บท 33: Body Flicker

The following day, as promised, Riku decided to introduce Ninjutsu to their training.

"First of all, I hope every one of you knows their Chakra Affinities," Riku started.

Everyone apart from Aiko nodded their heads. Renjiro and Hiro knew about their affinities long before they joined the Academy.

"Sensei, I do not know my chakra affinity," Aiko muttered.

"That's fine Riku, if that's the case, then everyone will use these chakra papers I came with."

Riku handed each of them chakra papers and the genins began infusing their chakra into it.

For Hiro, his chakra paper began to solidify. It showed signs of dirt which eventually crumbled up. Aiko's paper was the flashiest of them all, besides Renjiro's of course. It lit up and turned into ash.

'So fire, earth and dual one of fire and wind. That is interesting. At least now we know that the Uzumaki boy will at least attain the jounin rank.'

Renjiro thought that his dual affinities would draw too much attention but was glad when Riku revealed his Affinities. He had dual affinities like Renjiro which were Water and Earth.

'That reminds me, Guy also had dual chakra nature affinities, so it shouldn't be that unique.'

This did not mean that Riku would not be able to guide Aiko and Renjiro in Ninjutsu as affinities only made learning jutsus of said element easier.

It was not impossible for one to learn jutsus of other elements, case in point, the fourth Hokage who mastered all chakra natures.

Besides, one of the requirements of becoming a jounin in Konoha was mastering two chakra natures. Riku went with Fire and earth.

He had not mastered the lightning and wind natures as it requires abysmal effort for him to even learn any jutsu above the A rank of both chakra natures.

"The first jutsu that we will begin with is the body flicker technique. It's a technique that allows a ninja to move at an incredible speed, almost becoming a blur to the naked eye." Riku said before continuing,

"Mastering this jutsu will enhance your mobility and tactical advantage in the field. It is one of the few jutsus that will be easily integrated into your overall fighting style."

Riku proceeded to demonstrate the technique, seamlessly disappearing from one spot and reappearing a short distance away. The fluidity of his movements was both impressive and mystifying, leaving an indelible image of speed and precision in the minds of the young genin.

'It looks like teleporting but he is actually leaving an afterimage by moving at an almost untraceable speed. This will be an important jutsu to learn.' Renjiro pondered.

"Now, pay attention," Riku instructed as he walked them through the foundational principles of the Body Flicker Jutsu.

He explained the necessity of precise chakra control and the synchronization of mind and body to execute the jutsu seamlessly.

'The only good thing about this technique, other than its utility, is that its requirements are very forthcoming. It only required the Tiger seal to perform.' Renjiro thought after getting a breakdown of the jutsu from the scrolls, as well as the demonstration, Riku showed them.

'It also betrays its D Rank, which mainly consists of Jutsus easier to learn as compared to high ranks, as it is very hard to master the Jutsu. The biggest issue is getting used to travelling at insanely high speeds.'

'It also says that having some kind of distraction like smoke, leaves or even genjutsu would help enhance the jutsu. The distraction would make it less hard to see which direction the user went.'

After Riku's demonstration, the three tried performing the jutsu for the first time. However, the initial attempts proved to be far from graceful. Instead of becoming elusive blurs, the genins found themselves stumbling, tripping over their own feet.

'It has a steep learning curve but they should get it soon. As long as they can flicker to about two hundred meters, they would have achieved a decent mastery over the jutsu.' Riku mused after watching the disastrous initial attempts by his students.

Renjiro had already tried using his Sharingan to copy jutsus before, but he soon found out that the copying ability of the Sharingan was not as straightforward as it seemed.

Once the Sharingan saw a jutsu, it instantly memorized how it was performed, from the hand signs to how the chakra was used. However, Memorization did not equate to replication.

It was like a medical student memorizing all the books and videos on surgery and then being asked to perform the procedure. There was a 100% chance that they won't get everything correct or do it even nearly perfectly.

The Sharingan was basically a tutorial on how to perform the jutsu, otherwise, the Uchiha would be spamming a thousand jutsus as long as they meet the chakra requirement.

Despite failing initially, the genins still persisted. With each attempt, they inched closer to the mastery that seemed elusive in those early moments.

Fortunately, after several rounds of practice, with Riku closely monitoring their progress, the genins began to grasp the fundamentals of the Body Flicker Jutsu.

'I've finally gotten a hang of it!' Renjiro remarked as he flickered 50 meters ahead of him.

He had gotten better at performing the jutsu. The only issue was that the distance he could flicker to was limited. The largest he had flickered to was 53 meters. Aiko and Hiro were also in the same boat as the largest distance they had flickered to was 60 and 48 meters respectively.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, Riku observed the results of their efforts.

"Good work guys," he commended a glint of approval in his eyes.

"You still have to work on the Jutsu. I observed that without full concentration, it would be hard for you guys to use during stressful situations. You have to master it to the point where you could do it in your sleep."

'I should probably use Shadow clones to improve this Jutsu. That will save so much needed time.'

That's right, Renjiro had already learnt Shadow clone jutsu. It was imperative to learn it as it would improve the potency of his training and also cut down his training time.

With the clone jutsu as a foundation, it was easier to learn the jutsu. He could also make the same number of shadow clones as he could with the clone jutsu. This greatly increased the effectiveness of his training sessions.

After the ninjutsu training, the genins were expecting to be released but Riku disappointed them, yet again.

"Since we have taken too much time on the body flicker jutsu, we should just have our usual spars and then call it a day,"

Normally this would send shivers down the genins' spines but the three shinobis did not even show it on their faces as they were already numb from the pain.

Both Physical and Psychological ones Riku inflicted on them. The result of the spars only added three more victories to Riku.

With the lesson concluded, the team dispersed to continue with their own personal training. Renjiro planned to continue with his Fuinjutsu training.

As Renjiro was delving into Fuinjutsu from the books he had borrowed from the library the previous day, he grappled with the realization that there was a difference between understanding the concepts and the practical application of Fuinjutsu.

There were concepts that he had not considered like calligraphy and symbol memorization. Renjiro also came across jutsu-shiki, which was a chakra language, that served as the foundation for Fuinjutsu and Ninjutsu in general. It formed the various formulae for Ninjutsu.

With it, the Fuinjutsu symbols were formed. After understanding what he needed to do, Renjiro started memorizing the symbols first. With his Sharingan, this process was greatly expedited.

With a furrowed brow, he then moved to calligraphy, carefully etching symbols onto parchment in an attempt to replicate the complex arrangements found in the scrolls.

The silence of his study was punctuated only by the scratch of the quill against parchment and the occasional turn of a scroll.

Of course, since Renjiro was just practising, there was no need to purchase the recommended chakra ink and paper for this. That step would follow when he was ready to practice his first seal matrix.

With hours of meticulous practice behind him, Renjiro felt a sense of readiness that signalled the next step in his Fuinjutsu journey. He was now ready to begin practising on seals!

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