Chương 53

The three-month vacation was almost up, and the Academy's second year loomed on the horizon, so I was in a hurry to finish my sensory training. I'd made great strides, but I still needed a solid achievement to feel accomplished. Today was my test on two things. Chakra identification and sensing while moving. Not running, mind you. Just while lightly jogging. Reiji stood in the clearing, arms crossed, expression as unreadable as ever.

The forest was quiet except for the rustling of leaves and the occasional bird too lazy or too fat to migrate.

"This exercise is different," he said.

"Today, you're not just sensing chakra. You're identifying it." I raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to play guess-the-chakra?"

"You'll be surrounded by faint chakra impressions. One of them will be mine. You need to find it." He paused.

"If you pick the wrong one, we reset."

"Sounds tedious," I muttered.

"It is," he replied flatly. The only thought that flashed through my mind was one word, dude. Then he walked off to set up whatever sensory hell he'd designed. He placed six random items in a wide circle around me, each charged with a chakra sample. Faint pulses meant to mimic the signatures of different shinobi. I sat cross-legged in the middle, not moving, not focusing outward just yet. Reiji's voice came from behind me.

"Your task is to identify which of these items carries my chakra. You've felt my chakra enough by now. Let it come to you. Don't push. Still your chakra flow, and listen." Still my flow. Let it come to me. Easy to say. I closed my eyes and reached inward first, grounding myself. Then I let my perception expand outward, carefully stretching my senses like thread through cloth. At first, it was just background noise. Six vague pulses surrounded me.

Chakra signatures felt like tiny weather systems, some sharp, some gentle. One of them was familiar in a way that scraped the edge of memory. Calm. Focused. Restrained. There. South-southeast. Tag number four. I opened my eyes.

"Fourth item from the left." Reiji walked around the circle, picked it up, and gave the faintest nod.

"Correct." I smirked.

"Please tell me that wasn't luck."

"It wasn't," he said flatly. Again. Dude, be more social. He then placed the tag back and shuffled all the others without letting me see which was which.

"Again." We repeated it over and over. Each time, I had to calm my mind, quiet my chakra, and reach for that almost imperceptible feel of his energy. By the sixth try, I started picking it out faster because I was starting to recognize his chakra the same way I recognized voices or scents. Chakra didn't just radiate. it carried identity. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. By the tenth round, he finally spoke.

"That's enough. You're developing chakra discrimination. Faster than expected." I opened one eye.

"oooohhh, a compliment""It was a practical fact," he said. Dude. Well, I'd take what I could get. After a short break and one of Misayo's signature rice balls I'd stashed earlier, Reiji returned to the clearing without ceremony, standing just at the tree line like he'd been there the whole time, judging me from the shadows.

"This next part is what we trained for last week," he said.

"Sensing while moving. You remember the method?" I rolled my shoulder.

"Yeah. Keep my chakra quiet, extend my awareness just ahead of my movement, let the field shift with me like a flexible shell, and absolutely do not pulse scan." He nodded.

"Correct. You're not skilled enough at pulse scanning yet. Attempting it prematurely will overwhelm your senses and cause you to fail. That ability will come naturally the further you train and develop your sensory skills. The fact that you've reached this stage in such a short time clearly shows you have a natural disposition for sensory abilities. You should consider a future in the sensory department."

"Wow, such high praise," I said with a grin. Reiji gave another subtle nod, which I took as the highest form of praise an alien species like him was capable of.

"You'll walk through a path I've set with chakra markers," he continued.

"There are ten markers hidden along this route. Some are faint, some disguised to feel like environmental noise. You need to detect at least eight as you move through. No stopping, no doubling back. This is a live test. Ready?"

"Always," I lied. He pointed toward a barely visible path snaking through the brush.

"Begin." I stepped forward, trying not to tense up. The trick wasn't to reach out like a radar dish or flood the forest with chakra like a beacon. That would spike my signature, dimming the faint markers and killing any subtlety. I had to let my perception move with me, like dragging a thin, silent net around my body. The first two markers came easily. One brushed past my left side like a warm puff of air. The second tickled the soles of my feet with a familiar tingle. Two for two. Then it got trickier.

One marker was embedded in the crook of a tree, its chakra signature pulsing just slightly off-frequency from what I was used to. I caught it just as I passed by, but it forced me to slow my breathing to maintain the connection. By marker six, sweat was forming on my neck. The path wound through dense foliage, my steps careful and deliberate. Each marker became more cleverly hidden. One was nearly buried under a pile of leaves, registering more like a dying ember than an active chakra tag. Eight. Nine. Last one.

My mind sharpened, awareness curling outward like a hunting dog's ears. For a moment, I thought I'd missed it. Then I sensed it. Buried under a tree to the far right, just outside the path's edge. Weak, almost dissipated, but still there.

"Ten," I muttered. I stepped past the final bend and came into the open clearing again. Reiji stood waiting, arms crossed as usual.

"You found all ten," he said, "but you hesitated on the seventh."

"That one felt weird," I replied honestly.

"It was," he said calmly.

"I seeded it with mixed chakra to throw you off." I blinked.

"So… I was right?"

"You were cautious. That's acceptable." This guy really didn't believe in the word "good." Still, my chest swelled with something dangerously close to pride.

"You're progressing. Still rough around the edges, but you're adjusting your sensitivity mid-movement. That takes control." I raised an eyebrow.

"Did you just?"

"It's not a compliment." Dude, come on! But still, I had reached the next level of sensory training. And I hadn't even walked into a tree like I had… multiple times before. Progress was progress. I'd take it. Then Reiji looked at me with a more formal expression and said, "You've reached an acceptable level. Your training is complete. From now on, we will not train again. Start using your sensory abilities as you move around the village. Given your natural talent, your improvement will continue steadily."

He nodded once. And just like that, he disappeared. No goodbye. No "good luck." And I had only one word in my mind…