[Saigo Shigeo]

"One, two, three..."

He drew deep, purposeful breaths as his eyes focused on the wall in front of him. The more he emptied his mind, the easier it was to feel the flow of Chakra. During his early days at the Academy, even this much was beyond him. A less disciplined version of himself would have lost track of his thoughts reflecting on this success. The flow was like a series of interconnected canals, following his bloodstream to and from his heart, ebbing and flowing in an abstract and untamed series of directions. Understanding the natural flow of one's chakra came before learning how to maintain it. That was what he'd learned from his innumerable, grueling supplementary lessons.

The breeze gently caressed his skin, licking at one of the open wounds on his shoulder, and Shigeo flinched. He could feel the sudden and chaotic shift in the lifestream, that chakra surging toward where it could flow freely out and away from containment. Pain was one of many sensations that could disrupt the neural receptors, and in the case of Shinobi, redirect or rebuff chakra entirely.

"Maintain focus," he reminded himself. Where those energies were wont to suddenly shift and move, a Shinobi trained meticulously to harness and seize the reins, directing the flow. A Genin in particular was expected to be able to accomplish something that simple. In the case of Shigeo, however, that was the apex of his ability. He was able to climb out of the sea of bodies that crashed against each other consistently in their struggle to become Ninja, but only just. He was the very bottom of the crowd that had left the Academy behind them.

Brutal determination, someone had called it.

He stood in his sturdy horse stance with feet slightly greater than shoulder width apart. hands making the sign of the Ram. As the sticky breeze waged war on the turgid, sweltering clime of the Land of Basins, the cold sweat beading on his shoulders and back sent chills through him. It was this sensation that he had waited for, and subsequently, he tugged at the strings of chakra within him to draw it tight, stretched beneath the surface of his dermis.


"...eight, nine..."

He continued his count, thoughts of everything else abandoned in favor of sheer concentration. The longer he could maintain something as small as a layer of chakra resonating "warmth," the easier it would inevitably become to continue utilizing the raw energy in dangerous situations. At least, that was the concept his mentor had explained to him. Warmth was an easy concept to relate, because the human body naturally stabilized around 98.7 degrees. He didn't have to add or subtract from what was already there- he simply had to maintain the status quo.

[464 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

The fundamental problem with maintaining one's core temperature at a constant wasn't that it was difficult. His precise control over the flow of his chakra made it a surprisingly simple task in fact. After the initial shock of not cooling off from the perspiration and the heat of his skin becoming sticky, Shigeo didn't have to dedicate any conscious thought to the process. Mild discomfort notwithstanding, he could get used to this kind of training.

While he relaxed his stance and released the hand seal, Shigeo took another deep breath. He was acutely aware of how thick the air felt, and likewise, how stifling that single intake: hotter than he remembered. Gagging slightly from the new and unpleasant reality, the Genin adjusted how he was breathing- shorter, more shallow intakes to limit the searing sensation against his lips and tongue.

The initial discomfort had spread and become more of a nuisance, quickly.

Shigeo took a step, then another, and his head started to spin. He reached quickly up and caught his temple against his palm, and reeled when he realized that his forehead felt like it was on fire. "What the hell?" he mouthed the words, furrowing his brow at what he suspected was some odd reaction to prolonged utilization of his chakra.

He reached for his kitbag and produced his canteen, unraveled the bandages around his face, and emptied the lukewarm water into his mouth. With a satisfied series of gulps, he felt some relief. But the headache felt unlikely to abate. "Maybe I just need to take a lap around the village," he decided. Picking up his pace to a steady jog, he left the bandages unwrapped to offer some relief to his lungs. He had survived the Land of Waterfalls with nothing more than a hunting knife and his wits. Surely, he could survive a brisk run around the false village.

Shigeo passed from the open square onto the main thoroughfare and gave a friendly wave at the occasional passerby. He could feel the nagging pain at the front of his head getting more severe after several minutes, and his breathing had become notably more labored. Staggering, he found himself on one knee no more than two blocks from where he'd started. Gasping for air, he felt a cold hand press against his forehead.

"You're burning up," the older man commented, looking him over. "Not sure what the hell is going on, but you're feverish. We need to get you out of the heat before you stroke out."

Shigeo blinked.

[423 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

He took another sip of water, reclining against the wall and drinking in the comfort of conditioned air. "Let me get this straight," the older man said with a wide grin. "You went out for a run in the heat of the day but decided to turn of your body's natural ability to cool itself off?" Shigeo felt his face flush from embarrassment. "Honestly, that wouldn't be a terrible plan, if you weren't in the middle of the Rainforest." The man leaned close and placed his hand on the Genin's forehead again, careful to keep constant tabs on his temperature. "You've stopped doing that, right?"

Shigeo gave a curt nod. "You know about the dangers of heat stroke, don't you? Just being a shinobi doesn't make you immune to sickness or sudden, violent changes to your health." It felt like a grandfather was giving him a stern talking to, and though he appreciated it, the boy felt like this was all something he should have known. Granted, he had learned these basic things about jungle survival in the Academy, because it was a staple to carrying out missions in Bonchi-no-Kuni. What he hadn't counted on was the adverse effects of the exact chakra exercise he decided on.

"I know,"he offered halfheartedly in response. Shigeo disliked feeling stupid, and this made him feel just that.

"Do you know?" the man asked, placing a wet washcloth on Shigeo's forehead with a soggy smack. "I mean, here you are..."

"I know now," the youth muttered, gritting his teeth.

"You should rest for a bit longer," the man told him. "You're welcome to stay here until the sun starts to set, and then head back home when it's cooler outside. I don't want to take any risks with your health- the Shinobi of Takigakure are important to us villagefolk."

"I appreciate your concern," Shigeo offered the closest thing to a bow that he could in his seated position. "I can compensate you for your help..."

"No, that's alright," the man assured him. "One day, I'm sure that you're going to pay it forward. Consider it an investment in your future as a Ninja. Not all your lessons come from the Academy."

"Don't I know it," Shigeo murmured, slowly wrapping the bandages back around his face.

[382 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

The sun dipped behind the tall trees and a pale, gilded orange glow pierced through the shadows. When he stepped outside, Shigeo felt the difference. Though it was still muggy, the lack of direct sunlight made the world around him feel infinitely less hostile to simply stand in. Some things were simple concepts, and yet, people failed to grasp them until they had experienced those things for themselves. "You feeling better?" the old man called out after him. Shigeo nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "Thanks again for your help."

"Just be careful, there's a lot more danger out there waiting for a Ninja."

"Heh." With a wave, the Genin struck back out into the false village, with every intention of making it back home before the sun fully set. His body felt much less uncomfortable without the harshness of being baked and boiled at the same time, but another thought nagged at the back of his mind. He had completely unintentionally discovered that he could harness the flow of his chakra to induce and prolong the natural state of the body, even through outside influences. If he could do that, then what stopped him from increasing or decreasing his internal temperature, or even maintaining it at something lower to combat the unforgiving heat of the jungle?

In theory, anyway. The reality was that Shigeo understood how to take something that was already there and apply it; but when it came to making changes, he only had the groundwork laid by the Academy Ninjutsu. The Art of Transformation came to mind- changing his appearance by molding the chakra around himself to create a disguise. It had been perhaps the hardest of the jutsus for him to master, because it involved taking something that was not already so and making it thus. How had he managed to do that?

Shigeo wracked his brain over the subtleties of something seemingly simple as he made his way back along the waterfall path. "Weaving the signs," he mused, "and pooling the chakra around my body just above my skin. Then pulling it like bread dough, shaping it... I think I have an idea." He stopped just short of the falls, sitting down and leaning against the rock wall that bordered the pathway back to Takigakure. His gaze fell on the fast, relentlessly running water, studying how it moved. It flowed in only one direction, but did so in a way that seemed almost violent yet calm at the same time.

The dual nature of the Waterfall was not unlike chakra.

[424 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

The thought occurred to him that if he could stretch his chakra over a large area, it was also possible to localize it to specific areas. This was the basis for two of the other jutsu he had learned while in the Academy. The Rope Escape technique was the more simplistic of them, requiring only concentration on bindings in order to escape. Bunshin no Jutsu was a bit more complex. Creating something from nothing utilizing only his chakra was a tall order, and it required moving that energy source outside of his body. The difficulty of that singular task was the insurmountable obstacle that had kept him in the Academy for as long as he was.

It was an exhaustively long journey from barely sensing his own chakra to that point, but as he made the appropriate seals, a direct copy of himself appeared crouched in front of him, looking directly back. Shigeo made a note of how that sensation felt, the way it drained him both physically and mentally, and how his chakras flowed outward to manifest a single clone. There were others who could substantiate more, and most of them did it almost effortlessly. For now, one solitary copy was all that Shigeo could muster.

"For now," he intoned audibly. The clone watched him as he slowly stood, regarding the falls. "See, I've got this thought," he said, speaking to the doppelgänger as if it were its own, independent entity. "I understand how to control my chakra, but that's it. The things that the others can do, like blowing fire or walking on water, that stuff is still just beyond what I'm able to do."

"You want to know exactly what that limit is," the clone replied.

"I knew you'd get it," Shigeo agreed. "I was told that Bunshin experienced and rationalized information independently from the Jutsu user," he started to explain. "So, if we both harness what chakra is available to us and test the limitations of it, we can get a better feel for just how far we can take our jutsu."

"And if one of us figures out something that the other doesn't, when the jutsu expires, all the information will just transfer back to you. It's a great setup- in theory." The clone gestured toward Shigeo. "So, the plan is to try to pump our chakra into the water and form it into shapes?" The not-Shigeo seemed skeptical.

"I'm able to make something from nothing," Shigeo explained, "It seems rational that a medium for external manipulation of Chakra would be a good start for what we're trying to figure out."

[437 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

"This isn't working," he grunted as he pooled chakra in the palms of his hands, focusing on pouring it into the water puddled there. It appeared to shiver for a moment, but it failed to inflate like a balloon the way he envisioned. Shigeo couldn't call it a complete failure, however. Despite the ineffective reaction of the water to his chakra, he could still feel the connection. It stabilized at the most basic level, a telltale sign that he had done something right.

"I bet you don't remember," the clone piped up, and Shigeo glanced toward it. The Bunshin was having no more luck than he was, but it kept its hands steady on the water's surface nonetheless. It continued to push chakra from the palms of its hands, back and forth, as if looking to create a surface current simply to stir the water around. "They explained chakra affinities during the Academy. Some people are naturally gifted with water, others with fire, some with wind- that's why some people can easily use those elements with their jutsus."

Shigeo strained for a moment, but finally recalled the lecture that the clone was recalling. Maybe he forgot simply because he was so intently focused, or maybe that memory flitted out of his mind and manifested in the clone for the time being. Nevertheless, the revelation led to something else. "They said that I had Earth as my nature," he said as if something had dawned on him.

"So, we're on the right track, but riding the wrong horse." The Clone glanced from Shigeo toward the rocky path nearby. "I don't see it going much better, but do you want to give it a try?"

They had expended considerably less chakra just managing to bridge a connection with the water than they could manage, but maintaining the Bunshin no Jutsu at the same time did put a considerable dent in his reserves. That was perfect, though. This was the kind of endurance and stamina building exercise that the Genin had been looking for.

"It can't hurt," Shigeo answered.

[346 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

He placed a hand on the rock face, and the lingering heat of the day warmed his palm. Combined with the nearby steam of the waterfall, the sensations made him more aware of the drop in temperature. Nightfall was not far now, and he still remembered that he had to make it home before that. Still, he resolved not to give up until he managed to make some progress. Shigeo could feel his chakra pooling at the tips of his fingers, slowly pressing into the craggy surface. Unlike flames that could be born from nothing, wind or water that could be called from afar, earth was unique. It required force to tame. It demanded touch, cultivation.

Shigeo pressed his palm flat against the surface, tilting his head down in contemplation. He conceptualized the flow of chakra in his bicep, down the muscles of his forearms, out through his palm and fingertips. He could feel them expanding and contracting as if he were gripping something, reactive to the unspoken command. The youth was beginning to feel the way that chakra moved, as if it had always just been his second nature. Was this what the other Shinobi had always felt? The people who were born with latent talent, who could simply weave the chakras the moment they walked into the Academy?

It was bliss. Like ascending into new and greater knowledge was a step up, even if it was the first and summarily the smallest step. He had accomplished nothing yet, but still, felt like it was everything."Keep your cool," the clone reminded him. Elation was still emotion, and emotions caused fluctuation. Any loss of concentration could completely fumble his attempts to control the flow of his chakra.

In response to his touch, nature offered its own. Cold, as his hand grew accustomed to the stone. Hardness, rigidity. Unmoving, unflinching, resilient. Yet despite those things, under the right circumstances, in the face of the proper shaper, the earth itself became malleable. He felt those aspects and took them into account. His nature was the Earth itself. These properties were reflected in his own chakra.

He just had to put those pieces together.

[362 words]

[Saigo Shigeo]

He visualized the movement of his chakra outward almost like roots in a tree. That was how he managed to form a clone of himself the first time: visualization. At this point, it was all rough and there was no solidified picture in his mind of what he wanted to achieve. He simply wanted to forge the connection and examine what it entailed. The Genin wanted to see the extent of what he could achieve with chakra when faced with a proper medium. The tendrils of energy snaked through the rock and into dirt, and he could almost feel the shift in texture. Moist, voluminous and thick, inundated by the amount of water consistently deposited back into the ground. He could feel it seeping back out, drawn upward, through rock and soil, back toward the air and into the clouds above. Subtle shifts like that that were beyond his senses before felt almost natural when they brushed with his lifeforce.

It felt like he was part of the ground, as though a simple touch connected him with the Land of Basins. The longer he stood and concentrated, the more that his senses expanded, growing outward with his chakra. He glanced over toward the Bunshin, who had come to a different conclusion. Shigeo watched in awe as the copy of himself drew the deposited chakra back outward, and as if by response, fragments of stone started to chip away from the rock face. Instead of falling limp to the ground however, they began to revolve around its outstretched arm like the appendage exerted its own gravity. "So you can drive your chakra outward to manifest jutsu," he started to speak up.

"Or you can pull chakra from outside inward and utilize it around yourself to achieve a different kind of jutsu," the clone affirmed. He felt a lightheadedness as the chakra he had injected into the land quickly, suddenly, and violently snapped back into him. His body had grown tired from exertion, the sudden and immense expenditure proved greater than anticipated.

When the clone disappeared in a plume of smoke, the shards of stone that it drew from the wall also clattered uselessly to the ground. At almost the same time, Shigeo staggered and fell against the rock. He took a ragged breath, steadying himself in place for a moment as he reflected over the things he learned over the course of the day. "I should get home and rest," he said quietly.

[412 words]