บท 42: Wolf Sage Arts
A/N= Tenten Hiden had a lot of mixed reactions, though most were positive or neutral. I also got a good constructive comment which I wil take as reference, but I want to explain a few things:
First: I never said Tenten would become a Sage, all I said was that she would be trained by the Pandas. She might, she might not. Who knows? No, seriously, who knows? Because I don't.
Second: Tenten Hiden will only be released on days where a chapter on Ryota's POV has already been uploaded, so it won't replace the main chapter at no times. Take it as an extra.
Third: That chapter was meant to be funny and not so serious. As for the explanations on why Tenten and how did that happen or why the Pandas moved now, all will be explained in later chapters and cameos in Ryota's POV. It wouldn't be fun if I just explained everything ASAP and left nothing to the imagination. What would be the fun in reading if you already know what everything is and what will happen?
That being said... Enjoy the chapter!
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I had lost track of time and had no idea how long I had been inside that pool. I didn't feel tired nor hungry. In fact, I felt refreshed and my mind was clear. I could still feel everything around me with relative ease and... it was gone. As soon as I lost my focus and tried to say something to Shirohada, the feeling was gone. I could still hear Her whispering to me, but I couldn't feel her as I had before. At that moment I realized that being able to and mastering were two very different things.
"Well... I guess I need more training, right?"
"That you do. But first lets eat something, I've been here waiting for a week already"
I began walking towards the clearing rather leisurely, until my brain decided to process the last part of Shirohada's words.
"A WEEK?!"
*
Back at the clearing, I was talking with Shirohada about the process of becoming a Sage and how long it could take. At first I almost thought of killing myself, when he said that a person with an extremely good talent might take from twenty to fourty years to learn and a lifetime to master -if they managed to achieve the latter. But then he said that, seeing how easy it was for me to talk to Nature and feel her, I might set a record. That got my hopes up, since I didn't have even a year to learn.
"Ok, it's getting late. Go to sleep now. The actual training begins tomorrow"
*
Boy was the training real. Of the twenty-four hours you have a day, I spend sixteen training. Four hours went into meditation and getting in touch with Nature. Four more hours went into physique and technique. Another period of four hours went into meditating again and the last four hours I had to spend trying to enter Sage Mode through the technique Shirohada taught me.
Unlike the Toads, that had Naruto accumulate Nature Energy, Shirohada made me ask Her for it, which would effectively increase my capacity to hold Nature Energy to an infinite, so long as my focus and body could keep up with it. The latter I was confident on, but the former... not so much.
Throughout the training I realized that keeping focus was hard. It wasn't that I wasn't focused, but that I focused too much. Supposedly I had to relax, as I had the first time, but... I was afraid of loosing the feeling if I relaxed too much. It was to the point that I had been frustrating both Shirohada and Nature, besides myself. The reason being that I was thinking too much when I didn't have to and, in spite of their efforts in guiding me and explaining me how it worked, I made little progress on that front.
Where I had made a lot of progress was the fighting style I was taught by Shirohada with Saisa's help. Apparently, the Great Wolves had a Kata of their own, just that I was the first one to learn it. And it was a rather easy task. It involved fiercer movements than the Toad Kata, being an extremely offensive style. It was an instinctual style of fighting that depended on one's capacity to rely on instinct rather than thought. And I was extremely good at it, since it was the way I had been training for a long time. Saisa himself -who was, according to Shirohada, the best one among their kin in the style- was surprised and praised my capacity to rely on my instinct.
"Wait a second! Instinct! That's it!"
Without caring about Shirohada or Saisa I ran to the pond where I had gotten used to meditating. At some point during the past week of training, I had forgotten how I had entered that state in the first place. It wasn't my mind providing thought. It was my instinct guiding me. As such, I did my best to let go of that stupid fear. Nature was my friend and she had made it clear plenty of times that she wouldn't abandon me. I had nothing to fear.
Following my instinct, I sat and started meditating as I had gotten used to. Then, I could feel it again. It was just like the time I had been dodging thorns. Everything slowed down. The earth, the wind, every form of life. I had become part of everything, just like Her. I opened my eyes and left the pond, standing on the edges of it and looking at my own reflection.
My eyes had grown sharper, pupils dilated and the iris covered most of my sclera. The most noticeable part were the marks that had appeared arond said eyes, as if make-up had been applied. I felt stronger, faster and I could think with more ease. I could also tell that my Chakra reserves had grown at least twice as big, thanks to the Nature Energy I was constantly absorbing.
"So this is the Wolve's Sage Mode..."
I was wondering what would happen if I entered my Okami form while in Sage Mode, but my thoughts were interrupted when I lost the Sage Mode and, with a huge headache, fainted. I was barely able to hear something before my consciousness faded, though. It was Her voice, clearer than I had heard it ever before. She spoke slowly, as if she had a hard time speaking through the language of men.
"Finally I can help you, Ryota"
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