It had been several times that Kaito had seen Ninshu practitioners putting their noses to the grindstone, and he had his heart set on becoming one himself. As a child raised by Rikaiha faithful, he was bound to acquaint himself with this mystic art, sooner or later, even if it was a mere form of meditation, if not a primary avenue of cultivation. But with no parents to supervise his studies at the academy or temple, he had to take the initiative himself, especially since he had a younger sister to protect.

So while Tome frolicked with other children at the camp or engaged in the sale of tlacoyo at the market, Kaito would find a secluded spot like the park near the camp to try his hand at cultivation, but still close enough to keep a watchful eye on his sibling.

Wisesa was fond of hiding out in the park too, actually, chumming cigars and stretching out on its meadowy grounds. One advantage of basking in the false sky was the sun was not as scorching and glaring, yet he could still reap the benefits of the sun—a detail he entrusted Kagatse's engineers to have meticulously attend to.

Until one day, their paths converged in the park. Wisesa briefly observed as Kaito performed the Mountain Knots with his eyes closed, then decided to take a clandestine approach.

"So you're lazing around here while the women are busy selling food, you—"

"Wisesa-nichan!" Kaito gasped. "I didn't mean it that way—"

"—one heck of a guy!"

Kaito's lips parted. His eyes fluttered in confusion. "Eh? W-what?"

"Yeah, I mean... You know, women work their asses off, while men..." No amount of effort by Wisesa could salvage the conversation from the awkward air. "Forget it." Wisesa's index finger raised slightly. "What are you dreaming about?"

"I don't know. It's either a dream or not. At first, it was like I glimpsed a line swelling into a faint red background, then flickering like embers."

"What? Wait a minute." Wisesa squatted in front of him. His gaze frowned in curiosity. "Repeat that."

"I saw lines swelling into a faint red background, then flickering like embers."

"You were meditating?"

"...More like cultivating. But, yes."

"Damn..." Wisesa giggled. "I guess it's become a crazy trend around here."

"Wisesa-nichan, I didn't mean to act like a zealot hermit—"

"No, no that's not what I meant—wait, you're not that desperate, are you? Sister Alicia would be furious if she caught the wind of it."

"No! I swear!" Kaito shifted his gaze to his left side. "I cultivated to master the Art of Ninshu. I should at least be able to defend my sister."

Hearing that left Wisesa hanging for thought. For a fleeting instant, Kaito could feel the telltale tightening of his face, only to be dissolved by a trill of his lips shortly thereafter. "Well, good luck with that. Hopefully, you won't get old before you complete your first jutsu. You know, I'm asking that because Alicia is dabbling in meditation as well."

"Alicia-neesan meditates?"

"Yes! She asked me to teach her!" After a moment's recollection, Wisesa rocked his head. A smile curled upon his lips. "Very, very funny, you know?"

Unfortunately, Kaito failed to grasp the humour. "What's funny?"

"Westerners meditating?"

"I still don't understand, Wisesa-nichan. Sorry."

The sparse expression of Wisesa's excitement instantly crumbled into a frown. "Oh, Soul of Durga," he muttered with a pat to his forehead. "Good. You're having visions. Good. What effect did it have on you?"

"Uhm, my stomach feels like it's throbbing," Kaito replied, caressing his torso. "I can still feel it though it's faint now."

Wisesa's eyes widened. "Really? Wow, that's... pretty fast for someone your age."

"R-really?" A flush ran through Kaito's cheeks. "Otosan said that one of the signs of basic cultivation success is the funny sensation in your stomach. He said that's where the chakura is stored."

"You know what else can cause funny sensations in the stomach? Flatulence. Or diarrhoea."

"I've experienced both. I'm sure neither of them is what I'm feeling now."

"Step one is complete, then. Go make your first jutsu."

"Not complete yet," Kaito regretted with a sigh. He dug out a pocketbook from his pocket. "I got this from a second-hand shop for a cheap price. It's common knowledge that translation books are useless items in the eyes of Kagatseans, but at least one or two things can guide me. After I realise my tanden, I must continue to concentrate my chakura on three points until all of them are completely opened. First, the Self Point, after that the Intelligence Point, and then the Wisdom Point."

Kaito's words started to border on the length limit for Wisesa's liking, so he put the brakes on the boy with his palms out. "I don't need to know too much, thank you. Just tell me what you're going to do."

"I have to cultivate again."

Wisesa knew nothing of the art of Ninshu—a choice conscious on his part—so he only acknowledged Kaito with a nod. "That's it? Alright, you may continue. I'll probably go back to my nap—"

"Do you not have anything to teach me, Wisesa-nichan?" Kaito asked.

A prompt that caused Wisesa's eyebrows to rise. "Son. I'm a practitioner of Shamanism."

"I just remembered that the last point—the Point of Wisdom—requires high spirituality to open. But I don't believe in gods anymore, so I now doubt if I can do it—"

"Well, the term 'points' isn't recognized in my mystic art. But if yours suggests that you can't, perhaps you should help your sister sell food—"

"I don't want that! There has to be a way, right? Wisesa-nichan is a shamanism practitioner. I heard shamanism requires a higher spiritual level, but you aren't—"

"I'm not what?"

"No. That was rude. Sorry."

"No, no, no. You've already got me interested. There's no turning back. I am not... what?"

Instantly his mouth trembled in place. But one must be true to one's word, be it man or woman, that was what his father had once taught him. "...you are not like people who have faith...."

That saying stunned Wisesa. But a short-lived second later, his face was soured by a succession of wheezes, so intense that the lad had to cup his stomach and duck his head. Only when the wheezing melted into amusement was he allowed to breathe. "I have no faith...! I..." Wisesa found himself inundated with thoughts. "I mean, not entirely wrong. Shamanism requires a high level of spirituality to relate to deities, and I know I have a bad rep with them..., but somehow hearing that statement from a kid like you makes me titter."

No smug or impressed look graced Kaito's face—instead, his frown darkened even further. The man in the blangkon cap was not even worthy of the little boy's stare by the end of the day.

"Tell you what. You do your cultivation first, okay?" Wisesa suggested. "Don't think about the distant and uncertain. I doubt you can even complete the next level just as quickly."

With that said, he found another shelter not far from Kaito and took a siesta there.

It turned out to be the most serene nap Wisesa had ever enjoyed. Days usually brought new headaches which caused him to develop a disdain for the very concept of napping: an onslaught of gossips in unintelligible language from women devoid of common sense, a ball striking his face courtesy of a bunch of kids, the whistle blast from the civil guard mistaking him for dead, or something as mundane as bird droppings landing on his lips. Oh, that last one drove him ballistic, such that he was willing to chase the bird and snap its neck, then had a heated spat with Barong.

When he opened his eyes, the sky bled red, and Kaito was kicking a tree. Now that was a new teasing target.

"Whoa. Whoa, get a grip, buddy," Wisesa teased as he approached. "Just because you realised you had mana in your stomach in a couple of days doesn't mean you're ready to learn jutsu in hours."

Kaito began to turn around, revealing his frustrated countenance, emphasised by glazed eyes. Wisesa was even more intrigued to make him wail.

"Wisesa...," Barong warned from inside his body. "Don't you dare try..."

"Nah. I'm sure you're not crying," Wisesa was already poking fun. "That's a shortcut technique for cultivation in the eyes, isn't it? That's why your eyes are red like you've been crying?"

"I knew it!" wailed Kaito. "I can't open my Wisdom Point!"

Wisesa's eyes squinted upwards. "Duh! Obviously, you can't without first opening the Self Point and Intelligence Point—"

"I've already done both!"

"No way! You're messing with me or something? I've only been napping for four hours, not four years!"

"I mean it! I can feel something in my hands and brain when enlightenment comes from each point!"

"Tingling sensation in the hands? Migraine in the head?" Wisesa's question was accompanied by a giggle.

And that fuelled Kaito's resentment. "Why doesn't Wisesa-nichan believe me?"

"You don't have any proof that you managed to open those two points—

"The experience of body points opening can be different for everyone, but I know I get inspired when they open!"

"Not the strongest argument."

"My hair was blown by the wind!"

"Yeah, I think the wind blew in a while ago—"

"There was no wind earlier—"

"Nonsense, kid! How can I take a nap if there's no wind—"

"Enough! Wisesa-nichan is awful! If you don't want to help, just leave!" Kaito's hand push did not budge any of Wisesa's limbs in the slightest, but his stomach churned when it was the boy who decided to leave with his left arm rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey. Come on, don't cry." Wisesa walked slowly to intercept Kaito's shoulder, which was dismissed at once.

"Leave me alone!" Kaito shouted unsteadily. Again his feet carried him away from Wisesa.

"Is that the behaviour of a Ninshu practitioner?" Kaito's feet faltered in response to Wisesa's reply. "Becoming a crybaby when the chips are down? Dude, look at the people in the park; they already see you as a crybaby. In five minutes, they'll be coming to hurt your sister."

Kaito began to stare at Wisesa's face again—a sharp look, that was for sure. How true the lad's words were did not distract the kid from the fact that half of his intentions were mockery. "It doesn't make any difference. People already know I can't do it. And besides, Wisesa-nichan won't help me."

Wisesa's body went sluggish as though his life essence was sapped through a long sigh. "You little shit. Crying because you can't improve your mystic art skills when many children are still trying to catch up to your level."

"I can't protect Tome if I can't master Ninshu now!"

A rough summoning gesture with a hand was then held out by Wisesa. "That's it. Come here. I'll tell you some secrets about spirituality in Shamanism. Don't be mad at me if it doesn't work for you."

After pondering whether to accept the invitation or not, Kaito decided to head closer. They reconvened at the previous tree.

"You're right. Shamanism requires high spirituality and I'm sick of gods," Wisesa began his lecture. "But that's because spirituality is not about worshipping gods or supreme entities. It's about exploring your whole self and connecting with them—or something bigger."

"So having to meet a god again...?" Kaito's forehead wrinkled in bemusement.

"Well, that doesn't mean you have to worship it, does it? In shamanism, some entities just want something as shallow as bowing down before it or asking for sacrifices to eat, but not necessarily believers. Besides, is the god that attacked your village the god worshipped in your religion?

"How could they not be? We have never angered other gods."

"Folklore from my country once spoke of a god who drowned the old world out of jealousy of another god."

Kaito fell silent.

"I don't worship, but I recognise there is something greater than me, and surrender myself to it. It's not my style, but this surrender is what allows me to get in touch with the universe I can't reach and the gods who hold great knowledge. At that moment, I could also feel everything interconnected with each other."

"So the point is... to stay open to something bigger and get in touch with it?"

"See? You're already getting the hang of this..." A pat on the back was awarded to Kaito. "Easier than crying, isn't it?"

"N-not really."

Wisesa just giggled at that. "Well, after all, every mystic art has a mindset that must be followed to master it. If what I'm saying is in line with your religious teachings... Just do it." After a period of silence, his elbow kissed Kaito's chest. "Do you know you can trick a god and even kill it? In Shamanism you can, with magic, if you're smart."

"All right then, Wisesa-nichan. I'll try to take your advice. Thank you."

"Good. I'm off—"

"Wait, Wisesa-nichan!" Kaito tugged on the man's hand. "Can you wait a little longer? I want to demonstrate it firsthand."

"I told you, Kaito, take it easy, okay? Mastering such a thing is not a matter of one day!"

"Please Wisesa-nichan!" Kaito looked down with both hands joined upwards by a clap. "Just this once. I'm sure I can do it!"

"Soul of Durga," Wisesa sighed. "If you cry again, I'll kick your ass this time."

Kaito immediately did another series of Ninshu gestures. His eyes went wide again. In Wisesa's opinion, this was still an exercise in vanity. And a waste of his time. Even as quick as thirty minutes did not make the boy instantly gain inspiration, and Wisesa had no patience for even twenty.

No, he would play Kaito's game and leave quietly in ten.

As luck would have it, two minutes before the deadline, Kaito's eyes flew open. Not only that, a gust of inspiring wind yanked his hair back, and it took Wisesa's breath away. No, the lad was not having the wind whipped around his neck. What kind of magic was that? No wait, this was indeed magic! And this magic left him stunned with disbelief.

"I did it...," Kaito declared quietly. He reached back into his Ninshu arts pocketbook and searched through the pages listing jutsu. One jutsu caught his attention so much that the book was immediately flicked onto the grassy surface. His eager hands began to weave mountain-shaped gestures that differed from the norm.

As a jutsu debut, it was only natural for his hands to be slow to do the work of bending and shaping fingers. No matter, Kaito thought. His Self Point was already exposed; he could use that to force his hands to become faster with practice.

A pair of fingers from a pair of hands met. The wind blew again in Kaito's face, another testament to Wisesa.

By his unstoppable sense of anticipation, Kaito's mouth released a fierce cry, "Ki no Hōsha!"

Kaito's folded hands opened an inverted heart-shaped slit. A ripple of air formed, struggling around the slit, and suddenly transparent raw energy denuded the grasses! []