Shadow of the Snake - Chakra

I blanked trying to recall the rest of the encounter with the snake. Next thing I knew, I was in my own bed, with tattooed seals alongs my upper body: down to my waist and my wrists, and up to where my head met my neck. None of them were visible without any chakra being channelled, but I could still feel them.

I wasn't sure that feel was even the right word. Feel was the word used for the sensation of touch, or the sensations associated with emotion. The sensations of the seals were like a new sense altogether. I didn't understand it, but I suspected that I would have a general awareness of the contents of the seals.

Is there an input/output system in place that interfaces directly with my brain? Do the seals hijack another sense? Maybe there is something to the chakra network…

I didn't know about seals, but I had been a programmer, and had a decent grasp of breaking tasks down into sub-goals. For example: Storage, status, and steering, as some major ones.

I can assume that the storage element has a general practice that he could have employed, but scrolls had to be used, and you had no way of knowing what was in them. So the intuitive cognitive information feed would have likely been entirely Orochimaru's creation…

This world was magic.

These seals were the catalyst for that realisation. Nothing else had gone beyond what was possible on earth. Yes, we were stronger, faster, and sturdier; but those were just greater degrees of things that were common. Yes, ninjutsu, fireballs, the lot; but technology could accomplish the same.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't have been surprised if the seals were as natural to use as any muscle in my body. He'd done all of this, on the spot, without needing to prepare or study.

Does he use the same natural control interface with the cursed seal? Could one install a sonar into a person? Or maybe…

I had started pacing back and forth. I had completely forgotten my earlier fear, and not even bothered with relief. Just marvelling at the truly magical nature of my new existence, with a quote in the back of my mind, from a game I think.

"Elysium is for the great, not the good."

I had to acknowledge that Orochimaru was great. Genius and strength all wrapped up in one neat package. Even if he was a despicable being.

…

Once the thoughts died down, I started toying around with my new tool, and figured out the basic rules.

I was right about both the natural control and sense thing. The seals controlled as easily as a limb, and I had full awareness of the contents. Like a muscle or any other sense, I could train it.

The whole system connected to the same inventory space.

There were a number of 'gateway' seals throughout the system. From smallest to largest they were: inner wrists, outer forearms, upper arms, chest, and back.

For taking things out of the seals, any seal would do, but for putting things in, size mattered. At the moment it seemed the item had to be smaller than the diameter of the seal in all directions.

Taking things in and out used energy, I assumed chakra, but otherwise the system seemed to inflict no penalty.

There was one notable downside though. The seal needed to be exposed to put things in and to pull things out. For maximum effect: strip.

Tldr: I had a lot of weight-free pockets.

I don't know how well I'm going to be able to fight using this, but three cheers for quality of life improvements. Hopefully, Orochimaru didn't manage to sneak in a suicide bomb feature, possesion backdoor, or on demand mind control.

My negativity wasn't fooling anyone, hammerspace was an awesome ability.

I didn't tell Natsuhi or Issai about my encounter with the local boogeyman, or my new talents. They had managed to buy a large amount of food, chicken and rice. Which is why we found ourselves in a kitchen, one Natsuhi had found out was available.

This is probably how they cook the regular meals as well.

"Yumika, you really don't need to help."

Well, I said 'we', but if they had their way it would just be 'they'.

"Natsuhi… this is my… plan… so I will help."

She shook her head and sighed, letting me help clean the dishes that the last guys hadn't cleaned up. The sink and soap were much the same as on Earth so I didn't need her to tell me how.

Soon enough, Issai was pushing a trolley with food and bowls.

I stayed a couple of steps ahead, making sure to redirect us if we were going to run into any hidden sound shinobi. Three people walking through a hallway was a 'eh, normal' thing, three people with a trolley of food was a 'huh, what's that?'.

Attention is bad, attention is death.

Fortunately, both Natsuhi's choice kitchen and the relevant prison were out of the way and we managed to avoid any encounters.

Stone-faced as ever, the mysterious ninja prisoner commented, "You actually did it," with bass boosted monotone surprise.

I didn't bother answering and just stared expectantly, while Issai and Natsuhi handed out the food to the prisoners.

Natsuhi had run the numbers by me. A daimyo's son's weekly pocket change was enough to cover all the base costs we already had (our meals, arrows, etc…) and a full dinner for all these prisoners, with money to spare.

"You do know I'm taking advantage of you right?"

I gave him a raised brow in return. Which was clearly enough to exasperate the man, based on the hand he ran down his face.

"Fine, I'll teach you the basics boy. Sit down."

I did so, matching his lotus position.

"You want to get a feel for your chakra right?"

I nodded.

"First, close your eyes and breathe through your mouth."

I did so.

"Focus on my voice. Breathe in…"

…and out.

"Hear the plates? The chatter? Tune it out and focus on my voice. Breathe in…"

…and out.

"Feel the cold floor? Your crossed legs? Tune it out. Breathe in…"

…and out.

"Now imagine you can feel your body full of water. Breathe in…"

I did so.

"Try moving it about."

I shuffled some water from my left arm to my right.

"Congratulations, you just used chakra."

Huh.

My eyes shot open. He was serious.

Then that whole time…

I had done a lot of meditation in this second life. Like my last life, I'd used it to relieve tension from my body… but I'd been expelling chakra! That was it!?

I hid my inner rage with a smile.

"Thank you sir, see you next week."

"I didn't agree to teach you any more brat."

I cocked my head.

"Who said anything about that?"

I got up.

"I was going to keep coming back with food anyway. I don't need your hunger on my conscience."

Then I left, following Natsuhi and Issai who had gathered the empty bowls and cutlery.

While I walked, I turned my attention inwards and tried imagining the feel of a flow of energy. Thinking about it closely, I had to concede that the 'gut feeling' was way too detailed to be just my imagination.

I tried moving it about… which was when I noticed something…

Orochimaru you piece of shit!

…the seals had made a complete mess of the whole thing!

Even more new toys meant more new things to play with, but…

…why was I so surprised that I wasn't a prodigy when it came to chakra?

God damn piece of paper, I will end you!

I was of course trying to do the leaf exercise. Considering the lack of leaves in the underground base, I had to make do with a piece of scrap paper. Leaves came from trees, paper came from trees, it was bound to work out fine. It's not like the leaf was a requirement, otherwise the hidden sand wouldn't have any chakra control.

I for one was certain that it wasn't the lack of a leaf which was causing this embarrassing failure. Nope, it was definitely my own ineptitude.

How hard can it be to bring some chakra to my forehead!?

Intellectually, I knew that the chakra followed certain pathways connected by tenketsu and managed by the eight gates. Getting a proper sense of that via a… vibe?, was not effective.

Trying to move my chakra through my body was like trying to move water in a pool. For all that I could shove my chakra around, nothing seemed to happen.

With this personal experience, I could definitely understand why chakra monsters like Naruto had a harder time with control. Sure, my chakra felt like a pool, but at least it was a little baby pool, and not an actual ocean.

It didn't help in my case that all the seals were hooked up to the chakra network as well. It was kind of like parallel electrical wiring. Some of the chakra went in, and some went out. Whenever I shoved chakra past one of the seals, some of it would shove off towards the seal instead, triggering it and dropping something out. With the seals hooked up like a sixth sense, it was of course accompanied by a really uncomfortable sensation.

So after the third arrow got stuck under my shirt, I figured I'd have to practise chakra control shirtless… and try to ignore the mounting pile of objects around me, which I would have to put away afterwards.

Pop, clunk.

Ugh…

Why can't it ever be like: 'boom congrats, new ability unlocked'?

I fumbled with an arrow before making a shot.

Nope, instead it's all like: 'The seal is on your wrist, not your hand, so you have to catch the thing.'

I popped out another arrow, and fumbled to catch it, before shooting another shot at the target.

Congrats on the hammerspace Yumika, now you don't need to worry about the quiver anymore. Anyways, how are those reflexes of yours?

Thud, bullseye!

I knew that I was whining about nothing. If it really bothered me to learn to catch the arrows, I wouldn't be practising it. But complaining is fun, and a great way to relieve stress.

"You have to run out of arrows eventually."

The fact I could keep shooting while Kin had to run up and recover her much more limited supply of thrown weapons was definitely a plus. So I said nothing and shot her a cheeky grin.

After 142 more shots, then yes.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up why don't you. You look stupid by the way."

"I do, don't I?"

I didn't drop my grin. The same could not be said for the next arrow I tried to ready.

Despite my new advantage, I was certain that this match was in Kin's favour. Her attacks were a lot more clustered, and she'd done a couple of quad kunai throws as well. My little trick didn't really compare. I knew it, she knew it; so despite her grumbling, she was probably pretty happy with herself.

Honestly? It didn't bother me that much. My end goal was to improve, not to 'win'.

Playing at being competitive was fun. Having fun meant I was pushing myself harder. Which meant my training would see more results. It also meant that I wouldn't get tired of the training.

Anywho, there was no point getting irritated when we hadn't even started at the same starting line. I didn't know who Kin Tsuchi was, but it was easy enough to take a guess at what she was.

Analysis Being!

What do I know?

1. Kin is dressed practically.

2. Kin was good with kunai and shuriken.

3. Kin's throws are all similar.

4. None of the supply rooms had bows.

5. I don't recall ninjas in the show using bows.

Subject: What is Kin?

From fact 3, there is a practised intent behind her motion, not just instinct, added as 3.1.

From 2 and 3.1, those are probably proper projectile forms, added as 2.1.

From 1 and 2.1, proper form, practical clothes. Both facts indicate shinobi lineage.

Conclusion: Kin is a clan kid.

Definition: A ninja clan outside a hidden village is different from one in a village. Without an academy, even just knowing the fundamentals would put a family above any civilian. It was practically equal to the distance between regular ninjas and clan ninja with secret techniques or bloodline abilities.

Subject: Archery

From facts 4 and 5, bows are not commonly used shinobi weapons.

Analysis End.

Why bows weren't used? There were several reasons.

A long ranged ninja battle is well within what is considered the short range of a bow. With shinobi speeds and tendency for stealth, most of the bow's range was pointless. Perhaps, there was potential for assassination, but otherwise, if you know where an enemy is, they're probably at least that close.

Once in that range, shuriken and kunai worked better. Yes, an arrow at that range has the force to punch through metal armour, but shinobi were superhuman and could match that with body strength. The thrown weapons left your hands free and could be done quicker from the hip than a bow shot.

Any aware ninja worth their pay could deflect a single projectile, or even catch it. To work around that you either needed enough projectiles that stopping a few wouldn't make a difference, which led to things like the Sarutobi shuriken clone technique, or you needed to mess with the trajectory to throw off the enemies defence, which led to things like Itachi's shuriken techniques.

Finally, a lack of use meant a lack of development. You wouldn't find techniques or jutsu for use with the bow, because no one used it, so no one created any.

So why was I bothering?

There were two reasons.

Firstly, I was a coward. The further I could stay from an enemy, the better. If I was supporting someone else I wouldn't need to get close, and if I was alone I could run and turn to fight once I got some distance.

Secondly, yes, there were no techniques, but for the same reason, there weren't countermeasures. As far as any enemy was concerned, I could be a clan ninja with an insta-kill bow technique. A moment of confusion or hesitation could win me a fight one day.

So carrying the bow alone was an advantage. Either the enemy would be wary of it, which I could take advantage of with the rest of my skill set, or they would underestimate it, which I could take advantage of with the bow itself.

This was training though, and in training, I was a kid without proper shinobi quality forms and a hunting tool, competing against a trained clan kid using the world's most used weapons. So naturally, I was outdone.

Kin represented a goal to measure up to. If this skill was to be useful in the real world, I would have to catch up to her…

I nocked an arrow and took aim.

…and more importantly, I considered her a friend by this point.

I didn't want to tell Issai or Natsuhi about my last spar, which meant I didn't have an excuse to not go.

Bury the fear.

Down in the arena, I subtly glanced at the ringmaster.

He didn't like me stalling…

…and I really didn't want to be hurt again.

My opponent was a kid whose hair spiked upwards. No stance, but visible signs of experience, in some of his mannerisms at least.

"Begin"

The kid struck first, running up and swinging.

Block, catch, grab, twist, and step in.

It was a simple grapple, but…

"If you resist you'll break your arm."

I looked up to the ringmaster.

Happy?

It was hard to tell.

Then he suddenly appeared in front of me, and his hand shot for my throat, catching it in his grip before I could react. My hands scrambling up to free me futility.

"If you resist you'll get yourself killed."

Can't… breathe!

He had murder in his eyes. He would do it.

Cooperate.

I forced my arms down. Loosened every muscle in my body. He was looking for a reason to follow through, and I wouldn't give him one.

There was almost a calm serenity to this.

I could feel the pressure building in my chest. I recalled a secondary school teacher mentioning that it wasn't the lack of oxygen, but the buildup of carbon dioxide which is what our bodies used to tell us we needed to breathe.

He squeezed and I squashed my instinct to retaliate.

Then he let go.

I collapsed and gulped down air greedily. The breath was like a play button on a movie and the world came back to me. I caught sight of the balcony, the other kids were smiling and laughing. They hadn't reacted like that during any of the other matches.

They're enjoying this.

It stung.

I got back up on my feet. Hands behind me, straightened back, and looked the man in the eyes.

Done?

"You arrogant, smartass little shit."

I did nothing when he slapped me. Just looked back.

Done?

I did nothing when he gut punched me. Just got up again and looked back.

Done?

I did nothing when he kicked my arm and cracked it's orientation in reverse. Just got up, left the arm hanging, and looked back.

What have I done against you? When will you be satisfied?

I did nothing, and the pain compounded. Against my will, parts of my body flinched and refused commands. Then my voice refused my order of silence. Then I felt tears on my face. Then I couldn't get up anymore.

…but it was working. The man's kick into my side was half-hearted, at best. Then he raised his crimson black gloved fist, but didn't bring it down. There was a hint of conflict in his eyes.

Done?

He let the fist fall aside, and then dismissed the class.

The fading of my consciousness was a blessing.