Pakin lay spread-eagled eagle on a large stone, savoring the cool rock under his back.

  “Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.” Every ‘ow’ synced with a pulsing throb from his muscles.

  He’d been so gung ho from Gera’s speech earlier that he’d forgotten how much his body hurt from the run yesterday. He reached the end of every exercise with trembling limbs and a slowly growing stain on the rock beneath him.

  “Are you done whining yet?” Gera sat on the stone across from him in a meditative pose. At least, she seemed to be meditating, her hands resting on her knees and her chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm. Pakin hadn’t seen anyone else practicing meditation, but it seemed like the kind of thing to develop anywhere with people.

  “No, Gera sensei.” He’d taken her seriously when she asked him to call her Gera sensei, but he’d quickly figured out she didn’t mind if he got a little sassy with her. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Okay, I’m done now.” He rolled over with a grunt and pushed himself into a lotus position similar to Gera’s.

  She glared at him with one eye, and he tried to replicate her mischievous smile. She let out an exaggerated sigh, saying, “What am I to do with such a disrespectful student? I guess I’ll have to skip out on chakra training for the day, since he’s so unwilling to show me the respect I deserve.”

  Pakin immediately bent at the waist and pleaded, “Please forgive your precocious student, Gera sensei. He’d forgotten that one must always show utmost respect to their teachers.”

  She looked down on him imperiously before she smirked and made a dismissive motion with her hand. “Alright, that’s enough fooling around. This part is actually pretty serious, so pay attention.”

  Pakin righted himself and responded with a “Yes, Gera sensei” to show he was focused and alert.

  “Chakra is both the most complicated and simplest aspect of being a shinobi. It’s simple in that everyone has it, and using it comes naturally to every living creature on Earth, shinobi just use more of it. It’s complicated, because to use it well, let alone master it, is a matter of incredible dedication, talent, and luck.”

  She got up and hopped to Pakin’s rock with supernatural grace. She sat down next to him and motioned for him to face her before saying, “There are two major actions you must learn in order to use chakra like a shinobi. First, you must learn to take your body’s physical energy and your soul’s spiritual energy and mix them together to create the energy known as chakra. This mixing is called ‘Chakra Molding’ and your body does this on its own every second of every day. Learning how to mold chakra manually lets you create more than your body needs, to use for your own purposes. Second, you must learn to control your chakra. Without proper control, even the most basic of ninjutsu is impossible. So, molding to make chakra and control to move it, is this making sense so far?”

  “Yes, Gera Sensei.” It all lined up with what he could remember from the anime, but admittedly, he wasn’t very confident in his lore knowledge. He was far more interested in the cool fights and super-powerful ninjutsu. So, most of what he remembered were specific, key story beats and general plot developments.

  “Excellent.” Gera took Pakin’s wrist and rotated his palm up. Then, she hovered her other hand high over his palm, and he started to feel that same static from when they were in the field. “Do you feel that?” She asked.

  “Yes, Gera sensei. It’s like when we were sitting on the bench and you made all those leaves and twigs move, only this time it’s concentrated in my hand.”

  “I’m surprised you noticed that.” She lowered her hand closer to his palm, and the sensation increased, becoming closer to pins and needles. “Some people unlock their chakra through meditation and self-observation, but other people, like me, prefer a more direct method. I’m pushing a small amount of chakra out of my hand right now, I’ll slowly lower it until you feel your chakra start to react. Once you do, chase that sensation and follow it back to its source. The rest should come naturally.”

  Gera continued to lower her hand, and Pakin felt the sensation increase. Incrementally, it grew past the point of tingling to discomfort, like his nerves were on fire. It was similar to the feeling you get when someone tickles you for so long it starts to hurt.

  Pakin tried hard to find whatever sensation Gera was talking about, but as he searched and searched, the discomfort in his hand kept distracting him.

  Christ, it’s so strong now. If she reaches my palm, I might scream. He was having to suck in breath to focus and stop from ripping his arm out of Gera’s grasp. DAMN IT, it’s like my nerves are about to jump out of my skin and push her hand away themselves. Only, it wasn’t his nerves. Something else was trying to push back against the chakra emerging from Gera’s palm. Pakin had a flash of insight and honed in on that pushing sensation.

  *SHHHHHHHIiiiinnnggg*

  Every cell in his body became like a blade, sharp and gleaming. Where they touched, they clashed and rang out with the sound of steel on steel.

  Pakin let out a gasp as he felt his body come alive with energy. The ringing in his cells echoed through his palm, down his wrist, through his arm, up his shoulder, down his chest, and into his heart. Then, with a melodic *GONG* he felt his chakra flow from his heart to the rest of his body.

  It’s so FAST!

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  As he turned his mental eye onto the chakra rushing through his body, he marveled at how it moved like electricity through his veins.

  He hadn’t realized it, but he’d closed his eyes in his search for his chakra, so he opened them to gawk at his teacher.

  “I… it’s like… I can’t even.”

  Gera smiled from ear to ear as she said, “I know, it’s so beautiful, isn’t it? There’s more we need to do, but before we go back to the lesson, tell me what it feels like. Is it hot or cold, fluid or solid? How does your chakra make you feel, Pakin?”

  He tried his best to come down from the high he was experiencing, but was only mildly successful. Instead, he just focused on his body and the new senses he’d gained access to.

  “It’s like, when my dad and I were working in the forge. He’d do it a lot, and I could feel it if I was close to him, but it wasn’t until I’d been trying to forge a knife for Mrs.Byoo that I finally got it.” He let out a satisfied breath, the memory of heat and sound filling the theatre of his mind. “When you’re hammering out a piece, it rings because of the vibrations from all the clashing metal. But, sometimes, you hit a piece just right. It moves exactly how you wanted it to, and it’s like the metal you’re working with felt it too. Then, it sings. You feel the note travel up your bones and through you down to the earth. That’s what it feels like.”

  Gera smiled warmly, but her eyes showed a glint of curiosity. “That’s amazing, Pakin. I’ve heard it described like raging fire, electricity, or cool water. This is the first time I’ve heard someone describe it like that. It sounds beautiful.”

  Pakin was ecstatic. Every middle school nerd’s escapist fantasy was his reality! He wasn’t sure how, but he was going to cast fireballs, shoot water from his mouth, smash giant boulders over people’s heads, the whole nine yards!

  “Okay, kid. I can practically see the delusions from here. Let’s come back down to earth for a second. You won’t be casting any jutsu during this road trip, so get that out of your head. Your job, before we get to Kumo, is to master all the individual hand seals I’m going to teach you and get in as much chakra control training as you can.” Gera got up, flickered, disappeared for a few seconds, reappeared, and sat back down.

  “Hand seals are a little more complicated, and they have a good deal of theory behind them, so they’ll be the primary focus of the lectures later. So, for now, you’ll be practicing with this.” Gera held up her hand to reveal a leaf.

  “Where did you even get that? It’s the middle of winter!” Pakin, for the second time today, was stupefied.

  “Shinobi secret, I’ll tell you when you’re older. Anyways, focus up.” She held the leaf up to her forehead and pressed it lightly to her skin. She removed her fingers, and the leaf stayed in place. “Try and pull it off.”

  Pakin obliged and tried to pluck the green leaf from his teacher’s forehead. It didn’t budge. He pulled a little harder, and still no movement. He didn’t bother trying any harder. He’d gotten the point.

  “You’re using chakra to hold it in place.” He stated.

  Gera grinned and plucked the leaf from her head. It came free without resistance, and she handed it over to Pakin. “Chakra molding is pretty easy, just try to imagine more of it building up in your heart. Then, once you’ve got your extra chakra, try to move it to your palm. Once it’s there, will it to grab the leaf in your palm. Hands are easy for most people to start with, since you use them every day, it’s easy to focus your perception on them.”

  Pakin laid the leaf carefully over his left palm and tried to mold some extra chakra in his heart. He tried to pull more out of himself, but that didn’t feel quite right. It wasn’t like he was making some where there wasn’t any, so it was hard to picture more coming out of where he felt it already flowing so quickly.

  “Image is everything with chakra. Some people have told me they spin it to try and suck it towards themselves like a whirlpool. I’ve heard others say they imagine a vase filling with water. Personally, I imagine a cloud slowly growing heavy with rain.”

  Pakin tried again, only this time, he worked his chakra into a spiral like Gera had said. He felt it working for a second, but the natural flow of his chakra snatched it from his grasp. He could feel himself growing frustrated, so he stopped trying for a second and just breathed.

  As he tried to zen out, he focused again on the feeling his chakra gave him. The ringing had quieted to a persistent chime, a single note flowing out to the rest of his body with each beat of his heart. He wondered if he had to make his chakra ring more or louder, but that didn’t feel right either.

  So, he thought and thought some more until he wound up back in the forge with his dad. He remembered all the times he’d managed to make the metal sing. What had made it so powerful? Why had it felt so perfect?

  It’s the vibrations. Feeling, that’s what Pakin had missed. The sound was beautiful, but the combination of sound and vibration solidified those moments in his heart. So, he tried to make his chakra vibrate more, and it worked!

  The vibrations grew and more chakra flowed from his heart, but once again it was swept up in the flow as his heart beat.

  What if… Instead of matching the vibrations of his heart, Pakin tried to make more vibrations between his heartbeats.

  *Di-ding* *Di-ding* *Di-ding*

  Slowly, a ball of chakra built up untouched by the flow of his heart.

  “I did it, Gera sensei, I have some extra chakra!” He felt a little slip from his control as he spoke.

  “Good Pakin, now move it down your arm and into your palm. Carefully.”

  Pakin directed his chakra to crawl towards his shoulder, but it was pulled from his grasp as soon as it got there. He felt it rocket down his arm and blast from his palm. He watched as the leaf flew up a few centimeters, flipped, and landed back in his palm.

  “Pfftt,” Pakin glared at his teacher as she turned to try to hide her smile. “Sorry, sorry. Did it get away from you?”

  “Yeah,” Pakin confirmed, “it was like something grabbed it and yanked it down my arm. It did what I wanted, but it was way too fast.”

  Gera crossed her arms and thought for a second. After a moment’s contemplation, she said, “I think control’s going to be tough for you. Even though the wasting is gone, your channels have likely developed towards quick chakra movement as a consequence of having it constantly forced out of you.” She levied a challenging glance at him. “This is where that extra work I talked about starts to come in, my dear student. Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is?”

  What else was there for him to say?

  “Yes, Gera sensei!” With a look of deep concentration, he stared at the leaf as it flipped wildly above his palm.