Takuma turned his head at the sound of footsteps suddenly appearing in the middle of the field where he and Maruboshi used to train in the mornings.

"... You are early today, young Takuma... and have apparently warmed up already."

Takuma stood up from the plank position and faced Maruboshi, who he had not seen in eight days due to the latter being on missions and the former being on rest. The longest they had not seen each other since they had met. And the longest one week he had suffered through both his existences.

"I couldn't sleep last night and decided to come early," said Takuma. Since their correspondence, it was the first time he had arrived before Maruboshi. The restless last night of knowing that today was the day he was allowed to return to their training had robbed him of the comfort of sleep. The restlessness didn't abate when he arrived at the field, so he began warming to release the nervous energy by moving his body around.

Maruboshi gave Takuma a look over, examining him after the break. He then chuckled, "Young ones have more vitality than us old folks have long lost. I'm glad to see you're doing well, Takuma. How is your health?" he asked.

"As good as new, better even," Takuma said assertively. He wanted to leave no doubt in Maruboshi's mind that he was back in full shape. "We can continue right where we left off without any problems."

"Let's not waste any time then," Maruboshi nodded before giving Takuma instructions to start off their day, which usually started with warmups and stretching, but because Takuma had already done that, they moved on.

Every morning began in a similar way, with a quick conditioning session where Maruboshi would ensure Takuma was always near the point of failure with every exercise to build endurance and systematically improve his physique. It was the only time in the morning that Maruboshi devoted to just physical conditioning. They did taijutsu spars and other physical activities, but they were for the sake of skill building and not to improve Takuma's physical fitness. What Maruboshi made Takuma do wasn't enough from a physique-development point of view, but because they only met in the morning for a limited amount of time, Maruboshi told Takuma to do the majority of physical exercise in the evening on his own, so they could focus on other categories in the mornings and better utilize the older's shinobi's time guiding.

"Let's take a quick break here before moving on," said Maruboshi after the session.

Takuma breathed deeply to catch his breath as he frowned at Maruboshi's back as the teacher sipped from his canteen. Takuma was drenched in sweat, his clothes sticking to his body, and beads of sweat dripping from the strands of his hair. Despite all of that, Takuma felt Maruboshi had gone easy on him. The workout they just had wasn't as intense as he was used to doing with Maruboshi. And it wasn't him getting used to it; he hadn't gotten used to it for five months because Maruboshi was constantly changing it, pushing the measure a bit higher.

No, the workout regiment had been purposefully made easier, so it never felt easier. But today, it did.

'He still thinks of me recovering from the incident,' Takuma growled in his thoughts with frustration. That was what he feared would happen when they restarted his training. That's part of the reason why he had arrived early and did the warm up before Maruboshi arrived— to show he was fit and didn't need a reduced load.

"Come, Takuma," Maruboshi had sat down, cross-legged, on the grass and pointed at the spot in front of him. "We shall continue where we left off and begin with chakra."

Takuma had just sat down when he heard the mention of chakra, and he froze. He was about to tell Maruboshi off for going easy on him, but that plan was shredded and thrown in his mind's trash can. Something much more important had arrived.

The time had come. The time he had been dreading and looking forward to since the day he had woken up in the hospital.

"Now, if my memory serves me well, you said you weren't able to sense chakra during your own attempts with it."

Takuma lightly shook his head as he kept his eyes focused near Maruboshi's chest area, avoiding his teacher's eyes. He had tried once again in his rest week to invoke his chakra, but the result was dread-inducingly the same. He hadn't been able to sense much less use any chakra at all. His body felt as though baren of the base energy.

In hindsight, he should not have tried more. It only worsened his anxiety, making food more difficult to swallow and sleep difficult at night. The light sleep he got was haunted by the thoughts of transmigration being the reason behind his inability to sense any chakra.

But then Maruboshi said, "Nothing to worry about. While rare, there are children who are not able to sense chakra on their own and require external help to find the energy within."

Takuma looked up at Maruboshi and found that his teacher was smiling. The smile made a spark of hope ignite within him.

It was rare but not unseen; he could be part of that rare few, Takuma thought. He had been part of a rare group before— the people who transmigrated. What stopped him from being part of another one.

Every moving millisecond fanned the fire of hope in Takuma's heart.

"Give me your hand," Maruboshi said, putting his old, wrinkled hand forward.

Takuma couldn't have been faster as he eagerly placed his hand over Maruboshi, which seemed to be entirely made up of calluses. Takuma had developed some calluses from practicing throwing weapons, but when compared to Maruboshi, his hands seemed like they belonged to someone who hadn't worked with their hands a day in his life.

"Take a deep breath and follow it through your body," Maruboshi said as he himself took a deep breath and gripped Takuma's hand.

Takuma's brows twitched. What was he supposed to follow? But the question died before it reached his lips as he felt a warmth emerge inside his palm. He looked down, expecting a small flame heating up his palm, but there was no such thing.

The warmth moved. It expanded from the dot-like center of his palm to the top of his fingertips. It felt like he had a space heater inside his gloved hand.

"You feel it, good," Maruboshi's voice sounded as Takuma closed his eyes. "Let's move on then."

Takuma took a deep breath, broken up by quivers as the heat moved up his arm, overflowing every inch of his flesh while penetrating deep inside. The heat of the warmth rose, and it was no longer just inside his body; he could feel it exuding outwards into the air in waves.

Soon, his entire arm was drowning in the warmth of whatever Maruboshi had done. But, just as Takuma thought, he was getting used to it. The energy spread out and entered his chest. He literally felt his chest cavity get filled with the same energy. At this point, all thought had seized inside Takuma's head as he followed the energy flow through his body. It was inside his limbs, chest, abdomen, and head— no corner of his body was left behind by the marvelous energy.

Takuma's eyes fluttered open, but only the whites showed with the iris rolled back inside. He couldn't see the sky above, hear the leaves around him, smell the forest around him, feel the touch of grass brushing against his feet, or taste the morning dew suspended in the air— the only thing that existed for Takuma was the energy radiating inside his body.

Eventually, though, the heat left Takuma's body, drained as it radiated out, leaving behind a feeling of empty cold in its wake.

Takuma's eyes snapped forward. He stared at his teacher and opened his lips to speak, but no words left his mouth.

Maruboshi smiled, "I believe you can feel it now."

Takuma didn't dare move an inch; not a muscle twitched if he could help in the fear that if he moved, the new sensation would vanish like smoke in the wind. He could indeed feel it. It felt as though he had gained another sense— a sixth sense outside the primary five.

"T-Two," he croaked out eventually, his voice breaking in process. "I-I can feel two."

Maruboshi's wrinkles deepened as the smile broadened. He didn't speak and let Takuma continue.

"The first one is everywhere... everywhere," Takuma said, his eyes wide like saucers. "The second one is here," he slowly moved his right hand and placed it gently against his lower stomach. "A-and.. and it's made i-in the heart," he finished by touching his chest above his heart.

The feeling was indescribable. One moment Takuma's body was as he knew it to be for five months— however, the next, his body had changed.

'No, it hadn't changed,' Takuma thought. The feeling was new but not foreign— it felt natural... like it was supposed to be this way. He had simply found out something he didn't know before.

"An energy," started Maruboshi, "exists in every living being in the world. A force as true as life itself"— he raised two fingers— "and is the combination of two energies: physical energy present and produced by the billions of cells of the body— and the spiritual energy the gift by one's spirit trained through developing the mind's consciousness, training, meditating, and stimulating experiences." Maruboshi joined his hands in front of his chest and intertwined his fingers. "When called upon, the two energies meld together in the heart and produce the basis of every jutsu— that energy is known as chakra(de aru)."

Maruboshi cupped his hands together, and a moment after, water emerged between them until it overflowed and trickled down onto the grass below them.

Takuma had seen Maruboshi use jutsu before, but the fascination had remained the same. If it was the previous world, the feat in front of him would've been either seen as an elaborate magic trick, or Maruboshi would've been deemed and dubbed as the next coming of God.

He reached forward and dipped a finger in the water. He gasped involuntarily— the water felt cold, it made his finger wet... and that made it real.

In front of his eyes, he had seen water created out of nothing— 'Not nothing,' Takuma thought. 'It was created out of chakra...'

Chakra that he now possessed.

A chuckle and two escaped Takuma. "I can use chakra," it was more breath than sound.

"You indeed can," Maruboshi said, smiling.

"I can use chakra," said Takuma again, to himself more than anyone. He laughed and felt the corner of his lips tug upwards. He smiled for the first time in a week that seemed like a lifetime.

He couldn't hold his form anymore and fell back against the ground. His chest heaved up and down as a sense of lightness lifted him. The sky no seemed to be bearing down on his chest, and the air no longer seemed to weigh down on his body.

He hadn't felt anything like this in a very long time.

"I... I... am going to pass out," Takuma said breathily as his heart thrummed in his heat like a bass drum. "Give me a minute... just a minute, please. Oh shit... oh my god... oh fuck— oh that was horrible."

"Mind your language, Takuma," Maruboshi said sternly.

Takuma couldn't care less at the moment.

He closed his eyes and grinned as far as his lips would allow. Every fear, every nightmare, every single grim thought he had in the last week was unfounded.

He placed a hand on his chest, and beneath it, he could feel the gentle pulsation of his heart. It was the proof. The proof that he possessed it. The most precious and powerful resource in the entire world.

The one thing that would allow him to protect himself.

The thing that would allow him to cast jutsu.

The thing that would allow him to be...

A shinobi.

 

 

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