9 Ah Crap, He Broke Through

Kokuo was unable to provide her with proper guidance, so she had to find another teacher.

She couldn't just ask any random person by the street. There was a high chance that she would accidentally pop those damned tails out if she made a mistake during training. That eliminated most candidates from her list, not that she had a lot to begin with.

It seemed that she could only rely on that boy...

He had been attending the academy for more than a year. Even the biggest idiot would have learned a thing or two after all this time.

That morning, she intercepted him right before he was about to go out.

"Huh? Teaching you about chakra? No way!"

Unfortunately, getting his cooperation didn't seem to be an easy task...

"Just ask that monster inside of you."

"I did, but a spirit beast and a human are different by nature."

"...So you're telling me that he's useless," Kiba snorted.

"Insolent kid! This One shall show you who's the useless one!"

"You bas-!"

He was about to curse back at Kokuo when he realized that he didn't know where to actually send his complain. The voice was transmitted directly into his head, so if someone else saw him right now, they would just think that he got angry at Hikari for nothing

This cowardly beast, hiding behind a girl...

"Get off my back. I want to enjoy my rare day off-"

As soon as he had turned around, she quickly grabbed his wrist, preventing him from going any further.

"Please teach me."

He ignored her and tried to leave, but failed miserably.

That strength, what the hell was that?

No matter how hard he pulled his hand, her grip remained firm, as if a thick manacle had been wrapped around his wrist, chaining him to the ground.

"Let go!"

"I'll let go if you teach me about chakra."

"Why does it have to be me? Get mom or sis to do it!"

"I can't. They might found out about my situation."

"...Guh."

True…

"...Fine. I'll do it."

Her face immediately brightened up.

"I'll just help you this once, got it?! I'm pretty busy myself! You better be grateful!"

"Yes, I'm very thankful for your help, benevolent young master."

His cheeks grew slightly red when he saw her smile. Flustered, he hastily yanked his hand away from her loosening grasp before running out of the house.

"Meet me at the usual spot after lunch! Don't be late!"

He hollered as his figure bolted off into the distance.

"..."

Kokuo narrowed its eyes at its Jinchuuriki, giving her a judging stare.

"What is it, Venerable One?"

"You're getting better at handling that kid."

"Thank you for your praise."

No, it wasn't a compliment, though…

---

Hikari initially thought that they would start training at the creek, but it turned out that Kiba had another idea.

He had brought her to a clearing not too far from the village border. It seemed to be a popular spot for students of the academy to train in their spare time, but it was practically deserted on off days.

"Alright, let's start! Don't waste my time! Listen carefully!"

With a smug look on his face, he began to recite the lines that he'd memorized from his teacher back in the academy.

"There are two types of energy within us, they're called physical energy and spiritual energy. Physical energy comes from our bodies, while spiritual energy comes from our minds. When we combine both of them, we get 'chakra'."

He pulled out a tattered booklet with a title that reads, 'Basic of Ninjutsu', and then proceeded to flip through the pages until he found a simple drawing of a human with lines drawn over it.

"This is called chakra pathway system. Think of it like our veins, but instead of blood, it's for chakra. Our physical and mental energy will converge in these organs called chakra coils, which will be distributed throughout our body by the pathway."

She stared at the drawing, comparing the lines to the meridian pathway. There were a few minor differences, but they were essentially the same. How interesting.

These chakra-producing organs, weren't they dantian? The location was also the same, with the most important one located below the abdomen.

How fascinating. Instead of gathering energy from the world, these people could produce them within their own bodies.

A similar concept existed in her old world in the form of inner qi. However, the amount was too minuscule, certainly not enough to reach a higher cultivation level. That was why absorbing and refining qi from the outside world was essential.

"Question, please." She raised her hand.

"Yes! What is it?"

"I get that chakra is produced from the danti- I mean, from chakra coils. How about physical energy? From which part of our body does it come from? What about spiritual energy? What kind of training do we have to do to increase the output?"

"..."

How could he know? They haven't covered that yet in class!

"Excuse me for a moment."

He turned around, using his back to obscure her view as he madly flipped through the pages, trying to find the answer.

"Found it! Uh, I mean, I do know from the start! I'm just confirming it!"

"Yes, of course," she nodded while showing him a sweet, fake smile.

"Physical energy comes from our cells, and to strengthen it we just have to do physical training. Spiritual energy requires us to learn and practice jutsu over and over again to make them more efficient..."

In other words, physical energy increases through exercises, while spiritual energy increases through studies.

Quite straightforward.

How about some firsthand experience?

"Kiba, can you show me how you use your chakra?"

"Huh?" He frowned. "No! I only agreed to teach you about chakra, I never said that I'll do a demonstration!"

"Please?"

"No can do!"

He looked away, unwilling to meet her gaze.

"...?"

Why was this boy so reluctant all of the sudden? No matter how many times she tried to beg him, he just ignored her.

Hmm…

"You know… I overheard Lady Tsume saying something about you before."

Kiba's ears perked up.

"She said that even though you looked lazy, you're actually the most talented descendant of the clan. Even your sister agreed."

"...Really?"

He slowly turned around. There was obvious distrust in his eyes, but they also contained naive expectations.

"But she always yelled at me-"

"She's just showing tough love. You know that to be a strong person, you have to be tempered like fine steel. It's her way of acknowledging you."

"Is… is that so… no, there's no way that's true!"

Even though he denied it, his lips still curved up into a grin, betraying his facade.

"It's true! She was bragging about how great your chakra control is at such a young age. That's why I was so interested in seeing it firsthand. What a pity… I guess you can't do it after all."

"What? I can do it! I just don't want to!" he roared.

"It's okay. I understand," she turned around, pretending that she was going to leave to show her 'understanding'.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Wait! Don't leave yet! This great master will show you my great chakra control!"

Kiba haughtily declared as if his firm rejection from before had never happened.

"Really?"

Hikari gasped, showing off the expression of someone who had been given the privilege of an audience with the emperor.

"Thank you so much, oh strong and benevolent one! I know that my trust is not for naught!"

"Naturally! Now sit back and watch closely!"

Kiba moved closer to the center of the clearing, and then closed his eyes, concentrating on the movement of his chakra.

Meanwhile, the smile on the girl's face slowly transformed into a mocking smirk.

'...'

'Yes, Venerable One?'

'...You… glib-tongue!'

'Thank you for your praise.'

It already told her before, it wasn't a compliment!

Sadly, Kokuo's complaint was blatantly ignored since she was too focused on the changes that were happening to Kiba at the moment.

At first, his body emanated a faint light which slowly grew stronger until it was visible as a blue aura that enveloped him. Then, his physique started to change as well. His nails grew longer, imitating a beast's claws, while his canine teeth jutted out to resemble fangs.

"You're transforming!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Ah?"

He opened his eyes to look at his nails-turned-claws. He didn't seem perturbed by his changes, as if it was a daily occurrence.

"It's just our family's trait. Don't worry about it."

He willed his chakra to settle back down. As the bluish light receded, his features also returned back to normal.

"You see that blue glow just now? That's chakra! What do you think? I'm good at it, right?!"

He laughed out loud while puffing his chest, looking extremely proud of himself.

But then, he started to sway over to the side.

"What happened?"

Thankfully, she managed to catch him right before he crashed down.

"N-no, it's nothing! Get off me!"

Although he still looked a bit pale, the boy stubbornly struggled back to his feet, finally managing to steady himself after taking some deep breaths.

'The child used quite a large amount of chakra, that's why he felt lightheaded just now.'

Kokuo harrumphed.

'Huh… that could happen?'

'Chakra is the essence of life. Running out of it means running out of life itself. That's why lowly humans are forced to control their output, unlike us Tailed Beasts.'

The white beast grinned.

No wonder he was so reluctant to demonstrate it. He still couldn't properly control his chakra output...

Oh well. He did help her to understand the basics. That was plenty enough.

She proceeded to sit in the lotus position. Following Kiba's example, she closed her eyes, and then entered a meditative state.

Back when she had just woken up in this world, she had tried the same method. However, what she had tried to move back then was 'qi', not 'chakra'. No wonder she had failed.

This time, she did it according to Kiba's explanation.

'First, move physical energy. Then, spiritual energy, finally, gather them together in dantian...'

"..."

The first attempt failed with her being unable to sense even a trace of this so-called physical and spiritual energy. However, the longer she spent meditating, the more she could feel them. After a long time passed, she was able to move them, forcing them to gather into the inner furnace within her body.

...Found it.

Faint blue mist poured out and enveloped her whole, a tell-tale sign of chakra utilization.

She could feel power building up inside as the produced chakra coursed throughout her body. The sensation was awfully similar to that time when Kokuo lent her its chakra, albeit the beast's chakra was stronger and greater in size.

"...This is…"

Even though it was similar in function to qi at first glance, this energy was less refined. It was incompatible with the techniques that she had learned as a cultivator.

What if she tried to refine them again?

Hikari partitioned her lower dantian into two chambers. The first would be used to mold chakra as usual, while the other one was used to gather back the produced chakra after circulating it once.

And then, she condensed them as if they were unrefined qi, using them as raw material to form the sea of qi.

To her surprise, it worked!

Somewhat.

It was like squeezing water out of a rock. The resultant qi was in such a small amount that it would be hard to advance to the stages beyond Qi Condensation.

Something was missing in the equation, creating a bottleneck in the process. Unfortunately, she didn't know what the missing piece was.

In the first place, it was the first time that she had molded chakra. There was too little for her to work with. Perhaps after she produced it in bigger quantity, she could make the later refinement process work somehow.

If you can't win in quality, fight with quantity!

"Idiot! Stop it!"

"Huh?"

She was jolted awake by Kiba's panicked yell. The boy had a horrified look on his face.

"Your chakra! Do you want to die?! Stop using them! You'll run out!"

Ah.

Kokuo did say that a person would die if they ran out of their chakra.

"It won't. I'm just circulating it through my meridian. As long as it's not leaking out, I'll be fine."

"...What?"

That's... true, the blue light surrounding her didn't flicker off like flame, they looked more like a constant glow made by neon lights.

What Kiba and Hikari did was fundamentally different. Kiba was expending his chakra, letting them out of his body, while she was merely moving them around in a closed circuit.

"Why don't you try it as well? It's always good to refine qi from a young age."

"Try… what, exactly?"

She scooted closer to him, and then poked at a specific spot on his belly.

"This spot. Feel the dant- I mean, the chakra organ in this place. Imagine that you're rotating it at high speed. Don't let your energy flow out from your body, keep them running in closed circuit."

"???"

He had no idea about what she had just said.

Nevertheless, he still followed her instructions. Instead of pouring them out of his tenketsu, Kiba tried to hold his chakra from going out. With the place that she had pointed as the starting point, he imagined the energy flowing out of that place, visiting every part of his body, and then entering back in.

The chakra still managed to seep out at first. As time went by, his breathing became more subdued, and the heavy burden that he felt every time he exerted his chakra began to loosen up at a drastic rate.

The boy's instinct was quite sharp. She hadn't taught him the method of qi refinement, and yet he could already grasp the foundation.

It wasn't intentional on his part, but every time his chakra re-entered his dantian, a tiny amount was condensed by the intense pressure building inside, producing a trace amount of refined qi.

"How do you feel?" Hikari asked.

"Actually… this is not bad at all! I feel- guh?!"

He suddenly clutched his chest, feeling pain all over his body.

Hot. His body was scorching hot! It was as if a flame was burning within, threatening to turn him to ash.

"Kiba?!"

"Uaaaaagh!!"

Every pore on his skin simultaneously opened up. Trickles of black, smelly substances poured out of them, soaking through his shirt and pants.

"Eh, wait, don't tell me..."

While she had a deeper knowledge of the subject, Kiba was way ahead of her in actual physical training. In terms of reaching the bottleneck of the Elementary stage, it could be said that he was infinitely closer to the next step compared to the girl who had just trained for three months.

This result was hardly surprising.

His chakra veins widened up in an instant, forcing his chakra organs to pump out in higher quantity to satisfy the sudden demands. The bluish light enveloping him turned more opaque as a result.

Meanwhile, a surge of power coursed throughout his body. His muscles grew denser and more defined, while his senses were enhanced even further.

The sudden change had exhausted him. His dantian stopped moving, causing the bluish glow to disappear. Fainting with his eyes rolling up their socket, the boy crumbled down like a sack of potato.

"Casting off impurities... a sudden increase of energy capacity... forming a sea of qi..."

Hikari murmured with a frown as deep as the Mariana trench.

Judging from the symptoms, that boy most likely had breached the bottleneck and entered Qi Condensation stage.

"..."

Ah crap, he broke through.