Naruto: Bright As Lighting

Chapter 2: The Spark Ignites

Naruto slipped quietly through the darkened streets of Konoha, the scroll pressed tightly against his chest beneath his jacket. It was late, and the village was quiet; warm lights glowed from the few homes still awake, but the roads were empty, hushed. As he walked, he replayed the events of the day in his mind: the biting laughter of his classmates, the forest's quiet shadows, and then—finding the hidden cabin and the mysterious lightning jutsu scroll.

He had no idea where to start, but the thrill of the unknown buzzed through him, daring him to try. After all, he'd never been one to shy away from a challenge. It was a trait that got him into trouble more often than not, but tonight, it felt like a strength.

Slipping into his small, dimly lit apartment, Naruto unrolled the scroll across his tatami floor, letting the symbols and diagrams come alive under the glow of a single candle. As he examined it more closely, he noticed finer details he hadn't caught in the forest. Each hand seal and chakra pathway was meticulously drawn, a map of the jutsu's power and the body's natural energy flow.

Naruto crouched, bringing his face closer. "Alright," he muttered, furrowing his brow in determination. "Let's figure this out."

He read and reread the first few lines, trying to understand the strange terminology. "Focus the chakra, summon lightning nature…?" he murmured to himself, fumbling over the words. It wasn't like anything they taught at the academy. There, his teachers never expected him to excel, so they barely put in the effort to explain things to him at all. But this was different. The scroll wasn't condescending or dismissive. Its words were deliberate, purposeful, demanding respect and dedication.

He started with the first hand seal, trying to feel the pull of energy within him. It was a fumbling attempt, and he struggled, feeling nothing but the faint stir of chakra, weak and insubstantial. For hours, he tried again and again, focusing harder each time, willing the chakra in his body to respond, to crackle, to spark.

But it was quiet. Still.

The candle flickered low, nearly extinguished, as the first hints of dawn crept through his window. Exhausted, Naruto collapsed on his futon, the scroll beside him. Frustration twisted in his chest—why couldn't he do it? Why did everything have to be so hard? His eyelids drooped, the fight draining from him, but he held the scroll close, as if its secrets might somehow seep into him as he slept.

The next morning, Naruto forced himself back to the academy, the scroll now safely hidden under his bed. As he entered, the usual sneers and taunts filled the air, but this time, they barely registered. His mind was elsewhere, absorbed by the jutsu that had eluded him all night.

He barely listened to Iruka's lecture, and when the break came, he found himself slipping away from the academy grounds, unable to shake the call of the scroll. The forest beckoned, its shadows welcoming as he made his way back to the hidden cabin. Something about that place felt different; the energy, the rawness of the air, almost seemed to hum with an invisible power he couldn't quite grasp.

Entering the cabin again, Naruto took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the scroll settle around him as he opened it once more. The light filtering through the cracked windows fell across the symbols, making them look sharper, almost alive. He studied the chakra diagrams again, and a glimmer of understanding dawned on him.

"It's not just chakra," he whispered to himself. "It's… nature. Lightning chakra."

Remembering his conversation with Iruka once about chakra natures, Naruto recalled that each type was unique, like water, fire, wind, or earth. Lightning chakra, he realized, was different—it was fast, unpredictable, like a force barely contained. If he wanted to summon it, he couldn't approach it like he did his normal chakra exercises. He would need to let it flow, let it be wild and electric.

He braced himself, closed his eyes, and began. This time, instead of forcing his chakra out, he let it build naturally, a slow burn in his core. He thought about what lightning felt like—how it flashed across the sky, how it roared in storms. In his mind, he pictured his chakra crackling, surging, striking out. And then, with a sudden spark, he felt a faint prickling in his fingertips, a charge, like static before a storm.

His eyes shot open, and he stared in wonder at his hand, where a faint flicker of energy shimmered, almost like tiny sparks dancing across his skin. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, but the thrill left his heart pounding.

"I did it," he breathed, a grin breaking across his face. It was small, barely there, but it was a start. And for once, he didn't feel alone—he felt powerful, like he was touching something extraordinary.

He tried again, again, and again, each time feeling the electric energy more clearly, but still struggling to maintain it for more than a few seconds. Hours passed, each attempt draining him, but he pushed on, determined to make the spark last. As night fell and the shadows deepened, his hands were raw, his chakra nearly depleted, but his resolve never wavered.

Collapsing onto the cabin floor, he glanced one last time at the scroll, its jagged lightning symbol almost glowing in the dim light. He traced his fingers over it, feeling a strange sense of kinship with the unknown shinobi who had written it. This power, this jutsu, felt like it had been waiting for him, like it had recognized him even before he had recognized himself.

"I'll make it work," he promised aloud, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I'll get stronger."

With that final vow, he gathered the scroll, tucking it back into his jacket, and slowly made his way out of the cabin. The night air was cool, crisp, like the promise of a storm yet to come. As he returned to the village, he glanced up at the sky, where faint stars sparkled above, each one a reminder of the power he was beginning to touch, a strength he was learning to claim.

In the shadows, the first true sparks of his lightning chakra still tingled in his fingers, faint but persistent, a mark of what was to come.