Authors Notes:
Here's the new chapter. I'm sorry if its a little dull and full of not so important information but i'm getting to the point in this story where i really need to begin to look at the actual story behind everything. This chapter serves as a way for me to not only play around with the concept of chakra, but also to act as an explanation for how and why some characters will be much more powerful than they normally would be. I will understand if some of you do not like this approach and i am sorry for that.
I would also like to note that this is not the beginning of Temari's training, that will come later. This chapter is really more of an explanation while the next chapter will be used to answer some question i believe need to be answered. After that is done i will have a surprise in stall for everyone. also keep in mind that if at any time something in my story does not make sense, then please review or message me what you would like to know and i will try to explain it as best i can, unless it is meant to be misunderstood for the stories sake, in which case you will have to suffer.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i did purchase a small block of land on the moon for around $60, I'm still waiting for them to bring it down.
Temari looked out over the vast emptiness of the desert that surrounded them. If she had of known that Shukaku's training would be a three-day camping trip, she might have rejected her previous acceptance of the idea. However, here they were, in the middle of nowhere, with literally nothing in sight.
She looked over at her temporary teacher, only to find him hopping from one block of sand to another before they fell apart, and then making more cubes to jump to. She shook her head as if trying to make his stupidity disappear, unfortunately it didn't. He was still there, jumping from cube to cube, as if he didn't have a care in the world.
It had taken Temari much longer than she would care to admit, to realise that Shukaku's carefree attitude was probably because he really didn't have anything to care about. Being an immortal construct of chakra meant that even if someone did kill him, he would just reform after a couple of years. She guessed that since none of the nine Bijuu ever stuck together, that being one of them would be somewhat lonely.
She would never voice her thoughts on the matter, knowing Shukaku he would probably just turn it into a joke about her having the hots for him. There had been a few occasions where she had been tempted to smash him over the head with her fan, but the memory of having to wear that pink dog collar would always keep such ideas at a safe distance.
"Do you even know where we're going?" she asked; it was insanely hot and they had been walking for at least four hours. "If we get lost I will kill you to survive," she added.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch, we're almost there" he replied between each cube jump.
"And where exactly is 'there', you haven't so much as hinted at where we're going or even how you plan to train me, I'm beginning to question if you even have this thing planned out at all" she said accusingly.
"Of course I don't have a plan, what kind of simpleton do you take me for. We are simply going to find out what your current limits are, and then I'm going to show you how to improve what needs to be improved" he replied casually.
He took a while to realise that Temari had stopped walking and was now looking down in such a way that her hair shadowed her face.
"So what you're saying is that you dragged me all the way out here, all for something we could have done in the village?" she asked dangerously.
"Absolutely not, I'm crazy, but not that crazy. No, I dragged you out here so we don't accidentally hurt anyone, and because you can't risk any outside distractions during this kind of training. If you lose concentration for too long, you might just end your shinobi career," he warned.
Temari gulped. What kind of insane training did he have in mind; if losing focus could end her career then it must be important right.
"What exactly am I training for?" she asked fearfully.
Shukaku stopped jumping from cube to cube and walked up to her, he looked at her with a dead serious expression.
"I'm going to teach you how to use your chakra," he said calmly.
The fear in Temari was instantly forgotten as rage overflowed from within her. She screamed and punched Shukaku in the face hard enough to send him back a few feet.
"I already know how to use my chakra you moron," she yelled.
"If you would just let me explain, I could easily point out what I mean," he said while standing back up and dusting himself off.
Temari crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. "Explain then" she ordered.
"Ok, yes, you know how to use chakra, but I plan on teaching you how to use your chakra" he explained.
"And what the hell is the difference between that and the chakra I already use?" she asked angrily.
"I am so glad you asked," he said while gesturing for her to walk next to him. "So far, you can utilise the chakra within you quite well, even going so far as to change it from a neutral form to that of your nature affinity. However, this chakra was never meant to be used for exterior use, hence its short lifespan once removed from the body. At most it was meant to keep you alive and heal you when needed, naturally, those with larger chakra capacities tend to live longer, healthier lives," he explained.
Temari had to admit, so far this explanation made a disturbing amount of sense. It also explained why people with large chakra supplies always got so old.
"By using this chakra for external purposes, you are shortening your lifespan and also exhausting yourself in the process. It is a mistake that even most summon clans have not yet learnt how to correct; aside from the Bijuu, only a handful of beings know the secret. There are of course those, like the toad summons for example, who have mastered Senjutsu, a bastardised form of manipulating nature chakra with surprisingly positive results" he continued.
"By using Senjutsu, beings such as the toads are able to increase their life force and strength, with very few negative side effects. This is flawed however, since the current version of Senjutsu requires a mixture of both nature chakra and one's internal chakra. Mixing both chakras not only exhausts you faster, but also dilutes the purity of the natural chakra, making it unstable and volatile. I believe the general result of failure with Senjutsu is being turned to stone"
Temari was still listening intently to Shukaku with her eyes opened as wide as they could possibly go. She never would have guessed shed be getting her entire understanding of chakra and how it worked, shattered and rebuilt by an arguably insane Bijuu. In the end it didn't matter, she had a chance to learn to be stronger, and she would not lose it.
"I'm not sure how many forms of chakra humans are aware of, but the basic four are spiritual, physical, yin, and yang chakra. Your internal chakra is a combination of the excess spiritual and physical chakras your body produces"
"Wait, if the chakra I normally use is just the excess, then where is all of the rest; also, since when are you this smart?" Temari asked.
"I'm insane, not stupid. Now shut up and listen to my lecture," he answered.
"I'm not a child you know, don't treat me like one" she retorted.
Shukaku stopped walking and directed an accusing glare at her. "Out of the two of us, who has lived for over a thousand years?" he asked.
"Um, you, I guess" she answered.
"And out of the two of us, who is a being made of chakra that was created by the very man who taught how to use chakra to this world, and by right knows more about chakra than a 16 year old girl?" he asked.
"You" she answered through gritted teeth.
"Exactly, so shut the fuck up for a minute and let me have my moment!" he exclaimed before continuing with walking, Temari begrudgingly following.
"Now, to answer your question, the rest of the chakra created from combining your spiritual and physical chakras, is contained and regulated throughout what you call the eight celestial gates. Normally, humans are incapable of opening the eight gates, without severe physical trauma, or death. This is because over the course of your life, your body is continuously producing physical and spiritual chakra and mixing them together. Since you are not constantly using the supply your body makes, it builds up within the eight gates"
"This build up is regulated throughout each gate, each one being able to contain more chakra than the previous one. Each time a gate is opened, a small amount of that built up chakra is flooded directly into the persons chakra coils, a brutal and very painful experience," he continued to explain.
During this extremely long lecture, Temari had remained attentive for the entire time. At first, it had seemed like the mad ramblings of an immortal lunatic, but the more she listened the more it started to make sense, a disturbing amount of sense.
"Can I ask a question?" she interrupted.
"Yes you may"
"You said that physical and spiritual energy was actually chakra, if that's true, then why can't we use them separately?" she questioned.
"Well you can, but it would require a level of concentration beyond comprehension; that, and those particular forms of chakra can only be used to resurrect things" he answered.
"Wait, you can resurrect things?" she asked sceptically.
"Technically, yes, in fact anything that can use chakra has the ability to resurrect others; only problem is that it would kill you and piss off the Shinigami, trust me when I tell you that you do not want him chasing after your soul"
"But aren't the Bijuu immortal, couldn't you resurrect people without consequences?" she asked.
"I suppose by that logic we could, but there are greater powers at play when it comes to things like that. It's one thing to piss off the Shinigami, it's a whole other story when you piss off Kami," he answered with a shudder.
"Ok, I think I can understand your point on that one," replied Temari. From the way she saw it, people had always feared the power of the Bijuu, so it made sense there would be something the Bijuu would fear as well.
"Anyway, the whole point of this lecture is because I wanted you to understand that for this training to work, you will have to stop using your internal chakra like you normally would, instead I'm gunna teach you how to open the eight celestial gates. Once you can open all eight gates, I'll begin training you on how to control and manipulate the chakra within them"
"But if I only use the chakra collected within my celestial gates, then won't I have to open them each time I need to use chakra?" Temari asked.
"Don't worry, I have a solution to that particular problem," he answered.
"And what about the chakra already built up in my gates? Wont opening them all now kill me?" she asked with worry in her voice.
"I do have a way around that, but it's gunna be risky and I'll need you to trust me," he said.
"Yeah, sure, trust one of the nine Bijuu, sounds like a blast" she joked half-heartedly.
Shukaku stopped walking and grabbed Temari by her arm. "I'm not joking Temari. If we want this to work without killing you, or worse, then you have to trust me and do exactly as I say. Do you understand?" he asked.
"Y-Yes" she stuttered.
"Good. Now, let's keep going, we're almost where we need to be," he said before once again continuing with walking.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something" Temari said quietly.
"And what might that be?" he asked, his attitude had already returned to cheerful and over enthusiastic.
"Why are you helping me, and why did you heal Gaara? We haven't done anything to deserve such kindness from you, if anything you should be destroying the village for keeping you sealed for nearly a century. What caused you to have such a drastic change of heart?" she asked.
"I'll tell you what, if you survive the first stage of opening the gates, I'll tell you whatever you want to know" he replied with a grin.
Temari was about to say something back, but something in the distance caught her eye. Upon closer inspection, she realised that it appeared to be their destination. After an hour or so, they had gotten close enough for Temari to realise what it was; she observed her new surroundings with an awestruck expression, and made a note to remember this location for future reference.
If she had of known that Shukaku had been leading her to the largest oasis she had ever seen, she might not have complained so much during the walk. The oasis was beyond beautiful, a true diamond among the dunes of an otherwise bleak desert. Temari almost couldn't believe that such a place existed in wind country; she knew there were a few oases within the desert, but they were small and offered very little in terms of water and shade.
The largest oasis Temari knew of was what was now known as the park in the middle of the hidden sand village; the one she was in now was at least three times that size. Grass covered the ground in every direction, and in the centre of it all was a massive pool of water. She marvelled at the multiple trees that grew around the edge of the grassy field, acting as a kind of barrier between the harsh desert and the pleasant greenery.
"If you're quite done already, I would prefer to get the first part of this over with as quickly as possible," said Shukaku.
"How did you know where this place was? Better yet, why has it never been found before?" asked Temari.
"This desert used to belong solely to me, so I know where everything is and ever will be; as for why no one has found it, well the desert has always been infused with my chakra, even while I was sealed, therefor it would have actively kept certain locations hidden from people" he explained.
"Why would you want to keep things hidden?" she asked.
"Sometimes it's good to know that you have places to go that no one else knows about, that, and I have some things I'd like to keep secret," he answered. "Now get over here," he added.
Temari huffed, but walked over and stood infront of him anyway.
"So what exactly is this first step you seem so worried about?" she asked.
"The first step requires you to empty the built up reserves of chakra within the eight gates. Since doing this by yourself would kill you before you even emptied the first gate, I've decided to lend a helping hand. While you supress your internal chakra, I'll open all eight of your gates at once; if this works it should allow me to completely empty your reserves in one go" he explained.
"And if it doesn't work?" she asked quietly.
"If it doesn't work the process will backfire and cause your entire chakra network to explode violently, killing you and more than likely me along with it" he answered calmly.
"It would be strong enough to kill a Bijuu?" Temari asked with a somewhat sceptical tone.
"Well considering that your internal chakra reserves are quite large for a girl your age, I would say that the explosion caused by your real chakra would easily wipe this oasis from the desert"
"Is that why you wanted to do this so far away from the village?"
"Actually no, I wouldn't care all too much if the village was damaged, I just thought you would appreciate the peace and tranquility this place offers, trust me, you will need it after this"
"Will it hurt?"
"Do you want the honest answer, or the lie you're hoping for?"
"The honest answer I suppose"
"You couldn't possibly imagine how much this will hurt"
Before she could say anything, two blocks of sandstone erupted from the ground, still covered in a soft patch of grass. She turned and gave Shukaku a questioning look.
"You should probably sit down for this"
Temari did as he suggested and sat down on one of the sandstone blocks while he sat on the one across from her. He reached out and grabbed onto her hands, keeping a firm grip on them.
"Are you ready?" asked Shukaku.
"As ready as I'll ever be" she answered.
As soon as she was done answering, Shukaku's cursed seal markings started to glow. Temari could feel his chakra building up to astounding levels, and then his marking started to expand and move onto her hands, before slowly crawling up her arms. She could feel his chakra flowing into her arms, gradually moving further into her body as the curse markings continued to spread across her skin.
The further his chakra got into her system, the more she could feel her own chakra being supressed. Remembering what he had said about her needing to suppress her chakra, she quickly began to do so. Almost immediately, she could feel his chakra flood into her without restraint, dwarfing her chakra with almost pathetic ease.
Shortly after, her chakra had been completely suppressed by Shukaku's; she opened her eyes slowly, only to see a bright light that obscured her vision; a feeling of Deja vu accompanied the golden chakra that had now engulfed both her and Shukaku, it reminded her of when he had healed Gaara. That's when the pain exploded from everywhere in her body, drowning out any form of conscious thought that could possibly exist in her mind.
The last thing she heard before the pain became too much for her to notice anything else was Shukaku muttering a single phrase that sent fear into the very depths of her being.
"First gate opened, seven more to go"
Temari's eyes fluttered open, allowing her to see the night sky littered with bright stars. She couldn't feel anything; her body was just a numb collection of dead weight attached to her head, at least for the moment. She guessed that it had been a few hours since she had passed out, the pain had been too much for her to stay conscious once Shukaku opened the fourth gate.
She gained a new level of respect for that spandex wearing kid that Gaara had fought during the chunin exams, if what he went through was anything near what she experienced then he must have been made of steel. She heard a wheezing cough not far from where she was lying; turning her head, she saw Shukaku sitting up against a tree. He looked exhausted and had trails of dried blood flowing from his mouth, nose, and eyes.
If Temari wasn't so tired she would have widened her eyes, instead she just gave her best attempt of a sigh, which sounded like a normal breath. "What happened to you?" she asked.
Shukaku gave a shallow and slightly pained chuckle. "I forgot to tell you didn't I," he said mostly to himself.
"Tell me what?"
"While my chakra is infused with someone like that, I feel everything; luckily for you, all you got was the echo of what I felt," he answered with another chuckle. "I never would have guessed you had that much chakra stored away"
Temari actually found the strength to widen her eyes this time. If all she felt was the echo of the pain he felt, then how had he stayed conscious through the whole process? More importantly, why did he offer to perform the task if he knew it was going to hurt so much?
"I guess you held up your end of the bargain, you're still alive after all, so I'll hold up my end too," he said with a cough. "You can ask any question you want, I'll answer honestly, I swear"
Temari could only think of one question that she needed the answer for, a question that had been bugging her ever since the first conversation she had with Shukaku in Gaara's hospital room.
"What did you mean, when you said that you had to repay a debt? And what does it have to do with my mother?"