Chương 174

After managing to smooth out the activation a few times, I finally started getting the hang of it. Activating Stormdrive gradually instead of blasting my chakra through my network made all the difference. My control tightened, the balance felt natural, and the usual chakra waste dropped sharply. Shisui looked genuinely pleased. That alone made me stand taller. Then an idea hit me, something reckless, probably stupid, but definitely worth trying. What if I stopped fighting the imbalance? What if I used it instead?

His Sharingan was already active, tracking every flicker of lightning under my skin as I stood up. The hum of energy vibrated through me as I shifted my chakra, funneling it toward my legs until the lower half of my body felt charged with a storm. Shisui frowned.

"Why are you working against the goal of the exercise?" I grinned.

"I have an idea." The instant the words left my mouth, I flickered. The ground cracked under my feet. The world blurred in a flash of white-blue light as a streak tore through the training field, leaving a trail of sparks that burned through the grass. I stopped, dust bursting around me, then flickered again, sharper and faster. The air snapped as my afterimage lagged behind. Every step felt lighter. The lightning in my legs was not just power but control.

I stopped suddenly, relying on the great and extensive improvements from the flicker training Shisui had designed for me. His relentless drills, precise corrections, and impossible standards had sharpened every movement I made. My body reacted before thought, cutting speed with precision, each motion guided by instinct and discipline rather than raw force. My heart pounded in rhythm with the electric hum beneath my skin. I redirected the current upward, sending it through my head and spine.

My nerves lit up like live wires, and my perception expanded in an instant. The world did not just slow. It froze. Every falling leaf, every ripple in the air, every spark from my fingertips hung suspended before me, caught between moments. A smirk spread across my face. So this is what it feels like to further overclock your brain with chakra. Shisui's eyes widened slightly, his Sharingan glowing brighter as he sensed the sudden pulse in my chakra signature.

Before he could say anything, I shifted again, pulling the current down into my abdomen and arms. The flow steadied, condensed, and the lightning gathered instantly at my palm. A spear of pure electricity formed, its shape sharp and alive. I thrust my arm forward. The air split open with a thunderclap. A shockwave rolled across the field as the spear tore through several trees before detonating in a burst of light. Splinters and arcs of lightning scattered across the clearing like fireworks.

I stood there breathing hard, the faint hum of energy still vibrating in my bones, and laughed under my breath. I grinned as the concept in my mind actually worked. It wasn't possible before due to the erratic activation of Stormdrive, but now, with the even flow and improved chakra control, I could actually pull this off. I nodded, deeply satisfied with my idea and the fact that I managed to make it work. Shisui looked almost envious.

"That state is incredible. It is so powerful and yet so flexible. I understand now how you managed to beat Kaen, who has the Sharingan, and Aoya, who was much stronger than you. That technique is almost perfect." Stolen story; please report. I nodded again, proud of my achievement. Then he asked, "Are you sure you do not want to share the method of training and achieving it with the village?" I sighed.

"I am sure. I already told you the reason. It is honestly not suitable for anyone but me." Shisui looked a bit disappointed before giving a small smile.

"That imbalance idea was ingenious, truly. But you still need to keep working on maintaining balance. If you ever face a specialized shinobi, you can use that imbalance to your advantage. For example, if you go up against someone who relies on speed, focus the chakra into your legs to better counter them when needed." I nodded in agreement. That was exactly the purpose behind this experiment.

"Now," Shisui said, "before that little detour, you were almost at the point of making smooth-flow activation of Stormdrive your standard. Let us go back to that."

"Yes, sensei," I replied as I let Stormdrive fade. I took a few deep breaths and began to meditate, giving the soldier pills time to help with chakra recovery before activating Stormdrive once more. Weeks passed, and I finally started to activate Stormdrive gradually with an even flow. It was becoming an instinctual process now. Shisui was pleased with the progress, and we both noted that the constant activation and deactivation of Stormdrive had drastically improved my body's endurance.

Adjusting chakra flow through different parts of my body strengthened each area, toughening the cells to handle Stormdrive's strain more easily. That improvement also boosted my chakra control immensely. The intense chakra consumption during Stormdrive training, combined with the rapid recovery provided by the soldier pills, caused my chakra reserves to grow explosively. I realized too late that I should have started using soldier pills much earlier.

I used to train with Stormdrive in short, infrequent sessions because of how chakra-intensive it was, but now I finally understood it. The answer was simple. Drugs were the solution. The next time I finished training, I lay on the ground staring at the sky. My breath came out in steady bursts, each exhale carrying a faint hum of leftover static. The scent of ozone hung in the air, sharp and clean. It was a familiar ache now, the kind that did not hurt but reminded me I was still human.

Shisui walked over, his expression caught somewhere between approval and concern.

"You pushed it too far again," he said, crouching down beside me.

"You still have trouble with the cooldown."

"Yeah," I muttered, flexing my fingers as tiny sparks danced between them before fading out.

"My body feels like a fried wire after I turn it off."

"Well, you already know how to activate Stormdrive with an even and controlled flow throughout the entire body. Try to deactivate it by reversing the activation process." I already knew the concept, but execution was another story. We had spent the last few weeks focusing on activation and building body endurance, not deactivation control. Now that I had almost mastered both, it was time to focus on that specific aspect. After a quick meditation session, I reactivated Stormdrive.

I exhaled slowly and followed his advice, drawing my focus inward. My chakra steadied, pulsing in a slow rhythm. The electric buzz beneath my skin began to fade until it felt like it was sinking back into me instead of spilling out. For the first time, the silence afterward felt less like collapse and more like the fatigue of a tired body.

"That is better," Shisui said quietly.

"You are learning to recover, not just to endure." Over the next few days, I made recovery a habit. Every session ended with meditation and slow chakra cycling. The sharp, burning fatigue that used to knock me down for hours started to fade much faster. I could feel my body adapting, learning to handle the voltage without falling apart. The side effect was even better. Each time I cooled down properly, my control the next day felt cleaner and more stable.

Of course, I still used soldier pills when I needed to, but Shisui made sure I did not rely on them as much.

"You are supposed to train your body, not your addiction," he said every time he caught me reaching for one. He was right. I still kept one tucked in my pocket though, just in case. After a few weeks of that pattern, activation, control, and recovery, it all started to click. Stormdrive no longer felt like a temporary state that burned me out. It began to feel integrated, like a system I could turn on and off without tearing myself apart in the process. When I finally told Shisui that, he smiled slightly.

"Then you're beginning to understand what mastery really means." I glanced at my hand, faint static still crawling under the skin.

"Maybe. Or maybe I just built a tolerance to electrocution." He chuckled.

"Whatever works, I suppose."