Chapter 06: Progress
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On a field, a spiky-haired boy could be seen sprinting around – sweat trickled down his hair which ran down his cheek and a large patch of sweat was on the t-shirt that stuck on him.
After another lap, he stopped and clutched his knees, panting as he tried to catch his breath. In his bent-down position, he reached out for the water bottle on the grass and desperately gulped it down.
A large 'aah' was sounded after refreshing himself – and he raised his hand to wipe the sweat across his forehead. His expression now turned into one of thoughtfulness.
'It took me 10 minutes now to my previous time. At least now I can at least run a mile consistently. I am still in the body of a kid, so I'm guessing chakra compensates for the age discrepancy.'
It has been a month now since he arrived in this world, and during this time, he had been training under his father's guidance. To his expectations, improvements were slowly but surely showing but he diligently kept to the training regimen.
At first, he struggled as this was a kid's body but time passed and he got used to it. He was also a person who kept in shape in his previous life but this was a whole new level. Still, no matter how hard, his determination wouldn't waver. There were harder things than just training.
'Becoming strong isn't a process that happens overnight. I don't have the power of friendship nor a godly talent, but I do have a memory that I can use to its fullest.'
Indeed he used his memory to its maximum capacity as he read and nearly revised all the books given to him. It increased his insight and knowledge of a shinobi's life – he could see why his father gave him them as it set a good foundation
The library was of help too as he had revised everything from shinobi history, shinobi weapons, and the shinobi map of the world. The geography of the world was important to him; he knew what lurked outside.
Of course, he didn't have all the time to just read books so it did halt his knowledge-storing ability but it was worth it. Meditation and physical training exercises were of plenty of help.
Although the chakra books didn't help now, he kept deducting the information for himself – it would be helpful when he starts using it.
He had less than two months left before he started the academy; he was making the most of this time. If there was more time and he had started earlier, Akio reckoned he would have been at the top of his class, but it was nothing to fret over as there were a lot of academy years he could exploit to gain strength.
Right now, he was in front of his house garden and walked along the pathway where several maids tended to the flowers. As he approached the door, he waved toward them with a wide smile whilst they did the same.
This body was previously known as a depressed shut-in, but now he had changed it. It was easier to engage socially with others if his reputation was kept to a minimum at least. Meaning he could gain things easier due to having a good front. But in the long run, this didn't matter as he would gain power.
The maids all looked at Akio with delightful smiles. Throughout this past month, he had been diligently reading his books and training whilst being extremely polite to them.
Previously, they had heard of him, and from what some of them have seen.. well a non-talkative and angry person. He would glare at you for no reason and wouldn't listen to you for no reason, but now he felt different – unlike what they heard in these rumors.
However, not everyone was happy with this change….
"Hmph! Reading books is not going to help you become stronger."
An arrogant voice came in front of Akio – and the book he had held up – fell onto the ground from a nudge. Looking at the person – it was Ariza who had pushed him, but instead of reacting, he just picked up the book and walked off without a care.
"You!" he gritted his teeth, not getting a reaction out of him.
Akio never looked back; to Ariza, it seemed as though his antics never affected him because his back was turned… and it didn't. He was too single-mindedly focused on his goal of surviving to entertain some kid's pestering. Sooner or later, the guy wouldn't be able to touch him.
'This guy's been annoying me for too long. As much as I want to stop this guy from pestering me, I can't.'
But all of that happened in a split second as he just walked into the main room.
"Father," he exclaimed.
His father was sitting on a sofa seemingly busy with something.
Although for his son, he averted his attention and replied. "Yes, what is it?"
Immediately after he said this, his face had a sudden realization.
"Ah! Yes. How could I forget…" his hands reached for his back pocket behind him and a book came out.
"Here it is," he passed on the book to Akio. "This will definitely help you when you learn how to mold your chakra – but for now just revise and derive it to your understanding."
[Steps of Chakra Moulding]
Hagiro was pleased to have a son, who was exceptionally gifted when it came to academic studies. Even his memorization speed startled him at first but slowly he got used to it. Previously, he never really interacted with his son due to circumstances surrounding him – although he didn't want to say it… he was useless before.
However, he was sure his son was naturally smart. His keen observation skills and decision-making never went past him; he was shinobi with experience after all.
Moreover – not only was he smart but he was disciplined – following the training regimen every day without complaining once. He did struggle at first and sometime after, although, as time passed by, he got the hang of it – he was quick to adapt as well.
A smile blossomed on his face as he put pressure on his son's shoulders, feeling his body. His skinny frame had now changed to a slightly more toned and lean frame.
"Haha! It's nearly time to teach you how to use your chakra soon." He had a firm grip on his bones right now, making Akio wince from the pressure. At the same time, he smiled, knowing he was close to his first step of strength.
"Now go shower up, you really smell from that workout."
To this, he laughed as he nodded his head and headed upstairs. But before he headed into the shower; he went to his bedroom and sat crossed-legged on his bed.
Then, he tightly shut his eyes and did a series of rhythmic breaths. He took a deep breath in through the nose, and gently out of the mouth at a normal pace whilst sitting in an extremely upright posture.
Akio deeply immersed himself and concentrated solely on his breaths – not losing an ounce of focus on thinking about anything else. He sat like this for minutes… ten minutes… forty minutes passed before he finally opened his eyes.
'I remember when I couldn't concentrate for more than ten minutes now. I've had a huge boost in improvement mentally – I don't know when exactly I can start molding chakra but I'm sure that I'm close.
With his solid foundation in Chakra theory, Akio knew simple things such as chakra is energy squeezed from physical and spiritual cells. If he had a lot of these cells, then simply, he would have more chakra but he guessed this would change as he grew older.
There was something called potential, and everyone only had a certain amount. Unlike his exponential improvement in meditation – physically it just wasn't the same. He didn't mind because at least he had one thing he was good at.
At first, his concentration in meditation was much lower – only amounting to just a few minutes on his first try. However, after his time increased; he felt that his mind had gotten clearer, and he just felt lighter in general. He even concluded – that his constantly reading books and feeding knowledge into his mind had helped increase his spiritual side even more.
'Chakra's truly mysterious. It feels alive, reacting to your body's experiences, and improves itself. Yet it feels so simple at the same time.'
Because he is from a different world, the concept of chakra was ridiculously strange to him, whilst to others, it just felt like a natural part of them.
However, he didn't truly care – as long as this energy helped him reach the top then that's all that matters.
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