The note said to be at the oil-fall at lunch. That was still a number of hours away, so I decided to start my day like I usually have here, with the waterfall exercise. There was no added resistance, Naruto wasn't here with me today, there was nothing to distract or help me along. That was actually kind of relaxing, having the load squarely on my shoulders alone. I was able to surprise myself: even just the first time I used the jutsu to hold back the waterfall, I could hold it up a whole minute longer than after I first got used to the exercise. The second was no different, and I began to get hope that all this training was working after all. I started to enjoy the waterfall exercise for the first time, and lost track of the hours until the sun was almost at the top of the sky. I get a quick glance of it through the canopy as I walk to the river bank, and involuntarily shudder, a brief touch of panic coiling around my neck.

I walked up to the top of the waterfall, and sat looking over the edge down for a minute. Over the last several days during my "breathing" training with Fukasaku has been about small moments, sharp breaths and pulls. Although I've gotten stronger I'm still not a sage, so with things like skipping through the forest, I'd only get one of those moments; and I'd not always have the time to see an enemy in advance and prepare for them. But what if I did? I'll have to ask Fukasaku about natural energy when I get to the oil-fall.

He's there waiting for me, sitting at the edge of the pond. "Come, join me and sit down…" I do so, and he sets his staff across his knees. "I think today I will instruct you in ninshu and transferring chakra."

"Ninshu?"

"The truest use of chakra, Hinata: the sharing of strength." A lightbulb goes off in my mind, and I remember how Naruto gave his chakra to the Allied Shinobi Forces and the end of the ninja war. I nod, and begin my meditation. Now that I've spent so much time doing it, it happens easily. "You have inhaled within yourself, now you must breathe through nature."

"What about my own chakra, sir?"

"That will come in a moment…" Fukasaku points out a spot a few feet in front of me, and I get ready to breathe. First I "inhale" from the spot on the ground, and see that I can gather natural energy into it. I let it out, and try a narrower draw this time. Another spot is pointed out, this one behind and to my right, and again, I inhale from there. The pace of the breathing exercise picks up, almost to where it was a few days ago, and sometimes from multiple spots. "Good. Now, think of what may happen if you cannot breathe in, or you become too full after eating."

"If I couldn't breathe in I would suffocate, and when I eat too much, I get sleepy and have a stomach ache."

"Of course, and I am sure you also know of how nature can wither, and how its potential energy can initiate vast occurrences."

"Yes, sir. I do."

"Very well. Now, begin your meditation again…" I do so, and a moment later Fukasaku speaks within my mind. "This pebble to your left, let it exhale, fully." Ah… Getting a sense of the pebble and its natural energy, I exhale from it, deeper and deeper, until there's a small break in the energy, which then collapses. "Open your eyes, and look…" I do, and there's no longer a pebble a couple feet away from my knee, only a small pile of fine powder. That's… startling to say the least- both the amount of natural energy in that pebble, and what happened when it was gone. "Now take this pebble, and let it inhale." Fukasaku tosses another pebble towards the oil pond, and I take a deep breath to calm myself. It takes a second to find the pebble, but once I do I "let it inhale". It's easy at first, but becomes more and more difficult. As I'm focusing on the pebble I can start to sense its cleavage, where it would break if put under force. I inhale as sharply and deeply as I can through that tiny spot, and am rewarded with a loud crack and grains of rock flung into my face. "Excellent. Do you see now how there is breath in all of nature? The world breathes, much as we do."

I do see, but to be honest, I'm a little bothered by it. Not only by the simplicity of it, but by how a small change like a pebble out of place could begin a rockslide or avalanche, and its similarities to my Heart Exploding Palm technique. The image of a freshly broken skull comes into my mind, but I shake it out and look back to Fukasaku...