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It was October 10th and Naruto was awake in his bed staring at his ceiling. He sighed as he thought about the day.

'Everyone's probably busy with their stuff. And maybe it's best if I don't just leave the apartment for today. But still, today's my birthday. Maybe gramps will come to visit…'

Feeling slightly depressed, the young blonde just stayed in bed. He clearly remembered the looks sent his way and the cruel words spoken in whispered tone by the villagers when he went out on the last Memorial day.

'I'll just stay in bed and sleep.'

Knock Knock.

Naruto's head snapped up and looked at his door.

Knock knock.

Hearing the knocking again, he quickly got out of bed and went to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw his friend waiting outside. The blonde was surprised to see Daichi at his doorstep early in the morning.

"Daichi, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, opening the door.

"Morning to you too Naruto. Now come on. Get ready. We're going out today." Daichi smirked looking at Naruto's cartoonishly cute pajama outfit.

The blonde slightly smiled hearing that. His depressing thoughts vanished. "Wait! What about the others?"

"Yeah. I already went to everyone's home. Since today is the memorial day, they're all busy with their clan and stuff. It's just you and me." Daichi said with a shrug. "Now come on. Get moving."

Naruto excitedly nodded and went to get ready while Daichi looked around the apartment and noticed the piled up trash. 'Yeah. This will take some work.'

About 20 minutes later Naruto and Daichi were headed to their spot in the forest.

"Man, I wish the others were here too, ya know?"

"Oh I'm hurt that you don't want me here. Then maybe I'll just go home." Daichi said with mock hurt and crocodile tears.

"No No No! I didn't mean that. I was just kidding, ya know."

"Hahaha… It's always fun watching you get riled up like this."

"Why you… So what are we doing here anyway?"

The Genin smiled at his friend's question. "We're going to train."

Naruto's eyes lit up as he heard that. But they quickly lost their sparkle when he heard Daichi's next words.

"You're going to master a chakra control skill that'll help with mastering the three basic Ninjutsu."

"Aw man, Chakra control? That's not what I want. Come on. Show me some awesome jutsu. You must know a lot."

Daichi nodded his head with a smile. "I do know. But it won't help you with the lousy Chakra control you have… Now stop complaining. Do you wanna get stronger or not?"

At that question the hesitation on Naruto's face disappeared and he was eager to train and learn from his friend.

—-

Several minutes after the real Daichi and Naruto left, the shadow clones hiding outside entered his apartment. Almost an hour went by before Kiba and Shino showed and started helping Daichi.

"So what exactly did you say to Naruto? How did you get him to stay in the forest?"

At Kiba's question the Genin smirked. "I'm teaching him a chakra control technique. I figured training would keep him busy."

"Oh man really? Maybe I should join you guys. There's no way I can let that guy get ahead of me."

Daichi shook his head at that. "This is a special control technique that only someone like him would benefit from."

Shino and Kiba stopped and looked at the Genin at that declaration.

Seeing their looks Daichi elaborated. "The thing is Naruto has much greater chakra reserves than any of us. But still, he has problems with properly controlling his chakra and moving them through his coils. It's the reason he can't perform a decent clone."

"So you're training him to help with the chakra flow in his body?" Shino asked.

"Yeah. This particular control skill is designed for people with large chakra reserves. This technique uses the same principle as Tree walking but it's much more difficult. Naruto would have to use more chakra than the normal tree walking to learn this. If you guys try it, you'd be exhausted in a few hours."

"I see." Kiba and Shino nodded in understanding and went back to work.

"Hey, when do you think the others will be coming by huh?" Kiba asked as he took out the trash.

"Hm… Hinata told me her clan has a memorial service in the morning. She'll only be able to join us after. She and Ino should be coming together with the decorations in about 3 or 4 hours." Daichi replied.

"Based on our speed we'll be done in an hour. We can go home, get cleaned up and return here." Shino spoke.

Shadow clone Daichi nodded and they worked quickly cleaning the whole place. Within a short time the three were done with their tasks.

"Shino and I are gonna head back and get cleaned up. We'll pick up Ino, Shikamaru and Hinata and get the decorations on our way back."

Daichi nodded to Kiba's suggestion and once the two academy students left, the shadow clone dispelled itself letting its creator know of the progress.

—-

"Why am I doing this again?" Naruto questioned as he tried to balance himself in one leg. He was standing on a small wooden plate with several smooth metal balls under it. Naruto was trying his best not to lose balance.

'Sometimes I think this kid has the memory of a goldfish' The Genin sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time, replied.

"Chakra is the combination of physical and mental energies. With tree walking technique you learned to somewhat control the chakra inside you. But this particular control exercise allows your chakra to move through the chakra coils more easily and you would be able to use your jutsus much easier. The reason you couldn't properly use clone jutsu is because you weren't performing the technique with the proper harmony of physical and mental energies needed. With tree walking I'm sure you can use that jutsu but with this, that control is even more refined. This exercise will help in improving your concentration and strengthen your Yin chakra."

To help Naruto train his chakra control, Daichi raised a small portion of the earth a meter high with the top made flat and smooth. He put 9 small metal balls of the same size and placed them in a square position and held them in place with his Chakra strings. Once that was done he placed a wooden board on top of them and had Naruto stand on it.

"Mainly ninjas learn Tree walking and Water walking techniques to improve their control."

"Wait! Water walking? You mean I'll be able to walk on water? That's awesome." Naruto was excited at the thought of that and the next second he lost control and fell backwards to the ground.

"Ow…"

"You need to stay focused, Naruto. You have to train till this becomes second nature to you. And this is only just the beginning of the exercise." Daichi said as he picked up the metal balls and wooden board. "Again."

Daichi held them in place and Naruto got on top of the wooden board.

Daichi spoke as he looked at his friend trying to balance himself. "You learned the Tree walking technique right. This is the same concept and application but much more difficult. You have to let your chakra flow from the sole of your feet and cover the wooden board and the metal balls under the board. You need to use your chakra and make them all stick together. When that happens it'll be as if you're standing on a solid surface."

"Oh man this is really hard." Naruto said as he closed his eyes shut trying to concentrate.

"Of course it is. But it will be worth it." Daichi stood back with his arms crossed as he looked at his friend.

"You said this was the first step of this technique. What are the others?"

"Once you learn to balance yourself on one leg you'll have to balance another board and metal balls on your hand on the alternative side. This will improve focus and boost your control and chakra flow throughout your body by a large margin."

"Wait. You mean I have to hold another one in my hand while I'm standing like this?" Naruto was flabbergasted as he thought about that.

"Yes. That's the second step. It's a lot harder because you have to hold the board and not let the metal balls on top roll off it. Then an even more difficult part would be to hold a leaf of your forehead while you do all this." Daichi had a smirk on his face as he remembered the various control exercises Tsunade and Shizune taught him during his time with them.

"Huh! You're kidding me." Naruto groaned and the next second he lost his balance and hit the ground again.

"Oh man. This is so tough." The blonde got up and rubbed his back to ease the dull pain.

"Of course it is. This exercise, even though it uses the same principle as tree walking, is much more difficult. In tree walking there was nothing between the soles of your feet and the tree trunk. But here, you need to focus your chakra on the wood, the smooth metal balls and the flat surface."

Daichi looked at the boy and spoke. "Sometimes certain people would be unable to make their chakra flow through their body properly or they would have an imbalance of Yin and Yang chakra and this will hinder them in performing simple jutsus. But this problem can be overcome with training."

'It's also the reason why he couldn't use simple clone jutsu or why he couldn't stick to the tree on his first time, despite having a larger reserve than Sasuke and could use hundreds of Shadow clones.'

The young Genin continued. "This Chakra control technique was created for people with large amounts of chakra reserves but with poor body chakra flow."

Naruto listened to every word Daichi said and paid close attention. "Wait. You're telling me that I got much more chakra than others but I can't use it properly?"

"You can use your chakra but not as effectively as others. But with just a few weeks of training this problem can easily be fixed."

The whiskered boy clenched his fists and nodded. Now that he knew why couldn't make simple clones and how to solve that issue, he was even more determined to learn this exercise.

'Maybe this will go faster if he has a training partner.' Daichi thought about it and decided to join the training and motivate his friend.

"It's boring to just stand here and watch you fall on your ass." With that Daichi created a similar earth platform. He took out two boards and got into position. At that time he used his Chakra Strings and took a leaf and placed it on his forehead.

Naruto was in awe as Daichi perfectly balanced himself on his left leg while he held a board with metal balls on his right hand. He was even more shocked to see him hold a leaf to his forehead and stand perfectly still.

'He can do all that and he doesn't even look like he's trying… If I keep complaining, I'll never be as good as him.' The competitive spirit inside him burned with a fury and with a wide grin Naruto took his spot.

Daichi used his strings to set up the boars in Naruto's earth platform and the boy took his spot. He tried to balance himself on his left leg.

"Hey, give me the second board. I want to train while holding it." The blonde said, looking eager to jump ahead.

"No. Not now. One step at a time. You need to learn to stand perfectly still before moving to the next step. Rushing through this won't help you."

Naruto nodded and listened to his friend.

Daichi looked at the struggle his friend was having and spoke. "Calm down, Naruto. Close your eyes and listen to my voice."

Naruto looked at Daichi and decided to do as he said. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Having his friend's attention on him, Daichi continued. "Concentrate on nothing but your chakra. Feel your energy. Feel the way it moves to the bottom of your feet."

Daichi became silent as he gave the boy a couple minutes. He sensed the way Naruto's chakra moved. 'It will take some time, but if he can learn this he won't have any problem with water walking. He'll probably get it on his first try. And this will also solve the clone problem. By the time Naruto's graduation comes up, he'll be able to perform all 3 jutsus without any problems. Then Iruka will pass him and Mizuki won't get the chance… But therein lies the problem. What would that guy do next? In canon he was most probably counting on Naruto to fail. But here… What will he do when Naruto passes? Since I already made changes and created ripple effects, how will things play out during his graduation.'

Daichi realized that worrying about it now wouldn't help him and he focused on helping his friend. He continued his instructions. "Coat the soles of your feet and then slowly increase the output of your chakra. Cover the wooden board and then then the metal balls. Use the right amount and make them stick to one spot."

Sweat formed on Naruto's face as he concentrated on the task. He was happy to have someone like Daichi help him and he was determined to get stronger.

What Daichi and Naruto didn't realize is that they had an observer watching them from afar.

Author's Note:

I wanted to give a reasonable excuse as to why Naruto wasn't able to perform Clone jutsu or his feet slid off the tree trunk when he first tired tree walking despite having larger reserves than anyone. What do you guys think?

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