Chapter 17: Training Begins, Do you prefer Gas or Electric?

Deep in the forest, the sun had already risen and fallen from its peak, the spring air was beginning to cool, and the insects started to come out to eat.

The forest tried to maintain its quiet tranquility, but there was a constant disturbance from within.

*Step

*Step

*Step

*BANG!

*Step

*BANG!

*WHOOSH!

The outbursts echoed throughout the forest as something big and heavy slammed repeatedly against the trees.

*Step

*Step

*Step

*BANG!

*Step

*Whoosh!

My eyebrows furled utterly; I could only sigh in exasperation as I missed the timing for the second blow to my target that I finally managed to land in my last attempt.

Not believing I couldn't do it again, I decided to start again for the umpteenth time. Leaving under the tree, I walked further away until I was over 30 feet away and stepped behind another tree.

-Get Ready, you ugly Bastard! Soon I'm going to wipe that stupid smile right off your face!- I thought to myself, imagining breaking that smug smile off my target's face brought a happy one to my own

With my back up against the tree, I closed my eyes, concentrating on my heartbeat as I sensed my chakra flow, the calm flow of energy that filled out my body, pushing itself slowly along an unknown path; that situation began to change as I began to guide and allow it to pour out from my tenketsu and into the muscles and tendons in my legs in a specific pattern.

As the chakra began to fill out my lower body and it began to heat up in reaction to my body, it wasn't anything unpleasant, just a warm feeling; as that feeling set in, I entered a low stance with knees bent and torso leaned slightly forward.

The left hand is extended palm out in front to balance me. My right hand is near my hip, fingers curled into a half-tiger seal.

My eyes remain closed, but through my body, through my Chakra, I can slowly sense outwards gradually as I let my Chakra flow from my body and slowly push my mind outwards, disconnecting from my body and yet connecting all five of my senses.

The world felt unfamiliar whenever I used this; the air filled with a dull Black and White tint, with only hints of grey that mixed and shifted in the background.

These were the Life force of the small Animals that I couldn't find in my first few days here until my father taught me how to control my Chakra and connect my physical energy to click expand to the world around me and sense presences I initially couldn't.

Tasteless, motionless, and dead! Those are my feelings of what I glimpsed prevalent in the world around me, as it seemed that everything, even the trees, was trying to keep themselves concealed, cowering within themselves, leaving a dead black and white shell and refusing to interact with each other.

The only color I can find are these small, nearly invisible flashes and sparks of Rainbow light shining here and there in the depths of these creatures; although faint, it was still a pleasant sight to see.

But none of these are what I am looking for! I needed to pick through these flashes and find the Chakra of my target.

I gradually expanded my senses using my chakra guide. My Muscles coiled, ready to unleash stored chakra explosively.

-Locked on!- I confirmed to myself confidently as soon as I felt my father's Chakra and confirmed the location.

At the first sign of his chakra, the chakra I had been storing released instantly. And when it did, powerful pulses of energy stimulated every muscle fiber, tendon, and everything down right to my bones to launch me forward with astonishing speed. I burst from behind my cover with my first step, using the tree as my platform as I pushed out; with my second step, I aligned myself with my target, and with my third, I closed the ten-meter distance in a flash and lashed out with a chakra-enhanced spinning heel kick!

*Step

*Step

*Step

*BANG!

With three quick taps on the ground and a loud Impact, I sent the large manikin hooked to a tall tree flying backward!

As soon as my foot touched the ground, I immediately fed the muscles in my legs with Chakra and exploded once again forward to the flank of the manikin, and attempted to unleash a lethal sidekick!

*Whoosh!!*

Unfortunately, the second sound of impact didn't come as my aim went wide, missing my target by a whole foot in distance from my misplaced footing after shooting forward.

The manikin silently swung back and forth for a moment; the ugly clown-like painted face with big eyes, short red nose, and that STUPID Joker-like grin slapped on the thing seemed to mock me for my incompetence, as I had already been beating at the thing for over 2 hours. I still hadn't gotten the steps for the technique my father instructed me correctly.

We were already several days in and into my second week with my training, and my father had started by introducing me to get familiar with Chakra Enhanced Combat Techniques.

He told me these methods would familiarize me with the Feeling of refining Mental and Physical Energies on the fly into Chakra as fuel for high-speed and high-danger combat situations without damaging my body.

By taking a stance or allowing my Chakra to loop in a particular cycle, it should draw out my Chakra from my Tenketsu and into my muscles, augmenting them to release bursts of power and speed.

This action, however, has a side effect, Chakra, in its dormant state of mental energy, attracts heat when activated, and as more Chakra builds, so does the heat.

The body disperses this energy from within using Tenketsu paths, which someone needs to learn to open for their Chakra in the form of hot white most. They must do this to avoid damage from Chakra or Jutsu—wasting a good portion of chakra in the process.

There were two options when using Chakra, constantly control and manage how much you use as you fight your opponent or comprehend the pattern that best suits the body and release in the form of hand seals.

The maximum amount of Chakra somebody can tolerate for the use and unlocking of the body is inherently set according to 10% of their before Chakra reaches a point where it damages their body.

This limit, however, is not truly set in stone; with training and exercise in controlling your mind and body, your Chakra Control allows you to reach 20% capacity, which, if your Chakra is Pure enough, can allow your strength to rise ten times over!

Since the Mēkā clan will need to fight, capture, or even seal such creatures who have much better physical prowess, we have to learn techniques that allow our Chakra to run as smoothly and as efficiently as possible to make every single refinement count.

That means everything my father teaches me from then on will remain to the tenants of Explosive, Cunning, Evasive, and powerful!

After hearing this explanation about Chakra's capacity and limits for the body, I asked if it could go even higher. My answer was No, and anyone who tried that would either Die trying or need to be involved in some horrible experiment to do so, turning into an abomination and wishing they had died!

I couldn't help but blink, thinking about a specific Happy-Go-Lucky Taijutsu Master whose body turned into a Raging dragon with his skin practically covered in cracks and Molton lava; his blood turned into a Crimson aura as so much Chakra flowed through him it had boiled into a gas!

Might Guy, you, and your father are indeed Extraordinary! My god, you were able to surpass a limit that people in this era think is set in stone! Only to be Broken by the pain of death! How much Chakra did you manage to create and use for that Kick!? 100%? 200%? Or was it even higher!? If you were to use that Chakra to learn Ninjutsu or even Sage Arts! What kind of monster would you have become?

Might Guy just be built differently? And if he wasn't such a sympathizer and refused to use Ninjutsu regularly because of His father's and Students' Conditions, what would he have achieved?

-Hehe, Well, he was built differently, but so am I!- I chuckled while standing in a daze.

Because I found out, to my immense joy and Father's disbelief, this need for conditioning on the release and management of Chakra and its drawbacks had no application to Me!

It turns out that my mutated Tenkestu, the ones that bonded with my vessels, nerves, and muscle, had an astonishing capacity to produce, manage, and disperse energy from within my body and reabsorb the excess energy of Chakra!

I could push my mental energy to much greater heights than humanly possible in efficiency and speed! My blow in the orchard wasn't an average Chakra-enhanced blow, the heavy ness and locking of muscles were a result of Chakra flooding in so fast, and with such abundance, it became stuck in the traffic of my tenketsu network and solidified into raw power!

When it was released, I disintegrated the tree with a single blow! When I told my father about this while guiding me in getting to know how the flow of Chakra worked, he was surprised and a little skeptical.

The act of first opening the Tenketsu and learning Chakra Enhanced Combat should be both a painful and extensive process to learn and apply.

Hearing me say it was as easy as breathing, perhaps even more so, he asked me to give a demonstration.

His look when a flash of Red light shattered another tree made me fall back in laughter, but soon I was the one who became stunned because, after that moment, my father didn't hold back at all in my training and finding out all of the limitations and benefits that my condition provided.

Strengths, Constitution, Resilience, and even Genjustu's resistance, he tried and tested them all while, at the same time, he began to shove every technique and stance scroll unique to the Mēkā's style of combat down my fucking throat!

It didn't help that he also began to have me draw a graph on my own that labeled every muscle that I could find through Chakra introspection. How they worked, what chakra path works best to enhance it, what results would appear if I tried a different set of tenketsu points, the whole nine yards.

After the first few days of testing and prodding, we concluded that my chakra wasn't burning the same fuel or stamina as ordinary people.

It was more efficient and clean and had little drawbacks on my physique when used, and the refinement potential is leaps and bounds higher in the amount and speed at which I can use it.

But there is a downside, see I can't saturate my Chakra; my body automatically runs as efficiently as it can within the limit; the price is that I can't perform the technique of burning stamina to suddenly boost my strength and Chakra amount in when in dire need.

Think of it like a Car, one Gasoline and one Electric, the Gasoline excels in long drives and sprinting at full tanks of gas, and even when that gas runs out, there's always that little bit of Oomph to get you where you need to go left in the tank.

Electric cars are powerful anytime, anywhere! But as the price of using fuel is more efficient, they tend to leave less for energy and more for diversity; they are street cars because they can passively restore electricity using friction they generate at stops, which makes them way more durable than Gasoline, but when that battery is dead, so is the car.

That's my situation, my body produces the electricity passively to fuel my chakra, and I can go full power for a while before running out of Chakra, which means death in most situations as I couldn't refine and saturate the chakra I already have with Blood and stamina.

And since Chakra is your life functions being manifested, many symptoms like dizziness, Blackouts, Organ Failure, and other nasty occurrences will end me slowly and painfully if my enemies don't cut off my head first!

After finding this out, I was extra careful when I sensed exactly how much Chakra I had before deciding to use a technique, but this devil practically said fuck that, and doesn't stop there!

Hakor also took out what he called his masterpiece, a fucking Iron-Wood manikin Flooded with Earth Nature release; the thing was as ugly as can be, and he said it would be my training partner to test my knowledge on stances against an enemy.

Because it was an already durable material and even more so after my Father used his Chakra to refine it, I thought it would be acceptable to experiment with it without breaking it.

But I underestimated just how unbreakable the damn thing was and how much it fucking hurt when I hit it!

I don't know what my father did to it, but it felt like I was hitting a steel post with a full Thornmail equipped!

The harder I hit it, the more Chakra I placed into the blow without piercing its Chakra rebound, and the more painful it was when the damage reflected onto me!

My fingers ached, my legs burned, my elbows numbed, and my fucking head felt like there was a pick splitting it in half while I did my best to perfect the stances and techniques my father tasked me with completing.

I couldn't stop practicing until I performed the technique right 40 times in a row, it was time to eat, or the Doll become damaged enough to shatter, and this damn thing REfUSED to do so!

"…" I could only glare at the ugly thing, worn and torn as it already was from the beating I've been giving it; the Iron-Bark frame of the damn thing refused to give in!

-I swear, if I don't break you into tiny little pieces with my next try, I won't be Named Kekkai Mēkā!- I could only silently make this vow in my heart as I took a deep breath and started walking back to my starting position.

"Stop!" Hakors voice sounds from the tree line, "It's time to eat, and you still need to go over today's lesson plan. Leave Flopsy alone for the evening, and you can continue tomorrow!"

"Just one more time, one more time; I'm almost got this move down!" I shake my head stubbornly, glaring at the harbinger of my suffering with gritted teeth.

I'm talking about the doll.

I have learned practically every technique my father has given me during this time, and this technique is the final one!

If I mastered this technique, my father told me we would move on immediately and rush to the test site as fast as possible, absolutely confident that I could succeed!

Slowly stepping out of the bushes with two steaming bowls of food, my father examined the beaten manikin.

"Are you sure you have enough Chakra? The Tengan Sōsa [Heaven Realization], although not high in cost, doesn't cost so little chakra to perform; you have been trying to perform this stance for hours now. Are you really that confident?" He asks, grimacing at the Maniken

-Ouch! Flopsy! You've seen better days!- He grunted in his heart as he examined the damage his son had done to his prized Doll.

The Maniken was devastated from the punishment, covered in significant scratches across its torso, arms dented as if crushed by a heavy mace, and practically hanging on by a thread as if somebody had nearly ripped them out their sockets. The formally sunny face that had a smile of joy was covered in dirt and grime and had turned into a sorrowful smile, silently asking to be released from its pain!

"More than enough! This time, I'm confident! This time, Flopsy the Doll will be no more!" I puffed out in pride as I said this strangely sinister remark.

But I can't help it! The envy, the rage I feel, is practically stifling when I realize this thing was wearing Thornmail! This travesty will not stand! I will have this wrong settled in Blood! If not by my father's, this doll's shattered remains shall do!

-He doesn't know how to hold back! Sorry Flopsy, he's almost there. You have to hold on a little longer!- Hakor silently mourned for the doll before placing a hand on it and secretly flooded it with even MORE Earth Release Chakra. The cracks quietly filled in, and Flopsy the doll looked like he had just taken his second wind, practically shining with vitality in response to his creators' blessing!

-Don't worry, Master, I can take it!- I could swear that's what the doll replied as I watched, dumbfounded at my father's shameless undoing of all my hard work!

"Fine, if you say you can do it, Go ahead!" Hakor allows, backing up and giving me space to work as if he didn't just reinforce the doll with nearly triple the Chakra it started with!

He sat down on a patch of tender grass, with the steaming stew on his lap, as he slowly sipped from it and looked at me with rapt attention. His face says, 'Go on, I'm watching.'

As I looked at the doll, petrified, I could only silently curse both it and its creator to the most bottomless pits of hell for the misery they've down upon me!

"Again!" Hakor ordered

-Fuck it, it will hurt like hell, but this Clown dies Today!- I gritted my teeth.

"This time, walk further, although not all enemies you will encounter will have the senses to find out your position; being careful enough to avoid their detection before you're ready to strike the final blow is crucial to success!" Hakor called out to me as I walked back.

This made me grumble even more; although I said I had more than enough Chakra to perform the task, It wasn't much at this time, and the farther this technique was from the Target, the more Chakra I needed to use to close the distance and perform the Combination. Completing 30 feet within three steps alone is already demanding, and now he wanted me to go even further?!

Though I did grumble and complain, I still took his advice and walked even further away from my original tree. Taking my stance 60 feet away, nearly 20 meters, this is the absolute limit that I, as I am now, can sense and, hopefully, move, at the rate required to perform the Tengan Sōsa!

Once again, I took a low stance behind a tall tree,

[Hidden Technique: Tengan Sōsa] (Heavenly Realization Technique)

This technique requires absolute preparation to strike down your opponent within three consecutive strikes. It can be likened to an arrow set on a string or a lion preparing his full power to attack the rabbit.

Because that's what this technique does, with the lower limit of 10% Chakra retention concentrated on the legs and your balance, you need to locate, lock on, and at your fastest speed close the distance before your opponent can react and finish them!

Knees bent and torso leaned slightly forward. The left hand is extended palm out in front to sense disturbances of Chakra around me.

My right hand was drawn to my hip; fingers curled into a half-tiger seal.

My Eyes remained open but focused inward, seeing through the sensing hand. Muscles are coiled, ready to unleash stored chakra explosively.

All distractions fall away as I put all my awareness on my surroundings through the detached outward perception.

At the first sign of my target through Chakra perception, the stored chakra is released instantly. I put everything I had into concentrating the Chakra within my body to my legs; there was only one purpose for this action!

To Kill That Clown!

Powerful pulses stimulate every muscle fiber, tendon, and bone to launch me forward faster than the blink of an eye.

My blood pressure spiked, pumping hard in my ears, and my eyes became bloodshot as I pressed against the tree.

-Dear God, this is going to hurt- I groan painfully in my heart

I burst from behind cover, wind whipping past my ears as I used my Chakra to guide me!

40 feet!

Powerful thrusts of my legs propelled me forward! Crossing the distance like a flicker of wind through the forestry was the first step.

20 feet!

The wind pushed harshly against my face as I pushed even harder, turning throughout the air to lash out with a chakra-enhance spinning heel kick at the stupid look of the evil puppet!

-Oh? This, this, this is different from before! He's too Fast! Master, Save me!- the puppet cried, seeing the ferocious eyes glaring, flickering red light flickered across my body as my speeding kick met his face!

*KABOOM

A loud explosion sounds as the puppet is sent flying backward. I wasn't happy because when my kick landed, the Chakra within the Training puppet lashed out and rebounded into my leg; I gritted my teeth in pain but still followed through with my momentum, twisting around to the flank. Another chakra pulse allows an immediate change of direction, landing a sidekick to the body that stops the puppet in its tracks.

-It's Here!- Hakor thought

Finally, with the chakra within my legs, I used it to propel myself skyward. Somersaulting above, pressing against a hanging branch, I focus and transfer the remaining chakra into my fist. Spinning downwards, a mighty hammer fist delivers the final blow, crashing my opponent violently into the ground in a cloud of debris!

As the smoke cleared and a Flopsy The Clown was shattered into tiny pieces across the ground, I knew that I had finally done it! The Tengan Sōsa! The combination of perfect strikes aided by flawless timing, placement, and chakra control was finally in my hands!

Looking at my silent father a few meters away, I walked over with a shit-eating grin, grabbed my food, and took a sip.

"So… what's next old man?!" I asked while blowing softly at the steaming spoon

"Next," Hakor looked at the monster before him for a while before grinning," we get to know your Nature attributes!"

"Aah, perfect!" I sighed with joy as I began to eat my meal