Asuma extends his right hand, and takes a small piece of square paper handed to him by his Sensei.
He listens carefully to what his Sensei tells and nods.
"Sounds relatively simple" Asuma says a small smile forms on his face.
He begins by relaxing his mind and body, letting out any unnecessary thoughts flow away, making sure none of his muscles are tense.
He feels his heartbeat, he feels chakra flowing through his body, he feels the slight breeze, he can smell the summer in the air, and most importantly, he can feel the earth pushing against him, unyielding. He begins to focus his thoughts solely on the Earth. He remembers, how moments ago, he held dirt in his hands. How rough, and yet calming it was to hold it.
'But those were only grains of dirt, small unconnected pieces, earth itself is a solid mass of material, something not easily torn apart, a thing of great power'
Asuma than quickly crouches down, his eyes still closed, his mind still focused on earth. As he crouches down, he extends his left hand and feels the ground. It is solid, unpushable by a mere force of a single human being. He then channels a small amount of his chakra into the earth, beginning to understand how earth itself is not made of a single entity, it is a infinite amount of small particles, standing together, connected.
'It is that which gives earth it's power, and Asuma feels ready to try and become a part of it"
He begins by gathering chakra in his core. He concentrates on a small amount of that chakra, letting him control it, letting him mold it into something that would resemble a single grain of dirt. He follows up by splitting the chakra into hundreds of small pieces, having each one resemble a single grains of dirt. As he channels his chakra towards his hands, he can feel it flowing through his body. Then finally, as it reaches his hands, Asuma can feel the familiar sensation of having dirt falling through his hands, only this time, it is his chakra that is being channeled into the square piece of paper. As the small amounts of chakra leave his body one by one, Asuma begins to concentrate them together, making the paper take on a solid earth structure. However, Asuma is not capable of retaining said structure for a very long time, and it crumbles, leaving small, individual specks of dirt and dust to fall towards the ground, rejoining the Earth as a whole.
"I think I am finally beginning to understand how Earth works, Sensei " Asuma lets a heartfelt smile come upon his face.
He then remembers what his Sensei asked of him, and lets a few moments pass by in silence, as he gathers his thoughts.
"Well", he begins " Nature manipulation and Shape manipulation are two aspects of controlling ones chakra. Nature manipulation deals with transforming ones chakra into a certain Nature, in this case, Earth, allowing it to take on certain characteristics and properties by changing its very Nature. There are Five basic types of Chakra Natures, Earth, Wind, Water, Lightning and Fire. There are many more, but those are basic 5."
Asuma takes a moment to pull out his lighter, creating a small flame of fire
"Then, on the other hand, there is Shape Manipulation. It deals with altering the Size and Shape of the chakra."
Asuma says as he closes the lighter, putting it back in his right pocket.
"By changing Chakra's size and shape, the user is giving his technique certain properties, such as whether the technique will be Offensive, Defensive or Supplementary. The shape and size of technique determines it's strength and range as well."
"Needless to say, the two go hand in hand, allowing Shinobi to Transform their chakra into an Element of their choice, followed by manipulating their chakra into a certain shape and size, allowing for a wide variety of Jutsu's to be used.