It had only been two or three days since Haseo first learned the word "chakra" openly, yet he couldn't understand why Sansho had brought someone like him along—as if he was just deadweight. Although he didn't know exactly what this team was about to do, it was clearly quite an important mission.
Of course, Haseo wasn't happy with this arrangement, but in this five-member squad, three held authority while two did not—who could guess which group he belonged to?
After leaving Konoha, the ninja team moved northwest, but soon Haseo felt something odd about their pace—it wasn't too fast, but suspiciously slow. Normally, someone like Haseo wouldn't have kept up with ninja speeds at all, yet now—although barely and exhausted—he managed to match the team's pace.
Could they have actually slowed down for his sake? Nah, that'd probably be giving himself too much credit.
"We can take a short break now," Homura Mitokado announced after traveling two hours outside the village, as they arrived by a river flowing east-west.
Weren't they supposed to be on an urgent mission? This pace was way too relaxed!
Then Haseo's questioning gaze shifted to Sansho's face, where her pale complexion told everything. Even the toughest ninja had their moments of compassion—it all depended on who they were with.
Sansho wasn't a strong ninja; in fact, quite the opposite—her physical condition seemed excessively frail.
She gave Homura Mitokado an apologetic nod before settling onto a stone by the riverbank—clearly aware she was slowing them down.
Haseo casually found a spot to sit too. While the other three standard ninja looked perfectly composed, he was utterly exhausted and a total mess in comparison.
Taking advantage of this rare break time, he pushed up his sleeve and peeled off the bandage around his arm. Inspecting the small wound carefully, he noticed those black traces had clearly faded significantly compared to before. Just as that medical ninja had explained earlier, his chakra corrosion wasn't severe and would gradually heal naturally over time.
The improvement regarding his health concerns lifted Haseo's mood noticeably, making the fatigue on his body feel lighter as well.
"Haseo, come here," Sansho called once she'd somewhat recovered.
"Yes, Sansho-sensei." Hearing her call, Haseo immediately stood up and walked toward her.
"How is your injury doing?" Seeing his exposed arm, Sansho asked.
"It's fine now, won't affect my movements."
" said Haseo. Though his worst shoulder wound still throbbed with pain, it was just an external injury—an inconvenience, but nothing compared to the real danger he feared: chakra corrosion. Thanks to treatment at Konoha Hospital, he had indeed regained full mobility.
"Well then, I'm relieved to hear that," Sansho replied as she gestured for Haseo to raise his arm. She then proceeded to re-bandage the wound. "You've gone through a lot these past few days. After going through all that, I'm sure you understand by now—in times like these, there's no truly safe place. Although a person might not be heading into war, dangers always find him. In situations like these, the only one who can truly protect you... is yourself. Do you understand what I mean?"
Her hands worked swiftly—she was done wrapping his wound before she even finished speaking.
"I understand," Haseo naturally comprehended what she meant. As someone constantly teetering on the brink of survival, before this, he hadn't had the luxury of thinking about anything beyond food and shelter. But now—things were different. If he already possessed some power, then learning to control it became an absolute necessity.
This was exactly what Sansho was referring to. But... would she actually be willing to help him? Thinking this, Haseo looked straight into her eyes.
"The physical energy drawn from your body represents the yang aspect; the spiritual energy gained through training and experience represents the yin aspect. When these two energies are harmonized together, they form a fused power known as chakra—the foundational force ninja use to perform Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu. That's what makes a ninja a ninja."
The answer was yes. It seemed Sansho was quite willing to teach Haseo about the knowledge of ninja. Otherwise, she wouldn't have brought him along... The current mission didn't absolutely require Haseo's presence—it wasn't necessary for him to participate. It was only because Sansho had chosen to bring him that he was given the chance to join her team.
"Of course, having chakra alone doesn't allow one to perform jutsu. There's also the need for 'hand seals' to convert raw energy into usable techniques."
"For those aspiring to become ninja, the first step is both the most important and most difficult. While the concept of chakra can be explained and described simply enough in words, extracting physical energy itself isn't easy, and spiritual energy seems even more intangible... Fortunately though, you've already bypassed this hardest stage for beginners. Now, what you must do is generate more chakra and learn how to circulate it throughout your body along specific pathways."
Then, Sansho extended one finger and ran it rapidly over dozens of points along Haseo's torso and limbs. At every point where her fingers landed, a burning sensation followed.
"You should be able to feel the power within your body now. What comes next is guiding it through the locations I've touched, continuously cycling through them..."
What Sansho taught was invaluable to Haseo, so he listened with complete and rapt attention.
"As for elemental techniques, considering how you became a ninja, I believe you should be able to use [Water Release]. This is something very natural. Calm yourself and feel carefully—I think you'll discover that your chakra can transform into another state… As long as you have an impression of water, this shouldn't be a problem." She continued.
Impression of water? Well, Haseo certainly had one—after all, not everyone's been completely pierced through by a powerful [Water Release] technique. Following her instructions, Haseo closed his eyes, sensing carefully while recalling the sensation from earlier. Then he understood what Sansho meant about transforming chakra states.
"Is this… [Water Release]?"
"Well, more accurately speaking, it's water-chakra," Sansho gently corrected him. "Later, I will teach you specific [Water Release] Ninjutsu techniques. For now, you need to practice circulating chakra within your body, as well as efficiently transforming your chakra into water-chakra instantly…"
Different from general chakra circulation throughout the body's meridians, water-chakra first needs to be concentrated in several key points," she explained, lightly tapping a few spots on Haseo's body before asking, "Got them?"
"I got them, Sansho-sensei," Haseo replied.
He didn't quite get what 'efficient instantaneous transformation of water-chakra' really meant since just now when he attempted to convert his chakra into water nature, he hadn't felt any resistance at all—as if such high-efficiency transformation was already within his capabilities. Right now, Haseo didn't yet understand what exactly The Second had left within him.
And now Sansho wanted him to circulate this transformed water-chakra through specific meridian points—was she setting something up?
"Sansho-sama, time is almost up," Homura Mitokado approached with this reminder, robbing Haseo of the chance to ask questions.
"Then we'll stop here temporarily. Our mission comes first. Haseo, keep practicing diligently. Understand that fighting might break out anytime along our journey ahead—even I myself might join battle, so you must prepare too… Surely you wouldn't want to lose your life carelessly, would you? Improve yourself and become a real ninja quickly." Sansho patted Haseo's shoulder and stood up.
Somehow, either Homura Mitokado or Kagami Uchiha had already summoned a massive white wolf through the Summoning Jutsu, and Sansho now approached the creature and mounted it.
Next, it seemed like the ninja were preparing to move forward at full speed.
Practice or not, Haseo could already feel his suffering about to start… After all, there was no way he could outrun either quadrupedal canines or bipedal ninja.
When it really came down to urgent travel, neither kind of creature would probably accommodate him.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** on the weekend!