Why Are You Wiggling Your Hands?

The Great Tailed Beast, the Five-Tails Kokuo, had a problem.

Its Jinchuuriki was knee-deep in depression.

After carrying that Inuzuka boy home and then unceremoniously dumping him on the backyard, she returned to her room and slept through the entire day, missing lunch and dinner altogether.

She only crawled out of the blanket comes morning the next day. Like a ghostly apparition, she floated toward the kitchen, and then stuffed loaves of bread into the toaster.

"...You hungry?" The beast tried to make some small talk.

"...Hmmhmm."

"..."

Without bothering to spread jam on the bread, she swallowed the popped loaves whole.

"Why do you look so down? You learned how to control chakra, isn't that what you wanted?"

She gave Kokuo a thousand-yard stare.

"This old sage, champion of the world, patriarch of his own immortal sect, actually got overtaken in cultivation by a stupid kid…"

"..."

...What a petty reasoning for a self-proclaimed old sage.

"Who're you calling a stupid kid?! A-achooo!"

Right on cue, the stupid kid slithered into the kitchen through the back door while throwing epic sneezes here and there.

"Oh, you caught a cold? Congratulations. Careful so you won't catch bronchitis," she mumbled while munching on her bread.

"Why are you suddenly so cranky?! Besides, it's entirely your fault! You're the one who left me in the backyard for the whole night! Haachooo!"

She just turned away and ignored his remark.

"Give me that," he was about to grab a loaf when she pulled the plate away.

"Mine."

The veins on Kiba's forehead throbbed a little.

Refusing to give up, his hand shot out even faster than before, snatching two loaves before she could react.

"Hey!"

"Heh."

Opening his mouth wide, he devoured them in one big munch. And then, he sneezed again, throwing bits and pieces onto the kitchen floor.

"..."

"...Don't you dare comment," he growled.

After he was done with the food, he turned to her with a serious expression.

"Alright, fess up... what happened to me yesterday? I was following your stupid method and suddenly my body's going all weird, and then craps happened."

"First, it's not some 'stupid method'. It's the method of qi refining," she frowned. "Apologize to all the ancestral masters in the afterlife."

"Yea, yea, whatever, just get to the point."

She let out a long, exaggerated sigh.

"You've broken through the bottleneck and entered the Qi Condensation stage."

"Broke... what? I did what?"

"In summary, you've successfully established the sea of qi within your dantian, increasing your natural qi capacity and improving physique abilities as a byproduct."

While it sounded fancy, Qi Condensation stage was just a beginning step for a cultivator. It was a stage that separated people who merely trained their body with those who had grasped the concept of qi and gained the aptitude to refine them.

After yesterday's lesson, she had deduced that chakra had many similarities to refined qi, albeit missing a few attributes that would make them usable for her old world's techniques. She also couldn't increase it through absorption from the outside world, but the energy could be created naturally within one's body.

The people of this world generated chakra throughout their lives. At some point, the chakra pool inside them would reach enough density to reach Qi Condensation stage when it was refined into qi. It could be said that the people of this world were technically a half-step to Qi Condensation stage just by the virtue of being born.

Kiba was the living proof of this theory.

"...I don't really understand most of what you've just said, but it's a good thing, right? Now that you mention it, I do feel like my chakra reserve is bigger than usual. Hehehe... this is great!"

"Yeah, yeah, congratulations... tsk."

She clicked her tongue in apparent disgust, prompting Kokuo to turn away, unwilling to watch an adult getting jealous over a little boy's accomplishment.

Nevertheless, her old habit of mentoring his disciples kicked in. As annoyed as she was, she still gave him instructions for his further training.

"Keep doing chakra circulation with your dantian, but make sure you're in a tranquil state while doing so. If you're distracted during the process, you might experience qi deviation."

"Dev- what?"

"In your people's language, it means your chakra will go nuts."

He almost choked on his tea when he heard that.

"Don't disturb me. I'm going to start closed-door cultivation. Also, take a bath. You stink."

"Ah hey, wait-"

Without waiting for him to finish his sentence, she slammed the kitchen door before scurrying back to her room.

---

A month flashed by.

Aside from doing her daily chores and getting some food, Hikari was holing in her room the entire time. She sat in a lotus position, tirelessly circulating her chakra like there was no tomorrow.

Finally, she had reached the density to form the sea of qi.

"Haah..."

Her robe was soaked with blackish substance perforating out of her skin. Unlike Kiba, she was used to the mind-numbing experience, allowing her to withstand the pressure and stayed awake through the whole ordeal. When the purification phase was done, she rotated her chakra one time to confirm that she had indeed broken through to the Qi Condensation stage.

"Finally."

There was still a problem at hand. Chakra on its own was awfully difficult to refine. At the rate that she was going, she might be able to advance through Qi Condensation stage, but breaking into Foundation Establishment stage would be nigh-impossible.

What to do? There were no pills or elixirs in this world, and the raw materials that she had found and tried to brew did nothing for her cultivation.

"...I'll just think about it later."

She was satisfied with what she had at hand. After all, although she didn't have much qi to spare, she could finally train in the techniques from her old world!

"You look so smug right now, it's exasperating..." Kokuo mumbled.

"Really?"

She touched her cheeks. Aah, not good, she was grinning too much.

"I'm just happy that I can train now. Heheh... heheheh..."

"..."

This girl... she really was a training junkie, wasn't she?

"Before that, I have to do something first."

"And that is...?"

"Taking a bath," she took a sniff on her sleeves, and then frowned. "It stinks like hell."

"..."

---

To celebrate her breakthrough, she didn't train for the day, instead opting to lounge around on the living room's tatami.

"Haa... this is heaven... I should make this carpet thing when I return to the Yang Dynasty..."

"Are you sure that it's fine to laze around?"

Kokuo didn't dare to materialize when they were not in a secluded area, so it could only communicate from within her soul.

"Taking a break when needed is crucial for your cultivation. Besides, I need something from Lady Tsume."

Lately, Tsume had been disappearing with Kiba. From what she had gathered, the mother and son pair had been secluding themselves in the clan's training ground since around the same time that she had started her closed-door cultivation.

Whatever they were doing, Kiba didn't look too keen about it, since the boy would usually come out battered and bruised at the end of the day. It was to the point that he had wished that he could go to the academy instead.

What could the academy do? His own birth mother told them that he was to stay at home for an undetermined amount of time. They could only stay out of it.

According to the daily pattern, they should be done around this time of the day.

As expected, Kiba staggered into the living room before planking on the tatami, completely spent.

Tsume came in shortly after.

"Oh? You're finally out of your little world."

"Un," Hikari nodded. "Lady Tsume, I have something to ask."

"Speak."

"I wish to borrow a weapon."

The smile on the wild-haired woman's face was distorted ever so slightly.

"...Why would you need one?"

"It's for my training."

She decided to just tell her the truth. Anyway, she was going to train inside their house. Tsume would definitely notice if she brought weapons from outside the compound. It would be better to borrow it from her directly. Since the clan was a member of Beggar Sect... err, shinobi, they should have supplies of their own.

Tsume stared at her for a full minute, her gaze seemingly trying to gauge the girl's real intention. In the end, she relented.

"Follow me."

Leaving the half-dead Kiba in the living room, Tsume led her toward the clan's warehouse.

The front part of the building was filled to the brims with racks upon racks of medicinal pills and canine training tools, a testament to the Inuzuka clan's ninja dog-rearing business.

On the back, hidden behind a fake cabinet, was a chamber containing the clan's stored weapons.

"Pick whatever you like. I can only give you one though."

Even if she said that...

Kunai, shuriken, kusarigama, metal claws... they were all armaments for ninja. Not really compatible with her style.

Maybe a staff would be better?

"Hold on..."

She pulled out a short sword from the racks.

"A ninjato? Planning to learn kenjutsu?" Tsume raised an eyebrow.

The Inuzuka clan preferred smaller weapons that could be deployed while they moved about at high speed. If she fancied the sword, nobody in the clan could teach her the necessary techniques. She explained it to her, but the girl didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Lady Tsume, may I have this?"

"I did tell you that you can pick anything... well, fine. Don't come crying to me if you can't handle it later."

This sword was too short for her liking. However, it was the closest thing to what she had in mind, so it had to do.

She moved to the back garden, scrutinizing her newly-acquired weapon under the sunlight.

The sword was around three-fourth the length of a standard Jian sword of the Song or Jin Dynasty. It had a single-edged blade, which made it more akin to sabers but with a straight frame. There was no particular care put in its creation, just a standard run-of-the-mill mass-produced sword.

She gave it a few swings. It felt a bit too light. She would have to adjust properly.

"You're really going to learn kenjutsu?" Kokuo asked. "Not a ninja, but a samurai, now?"

Hikari shook her head.

"I don't know about that 'kenjutsu' thing, but what I'm going to learn is Emei swordsmanship."

During her years traveling through both the mortal and immortal realms, the old soul had amassed a tremendous amount of techniques in her repertoire. Among those manuals, the one that she was eyeing to learn at the moment was the techniques of the Emei Sect, which was based on the Nine Yang Manual and Nine Yin Manual.

Located in Emei mountain, the eponymous sect was hailed as one of the Four Great Sword Sects. It boasted techniques that were best suited for women's physique. With movements that alternated fluidly between offense and defense, its practitioners were known as some of the best swordsmen and swordswomen who had ever roamed the wulin!

Kokuo naturally didn't know what 'Emei mountain' is since that place didn't exist in this world. The beast just stayed quiet because it had gotten used to the girl spouting random words at this point.

"Emei-style martial arts focused on the movement of the wrists, giving the practitioners absolute control over their attack. Twelve movements form the core of this style: Heaven, Earth, It, Heart, Dragon, Crane, Wind, Cloud, Big, Small, Darkness, and Light. By practicing these movements in order, we can strengthen our meridian and build up our qi."

"That sounds... sketchy, to be honest."

"It's not. Let me show you the first movement."

She lifted one of her hands, and then straightened the fingers.

And then, she began to wiggle her hand.

Starting from the tip of the fingers down to the wrist, they swayed back and forth rhythmically like waves crashing onto the beach.