"Ok, Sakura, now that you have felt your Chakra, try to channel your Chakra towards your hands," Guy said to Sakura, who hadn't recovered yet.
"Ok," Although she was feeling weird by the new sensation she felt after 'unlocking' her Chakra, she did as Guy told. Her Chakra moved towards her hand like she wanted it to.
"Unbelievable," Sakura murmured. The chakra itself and the fact that she could control it felt so strange to her that she couldn't even put it into words.
"Did you do it?" Guy asked, trying to feel if she had done it. Because he isn't a sensor ninja, he can only feel how much Chakra others close to him have, but can't feel the movement of their chakra.
"Yes, I did channel my Chakra to my hands, but it didn't just flow from my abdomen; it felt like it traveled along a path to reach them," Sakura said, staring at her hands.
She had imagined the Chakra flowing toward her hand, flowing slowly from her shoulder to her palm and enveloping it, much like how power is visualized in movies and anime. Instead, she felt it travel through something like a wire or pipe, running directly from her abdomen to her palm, almost as if it was traveling through her veins.
"As expected of you, Sakura, you have noticed it." Guy praised her. Then he began to describe. "In our body, we have a Chakra pathway that helps to channel our Chakra stored in our Chakra coils all over our body. In the Chakra pathway, there are 361 tenketsu points from which we can release the Chakra. When we use ninjutsu, our Chakra is released from these tenketsu points, becoming the fuel for that ninjutsu."
"Oh, right, the Chakra Pathway. How could I forget it?" Sakura slapped her forehead in exasperation. While focusing on the Chakra, she had forgotten about the Chakra Pathway and tenketsu points.
"Do you know about the Chakra pathway?" Guy asked curiously after seeing Sakura's reaction. He had heard from Kakashi that she was studious, so he thought that she had studied it in a book.
"Yes, I studied it in a book titled The Physiology of a Ninja. But it only mentioned that ninjas have a chakra pathway and that chakra flows through it, but it didn't go into any detail." Sakura nodded. She had indeed read that book, but she was really disappointed by it. It was a basic book for children that gave basic information.
"Ok then, Sakura, since you have learned about Chakra, let's start the training." Guy was getting hyped up even though he wasn't the one learning about Chakra.
"Today, I will teach you things related to Chakra and ninjutsu. First, basic Chakra manipulation and second, a ninjutsu."
"Every ninja must learn about Chakra manipulation and Chakra control if they want to use ninjutsu, as ninjutsu is the product of the Chakra. So, to learn any ninjutsu, they must be able to manipulate Chakra and release it from the specific Tenketsu points to perform the ninjutsu."
"As a beginner, you have to learn to manipulate the Chakra first. After you have basic control over the Chakra, you can learn and perform easy ninjutsu. So, we are going to do an exercise that helps to increase your Chakra control. This is an easy method to learn Chakra control and is taught in the ninja academy."
"This method is generally called the leaf-sticking exercise. In this exercise, you have to stick the leaf on your hand or forehead like this." Guy showed Sakura by sticking a leaf on the tip of his thumb and his forehead.
"You have to use Chakra and try to stick the leaf to your body surface and not let it fall. Did you understand?"
Sakura nodded to show she understood, then asked the question she'd had ever since she had watched the anime. "Why do we use this exercise to increase our Chakra control?"
"As I mentioned earlier, we have to release chakra through the tenketsu points to perform ninjutsu. To make the leaf stick to our skin, we release chakra from the tenketsu and direct it toward the leaf, making it act like glue. This exercise helps us learn how to release chakra through our tenketsu points." Guy explained to Sakura.
"I know that, but wouldn't it be a better exercise if we try to release our Chakra from every tenketsu point of our body. It will increase our Chakra control for sure. Furthermore, there is no need for leaf to do that, right?" This was the thought she had about the leaf-sticking exercise.
"Can you feel every tenketsu point of your body?" Guy asked curiously. If she could, then she might be a sensor ninja.
"No," Sakura answered after she tried to feel the tenketsu points in her body, but she couldn't feel anyone of them. She couldn't even feel the Chakra pathway now since she wasn't using Chakra.
"I thought you were asking this because you could feel your tenketsu point. If you could, then you could be a sensory ninja." Guy thought she might be a sensory ninja for a second.
"The answer to your question is that we don't know where all of our tenketsu points are. I know where most of mine are because I've been using chakra for a long time, but a novice wouldn't. Only Hyūga, Uchiha with the Sharingan, sensory types, and a few individuals with exceptional chakra control can precisely identify their tenketsu. Others gradually become aware of them as they train in ninjutsu and chakra control."
"That's why," Sakura finally realized. She had thought all ninja were aware of their tenketsu points or at least had to learn about them. She knew the Hyūga could release chakra from every tenketsu, and that medic-nin needed to study and identify them as well. So she had wondered, why didn't the others do the same?
"Now, take a leaf and try to stick it to your palm, then on your forehead," Guy instructed Sakura.
Sakura collected a few leaves from a nearby tree and placed one of them in her palm. Then, she directed her Chakra to her palm. She sent a little bit of her chakra to her palm because she knew a large amount of chakra might push the leaf rather than sticking it to her palm.
"So, the tenketsu points of my palm are there?" Sakura felt her Chakra coming out from five or six points on her palm.
"The tenketsu points from where my chakra is being released feel a little cooler than other parts of the palm." Sakura was concentrating her whole mind on her palm to feel even the smallest sensation.
"My chakra is gradually covering my palm. I should try to move it towards the leaf." Her Chakra moved towards the leaf like she wanted.
"Now, what should I do? I know that the chakra has to interact with the object for it to work." She began to think hard about what she should direct the chakra to do. She knew if she just used the right amount of Chakra, the leaf would stick on its own, as this is how physical laws apply in this world in the presence of Chakra.
But she wants to know why it happens as such. After all, if you know how to do something, you can only repeat it, but if you understand why it works, you can apply that insight to other situations.
Sakura thought for a few seconds but couldn't get a definitive answer. "I will just try to stick the leaf for now. I will think about the underlying principle later."
With that thought, she guided her chakra to stay under the leaf just on her skin and gradually let it contact the leaf. At a certain point, the leaf margins that weren't touching her hand because of the shape of the leaf touched her palm.
"It changed, the shape of the leaf changed. Now, it looks like it has been glued to my hand with all of its surface area touching my palm." Sakura thought, looking at the leaf. "Now, let's see if it falls when I turn my palm."
Sakura gradually turned her palm upside down, facing the ground.
"It's sticking, it's really sticking!" Sakura said in excitement.
"Yes, it is sticking to your palm." Guy also said in amazement. "You did it in the first try."
"Then I'll try my forehead next." Sakura took out another leaf and stuck it on her forehead. She again concentrated for a few seconds, gradually increasing the amount of Chakra. She supported the leaf with her hand until she felt her chakra was sticking the leaf to her forehead.
Carefully, she lifted her hand away.
"This one's sticking too!" Sakura's excitement grew.
"Now, let me try my fingers." She was getting carried away by her success.
She again concentrated her chakra on her thumb and placed a leaf there. After feeling it sticking on her thumb, she placed another leaf on her index finger without removing the leaf from her thumb. She may have been carried away by her previous success, but she was more concentrated than ever.
Guy also carefully observed from the side. He was both excited and amazed by her success.
Sakura placed another leaf on her middle finger after successfully sticking the leaf on her index finger. The leaf on her middle finger also stuck. Then she tried to stick another leaf to her ring finger. The leaf stuck on her ring finger, but the leaf on her thumb and index finger dropped.
"Noo," She shouted, seeing the leaves fall.
"Not this one, too." The leaves on her middle and index fingers also dropped after her concentration broke.
"It seems this is my limit, or maybe I was doing it wrong." Sakura felt that she was definitely doing it wrong. She may have been successful in the first try, but she was mentally exhausted beyond words.
"I am exhausted." Sakura sat on the ground.
"I think you have a talent for Chakra control. Unfortunately, you have a small chakra reserve; otherwise, you could have become a ninjutsu expert." Guy said to Sakura, who was sitting on the ground.
"Now that you have learned basic chakra control. I will teach you a ninjutsu, Transformation Jutsu. It is the easiest ninjutsu among the three compulsory ninjutsu that must be learned to pass the academy." Guy began to teach Sakura again.
"Guy sensei, please let me rest for a while. I am mentally exhausted," Sakura pleaded.
"That's why I am teaching you. I am utilizing the time you are spending to rest." Guy retorted.
"UHh," Sakura groaned, knowing it was inevitable. "Why did I even say that to you?"
"You must know that to use Ninjutsu, you need hand signs. The hand signs help to mold the chakra to our desire; that's why even a novice can learn the ninjutsu if you can perform the hand signs accurately."
"The hand signs for this ninjutsu are Dog-Boar-Ram." Guy showed her the hand signs and performed the ninjutsu, transforming into Kakashi.
"Now you try, but without using Chakra." Guy transformed into Kakashi, said.
"Always remember to first practise hand signs only without using chakra, because if you do an incorrect hand sign, then you may either get injured or perform another ninjutsu if you are lucky." Guy, transformed into Kakashi, warned Sakura.
"You haven't learned about hand signs in the academy, have you?" Guy suddenly remembered she hadn't learned about it in the academy.
"No," Sakura suppressed the urge to smile because,
"So, the training time is going to be consumed by learning ninjutsu-related stuff, isn't it? That's why I didn't want to teach you this." Guy groaned. "But, you haven't learned it in school and next step of the training is to learn using chakra for minor enhancement."