History

Chakra was incredible. Once I had become truly aware of its existence, due to an exercise I had been shown a couple of days ago by Mifune-sama after my 'awakening'. It felt like I had stepped into a different realm, a world existing next to ours.

While it seemed that I had been using my Chakra regularly throughout my life unconsciously so far, for example while I had lived through that famine when I was still very young, it was an entirely different pair of shoes to act while actually being aware of the energy flowing through your every fibre with every waking second of the day.

Sounds became clearer, colours more vibrant, smells more intense and even the sense for touch increased somewhat. Although, it would probably be more accurate to say that the feeling for the own body increased in intensity and awareness instead of saying that the sense of touch increased. Either way, the whole experience had been an incredible eye opener.

So long as you stay aware of the way your chakra flows through you, acts you thought previously beyond you now seemed possible. Either Chakra limited one's own perception of reality towards the positive, or it actually aided the body and mind in performing certain actions, simply by being aware of its existence for some reason.

And then there was the Chakra control exercise I had been shown to consciously direct my Chakra instead of just observing and being aware of its existence.

In that sense, the difference is easiest to comprehend between the two exercises when one switches the Chakra in the exercise with one's breath. You can observe it and be aware of it without actually influencing the way someone breathes, or you can take active part in breathing, which would be the second exercise.

The active control exercise was, to put it simply, not very hard in the beginning. After all, once you were aware of the existence of Chakra, it seemed to react naturally to one's desires. It wasn't even necessary to actively think about Chakra moving in a certain way. Emotions and desires did that job much quicker to begin with.

However, the longer one kept trying to stick a leaf, or anything of similar size and weight, to your body the harder the exercise became.

Your thoughts begin to wander and your attention drifts off to some topic seemingly at random, which reminded me exactly of what meditation had always felt like to me.

And then there was the little fact that Chakra didn't like to stick around in one place for too long. Its very nature seemed to be fleeting and fickle, desiring to flow this and that way and resisting any form of longer lasting control.

Thus, after discovering those things about Chakra, I had a lot of questions and I immediately began questioning Tanaka-sensei, my instructor outside of my practical education.

"Chakra" he had said, "is a form of energy that is split into two halves as far as we know." All the while drawing a circle in the sand sitting inside his drawing board he usually used whenever he was practising his calligraphy.

"One half, the yin part, is usually considered to be the mental component of Chakra. It is the gentler half of both parts, though some may argue against that by saying that yin Chakra is also used exclusively for illusionary techniques called Genjutsu, which can do horrible things to a mind that are in no way weaker or less cruel than what can be done to a body's physical part." Tanaka-sensei explained while he split the circle in the sand in half, writing the character for yin into it.

"And then there is the yang half. Generally considered to be the 'rougher' of both energies, though the same arguments are valid for this one just as well as for the yin half. Furthermore, the yang half is usually associated with physical activities, such as honing one's body through fighting or exercising. Many people nowadays have also begun to associate one gender with one energy, which however is a difficult point of discussion, as no person is the same as another, which includes their dispositions towards a certain type of energy.

Although, I'm convinced that, if you project this theory on the population as a whole, you would be proven correct in the assumption that yin is more prominent in women than in men and vice versa." Tanaka-sensei explained and I couldn't find any points of disagreement with his arguments, meaning I stayed silent and only nodded to show my understanding of his explanation.

"Now, to your question as to why Chakra responds seemingly instinctively to your desires and emotions rather than your thoughts, as would have been expected by some. That is something nobody really knows I'm afraid. Or at least as far as I know.

After all, you cannot simply ask your Chakra why it behaves the way it does and expect it to answer. It is not a living entity that could be persuaded to do your bidding. That would be like asking a river why it flows. It simply is the way of the world and the way nature operates. Luckily however, nature has seen fit to gift some of us with the ability to exercise a limit of control over the Chakra flowing through us, which we can deepen and harness with the help of control exercises, until we do it as easily as breathing.

A very good example of that are the Shinobi, who have honed their Chakra control to such a level that, the higher you go in the ranks of their villages, it becomes increasingly difficult to best an enemy in combat. After all, Chakra has barely any limits to what it can do. Only our ability to enforce our wishes is the one thing hindering us from accomplishing practically anything. That and of course the amount of Chakra we possess." He explained while I took diligent notes to his explanations.

"There are actual Shinobi villages?" I asked however, as I had only heard folklore and myths about Shinobi before and wanted to know more, now that I knew they actually existed and seemed to operate in rather large groups by the looks of it.

"Oh yes, there are." Tanaka-sensei answered, while his formerly enthusiastic expression somewhat faded from his face, once I breached the topic of Shinobi at large. That was not a good sign, as Tanaka-sensei usually loved to impart knowledge, no matter what its content was.

"Nearly every country in the known world is in the possession of a village. Hidden villages they are called. Those hidden villages are the main military force of a country and are, despite the power difference between Shinobi and the normal people, under the jurisdiction of the Daimyo of the country they belong to.

The Daimyo, however, usually doesn't interact with the Shinobi and leaves pretty much every decision to the leader of the hidden village, who is called a Kage. Those are the premier protectors and leaders of the hidden villages, in every case filling the position with someone of incredible skill and experience.

Below the Kage are the Jonin, elite soldiers who are the strongest fighting force in those villages, but also the smallest. Then there are the Chunin and Genin. The first of the two usually leads a squad of Genin, which is also the rank of those who have only just started their career. At least, in the younger generations. Sometimes a person simply doesn't advance through the ranks, for whatever reason that may be.

Nonetheless, the career of the Shinobi is a brutal and unforgiving one. Throughout history there have been three major wars fought exclusively by Shinobi and all of them have cost countless lives with many having only just started on their path through life.

While the hidden villages were founded with the desire in mind to spare children from suffering through wars without end, like it was the case in the era of the warring clans, it became increasingly clear to most scholars, who possess enough knowledgeable in the field, that the initiators of the villages failed in their intentions.

Children still died, families were ripped apart and suffering ran rampant, only on a much larger scale. Sure, wars became fewer and less Shinobi died than they did during the era of the warring clans, but while relative peace was a constant, once war truly started the numbers of those deceased practically were of the charts. And let that be a lesson to you, young man.

While strength in numbers gives relative security, the group is only as strong as its weakest member, which does not only include physical prowess but also the fortitude of the mind and the strength to resist temptations and lust for more. Be that power, resources or lands. It matters not…" and with that I knew that our lesson had come to an end, while the contemplative silence in the room weighed heavily on us both, leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth.

While before I had been eager and almost giddy to learn more about Chakra and its history, now I only felt like cursing my heart out. Even though I still loved to feel the Chakra running through me and relished the feeling of using it, that high of seeking out more knowledge was slowly turning into another bout of resignation.

But maybe that would fade with time as well, and thus I stood and left to cook myself a quick meal for lunch, before I had to start my training under Mifune-sama once again, which would hopefully clear my head somewhat.