Chapter Thirty Four- What It Takes

"Ha, those eyes of yours tell me everything I need to know" Mufuso genuinely looked sad as he realized my decision. "Let me offer an idiotic cub a few pieces of information before you embark on this journey"

He called it a journey as if it wasn't a hundred-yard walk from our position, yet it wasn't always the distance that made a journey. Most times it was the trials along the way, pun intended.

"First and foremost, whatever you're doing, that's limiting your chakra, cancel it now. You won't make it five steps with the paltry amount of chakra I sense from you" Mufuso ordered as he seemed to notice my chakra pool wasn't even an eighth of what it should be.

I nodded in understanding as I sent the mental order for the clones to dispel in increments. A few moments later a leaf split nearly three thirds perfectly down the middle and entered the forefront of my mind. 

Not bad progress considering my eight clones had done the equivalent of nearly five and half days of uninterrupted training since I had created them sixteen hours ago.

My chakra flooded back to me, within a few minutes I'd be at full.

"Yes, you will have a satisfactory amount of chakra by the time you regenerate it all. 'I sure hope so, my chakra levels were quickly approaching low-Jonin level'

"Next I will give you a basic rundown on how natural energy works" Mufuso paused to rummage through his pockets. Pulling out a scroll that he unfurled showing human anatomy. 

"Now you see here that your spiritual energy starts from your brain, while your physical energy begins in your core. Mixing both of those forces creates chakra" I felt like I was back at the academy listening to this lesson for the hundredth time. I simply nodded for him to continue, only a complete fool wouldn't have learned that by now.

"Things get a little more complicated when natural chakra is added to the mix, if you have the affinity, it forces its way into your body. Forcing you to take on characteristics of the summoning the clan of which you enter. The trick is to allow enough into your body that you can balance it out, and use the rest of your chakra and willpower to stop the continued flow" He stopped and pointed to the closest statue to us, a mere few feet away from the sealed barrier.

"It's not something you'll have time to practice, either you have a knack for controlling it or you don't. Fail to control the energy and you'll join the fallen. Now step forward, we will try a small test. Maybe you'll realize the folly of your ways" He said as I walked up to stand next to him.

Abruptly he grabbed my hand and forced it through the barrier. I felt it instantly like lava rushing into my chakra coils. It was too forceful and came too fast to even attempt to guide it, so I settled for circulating it and pushing as much as I could out of my body.

"Open your eyes cub" Mufuso's voice broke me out of the trance as I hadn't even remembered closing my eyes. I nearly jerked my hand, or rather my paw, out of the barrier in pure shock. It was dark black, extremely similar to Rougias' paw; I found it ironic. It seemed I shared more with the Panthers than I gave them credit for.

"I see you understand it. Merely five seconds and your hand has completely turned. And if you look a little closer." He said as he pointed towards the tips of my claws. "A mere two seconds without full focus" The tips of the claws had turned to stone.

Reflexively, I pulled my hand back, only to be stopped by a grip of iron.

"Your trial has already started, cub, either commit or take that step backward. It is in your hands now." He said as his iron grip loosened, and he turned around.

My breaths came quick and completely uncontrolled as I wrestled with what I had to do, I didn't move one single inch. My Sharigan fixed on the tip of my claws as I watched them become stone millimeter by millimeter. 

{WARNING, YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A NATURAL ENERGY FOCUS!!! YOU DO NOT POSSESS THE REQUIRED PERK TO WITHSTAND THE ENVIRONMENT, THE CHANCE OF SURVIVAL IS 5%>}

'Even you're doubting me now? Why give me the mission in the first place? Most likely because of that less than five chance I succeed,' I commented to myself as completely blocked everything out.

I had two options other than giving up. To blast forward with my Continuous Flicker hoping I could make it before turning into a statue or I could take it slow. Every few steps I'd stop to force out as much of the foreign chakra as possible.

I'd been doing that the entire time my hand or paw was inside the field.

My knees shook as I took a step forward, painfully aware of how I could feel black fur patch and grow. I'd bet if I opened my eyes I'd have my arm changed from the elbow down.

Another step and it was up to my shoulder and entire right leg. I flinched in pain as my ankle elongated and thinned. My bone structure was slowly changing to be more feline in nature.

Yet despite how I couldn't feel my toes or the tips of my fingers I took another step thirty seconds later.

I had fully entered the field, yet I was more scared of opening my eyes and seeing my feline features than realizing one of my fingers had completely turned to stone.

With an extreme amount of willpower, I opened my eyes, and my blazing Sharingan opened wide in amazement as I could finally see. The oppressive, violent, and bullying chakra was colored the same as any leaf. Vibrant and full of life as it twisted around me.

Periodically exploding from my body as I continued trying my best to only allow the smallest amount to mix with my chakra pool. 

I risked everything just to turn my head just the slightest few inches to look back at my progress. I was nearly shocked out of my focus as I noticed Mufuso's small back, fifty feet away. I had moved more than I thought I had. 

Resolved, I refused to look down at my limbs. Despite not even being able to feel my right hand. I had already moved too far to give up now, so I continued my process. Take a few steps and push every bit of green chakra out of my body as I can.

Now that I could see it I began becoming more efficient. Less and less 'blue' motes came as I did my best to purge my system. It was no longer a matter of if I didn't master this and conserve as much of my chakra as possible. I would die, the last two months would've been completely meaningless.

It was a simple morbid fact, yet it was extremely freeing. Life became so simple when I knew all I had to do was walk three or four steps and push out natural chakra.

Gone were the weights I and the world had placed on my shoulders. The scroll's goal of killing Hiruzen, along with my goal to get revenge against Gari and the rest of the explosion corps. Nothing mattered anymore, I was truly free.

I robotically continued, as if I had entered a complete state of zen. One moment I was looking upon and bowing my head to the statue of my falling clansman and the next I was inches away from the purple prayer mat. My eyes glazed as I looked upon the god of this world, or merely a statue of him.

{Perk Forcibly Obtained!} {Perk Naturally Leveled Up!}

My eyes twitched as I dismissed the annoying fly, my focus only on the flow of natural energy around me. Particularly around the mat itself, to my eyes, everything had become clear. 'I could see'.

The natural energy in this area spun as if it was a tornado, I had nearly cut through it to reach the 'eye' of the storm.

My bones creaked as I sat down on the mat. A loud gasp from behind seemed to do its best to break my iron will and nearly crazed determination.

Almost instinctively I sat with my legs crossed with my back perfectly straight. Both hands balled into fists perfectly in position for optimal internal chakra flow. I let out a deep sigh for the first time in what felt like years.

I had figured it, the deeper purpose of this trial. One had to show an extreme level of determination and will to cross the tornado. Effectively learning how to expel the natural energy from the body without outside intervention.

That was merely the first step, making it to this mat was the hardest part. Yet, this was also just another part of my training. In the safety of the 'eye' of the storm, I had to now bring that natural energy to me, thus learning how to perfectly mix it with my spiritual and physical energies.

Time grew increasingly odd. Moments felt like hours while hours felt like moments. At one time it felt like I was using everything I had to gather just a smidgen of green chakra from the tornado, hours would fly by. Yet in those few times I nearly succeeded, the natural energy would slip away making that 'hour' feel like a mere moment.

It felt like hundreds, maybe even thousands of attempts before it all clicked. The world around me snapped together in a rush of power and enlightenment that would leave most priests green with envy. I could feel it all, every member of the Panthera clan, their hidden enemies hundreds of kilometers away in the deep ocean. A powerful chakra that felt like a falling lightning bolt, yet that practically radiated with worry and anger. 'Sakumo sensei'

Further to the north, two titans were clashing. One of pure fire yet threw around every element with supreme control. Another much like Sakumo that felt like a rolling thunderstorm. Both had each other in a deadlock, neither having the offensive capabilities to end the other. 'Lord Hiruzen and The Third Raikage' I realized after a few moments. 

I could sense everything, nearly the entire elemental nations. I even caught a glimpse of a man wrapped with fire stoked by the wind, a ghost of a presence that felt marred by age. Yet a connection between us wouldn't let me simply glance over him. I pried deeper, into what felt like a mountain range in the depths of the land of grass bordering on earth.

A single Sharingan opened in my mind's eye. Effectively backhanding me like a scolded child. Nearly destroying my concentration and losing whatever state I had just obtained. I decided then it wasn't worth it to pry. Something else had grabbed my attention like an iron grip.

The statue in front of me. It held a flicker of silvery natural energy, yet it didn't answer my call. Yet my continued prodding seemed to cause the energy's curiosity to rise. 

I was gone. Cut off from everything. Almost as if I had entered another dimension. The floor was simply a concept, the rules of my world gone. Simply a swirling vortex of chakra and natural energy. 

I felt a presence scour over my very being, the authority it held over my chakra and body was unquestioned. Almost as if I was borrowing its power.

"Calm yourself, my child, ninshu is a two-way street. To be able to look so deeply into another is to show everything of yourself as well." An aged voice spoke advisingly. I'd be foolish not to listen.

Sorrow was the first thing that entered my mind. A vague idea of your life's project being completely turned against you, the powerlessness and depression of watching two sons fight. Watching the world you love slowly fall closer and closer to damnation. Noticing the very threads you taught the people to build become strings of revenge and hatred. An endless cycle of brother killing brother that was started by your family line. Thousands of years with no sign of progress, nothing but doubt and fear. Yet the hope that humanity could bounce back remained completely firm.

"Hm, you understand. How intriguing, yet even with this understanding you won't let those strings of hate for the ones who brutally murdered your mother go. You've realized that they were merely acting on the orders of another." the aged voice sighed in what I thought was a disappointed tone.

"Cursed to love so deeply that the pain of losing them nearly drives you mad, even now you race against fate trying to find ways to keep them all alive. Yet you've broken your own fate, not even I can see that path you will create" he appeared in front of me, no he was always there. His fist connected to mine, and our chakra had melded.

"I approve of you child, yet I cannot claim you. Return once you've learned that death is not the end and bonds can be made from burned bridges. I plead with you to learn mercy, and follow the path of Ninshu," My eyes had long bulged out their sockets and the man's face and words were burned into my mind. Every moment even as the ringed staff tapped my forehead was gone.

"Huff…..huff…huff," I nearly lost my battle with my lungs as I was back on the prayer mat. My mesh undershirt was nearly drenched with sweat and my eyes had a look of pure madness. "That couldn't have been real, a mirage of absorbing too much natural energy" I didn't believe that yet I couldn't refute the words.

I couldn't let Gari live, my entire being crawled in disgust at the idea. Why did the man care if I went through with my revenge, was it even revenge if the bastard had laughed and enjoyed what he had done? There was a thin line between justice and revenge and I felt my goal was closer to the former. The emotions I held, rage, anger, loss may have led me to kill him. 

But pragmatically, the man could be considered a war criminal. At the end of the second war, he was noted to have dropped his 'creations' on the various villages on the land of fire. The man was a crazed lunatic, I'd be doing the world a favor by killing him.

Now I wasn't blind by the fact that I may have been deluding myself. But I just couldn't shake the look of contentment and joy from the man's eyes as he successfully ambushed my parent's squad.

A talk with 'god' wasn't going to change who I was. He could not accept me or claim me. He allowed this world to fall into such a state of disrepair. 

Who the fuck was he to judge me by a principle he couldn't uphold. I felt it with Ninshu, the moment he realized Indra would unravel everything he created and plunge the world he loved into strife. The way his hand shook and the ground around him shattered from the weight of his chakra. 

The war I was in, the death of my parents. The reason sick fucks like Gari of the Explosions could walk around freely was direct because Hogoromo couldn't grow a pair of balls and put down his rabid offspring.

Content to leave it to Ashura, who was wholly unprepared and unwilling to kill his brother. Creating the cycle of hatred that plagued me and the shinobi world as a whole. And I honestly couldn't find a fuck to give. I wasn't a god who could create nearly anything from chakra, I did not feel the need to 'limit' myself. 

The world was broken, has been a thousand years before me, and will most likely remain so a thousand years after me.