Chapter 5
I now had enough ki to actually use martial arts tailoring. The basic moves, at least. Several techniques, such as Ryoga's "iron cloth" and Kodachi's "razor ribbon" allow you infuse ki into fabric. This can make the cloth stiff or sharp or even allow you to move and manipulate the cloth.
It's fairly basic stuff – Kodachi was no ki expert, though she was good with her gymnastic tools. It's one of the first techniques that Ryoga learned.
Martial arts tailoring uses both aspects. You take a piece of thread and stiffen the end, for about five centimeters. Then, you sharpen the tip. The result is needle-less sewing, as the end of the thread itself becomes the needle.
The next step is to manipulate and maneuver the thread, so that it actually sews itself. At my peak in the old days, I could assemble clothes faster than a small sweatshop.
The reason for all this darned activity was a difference between my world and the distant place that Ranma remembered. In particular, Ranma's world had an absolutely brilliant creation known as the skirt.
You have to understand: as Ranma, skirts were about the girliest thing around. They were always swishing when you moved your legs, drawing attention to feminine legs and hips, a constant reminder that the wearer was a girl. While Ranma had enjoyed watching his fiancées wear skirts, he'd hated wearing them himself, for the same reason.
Which was why I was so keen to re-invent the skirt. We had plenty of different blouse styles. A blouse and skirt wasn't that shockingly different from a kimono. But a pleated skirt would allow real martial arts movement. And in all the world, only I understood the full utility of the skirt – the swish, the hem flip, the flow of it all. Sasuke wasn't going to know what hit him! If I had my way, he'd be doing a lot more than just noticing me! I rubbed my hands and chortled, thinking of Sasuke seeing me again and having a total eye-popping, tongue-lolling, completely smitten reaction.
Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely realistic, but a girl can dream, can't she?
And after Sasuke was smitten, well… my head was still a mental battlefield over the big "what next" question. Should Sasuke begin kissing me and proceeding from there? Half of me blushed and fantasized. The other half wanted to punch him and coolly inform him that I wasn't into guys, and that he should get lost.
But first he had to notice me, all parts of me agreed on that.
As I said, Konoha didn't really have skirts. Kimono, capes, cloaks, waist drapes, long coats – but no skirts the way Ranma had known them. So I was going to invent them, and wear them, and if my plan worked out everyone would be watching me. Hopefully in admiration.
Like everything, you need practice. With the last stitch done, I pulled on the pleated skirt, and spent a moment admiring myself in the mirror of my room. A bit strange, but intriguing. Then I saw the clock. I wasn't late, but there was no time to waste. I opened my window and took off.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The village of Konoha is built up against a raised slab of basalt. You might wonder why they chose to build a village smack on top of an obvious fault line. In my previous life, I'd lived in Japan and wasn't surprised. Besides, in this world, there were bigger threats than earthquakes.
Four kilometers along the western edge of the bluff lies one of the village's older quarries. It was currently unused, and the Hokage had also provided permission to use this as a private training ground.
Shortly before the appointed hour, Hinata appeared at the edge of the quarry; she was suddenly there, with wisps of smoke emphasizing her mysterious arrival.
Lee could be seen approaching from the south, leaping like a hyperactive grasshopper. Despite his green suit, he was easily visible.
I began unpacking my gear. A futon, a medical stretcher, a small hibachi, a pair of pots, mixing bowls, and so on.
Lee arrived to see me laying things out. "Sakura-san!" he proclaimed, tears streaming down his face. He gave me a fierce hug (but fortunately a fairly manly one). I rolled my eyes and silently went along with it, telling myself that he treated Gai the same way.
"Sakura-san! I am so happy to have the opportunity to assist you in stimulating your youthful vigor!"
"Uh, thanks, Lee." Honestly, how are you supposed to respond to a line like that?
He looked at the gear I'd unpacked. "Are we camping here? Konoha is so close."
"It's just a day camp," I explained. "I'll want a large lunch. And the futon isn't for sleeping, it's for cool-down. You'll see."
Meanwhile, Hinata approached me with her face aimed at the ground.
"Sakura-san?"
I swear, with the tentative way she spoke, I thought she was stuttering even when she wasn't.
"Hi, Hinata. Thanks, I really need your help. I know I haven't talked to you since the bar, but—"
My words were silenced when she fell to her knees. "Sakura-san, I was so rude to you! And you've done this for me? You're going to fight Neji?"
"Aw, come on, he's really mellowed out these last couple of years. Worst he'll do is give me a thumping."
"No, Sakura, not in front of the clan elders. Neji needs to humiliate you! Otherwise, they will never forgive him!"
Oh. Well, that was just peachy keen. But there was a voice in the back of my mind whispering to me. My own secret wishes and hidden thoughts that I'd once called my "inner Sakura." Right now, Inner Sakura and Ranko had their arms around each other's shoulders, and they were chanting in unison: "Haruno Sakura doesn't lose!"
I knelt down next to Hinata and put my hands on her shoulders. "Then you and Lee will just have to help me train, to ensure that I don't lose, won't you?"
Hinata nodded silently. I could see wet spots on the stone ground beneath her, where her tears fell.
"Hinata… did I go too far? I thought we agreed in the bar…?"
She sniffed. Loudly. "It's just, for the first time ever, I have hope!" She looked up at me with those amazing lavender eyes. "But I haven't seen Naruto-kun in so long, what if he's not…? I mean, I haven't even talked to him!"
"We won't force him into anything," I promised.
Naruto had already had enough grief in his life. I didn't want to add to that. I had a brief ugly image of myself in the role of my father. I mean, Ranma's father. "Your feelings don't matter, boy! For honor's sake, you must marry the girl!" Yeccccch. No thank you. I wasn't going to force Naruto into anything. I wasn't even going to gently push him into anything he didn't want. But if somehow I could give him some happiness, well, I owed him. I had begged his help once. When it had mattered the most, I had laid my soul out for him and begged help. And without asking me for anything, he had turned and walked forward into hell. For his friend. For me. He hadn't managed to bring Sasuke back, but not for want of trying.
And I'd known full well how he felt about me. In the romantic sense, I'd asked him to cut his own throat, to rescue his rival and doom his own interests. And he hadn't even hesitated. He had selflessly put my interests above his.
I'd known it at the time. I'd understood perfectly. But it takes a while for that to trickle through. To think that there are people like that in this world – it gives you hope that maybe things can work out for everyone.
I didn't love Naruto as a … well, as a lover. I didn't love him in a romantic sense. But as a friend, there was no one I loved more.
By now, more than a few of my tears joined Hinata's on the cold stone ground.
"Hinata," I told her firmly. "I'm going to fight Neji and do my best to win. If I can find that courage, then you sure as hell better find the courage to talk to Naruto! I want you to promise me, as soon as he gets back, the first time you see him, you will tell him how you feel."
"Okay," she quietly agreed.
Rock Lee stood still and silent watching us. Tears poured down his face too, but if you know Lee you know that's not unusual for him.
"Remember," I told Hinata. "A lifetime full of love! When your chance comes, a girl has to grab it with both hands, doesn't she?"
The shy girl threw her arms around me. "Thank you!" she whispered in my ear. Then, with that understated Hinata smile, she dabbed away her tears and stepped smartly into position next to Lee.
I smiled and began to pace back and forth in front of them. I was trying not to compare myself to Patton, or MacArthur, or one of the famous generals from Ranma's world.
"Alright, troops! We have a mission! One medic-nin, me, has to be trained up and able to fight Hyuga Neji. We have one week. In our favor, I have picked up some new techniques that I think will blow the socks of every Hyuga, and in fact, every user of eye or pupil techniques. But I don't know for sure. That's part of why Hinata is here – to help us figure out what's going on. Our second advantage: Between the techniques and the Hokage's medical training, I believe I have a radically better way to achieve high strength and speed. Lee, you will help with that. I have to warn you – these training methods may sound… er… insane. Give me the benefit of the doubt. But, in case things go wrong, I have prepared for medical intervention, as you can see by this equipment here."
Lee snapped a crisp salute. "What are my duties, Sakura-san?"
"Well…" I thought about it. "I need to build up my strength and speed, grow my ki, and a little body hardening probably wouldn't hurt. Hinata – you know there are techniques to toughen a fighter up. How much do those protect against the Hyuga 'gentle fist' attacks?"
"A little. But it doesn't help much against Closing The Gates."
I gave a sharp nod. "Okay, good. Maybe a little body hardening, but no sense working on the bakusai tenketsu yet. Too bad, since this quarry would be a perfect spot for it. Okay. I'll do the meditation on my own. So let's concentrate on speed and strength. That should go fine, since there's only a little overlap. When I'm exhausted with one, I'll switch to the other. Also, it's nice to build fast-twitch and slow-twitch in alternate passes, so I don't get too out of balance." I nodded to myself. "Great. Any questions?"
Lee's mouth had tightened, as if he were keeping himself under fierce control. "Sakura-san?"
"Yes, Lee? What is it?"
"What are you wearing?"
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
We started with the pea-shooter exercise. I had brought many bags of dried peas, and I'd poured them out into a bucket and given Lee a tube. Granted, it's a bit gross (since the peas are covered with spit, after all). I took that as extra incentive. Lee's job was to score on my body. I mean, to shoot a pea and hit me in the body. My job was to knock the peas aside with the flat of my hand.
Meanwhile, Hinata stood on my left flank and held a long piece of bamboo. Her eyesight was good enough that she didn't even need to activate the byakugan to spot the peas that hit. Every fifth hit, she'd whack me once with the stick.
I dropped into a cat stand and held my hands stiff and open, like for a knife hand attack. Only in this case, it was more of a ping-pong-paddle-hand.
"Begin!" I called.
Spit spit spit.
"Clever," I complimented. Lee had shot high, middle, low. I leaned up top, swatted with the hand, and shifted my feet.
Spit spit spit spit spit.
I began moving my hands faster, knocking peas to each side. It got tougher as they began to come faster. This was nothing compared to shuriken or kunai, though. I didn't even have to parry them. Still, one got through. I glanced at Hinata, who held her stick ready, like a batter for the Tokyo Giants. Hit hit hit. That glance had cost me.
Lee was getting into it now, spraying peas like a submachine gun. I began to get into the zone, my hands flying.
WHACK!
I winced, but said, "Good. Harder next time."
My advantage over every other shinobi in the world was that I knew both the theory and "feel" of ki. I didn't start getting into the theory until my early thirties, but it had impressed me enough to actually invest in some of the education I'd skipped out on back in high school.
For a ki users, nerves are like the training wheels on a bicycle. They help you when you're just learning, but eventually they just slow you down. Nerve impulses are slow. A signal traveling down a nerve only moves at about 50 meters per second. That's a bit less than 200 kilometers an hour. Which is pathetic for high-level martial arts. Ki signals, on the other hand, are blindingly fast. I'd worked with some scientists, who suspected that ki signals might travel at the speed of light, but we'd never been able to really measure them.
The first task is to convince the body to use ki, rather than nerves. This normally takes years, and is a gradual process. I had a head start on that, since I'd done it once and remembered the feel. I was a past master of this, and now it was less learning and more a matter of helping my body remember.
I ducked Hinata's swing at the back of my head.
"Don't go easy on me – Neji won't!"
I think Lee was spraying about as fast as he was able. Hinata, though, was still being too mild.
Speed training is a little bit about the muscles. Your whole system – muscles, tendons, bones – it all has to be able to accommodate the sudden and repeated demands of a martial artist moving at speeds that exceed human capabilities. But the main aspect was the nerves. The eyes had to learn to sense faster, the brain and reflexes to respond instantly, and the signal had to travel down to the limbs faster than the blink of an eye. Everyone has moments when they do it – the ki bursts through in a moment of stress. One aspect of martial arts is to recognize the feel of that and do it more often. I knew the feel of it, I just had to get this body…
WHACK!
"Arg!" In my distraction, another slew of peas hit me. "No! Dammit!"
WHACK!
"Should we stop?" Hinata called.
"No! Harder! I've got to learn this!"
WHACK! WHACK!
The problem was that it was hard to look in two directions at once. My hands were moving fast, swatting peas to each side, but every so often one would get through, and I knew Hinata was just waiting for her opportunity. From the corner of my eye I saw her – and I dodged.
Actually I'd dodged several times before, but this time I felt it. Ki. I clung to that feeling. I'd managed to accumulate a small ki store already, now I tried to force it down those same pathways.
I can't quite describe it. It's not like the world slowed down. It's just that the exercise was suddenly easy. I spent a few seconds confirming that I could do this, then stuck one hand behind my back. My left hand flashed through the air, darting up or down as I swatted or backhanded the small green projectiles out of the way. Not a single hit.
"Halt!" I called. "Stage two. Let me get the other bucket, and we can move to a clean spot. Hinata, I want you to hit hard and fast – try to leave a bruise. I'll be better at dodging, so watch for that. Lee, you won't need the straw, just grab a handful of peas and fling them up over me. I need to catch them and put them in this new bucket. Every pea that falls on the ground, Hinata, means one hit you get to make. Ready? Go!"
The entire morning was taken up with speed exercises. Before, I could routinely parry at least a half-dozen shuriken. By lunchtime, my arms and legs were like noodles, but I was up to the point where my movements were a blur.
Barely able to drag myself over to the medical supplies, I began to grind up several special herbs. They were concoctions that I'd learned of through the amazons.
"What's that?" Hinata asked, as she worked on lunch.
"The first is something I'll add to my drinks," I told her. "It promotes ki recovery. Think of it as a soldier pill, but for ki. It doesn't do a lot, so it's mostly useful for beginning ki users like I am right now. Also, it needs to be made fresh, so I can't just make up a batch of ki soldier pills. Which is a shame. Generally, the trick for replenishing ki is food and lots of it."
"I see." Quietly, Hinata doubled the recipe she was working on.
"Uh, you might want to triple that."
"But I already accounted for Lee-san…"
"If there are leftovers, I'll have them as an afternoon snack."
"If you say so…"
I started grinding the herbs for my second mix – a thick green paste. "This needs to sit for a couple of hours. I'll work on strength training this afternoon. After that, I may not be able to move. I'll lie down on the futon, and if you can massage it in – particularly into my back and the back of my legs, it'll really help."
Lee had arrived back in time to hear the last of that. "Oh, yes! Gai-sensei highly recommends massage! It is the perfect treatment for youthful muscles, burning from the vigor of our exertions!"
I did my level best not to cringe at that. I knew that both Lee and Gai were very interested in the girls. I mean, neither one of them was gay. But sometimes the way they talked…
Not that there was anything wrong with being gay! As Ranma, I'd been very very gay, at least half the time. So I figured, you know, glass houses and all that. In fact, fantasizing about Sasuke bothered me for the same reason…
Partially to get my mind off that disturbing line of thought, I explained.
"This isn't a regular muscle salve. Most ointments just increase circulation, and massage helps press out the lactase from the muscle fibers. Which is all good. But every cell of the body is both a ki factory and a ki engine. If you have a pool of ki ready, your muscles, bones, and everything can get supercharged to incredible vitality. Every cell becomes stronger and tougher. Ki lets you do incredible moves, Lee, and it doesn't tear your muscles apart, it strengthens them! I knew advanced ki users who were 300 years old, and they were tougher than I was!
"This salve does two things. It infuses the skin, increasing the effectiveness of the body hardening, and it seeps in, affecting all the cells and improving their ability to create and consume ki. But it's only taken up by cells that are at the ragged edge, on the verge of collapse."
Lee's eyes shone with a need that I knew very well. "I would never doubt you, Sakura-san, but it sounds too good to be true! If ki is so useful, then why haven't we heard of it before? If ki is so powerful, then why isn't the world run by those who engage in hard work and training, instead of clans who have a powerful bloodline?"
I smiled at him, tucking a strand of my pink hair back behind one ear. "Lee, just 'Sakura' is fine. There's no need to be so formal with me. As for ki – if I can prove how useful it is, I promise that you'll be the first person I train. And your questions – I'm wondering that myself. I need to dig into some old records. It really doesn't make sense, because martial artists discover ki naturally. You almost can't discover it. Chakra is much more complex. So how come we have expert chakra users and no one's heard of ki? I'm still wondering that myself."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Strength training – well, everyone knows about that. Push ups, chin ups, rope climbing, and lots of free weights. Running and jogging and sparring with increasing arm and leg weights, courtesy of Lee. Most people just don't go far enough. Once you've done all that and worn yourself to a limp noodle, then you have to move to the next step. You strap on even heavier weights, paint your naked body with a tangy marinade, and then run for your life through a forest filled with hungry wolves. My oyaji – I mean, Ranma's old man – excelled in those sort of "high motivation" exercises.
Okay, I didn't quite run naked through the forest. Lee was pacing me. I wore a bikini. A… pink bikini. I would pick up some other colors, I really would, but I'm proud of my hair. It's one of the few things about me that's really special. And sometimes, pink clothes just bring my hair color out.
But I swear, when Hinata was painting me with marinade, she looked at me like I was insane. It makes you wonder about the wimpy training they use at the academy.
Oh, yeah, I found my ki on that exercise, too. I've always appreciated wolves. They're an excellent motivator.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
I stumbled back into the quarry.
"I…survived," I got out, collapsing face-first on the futon. "Hinata… you there? Rub down… please?"
"Yes, but… should I cook something else? You ate so much for lunch…"
"Oooo, food, yeah. God, Hinata, that feels absolutely incredible." The advantage of wearing a bikini for the wolf run was that I didn't need to strip down for my rub. I just dove into the small lake on the other side of the quarry, and by the time I reached here, I was washed and ready for the treatment. The disadvantage, of course, is that if you misjudge your endurance you'll drown. As Genma used to say, "The life of a martial artist is fraught with peril." By the time I collapsed on the futon, I was relatively clean and sweat free. I just couldn't move to save my life.
"Is camp stew okay?" she asked. "Shino used to do most of our team's cooking."
"Sounds great," I murmured into the mattress. "Wait? Shino did the cooking? Isn't that—? Doesn't he—?"
"He's a very good cook," she said. "And we never had to clean up leftovers."
"'Cause the bugs ate it, I'm sure," I muttered into the mattress.
After a life-and-death run like that, it felt absolutely fabulous to lie there face-down on that pad, feeling Hinata's large, strong hands work over the muscles in my legs. She was using the special ki-salve I'd worked up, and I could feel the stuff working. The skin, even the muscles were getting a sort of tingly heat.
"God, that feels good," I admitted. "Hey, you know what's really sore? Can you work the gluts? A couple of times, the wolves were nipping right at my heels and I think I pulled a butt-string or something. Which is odd, because I'm too tired to remember my anatomy, but I don't think there even is a butt-string."
Hinata's hands hesitated, then tentatively moved to massage my gluteus.
"Harder," I ordered. "Dig in there. Oh, yeah, that's it," I practically moaned out. "Yeah. Now the back of the thighs, okay?"
Hinata's hands moved again.
For a while, I didn't say anything, I was just sensation as her hands moved over me. It was pure bliss. If there's anything that makes stretching and exertion even better, it's a professional-quality rubdown afterward. I drifted just on the edge of an erotic dream. Not quite asleep, but imagining that Sasuke was working on me. But then the aroma of the food roused me, and I looked up to see Hinata stirring the pot.
"If you were apologizing for that camp stew, then Shino must be really—"
My brain had finally had enough rest to turn on again. Hinata was stirring the stewpot. She had always been working on the food. With a small "eep!" I buried my face in the futon.
He was working on my back now. It was soooo good. It was good enough for me to forgive that hideous green outfit he wore. Or the haircut. Either one, but not both.
That was the way to do it! I needed to think of things like that, how silly Lee was, and not what his wonderful hands were doing to my traitorous insides.
"Lee?" I managed to squeak out. "Is that you?"
"I am very experienced with massage, Sakura-san. Gai-sensei made sure that rubdowns were a fundamental part of my training."
"Please, Lee, you don't have to call me Sakura-san." Especially when you're touching me like that.
"I – I'm sorry."
"It's no problem, Lee. With hands like that, I'd be willing to forgive almost anything."
Wait – that didn't sound like a come-on line, did it? I sure didn't want him to think that. But it's surprisingly hard to think when a really nice boy is running his hands all over your body, and making you feel so good.
"Sakura? I'm going to have to turn you over in a minute, and work on the other side. As soon as I finish your neck and shoulders."
I appreciated the warning. What was I going to do? The rubdown and salve was an important part of the training. Unfortunately, girls give a somewhat visible indication when they're feeling a certain way, because a certain boy is touching them all over the body. And as soon as I rolled over, those indications would be apparent for everyone to see. I didn't want to be giving Lee even more misguided encouragement.
"It's time, Sakura. If you'll roll over now?"
"Okay," I agreed, "but I'm starting to cool down now. Is the towel close by, so I can get some of this water out of my hair?"
Lee handed me the towel, and I quickly sat up, hunching forward. I squeezed most of the water out of my hair, and gave a quick pass over my skin. Then I lay back down with the towel draped accidentally, and oh-so-casually across my chest. Problem solved!
Of course, there's not as much to rub on the front, but Lee did a great job on my arms. I was immensely glad for the towel as he got the front of my thighs. He made sure to get the salve nearly everywhere, and worked on my abdominals, then ended with a fabulous foot rub that pushed the whole experience a little over the top. I mean, no guy is that good, right?
Finally, when he was done and I lay there in wrung-out bliss, Hinata came up.
"Your chakra points have moved some more," she stated, scrutinizing me with her all-seeing eyes. "There is definitely something going on there, but I can't see it with the byakugan. I don't think you've shifted as much as you did before, though, so maybe you're settling down."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
While I waited for my strength to seep back, I decided that maybe I should trust Lee with my story, too.
"I need to work up to the speed where I'm faster than Neji," I admitted. "Maybe twice as fast as he is. To start with."
"But it just isn't possible," Hinata protested. "You can't move that fast! It's impossible!"
I think Lee would have been crying, had it been anyone else but me. He'd worked like a dog, training his body. "Even I can't move that fast," he said. "And I've been training with weights and special exercise my entire life."
I spread my ki wide to check for life forms that might listen in on us. Once I let that dissipate, Hinata used the byakugan to check for spies. Since she could actually see chakra, not only could she spot human spies, she could spot chakra bugs, chakra-controlled animals, and even the mid-air nexus of something like a scrying spell. Once we knew we were clear, I told them.
"I didn't spend just one life training, Lee, I spent two."
"What?!"
"Some medical jutsu are as dangerous to the doctor as they are to the patient. Learning some techniques requires you to stop your own heart." I repeated my previous story. "I won't tell you the exact incident, but I hovered so near death that I ended up touching an earlier life, one of my previous incarnations. I touched it and brought it back with me. I don't want you revealing this to anyone! But… in my previous life I was a guy."
Both my friends made faces at that. Hinata stuck out her tongue in disgust. Lee just went slightly cross-eyed trying to imagine it.
"I don't think it was this world," I admitted. "For one thing, the constellations were different. I mean, completely different. But we were people, same as here. And we either spoke the same language and wrote the same kanji, or else my mind has translated everything, and my memories are telling me that we spoke the same language. I'm not sure which is less likely. Because people were exactly the same. There was only one difference. We didn't know anything about chakra, but masters of The Art knew plenty about ki. And I was a master. The finest fighter of my generation."
I looked at Lee with sympathy. "Your training has been hard. Mine was insane. To learn to fall, my father would launch me with a catapult into the trees. He'd push me over the edge of sheer cliffs. You just seen the 'chased by wolves' training. Oyaji had strapped a couch to my back, and rode on it. Which was much easier than carrying a boulder. And keep in mind that these were the easy, early stages of training, before I reached the age of eight. Afterward things got tougher – swimming an ocean while wearing a full backpack, learning to move faster than a nest of hornets, things like that."
I sighed.
"The only reason I can surpass your hard work, Lee, is because I'm not learning, I'm just remembering."
Ruefully, I shook my head. "In all this entire world, I think I may be the only person to know about ki. It's completely different from chakra. Chakra lets you perform real magic: illusion, mind control, teleportation, real clones, shapeshifting. Ki didn't do any of that. But it was unbeatable for building up and enhancing the body. That's part of what my training is for. Every day I'm getting noticeably stronger and faster."
Lee gulped. "No kidding!"
"But I'm also trying to learn my first special technique. Well, second really. I already have a bit of hidden weapons."
"I think we saw that earlier," Hinata said. "Like a scroll with a storage seal, right?"
I nodded. "Right. Only, no scroll."
Hinata shrugged.
"Sakura-san," Lee begged earnestly, "please tell us – what is this jutsu you're trying to learn?"
"We usually called them just 'special techniques' where I came from. I'm trying to learn the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken."
"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?" Hinata asked. "It sounds like a joke."
I grinned, shaking my head. "No joke. For 3000 years, it had the leaders of the most powerful country on my world quaking in fear. Just the rumor of someone knowing this technique would send the Mandarins scurrying for cover. The name comes from one of the training methods. You build a blazing hot fire, and throw in a handful of nuts to roast. Then, once they've cooked, you reach in to pluck them out."
"Ah," Lee realized, sounding disappointed, "it is a heat-resistance jutsu!"
"No. It's a speed technique. With it, your hands move so fast that the heat of the fire never even touches them. You could pluck burning coals from the fire without harming yourself. You can pick stones from the bottom of a creek without getting your hands wet. I could reach into molten lava to pluck out a key, without getting hot. Of course, it's not wise to hold the nuts, or embers, or key for very long. They're still plenty hot themselves."
Hinata blinked, looking disappointed. "I'm sorry, but that's just not possible. It can't be done."
"It is possible, but only with ki. It took me years to figure out what was really happening. The hand and arms are infused with ki, which accelerates them to absurd levels. Pushing chakra into your muscles has a similar effect, but doesn't actual strengthen the muscle tissue or bones or tendons. More importantly, your hands and arms are surrounded with the thinnest film of ki, as well. That film pushes the air aside as you move. Your hand slides between the molecules of air, or water, or even lava. There's no resistance at all. Normally you would be moving faster than the speed of sound, causing small thundercracks as you punched. But with ki, your hand slides frictionlessly forward, wasting no energy at all, and delivering full power to your target. You don't need to punch hard – not when your fist is moving at the speed of sound. But to gain that final level of the technique, you need to learn to move your hand through a medium like fire or water, so that you learn to keep the film of ki between you and the outside danger.
Hinata blinked. "There's no point in having us keep this secret," she finally told me. "Even if we told, no one would believe it."
I shrugged. "In my world, we wouldn't have believed in summoned animals, water clones, or raising the dead."
"Sounds like a strange place," Lee decided.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
With their help I was able to pack up, walk back home and collapse into bed. I'd tapped my ki several times, for both speed and strength. Now I had to increase that, make it both regular and unconscious, and make it happen every time. Which meant upping the training tomorrow.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I had erotic dreams all night long. It was all the typical training scenarios, but I was training with Sasuke. The rubdown afterward led to the sort of stuff that you'd expect in an erotic dream, which I didn't mind at all. My only question was – why was Sasuke wearing a skin-tight green suit?
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Day two was much the same. It was easy to transport my day camp gear, using hidden weapons. This time I packed a lot more food.
We did speed training with gravel instead of peas. Both Hinata and Lee would take scoops of small gravel and fling it at me. It was coming in a lot faster than the peas, and it hit harder, too. Later we were able to rig up a catapult and some other strange devices.
For strength training, I was up to the weights that were one stop before Lee's current set. We got in some good sparring. I dominated more than I expected too – Lee is unbelievably good. But I had seen his style and moves before, whereas Anything Goes was completely new on this world.
I upped the run to twenty kilometers, and Lee (pacing me) would occasionally toss the wolves bits of raw meat, to reward them and make them even more eager for delectable treat in front of them (me). This was easy for Lee to do, since he was riding in a small couch strapped to my back. He wasn't nearly as fat as Genma, but he did have weights on.
Then another rubdown, while I thought very wicked thoughts that I won't share with anyone.
After packing up and returning home (and giving myself a much-needed cold shower). I realized that I still had some energy left. So instead of lying down in my comfortable bed at home, I opened the window and headed out on a quick run, to squeeze that last bit of training in.
The cold shower has reminded me of another training technique that I hadn't used yet. I needed a waterfall.
Fortunately, I knew where I could find one. Just past the training quarry, there was a nice little waterfall that was perfect for meditation. With new power filling my leg muscles, I made it back to the quarry in record time, speeding through the trees under the light of a nearly-full moon.
It was perfect. The falls might have been bigger, but there was a spot where you could sit in lotus and still have most of your body above water, as the falls thundered onto your head and shoulders.
The trick with training under a waterfall? If you've never tried it, it's a good start on body hardening. The weight of all that water slamming down on you is potent. Also, since most waterfalls tend to have chilly water, your body needs to begin raising the metabolism to stay warm. That helps grow the ki. Finally, if you can meditate under those conditions, it's a lot quicker to get a good feel for your ki. I think maybe the white noise of the waterfall is effective at blocking out the outside world, allowing you to more easily touch the inner world.
With the speed and strength training, I was now regularly tapping my ki. But that wasn't enough. It was like sparks, in dry tinder. I needed a flame – steady and long burning. That's what meditation could do for me.
I centered myself, focusing on my hara, the center of my ki, just below my navel. I pulled up my body's life energy and began manipulating it. I spent a good half-hour under that moonlit waterfall, circulating the energy through my body, pushing it into each limb, then pulling it back out, cycling it around my body. My body as Sakura was a lot different from Ranma's old girl form, but I was proud of what I had. I might not be as curvy as Ino, but I liked myself.
I cycled my ki, growing it larger and larger until I felt like I glowed. It was a glow like a pocket warmer, rather than the nuclear reactor Ranma had been, but it was a start. I climbed out of the waterfall and dried off, then dressed in my new training blouse and skirt and headed for home.
The night was a bit chilly, particularly with damp hair, but that's never a problem for a medic-nin. Practically the first exercises we learn are using charka to control the body's thermostat. Usually it's to stabilize patients, but the beginning exercises are always controlling your own metabolism. Deciding to warm myself up, I reached inward. After days of obsessing over ki, it was nice to go back to something that I was experienced with.
I can't believe I'd been so careless. Hyuga Hiashi had warned me himself. I myself was a ninja, and potentially an assassin. But I'd gone out on my own, in the middle of the night, to a deserted spot in the middle of the woods. I'd immersed myself in the waterfall, cutting off all awareness of my surroundings.
You never expect it to happen to you. Just as I was molding my chakra, the blast hit me. It felt like half my chest was blown open.
END OF CHAPTER 5
Next chapter: The hospital, a realization, and Sakura hits the wall.
