninja swordsmen, our village's lord second hokage, as well as the white fang who was also from our village"
"Though swords are the most commonly used, other weapons can be deadly too and are not to be looked down upon. An example would be lord third, who is known for his proficiency with the staff or Uchiha Madara, who was known for his use of the gunbai (war fan) and sickle"
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After that day, Naruto began to try out various weapons he borrowed from the Sarutobi mansion. Ranging from swords to staffs but he didn't really find any he liked. That was until he thought about using chains.
With his chakra chains as tribute, he designed and sketched them, adding kunais to the end before asking the old man to try and get them made.
All he got form the old man was a raised eyebrow but he nonetheless complied. Though it was weird that the old man didn't ask any questions, he didn't care.
It took two weeks for it to be made and it's been about three weeks since he began practicing. During his two week wait, he barely did anything and eventually most of the chakra signatures that used to follow him stopped. Only a few were left which were the ones he were already familiar with.
It was the one's that often used to follow him around before he moved into the Sarutobi mansion.
He looked up at the sky, noticing it's orange color with hints of dark blue, he decided to call it a day and return.
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"Naru-nii!" Konohamaru said as he jumped on the red head as soon as he entered the main buidling.
Naruto's eyes twitched as he scolded the boy.
"Konohamaru, get off. I'm dirty" He said as he pried the kid off of him. "Go help and prepare the table, I'll prepare dinner when I'm changed" Naruto said as he left to get changed.
Along the way he saw Asuma, the third's son who recently came back from a mission.
"Ah, back already? Dang kid, you're really serious about training huh?" The older man said as he looked at Naruto's bruised fingers and arms.
"Good evening to you too, Asuma-san. Practice makes perfect" Naruto said as he walked past him and headed straight towards his room to get a change of clothes before going to take a bath.
As he left he faintly heard Asuma speak.
"Jeez kid, learn to take a break sometime"
Naruto could only shake his head. Sure he could take a break but his breaks were usually on the weekends. All other time were allocated to practice, it was his schedule he made and honored since getting his custom made chains.
He was committed to mastering his newfound weapons.
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Chapter End
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a/n:
sorry about the slow updates, hopefully I'll get more free time. Due to rising new cases with the new covid variant, my classes are temporarily going to be remote synchronous so I don't have to attend classes face to face.
Hopefully I can find some time to write.
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