Training Progress

Natsume sat beside the fireplace and meditated. Instead of arguing or confronting Hikari about the sleeping arrangement, she just ignored her. At first, Hikari was angry and pretended to go to sleep, but after a while, she sat up and watched Natsume meditate. Since she grew up around samurai, she was very curious about training. Her father forbidding training only made her want it more.

"Big sister, what are you doing?"

"Moulding Chakra." Hikari hiccupped as she swallowed her next words. She didn't expect Natsume to directly reply.

"What does that mean?" Natsume opened her eyes and looked at Hikari. Instead of answering, she took out a scroll and ink tools. Hikari threw the comforter over her shoulders and crawled forward to look at what she was drawing. On the paper was a basic outline of a person sitting cross-legged. Above them were swirly clouds going clockwise, and below were swirly clouds going counterclockwise. They merged at the center of the person to form a swirling pattern.

"This is your spiritual energy, or Yin. And this is your physical energy, or Yang. When you combine the two, it produces chakra. This process is moulding chakra. Although it happens naturally, by willing it to combine, the speed it accumulates increases." Natsume explained in simple and clear terms for Hikari to understand. Although samurai didn't use ninjutsu, they still needed chakra to achieve greater feats of strength.

"So, I can't make chakra because I'm too weak?"

"Not necessarily. Some people have really strong bodies but weak minds but can still make a lot of chakra. Their chakra tends to carry the Yin or Yang nature based on what they predominately possess."

"Ah! Does that mean you don't have to combine them in equal parts?" Hikari seemed to understand. Natsume thought for a moment and nodded her head.

"I guess so." However, Natsume frowned as she looked down at her drawing. In the center where the chakra collected, it was common to draw a swirling pattern. Hikari closed her eyes and mimicked Natsume's posture, so she didn't notice the confusion in her eyes. Natsume felt something emerging from her mind, as if she was about to reach an epiphany until Hikari let out a yelp.

"B-big sister, w-what?" Natsume looked over and felt a large surge of chakra begin to form and circulate throughout Hikari's body. Her naturally pale complexion became rosier in real time. It was a strange phenomenon. Natsume covered the girl's eyes with her hand. Hikari didn't struggle and instead leaned into Natsume's palm like a kitten.

She activated her sharingan and saw the chakra flow in her body accumulating at various points before bursting through and continuing forward. It was as if her chakra system was blocked but was eventually overwhelmed and broke down. After a minute, her chakra settled down.

"Are you okay, Hime-sama?" Natsume deactivated her dojutsu and removed her hand.

"I feel so good! Pat my head again, big sister." However, Natsume ignored the request. She taught Hikari about chakra on a whim but didn't expect there to be hidden barriers in her body. Whoever placed them there likely didn't expect them to last this long, or they wouldn't have broken down so easily. Being ignored once again, Hikari pouted. But remembering that she just learned to mould chakra caused her mood to go back up. Instead of being coy, she directly leaned forward and hugged Natsume's arm.

"Thank you, big sister." The loneliness in her voice wasn't masked this time. She felt sorry for the little princess. Based on her behavior and experience, she was probably treated as a fragile doll. Her talent was clear as day since she could amass so much chakra in a short time. Since no one dared to teach her, that talent was almost buried. The hug didn't last very long as Natsume slipped out of her grasp.

Natsume put away the scroll and returned to meditating. She continuously circulated her chakra in hopes to discover more Tenketsu. Her immediate focus was finding the second gate, which should be right next to the first. However, it proved to be harder than she imagined. It did not help that Hikari's gaze was burning a hole through her.

"Sigh, yes, Hime-sama?"

"Big sister~!" She made a cute expression, but seeing Natsume's glare, she coughed and dropped her act. "Sensei, pl—"

"No."

"—ease teach… me." Natsume interjected, so the latter portion of her request was in a meeker, disappointed voice. Natsume didn't even spare her a second glance and returned to meditating in silence. Hikari fixed her posture and decided that if Natsume wouldn't teach, she would just observe and learn herself. The rest of the night quickly went by with the two girls meditating beside the dying fire.

As dawn broke, the fire was reduced to mere embers. Natsume opened her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling it. She looked over at Hikari who had fallen asleep at some point. Although she tried to copy Natsume, Hikari didn't really know what she was doing, so fatigue eventually got the better of her. Natsume carried the little girl to her mat and changed into her training uniform behind the screen.

While they toured the dojo, Natsume noticed a few suitable training spaces and picked one at random. With wooden sword in hand, she quickly made her way down the hall. There weren't many apprentice samurai in total, but several training spaces in the dojo. Therefore, she wasn't surprised not to find any others like her. Each training area had a summary of the One Sword intro technique that Yori had taught her. After bowing toward the main hall, she began her practice.

Natsume executed the move a dozen times before a voice called out to her, "You are too focused on each move individually. Think of them as one move." Natsume didn't stop practicing and let the words seep in. 'How can three moves be one?' She asked herself the question and swung her wooden sword. She felt the complexity in the three moves, and it dawned on her. 'Too complicated.'

Natsume returned to a relaxed stance and closed her eyes. Then, she swung the sword gently, allowing her chakra to fill the space of the sword as if it were her own arm. The simple sword strike contained endless power. The metal dummy stood valiantly against her sword, until a clean line formed from her sword strike. At the end of her arc, the dummy split in half and the wooden sword exploded.