Quantity and Quality
A few weeks later we see our MC; Kenshin, talking to Hoshi after school hours. He'd spent the better part of the last week practicing control and had managed to leave a leaf on his forehead for an extended period of time. Although happy with the accomplishment, he knew he had to share it with his teacher as something he's proud of to further cement his position as a genius, though he is worried he would not be able to keep up the charade forever. Hard work had never been his strong suit, but he's willing to change for a chance at immortality.
Hoshi looked contemplative as he looked at an eager Kenshin, grinning like a lunatic.
"See! See! I told you I could do it, it only took me two weeks! Maybe three… Who keeps count anyway? Hahah!" Kenshin grinned with a gleam in his eye
Hoshi finally lowered his hand from his chin and smiled at kenshin "Well done! Well done! You know kenshin, I think you might be especially gifted with chakra. Being able to stick a leaf to your face isn't that hard, but keeping it, especially as distracted as you are now, only after a few weeks of practice is truly.. " Hoshi got a faraway look in his eyes, shaking his head as if it would drive some thought away Hoshi smiled eagerly once again. "Yesyes! Your chakra control is already good enough to graduate, so I'll just remove you from those classes. You still have to come to the jutsu ones, though! Which you will we starting next week seeing your talent in this field" Bending over his desk, Hoshi seemed to write something down is a scribble of unintelligible letters. Looking at Kenshin intensely "Don't slack off on your chakra, and definitely don't slack off on your other classes. You need quantity just as much as quality, and as of now you're severely lacking both physically and chakra wise."
Walking home that day Kenshin considered Hoshi's words, the amount of chakra he had was truly lacking. He'd read that chakra was made up of physical and mental energies, but that is only half of it. Chakra had a symbiotic relationship with the human body, as much as chakra was made up of physical and mental energies, chakra also gave physical and mental energies. The reason S class ninja could decimate A class like they were toddlers were of this exact reason, and the higher you go, the worse it gets. The manipulation of chakra - Control, was the best representation of mental energies. When we say mental, we don't mean as in intelligence, but rather willpower and concentration, both equally important in the art of chakra control.Stifling his current wayward thoughts, Kenshin decided to spend an equal amount of time on physical power, as he did on chakra. Nodding to himself, kenshin changed his direction to the training ground, once there he spotted the rare academy student practicing some kind of technique, none doing any actual physical training. 'No wonder Gai and Lee were looked at as freaks, powerful freaks, but freaks nonetheless' Snickering lightly 'One more freak is born in konoha today'
In a remote village in the far lands of the snow, a lone anbu agent with grey, but not white hair shivers. 'I have a bad feeling'
Kenshin begin running around the basic track, not caring about anything else, his main goal is stamina. Naruto was never particularly fast or strong, but he was always, always able to stand up after a beating. This was attributed to his strong stamina, stamina which came from chakra, Yang chakra must therefore be connected with it somehow. Or at least, that is Kenshin's thoughts on the matter.
A burning pain shot through his body, his legs were trembling under his weight and his mouth tasted blood, dry, disgusting, blood. Although he felt no need to throw up, and thank god for that, all the other sensations were enough to demotivate the most staunch of men. Wheezing, Kenshin come to a half after 10 rounds around the track. This may not seem like much when one is powered by chakra, but one would do well to remember Kenshin's age, and therefore the length of his feet. Kenshin lies on the ground, panting and wheezing for a while, when his breath had mostly returned to its resting state he stood up to begin running again. 'Run I you drop, 5 times a day, 5 days in the week and i'll eventually become a stamina freak'. Kenshin had a theory, by doing his utmost to gain chakra control and immense physical stamina, the two things humans are hailed for in this universe, he will somehow be okay down the line. Technique? Feeling like it's a bother to put extra energy into learning something that he would be learning together with his class anyway, and didn't directly coincide with his goals, he decided to put it on the backburner for now.
After finishing up his tort - workout, Kenshin headed back to the orphanage and read a book effective propaganda techniques in practice. Rejecting any advances from the other kids to play whatever new game is the hype these days - His peers, having been taught a few taijutsu movies the past few weeks were eager to try them out, the complete opposite of their instructions. 'You can get hurt' They had said. But do they listen? No. Which, in retrospect, is probably what the teachers hoped for. Realising this, and also realising that he'd fall behind the others if he doesn't go with, Kenshin slammed his book shut, shot up and shouted "Wait for me!" while running after the other kids.
"Ooof" Kenshin fell face first into the dirt, literally eating it before turning around to glare at the preparator of this incident. "Hah! Not so much of a genius now, are you?" Kenshin stared confusedly at him while inwardly he is seething 'Of course kids are prone to petty rivalry, didn't help that i spent the whole earlier of today running, running and running' He winced at the memory. "What do you mean, Akira" Akira stared blankly at him for a few seconds before deflating and turning around "Nothing! Just.. get up" before walking away to spar with someone more on his level. With everyone there being kids, no one bothered to go up and ask if he were alright. Though, one kid thought he might be a good match and went up to him "Hey! I'm homura!" Stretching his hand out as if to help him up from the dirth, Kenshin took it and pulled himself up. "Kenshin" He nodded at him "Thanks, by the way" Grinning broadly, Homura went on "No prob! Wanna fight?" Kenshin made a show of looking around, as if the answer would be in the surroundings somewhere "Yeah, sure, let's go!" He smiled sharply at the kid. "Alright! Masaki!" Pointing at a girl standing alone watching he commanded her "You be the referee" The girl looked miserably flustered by her new mission "Eeeh? Meee?" While unconsciously shaking her head "Yeah! You, let's go!" Giving no time for her to object, Homura went on to stand at the opposite side of the 'ring', ring being a line drawn in the dirt, meeting after going full circle. Walking to the other side with style as opposed to Homura's rushed quest to fight, Kenshin eventually arrived and turned around. Masaki, no longer flustered, looked angrily at Homura but stood in as a referee anyways. Looking at both boys, she opened her little mouth and said as seriously as she could "Ready" Raising her left arm in the air "Set, go!" She brought it down as both Kenshin and Homura rushed at each other. Deciding to take the initiative, Homura brought a punch up that Kenshin barely blocked. Kenshin tried to make some sort of move to make homura overextend, failing miserably in the process and almost got hit in the face. Deciding to capitalize on the momentum already created, Homura pulled his arm back, the other one already honing in on the unlucky target. Luckily, the receiver managed to catch the fist, being amazed at managing to do that, even if the opponent is a child, he barely looked up soon enough to dodge another fist aimed at his face. Losing the grip on the original fist, severely unbalanced, it didn't come as a surprise when he got hit with a leg to his side. This being a very weak kick, Kenshin absorbed the impact and grabbed a hold of the leg, beginning to spin around, feeling rather cool. Both being enhanced by chakra they didn't weight much in comparison to their strength, so with the forces of inertia Homura were forcibly taken off the ground like a child spun around by an adult. Although fun, he would definitely fly outside the ring at this rate, but there was little he could do when he was physically slung across the ground for at least four meters, upside down. Landing on his arms he did half a spin before successfully landing on his feet, a stark contrast to Kenshin's method of eating dirt earlier in the day. 'These ninjas are like cats, better than cats, actually -' He was about to continue the train of thought when a shrill voice interrupted his flow "Again! Again! You merely lucked out! I'll get you this time!" Sighing inaudibly, Kenshin prepared himself for another round.
That night, lying in his bed at the orphanage with sores, bruises and muscle tears, kenshin immediately fell asleep, dreading tomorrow.
Thankfully for Kenshin, he were a year below in PE and although he stood out with his stony movements, after a while of warming up they became more smooth, until you couldn't see any difference from the other kids. When he joined the second years for the next lesson of the day they were dead looking, wondering what happened to them, Draken, always looking for an excuse to talk moaned, with what, was that a hint of pride? He wondered - About how Hoshi had 'known' they fought yesterday and had punished them by making the usual strenuous exercise actual torture, torture meaning they worked out till they collapsed. Kenshin wondered at this method, and thought that maybe the reason all konoha ninja hated exercise with such passion was because it were used as a punishment. Then again, he knew way to little about the culture to make any assumptions yet. The rest of the day went somehow similarly to how the past few weeks had gone, although his time, time-table had changed considerably. After school there was noone who dared to sneak off fighting each other, maybe a select few had the guts, but Kenshin never got the memo. This gave him time to once again read his books, he'd become considerably famous for his love of reading while still staying a somewhat distant - but, still cool guy. Kenshin never imagined that he'd be the role model for exemplary behaviour, ever, but with how fast the perceptions of children change he didn't think for a second that it would last much longer. Turning a page, his train a thought continued in a similar direction. Though, he were now living an anime, so who is to say the rules of the world will stay the same. That thought, instead of being a bitter one, was a refreshing one to someone like him.
The week went by quickly in a haze now familiar, no longer were chakra a mystery, no longer did he wonder if he had gone insane. As new problems came up, old ones were discarded in the deep recesses of the human mind. 'Raaat..' kenshin made a seal, painfully slow, with narrowed eyes as he made sure to make no mistake. Hoshi had stressed this part, repeatedly. Speed had no meaning in the beginning, what you had to make sure of was that you did it correctly. As you progress you'd eventually see an improvement in speed come naturally. '...Ox'
Kenshin thought back to his lessons on Jutsu with Hoshi.
Hoshi stood in front of the blackboard with his hands on his hips, appearing uncharastically serious. "When learning hand seals there is one thing more important than speed, often glossed over in fiction and stories, because it's not 'cool'" His eyes roam the classroom "Can anyone guess what that is? Noone?" His eyes came to rest upon Kenshin for a moment before shaking his head in imperceptibly in disappointment. 'I'm being too demanding, can't expect him to excel in all subjects' Though there was still a trace of disappointment in his heart, as if he'd expected more for some reason. "Imagine this - two opponent start making seals at the same time, one is slightly faster than the other, rushing through his seals at speeds thought impossible. His opponent look on in despair as the last seal is formed, he prepares to launch his jutsu, long before the other. It's a certain victory, he laughs as he yell the name of his jutsu." The whole class sits on the edge of their seats, practically vibrating in excitement. Hoshi's eyes flash like steel. "But no jutsu comes out" He scans the classroom. "Why is that?"
A lot of hands go up, and many suggestions come forth. Some ridiculous, 'the ninja used it as a distraction' others reasonable, but still not correct, missing the spirit of the question 'The jutsu was invisible'. Hoshi picks up a few wrong answers before turning to Kenshin, having a feeling that he would understand this time. 'Of course I understand' Kenshin thinks indignantly with a raised hand 'I'm 25, it would be humiliating if i didn't understand by now' already feeling rather humiliated for not knowing the answer the first time.
Opening his mouth, Kenshin answer is succinct and concise. "Accuracy"
"Yes!" Hoshi says loudly "Exactly that!" he gets a bit worked up over the topic, seemingly finding it personal. "No matter how fast you make your seals, if you make one small mistake you're dead!" With a flair he turns towards the class "The slower ninja finished his seals a mere second after the first, his attack many times more deadly than before, now carrying the unintentional side effect of surprise in addition to it's already deadly firepower. Accuracy!" Seemingly punctuating the word by slamming his fist on the desk…
Kenshin was determined to have perfect muscle memory of his hand seals, to never once make one incorrect one. Though, it's the first thing to test his patience since he came to this world. In fact - It's the most monotonous and boring work since he learned to write,