The day was coming to a close, another long day of studying certain things and reading others, but it wasn't quite over, so Keita, being used to these types of things and stressing his body like this, was really going to try and stretch out his training until he was not able to go on anymore. To this, he wondered what he should train, and finally after a bit of contemplation, decided that his chakra was the best thing to train in this situation. Something that he could train in the comfort of his own home, simply by channeling his chakra and maintaining good chakra control. He was going to make sure he had enough chakra to actually be able to be a formidable foe in combat, should the need ever arise. He didn't really like the idea that he needed to fight others, but he knew that in the ninja world, it was inevitable, which was why he was training so hard to be competent at ninjutsu as well as medical techniques. and why he had trained his body in taijutsu in the first place. He wanted to be not only well rounded, but able to sustain longer than most others in terms of combat. If the rumors were true, and the tailed beasts were getting re-sealed into ninjas, he wanted to be able to compete with the jinchuriki as well as the other ninjas, in terms of sheer chakra as well. He wanted to show the other people of the village, and especially his family, that hard work and dedication would conquer anything that the world could throw at him. He didn't have parents, but he still had the support of people close to him, and being able to protect them and their ways of life was also important to Keita, and so without anyting further hindering him, he got to work on his chakra training.
He was thinking the best way to train his chakra was not only to strain it, but utilize it in the academy jutsu he was taught, as using it and forming it into a coherent jutsu and such probably stressed his chakra more than simply channeling and gathering it within his stomach and other parts of his body. As he sat on the floor, legs crossed and hands cupped within each other, the right hand under the left one as to add comfort and stability for the long training session ahead of him, he started to utilize half of his physical strength and half of his spiritual strength in a swirl within his stomach. Since the stomach was where the majority of chakra is gathered in the first formations of it, it was fairly simple, especially with Keita's level of chakra control. His reasoning was that because he had better chakra control than most, he would need to actually gather up more chakra than usual to actually stress the levels of chakra he had. He gathered a bunch into his stomach, and then simply let it dissipate. Gathering and using chakra when he only had a little bit left in the tank would probably stretch his chakra nodes a bit more than if he hadn't. He knew from reading that he had three hundred and sixty one chakra nodes within his body, and he could probably point to each of them on his own body, although finding them on another's body would be next to impossible without a Byakugan or other similar doujutsu that allowed him to see the intricacies of the human body. He tried swirling the chakra and sending it to different areas of his body, flooding the tenketsu with the chakra and trying to swell the chakra points to a level where they were actually being worked out, and could accept more chakra.
This would give his body overall more chakra to work with in the long run. He knew that one night of chakra training was unlikely to wield significant results, but it was a good point to start with, as he wanted to get the training done as fast as possible. Unlike the knowledge and bodily training, this type of spiritual training was going to be long and arduous, mostly because the Mushikoro within his body actually leeched a bit of chakra from him, and didn't help in the retention of chakra based training in the slightest. the Mushikoro could help with body trainings by helping hard wire different muscle memory inside of the brain and muscles, and could help the brain function so that the user's memory and knowledge allocation was at its peak, but when it came to chakra training, the mind worm simply had to sit there and watch Keita struggle. After a few hours of simply letting his chakra leak out of his body, he was at a point where he had very little chakra left, and that was the point where he said that he had to be very careful, considering he could very well pass out or even die if he tried to push himself too far. It was sort of exciting in a way, that he could die by doing something so trivial as chakra training, but that simply reminded him not to be too conceited as a human, and reminded him that as a ninja, he could die at any time, and he had to pay attention so that he could actually change his own fate and stop himself from succumbing to that fate. The light in the room was dim, as he had lit some candles a few hours before, and sweat started to collect on Keita's body, as he started to truly stress his chakra nodes to the point where there were a few times he wanted to simply pass out and go to sleep.
He collected himself and stabilized himself, waited for a little bit, so that some of his chakra would come back to him, but only a tiny bit, and he would simply gather it again and then start using the clone jutsu. The academy jutsu were so trivial to him now that they barely cost him any chakra, so he had to use the jutsu multiple times for the chakra to leak out of his body. As he formed the hand seals, he was nodding in and out of exhaustion and sleep, as well as chakra exhaustion, so he wasn't really sure what time it was. His body decided to take matters into it's own hands, and when the final flame of the last candle flickered out, so did the boy's consciousness, and with that, he slipped into a deep sleep. Keita awoke to the sound of birds outside of his window, his body aching all over, and he had a bit of a headache and sensitivity to light and sound. It was almost as if he had consumed a large amount of alcohol the night before and he was hung over, and he could hear some of his cousins and other members of the Furue clan that lived in the large estate hustling and bustling about their business. He was an avid sensory now, so he could tell who they were and where they were headed, as well as what they were doing. Suddenly, Keita's ears were actually startled by the sudden gurgling of his own stomach, as it demanded food. He wondered what time it was, and wondered if it was still early, and then went down to the kitchens to get something to eat. There were a few people in there already, and judging by the assortment of ham and cheese they were using, it was almost time for lunch. Keita walked up to them, and they knew that Keita loved to everything by himself, so he grabbed some eggs.
Cracking the egg into a skillet, and then another, he waited for them to started to become cooked, before scrambling them together and then pushing them to one side of the skillet. He then took a slice of ham and two strips of bacon from the stores, and then threw them into the remaining part of the skillet. He then covered two pieces of bread with a bit of olive oil for the fat, and then put them on a small metal grate next to the fire, so that the indirect heat could properly toast them. He was going to make a nice ham, egg, and cheese sandwich, and he knew exactly how to do it. Using a bit of tin foil, he would turn a long metal spatula into a small trough, and spread a mixture of brea and sharp cheddar cheese onto it, after grating a bit of it of course. He would then place that on the indirect heating of the grate as well, and check the bread. It seemed like everything was almost done, as the cheese melted quite quickly on the heated metal, and the foil made sure it didn't spill out from the sides. Everything was assembled together on the thick pieces of now toasted bread, and the liquid cheese was scraped onto the top of the ingredients before the top piece of bread was placed. The smell and the look of the sandwich as Keita cut it in half made even the other people in the kitchen whose jobs it was to prepare food, just a little bit hungry. Keita would finish this meal off by grabbing an apple and some orange juice, and then proceed up to his room to continue the training once he had calmed down. Devouring the delicious sandwich was the highlight of his week so far, as he had gotten by using simple snacks and other bits and pieces of meals while he was studying.
However, he needed to relax and let his chakra replenish itself by eating and taking rest periods. After finishing off his awesome meal, Keita would stretch his body multiple times before getting up and walking around the estate a bit. He needed something else, as forcing his chakra out to the point of exhaustion was going to cause more harm to his body than good, and so he wanted a different approach, and wondered if simply using his chakra over a long period of time would eventually increase his chakra capacity. It was most likely that way, but he needed it to become enlarged as soon as possible, so that it could be out of the way and he could focus on something else. Keita was like that, he would set a goal and then ruthlessly and relentlessly pursue that goal until that goal was completed, and most of the people around him knew of this as well, so it was all good, and they usually left him to his own devices. Once in a while, his cousins would invite him to go to outings with them, and he wondered if they truly cared for him, or they were doing it to be polite, or were told by an elder. Still, he knew at least a few of his cousins and some of the other members of the Furue clan enjoyed his company, especially Karma, as she seemed to watch out for Keita and worry about him overworking himself. Keita yawned as he walked out of the estate and then towards the academy that he had gone to previously, as he wondered if he could find some simple training partners there. He could probably teach them all how to perform the academy jutsu, and that was even a mission that was available to him as a genin.
He found a couple of other genin ont he way there that had just recently graduated from the academy, and he decided to join them as they were starting their training. They asked if he had also graduated from the same teacher, but he told them that would be impossible due to the time requirements for the class. Still, it was nice to see other academy students recently out of the academy and getting their genin head bands, and so with that, he spent a few hours with them practicing their jutsu. The sun was hidden by a blanket of light greay clouds, so overall, it was a fairly good day for training, although Keita didn't really care about the weather, and preferred the nice pitter patter and gentle rinse of a nice rain storm within the village. He would form two clones, and send the clones towards the closest genin, as they would try and spar, and the genin would swipe at them with a kunai, although they were fake, and would slip and fall. Keita explained that the clone technique was used for distractions, but with a small amount of training their eyes and the signs to look for, the clone technique was rendered useless for the most part. He told them of the weakness while forming another two clones, and showed them that they didn't have shadows and didn't disrupt the grass that they stepped on either, so it was fairly easy to tell. On dirt and gravel, they wouldn't kick up dust when running or moving as well, so there was a very good way to tell, and it was fairly easy. After showing them this for a little while, he made more clones, and then started moving with the clones in and out of the threat range.
He wanted to try and see if they could differentiate him from the clones right after he had taught them what to look for, and they seemed to understand, but it was still fairly difficult with the real Keita attacking them with punches and they clones also attacking and obscuring the vision of the other clones' feet, so it made it much more difficult for the other gening to discern the real from the fakes. this coupled with the fact that staring at someone's feet in a fight would lead to being unable to defend against the arms, it made for a very good technique overall when used properly. After a bit, the genin were exhausted, and Keita was only feeling a bit tired. being on the offensive was a bit easier for him, which sort of puzzled Keita, as his nature would denote more on the defensive, also considering his medical skills. He patched up the other kids that got accidentally cut with kunai and bruised, so that they weren't bleeding much anymore, and made sure that they weren't in much pain by going and getting some ice, and it was good to know that the future of genin was bright. There were still some gening within the village that thought just because they were the same rank, that he didn't have anything to teach them, and that was just plain wrong. He knew more information than some jounin around the village, but it was experience that he was severely lacking. He just wanted to build a lasting foundation within himself before he went out and risked his life for something that he believed in. He was going to make sure he didn't die, and was going to make sure he could prevent others from dying as well.
He had spent a few hours with the new genin, so when he walked into the academy, he was greeted by a rush of academy students that were about his age, running home to their families or running towards the market to hang out and talk about whatever things they were interested in. They wondered why he was walking back into the academy now that it had gotten out, but then noticed his headband, and he smiled at them, and started talking about how he applied himself and graduated a year earlier than most people. This seemed to impress and inspire some, and make other mad and simply scoff at him, saying that they could do it if they weren't so good or something along those lines. Keita simply smiled at them and passed them to get into the academy and talk with the chuunin teacher. His teacher was sitting behind his desk with a stack of papers from the students, and without looking up from his stack of papers, he asked if there was something that Keita wanted. It seemed like the teacher didn't realize that Keita wasn't one of his new students, until he started speaking, and the teacher actually looked up from the papers to see Keita, the person that graduated early and about five months ago. The teacher told him it was good to see him, and wondered what he was doing there, and Keita responded that he was looking to expand his chakra pool. The teacher was a bit puzzled, because that's usually what chuunins did while trying to study for the anbu exams, as more chakra was usually only needed when one wanted to go into battle, and the teacher asked him if he was preparing for battle.
Keita responded by saying that the teacher knew him, and that he was preparing for everything and anything that could come his way, including the possibility of fighting. Even one of the missions in the village that the genin were allowed to do said that fighting was inevitable, even though that was most likely going to be with non shinobi, it was still a possibility that they could get a lucky shot with a knife or something of the sort. Enhanced chakra wasn't going to save him there, but he wanted to be able to outlast other genin in the case of a chuunin exam or something of the sort. It was fun thinking of different scenarios as well, and reading through the chronicles of Naruto and Sasuke, and all of the other famous people that died off many years ago, it was amazing to think that one day, Keita could possibly be as strong as either of those two, and he simply wanted to make sure he was a bit better than he was the previous day. The teacher was a bit taken back by these words, mostly because a newly graduated genin probably shouldn't be speaking about that far into the future, but then again, this was a student that runs through the obstacles in his life and makes sure to compensate for any outside factors. He was calculating in his approaches to problems, but Keita also wanted to get better at reacting to variables and situations beyond his direct control, and then he suddenly realized that he was ranting on to his teacher about silly things. The teacher simply laughed at Keita, as the young man was still a bit awkward in social situations, and the teacher wondered what his strategy for that was.
Keita didn't really know how to respond, as most social interactions were spontaneous, and mostly attributed to either personalities meshing well or not together, and how well the parties involved knew the psychology of the situation and those around them. He could use social situations and random events like that to better himself at reacting spontaneously. He blushed a bit, and realized that he was still just a simple genin, and talked to the teacher for a while about how to proceed in life with direction and purpose, and that the teacher was proud of Keita for going so fast, but also told him to slow down. When one strives towards a goal and ignores all other distractions, sometimes it is a bad thing, and one shouldn't put the blinders on themselves for a purpose, and should be ready to absorb everything around them at a moment's notice. He told Keita to simply enjoy life as a genin for as long as he could, simply because being a chuunin added a lot of responsibility to a ninja, and that meant more time working and less time training or rushing towards a goal. He told Keita to continue training, but also make sure to make time for missions and a social life, and that having money, a social life, and a productive training life style was all part of being a well rounded individual as well. Keita took these lessons to heart, and was glad that even after he graduated, he could still learn from his old teacher. Keita almost left, when he suddenly realized that he didn't ask his old sensei the question that originally drove him here. Keita asked what the best way to train chakra was, when he didn't want to drag out the chakra expansion over an entire ninja career or even several months. The teacher told him that there was a spiritual forest that most people used to train their chakra levels, and not a lot of people went there because there were myths about it being haunted, and that was just because while you were inside of it, it produced a slight genjutsu like effect on your mind. It was incredibly for training chakra capacity and control, however.
Keita thanked the teacher and bowed to him before leaving the classroom, and behind him, the teacher smirked and wondered if he would lose his mind or not, because the forest was not something that people entered willingly most of the time. Keita went to the coordinates that his teacher told him, and it seemed that the area was off limits,a nd two anbu members were standing guard at the gate. Apparently he wasn't going to be able to get into the forest, because it seemed that this place was strictly access only, and he doubted that a genin had permission to go within. Keita's inference turned out to be correct, as the anbu members stopped him and asked him what business he had there. He was about to turn and leave, but mentioned that his old teacher suggested this place to him, and thought it would help him out as a ninja to go inside. The anbu members looked him over, and then asked the teacher's name, and when Keita gave it to them, they simply stood aside and opened the gate for him. They didn't say another word, but a voice in Keita's head told him to be careful. He also wondered how much sway in the village his old chuunin teacher had, to be able to simply let his name slip and he gained access to a previously restricted area of the village. Keita walked into the forest, and immediately it seemed like the forest was alive, as he could hear no creatures, but he could definitely feel the world around him stirring. There was a canopy of thick trees that interlaced with each other near the top, creating a very thick roof that didn't allow any light to reach down into the forest, and the canopy got thicker and thicker very quickly.
Keita found himself deep within the forest without even realizing it, as if he was being drawn to it's center, and there was where it seemed like it was twilight. There was barely any light, but just enough to where every thing seemed a bit muted to his senses. There was no outside light, but somehow the trees, the plants, and the other things around created their own light, which was also fascinating to Keita. He suddenly felt the urge to devour the light producing plants so that he could figure out how they worked, but felt that he shouldn't due to the nature of the forest, as it seemed to be almost alive, he didn't want to harm it. So, he decided then and there that he would not attempt to harm anything in the forest, unless absolutely necessary to survive. He seemed to be at the center, under a large tree that had fruit budding and stretching down towards the ground, almost as if it was tempting people to come and eat them. This made Keita think there was an evolutionary reason for that, maybe animals came in and ate the fruit, so that the seeds could be scattered through the animals pooping them out after eating the fruit. Still, Keita didn't think he should eat the fruit, so he simply walked up and sat under the tree, which seemed like it was at least the thickest tree within the forest, perhaps not the tallest. The canopy was only twenty feet high, so the entire forest he was in seemed like it was a large room, instead of a big forest, as it had a floor and a ceiling, and even had it's own lights. It was getting darker, and Keita started to meditate under the tree, and started to feel a bit weird. The teacher did explain that it had a genjutsu like effect on people that couldn't be released, so he simply would try to endure it and whatever it decided to show him.
He started to feel the chakra within his body slowly draining, as if the forest was devouring the chakra from inside of his body. This was a good way to train chakra, but he wondered if the forest would try to kill him if this continued to the point of absolute zero, would the tree simply stop, or would it devour the rest of his chakra. The twilight was starting to fade, as the outside world was slowly getting to night time, and the forest, with no outside light, started to go to sleep as well, turning everything pitch black. Keita was suddenly robbed of his sight, the darkness enveloping him within the halls of the forest, and soon there was nothing to relate to. The genjutsu effect was making him not feel the ground anymore, or even the effect that gravity had on his body, so he started to feel like he was floating within nothingness in a sitting position. He opened his eyes, and still saw nothing, but slowly, there were tiny glimpses of light, and at first it appeared as if he was staring into the infinite expanse of the night sky, but soon he came to realize that the lights he was seeing were small crystals inside of the plants around him that glowed in the darkness. They were glowing the whole time, but didn't look spectacular or this amazing when there was outside light effecting the glow of the forest. It seemed like the light was equally spread out within the trees and plants during the day, and at night, the glowing material collected together in the form of crystals that enhanced the brightness of them, and turned it from a simple forest to that of the galaxy.
The chakra that was leaking from his body came as a secondary thought as he was witnessing something this amazing, and was under the effects of a very light genjutsu which was skewing his senses. It seemed like this was the place people would come to seek enlightenment, not technically to expand their chakra pools. Upon witnessing this sight and their chakra pool slowly draining, it seems their minds were expanded as well. This was a chance for Keita to think of new angles for problems he was facing currently. He had figured out from the Kiseimu clan that he was actually adopted and not related to the Furue at all, and Keita eventually figured that out by himself as he had fragmented memories of his time at the orphanage when he was extremely young, but he was pretty sure that his uncle was still his uncle, but there was still an itching feeling that he should find his true parents, even if they were dead, he sort of wanted some sort of closure. The clan told him that his parents were deceased, but he wasn't going to blindly believe them on a whim, and wanted to find out for himself, although he really wondered what kind of people they were. He hoped that there was some sort of problem in their lives that made it impossible for them to raise him, and as he was thinking this, the world around him suddenly started shifting. He wondered what the forest was going to show him next, as the world around him was twisting and turning, and soon he found himself in a room, and he was hunched over a desk with papers scattered around it.
It felt as though Keita had suddenly just woken up from a long night of studying, as he was groggy and his muscles ached. In this haze of his mind, he got up, looked at the papers, and realized they were from a medical book. Suddenly he heard a voice from downstairs, calling to him, calling his name. It was a woman, and she sounded so sweet and gentle that Keita forgot who she was for a moment. That was right, it was his mother, and she was telling him that he was going to be late for school. Keita rushed downstairs after grabbing a fresh pair of pants and a shirt, and made sure that his shoes were on nice and tight. He didn't have a forehead protector, but then again, he wasn't a ninja, he was just a normal person that wanted to eventually become a doctor. As he walked downstairs, he saw his mother in the kitchen, smiling, and making something. His father was at a table, reading something, and said good morning to Keita. It seemed as though everything was perfect as he sat down and enjoyed some eggs and bacon with his family, but something kept nudging at the back of his mind. His mother was asking again what he wanted to do when he grew up, and asked if he still wanted to be a doctor. Keita said that of course he wanted to become a doctor still, just like his dad, and his dad smile and patted the young man on the head a few times. Keita was happy, but something was eating at him, and he had his hand on his chin, trying to figure out what it was that was nagging at him. He wondered if he was forgetting anything, but when he checked his bag, he knew that he had his homework completed, and so he put the worry away.
His dad said he was glad that the son decided against becoming a ninja, and said that the safe life of a doctor was far better. Keita found himself saying that he was a ninja, and then wondered why he said it. There was suddenly a fear in Keita's mind, as certain feeling rushed back towards him. He was wondering why his mother and father weren't looking at him, as his mother was turned away, his father's face hidden by the medical book that he was reading. Keita asked them to show them their faces, and the parents didn't know what he was talking about. Keita suddenly started screaming at them to show him their faces, and finally got fed up and ripped the book away from his father, and he became shocked. His mother turned around, and Keita suddenly saw that neither of these people had faces. Keita had a sudden, oh yeah, moment, and then looked down at his own chest, which was bloody, and he could see the worm burrowing into it. His mother and father slowly crumbled away into dust, and Keita was alone inside of the house, and that reality leaked away, and Keita found himself back at the forest, sweat pouring from his pores and all over his body, as well as realizing he was breathing very heavily. He calmed himself, his hands were shaking as he brought them to his face, and he slowly got his breathing under control. Keita let a large sigh escape his lips, and figured that it was just a life that he wanted, or perhaps that was a reality in which he had his parents and they were still there, alive. The chakra exhaustion that he was feeling was very strange, but it felt like something was accomplished there, whether it was actually his chakra supply increasing, or if it was just his heart growing a bit harder. This forest was indeed dangerous, but it also helped Keita with his own insecurities, and helped him realize that his parents were gone, never coming back, and any hope of a normal life was already gone.
However, when Keita realized this, he wondered why he wasn't sad, as he used to cry when animals died all the time, even when they died of old age, and something this troubling should phase him more than not. He seemed to finally be okay with not having parents, as he suddenly saw visions of his cousins, his aunt and uncle, and the people of the Kiseimu clan appear in front of him. He realized these were fake, but they were all smiling and simply holding their hands out to him, and so he took his uncle's hand and stood up. Keita realized these trees and plants sapped more than just his chakra, they sapped emotional and mental energy as well, as Keita felt thoroughly drained, and decided to go home. It was suddenly easy getting out of the forest, and Keita made sure that he was indeed going to right way. There was no more darkness and no more twinkling crystals, and it seemed that he was in there for at least twenty hours, as his body was extremely sore, and he figured that during that entire time he was most likely sitting in that same position and didn't get any movement, so he started to stretch as he approached the two anbu guards at the gate. He asked to be let out, and they nodded towards him and obliged, releasing him back into the village. He looked like he went through a lot, as he had heavy bags under his eyes, and he moved at a sloth's pace, not really sure if he was going to make it back to his home, but he did it eventually, almost in a drunken haze, and toppled onto his bed, instantly asleep. He didn't dream that night, unlike most nights, and in the morning he seemed a bit more comfortable with not waking up happy. He yawned and seemed to just be content with things, and gave a smile, as he was ready to give it his all.
It seemed like the forest wanted to test Keita's conviction to the world of shinobi, as without the shinobi world, it looked like he would have had a great and productive life anyways, and even now, after seeing all of that, he wanted to go through with his plans even more now. He had a fire behind his eyes that couldn't be quelled, and immediately devoured a bunch of random stuff, and ran back up to the forest to continue his training. The guards out front saw him once again, and they let him in this time without questioning him, and that told Keita it was most likely the same two guards, and decided to ask them a few questions about the forest. They told him they could not really tell him anything regarding the intricacies or advanced details of the forest, and wished him luck, as the second day in the forest was the hardest. Well, that was a bit of a surprise to hear form the anbu member, as usually they simply didn't talk while on guard duty, unless it was to ask someone why they were somewhere they probably shouldn't be. Still, Keita was already a bit nervous, but he steeled himself and walked into the forest. He wanted to reach the point where he was the day before as soon as possible, so he started walking at a brisk pace, but suddenly he stopped and realized something. The forest seemed entirely different from the day before, as Keita had memorized it's layout previously so that he could be better prepared the next day, even though it wouldn't truly help, he took a bit of comfort in the fact that he knew how to get to the center and back. The forest somehow rearranged itself over night, and he was really confused by it.
Root systems usually took years to ingrain themselves in an area, and moving them without any traces of ninjutsu was difficult, if not impossible, unless of course someone of the same power as his aunt was involved and changed the layout of the forest every day, but he thought that was highly unlikely. He then remembered that a genjutsu like effect was skewing his senses, so it was highly likely that the forest was unchanged from yesterday, but it was simply changing what he perceived and was controlling where he moved throughout itself to protect itself. He wondered why it needed that level of defense mechanism, and then he remembered the fruit, and wondered if the fruit held some sort of magical property that he wasn't aware of. This meant that he mind went to a place that he thought for sure it should not have, and that was that he was seriously thinking about eating one of those fruit. He calmed himself down a bit, and thought that his chakra expanded really well the first day, so there was no reason he couldn't just continue on like this for a while until his chakra was at a very good level. Still, he wondered what the fruits tasted like, and how they could be prepared. The forest itself was starting to prey on his own hunger because of the Mushikoro within him, and soon he was staring right at a piece of the fruit. He couldn't bring himself to stop, and instead he simply picked the fruit, and held it in his hand. It grew a bright blue and it seemed like the rest of the forest went dark. Words of wisdom from himself were flowing through his head, such as put it down and leave, or make sure you don't bite into it, simply looking at it is enough.
But it was no use, his body was already complete taken by the tree, and he started eating. One chomp, and then another, the thick syrup like juices flowed down Keita's mouth, and it even made Keita eat a bit of it to copy it's dna and other biological functions, and he was lucky it did. He was eating it like an apple, saving a moist and juicy core for last, and soon, that was also in his mouth. He managed to fight back the ferocious urge to chew and swallow for a little while, but then he swallowed the fruit whole. The forest was suddenly back, the genjutsu hold on him gone, and he immediately clutched his stomach. There was an intense pain coursing through his body as his stomach was dissolving the fruit, and Keita immediately attempted to vomit by stinking his fingers in his mouth, which resulted in nothing but dry heaving. He knew about the structure of the plant and how it was attempting to swell all his chakra nodes to bursting, and this would leave Keita without any chakra, simply a civilian after that, and he was trying desperately to avoid that. He simply could not make himself vomit by using the fingers down the throat method, as apparently the fruit didn't want that, so Keita punched himself repeatedly in the stomach, again, nothing but dry heaving and no effect. Keita got desperate, and managed to stave off the pain for a little while, enough to get a stick. He sharpened the stick, and made sure to think clearly before shoving the stick down his throat. From his training, he knew that the esophagus he had was about one foot in length leading to the stomach opening, and then he had to move the stick about an inch away from himself so that he didn't puncture the lining of his stomach.
Pain and dry heaving, along with the inability to breathe from the stick, made this one of the most painful ordeals he had ever experienced, although it probably wouldn't be the worst in his life. He scraped around his stomach, probably causing a bit of internal bleeding, and found the core of the fruit, still mostly intact, and skewered it. He lifted it slowly up and out of his through, before throwing it on the ground. Once it was out of his throat, the rest of the contents of his stomach were free to exit, as the fruit had a special property which prevented vomiting, and soon the forest floor there was covered in bile, eggs, and a bit of blood. The pulp of the fruit was completely gone, however, as the fruit was fast dissolving mush in his stomach. He took a few deep breaths, figuring out he was safe for now, as the pain also started to subside, and was replaced with the dull burning pain of a few small cuts inside of his stomach. He picked himself up off the floor, and made his way back to the anbu members, a tiny bit of blood on the corner of his mouth, and the stench of vomit on his shirt. The anbu member that wished him luck congratulated him on making it out of there with his chakra network still intact, and Keita yelled at him, wondering why they didn't warn him of the immense dangers of the forest. The anbu told him to shut up, and that they were positioned there to erase the memories of anyone who failed the test, and to make sure that Keita swore to secrecy regarding the contents of the forest, as the fruits were very fickle things and were guarded there so that they weren't abused.
The ones who went through the forest had no idea that their chakra nodes had blown up, and had no memory of the forest at all, and it seemed that they were simply living as civilians now somewhere in the village. This was a secret, as just like the fabled hero's water, the fruit could lead to unintended consequences if it got out that it could greatly increase one's chakra capacity. Keita apologized for yelling, and said that it was probably because of what he just went through, and it seemed that the Anbu understood and simply let him go, telling him to go to the hospital. It seemed one of the anbu were a powerful sensor, as he knew that he had his chakra nodes still, and he wondered if those two were responsible for the genjutsu in the forest, and for keeping unworthy individuals away. Maybe his teacher and some of the other ninjas of the village were authorized to check peoples' character, and tell them to take the challenge of the forest, like his teacher did. It was far too much information and a mystery to even think about right now, as he needed a bit of medical attention. He was losing quite a bit blood, but if he rushed and jumped to the hospital, he would most likely rupture one of the small cuts, and then he would be in a world of hurt. So, as he slowly made it to the hospital, some of the ninjas of the village helped him there once he told them that he ate something he shouldn't have and it somehow cut up his stomach. He had been sworn to secrecy to anyone lower than a jounin in rank, so the anbu basically told him that he could tell his uncle without fear of being in the wrong side of the law.
He would have to convince his uncle that he couldn't tell anyone under jounin about what had happened, but he didn't think that his uncle was one to share that with others so carelessly. Thinking about it, Keita had been through quite a lot in such a short period of time, and he was a bit proud of himself. He was lying on a table and a couple of medical chuunins were using a weaker version of the mystical palm jutsu on his stomach, and on the rest of him, since it seems that he thrashed around and hit some thorns and vines, and perhaps some poison ivy leaves when he was trying to punch himself and make himself vomit up the pit or core of that fruit. They looked him over and after a bit of healing they said he was fine, and that it didn't cost him that much because of his medical skills and the fact that he would be working there very soon, he would just need to be willing to heal the other medical personnel for free when the time came, and he definitely agreed to that. They wanted him to stay over night for observation, and was thinking of checking the contents of his stomach just in case, and to that, Keita requested a senior medical ninja to perform that check, simply because of personal reasons. The chuunins reluctantly agreed, although they seemed a bit insulted, as if Keita said that they weren't good enough to do something as simple as a stomach content check, and Keita made sure to thank them properly and tell them it really wasn't about their perceived skill, and he hoped they weren't upset with him, and if they were, that they would get over it eventually.
Soon, a jounin medical ninja came into the room, and asked why he had requested him for such a simple task. Keita told him that he was in the forest, and at that mention, the jounin closed the door behind him so that no one else could hear him. Keita looked weird, because he was in a children's medical garb that didn't seem to fit him, as it was a bit too short. He was just in the bad height range that he was too short for a longer one, so they gave him one that was meant for a much younger child. Keita got a bit upset and irritated about that, as he hated being so small, he wanted to be a manly man like his uncle, but he was small and adorable, not tall, handsome, and cool. The jounin asked him if he had eaten the fruit, and Keita responded with a yes, and the doctor immediately activated the true mystical palm jutsu, and swiped over his stomach, and he looked relieved. He had seen only two cases of the forest before, and both of them, the fruit had taken the ninjas' chakra, as they were careless and not dedicated enough for it. He was amazed at a child successfully making it through that with only light scratches and a few small cuts in his stomach, and he looked forward to working with Keita in the near future as an apprentice. Keita smiled and nodded, excited and happy that a jounin had praised him. The jounin then went on to say that for the next few days, he had to come and check in so that the jounin could monitor his chakra nodes and levels extensively, as the fruit was indeed fickle, and he just wanted to make sure everything was doing well.
It was very strange, as Keita left the hospital, he felt a combination of being really hungry, but at the same time, his entire body felt like what his stomach felt like when he was stuffed with food, after something like a large meal around the holidays. He thought that was simply a side effect of the fruit and brushed it off, making sure to pull out his notepad and make a not of it so that he could tell the doctor the next day. He didn't feel any soreness or pain when it came to his chakra nodes, so he ordered some miso ramen that wasn't anywhere on the spicy scale that this particular ramen shop was famous for, and some of the other male patrons goaded Keita, asking him if he was an adult, and if he was that he should ask for some spicy ramen instead of the weakly flavored one. Keita responded with the news that he was newly released from the hospital for some stomach cuts, and so they apologized and wished him a swift recovery. He was glad that the people in the village liked to joke around with each other, messing with each other, and it seemed that pranks could be had at any age, and was a bit happy that they had shed their ancient monicker as the Bloody Mist. Just a few hundred years ago, this place was known for violence and blood shed, and now the adults of the village were acting like old friends and messing with each other over the spiciness of their food, bragging about how they could handle the spiciest one, and other friends calling them on their bluff, saying that if he could finish the whole thing, the man would pay for it. Keita laughed and asked if he could sit with them, and they agreed.
Keita smiled and laughed as the man yelled about how spicy it was and his friends were talking smack to him, and so he challenged the other person to eat some. Keita had a bit of fun with them, and then walked home. He had a lot of thinking to do, and he wanted to talk to his uncle about his experience due to the fact that he had no idea what exactly had happened, and it was nice to have someone that had more worldly experience to talk to than simply trying to figure things out by yourself. Keita was actually feeling really well after all of that happened and he was walking back towards his home. The sakura trees were lining the particular route he wanted to take home and he enjoyed how they flowed and drifted through the air as he walked passed them. The gentle breeze that was hitting his face was nice, and it seemed like he was in that static and sort of stale air of the forest forever, far more than simply two days, and soon he would be home, where he could talk to his family and tell them about how he trained a large amount. He couldn't really tell him about the forest, but he could spin the overall story into a tale about how he trained with a genjutsu user that placed him under those effects, and that seemed like a funner tale than him simply sitting inside of a forest under a tree while he was experiencing something similar to a psychedelic drug hallucination. He finally reached the door of his home, and he was happy to be there, but he also had a creeping fear and suspicion, and that was that perhaps he was still under the effects of the forest's genjutsu, and so when he opened his door, he was actually quite scared.
He saw one of his cousins, not facing him, and she was writing or drawing or something, and his heart seemed to jump up into his throat, as the memory of the faceless mother of that genjutsu came to mind. Keita said hello to her, and she slowly turned around so their faces could meet, and Keita let out a heavy sigh of relief, as she looked exactly the same as she always did, small cute face and deep blue eyes. She welcomed him home with a hug and asked him if he was in the library all day again, and Keita was actually really happy to be back home, and his fears dissipated. He still felt really weird now that his chakra capacity was higher, and it seemed much much higher, but Keita didn't have the skills to guess exactly how much chakra he had gained through the fruit. He also wondered if the effects were temporary, and he only gained a boost of chakra for a little whilte, in which he hoped wasn't the case, because he didn't feel like going through that horrible ordeal again, and would most likely just try to slowly increase his chakra over the course of months or even years if the alternative was eating the fruit of the forest again. So after he chatted with his cousin for a bit, he said that he had a good story to tell the next day at dinner, when there were going to be more of the family there, and she was happy that he was going to share something fantastic with them, and hoped that he could resist telling his family the truth, and essentially lie to their faces about it. He then went upstairs to his room so that he could formulate a coherent story that actually made sense to the point where it wouldn't really be questioned with such harsh scrutiny. He was lucky that no one in his family was a powerful sensor and could see just how much his chakra had skyrocketed since the day before, and that he was generally safe with his secret for now.
He was in his room, and figured that he could write up the story the next day, as he was insanely tired, and it seemed like the weight of his decisions that day, and all of the acts that he had done were finally catching up to him and had hit him hard, and so he plopped down on his bed, and fell asleep instantly. Usually his mind was racing for a few minutes after he put his head to the pillow, contemplating and compiling everything he had learned that day, making sure to store it for later use, although that part didn't really matter, he was still going to be able to recall that information even if he didn't do the ritual mind racing before bed, but this time he simply couldn't do it, and his mind fell asleep. He woke up the next day and stretched, and the feeling of being full all over his body had subsided quite a bit, although he still felt that he had more chakra in him than he had ever before. He wanted to make sure he was a little bit early for his doctor appointment that morning, so he only had some fruit to go after he took a shower and said goodbye to his cousins, and they wondered why he wasn't enjoying some breakfast with them like he usually did, and he said that he would explain it all in the story he would tell later that evening. He was walking at a fairly brisk pace, and the clouds were dark and grey, ready to release their bounty onto the village, and the fog was out in droves that day as well. It seemed like one of the days that gave the mist village it's name, as the mist was heavy in the air, and the kids were using it to play hide and seek. That was something that Keita enjoyed playing, and would love to play again on a day like this, when his plate wasn't so full.
Keita reached the hospital with about fifteen minutes to spare, making him a bit happy when he checked in to the hospital at the reception area, and told them that the jounin he saw the day before wanted to check up on him. they confirmed the schedule and told him that it was most likely going to be more than a fifteen minute wait, as doctors were always busy in a ninja village. While he was sitting there, he noticed another child sitting with his mother, and Keita smiled and waved to him. The child seemed to be suffering from some type of stomach ache, as his hand was clutching the stomach. That was going to be something simple hopefully, and the kid would be in and out of the hospital before he knew it, and he told the kid that, because he was also a medical ninja. The kid wondered why a medical ninja needed to go to a hospital at all, and Keita answered back, telling the younger child that he was there to get checked up on by another doctor, as treating yourself sometimes made you think that there was more or less wrong with you than you thought, and it's always good to have friends that want to make sure you are okay and that you have the best time. He then told the kid to listen to his mother, as she was one of those people that most likely knew more than he did, and her advice would be good to listen to. The kid simply looked at Keita and held his stomach, not really knowing what to respond with, until he smiled and nodded, then hugged his mother.
Soon, Keita's name was called, and he followed the nurse to one of the rooms in the back where the doctor he had previously seen the day before was waiting for him, and he greeted Keita, almost like an old friend, and Keita bowed to his elder and then shook his hand, thanking him for seeing him. After the formalities, the doctor checked Keita's pulse, his eyes, his reaction times, his ears, and everything one would expect to get check at a normal scheduled check up, until he got to Keita's stomach. He was listening to Keita's stomach through the stethoscope, and made sure to check for any irregularities the fruit might have cause to the chakra network there. Then, the doctor used a technique Keita didn't know of, and the doctor said it was to check the chakra nodes specifically, and the jutsu could see the elements of the chakra, the condition they were in, and a host of other things related to the chakra nodes, and it was almost like a variation of the mystical palm technique. Keita was curious about the technique, and the man said he came up with it himself, and was in the process of teaching some of the other hospital staff to do it without fancy equipment, because the easiest way was the technique. Although doctors had techniques that could check some of that by taking and studying a blood or tissue sample from the patient, it was much easier just to swipe your hand over their chakra nodes and see what was wrong specifically, and in which area. It seemed that his chakra nodes were perfectly fine, and that he had almost doubled the chakra within his body, based on the chakra nodes. Keita was ecstatic to hear this from the doctor and thanked him, and the doctor said that there was still a few days that he would need to come back, spread out over two months, so that he could make sure there were no long lasting effects.
Keita decided to go out to a field and check his chakra capacity first hand, and simply started using some of the academy jutsu he was taught. He kept using them and using them, and he didn't feel the effects of his chakra pool going down for a long while, and so he figured it was true. Going through that tough trial made Keita a lot stronger, and soon he was ready to put himself under a lot of stress in order to learn from his uncle, as his uncle also had the earth element. He was going to work at the hospital and learn medical ninjutsu techniques, as well as head down to the gym and learn taijutsu, which he could also learn from his uncle. It seemed like the foundation for his ninja career was built up almost perfectly, and now he was ready to confront the ninja world and start climbing with his own two hands. Missions were the next thing on his list, as he needed to complete quite a few so that he could be considered for a ninja rank up.
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10,019/10,000 words
150CP gained
He was thinking the best way to train his chakra was not only to strain it, but utilize it in the academy jutsu he was taught, as using it and forming it into a coherent jutsu and such probably stressed his chakra more than simply channeling and gathering it within his stomach and other parts of his body. As he sat on the floor, legs crossed and hands cupped within each other, the right hand under the left one as to add comfort and stability for the long training session ahead of him, he started to utilize half of his physical strength and half of his spiritual strength in a swirl within his stomach. Since the stomach was where the majority of chakra is gathered in the first formations of it, it was fairly simple, especially with Keita's level of chakra control. His reasoning was that because he had better chakra control than most, he would need to actually gather up more chakra than usual to actually stress the levels of chakra he had. He gathered a bunch into his stomach, and then simply let it dissipate. Gathering and using chakra when he only had a little bit left in the tank would probably stretch his chakra nodes a bit more than if he hadn't. He knew from reading that he had three hundred and sixty one chakra nodes within his body, and he could probably point to each of them on his own body, although finding them on another's body would be next to impossible without a Byakugan or other similar doujutsu that allowed him to see the intricacies of the human body. He tried swirling the chakra and sending it to different areas of his body, flooding the tenketsu with the chakra and trying to swell the chakra points to a level where they were actually being worked out, and could accept more chakra.
This would give his body overall more chakra to work with in the long run. He knew that one night of chakra training was unlikely to wield significant results, but it was a good point to start with, as he wanted to get the training done as fast as possible. Unlike the knowledge and bodily training, this type of spiritual training was going to be long and arduous, mostly because the Mushikoro within his body actually leeched a bit of chakra from him, and didn't help in the retention of chakra based training in the slightest. the Mushikoro could help with body trainings by helping hard wire different muscle memory inside of the brain and muscles, and could help the brain function so that the user's memory and knowledge allocation was at its peak, but when it came to chakra training, the mind worm simply had to sit there and watch Keita struggle. After a few hours of simply letting his chakra leak out of his body, he was at a point where he had very little chakra left, and that was the point where he said that he had to be very careful, considering he could very well pass out or even die if he tried to push himself too far. It was sort of exciting in a way, that he could die by doing something so trivial as chakra training, but that simply reminded him not to be too conceited as a human, and reminded him that as a ninja, he could die at any time, and he had to pay attention so that he could actually change his own fate and stop himself from succumbing to that fate. The light in the room was dim, as he had lit some candles a few hours before, and sweat started to collect on Keita's body, as he started to truly stress his chakra nodes to the point where there were a few times he wanted to simply pass out and go to sleep.
He collected himself and stabilized himself, waited for a little bit, so that some of his chakra would come back to him, but only a tiny bit, and he would simply gather it again and then start using the clone jutsu. The academy jutsu were so trivial to him now that they barely cost him any chakra, so he had to use the jutsu multiple times for the chakra to leak out of his body. As he formed the hand seals, he was nodding in and out of exhaustion and sleep, as well as chakra exhaustion, so he wasn't really sure what time it was. His body decided to take matters into it's own hands, and when the final flame of the last candle flickered out, so did the boy's consciousness, and with that, he slipped into a deep sleep. Keita awoke to the sound of birds outside of his window, his body aching all over, and he had a bit of a headache and sensitivity to light and sound. It was almost as if he had consumed a large amount of alcohol the night before and he was hung over, and he could hear some of his cousins and other members of the Furue clan that lived in the large estate hustling and bustling about their business. He was an avid sensory now, so he could tell who they were and where they were headed, as well as what they were doing. Suddenly, Keita's ears were actually startled by the sudden gurgling of his own stomach, as it demanded food. He wondered what time it was, and wondered if it was still early, and then went down to the kitchens to get something to eat. There were a few people in there already, and judging by the assortment of ham and cheese they were using, it was almost time for lunch. Keita walked up to them, and they knew that Keita loved to everything by himself, so he grabbed some eggs.
Cracking the egg into a skillet, and then another, he waited for them to started to become cooked, before scrambling them together and then pushing them to one side of the skillet. He then took a slice of ham and two strips of bacon from the stores, and then threw them into the remaining part of the skillet. He then covered two pieces of bread with a bit of olive oil for the fat, and then put them on a small metal grate next to the fire, so that the indirect heat could properly toast them. He was going to make a nice ham, egg, and cheese sandwich, and he knew exactly how to do it. Using a bit of tin foil, he would turn a long metal spatula into a small trough, and spread a mixture of brea and sharp cheddar cheese onto it, after grating a bit of it of course. He would then place that on the indirect heating of the grate as well, and check the bread. It seemed like everything was almost done, as the cheese melted quite quickly on the heated metal, and the foil made sure it didn't spill out from the sides. Everything was assembled together on the thick pieces of now toasted bread, and the liquid cheese was scraped onto the top of the ingredients before the top piece of bread was placed. The smell and the look of the sandwich as Keita cut it in half made even the other people in the kitchen whose jobs it was to prepare food, just a little bit hungry. Keita would finish this meal off by grabbing an apple and some orange juice, and then proceed up to his room to continue the training once he had calmed down. Devouring the delicious sandwich was the highlight of his week so far, as he had gotten by using simple snacks and other bits and pieces of meals while he was studying.
However, he needed to relax and let his chakra replenish itself by eating and taking rest periods. After finishing off his awesome meal, Keita would stretch his body multiple times before getting up and walking around the estate a bit. He needed something else, as forcing his chakra out to the point of exhaustion was going to cause more harm to his body than good, and so he wanted a different approach, and wondered if simply using his chakra over a long period of time would eventually increase his chakra capacity. It was most likely that way, but he needed it to become enlarged as soon as possible, so that it could be out of the way and he could focus on something else. Keita was like that, he would set a goal and then ruthlessly and relentlessly pursue that goal until that goal was completed, and most of the people around him knew of this as well, so it was all good, and they usually left him to his own devices. Once in a while, his cousins would invite him to go to outings with them, and he wondered if they truly cared for him, or they were doing it to be polite, or were told by an elder. Still, he knew at least a few of his cousins and some of the other members of the Furue clan enjoyed his company, especially Karma, as she seemed to watch out for Keita and worry about him overworking himself. Keita yawned as he walked out of the estate and then towards the academy that he had gone to previously, as he wondered if he could find some simple training partners there. He could probably teach them all how to perform the academy jutsu, and that was even a mission that was available to him as a genin.
He found a couple of other genin ont he way there that had just recently graduated from the academy, and he decided to join them as they were starting their training. They asked if he had also graduated from the same teacher, but he told them that would be impossible due to the time requirements for the class. Still, it was nice to see other academy students recently out of the academy and getting their genin head bands, and so with that, he spent a few hours with them practicing their jutsu. The sun was hidden by a blanket of light greay clouds, so overall, it was a fairly good day for training, although Keita didn't really care about the weather, and preferred the nice pitter patter and gentle rinse of a nice rain storm within the village. He would form two clones, and send the clones towards the closest genin, as they would try and spar, and the genin would swipe at them with a kunai, although they were fake, and would slip and fall. Keita explained that the clone technique was used for distractions, but with a small amount of training their eyes and the signs to look for, the clone technique was rendered useless for the most part. He told them of the weakness while forming another two clones, and showed them that they didn't have shadows and didn't disrupt the grass that they stepped on either, so it was fairly easy to tell. On dirt and gravel, they wouldn't kick up dust when running or moving as well, so there was a very good way to tell, and it was fairly easy. After showing them this for a little while, he made more clones, and then started moving with the clones in and out of the threat range.
He wanted to try and see if they could differentiate him from the clones right after he had taught them what to look for, and they seemed to understand, but it was still fairly difficult with the real Keita attacking them with punches and they clones also attacking and obscuring the vision of the other clones' feet, so it made it much more difficult for the other gening to discern the real from the fakes. this coupled with the fact that staring at someone's feet in a fight would lead to being unable to defend against the arms, it made for a very good technique overall when used properly. After a bit, the genin were exhausted, and Keita was only feeling a bit tired. being on the offensive was a bit easier for him, which sort of puzzled Keita, as his nature would denote more on the defensive, also considering his medical skills. He patched up the other kids that got accidentally cut with kunai and bruised, so that they weren't bleeding much anymore, and made sure that they weren't in much pain by going and getting some ice, and it was good to know that the future of genin was bright. There were still some gening within the village that thought just because they were the same rank, that he didn't have anything to teach them, and that was just plain wrong. He knew more information than some jounin around the village, but it was experience that he was severely lacking. He just wanted to build a lasting foundation within himself before he went out and risked his life for something that he believed in. He was going to make sure he didn't die, and was going to make sure he could prevent others from dying as well.
He had spent a few hours with the new genin, so when he walked into the academy, he was greeted by a rush of academy students that were about his age, running home to their families or running towards the market to hang out and talk about whatever things they were interested in. They wondered why he was walking back into the academy now that it had gotten out, but then noticed his headband, and he smiled at them, and started talking about how he applied himself and graduated a year earlier than most people. This seemed to impress and inspire some, and make other mad and simply scoff at him, saying that they could do it if they weren't so good or something along those lines. Keita simply smiled at them and passed them to get into the academy and talk with the chuunin teacher. His teacher was sitting behind his desk with a stack of papers from the students, and without looking up from his stack of papers, he asked if there was something that Keita wanted. It seemed like the teacher didn't realize that Keita wasn't one of his new students, until he started speaking, and the teacher actually looked up from the papers to see Keita, the person that graduated early and about five months ago. The teacher told him it was good to see him, and wondered what he was doing there, and Keita responded that he was looking to expand his chakra pool. The teacher was a bit puzzled, because that's usually what chuunins did while trying to study for the anbu exams, as more chakra was usually only needed when one wanted to go into battle, and the teacher asked him if he was preparing for battle.
Keita responded by saying that the teacher knew him, and that he was preparing for everything and anything that could come his way, including the possibility of fighting. Even one of the missions in the village that the genin were allowed to do said that fighting was inevitable, even though that was most likely going to be with non shinobi, it was still a possibility that they could get a lucky shot with a knife or something of the sort. Enhanced chakra wasn't going to save him there, but he wanted to be able to outlast other genin in the case of a chuunin exam or something of the sort. It was fun thinking of different scenarios as well, and reading through the chronicles of Naruto and Sasuke, and all of the other famous people that died off many years ago, it was amazing to think that one day, Keita could possibly be as strong as either of those two, and he simply wanted to make sure he was a bit better than he was the previous day. The teacher was a bit taken back by these words, mostly because a newly graduated genin probably shouldn't be speaking about that far into the future, but then again, this was a student that runs through the obstacles in his life and makes sure to compensate for any outside factors. He was calculating in his approaches to problems, but Keita also wanted to get better at reacting to variables and situations beyond his direct control, and then he suddenly realized that he was ranting on to his teacher about silly things. The teacher simply laughed at Keita, as the young man was still a bit awkward in social situations, and the teacher wondered what his strategy for that was.
Keita didn't really know how to respond, as most social interactions were spontaneous, and mostly attributed to either personalities meshing well or not together, and how well the parties involved knew the psychology of the situation and those around them. He could use social situations and random events like that to better himself at reacting spontaneously. He blushed a bit, and realized that he was still just a simple genin, and talked to the teacher for a while about how to proceed in life with direction and purpose, and that the teacher was proud of Keita for going so fast, but also told him to slow down. When one strives towards a goal and ignores all other distractions, sometimes it is a bad thing, and one shouldn't put the blinders on themselves for a purpose, and should be ready to absorb everything around them at a moment's notice. He told Keita to simply enjoy life as a genin for as long as he could, simply because being a chuunin added a lot of responsibility to a ninja, and that meant more time working and less time training or rushing towards a goal. He told Keita to continue training, but also make sure to make time for missions and a social life, and that having money, a social life, and a productive training life style was all part of being a well rounded individual as well. Keita took these lessons to heart, and was glad that even after he graduated, he could still learn from his old teacher. Keita almost left, when he suddenly realized that he didn't ask his old sensei the question that originally drove him here. Keita asked what the best way to train chakra was, when he didn't want to drag out the chakra expansion over an entire ninja career or even several months. The teacher told him that there was a spiritual forest that most people used to train their chakra levels, and not a lot of people went there because there were myths about it being haunted, and that was just because while you were inside of it, it produced a slight genjutsu like effect on your mind. It was incredibly for training chakra capacity and control, however.
Keita thanked the teacher and bowed to him before leaving the classroom, and behind him, the teacher smirked and wondered if he would lose his mind or not, because the forest was not something that people entered willingly most of the time. Keita went to the coordinates that his teacher told him, and it seemed that the area was off limits,a nd two anbu members were standing guard at the gate. Apparently he wasn't going to be able to get into the forest, because it seemed that this place was strictly access only, and he doubted that a genin had permission to go within. Keita's inference turned out to be correct, as the anbu members stopped him and asked him what business he had there. He was about to turn and leave, but mentioned that his old teacher suggested this place to him, and thought it would help him out as a ninja to go inside. The anbu members looked him over, and then asked the teacher's name, and when Keita gave it to them, they simply stood aside and opened the gate for him. They didn't say another word, but a voice in Keita's head told him to be careful. He also wondered how much sway in the village his old chuunin teacher had, to be able to simply let his name slip and he gained access to a previously restricted area of the village. Keita walked into the forest, and immediately it seemed like the forest was alive, as he could hear no creatures, but he could definitely feel the world around him stirring. There was a canopy of thick trees that interlaced with each other near the top, creating a very thick roof that didn't allow any light to reach down into the forest, and the canopy got thicker and thicker very quickly.
Keita found himself deep within the forest without even realizing it, as if he was being drawn to it's center, and there was where it seemed like it was twilight. There was barely any light, but just enough to where every thing seemed a bit muted to his senses. There was no outside light, but somehow the trees, the plants, and the other things around created their own light, which was also fascinating to Keita. He suddenly felt the urge to devour the light producing plants so that he could figure out how they worked, but felt that he shouldn't due to the nature of the forest, as it seemed to be almost alive, he didn't want to harm it. So, he decided then and there that he would not attempt to harm anything in the forest, unless absolutely necessary to survive. He seemed to be at the center, under a large tree that had fruit budding and stretching down towards the ground, almost as if it was tempting people to come and eat them. This made Keita think there was an evolutionary reason for that, maybe animals came in and ate the fruit, so that the seeds could be scattered through the animals pooping them out after eating the fruit. Still, Keita didn't think he should eat the fruit, so he simply walked up and sat under the tree, which seemed like it was at least the thickest tree within the forest, perhaps not the tallest. The canopy was only twenty feet high, so the entire forest he was in seemed like it was a large room, instead of a big forest, as it had a floor and a ceiling, and even had it's own lights. It was getting darker, and Keita started to meditate under the tree, and started to feel a bit weird. The teacher did explain that it had a genjutsu like effect on people that couldn't be released, so he simply would try to endure it and whatever it decided to show him.
He started to feel the chakra within his body slowly draining, as if the forest was devouring the chakra from inside of his body. This was a good way to train chakra, but he wondered if the forest would try to kill him if this continued to the point of absolute zero, would the tree simply stop, or would it devour the rest of his chakra. The twilight was starting to fade, as the outside world was slowly getting to night time, and the forest, with no outside light, started to go to sleep as well, turning everything pitch black. Keita was suddenly robbed of his sight, the darkness enveloping him within the halls of the forest, and soon there was nothing to relate to. The genjutsu effect was making him not feel the ground anymore, or even the effect that gravity had on his body, so he started to feel like he was floating within nothingness in a sitting position. He opened his eyes, and still saw nothing, but slowly, there were tiny glimpses of light, and at first it appeared as if he was staring into the infinite expanse of the night sky, but soon he came to realize that the lights he was seeing were small crystals inside of the plants around him that glowed in the darkness. They were glowing the whole time, but didn't look spectacular or this amazing when there was outside light effecting the glow of the forest. It seemed like the light was equally spread out within the trees and plants during the day, and at night, the glowing material collected together in the form of crystals that enhanced the brightness of them, and turned it from a simple forest to that of the galaxy.
The chakra that was leaking from his body came as a secondary thought as he was witnessing something this amazing, and was under the effects of a very light genjutsu which was skewing his senses. It seemed like this was the place people would come to seek enlightenment, not technically to expand their chakra pools. Upon witnessing this sight and their chakra pool slowly draining, it seems their minds were expanded as well. This was a chance for Keita to think of new angles for problems he was facing currently. He had figured out from the Kiseimu clan that he was actually adopted and not related to the Furue at all, and Keita eventually figured that out by himself as he had fragmented memories of his time at the orphanage when he was extremely young, but he was pretty sure that his uncle was still his uncle, but there was still an itching feeling that he should find his true parents, even if they were dead, he sort of wanted some sort of closure. The clan told him that his parents were deceased, but he wasn't going to blindly believe them on a whim, and wanted to find out for himself, although he really wondered what kind of people they were. He hoped that there was some sort of problem in their lives that made it impossible for them to raise him, and as he was thinking this, the world around him suddenly started shifting. He wondered what the forest was going to show him next, as the world around him was twisting and turning, and soon he found himself in a room, and he was hunched over a desk with papers scattered around it.
It felt as though Keita had suddenly just woken up from a long night of studying, as he was groggy and his muscles ached. In this haze of his mind, he got up, looked at the papers, and realized they were from a medical book. Suddenly he heard a voice from downstairs, calling to him, calling his name. It was a woman, and she sounded so sweet and gentle that Keita forgot who she was for a moment. That was right, it was his mother, and she was telling him that he was going to be late for school. Keita rushed downstairs after grabbing a fresh pair of pants and a shirt, and made sure that his shoes were on nice and tight. He didn't have a forehead protector, but then again, he wasn't a ninja, he was just a normal person that wanted to eventually become a doctor. As he walked downstairs, he saw his mother in the kitchen, smiling, and making something. His father was at a table, reading something, and said good morning to Keita. It seemed as though everything was perfect as he sat down and enjoyed some eggs and bacon with his family, but something kept nudging at the back of his mind. His mother was asking again what he wanted to do when he grew up, and asked if he still wanted to be a doctor. Keita said that of course he wanted to become a doctor still, just like his dad, and his dad smile and patted the young man on the head a few times. Keita was happy, but something was eating at him, and he had his hand on his chin, trying to figure out what it was that was nagging at him. He wondered if he was forgetting anything, but when he checked his bag, he knew that he had his homework completed, and so he put the worry away.
His dad said he was glad that the son decided against becoming a ninja, and said that the safe life of a doctor was far better. Keita found himself saying that he was a ninja, and then wondered why he said it. There was suddenly a fear in Keita's mind, as certain feeling rushed back towards him. He was wondering why his mother and father weren't looking at him, as his mother was turned away, his father's face hidden by the medical book that he was reading. Keita asked them to show them their faces, and the parents didn't know what he was talking about. Keita suddenly started screaming at them to show him their faces, and finally got fed up and ripped the book away from his father, and he became shocked. His mother turned around, and Keita suddenly saw that neither of these people had faces. Keita had a sudden, oh yeah, moment, and then looked down at his own chest, which was bloody, and he could see the worm burrowing into it. His mother and father slowly crumbled away into dust, and Keita was alone inside of the house, and that reality leaked away, and Keita found himself back at the forest, sweat pouring from his pores and all over his body, as well as realizing he was breathing very heavily. He calmed himself, his hands were shaking as he brought them to his face, and he slowly got his breathing under control. Keita let a large sigh escape his lips, and figured that it was just a life that he wanted, or perhaps that was a reality in which he had his parents and they were still there, alive. The chakra exhaustion that he was feeling was very strange, but it felt like something was accomplished there, whether it was actually his chakra supply increasing, or if it was just his heart growing a bit harder. This forest was indeed dangerous, but it also helped Keita with his own insecurities, and helped him realize that his parents were gone, never coming back, and any hope of a normal life was already gone.
However, when Keita realized this, he wondered why he wasn't sad, as he used to cry when animals died all the time, even when they died of old age, and something this troubling should phase him more than not. He seemed to finally be okay with not having parents, as he suddenly saw visions of his cousins, his aunt and uncle, and the people of the Kiseimu clan appear in front of him. He realized these were fake, but they were all smiling and simply holding their hands out to him, and so he took his uncle's hand and stood up. Keita realized these trees and plants sapped more than just his chakra, they sapped emotional and mental energy as well, as Keita felt thoroughly drained, and decided to go home. It was suddenly easy getting out of the forest, and Keita made sure that he was indeed going to right way. There was no more darkness and no more twinkling crystals, and it seemed that he was in there for at least twenty hours, as his body was extremely sore, and he figured that during that entire time he was most likely sitting in that same position and didn't get any movement, so he started to stretch as he approached the two anbu guards at the gate. He asked to be let out, and they nodded towards him and obliged, releasing him back into the village. He looked like he went through a lot, as he had heavy bags under his eyes, and he moved at a sloth's pace, not really sure if he was going to make it back to his home, but he did it eventually, almost in a drunken haze, and toppled onto his bed, instantly asleep. He didn't dream that night, unlike most nights, and in the morning he seemed a bit more comfortable with not waking up happy. He yawned and seemed to just be content with things, and gave a smile, as he was ready to give it his all.
It seemed like the forest wanted to test Keita's conviction to the world of shinobi, as without the shinobi world, it looked like he would have had a great and productive life anyways, and even now, after seeing all of that, he wanted to go through with his plans even more now. He had a fire behind his eyes that couldn't be quelled, and immediately devoured a bunch of random stuff, and ran back up to the forest to continue his training. The guards out front saw him once again, and they let him in this time without questioning him, and that told Keita it was most likely the same two guards, and decided to ask them a few questions about the forest. They told him they could not really tell him anything regarding the intricacies or advanced details of the forest, and wished him luck, as the second day in the forest was the hardest. Well, that was a bit of a surprise to hear form the anbu member, as usually they simply didn't talk while on guard duty, unless it was to ask someone why they were somewhere they probably shouldn't be. Still, Keita was already a bit nervous, but he steeled himself and walked into the forest. He wanted to reach the point where he was the day before as soon as possible, so he started walking at a brisk pace, but suddenly he stopped and realized something. The forest seemed entirely different from the day before, as Keita had memorized it's layout previously so that he could be better prepared the next day, even though it wouldn't truly help, he took a bit of comfort in the fact that he knew how to get to the center and back. The forest somehow rearranged itself over night, and he was really confused by it.
Root systems usually took years to ingrain themselves in an area, and moving them without any traces of ninjutsu was difficult, if not impossible, unless of course someone of the same power as his aunt was involved and changed the layout of the forest every day, but he thought that was highly unlikely. He then remembered that a genjutsu like effect was skewing his senses, so it was highly likely that the forest was unchanged from yesterday, but it was simply changing what he perceived and was controlling where he moved throughout itself to protect itself. He wondered why it needed that level of defense mechanism, and then he remembered the fruit, and wondered if the fruit held some sort of magical property that he wasn't aware of. This meant that he mind went to a place that he thought for sure it should not have, and that was that he was seriously thinking about eating one of those fruit. He calmed himself down a bit, and thought that his chakra expanded really well the first day, so there was no reason he couldn't just continue on like this for a while until his chakra was at a very good level. Still, he wondered what the fruits tasted like, and how they could be prepared. The forest itself was starting to prey on his own hunger because of the Mushikoro within him, and soon he was staring right at a piece of the fruit. He couldn't bring himself to stop, and instead he simply picked the fruit, and held it in his hand. It grew a bright blue and it seemed like the rest of the forest went dark. Words of wisdom from himself were flowing through his head, such as put it down and leave, or make sure you don't bite into it, simply looking at it is enough.
But it was no use, his body was already complete taken by the tree, and he started eating. One chomp, and then another, the thick syrup like juices flowed down Keita's mouth, and it even made Keita eat a bit of it to copy it's dna and other biological functions, and he was lucky it did. He was eating it like an apple, saving a moist and juicy core for last, and soon, that was also in his mouth. He managed to fight back the ferocious urge to chew and swallow for a little while, but then he swallowed the fruit whole. The forest was suddenly back, the genjutsu hold on him gone, and he immediately clutched his stomach. There was an intense pain coursing through his body as his stomach was dissolving the fruit, and Keita immediately attempted to vomit by stinking his fingers in his mouth, which resulted in nothing but dry heaving. He knew about the structure of the plant and how it was attempting to swell all his chakra nodes to bursting, and this would leave Keita without any chakra, simply a civilian after that, and he was trying desperately to avoid that. He simply could not make himself vomit by using the fingers down the throat method, as apparently the fruit didn't want that, so Keita punched himself repeatedly in the stomach, again, nothing but dry heaving and no effect. Keita got desperate, and managed to stave off the pain for a little while, enough to get a stick. He sharpened the stick, and made sure to think clearly before shoving the stick down his throat. From his training, he knew that the esophagus he had was about one foot in length leading to the stomach opening, and then he had to move the stick about an inch away from himself so that he didn't puncture the lining of his stomach.
Pain and dry heaving, along with the inability to breathe from the stick, made this one of the most painful ordeals he had ever experienced, although it probably wouldn't be the worst in his life. He scraped around his stomach, probably causing a bit of internal bleeding, and found the core of the fruit, still mostly intact, and skewered it. He lifted it slowly up and out of his through, before throwing it on the ground. Once it was out of his throat, the rest of the contents of his stomach were free to exit, as the fruit had a special property which prevented vomiting, and soon the forest floor there was covered in bile, eggs, and a bit of blood. The pulp of the fruit was completely gone, however, as the fruit was fast dissolving mush in his stomach. He took a few deep breaths, figuring out he was safe for now, as the pain also started to subside, and was replaced with the dull burning pain of a few small cuts inside of his stomach. He picked himself up off the floor, and made his way back to the anbu members, a tiny bit of blood on the corner of his mouth, and the stench of vomit on his shirt. The anbu member that wished him luck congratulated him on making it out of there with his chakra network still intact, and Keita yelled at him, wondering why they didn't warn him of the immense dangers of the forest. The anbu told him to shut up, and that they were positioned there to erase the memories of anyone who failed the test, and to make sure that Keita swore to secrecy regarding the contents of the forest, as the fruits were very fickle things and were guarded there so that they weren't abused.
The ones who went through the forest had no idea that their chakra nodes had blown up, and had no memory of the forest at all, and it seemed that they were simply living as civilians now somewhere in the village. This was a secret, as just like the fabled hero's water, the fruit could lead to unintended consequences if it got out that it could greatly increase one's chakra capacity. Keita apologized for yelling, and said that it was probably because of what he just went through, and it seemed that the Anbu understood and simply let him go, telling him to go to the hospital. It seemed one of the anbu were a powerful sensor, as he knew that he had his chakra nodes still, and he wondered if those two were responsible for the genjutsu in the forest, and for keeping unworthy individuals away. Maybe his teacher and some of the other ninjas of the village were authorized to check peoples' character, and tell them to take the challenge of the forest, like his teacher did. It was far too much information and a mystery to even think about right now, as he needed a bit of medical attention. He was losing quite a bit blood, but if he rushed and jumped to the hospital, he would most likely rupture one of the small cuts, and then he would be in a world of hurt. So, as he slowly made it to the hospital, some of the ninjas of the village helped him there once he told them that he ate something he shouldn't have and it somehow cut up his stomach. He had been sworn to secrecy to anyone lower than a jounin in rank, so the anbu basically told him that he could tell his uncle without fear of being in the wrong side of the law.
He would have to convince his uncle that he couldn't tell anyone under jounin about what had happened, but he didn't think that his uncle was one to share that with others so carelessly. Thinking about it, Keita had been through quite a lot in such a short period of time, and he was a bit proud of himself. He was lying on a table and a couple of medical chuunins were using a weaker version of the mystical palm jutsu on his stomach, and on the rest of him, since it seems that he thrashed around and hit some thorns and vines, and perhaps some poison ivy leaves when he was trying to punch himself and make himself vomit up the pit or core of that fruit. They looked him over and after a bit of healing they said he was fine, and that it didn't cost him that much because of his medical skills and the fact that he would be working there very soon, he would just need to be willing to heal the other medical personnel for free when the time came, and he definitely agreed to that. They wanted him to stay over night for observation, and was thinking of checking the contents of his stomach just in case, and to that, Keita requested a senior medical ninja to perform that check, simply because of personal reasons. The chuunins reluctantly agreed, although they seemed a bit insulted, as if Keita said that they weren't good enough to do something as simple as a stomach content check, and Keita made sure to thank them properly and tell them it really wasn't about their perceived skill, and he hoped they weren't upset with him, and if they were, that they would get over it eventually.
Soon, a jounin medical ninja came into the room, and asked why he had requested him for such a simple task. Keita told him that he was in the forest, and at that mention, the jounin closed the door behind him so that no one else could hear him. Keita looked weird, because he was in a children's medical garb that didn't seem to fit him, as it was a bit too short. He was just in the bad height range that he was too short for a longer one, so they gave him one that was meant for a much younger child. Keita got a bit upset and irritated about that, as he hated being so small, he wanted to be a manly man like his uncle, but he was small and adorable, not tall, handsome, and cool. The jounin asked him if he had eaten the fruit, and Keita responded with a yes, and the doctor immediately activated the true mystical palm jutsu, and swiped over his stomach, and he looked relieved. He had seen only two cases of the forest before, and both of them, the fruit had taken the ninjas' chakra, as they were careless and not dedicated enough for it. He was amazed at a child successfully making it through that with only light scratches and a few small cuts in his stomach, and he looked forward to working with Keita in the near future as an apprentice. Keita smiled and nodded, excited and happy that a jounin had praised him. The jounin then went on to say that for the next few days, he had to come and check in so that the jounin could monitor his chakra nodes and levels extensively, as the fruit was indeed fickle, and he just wanted to make sure everything was doing well.
It was very strange, as Keita left the hospital, he felt a combination of being really hungry, but at the same time, his entire body felt like what his stomach felt like when he was stuffed with food, after something like a large meal around the holidays. He thought that was simply a side effect of the fruit and brushed it off, making sure to pull out his notepad and make a not of it so that he could tell the doctor the next day. He didn't feel any soreness or pain when it came to his chakra nodes, so he ordered some miso ramen that wasn't anywhere on the spicy scale that this particular ramen shop was famous for, and some of the other male patrons goaded Keita, asking him if he was an adult, and if he was that he should ask for some spicy ramen instead of the weakly flavored one. Keita responded with the news that he was newly released from the hospital for some stomach cuts, and so they apologized and wished him a swift recovery. He was glad that the people in the village liked to joke around with each other, messing with each other, and it seemed that pranks could be had at any age, and was a bit happy that they had shed their ancient monicker as the Bloody Mist. Just a few hundred years ago, this place was known for violence and blood shed, and now the adults of the village were acting like old friends and messing with each other over the spiciness of their food, bragging about how they could handle the spiciest one, and other friends calling them on their bluff, saying that if he could finish the whole thing, the man would pay for it. Keita laughed and asked if he could sit with them, and they agreed.
Keita smiled and laughed as the man yelled about how spicy it was and his friends were talking smack to him, and so he challenged the other person to eat some. Keita had a bit of fun with them, and then walked home. He had a lot of thinking to do, and he wanted to talk to his uncle about his experience due to the fact that he had no idea what exactly had happened, and it was nice to have someone that had more worldly experience to talk to than simply trying to figure things out by yourself. Keita was actually feeling really well after all of that happened and he was walking back towards his home. The sakura trees were lining the particular route he wanted to take home and he enjoyed how they flowed and drifted through the air as he walked passed them. The gentle breeze that was hitting his face was nice, and it seemed like he was in that static and sort of stale air of the forest forever, far more than simply two days, and soon he would be home, where he could talk to his family and tell them about how he trained a large amount. He couldn't really tell him about the forest, but he could spin the overall story into a tale about how he trained with a genjutsu user that placed him under those effects, and that seemed like a funner tale than him simply sitting inside of a forest under a tree while he was experiencing something similar to a psychedelic drug hallucination. He finally reached the door of his home, and he was happy to be there, but he also had a creeping fear and suspicion, and that was that perhaps he was still under the effects of the forest's genjutsu, and so when he opened his door, he was actually quite scared.
He saw one of his cousins, not facing him, and she was writing or drawing or something, and his heart seemed to jump up into his throat, as the memory of the faceless mother of that genjutsu came to mind. Keita said hello to her, and she slowly turned around so their faces could meet, and Keita let out a heavy sigh of relief, as she looked exactly the same as she always did, small cute face and deep blue eyes. She welcomed him home with a hug and asked him if he was in the library all day again, and Keita was actually really happy to be back home, and his fears dissipated. He still felt really weird now that his chakra capacity was higher, and it seemed much much higher, but Keita didn't have the skills to guess exactly how much chakra he had gained through the fruit. He also wondered if the effects were temporary, and he only gained a boost of chakra for a little whilte, in which he hoped wasn't the case, because he didn't feel like going through that horrible ordeal again, and would most likely just try to slowly increase his chakra over the course of months or even years if the alternative was eating the fruit of the forest again. So after he chatted with his cousin for a bit, he said that he had a good story to tell the next day at dinner, when there were going to be more of the family there, and she was happy that he was going to share something fantastic with them, and hoped that he could resist telling his family the truth, and essentially lie to their faces about it. He then went upstairs to his room so that he could formulate a coherent story that actually made sense to the point where it wouldn't really be questioned with such harsh scrutiny. He was lucky that no one in his family was a powerful sensor and could see just how much his chakra had skyrocketed since the day before, and that he was generally safe with his secret for now.
He was in his room, and figured that he could write up the story the next day, as he was insanely tired, and it seemed like the weight of his decisions that day, and all of the acts that he had done were finally catching up to him and had hit him hard, and so he plopped down on his bed, and fell asleep instantly. Usually his mind was racing for a few minutes after he put his head to the pillow, contemplating and compiling everything he had learned that day, making sure to store it for later use, although that part didn't really matter, he was still going to be able to recall that information even if he didn't do the ritual mind racing before bed, but this time he simply couldn't do it, and his mind fell asleep. He woke up the next day and stretched, and the feeling of being full all over his body had subsided quite a bit, although he still felt that he had more chakra in him than he had ever before. He wanted to make sure he was a little bit early for his doctor appointment that morning, so he only had some fruit to go after he took a shower and said goodbye to his cousins, and they wondered why he wasn't enjoying some breakfast with them like he usually did, and he said that he would explain it all in the story he would tell later that evening. He was walking at a fairly brisk pace, and the clouds were dark and grey, ready to release their bounty onto the village, and the fog was out in droves that day as well. It seemed like one of the days that gave the mist village it's name, as the mist was heavy in the air, and the kids were using it to play hide and seek. That was something that Keita enjoyed playing, and would love to play again on a day like this, when his plate wasn't so full.
Keita reached the hospital with about fifteen minutes to spare, making him a bit happy when he checked in to the hospital at the reception area, and told them that the jounin he saw the day before wanted to check up on him. they confirmed the schedule and told him that it was most likely going to be more than a fifteen minute wait, as doctors were always busy in a ninja village. While he was sitting there, he noticed another child sitting with his mother, and Keita smiled and waved to him. The child seemed to be suffering from some type of stomach ache, as his hand was clutching the stomach. That was going to be something simple hopefully, and the kid would be in and out of the hospital before he knew it, and he told the kid that, because he was also a medical ninja. The kid wondered why a medical ninja needed to go to a hospital at all, and Keita answered back, telling the younger child that he was there to get checked up on by another doctor, as treating yourself sometimes made you think that there was more or less wrong with you than you thought, and it's always good to have friends that want to make sure you are okay and that you have the best time. He then told the kid to listen to his mother, as she was one of those people that most likely knew more than he did, and her advice would be good to listen to. The kid simply looked at Keita and held his stomach, not really knowing what to respond with, until he smiled and nodded, then hugged his mother.
Soon, Keita's name was called, and he followed the nurse to one of the rooms in the back where the doctor he had previously seen the day before was waiting for him, and he greeted Keita, almost like an old friend, and Keita bowed to his elder and then shook his hand, thanking him for seeing him. After the formalities, the doctor checked Keita's pulse, his eyes, his reaction times, his ears, and everything one would expect to get check at a normal scheduled check up, until he got to Keita's stomach. He was listening to Keita's stomach through the stethoscope, and made sure to check for any irregularities the fruit might have cause to the chakra network there. Then, the doctor used a technique Keita didn't know of, and the doctor said it was to check the chakra nodes specifically, and the jutsu could see the elements of the chakra, the condition they were in, and a host of other things related to the chakra nodes, and it was almost like a variation of the mystical palm technique. Keita was curious about the technique, and the man said he came up with it himself, and was in the process of teaching some of the other hospital staff to do it without fancy equipment, because the easiest way was the technique. Although doctors had techniques that could check some of that by taking and studying a blood or tissue sample from the patient, it was much easier just to swipe your hand over their chakra nodes and see what was wrong specifically, and in which area. It seemed that his chakra nodes were perfectly fine, and that he had almost doubled the chakra within his body, based on the chakra nodes. Keita was ecstatic to hear this from the doctor and thanked him, and the doctor said that there was still a few days that he would need to come back, spread out over two months, so that he could make sure there were no long lasting effects.
Keita decided to go out to a field and check his chakra capacity first hand, and simply started using some of the academy jutsu he was taught. He kept using them and using them, and he didn't feel the effects of his chakra pool going down for a long while, and so he figured it was true. Going through that tough trial made Keita a lot stronger, and soon he was ready to put himself under a lot of stress in order to learn from his uncle, as his uncle also had the earth element. He was going to work at the hospital and learn medical ninjutsu techniques, as well as head down to the gym and learn taijutsu, which he could also learn from his uncle. It seemed like the foundation for his ninja career was built up almost perfectly, and now he was ready to confront the ninja world and start climbing with his own two hands. Missions were the next thing on his list, as he needed to complete quite a few so that he could be considered for a ninja rank up.
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10,019/10,000 words
150CP gained