Chapter Text
'Now if I write it that way…'
It has been a week since talking with, apparently, the ruling class of this village (why do they call it village if it's a whole functioning military town?). Cid was now busy with attempts to make better sealing scrolls, but to no avail as of now. Everything simply went down into being unable to mass produce paper of better quality; at least his own blood served as great conductor for fuinjutsu…
What? He didn't forget about his Blood Magic! Just because he had no use for it most of the time doesn't mean he wouldn't use it the moment he sees its potential!
Meanwhile, some clones were equally busy with attempting to use ninjutsu. Apparently, this world's elemental system was divided into five elements: your classic earth-water-fire-wind, plus… lightning. No, really, they somehow managed to squeeze lightning into classic elemental system and even derive the weaknesses from each element! Like, earth buries water, water extinguishes fire, fire burns the wind, wind (somehow) blows away lightning, and lightning… does something with earth, apparently. Strange stuff, if he's being honest; he just learned that ninjutsu works that way and didn't bother anymore.
There were also derivative elements, or something? Like when you combine chakra of two or more elements into one technique and it works? For example, he heard that via combining water and wind you can get ice… That's even more weird, if he's being honest. Though, as he also heard, stuff like that was only available to those with special genes that unlocked the ability to use that derivative element…
You know, that makes him wonder. Magic is something that is quite versatile and should be capable of practically anything, right? And chakra is, quite literally, just your lifeforce mixed with some spiritual energy, so it should be more focused on direct confrontation and use of your body, right?
So why the hell does chakra have so many useful fields, while magic in his world was limited by body enhancement and occasional artifact making?! He had to create all the cool stuff like elemental magic from scratch!… Ah, to hell with it…
So, clones attempted to use ninjutsu… to no avail. As he previously mentioned, the usual hand seals that accompanied techniques were unavailable for him since his chakra system was a bootleg version of normal one with multiple crutches that had to stay for about half of year before they would grow into normal tenketsu, or something that would resemble them, and even then, since he modified his chakra system so much with adding small channels and exits to ensure that he can use chakra the same way he uses magic, hand seals would still be something out of realm of possibility.
However.
He only needed to know how hand seals make your chakra move, and for that he spie- cough, cough, watched over young generation training their techniques. It took some time and research, but in the end he finally had an album full of drawings that explained how chakra moved whenever hand seals were used. Let's just say… Some techniques required as much as hundred hand seals in quick succession. However, it was a known fact that with passage of time user could reduce the amount of seals required for technique down to one, and even zero if they are especially familiar with it. How is that possible?
If Cid had to guess, it was because over time chakra system gained something like muscle reflex for this specific technique; of course, that was just a hunch, but judging by his previous interactions with magic, chakra ought to be the same… or even more like that, considering it was, again, lifeforce combined with spiritual energy.
That brought a question, though; Cid has managed to memorize all ways chakra should flow when using a technique, right? And most techniques not related to elements were perfectly usable: clones, henge, kawarimi, and even some of the newer stuff he learned. But not elements. Why?
For that Cid once again immersed himself into the ninjutsu section of the scrolls. 'Hand Seals and their proper execution', 'Useful jutsu for mundane life', 'Elemental affinity', 'Derivative jutsu'… Hold up! Affinity! That's what he needs!
Uh-huh, let's see…
'As it is known, there are five main elements of ninjutsu: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water. Together they create a perfect balance of five elements, with one suppressing the next and being suppressed by previous one. If it's like this, then all shinobi would strive to study all five elements, right? However, there is one major issue with that.
Elemental affinity. Main and secondary element. Chakra affinity. There are many names for this phenomenon, but we will use 'elemental affinity' in general and 'main and secondary element' in special cases.
Each shinobi is different. Lifestyle, body structure, amount of chakra, preferred battle style… The list could go on and on, but the end result is the same: you will not be able to find an exact same shinobi anywhere else, even among twins. And the same is true for elemental affinity.
Elemental affinity is how suited your chakra is towards a specific element. Depending on how high it is, you may experience an easier time drawing your chakra to induce Elemental Transformation — the ability to redefine your chakra's elemental properties. Of course, it is possible to use Elemental Transformation without having affinity of the element, but doing so is extremely taxing and hard.
The easiest way to know your elemental affinity is to take a test with special paper made from a tree that has been fed chakra for the duration of its growth. Once you fill paper with your chakra, it will immediately display a result: Fire will ignite the paper, Wind will cut it in two, Lightning will make it wrinkled, Earth with transform paper into dirt, Water will wet it.
There are also advanced elements that are created via combining basic elements, however to do so you are required to have a certain amount of control with these elements and the affinity with advanced element itself. It is impossible to use advanced element without having affinity with it, typically through Kekkei Genkai — genetically granted ability to use it…'
Oh, so that's how it is…
Cid looked up from the scroll and focused on the clones.
Of course the world with energy that was so close to lifeforce would be reliant on genetics way more than the magic one… Don't get him wrong, the genetics played a heavy role in that one, too, but it was more because of Demon Diablos whose genes were passed down through generations… and who turned out to be a cutie pie in the end. Strange stuff, yeah.
So, he needs this special paper…
Thanks to shinobi stores, he has managed to get a hold on a stack of so-called 'Chakra Induction Paper'. Now, the moment of truth! Which one of the elements should he develop first-
Paper stayed the same. Cid looked at it, dumbfounded, and injected chakra again. Paper stayed the same. Cid, irritated, blew almost percent of his reserve. Paper stayed the same.
So. Paper doesn't react to his chakra. And he also had troubles using elements. You know, this is now kinda concerning…
Thankfully, Hams finally looked up from his papers and with tired yet intelligent look on its snout started explaining what, exactly, was wrong.
Apparently, chakra really relied heavily on genetics, with elemental affinity being one of the more extreme cases of that; by Hams' estimations, there should be whole families able to use that one certain element, with very rare exceptions. How does that concern Cid?
Well, you see, Cid was not born in this world. He was not exposed to any chakra, and the only time he did was when he set up bootleg chakra system… Which was still a combination of his own physical and spiritual energy. And if it was Cid before he got Soul Space, it would be all fine and dandy; after all, magic passing through his body would still leave something from environment, considering how often he used Overdrive, which heavily relied on pumping up his mana regeneration and taking in environment's mana.
However, with obtaining Soul Space all his magic went from the body into the soul itself. He still had all the benefits of having magic as if it never went away, but in all meanings, on the material plane there was no magic in his body. And that meant he washed away all body elemental affinities into the soul.
So, what he needs to do now is expose himself to elements again, but this time instead focus on chakra. Or take some genes and borrow the affinity for himself. Or just be himself again and brute force elements learning. Any way would work.
And, yeah, if Cid is being honest, he just forgot that he had to adapt his mana into element at first before being able to cast it. Who said with chakra it would be different?
After that everything went quite well: Cid concentrated on the feeling of wind around him. Hmm, different world, different rules… Instead of magic, chakra floated everywhere… Nature's chakra, huh? Well, let's try Overdrive with chakra-
Todd sounded an alarm.
Cid opened his eyes and realized that a part of his hand suddenly became… stone. No, really, stone. Is it some kind of Magic Overload?
In curiosity he raised his hand to his face… Hmm, it still works well, but… The environment's energy seems to affect his body? Well, even magic in large quantities caused mutations, but he thought getting more chakra would result in betterment, not something like this… Or is it exactly because it's environment's energy and as such incompatible with humans? More research is needed…
With a sigh he stopped holding the nature's chakra and let it disperse. His body immediately took its normal form.
He sat down and started thinking. Apparently, for some time Overdrive is unavailable… at least, that part which heavily gathers energy out of surroundings. Sad, sad; this magic technique was his butter and bread, considering how much it skyrocketed his magic growth. Of course, since then his magic was growing way faster by itself than via using environment, but for chakra it would great, too…
Well, it seems like elements are unavailable for him for now, too. Though…
He reached out for Fire Realm in his Soul Space and allowed chakra to mimic its properties. And immediately after that, he was able to use the basic fire ninjutsu.
Aha! So it is quite similar to magic!
Shame he didn't bother getting more elemental Realms after Shadow and Fire… First because he's, well, Shadow, and second because he needed to deep dive into planet's core… No, he's not joking.
…Technically speaking, he could just deep dive into some elements, like ocean, or earth, or somewhere windy, or in storm… But again, nature's chakra.
So the best way for now is collect some samples from people with great elemental affinity and try to reproduce their results… After getting some more experiences with clones, of course-
Poof.
Memories flashed before his eyes.
Smile appeared on his face.
Finally! Success!
The first clone managed to use the wind technique! Weak as hell, but technique, nonetheless! Progress!
Muh-ha-ha! Now nothing can stop him-!
Huh? Hams? What did he want? Oh, he wants to talk? Alright, come out.
And, well, Hams came out. That is, literally. Which he should not have been able to do.
But…
"This Shadow Clone technique is really interesting," Hams spoke, currently in the body of one of shadow clones.
Hmm…
Shadow Clone creates a clone with a copy of user's sentience. Hams is practically his another sentience that exists in his soul. It is possible to take it out and use for Shadow Clone instead of just creating a copy.
"Though…" Hams spoke again, scrutinizing the clone which he resided in, "Eh, human's body is quite a shame, completely incomparable to my glorious rotund hamster body-"
Cid 'gently' pressed onto clone's mouth with a 'friendly' smile on his face.
However, the possibilities are indeed large. Especially with knowledge that he and Hams can now do runes and other stuff in reality together.
"Alright, alright," Hams pushed Cid's hand away, "So, there is another topic I wanted to talk you about with."
He raised the 'Elemental Affinity' scroll.
"Look,"tap,"right,"tap,"here,"tap.
Cid did as he was told.
His ego wished he didn't.
'…The easiest way to train Elemental Transformation for beginners is to take tree's leaves and try to produce an effect similar to the one that happens whenever user puts chakra into Chakra Induction Paper. Compared to produced with special techniques paper, normal leaves are way more resistant to elemental chakra. It would be up to user to train their control.'
In retrospective, it all made sense. Like, he came to a world that had quite developed elemental abilities, with multiple ways to use them at that. Surely there was some kind of training for that, right? And there was, but Cid has grown so accustomed to his previous backwards world where everyone used magic as body enhancer that coming into the world where energy itself screamed about body enhancement forced him to think that he, once again, would have to re-invent a wheel. Well, he was, pleasantly, proven wrong.
Though the exercises were kinda… childish to his tastes, but upon further thought he realized that all shinobi at some point were weak and untrained… except maybe for few insane guys that are born with all positive blessings combined and are destined for greatness… anyway, these kinds of exercises were both challenging enough for a young shinobiandwere very interesting for them! Because what is cooler than just holding a leaf in your hand, then swish! And it burns/gets cut/wrinkles/crumbles/gets wet! Yeah, this world was way better in handling the martial arts and supernatural arts… And yes, he did look into martial arts of this world via spyi-watchingover some training guys. He was especially interested in one guy who was screaming about Power of Youth: his technique was clearly very refined. Cid himself wouldn't mind to have a 'conversation' with him. Everyone thought that his strongest area was swordsmanship, but in truth, he was master at CQC. He only took up the way of the sword… because it was cool.
No, really, have you never seen how cool sword is?! Especially those moments when master gets surrounded, thugs are smiling in greed, then he sighs and says something like 'You have eyes, yet you fail to see Mt. Tai', then he barely takes the sword out of the sheath and immediately places it back. Five seconds passes, first thug moves, and suddenly (!) explodes in blood mist. Because actually swordmaster did absolutely insane showcase of skill and speed and managed to cut everyone at once in time it takes a novice to start taking out their sword! How cool is that?!
Of course, Cid himself was not yet able to do so without addition of magic… But he worked in that regard! Who knows, one day he might turn it into reality!
…He's getting off track. Right, Elemental Transformation.
The whole point of exercises for Elemental Transformation was to, obviously, fine-tune your chakra to the element. It sounds very simple, right? In truth, without having an affinity with element, as the scroll said, shinobi would have to undergo a very taxing process of studying said element as much as possible and then try to mimic it. Shinobi with elemental affinity, on the other hand, did not need to do so; their body already had the, so to say, mold of element. They only needed to, m-m-m, 'call' for it, if he can say that.
That's where the problem lied for Cid. His body, as mentioned before, was of different world. Moreover, all his elemental affinity was stored in the soul, not in body. He could call for his elements in soul, but it's not quite the same.
However, the memories of poof-ed clone brought up important information. Namely, everything he learned about elements while trying to invent elemental magic? It could be applied here. Obvious, since practically every world had the same qualities of their elements, their only distinguishing feature being the energy that was prevalent (or lack of thereof) in the world, right? Well… Yeah, pretty much. He was just too fixated on chakra to even think about applying his magic knowledge to it. Foolishness from his side, he knows.
Thankfully, he now got a whole Hams on his side! You know, his incredibly intelligent Inner Beast (at this Hams proudly raised his snout(he used henge to change his appearance from Cid's to his own)) that very much loved deep diving into researching new stuff just as much as Cid did? Yeah, that one.
The neat part about Hams was the fact that it was, technically, a different personality. Surely, Hams was practically born from Cid's soul, but unlike Shadow Clones which still thought and behaved largely similar to Cid, Hams had his own thoughts on various matters. There were also Todd and Diva, but…
Cid glanced at the large toad that was counting the items in their treasury. He then turned his gaze to overgrown dove that was writing (how does she do it withwings?!) the tenth book about greatness of Seven Shades and how patient they were to handle a chuunibyo like Cid.
…Yeah, not touching these two.
Ahem, back to the topic.
Hams suggested looking over the ninjutsu scrolls once more and try to find something that would greatly reduce the time spent for training. Cid couldn't agree more, and thus they started deep diving into the world of ninjutsu…
Naruto focused on his chakra.
As time passed, he slowly felt more and more in touch with it.
Ever since Dad came back, everything became good!
Like, he has a nice good house instead of small broken room, every day Dad places out a lot of yummy food, and he even trains him to become a strong shinobi! Though for some reason he says Naruto shouldn't go out into the village yet, muttering about 'being in shadows' or something…
Old man Hokage upon hearing about that chuckled lightly and explained that every shinobi must not only be proficient in raw power, but also be able to hide themselves and their power easily. Come to think of it, ever since Dad returned, old man was looking very lively… And they behaved like friends… Maybe they actually are, and old man was just worrying his friend got lost somewhere?! That would explain why he was so sad when Naruto asked about his parents!
Though where's Mom, then?…
Naruto got a bit sad. Just a bit. Future Hokage can't be sad! He should look cool-!
"Hello, Naruto-kun."
"Old man!"
Yes, it's old man himself! Visits him again!
"Why didn't you visit us yesterday?! I had so many things to show you!" he pointed accusatory finger at the funny hat man.
"Ho-ho, as lively as ever, aren't you?…" old man simply smiled at him and took out a pipe.
"Boo! Boo! Place it away!" Naruto placed a hand over his nose, "It smells horrible!… Old man, not funny!"
Hokage chuckled at his antics, yet complied and placed the pipe back into his clothes.
"I see you are preparing for the academy entrance, don't you?" old Sarutobi inquired.
"Huh?… Oh, yeah! You said that… uh… 'di-pending on perfor-mens we can graduate earlier'… Something like that!" Naruto beamed at his ability to pronounce hard words.
"Ah, yes, that one… Indeed, that might be possible," Hiruzen smiled warmly.
"So that's why I am here! I already can walk on a tree!… Though sometimes I still fall down…" he mumbled, not quite willing to admit his defeat.
"It's fine, Naruto-kun. Results you show now are already on the level of graduated shinobi…" Hokage squinted slyly.
"…But that's a genin?"
"Ah, so you remember. Good, good."
"…Wait, that was a test?!" realization struck him, "Old man!"
"Ho-ho-ho!"
Naruto simply couldn't be mad at the old man. Like, he did fake being mad sometimes, but old man was always caring for him!
"Say, Naruto-kun, how is your relationship with Shadow?"
"Shadow?… Oh, dad?" wait, isn't 'Kage' and 'Shadow' basically the same?
Hiruzen's smile faltered for a moment.
"Yes, him."
"He's cool! He gives me a lot of cool food, and this cool house, and then he also went to hunt and did swish-swish-swish, and the wolf fell down, and also he can sink into shadows and also he can-"
"So he was caring for you?" Hokage interrupted him.
"Yeah! Just like you, old man!"
"I…" Hiruzen closed his eyes, "…see…"
Naruto couldn't quite understand why old man was being sad. Like, did something happen?
"Old man?"
"No, nothing. Just… bad memories," Hiruzen sighed and opened his eyes, looking at the sky.
"Oh, when I feel bad, I just take my painting stuff and go out to have fun! You should do something like that too, old man!" he knows his stuff!
"Is that so…" Sarutobi mumbled, "Will do."
Naruto could see that something was bothering old man, but it seems like he wouldn't tell it. Naruto sometimes felt like that too…
"Say, why don't you go and find Shadow? It seems like about time you meet up, no?"
"Oh?… Ttebayo!" Naruto just realized that, "Sorry, old man, gotta go!"
The last lighthearted chuckle reached his ears as he jumped into the run.
'…Shape Transformation — one of the chakra control abilities that is required for giving your technique shape. Without it your chakra will be just a gust of energy. With it? A powerful, structured mass of chakra that is doing the function that user decided upon technique creation. An example of Shape Transformation could be various techniques, but usually it is used in tandem with Elemental Transformation to give your technique desired effect and shape. For example, usually for Fire and Water the shape of a ball is used, while Wind tends to gravitate more towards "cutting" shapes like blade and spear.
If you have managed to complete Tree Climbing Practice and Water Walking Practice, then you are qualified for trying to tamper with technique's shape. Every experienced shinobi has at least one modified or created from scratch technique that relies on Shape Transformation…'
Man, these scrolls are so good! The difference between what he gets from them and what he got from all other is practically… Well, he can't even compare them. Who wrote that, he wonders?… 'Tobirama Senju, studying material for Academy students and new shinobi'. Not bad at all, Tobirama! You get Cid's seal of approval!
Alright, he can now somewhat understand where to go now… Shape and Element, huh… Come to think of it, wasn't it somewhat similar to his magic? No, not elemental one, that one is obvious as hell; Nuclear one!
The pinnacle of his magic that was created out of fascination with Earth's nukes. Even before reincarnating into magic world, he was training like crazy in order to achieve his dream: becoming a power that controls everything from behind the curtains. Yet, he has come to a conclusion: he cannot become one if he can't defeat world's strongest weaponry… Yes, nuclear bomb.
Upon reincarnation, he used his previous life knowledge and newfound magic in order to create various fighting styles. Ones were for the show, others were the epitome of efficiency… But one was different.
I Am Atomic.
His magnum opus. It was both flashy and efficient. With using a minuscule amount of magic that was available even for weaker mages Cid was able to completely eradicate anything, ranging from a street and up to a town, a country… And possibly, the whole planet itself if he uses enough magic.
Of course, the amount of calculations and concentration required was… large, to say the least. Even Demon Diablos, the second strongest being in magic world, could begin the initiating steps, but was unable to reveal technique's full prowess… she then cutely pouted at her failure, but that's besides the point.
Why did he remember it? Because it wastheShape Transformation taken to the extreme: release your magic into surroundings, concentrate it back into the smallest point possible, and then release it in any direction. It somewhat imitated nuclear fission and fusion, albeit not to the… heh, atomic point. He had no such qualifications yet. Maybe when he trains his mind enough?…
That makes him kind of sentimental. He suddenly remembered about times when he just became fascinated with powers behind the shadows. He has done a lot to become one…
"Dad, what do we do today?!" oh, kid is here.
"Naruto,"he greeted kid in his usual imposing manner, his mind still focused on his childhood wish,"Tell me… What is your dream?"
"Dream?… To become Hokage, ttebayo!" Naruto puffed his chest.
"Good,"Cid nodded seriously,"Work for it. Reach for it. And never… I repeat:neverback down."
"Uh?… Yeah, I never intended too!"
Good. Because this kid reminded Cid himself back when he just got his dream.
Cid could sympathize with that… To some extent. If Naruto goes all out for his training, then one humble Eminence would not mind sharing some Shadow Wisdom.
That is, if kid really doesn't back down. Cid doubts he would, though.
