Shiori was sitting in a meditative state in the garden. Akira was sitting in front of her. Keeping a close eye on her while guiding her.
"Alright, Shiori-chan. This is what we are going to do. You need to establish your sensory zone and connect it to mine. When we are in sync, I will be able to control yours to a degree."
"This will help us with the next step, which will be to slowly let your seal go. We will work on containing your natural sensing inside your zone, and I will slowly let go as you take control. By practicing this over time, you should be able to keep it up all the time so your senses will not go overboard. "
"This may sound simple, but we need absolute concentration, so you should listen to my instructions carefully," Akira said, and Shiori hummed in understanding.
She took a deep breath and created her zone. After all their training, she could create the zone easily and keep it up for hours on end if she wasn't actively doing something else with it.
When her zone was secure, she connected herself to the web and felt for Akira-sensei. It was easy to connect to the man since he was actively trying to connect back. She let their senses intertwine and was immediately wrapped in the warmth and comfort of the man. It helped her let go of any feelings of insecurity and nervousness she had over releasing the seal. He would be there to help her.
"Alright. Now, guide us to your seal and start loosening it gradually. There is no rush, so take your time and do it in a controlled manner," Akira said.
Shiori guided their focus on her seal. She felt hesitant, but with a small squeeze of assurance from Akira's side, she focused on the seal. She guided a small amount of chakra to the seal.
She hovered the chakra over the seal, making sure it was secure and working correctly before proceeding. Slowly, she moved her chakra to the first key and started pouring an appropriate amount of chakra into it.
The seal was her own creation, after all, and she designed it with multiple keys. Each key was on a layer, and a certain amount of her power was filtered. There was also a connected key that would loosen all layers simultaneously.
The positive aspect of this design was that if her powers ever grew before she was ready, she could add more layers. But now she actually had to release the layers before her time was up.
She opened the first layer and could instantly feel the rush of power. She felt like she was getting thrown back, but Akira instantly stabilized her, and she managed to take hold. She aimed to contain the power and not let it take control of her. She started wrapping her web, getting ready to capture.
"No, Shiori-chan, don't do that," Akira said as he pulled Shiori's web back. "That is your power and a part of you. You need to let it connect to your web and become a part of you, not to oppress it." Akira said, gently taking hold of Shiori's webs.
He guided her web to approach the power coming out of the seal. He was sending her affirmation, and she let him guide her. Now, I need you to let that power connect with you, corresponding to what we are doing together. Don't be afraid. I will be here if you need me," he said as he let her be in control.
She took a deep breath and tried to connect to the power. She slowly opened up her web, encouraging the power to become a part of it. There was a rush of power, and Akira helped her balance the input so that it entered slowly.
And she felt it. The power pulsed through her webs. The power felt raw and consuming. But she let Akira's words repeat in her head like a mantra and didn't fight it.
Akira gave her another warm squeeze to assure her. Shiori waited it out and let the power settle. It felt like an eternity, but the pulsing slowed down as she felt the power settle.
She started feeling for the power, but it was slowly merging with her web and becoming hard to detect.
"Now I need you to let yourself become one with the web and start controlling your zone and web like we practiced before," Akira said as he slowly pulled away for Shiori to take charge.
Shiori let the power inside her, trying to repeat the exercises she had already done so many times. The power rushed into her aggressively, but she didn't fight back. She started moving it.
She was trying to change the range and shape of her zone and doing patterns with her web. Her movements were sharp and aggressive. They were hard to control, but in a way, they reminded her of the beginning of her training, when she still didn't have control and would accidentally use too much chakra.
Then it hit her. That was it. The power was acting as an enhancement to the skills she already trained. It was not fighting her. It was just too strong, and she didn't have enough control.
It was like the time she was messing with chakra enhancement seals and trying to light a campfire but ended up almost burning a big chunk of the forest. Thankfully, her sensei was close by and used water jutsu to stop the fire.
She was still the one in power, and her powers weren't acting out of her command—it was just the sudden enhancement. So, she started with the basics. She let her zone calm down and started increasing the range slowly.
Since the chakra needed to be evenly distributed and also the chakra needed for a longer range exponentially grew. She let her range grow beyond what she ever tried before.
It still felt natural and unforced. Once her zone was expanded to such a large area, the pressure of her power decreased greatly. She was no longer trying to contain a bucket of water in a cup.
With the pressure gone, she started moving the web and experimenting. This time, she had a much easier time.
"Great job, Shiori-chan. Now, let's release the second layer as well. But no more for today. I just want you to get more experience with the amount of power." Akira said cheerfully.
Shiori was more ready this time. First, she let her zone grow even bigger. She didn't want the rush to overwhelm her. The zone was much less focused and thinner than usual, but it should help with the initial rush.
She slowly pushed the chakra to the second key and released it. The rush of power didn't throw her back this time. While she felt disoriented for a few seconds, it was much easier to handle.
She waited for the power to settle and expanded her zone. It was now about twice the range she was used to. It felt strange, but she couldn't help but feel smug, as she felt like she had suddenly skipped a lot of hard training and earned the reward.
Akira must have understood the sentiment, as he also chuckled. Shiori started basic exercises, trying to get used to the feeling.
A while passed in training, and she was finally starting to feel tired. "Okay, I think we can wrap up for the day. I need you to push the power back into the seal but do not fully close it. Let it be loose," Akira said.
Shiori focused on pulling back her power. It was certainly uncomfortable to shove all the power into a tiny seal, no wonder she was flooded with it. She persisted.
She wrapped her web around the power as tightly as she could and kept squeezing it into the seal. It was a battle of wills, and she was stubborn. By the time she was done, she was sweating and breathing heavily.
317 had a name now, Tadashi. Tadashi was on the verge of puberty, and ever since that fateful mission when he got his name, he's been working in Eiji' 's tent. No one knew why Eiji favored him so much, but everyone knew that he did.
His role was to serve his every need. He still got missions and progressed at incredible speeds in his training, but he would serve Eiji when he was not training. It was still better than being a foot soldier, but he was not happy by any means.
His age meant that more trained generals talked down to him, and his opinion wasn't valued much. But he used any opportunity to show his value. He led most of the missions he was involved in and even managed to come out of a few impossible situations due to his strategic plans.
He was no longer a scared little boy. He was willing to stand up for himself and used his mind like a sharp weapon. Due to his direct involvement, they managed to expand their camp even more and even set up a permanent base in an abundant village.
This allowed them to use more defensive measures. Their village was filled with hidden traps, so no one dared attack them.
He hated to admit it. He might hate Eiji for what he did to his family and clan, but he couldn't deny that he was a good leader for his people. He knew that darker things were going on in the camp—things he was not aware of—but from what he saw, most people were in relative peace.
Their peace came at the cost of killing others. Of being thieves, assassins, and more. But was it that different from what other shinobi did?
At least their camp wasn't in an endless war with other clans. At least their camp didn't send untrained children to the front lines. At least their camp wasn't under constant attacks. At least women could choose to stay in the camp and do manual tasks instead of being forced to fight.
If their camp became large enough, would it finally be enough for them to become self-sufficient while being sure of not being attacked by others? What did they need to do to achieve peace?
The weak would always be targeted, and the strong would thrive. But were the weak innocent of sins? Did they deserve to live simply because they were weak? Did it give them more rights to life?
In a world full of sinners, did sins even have a meaning? He was still a pacifist. He didn't like conflicts. He couldn't help but wonder. If they were strong enough that no one would dare retaliate, could they put an end to the war among others as well?
He needed to understand more. He looked at the night sky. The stars kept blinking at him as if they held all the answers but couldn't communicate them to him.
"Tadashi. Eiji was looking for you. He is in his house." One of the guards told him.
He sighed but still got up and headed to the house. He had things to do.