Chapter 10:

 

It's way too early for this.

 

It was 5 AM, and I could feel my body struggle valiantly against fatigue. My eyes blurred and my muscles burned as I performed a full body stretch, in a hopeless bid to rid myself of it.

I yawned shortly after. It didn't work.

I looked on in envy at Shikamaru. He somehow fell fast asleep on the hard white tiles of the Akimichi training grounds. I don't know how he did it, honestly. At this point it must've just been a talent of his. The sleep-anywhere Jutsu.

It was made even more extreme by the fact that apparently, it was very cold out. Which was made apparent due to Chouji's constant shivering. I didn't feel cold though; Quite the opposite, actually. The heat that thrummed right beneath my skin made it feel like a warm summer's day.

I found myself staring at the red ornamental plating that sat atop the walls. At the symmetrical Akimichi logo that sat evenly spread across the plating. The plating sat on thick white walls, which was necessarily strong due to the Akimichi Jutsu's typical destructive capabilities.

This wasn't my first time here, but it was the first time I'd use these grounds as anything but a glorified playground.

We chose this location because out of the three potential locations, the Akimichi grounds had the lowest risk of discovery. None in the Akimichi family really questioned uncle Chouza, so if he said these grounds were off limits? They were off limits. Unlike the Nara, the Akimichi weren't overly inquisitive, and the less said about Yamanaka and secrets, the better.

Chouji's rising tension pulled me out of my idle observations; He was unable to sit still, as he rapped the white concrete tiles with his fingers. I tried to ignore the minor thumps as I sat cross legged beside him, but it was a fool's errand.

Positive emotions always wormed themselves into me, and this time was no different.

The cold meant nothing in the face of his rising tide of excitement, and I couldn't even blame him; We were finally out of the Academy. No more dealing with pink haired people and entities I'd rather avoid. No more Sensei teaching us about things most already knew. In some ways, it felt like our lives had truly just begun.

And this was our first session as a team together.

As he stewed in anticipation, I found myself doing the same. I felt like a cauldron of excitement, nerves, and lethargy. The longer I sat still, the more the former two overpowered the latter.

My finger twitched—

Suddenly, a large form appeared in a swirl of leaves and wind. Uncle Chouza stood tall and proud in his combat attire. A large black vest adorn on his equally large body, with the kanji 食 written in the center. A flurry of leaves fell past his face, and I felt a chill run up my spine. I'd never seen him look so serious in my life—

"Stand!"

His shout boomed through me, with a physical presence to it. In synchronized shock, Chouji and I immediately snapped to our feet, and I could feel Shikamaru wake up with a start, before his rising confusion and irritation started to press against me.

His confusion didn't last long though, and he stood quickly—well, quickly for Shikamaru, at least.

Uncle Chouza—no, Chouza Sensei— paced slowly as he inspected the three of us one by one. His feet thumped against the white tiles of the training ground with every solid step. I wasn't quite sure what he was looking for with his gaze, as we saw each other regularly.

The tension rose as he paced, but I could feel his amusement hidden under the stern facade. The anticipation. The hope. The pride. I felt the beautiful cacophony of fatherly feelings make a flurry of emotions within him.

The feelings were intoxicating, and urged me to sink deeper and deeper, to feel more. I tried to do just that, to glean what I could from his thoughts, but I ran into a wall of sorts.

A mental wall.

A thin pale blue film wrapped around his metaphysical mind. I looked at the spectacle in wonder, before I began to probe and prod at it, which seemed to grab his attention. He looked at me, thoroughly amused, and winked.

I could tell the… shield wasn't that strong; With effort I could brute force my way through, but I didn't know the ramifications of that.

And every shinobi knew you didn't try out untested Jutsu on family.

It also didn't help that I didn't know why it was there. My best guess was that it was a test of some sorts? I had to subtly get through it? If so, dad probably put him up to it; I'd noticed him trying various forms of mental defences recently, to varying effect.

It was curious that nothing he tried really seemed to affect my Empathy though—dad had given that name to my Emotion Sensing recently— I still got the full brunt of his emotional imprint no matter what he tried. Did that mean that my abilities were disjoint? I had assumed they were two sides of the same coin, but perhaps not.

"—First off," his booming voice snapped me out of my thoughts with a start, and he threw a small box at me. I caught it easily enough, "That's for you, Ino," I opened it and unfurled a… scroll? I glanced at him inquisitively, before performing the Unsealing Jutsu, and my hands immediately dipped in strain from the added weight as a heavy box dropped into it.

Why so many layers?

I placed the box on the floor and opened it, which unveiled two wristguards, shin guards, and two straps—thigh straps, I assume— all with silvery metal plates attached. Each plate had intricate engravings on them, and were quite heavier than they should've been.

I grimaced, to Chouza Sensei's immediate pleasure.

I stared at the items in disbelief, he let loose a quick smirk before smothering it, "You'll wear these at all times during training from now on," I felt his feelings of mischief grow as I grew more and more unsettled, "You're only to remove them during times of rest, spars, and missions."

No… these new weights were an order of magnitude heavier than the ones I typically used for training, and he knew that. He knew that and he felt unbridled joy at my plight. I contemplated escape, even as my hands started shaking from exertion.

And to make matters worse, he continued, "They come with adjustable weight settings, so get used to always feeling the strain," his grin may have looked friendly, but I knew it wasn't.

Screw it.

I turned, fully intent on escape, but in response to my micromovement—as soon as my muscles tensed— I sensed Chouza Sensei appear right behind me, and a metaphysical hand on my shoulder. I tried to compensate for that by lowering that shoulder in anticipation, but he immediately appeared in front of me, with his actual hand set on the other shoulder.

I could still sense him behind me.

What?

His amusement was palpable, and flowed from him in rivulets, "First lesson: There's no such thing as perfect information," I grimaced, unable to take even a step away under his steely grip.

I didn't know how he was doing any of it, was it sheer speed? Was he fooling my senses somehow?

"Second lesson," he disappeared from both my sight and senses entirely, before I felt a kunai appear at my neck, "Everything has a weakness."

Chouji stared on in wide eyed wonder as I shakily asked, "H-how?"

"Third lesson, always be two steps ahead," I felt his fight light up in a smile from behind me, "Even you have a range. That can be exploited."

"Now get to it," he ordered, poking at the weights held in my grasp.

I reluctantly strapped the thigh-straps around my thighs, and wrapped the wrist guards and shin guards around my wrists and shins respectively, "These are from your dad," he said, as he internally lit up with glee, even though his face was completely unchanged.

So the coward didn't want to give this gift to me himself?

He'll rue the day. Rue it!

"The plating is a Chakra Metal alloy, which means it's very durable," he peered at the straps, and made sure they were wrapped in tightly, "It's highly resistant to physical attacks, and is unaffected by most Chakra effects."

I could feel the tax they'd immediately placed upon my body, "How do I adjust the weights?"

"Get used to it," he basically let me know that I was basically on my own with that. It seemed that Chouza Sensei had a sadistic side to him, as he internally lit up at my suffering. I'd be sure to report this to auntie, but I'm sure she already knew.

Chouji's worry pressed against me, comforting me in my struggle, but that bastard Shikamaru was just relieved—glad it wasn't him.

I swore vengeance. On everyone.

Except Chouji, he'll be spared.

"Alright, with the fun out of the way, it's time for the first team meeting," I slowly returned to my seat, instead opting to sit with my legs sprawled out this time, "Firstly, goals. I'm aiming to get you lot through the next set of Chuunin exams. They'll be held in Konoha, but if you miss them, you'll be waiting a while for another shot."

"Secondly, we'll be doing at least one D-Rank mission a week until I determine you're ready for more difficult ones. You will hate it. Everyone hates it, but they're valuable for a myriad of reasons."

Chouji whispered beside me, "How bad can they be?" I shrugged, and Chouza Sensei seemed even more amused at that. I gulped.

"Luckily for you three, you don't need the money, and I'm going to be very involved in your training, so it won't be necessary to do more than one a week," and as expected, Shikamaru released a loud groan.

"Just for that, I want 5 laps around the compound from each of you," Chouji and I glared at the offending Nara, who at least had the decency to appear sheepish.

"Well?"

We rose as one without a word, and I grunted with effort as we began the run. The training grounds were quite large, and the exercise wasn't made any easier by my new additions. I trailed behind my teammates, wishing with every fiber of my being that Shikamaru would trip. I wanted to yell at him, but I'm sure Sensei would take that as an opportunity to add more to our torture.

Unfortunately, he didn't fall. Drats.

By the time we'd finished, my muscles burned a familiar burn.

I thought I was fit, but apparently there was always room for improvement.

"Good enough, I guess," Chouza Sense smiled as we fell back into line, "For today, I'll just have you three working on Chakra control, you'll need this mastered before your first D-Rank," he walked over to the walls of the compound, and beckoned us forward.

"Watch carefully," and just leisurely walked up the walls.

Watch carefully? Did he think we were sensors or something? Well, I kind of was, but I didn't really have a feel for Chakra. I didn't think so, at least.

Regardless, a sensor I was not.

As he got to the top of the wall, he leapt off with a graceful flip that didn't belong on such a large body, and his knee slammed into the ground in an unnecessarily showy three point landing. For some reason.

I'd say it looked painful but… I'm sure the ground took more damage than he did.

At least Chouji was impressed, he whispered, "So cool…" and his dad grinned in response. I rolled my eyes. Boys.

"Now, your turn," we each stared at him, a request for explanation clear from our gaze. He grunted, "Fine, fine. So what you have to do is, mould your Chakra onto the soles of your feet. A thin film, with the consistency of Nattou."

So we were on our own then.

Shikamaru completely abandoned Chouza Sensei's explanation, and walked up to the wall in question—luckily for us, he kept his complaints solely in his head this time— before he placed his right foot on it, and pulled it off seamlessly. It didn't stick, clearly.

He constantly re-applied his foot, some attempts lead to his leg being pushed off of the wall, with others doing nothing but slipping downwards. His mind flitted through ideas that I couldn't really make sense of, as his Chakra pathways were different from my own, but his methodology was clear to me.

He chose trial and error.

Chouji seemed contemplative, and after a few moments of thinking of food—specifically, Nattou— he took a running start and without hesitation sprinted up the wall. Effortlessly.

What…

Now, I hadn't had Nattou much—dealing with the… ick wasn't worth the taste in my opinion— but even I could extrapolate something from that. So I had to make my Chakra sticky?

I ignored Shikamaru's shock while I thought about that. What in the world did sticky even mean?

I stepped up to the bright white wall, and painstakingly raised a leg onto it. I willed my Chakra to run free over my soles, and watched as my foot immediately slipped down, a grinding sound left in its wake.

With a groan, I repeated the process—with more Chakra— only for my leg to hit the ground even faster.

Not sure why I thought that'd work.

Okay. So throwing more at it didn't do anything, obviously. It must be the feel of the Chakra. Sticky. Sticky.

I brought it out again, but this time I tried to knead the feel of it. To mould it. I tried to still my Chakra—sticky things didn't move much, right?— but it turns out that… was far more difficult than I'd thought.

Wrangling my Chakra into submission was a trial in and of itself. It wanted to move, and didn't want to stay rooted. To be still. My Chakra vibrated with a restless intensity, and while guiding it was easy—effortless, even— changing it was not.

At. All.

Well, that at least explained the humming sound as it ground against the wall.

Okay, so I could direct it. Changing it was difficult because of the way it flowed. Could I just just a little bit? I didn't care if most of my Chakra moved like a restless herd of oxen, I just needed a little bit at a time to do what I needed.

That, apparently, was doable. Getting just the film over my feet to be more still was possible. It wasn't even that difficult. However, keeping it that way was simply not possible. It fought me every step of the way to return to its apparent natural state, and the second I lost focus, it would immediately snap back out of my control.

I glanced at Shikamaru as he happily took his first hesitant steps up the wall. Damn.

I had to try something different, then. Instead of trying to constantly wrestle with my own Chakra—which was definitely a fools' errand— I tried bringing it out, moulding it to a desired form as it ran over my soles, and as it started to put up a fight, brought it back inside my body.

There was waste, of course. Exerting control ended up with loss, not to mention that just existing outside of my Chakra pathways led to some of it bleeding off into the very air. That was expected, though.

My Chakra flowed like a river, out of one Tenketsu on my sole, over my foot as I modified its' feel, then back into me in one… mostly seamless transition.

Overall, the process was difficult, and took an exorbitant amount of focus, but I did eventually get a feel for it. It only took me a measly 20 minutes. Simple, right?

Okay.

With my next attempt, I formed a film on my soles, over my sandals, and sort of moulded it to… grip the wall. It formed a beautiful cycle as it left my body, gripped the wall as it ran down the sole of my foot, and back into my body. I applied force—

—I yelped as I shot back from the wall in question, my hands snapped up to support the back of my head as my back rubbed against the tiled floor as I slid across it.

Okay. That happened.

Shikamaru chuckled from his perch atop the wall. I didn't quite hear him from this far, but I'd felt the contours of his face move in a way that meant laughter.

Hmph.

I could feel Chouza Sensei’s curiosity pressing upon me as I sluggishly rose from the ground. I almost fell—I swear these weights were trying to drag me directly to the Pure Lands— but I caught myself, and made my way back to the walls.

Okay. Again.

This time, I had my Chakra grip the wall, and my foot. I kept it there for a few moments, before pushing—and, nothing happened.

I opened my eyes—I instinctively closed them as I pushed against the wall, it seemed— to see my leg sticking solidly to the wall. I cut the flow and my leg dropped to the tiled floor with a weighty thump.

Okay, that worked, I think.

I did it again, and added a second leg shortly after. I stood horizontally on the wall, at chest height, and continuously focused on what was happening under my feet.

When I was comfortable with the process, I took a step—or rather, I tried to. My legs were both stuck firmly onto the wall.

I chuckled at my misstep before cutting the flow on one leg, and took a hesitant step upwards. And another. And another. My core muscles burned in exertion to keep me upright, in support of my war against gravity.

But I did it. I couldn't help but feel elated.

Before long, I'd made it to the top of the wall. By the end of my trek, gravity ended up being a tougher opponent than the process itself.

"Great!" I jumped as Chouza Sensei boomed from right beside me. Once again he moved so quickly that by the time he appeared in my senses, he was already there. Somehow. I know I'd eventually get used to these feats of speed, but they still annoyed me.

"Alright, I want you three to practice scaling the wall until you can do it instinctively," he said, and we all groaned in unison, "Let me know as soon as you feel any weakness at all."

"How troublesome," for once, we all agreed with Shikamaru.

A few hours in, the only thing that kept me going was Shikamaru's exhausted and irritated face.

All in all, it took me another day of training before it started to feel natural.