Chakra Pool II [p]

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Today was Thursday, and like every other Thursday of the month, Hiruzen took a turn in taking food and clean clothing to Hakumei’s house. Back when they were still a team, one of their friends, Shinji had given his own life in order to save that of Hakumei, something that still haunted her to this very day. She had been so weak as to let herself be blindsided by the enemy, resulting in the death of Hiruzen’s best friend. Unlike Hakumei, Hiruzen had not just lost his friends and his sensei, he had also lost his father during the attack. What set the two apart was that he was not letting the world take him down, he chose to walk the path of power. He did not want to become like his uncle or his former friend, beaten by an event that could not have ended any other way but in a tragedy. Hiruzen had lost his father and his best friend, yet he did not let it get him down, and he had even made his first kill out of sheer anger, which was not the Shinobi way at all. Due to the shock of killing in anger, losing his father and his best friend in front of his own eyes and losing his team to the Prajñã, his Sharingan had awakened. Many in the clan linked this to the curse of hatred, though that was not the way Hiruzen looked at his awakened ocular power. To him, it was like the will of his fallen comrades manifested into a tangible thing that aided him in combat, allowing him to see what the naked eye would not be capable of seeing while also being capable of saving his life when faced against powerful opponents.

Knocking on her door, it took several minutes before he got any response from the other side. It had been the same way every time he went to her home, taking him to the very edge of his patience before she would finally show any signs of life. His lack of empathy was not something that originated out of his inability to relate to her pain, not at all. No, it was because she chose to lock herself inside of her home, letting her starve if not nurtured by her family and friends, wasting away the life their friends had died to protect. To say that Hiruzen was incredibly upset and disappointed in her went without the need to actually say it, which was why he had not ever told her about it, afraid of sending her spiraling even further down the dark path she had taken. After waiting another five minutes, he placed the bag of food on her doorstep and left, not going to have any more of his time wasted on good intentions for someone who did not appreciate them in the slightest. Banging on the door one more time to make sure she would drag herself outside to actually pick up what he had brought, Hiruzen left without saying a word. She had her chance at responding and had chosen to ignore him yet again. Hakumei was lucky that he had left her food by the door, holding an intense dislike towards slackers and those that wasted the gift of life. Removing himself from Kumogakure in order to continue his training and clear his mind, he went to the usual location. the Forest of Sanctuary just outside of Kumogakure. The moment he found a nice spot, he sat himself down and started meditating.

Focusing on nature itself, he heard the sounds made by the birds up high in the trees, the rustling of leaves in the wind and the distant calls of the macaques that lived near the hot springs on the far end of the forest. Hiruzen was not much for believing in a higher power, though he did believe that there was something out there that maintained the balance in the world. In his personal opinion, it was not that strange to believe in such things, not when things as powerful as a Tailed Beast existed. They too had to come from some place, some kind of other dimension or plain of existence human beings simply could not see and therefore did not know about. As such, his personal beliefs as to the things that might be all around them while simply staying hidden had never been shaken. He did not believe in gods, he believed that if there were things such as demons, there also had to be some kind of counterpart in existence. Wondering whether such beings would ever reach out to someone like himself, he figured that the people in the temple might know about these beings, if they existed at all. Maintaining a constant pattern when it came to inhaling and exhaling, he monitored the flow of his own chakra as it passed through his body, eventually leaking out of him, gradually forming an aura of vibrant green energy.

His chakra had always been something people responded to in a positive way, stating that it reminded them of being in a forest, surrounded by nature. While it sounded kind, the young Uchiha knew that this meant very little when coming from a civilian of the Hidden Cloud. Hiruzen had always felt more at ease when in an area that had trees and greenery as opposed to the peninsula around the Hidden Cloud village. While he was not complaining at all, it was just that the view was not as great for him as it was for others, lacking the greenery that other countries had. For someone like him, the forest of sanctuary was about the only place where there was any real woodland terrain. Though he was born and raised in Kumogakure no Sato, he still felt that a forest was far prettier than mountains and rocky terrain. It was due to the lack of greenery that it meant nothing to receive such a compliment from one of it’s inhabitants, seeing as most of them had never even been to a forest in their entire life. Still, knowing that people at least tried to be nice to him was a kind enough gesture. Through his meditation, he could feel that he was managing to calm himself down, relieving him of the disappointment and growing anger towards Hakumei and the way she just threw her life away, the life his best friend in the world had bought her with his own. It made Hiruzen wonder if, had Shinji known what she was doing with it now, he would have made the same decision of giving his own life for the one that seemed to not appreciate the gesture at all.

For a moment, his calm chakra fluctuated as his anger rose, though it was easily controlled once he felt his internal energy shift out of balance. Keeping his emotions in check was the key to keeping one calm and collected in battle while also keeping their energy under control. In the world of Shinobi, control over one’s own emotions was the first step at winning a battle, controlling their own chakra a second step, knowing one’s own limits being the third. Those three steps were the only things a ninja could do to prepare themselves for a fight and increase their own chances at survival and victory. Through meditation, Hiruzen managed to control the first two, though finding his own limits was something he could only experience when actually fighting, this literally being the only thing his meditation could not give him. Noticing that it had started to get dark, it seemed that he had been out in the forest almost all day, meaning it was time to quit. Taking one final deep breath, Hiruzen called his chakra back inside of him, returning it to the center of his being as the verdant green aura retreated. Now that he had calmed himself down, he got up from his meditative position. As he got up, he felt like he had not been doing the right thing by leaving Hakumei’s food outside. Given the state she was in, chances were that she would not take the food at all if it was not forced upon her. Letting a deep sigh escape his lips, he looked towards his home. Deciding that it was the right thing to do, he headed back to the village.

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

1397 words [1200 needed]
Finished Training