Ensui didn't want to go near any Hidden Village before coming back to Konoha and was very careful to go around the one in the Land of Rivers. When they left the Sunajin Desert, he guided Hitomi south. After a day and a half, they reached the ocean. He watched, moved by a feeling he didn't quite understand yet, as his apprentice discovered this new scenery.
This ocean couldn't be more different from the one she knew in the Previous World. This water was a perfect, pure shade of blue, reflecting a sky no cloud troubled. The waves didn't carry any dirt or trash, gently rolling on the shingle beach. She loved it. She loved it more than words could convey.
With her master's approval, she had a long walk along the shore, allowing water to tickle her naked feet. The water had been warmed by the sun all day and was quite mild against her skin – and so perfectly transparent. She'd tell Gaara about it and maybe take him here one day. She could already picture the sweet amazement on his face, his turquoise eyes going wide with happiness, and his smile, almost shy but so, so happy.
When she had played enough for her taste, she obediently came back to Ensui, who had gotten a camp ready far enough from the beach, so they didn't have to sleep on pebbles. He had, though, gotten driftwood so he could show her blue and green flames, and explain how the chemistry behind it worked. That day, they hunted together in the undergrowth a mile from the beach: Hitomi caught a hare and Ensui two birds they ate in a comfortable silence, their legs warmed up by the fire.
Hitomi had to admit that, despite her affection for Gaara, she had missed being alone with Ensui. The boy hadn't been there all the time but, in the hotel, the relationship between them hadn't been the same. They had had to adapt, to include her third person in their dynamic, because Hitomi wouldn't have had it otherwise and Ensui would have been disappointed in her if she had.
Hitomi's sixth birthday happened a few days later, as they followed the littoral to reach the Land of Fire's territory. The weather was starting to get cold but, in the south, winters were brief and even milder than in Konoha. The little girl didn't expect any gift. She knew it wasn't a priority, for herself or her mentor, and birthdays weren't really celebrated in her Hidden Village.
However, in the morning, he had something ready for her. As she finished greeting the sun, he bowed slightly and gave her a long package wrapped in a length of dark red silk. Adults seemed to agree on the fact that this was her colour, and she didn't dare disagree. It could have been far worse, after all. She actually liked dark red, so it was okay. She took the package politely, with her two hands, like her mother had taught her to.
She lost her breath after removing the silk. It was a tantō, a real one, the kind you only found exposed in manors belonging to feudal lords. Unable to hide her amazement, she brushed her fingers against the lacquered black wood, following the red deer silhouettes painted from the extremity of the sheath up to the guard. Slowly, she unsheathed it, the blade whispering against the wood, her movement practiced a thousand times with her practice tantō. This one was so much lighter, and so clean, so perfect. She could see her reflection in the steel. On the brink of tears, Hitomi swallowed the big ball of emotion that had formed in her throat.
"You like it." It wasn't a question. Ensui knew, as surely as he knew how to breathe.
"It's… It's…" Overwhelmed by emotion, she couldn't find the words to tell him how grateful she was for this gift. Her mouth hanging open, the little girl managed to tear her gaze away from her new blade to look up at her mentor. There was no need to deny the tears in her eyes. She couldn't fool him, ever. "Thank you, shishou. I'll treat it well."
"I'm glad you like it, kiddo. And I'm sure you will. Tell me, if you decide to name it."
"I have, shishou. Its name is Peregrine." She looked at him, then, watched as he understood what the name meant, who it was intended for.
Ensui smiled as she sheathed it and helped her hang it to her belt. In seven years, his apprentice would graduate from the Academy. Then, she'd have to think about a battle outfit, but he had a few ideas for her, if she needed some. He'd have years to tell her about them. He could already dream about them, though, about the kunoichi she'd become. The others wouldn't be ready for her, even the toughest ninjas he knew. They'd melt and kneel before her, and he couldn't wait to see it.
The next days were a bit more relaxed. Finally, they got into the Land of Fire, but Ensui didn't want to go north to the Hidden Village just yet. He still had things to teach to his apprentice, things he wanted her to learn in the security of a seemingly endless forest, rather than in a village where anyone could be a ROOT operative in disguise. He preferred her being here, with him, safe.
He ensured she could find her way from anywhere in the Fire Forest, taught her to hunt from the trees, how to run for hours without feeling tired, even if she hadn't started on chakra training yet. She hadn't been ready, not quite yet, but he could feel it when the day came, a deep warmth when he opened himself to her chakra.
One day, a downpour hit the Land of Fire so hard they couldn't walk far without being drenched and cold to the bone. Ensui often pushed his apprentice to her limits, but it would have been stupid to make her this uncomfortable when he already knew she could manage under rain. However, he refused to waste this precious time so, when he found a cave big enough, he sat with her in front of the fire he had made her light up. She was ready for a half-forgotten training, one only some almost-extinguished clans could make their children follow. Since they were almost gone, no one would really complain about him teaching her their secrets. Anyway, she was the heir of one of those clans. He owed it to her.
"Chakra," he explained, "is a force present in all living things, but also in the air you breathe. You can't feel that one yet, but maybe it will come one day. You produce chakra, but that doesn't make you any different from a civilian. What makes the difference is the capacity to use this energy, to turn it into a weapon. Anyone can work at this and become a shinobi, but clan-born children will always be better at it than civilian-born will. Do you know why?"
She knew it was connected to what Kurenai had taught her. "Kinda. We learn earlier, right?"
"It's one of the reasons, yes. Clan-born children start training far before the Academy. Your mother followed her father's and Shikaku's advice, she started teaching you things other kids will discover at the Academy. It gives you an advantage compared to civilian-born children. At best, they will know how to write and read, but look at what you know."
It was unfair, of course, but Hitomi was happy to be on the privileged side. Her plan would require everything she had, every advantage she could get. Too bad if it was unfair. Fairness couldn't win wars. One day, she would.
"The main difference, though, is innate. Clan-born kids have bigger chakra reserves. Some clans, like the Uzumaki and the Yūhi, were even renowned for their prodigious reserves once, before wars had them almost extinct. They were called the Tailless Demons. Once they reached their full potential, they could compare to jinchūriki. This power is in your blood, Hitomi."
Hitomi couldn't believe her ears, but she knew Ensui wouldn't lie to her. She had never heard this about her clan. She wondered why her mother and grandfather had never told her. Were they afraid she'd burn too high, too quick?
"Those two clans are almost extinct, as I said. There's three members left of the Yūhi clan, and the Uzumaki clan… You know the jinchūriki, Naruto, at least his reputation, right? I can't tell you about the reasons that led to their disappearance, only that their chakra reserves made them targets."
The girl nodded, still staring at her mentor. She hung on Ensui's every word, storing everything he said in her Library. She knew more than he thought about how the Uzumaki Clan had disappeared, but how could she explain where her knowledge came from, so she kept quiet.
"Today, I'm gonna teach you the basis of chakra control. Civilians won't learn anything about this before their third year in the Academy, and that's if they're lucky. It is, though, of the utmost importance that you, my dear apprentice, start today." He held a leaf between his fingers, one he had carefully dried out with chakra. He gave it to Hitomi, who looked at it, clearly a bit lost. "You're gonna try to use your chakra to stick this leaf to your forehead without tearing through it. Continue until you master it, or until you can't mix chakra anymore."
Hitomi got settled in seiza position and started. She had already used chakra for little things before, and instinctively in her Library, but it usually only left her body through her hand. It was another matter entirely to get it to her forehead, to measure the exact quantity she needed – too much and she ripped the leaf up, too little and it fell on her knees – then to keep the chakra flow steady for more than a few seconds. After two hours and a stack of leaves at her feet, she managed to stick the damned thing to her forehead. She was already feeling the first signs of chakra exhaustion, even if it was nothing compared to what she had gone through when she had first tried to cage her meridians' perceptions.
It was so difficult to describe how she felt, having chakra in her body. For Hitomi, it was like having hot chocolate coursing through her body, coiling around her organs, enhancing her senses. She often wondered if other shinobi were conscious of this, of the presence of their own chakra system inside their bodies, of each meridian under their skin. She could never totally forget about it.
Sending chakra somewhere in her body was complicated: the energy didn't comply easily and kept wanting to go back to its normal cycle through her limbs. She probably wasted a lot of it during this exercise, or even when she mixed it. However, Ensui seemed satisfied when another leaf stuck to her forehead for more than a minute. It fell and Hitomi cursed through clenched teeth.
"Do it again. You're on the right track."
"Yes, shishou." Motivated by the compliment, she picked up the leaf and put it back on her forehead, calling her chakra to keep it in place. Her hands had started shaking, but she didn't stop. She didn't stop either when her breathing became laborious, when she started feeling dizzy. Her eyes stayed on Ensui's silhouette against the light. She was waiting for his permission, and too bad if she burned away everything she had before he gave it. She refused to back down.
He waited until the very last moment, catching her when she fell, so out of breath she choked on air. Her heart thundered under her ribs, so strong and fast she feared it was going to break out of her chest. She knew she had a hard night ahead of herself and looked up to her master, confusion clearly written in her eyes.
"The only way to enlarge your chakra reserves to their full potential is to empty them again and again," he explained in a compassionate and soft voice. "It has to be done when you're just a child or it's too late. Like your speed and flexibility, the size of your reserves only expands with hard and painful work. You'll be in pain, and maybe you'll hate me, but if you keep it up, one day you'll be called a Tailless Beast, too. That's what you want, right?"
Ensui wasn't stupid. He was aware of her thirst for power. He didn't see it as a bad thing, quite the contrary. It meant she wanted to learn, wanted to get better, wanted strength. Those were good desires for a shinobi, a motivation that often made the difference between getting a sensei after graduating or being faced with other possibilities. He couldn't imagine her doing her last year at the Academy again, joining the General Genin Forces or even transferring to another career like medicine or research. She was a shinobi through and through, despite her young age.
He knew, and he never let go of her. Everyday, Hitomi emptied her chakra reserves one way or another, often through control exercises. When she was able to stick a leaf on her forehead for more than an hour, he added one on her right shoulder, then on her left, and cetera. He got the number up to ten, each on a different part of her body. Once she had understood what she needed to do, once she had gotten the exercise drilled up to her core, it wasn't hard at all to add more leaves. Changing the material was easy too, from the paper of her scrolls to the thick wool of her blanket. She just needed to find the right dosage. The more fragile the material, the more control she needed to apply, since the quantity of chakra was less and less important. When Hitomi was able to get a piece of silk paper stuck on her forehead without tearing through it, he changed exercise.
She was sick every night with chakra exhaustion and, sometimes, she had to admit it, she hated what her mentor made her go through. Oh, she didn't hate him, could never hate him, because he took such good care of her, sacrificed countless hours of sleep to comfort her and hold her hair back when she threw up, her body burning in agony. She had to admit, too, that she felt her reserves grow day after day, and replenish faster each night. It got harder to empty them.
She didn't cope just because Ensui was there, though. Somewhere deep in the cold fog which had replaced her chakra inside, a flame burned high and clear, pushing her further and further, refusing her to stop or to yield. Sometimes, even her mentor was worried about the way she spent her chakra as soon as it reappeared in her reserves, but he couldn't deny that the pain she inflicted upon herself now would help her in the future. Her flame of determination, he would have called it the Will of Fire. She called it her plan, her desire to change things for the better, the list of people she needed to save and the other list, the one of all the people she'd have to kill one day.
When Ensui was perfectly content with her mastery of the leaf exercise, he taught her how to use chakra as a boost when throwing weapons. It hurt like hell in the beginning, when the meridians on her hands and feet fought to adapt to this big impulsion burning through it. She didn't back down, though, even when her joints started to ache after practice then never stopped.
When would adversity ever stop and wait for her to catch up, after all? She'd pursue this training until there was no more progress to be made and only time could enlarge her reserves anymore. Puberty was a miracle, really. It was for a good reason that, outside wartime, Academy students couldn't graduate under the age of eleven, and were still strongly advised to wait until they were twelve. Youngsters burned too fast, too quick, when they were sent too early in the field. Most of them never came home.
Four months after her birthday, Ensui deemed her ready to take a new step on the road she had chosen for herself. She took her first full rest day in all that time, sleeping for twelve hours straight and waking up to feel her reserves almost full. She was ready for more, now.