Chapter 15 Resonance

Kurama is a good teacher. He is patient, good at listening, and doesn't mind explaining something in different ways until Naruto fully understands it.

He was generous in praising Naruto when he did well, and mercilessly scolding him when Naruto got a little complacent, but overall, he was a very good teacher.

But in training? He was a tyrant.

"Remember resonance, stupid, we've covered this before."

Naruto stood precariously on the water, which undulated beneath his feet like a funhouse mirror.

If I had known this earlier, I would have trained on a tree. At least the tree wouldn’t move.

Kurama said that Naruto had ample chakra reserves, but poor control, so he spent half an hour learning how to use chakra to walk on trees and rocks, but ended up making a lot of potholes.

The sun was beginning to set and Naruto was exhausted as he had been practicing things he didn't know he needed to practice, like balance, strength and endurance, but he had mostly mastered tree climbing, with water walking next.

"I get it, you grumpy old fox, but the rhythm of the water keeps changing," he complained, glaring at Kurama's shadow, which was sitting leisurely on the water as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Of course, for Kurama, it was indeed easy.

"Then adjust your frequency and adapt to it."

Naruto tried to follow its instructions, but his water-attributed chakra was still clumsy, either releasing too much or too little, leaving him very frustrated and soaking wet.

"I've been..." Before he could finish his words, the energy in his body was out of control and the water suddenly rushed to one side. He waved his arms desperately, trying to steady his body, but to no avail, and eventually fell into the water.

He fell into the cold pool water again, his body continued to sink and turned blue in the bubbles, but before he could react, Jiu Lama bit the back of his collar and lifted him out of the water like a puppy.

It lowered Naruto back to the surface, and Naruto instinctively tried to mobilize Yang attribute chakra instead of water attribute chakra - it must be said, this was much easier.

The Yang chakra made him feel like he was standing on a thick piece of glass instead of a flowing jelly, the water flowing under his feet instead of wrapping around his body and flowing along the path of least resistance.

“Why should I learn this?”

"Because learning to resonate with the nature around you allows you to adapt to the flow of things. Once you master this skill, you can glide on the surface of the water or push the water in a way that you can't normally do. The most powerful Mizukage can even use this technique to control tsunamis. Now try it again. This time, you need to pay attention to two rhythms, not just your own."

This is what it feels like to train with Kurama, this old fox who can always catch his mistakes before he makes them, and can sense his tiredness even before he realizes he is tired. He also knows when he is truly tired and when he is just trying to be lazy.

It could also sense Naruto's hesitation and knew when he was about to fall into the water or fall off the rock he was training his balance on, and whenever this happened, it would appear in time to pull him out of the water or push him back before he fell.

Despite its harsh training methods, its corrections were gentle and without a hint of blame, which made it difficult for Naruto to remain frustrated, and he would quickly get up and try again.

******

When he returned to the apartment, Naruto was exhausted, his body, mind and all his chakra were exhausted.

The earth attribute chakra made him feel sore in his bones, the water attribute chakra made him feel sore in his muscles, the fire attribute chakra made him feel burning in his throat, the wind attribute chakra made him feel stuffy in his chest, and the lightning attribute chakra made him feel pain all over his body.

He was wet, dirty, and freezing cold.

Damn old fox, only knows how to enslave him.

"I heard."

"Of course you heard it!"

Although his limbs were numb and everything in front of him was unclear, he was happy for every minute of torture in his heart. Of course, he would not tell Jiu Lama.

As the sun set, the forests of the Land of Fire were dyed orange and gold. He looked up at the blood-red sun and remembered Kurama's description of his mother, whose hair was as red as the sunset in Konoha.

He couldn't help but wonder if she would be proud of him if she were still alive and saw what he looked like now.

He shook his head and put the thought out of his mind.

He still has a long way to go.

He walked straight into the bathroom, glancing at the clock on the microwave as he passed it.

Five hours.

He had never spent so much time on one thing before. Of course, it didn't feel like he was just doing one thing. He did at least six different kinds of training. Before this, he had no idea that there were so many ways to make himself stronger.

He took off his wet training clothes, turned on the shower and set the water temperature to the highest setting. To be honest, he felt terrible now, but he needed hot water, that's all.

He stood under the hot water for a while, waiting for his bones to warm up, then began to wash the dirt and leaves from his hair. He felt that he was about to fall asleep, and if he didn't lie down, he would really faint.

He walked out of the bathroom and dried himself, rubbing the towel roughly through his hair, trying to regain feeling in his numb limbs so that he could walk to the bed and change into pajamas. He stumbled into sweatpants and a t-shirt before falling headfirst into the bed and falling asleep in less than a minute.

This was the best sleep he had had in months.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he woke up in a daze. The sun had not yet risen, and there was only a faint light on the eastern horizon. He was starving.

He rolled awkwardly out of bed like a cat in socks, his muscles still unsure of how to move and clearly needing to relearn how to hold his body up.

He staggered to his feet, which was a challenge because his legs felt like they were made of red bean mochi rather than human bones and muscles.

But his stomach kept cramping, so he forced himself to move his legs and stumbled into the kitchen. Forget about healthy eating, he just wanted to eat instant noodles now. When he could think normally, Jiu Lama could scold him however he wanted, he just wanted to fill his stomach now.

Four minutes later, he had finished three bowls of instant noodles in a row, leaving only the empty foam bowls and his scalded tongue to prove that they had ever existed.

"Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty." Kurama yawned and teased Naruto who was walking towards the refrigerator to look for food.

"Uh, what time is it?"

"A few hours before dawn."

That meant he only got about six hours of sleep. Damn.

But now that his stomach was full, sleep was a luxury, so he muttered "Forget it" as he began to prepare breakfast.

He made himself three fried eggs and boiled a large pot of miso soup because he knew he would be hungry again soon and he had to prepare in advance, and he really should learn how to make curry as soon as possible so that he could make more at a time and not have to eat six meals a day.

Although instant noodles are convenient, you can’t eat them all the time.

He had just finished his first fried egg and a mango when Kurama caught his attention.

"Do you know where I can get a ninjutsu scroll?" it asked, tapping its mouth with its claws thoughtfully.

Naruto almost blurted out "I don't know", but that was not the truth. He knew where there were many ninjutsu scrolls, but he couldn't know that place.

"There is a ninjutsu library behind the academy, just on the other side of the Hokage's office, but those below the rank of Genin are not allowed inside."