บท 41: Chapter 40 - Monks training

"What in the world is that?"

Himari asked as she looked towards a gigantic sleeping beast.

To Ernie, it looked like a super pumped up mammoth, but he didn't know if those existed in this world.

The skin on the beast was dark gray in color while it's tusks were thicker than the largest tree around here.

"I'm not too sure, why don't you go test it out. Ya know… see if its dangerous or not."

"... you're kidding me right? That thing is frigging huge!"

Himari exclaimed as she fanned her arms around.

"What happened to all that talk?"

Ernie questioned her as he sat in the tree with his arms crossed.

"That thing is like six times my size, why don't you go fight it?"

Himari told him believing he was scared as well.

"Then you're taking care of the next one we find."

Ernie told her.

"Pft, if we find one. How many of these giant beast can there possibly be?"

Himari asked rhetorically.

Ernie shrugged his shoulders.

The two of them traveled for ten minutes from where everyone else was, and this is the beast they found. They weren't sure if it was dangerous or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If this thing did wander towards their village, then things would not end well.

Ernie appeared next to the beast and tapped it with his hand. The skin on the creature was rock solid. A small bruise appeared on his knuckles just from knocking his fist against it.

The creature opened one of its eyes and looked down at the tiny human called Ernie.

Seeing the tiny human, it closed its eyes.

"Hey! Move it!"

Ernie shouted at the creature.

The creature responded with a snort as it blew out air from its nose. Ernie slide back due to the force of the air.

"Alright, you asked for it!"

Ernie told the creature as it refused to listen to him. He raised his hand high as a long spear made of ice appeared in his hand.

Launching the long spear forward, it embedded itself into the creatures side. The creature cried out in pain as it moved its head to the side.

Glaring at Ernie, the beast got up and charged forward with its head hanging low.

Ernie leaped into the air and somersaulted over the beast back, he then shot a barrage of ice darts towards the beast.

"Ten Thousand Ice Petals!"

The ice darts pierced the hind legs of the beast but Ernie wasn't too sure about the damage. Before the creature could fully turn around, Ernie used his ice sword technique and launched waves of crescent ice arcs towards the beast.

The crescent ice arc caused a deep cut to emerge on the creature. Stumbling to the side, the creature let out a roar. Ernie swiftly appeared by the beast side as if he was one with the wind.

"Wind Breaker!"

Ernie said as his palm struck the creatures side, the pressure from the wind caused the creature to fly backwards breaking trees along the way. The creatures ribs broke and it found itself unable to stand up.

Shaking his hand Ernie realized it was a bad idea to attack the creature with his palm.

"Woah!"

Himari said as she jumped down from the tree and appeared next to Ernie.

"What was that?"

She asked as she gazed at his hand.

"It's a new jutsu I made, it compresses the wind in the center of my palm and upon contact with something it releases the compressed wind. This creates an explosive blast that messes with the organs inside the body. With enough pressure, you can rupture the organs."

Ernie explained.

"Is it possible for you to teach me?"

"Do you even have affinity for wind?"

"I learned and now have mastery over earth, wind and lightning. I can't really use a lot of lightning techniques, but i'm trying."

Himari told him.

"Well, I can but the hardest part is compressing the air and keeping it centered. Making it explode inside is what I found to be easy, but sometimes I failed and cause it to make a wound on the skin."

Himari listened to Ernie's explanation on how he created the technique and what he found to be easier or difficult. Instead of going out to hunt down any other creatures that might be in the area, it turned into a training session.

Truthfully, this move was half complete as what Ernie really wanted was to cause a shockwave to explode inside the body. When that happened, it would propel the excess energy through the back and hit whoever was behind.

In his head, he imagined an invisible spear piercing through countless bodies while causing explosions. But, imagination and reality are different.

Hiamri found it hard to compress the air, she could gather it in her hand but if she put too much pressure on the air it would burst and disperse. She had to find the right balanced.

Ernie told her to keep practicing and once she learned how to compress the air with 90% proficiency he would teach her the next step.

Soon the two of them saw the sky darken and realized how much time had passed.

"Let's head back."

Ernie said and Himari agreed.

At the same time, in the land of fire Hashirama opened his eyes.

"Good, you've found the perfect balance with your chakra and the natural energy. You're training can be considered half complete."

Hashirama smiled.

He was fortunate to stumble into this forest and found this temple. Inside was a bald monk that was wise, he stated that Hashirama was led to this temple and did not find it on his own. It was his destiny to appear here, and since then he has been learning from this monk.

'Wait for me!'

Hashirama said to himself as he pictured his younger brother in his head.

Ever since Madara and Izuna lost their brothers, the two of them have awakened a strange power. With it they were pushing his clan back, but now he was training to contend with them. While he could still win over Madara, he knew that was only because he did not have full control over his newfound power. With the power of the senjutsu, he would make Madara realize that peace is the only way to end this bloodshed.

No matter how much he talked to Madara he wasn't listening to him and their two clans continued to fight.