The morning after her day off, Hitomi was feeling better than she had in months. She had pushed the practice so much that she only needed one day for her reserves to replenish, while it had taken them a week at the beginning of their journey. And yet, her reserves' size had been increased considerably; they were at least ten times bigger. Most of the progress that was makeable at that stage had been made, and even control exercises couldn't empty her reserves entirely, even if she did them from dawn to twilight.
She now waited eagerly for time and age to bring her their own expansion. When she would reach fifteen years old, her reserves' size would increase another tenflod. She understood better why Yūhi were called Tailless Demons. If her mother and grandfather had such power, they probably didn't ever run out of chakra. That explained why Kurenai was considered as a prodigy in genjutsu, and was even able to deceive some Uchiha. Genjutsu, or illusion art, asked for a constant quantity of chakra to be transfered in the opponent's system to distrupt its flow, and people with a small chakra stock couldn't maintain an illusion for more than a minute. Some were saying that Kurenai was able to maintain her illusions for days on end before getting tired. As for Shinku Yūhi, her grandfather, she had not seen much of him before leaving Konoha. Her mother had explained that he had left for a long mission in the Land of Lightning. And yet she had heard legends about him too, and about giant cats that fought alongside him and devastated their opponents.
Once she was done with greeting the sun, Ensui led Hitomi to a clearing. For the first time since years, it was snowing in the Land of Fire, and the little girl wasn't sure she liked the low temperatures that came alongside it. To protect herself from the cold, she had to project her chakra in her whole body, and she wasn't gifted enough to do it without thinking about it yet.
"Today, you're going to begin a training that most ninjas don't do before leaving the Academy. You will climb a tree without using your hands. Every time you try, you will mark the tree trunk with this kunai, and will only stop if you're out of chakra or have succeeded. Any question?
Hitomi shook her head. She didn't need to be shown how to do it, because this exercise was quite close to the leaf one. It would only be more taxing in chakra, and would need more precision in terms of control. It was good. She needed to keep burning all of her chakra for a few weeks if she wanted to reach her maximum potential. And then she would have to let her body grow. She thought she had bigger reserves than anyone in her generation, except Naruto. Before Shippuden started, none of canon children besides Naruto had shown a particularly good chakra core.
It had become very rare to put children through such an extensive training. Hidden Villages had not been in war for more than ten years, and no parent wanted to see their child suffer night after night for months, and for relative results. This training only did wonders on particular children clan, who had predispositions towards large chakra reserves. For others, there were more constructive manners to train: Hyūgas learned Gentle Fist, Uchihas learned Katon techniques, Sarutobis learned how to control wind chakra... And Yūhis had been slaughtered beyong repair in the span of a few generations, burned by wars they had been so useful in, and so keen to die for their lands.
Hitomi stood unmoving in the clearing for a while, persuading her chakra to go and concentrate in her legs. Once she was ready, she rushed towards the tree she had chosen, an oak that stood high among its peers. It took her a few steps to reach the roots, and then she had to let adrenaline do its work to protect her from her insctive fear of falling down. She started climbing. It took her a few tentative steps to learn how much chakra she had to put in her feet to grip the tree without damaging the bark of the tree, but then she climbed without stopping all the way to the top. She dug her kunai at the highest point she could reach and settled on a branch wide enough to bear her weight.
"Is it supposed to be that easy? Can we start walking on water now?"
Her smugness caused Ensui to laugh heartily. He had expected it. Chakra control exercises were pretty much all the same and once someone had mastered one of them, it was easy enough to conquer the rest of them. Still, he was slightly surprised. He reached cautiously for his meridians, and scanned her apprentice. He was astounded to find that her chakra reserves, once quite tiny, were roaring, ready for battle. He had not expected such good progress from her and once again, he was proud.
She had to try and walk on water next, as she had guessed, and it was harder than climbing trees. She had to constantly adjust the quantity of chakra she projected to move with the water, and she also had to compensate for the liquid's lack of tension. It took her a few more weeks to master it and in the meantime, she reached the point where her reserves would not expand further no matter how hard she pushed them.
So then, Ensui decided that it was time for her to learn her clan techniques basics. Most clan children from Konoha learned the basics of their familial ninjutsu at that age. Inside Nara clan, however, the concept was pushed further. Even civilians had to learn the theory: thus, if a war came and all adults were killed, leaving their children without Nara master to guide them, a civilian could still pass along the knowledge. It was not ideal, but it was something, and better than what the other clans had done. Who remembered Uzumaki techniques now, besides their rare surviving victims?
"Shadows are the best asset of our clan," Ensui said one night, while their small campfire projected a shady light on their cave's walls.
It was raining again outside, but spring was here at last, giving back to the nature its soft, green shades and its clean smell. Ensui didn't say, but Hitomi knew that in a few months, he would bring her back to Konoha. Before summer, she would be able to see her family again. She was eager and impatient for it to happen, but she was also quite melancholic. She wanted to go back to her family of course, but Ensui had become a very special person to her. She didn't want to lose him.
"I know that you are familiar with your inner mind. This first exercise will force you to go farther than your Library's borders. Go down in your core, until you get here."
He grazed her Gate of Limit with his fingertips, just above her belly button. The little girl's chakra stirred in answer. Closing her eyes, she obeyed his instructions. At once, she found herself in the middle of her Library, the cage she had locked her meridians' perceptions slowly turning in front of her. She turned around and made her way in the rows of shelves, until there were no more shelves and all that was staring at her was darkness beyond the floor she had installed to hold this structure.
She felt like after that, there was only nothingness, a velvety black and tranquil infinity. After taking a deep breath, she let herself fall in the void. The sensation was incredible. She could have stopped her fall any moment, but she was still very far from the Gate Ensui had told her to reach. She could see eight Gates punctuating her meridians, pale blue lightpools in an ocean of darkness.
And finally, she put her hand on it. A surge of energy roamed through her and, in the physical world, chakra started to pour through every cell of her skin. Without her huge reserves for her age, the effort would have killed her in a few minutes.
"That's where the inconscious link between you and your shadow lays. Find this link."
Obeying to Ensui had become second nature during all the time they had spent together. Sometimes, his instructions didn't really make sense at first. She had to reach the goal he had pointed to her to understand how right he had been. And again, she had to reach the precise spot of her Goor, where her body gave way to her shadow, to really understand the link he had been talking about.
In the physical world, her shadow reacted violently to her contact, writhing far beyond the space that was lightened by the fire, darker than the cave's walls. Her breath caught for a moment, then her slow breathing resumed. She was so peaceful one could have thought she was sleeping, had she been laying down.
"Your shadow is an indolent fire, but a fire nonetheless. It will harm you if you take it for granted and lack prudence, if you disrespect it. Starting tonight, you will meditate for an hour in your Gate of Limit, until you're able to stretch your shadow at will.
That night, and the next twelve ones, she failed. On the fourteenth night, however, under her master's watchful gaze, she managed to stretch her shadow until it touched his. Its contours were neat, and the dark stretch didn't seem to come back to her like a snapping rubber band — the sensations were really alike, and just as unpleasant.
"Congratulations," Ensui murmured in a very proud tone. "You're ready for the next step. Tomorrow."
The next day, they didn't wait for night to arrive to begin their training. Instead of honing her fighting skills as Hitomi had been instructed to do since she couldn't stretch her chakra reserves anymore, he made her stand very still in front of her, in the middle of a sun patch. Spring had taken back all of its rights on the Land of Fire, and once or twice they had stopped in an inn for the night.
"You're now able to make your shadow obey your will while meditating. It was the hardest part of this training, and you did it in a very respectable timespan. I didn't expect any less from Shikano's daughter."
He had not talked about Hitomi's father since months, having told his student everything he knew about him. Hearing his name surprised the little girl for a second, and then she raised her chin and squarred her shoulders, a tranquil pride on her face.
"Now you have to find a shortcut to this capacity. You have to be able to connect to your shadow instinctively, and make it obey you immediately. I will let you search for the better way yourself. It's your mind, after all."
With a smile, Hitomi went back to her Library, a relieved sigh coming out from her physical lips when she arrived in her mind, safe. Tendrils of light still floated lightly in their crystal cage, as they did everytime she visited, and she felt a deep peace. Her body slowly raised her hands, her left hand's fingers wrapping around her right hand's raised index and middle finger. Rat handseal.
It had to be something she could touch as soon as she arrived in her Library, in a blink. The only thing that met the requirement was the pillar her cage was on. On one face, she engraved the emblematic animals of her two clans. A cat for Yūhi, and a deer for Nara. She had learned this kind of information about her mother's clan while talking with Ensui, but he didn't know everything. The only way to learn more would be to go and see her grandfather once he was back from his mission. She hadn't seen him since the day after Kyūbi's attack, and she was not supposed to remember it.
"You're getting there," Ensui murmured in a hoarse voice in the physical world.
It was always strange when she was in her Library. She was not totally cut from the outside world, could hear, feel, smell, but only saw the infinity of books around her. Kneeling in front of the two emblems, she chose the spot carefully, halway between their glances. It was there. The place she could touch in a blink and that would allow her to call her shadow.
In her mind's world, everything was possible. She could give to chakra a physical, constant form, that wouldn't be too taxing for her core. Under her fingers, a long, pale blue ribbon appeared, gently casting its light on the floor. And from then, it slithered in the abyss, this limit of her library that plunged into complete darkness. But the darkness was not total now, not with this long line of light. Hitomi knew that if she jumped to follow it, she would find her Gate of Limit again, and this intimate place where the shadow became her and she became the shadow.
She straightened her back and closed her hand on the blue ribbon. Instantly, her shadow stretched and caught Ensui's. It only lasted for a few seconds — the skill burned down a lot of chakra, and the stronger the target, the more expensive the cost. She went back to her senses and did a few tests, making sure she could seize the link just by doing the Rat handseal and make her shadow obey.
"It seems like you're ready."
The little girl froze and looked at her master, her hands slowling returning to her sides. Her obedient shadow went back to her, back to normal. "I... Ready?"
"Yes," Ensui sighed. "You didn't think I would keep you far from the village forever, right?"
Astounded, she shook her head, stiffly and shakily. As if he understood her sudden distress, Ensui knelt to be the same size as her and raised her chin with his fingertips, delicately and tenderly.
"I'm not going anywhere, all right? I left active service the day I went home from my mission, just before I took you in. The Third knows I don't respect him enough to be trusted on the battlefield."
It was the first time Ensui had ever admitted in front of Hitomi how complicated his situation in the village was, but she had had plenty of time to guess. She still took her mentor's hand, so much larger and longer than hers, in both of her hands and squeezed as hard as she could. At that moment, she looked like the child she should have been, a confusing sight for her master, who was used to a mature soul in a frail body.
"I will work for your uncle Shikaku, help him manage the clan until Shikamaru is old enough to do it, so he'll be able to focus on his Jōnin Commander duties. I'll have time for you, Hitomi, I swear."
It was a meager comfort to Hitomi. She realized sometimes, as she realized right now, how much danger she would have to face in the future, and she needed Ensui by her side to tackle all of this. Her shoulders shook a bit, her knees fatlered, and...
And she felt another chakra on her skin, a strength she could recognize among thousands. Ensui. During the last few months, he had transmitted a lot of chakra to her, to try and soften her symptoms. His action had always been restrained by her need to empty her reserves so that the trauma would stretch them a bit more every day. The soft feeling of his chakra against hers made her feel better, physically and mentally.
"I'll always be there to watch you grow up, Hitomi. I will always be there."
And then he hugged her warmly, comforting her, and she closed her eyes, lulled by his arms.