Chapter 172: Summer's End (1)

With my body having returned to it's normal state thanks to the various jutsu's and my own effort, I began my training regimen again to get back into shape for this upcoming Academic Year, which would be an important one as we began to focus on utilizing chakra and how to implement it into your everyday use.

From something as basic as Body Flicker to the more complicated Henge, the students would be learning a wide array of our foundational Ninjutsu, some more complicated Taijutsu, other physical styles like Kenjutsu or Bojutsu, as well as the intricacies of Genjutsu.

They would be learning many things during this year, and I needed to make sure that I was capable of guiding them in those things, so I began to review the basics myself, going over everything that I would be teaching and making sure my grasp on them was airtight.

One of the other things I did though, to get myself back in shape, was to visit Mount Hane, going back to meet Asa, Shiba, Ren, and of course, Meigetsu, furthering my understanding on nature energy and how I could possibly begin to utilize it like the Hawk Matriarch and Patriarch were, bumping my body's healing factor a little and ridding myself of some of the impurities that had build up over the years.

Besides training with nature energy - which I had an extremely loose grasp on - we also trained inside the forest near the mountain, playing a deadly game of hide and seek as I worked in tandem with Meigetsu to evade or attack the other Hawks, using only our Wind Chakra to do so.

Learning to hunt and battle like the Hawks did was a unique experience, and I certainly came away with a large bundle of thoughts and experiences that I never would have thought of after each training session.

One of those times, Tsunade had caught me returning from the Spirit World, the blond haired Senju Princess staring at me in awe as I wiped off the various twigs and leaves from my clothes and hair.

"Wait... Kokoro, are you able to use Senjutsu?!"

Blinking a few times at the blonde woman in front of me, I frowned as I asked "Sen... jutsu? What exactly is that?"

"What? Wait, but you have strands of nature energy weaving through your Chakra..? How do you..?"

Pursing her lips, she stared me over before turning the conversation back to the Spirit World, asking "What Summons did you contract to?"

"The Hawks of Mount Hane. A general contract, not a specific contract to any one Hawk though. Why?"

"Then... have the Hawks mentioned nature energy?"

I nodded, patting my arm and saying "This is still usable because they helped heal my soul with it. Why?"

"Have you been learning how to wield nature energy?"

I nodded again, and the buxom woman grinned widely at me, grabbing my hands and asking "Show me! Maybe this is what I was missing..."

We sat down, and I closed my eyes and began to search the area for nature energy, instantly noting that it wasn't as thick here in the Mortal World, but it was still there.

With a loose grasp, I pulled some towards my arm and began to funnel it inside, mixing it slightly with my own chakra before opening my eyes, sighing as it slipped away after a few seconds.

Tsunade grinned at me, the Senju muttering to herself as she got up, idly writing out various kanji on her arm as she let her brain focus on whatever she had noticed.

I gave her a moment before standing up, only to be pulled into a tight embrace as the woman hugged me tightly, her soft chest pressing against mine.

"Thank you! I never thought of it that way, Kokoro! Maybe that was what I was missing! Hehe~! Now I just need to ask Katsuya a few things~!"

Kissing me deeply for a moment, the woman winked before rushing away, leaving me stunned for a second before I just shook my head, wondering how she maintained such a balance of youthfulness and maturity.

She could be so serious at times before becoming such a child...

Making my way back into the house, I joined Kurenai in the play room and spent some time with my calmer wife, the two of us looking over the three children as we awaited the return of Anko and Cameia, who had headed out on a quick mission to keep the Ryo flowing into our accounts.

Karin was out in the yard training hard with Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Ami, and Tenten, the seven youngsters using each other as whetstones as they practiced everything together, the Nara Heir reluctantly joining them as he watched Naruto, citing the blonde as his reason, specifically to make him pipe down and make the mood more relaxing.

Choji was just happy to be there, the round boy grinning as he and Ami grappled, putting on a show of technique versus power, while Tenten and Hinata casually sparred off to the side, their fists flying fast towards one another.

Karin went through her own regimen as she watched the others, determination on her face as she desired to join them, but knew that she couldn't without risking severe injury.

For the last few weeks of summer, this wasn't too bad as we slowly prepared for the new year to come, wondering just what would be in store for us in the future.