Chapter 13: Mukai Kohinata

Ken began his physical training by warming up which included doing 100 push-ups, 100 squats and a 5-kilometer run. That was just one set. He had to do each of these exercises three times.

'DEMON' Ken thought to himself while looking at Mukai who looked back at Ken sternly.

Ken remembered Mukai's story.

Mukai's family split off from the Hyūga clan several generations before his birth. Many assumed this meant his bloodline was too diluted to possess the Byakugan, but Mukai did have a Byakugan in his left eye; he preferred to keep this a secret from anyone he wasn't close with.

Well, he had shown Ken his Byakugan when Ken annoyed him to show his byakugan to Ken.

Once he became a shinobi of Konoha, Mukai led an accomplished career, ultimately joining the Anbu at the same time that he was promoted to jōnin. Mukai's performance was nevertheless stellar enough to earn the trust of the Third Hokage. Thus he became one of his grandpa's personal anbu.

In the future, Mukai would eventually marry and have two children. But when one of his children, a son, became sick, Mukai struggled to afford his treatment. To make the needed money, he began spying on Konoha for Kirigakure.

Danzo then would order Itachi and Shisui to kill Mukai but Mukai would be too strong for them. Both of them would have been killed if not for Shisui using his Mangekyou Sharingan.

While he would be dying, Mukai would confess to his actions, taking full responsibility so that his wife and children wouldn't be punished for his actions.

'A true family man indeed and a strong shinobi too. I can maybe gain his trust and make him one of my subordinates for the future department I would be working in.' Ken thought

Hiruzen had asked Ken about what he wanted to do to which Ken had replied to become the strongest shinobi there is.

Then, Hiruzen asked if he wanted to be the Hokage?

Ken's answer was a resounding 'No'.

His exact answer was 'Why would I be doing the boring paperwork all day when I could learn new jutsus or fight enemy shinobi? Would not it be more exciting?'

Hearing this, Hiruzen's hopes of making Ken succeed him were shattered at that instant. He was pretty heartbroken so Ken felt pity for his old man. Thus he said "But I can be head of Anbu or the tracking department or some other group that fights and does not do paperwork." He left the choice to his grandpa. But it was still far off in the future.

--Back to the present--

While running, Ken asked Mukai "Are you married, Mukai san?"

"No, but I am seeing a girl right now." He replied confused at the sudden question about his personal life.

"My dad always says women are troublesome. If he could go back in time, he would stay single forever. Is it true?" Ken asked putting his dad under the bus.

"That's true. I mean ..no...Focus on your training. It's not something anyone of your age should consider." Mukai said as a seed was planted in his heart about his decision to marry his loved one.

'Now that I think about it, Women are really troublesome. What if she asks me to quit shinobi work after Marriage? No, I can't marry her yet.' Mukai thought

Days passed as Ken trained in both Chakra control and Taijutsu.

Although he was making progress in chakra control training, the same could not be said about his Taijutsu.

Yes, his physical strength and stamina increased by a lot but he lacked the skills to perform taijutsu perfectly. There were always some mistakes in his taijutsu forms.

"Hey Mukai san, it is possible to cover your fists in chakra right?" Ken asked

"Yes, It is possible to cover your hands in chakra. It is called chakra augmentation. It is a very useful jutsu for taijutsu fights as it would increase the amount of strength in your punch. To use it, you need to have sufficient chakra control. In fact, the Hyuga clan's taijutsu style heavily depends on it along with their byakugan." Mukai explained

"Then is it possible to change the chakra nature you use for Chakra Augmentation?" Ken asked with a hint of curiosity

"No, It is not possible to use other chakra natures while using chakra augmentation. It can be dangerous to you. You can only use the basic chakra to cover your fists. Say if you change it to fire chakra, prolong usage of it with burn your chakra network in your hands making you unable to use chakra from them. It's similar for all other chakra natures except medical ninjutsu." Mukai explained

'So it's kinda how Naruto's rasenshurinken hurt his chakra network. But Kakashi and Sasuke use Chidori of the lightning blade all the time, why does not it hurt them?' Ken thought

"But there are jutsus that use hands or come out of the hands, Why don't they harm the user?"

"As you said that they are 'jutsus' and not chakra augmentation. Jutsus require hand signs for a reason. Hand signs guide your chakra in such a way so that they don't damage your chakra network. On the other hand, chakra augmentation does not use hand signs." Mukai explained

"I see"

"So why the sudden interest in chakra augmentation?" Mukai asked

"You see, I know that I don't have the talent for taijutsu. But I know that I have inherited the talent in ninjutsu from Grandpa. So I was thinking if I could apply change in chakra nature to my fists and have flames coming out of it and make my own fighting style with it." Ken said excitedly thinking if it would have worked he would have gone all Ace and be renowned all over the world as the Fire Fist, Ken.

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