Chapter 9: Accumulating Knowledge

Fujin started reading the scroll. After going through the entire scroll, Fujin summarised, 'I see. The hand signs are similar to those shown in the manga. There are 12 basic hand seals that are mentioned. The hand signs actually help to mold and manipulate the chakra in a particular manner. However, that's only a help. The ninja still has to actively attempt to mold chakra in that manner.'

He sighed, 'This will probably take some time to master. Until this is mastered to acceptable levels, practice of hand signs will be done instead of basic jutsu training.

To master the hand signs, I'll first have to practice it, while simultaneously having to mold the chakra in the proper way. Then I'll have to try different seals one after another and change the way chakra is molded according to the respective signs. Only after being able to do that will I be able to start attempting any jutsu. Damn, this is gonna be tedious.

Anyways, apart from the basic hand signs, there were also a few other hand signs. The scroll mentioned hand signs for all 5 elements and a hand sign for clones. Apparently there were also other hand signs that aren't mentioned here.

Oh well, at least the chakra molding part will require proper guidance, so I'll start after it is taught in the academy. And this is just the basics. Later on I'll have to learn one-handed hand signs, reduce the number of hand signs required to perform a jutsu and learn to perform jutsus without performing any hand sign at all.

I recall quite a few characters were able to do hand signs with only one hand, and many had reduced the number of hand signs required for important jutsus to only one!'

While he was analyzing the hand signs, his class teacher Genki entered the library and saw him lost in the scroll. He silently sneaked behind Fujin to see what he was reading. Upon noting the content, he smiled a bit and made his presence known, "Hello Fujin"

Upon hearing that Fujin suddenly turned behind to see, 'When did he appear behind me? How long was he here?' Not having any answers, he sighed mentally, 'I put my guard down, this is the ninja world after all. While he may only be a chuunin, he is in a whole different league compared to me right now. Well I suppose becoming a sensor could help me to a great degree in such scenarios. Anyways, time to act as a kid and make a good impression. It'll be helpful if I can get more guidance from him.'

Though he thought of all that, it only required a couple of seconds. He acted to be a bit nervous and said, "Good afternoon sensei, when did you come in the library?"

Genki laughed and said, "I've been here for a while kiddo. You were too lost in your scroll. So what's with your interest in hand signs?"

Fujin tried to act nervous and said in his childish voice, "I heard that some of my fellow classmates are already able to perform ninjutsu. During the exam, someone was talking about an Uchiha who was able to breath fire when he was only 4. I wanted to learn it too. That's why I began learning about hand signs."

Genki was happy that a small kid was showing so much interest and dedication. He tried to comfort the kid by rubbing his hand on his head and explaining, "Ah, that was Uchiha Itachi, he is your senior by a year. And he passed the academy in just a year and became a genin. But don't worry about it, Itachi was an exception. He had already started training from a very young age.

And it ain't breathing fire, instead he was using a jutsu called Fireball. You'll start using jutsus very soon too.

Tomorrow I'll teach you all about hand signs. So you can practice properly tomorrow. Until then don't try it by yourself. It can cause accidents, okay?"

Fujin showed an excited face, while nodding and said loudly, "Yes Sensei!" However Genki quickly said, "HEY, THIS IS LIBRARY, keep your voice down."

(A/N : I hope you guys get the meme, lol)

Fujin nodded again and softly said, "Yes Sensei"

After that Genki entered into section B of the library. Fujin thought, 'Oh, chuunins are allowed in section B? Then again, I'm not sure if this is for every chuunin or just a few. He did say he was an elite. So I guess he is an elite chuunin, who is probably close to becoming a special jounin or a jounin. Well whatever, at least my current impression should be very good, so that's some good news.'

And Fujin finally returned back to the scroll. He started to try and understand how chakra is molded with each hand sign and got engrossed in it again.

After sometime, he heard a door open. Fujin looked up to see Genki exit section B. He smiled at Fujin and exited the library.

After trying to understand the hand signs a bit more, Fujin finally closed the scroll and returned it to where it was. He then grabbed the scrolls on wind nature training and went back to the same spot and started reading.

After reading it he thought, 'This was a bit disappointing. All that is mentioned here is the leaf cutting exercise. Waterfall cutting ain't mentioned. Then again it makes sense as not everyone will have Yamato make a platform for them, and not everyone has Naruto's chakra levels in order to make that many clones.

The remaining content is mostly about the benefits of leaf cutting exercise and precautions to take. The only useful thing is the deeper explanation of the hand sign for wind nature transformation.'

He then got up and exchanged the scroll for earth nature training. This one was a bit more comprehensive.

Fujin thought, 'Alright this one's more helpful. Apparently, there are 2 basic ways to master earth transformation. The first one is to crush a stone. This was similar to leaf cutting. And the second one was to mold clay into various shapes, harden it and so on using only chakra.

It makes sense. Most earth style jutsus I remember, were basically just moving a part of the ground above the surface. So clay molding will be very helpful. As for stone crushing, after crushing stones, I could try crushing boulders to increase the mastery of earth nature whereas for clay molding, I could just increase the amount of clay or maybe I could try molding mud or soil as it'll be much tougher.'

He then placed the scroll back. Went to section E, and grabbed a scroll on the basics of Fuinjutsu. Upon reading it he analyzed, 'Alright, this doesn't sound too hard. Though I guess the difficulty should increase a lot for later versions. But yeah, this sounds to be too time consuming. Best left for later.'

He kept the scroll back and started searching section 0 for sensor training. He found many that were based on improving senses of smell or sight or hearing. After searching a lot, he finally found the one he was looking for. Sensing the chakra of anyone in your vicinity.

On reading it he found out, 'I see. So every ninja has a chakra field around them, though not everyone is able to use it properly. However, sensors can not only use their chakra field, but also expand their chakra field for hundreds of metres and exceptional sensors can even expand it for a few kilometres to detect chakra within that field. On the other hand, if this chakra field is retracted, then that can help in hiding from enemy sensors.

As for training to be a sensor, the greatest obstacles are the other senses of a ninja. So while training, it is advised to shut down the sense of sight, smell and hearing. Interesting, I wonder if I can shut down just 2 of them in order to train the remaining one. Good hearing, smell and eyesight would be very helpful in this profession.

The basic method is still meditation, but sort of done in reverse. Instead of meditating to isolate myself from the surroundings, I'll have to meditate in order to perceive my surroundings.

Sadly though, I have no idea how to shut down my sense of smell, and also don't have any gadgets to stop hearing. So I'll require help here. Some guidance could be helpful too. I guess I'll somehow have to give Genki hints that I want to be a sensor. Sigh'

He finally kept the scroll and left the library. It was already evening. He thought, 'Wow, I didn't notice the time at all. I guess I was in the library for over 6 hours! The library didn't have any window at all. Makes sense, they don't want anyone sneaking into the library. Probably the walls are fortified with the help of Fuinjutsu to prevent Earth style users from breaking in.'

He went towards his home and on the way, bought a small pack of clay for 5 Ryo and picked up a few small stones.