8 - Personal discoveries
The neutral manifestation of the Limitless technique created a conditional barrier around Gojo, preventing any moving attack, no matter how strong or destructive, from getting through. However, any member of the Gojo clan, one of the three great clans in the world of shamans, who was born with this cursed technique, could not fully realize its potential because it was very costly and demanding in every sense. No one could, except for the users of another special hereditary cursed technique—the Six Eyes. These mystical eyes infinitely reduced any cursed energy costs for their owner. This meant that Gojo was one of the few people in the entire history of his clan who managed to tame his Limitless thanks to another innate gift.
For a child who had already awakened his native cursed technique, taking basic control over it, excluding unique cases, was not a problem. Using an innate technique for a shaman was comparable to moving a hand or leg for an ordinary person; it could be done both intentionally and reflexively. But Satoru had never heard anything similar about chakra from Kanna, nor did he suspect that its outburst could occur on the same reflexive level due to overwhelming emotions. Unlike cursed energy, the key to proper chakra management was supposed to be systematic work and training.
"So, Kanna herself doesn't understand what chakra is in its essence," a simple and absolutely correct thought visited his mind. "Or she decided that I don't need to be told about it..."
As a result, all this led to only one consequence—he could no longer fully and unequivocally rely on the training method of the person who took him in. Experiments or communication with much more knowledgeable and unrestrained people were needed. But at the moment, this rough outline of a plan was only of secondary importance to Satoru, with the primary goal being to preserve his own life. When Shimizu Kanna talked about dying from a lack of chakra in the body, she was definitely not mistaken. The very fact of rapid energy leakage from the body made Gojo feel increasing weakness, even if there was still enough of it in the body until now.
"I remember how the technique formed in my body in an instant and how it returned my infinity to me," trying to recall every circumstance of what happened, the former shaman tried to pick the lock. "And then it continued to sustain itself independently, constantly drawing my chakra and manifesting more and more infinity into reality. So, it's like a very weak Blue."
Continuing further, Satoru reached the apple orchards. He sat down under the nearest tree and concentrated well. After all, in the next hour, he might die, and he certainly didn't need that—it was far from certain that he would gain a new life again as it happened once. Testing his luck so many times was not something Gojo was eager to do; after all, he was not Hakari Kinji, another shaman and his student who seemed to have subdued this very luck to his will.
"In theory, pushing even more chakra to the technique to disrupt its operation with a sharp and rough energy surge should be a piece of cake... After all, it was drawing chakra to itself, so it would be like swimming downstream," Gojo pondered. "However, will it work? After all, chakra is not the well-known cursed energy. Here, the principle is entirely different, and it might just strengthen the technique. I'm still unfamiliar with many nuances that undoubtedly exist."
With a sudden insight, a broad grin grew on Satoru's new young face.
"Then..."
Listening carefully to his own sensations, he tried various finger gestures, including those seen thanks to Uchiha Obito. Through a simple logical chain and comparison, Gojo realized the main principle of the local shinobi techniques: they were not innate manifestations but were artificially created by the person using chakra. In his native world, hand signs served as a ritual for the full, simplest, and most powerful manifestation of the user's innate cursed technique into reality. Thus, here the signs were not needed for the techniques themselves but as tools to simplify the process of their formation! And this meant that they helped in controlling chakra, and therefore theoretically self-sustaining techniques could be canceled with their help simply by diverting energy from them.
The first results followed immediately: the former shaman almost immediately felt how, after the first gesture, chakra began to shift slightly in his body in what he understood to be his CCS channels. It was a random, sloppy hand sign, but even it gave a result! After this, Satoru immediately copied from his memory what Uchiha Obito had shown him when using the fire technique. The tiger seal. The flow changed again, speeding up slightly and approaching directly to the stomach where the Limitless technique had formed. He frowned irritably and then tried to perform a "reverse" tiger to try to divert energy from the stomach. The formation of the seals was tough due to untrained and unaccustomed fingers. Again, this meant only one thing—he would have to work on developing his fine motor skills. He also knew exercises for this.
The newly invented Gojo's "reverse" tiger did not work as expected, but at least it did not advance the chakra to the stomach, merely slightly slowing down its circulation in the CCS. From the very beginning of this challenging test of inventiveness and endurance, memories of Kanna's words about tenketsu floated in his mind. She said that tension points in the CCS were like valves and pumps. It turned out that there were many in the wrists since these hand signs so actively influenced the chakra within the body. In theory, one could find the correct seal through trial and error very quickly, but for this, one needed at least an approximate idea of where the so-called tenketsu were located.
The entire process took Satoru about ten more minutes, but he eventually succeeded. He allowed himself to exhale with relief and smile not out of excitement and under the pressure of overwhelming emotions but sincerely and joyfully. The experience, of course, was extreme, but Gojo was even glad that he had undergone it—now he knew much better how to handle chakra. And most importantly, he had created what he believed to be a unique seal for canceling his inexplicably created technique. And he remembered it, that's for sure.
Lying in the narrow path between young apple trees, the former shaman looked at the sky with a lively and renewed gaze, flashing a grin with all his yellowish teeth. More precisely, someone else's—this was the local Satoru's flaw. Harmless to enamel, toothpaste was unlikely to help the new owner here, but perhaps in the future, when he saved up some money, the local iryō-nin could solve this small problem? It was, of course, a trivial matter, but money meant something everywhere...
"Mei Mei didn't chase big money for nothing!" Memories of the former shaman came to life in his head. "I myself liked to dress in expensive clothes; I looked cool and respectable in them."
This time, the wide grin of a winner, resembling more of a grin, was replaced by a friendly, dreamy smile of a person who sees his near future as simply wonderful. And how could it be otherwise? After all, now he knew for sure that he had not lost access to his beloved Limitless forever!