Mages and ninja - The Story Of Three Legends

Learning and meeting new people(7)

Chakra is formed by combining two other energies:

Physical energy
Spiritual energy

Physical energy can be increased through training and exertion, and spiritual energy is increased by experience and meditation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Usage~~~~~~~~~~~
As an energy, it's extremely malleable. Inherently, each person has an affinity to one of the five basic natures but chakra can be transformed so that anyone can use any of the natures. It just won't be as easy.
Chakra goes far beyond the five basic natures though, able to achieve an insurmountable amount of effects; from the creation of clones to the manipulation of space-time continuum and everything in between. The Yin and Yang natures used separately and together even allow for the manipulation of reality itself.

~~~~~~~~~~Chakra Control~~~~~~~~

Because chakra takes time and a great deal of training to gradually build up, the key to its use is not actually having large amounts of chakra but instead being able to sufficiently control and conserve it. This is called chakra control In order to have good chakra control, a ninja should only mould as much chakra as they need to perform a given ability. If they mould more chakra than is needed, the excess chakra is wasted and they will tire out faster from its loss. If they don't mould enough chakra, a technique will not be performed effectively, if at all, likely creating problems in a combat situation. Because chakra consists in part of spiritual energy, the user is more easily able to mould the correct amount of chakra by remaining calm and focused.
General training methods for improving one's moulding and manipulation of chakra are the Leaf Concentration, tree climbing, and Water Surface Walking exercises. A good way to build up chakra in the body is to spin it into a tight spiral; Whether to spin the chakra left or right is dependent on the way the user's hair grows. Hand seals are often used to manipulate chakra more easily, allowing shinobi to execute their techniques faster and more effectively. Shinobi who are extremely skilled at chakra control often specialise in genjutsu or become medical-nin.
Chakra can also be used for general performance enhancement. By moulding the chakra into key points of the body, usually the hands or feet, it will greatly augment their physical prowess.
~~~~~~~~~~~Konohagakure~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~Founding~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the Warring States Period, ninja were organised into small mercenary clans that knew nothing but battle. The two strongest of these clans were the Senju and the Uchiha, who had warred against each other for their entire histories. Eventually, intending to end the constant bloodshed, Hashirama Senju used his position as leader of his clan to broker a truce with the Uchiha clan through their leader, his childhood friend Madara Uchiha . Thus the Senju, the Uchiha, and their respective affiliated clans formed the first shinobi village: Konohagakure - a name invented by Madara himself. Other villages would soon start forming, following Konoha's example and essentially ending the Warring States Period.Hashirama used his Wood release abilities to produce much of the village's infrastructure. This ability and his ideals were two of the reasons he was chosen to become the village's leader: the Hokage. Madara, however, feared that the Senju would oppress his clan and attempted to gather support to overthrow Hashirama. No Uchiha would help, forcing him to take on Hashirama by himself. Madara was ultimately defeated at what would be called the Valleyof the End and he was believed to have died. As a result of the battle, Konoha came into possession of the nine-tails. To contain its enormous power, the village began its trend of sealing the beast within the Uzumaki, a clan that the Senju and thus the rest of Konoha had close ties with.