Adapt or Perish [Shingan Training]

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Right when Mana thought that her training at the masters of Kumogakure was over her bulky sensei called her up for a visit. Initially the young magician just thought that he wanted to slug with her again but at this point she had no interest in it. Over the long time she spent mastering the secrets of combat perception she learned all of the man‘s moves and patters, there was very little he could‘ve done that would‘ve surprised her. However he really wasn‘t just going to train with the Sennin, he wanted to direct her to another location.

„You‘re the most skilled student from Konoha I have ever had, I have never really seen a Konoha brat with this much determination and those crystal clear eyes. I think I‘m ready to take you one step higher, I‘d like you to climb the Kyousei mountain and meet MY sensei for training. He is the master of perception, I‘m sure there is much he could teach you if you‘re willing to learn.“

Mana bowed to her sensei, the man lifted his gigantic palm and removed his gi revealing bandages all over his body, with one quick move he tore those bandages off revealing his horribly scarred body. His eyes turned angry and determined as he spoke up again.

„However before you leave I must warn you, master Kohaku is not a joke. You thought my training was rough? It‘s not anything compared to my training, I‘d like you to have in mind that I left master‘s training before we could finish. I just couldn‘t take it, if you‘re not ready to die for your strength, if you‘re not ready to go through hell to achieve it – you‘ll fail. So if you doubt your conviction... Don‘t waste your time.“

Mana couldn‘t help but smile. Obviously these words troubled her, they gave her something to fear. However she had no time nor the luxury to be afraid of power. She needed whatever master Kohaku of the Kyousei mountain could teach her so Mana started her climb without wasting any time. According to a map which her ex-sensei gave her the small temple dojo that master Kohaku had on the Kyousei volcano could only be reached by climbing the mountain instead of using one of the easy passageways, other wise she‘d still have to move through the mountain sideways once she reached the necesarry height.

After looking at the immeasurable climb ahead Mana tried to pull her body up, an unexpected pain resonated through her body as the girl slipped and fell down on her butt. The magician looked at her hand – a giant gapping wound was spitting out blood, like she just grabbed a sharpened blade. Apparently the mountain was full of sharp like steel hardened magma surfaces. The magician knew that there is no way that she could climb it this way, maybe she could ascend several meters up but... The higher she climbs the more lethal her fall will be once she slips and falls. She‘s not the kind of person who would survive such a climb, Mana doubted there even was such a person at all. The young lady slowly started walking up the volcano through the built path, she‘d just have to figure out the way later.

The magician was huffing and breathing heavily by the time she reached the required altitude and this wasn‘t even climbing, just walking up the prebuilt path. Mana was glad that she didn‘t choose the suicidal climb path, that must‘ve been just a fool trap, no way there were people strong enough to survive gripping and rubbing their body against a steel hard sharpened edges of hardened magma. They would bleed out long before they reached an altitude required to kill themselves by falling. A horrible death awaited those who did not see the absolute death behind such a climb. And yet... Mana somehow had to cross to the other side of the mountain now and there was no way to do that. The only way she could see was to just climb the mountain sideways around but... That‘s the same as climbing it up, the magician‘s body trembled just imagining the stupidity of such a decision.

Mana sat down to meditate, she just saw no other option but to let her mind and consciousness float, try to come up with some sort of way, some sort of decision. Maybe she could sense the man? Wasn‘t master Kohaku supposed to be just about two hundred meters behind a hardened magma wall? Still, that range was much greater than Mana’s sensory usually reached but… She was a prodigy at sensory, someone who kept sharpening her senses every time, someone who relied heavily on her sensory her entire life? There was no way that the level she was on was the final one. There must’ve been something above, something greater!

Mana let her mind float away, she could feel the wall of absolute darkness, the wall behind which nothing could be seen, no more stars. Stars symbolized chakra signatures, the greater the star, the larger the signature. The girl’s mind roared proudly as she started tackling and hammering at that wall, as if that barrier was just imaginary, as if it was just a wall of glass, nothing to care about. Finally the wall crumbled down, Mana’s sensory expanded but by just a small margin. Still, it’s not the increase in her sensory that mattered, it’s the fact that it COULD be increased. Sensory always was a highly spiritual art, what if Mana’s training with martial arts and perception allowed her to surpass the limit.

For several more hours the magician kept hammering at her limit, step by step prolonging the sensory range by a couple of meters with each successful breakthrough. Why couldn’t the magician notice it earlier? She’s been training the art of sensory for the greater part of her life, she’s advanced so much from the frightened little girl afraid of her sensory that she was before, or the afraid girl who’s been sent into a panic attack every time she sensed a big chakra signature. It was time that she became the best that she could! And then all of a sudden Mana sensed something – a signature of someone just behind the wall of hardened magma, not that far behind, just a thin layer. The magician walked up to the spot and knocked on it, the spot felt… Different.

After just mere moments the wall opened revealing a rather scantily clad woman, then again, in this heat who would’ve blamed anyone for not choosing to wear any clothes.

“Well, well, you’ve found me… It’s been a while since someone found me, you must be someone really skilled, I always do my best to conceal my chakra… No normal sensor can feel me, and don’t even get me started on the fools that climb the mountain attempting to reach Kohaku-sama. Anyways, if you still wish to train with Kohaku-sama, follow me.”

The woman said as she turned and started walking through a tunnel built into the mountain, it must’ve went around the crater right from this side of the volcano to the temple on the other side. Mana breathed out and entered the dark cave, absolutely nothing could’ve been seen, the young lady had to keep her sensory open and if what the woman said was right – no sensors could even track her which meant most people would’ve gotten lost even if they found the woman somehow. The magician was intimidated, if just finding the dojo was so difficult, just how hard will it be to actually train there?

1276/4000

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

The path was so dark, the chakra signature of the lady was so hard to track, she wasn’t even hiding or anything but… She still could barely even be picked up – was that some sort of a talent? To stand right in front of a sensor and be unable to be tracked, the magician has heard of people avoiding attention by hiding, by making their chakra disappear by being stealthy just like that Allied ninja from the Mist did. The corners were hard to see, turns were difficult to predict and every time that the magician bumped into the wall the hardened magma made grievous cuts by even the gentlest of touches. This training was slowly killing Mana before she even got to it!

Then the woman stopped, Mana finally caught up to her as the woman stood by a steel door. “You’ve come the closest anyone has ever come to actually starting the training but… Once you enter the only ways out are by mastering the master’s techniques or your dead body being dumped into the magma below, there are no other ways, that is the way of the Mind Eye.” the woman said and opened the door. Mana was intimidated, she hesitated to take the step into the light. The light tormented the eyes of the young woman as she looked at the grotesque dojo which would be her second home for the time being.

It was almost an arena like construction surrounded by a two meter steel wall of bars. Almost like a prison cell hanging above the gigantic crater, if it was shaken any harder it would’ve plummeted below into the fiery hell of lava. Mana followed the woman but her muscles were shaking, blood was coming over her eyes as her forehead had an open bleeding wound for when she accidentally let it touch the sharp hardened magma. The man standing in the middle was what a perfect warrior would’ve looked like: a man in about his fifties, bulky and muscular yet not overly so – a perfect combination of speed and strength was heavily implied by his body build. Being a newly discovered master of perception Mana could read his fighting style just by looking at him.

“Where is the girl’s sword?” the man yelled out without even turning back to face her, his sensory allowed him to see THAT MUCH? How was one supposed to spar with this person? Unquestionable and absolute fear crept into Mana’s body but she couldn’t hesitate, couldn’t be afraid, that chance was abandoned when she stepped over the edge and onto the bridge leading to the hanging dojo.

“I do not have it, but I do have something to defend against one…” Mana replied pulling out her Wonder Wand.

“That isn’t the Mind Eye way, Misumi, give her a sword, doesn’t have to be a fancy one.” the man spoke still completely calmly observing the other side of the edge of the crater they were hanging above. The woman complied pulling out a sword from under her kimono, was she really carrying it the whole time?

“B…But… I don’t…” Mana wanted to tell him she has never even held a katana in her life, she’s heard that these things were dangerous to the uninitiated, that a wrong swing could easily sever her own leg.

“Well then it’ll be a short session.” the man replied. Finally he got the decency to turn around and unsheathe his blade.

Without saying a word he dashed forward, Mana saw him coming but couldn’t dodge him, the man’s elbow dug deep into her gut. The magician coughed up blood and fell on her knees dropping her unsheathed sword. “Is this some sort of a joke?” Kohaku asked as he lifted his unsheathed sword in the air threatening to finish her off just like that. Just barely the young woman could roll out of the way still gasping for air.

That was basically how the day went, she was lucky that Kohaku used a boken for that day, she was also lucky to have completed the Perception training previously from the mountain of muscle she trained with before. Kohaku wasn’t joking around, his attacks could’ve easily killed Mana even with a bamboo sword. The magician had enough perception to see the attacks but she couldn’t really block them or defend them, just redirect them using her unsheathed sword to a non-vital area. Kohaku was aiming for her vitals the entire time!

As the day ended Misumi started patching her wounds, just like before training with the other fellow, Kohaku’s apprentice. The woman seemed proud in Mana’s progress even if Mana didn’t even understand what she was supposed to learn – her body was battered, bruised and broken and Misumi didn’t even use medical techniques – just bandages and ointment. She won’t be any better tomorrow!

“You’ve done good today, Mana. However with each day you fail to kill Kohaku-sama he weakens you, one day he will hit your vitals and your body will plunder to the magma below… I suggest you kill him before he does that, at least unsheathe your blade…” Misumi advised but Mana wasn’t an idiot, she couldn’t handle a katana, she never even held one, unsheathing it would’ve made things worse for her – she’d lose in an instant with a naked blade. This dojo truly was hell, the magician had to sleep in the heat of magma below, how she got any Z’s at all was beyond the magician.

The next day the training was supposed to start again, this time Kohaku held a proper blade and his eyes looked like those of a killer. He was going to go for Mana’s life, the magician knew it. And so her sensei charged forward. Mana saw it all, she placed her unsheathed katana in the way to block the kick but… It was so strong that it sent her back, with a flash Kohaku was behind her drawing the blade. Mana could sense him with her sensory but also… She saw him move using the perception techniques she had learned before.

“He’s going to kill me… I have no way to avoid it.” a thought came to the girl’s mind, it was almost like time itself stopped. There was none of her life flashing through her eyes, just everything stood still. It was like a whole new level of sensory as the girl could sense Kohaku’s arm stiffening, she could know that he would draw his blade and saw the exact angle. The magician roared as she drove her unsheathed katana into the ground to slow her velocity of flying backwards as her sensei drew.

After a slashing sound of sword piercing flesh Mana could feel her blood shooting out and splashing all over her clothes and a warm torrent all over her body. That didn’t matter, SHE WAS ALIVE. That cut was strong and swift enough to cut her in two but she somehow prevented it, she somehow predicted it. HOW? It was like sensory but… She could sense much more accurately, almost like she could sense everything going on in both her and her sensei’s body, she could sense the tense hearthbeat of Misumi as well.

Kohaku grinned as he got into the stance ready for the second attack, only several seconds had passed of this infernal training but Mana already had blurry vision and feeling as if she was about to die. This was going to be a long day.

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Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Mana spent the entire day clashing her sword sheathe with each lethal sword strike, each leaving at least a small dent in her body. However the magician figured out a secret – she tried to touch to the steel bars with the wound making the heat from the bars cauterize the wounds causing hideous scars, they were scars that intense Mystical Palm therapy could heal but… Mana felt sorry for her own naked body when she saw it later in the evening – it was covered with hideous slash marks and burns, it no longer reminded the girl of the pretty and innocent pink body with soft skin that she was used to seeing since her childhood.

“Misumi-san… I saw something today.” Mana replied to her medical assistant’s usual speech about how she has to kill Kohaku to walk out of here. “I sensed a lot of chakra pulses in your heart area, you love Kohaku-sensei, don’t you?” the magician asked with a smile. The woman looked shy but also quite surprised, her eyes were wide open and the Sorceress couldn’t accurately tell what this surprise what supposed to be about.

“You’ve opened it then, the Mind’s Eye – Shingan!?” the woman yelled out but Mana shook her head, she could only see it for that one moment, that one subtle and fragile moment when she was completely overwhelmed and her life was in danger. Still, she spent the night meditating, if only she understood how this “Shingan” felt she could perhaps understand more about it. By understanding what it was and how exactly did it work Mana could more accurately and successfully enter it.

Next day Kohaku smiled at the magician.

“I saw you opening the Shingan yesterday, only for a moment though. Now you’re ready for the real training to begin – the way that the Shingan was passed through the ages! The ultimate combination of a swordsman’s perception and chakra sensory, it is the ultimate tool in battle. It is the edge that will carry you out against any opponent, with it your opponent’s shall taste no victory. However… In order to acquire it you need to kill the previous master, your Shingan needs to clash with mine, at any point there must only be one master of Shingan on Earth. By the end of this day the body of one of us will plunder into the hell below…”

“Kohaku-sensei, I did not yet master Shingan, just entered it once.” Mana replied.

“Beginning the real training after the student enters Shingan once is the ancient way, the way in which the Shingan was practiced for ages. You master it and adapt or don’t and die. Now, show me if you are just a quivering leaf that falls at the first sign of the evening wind or a blazing fire of will.” Kohaku shouted as he entered his fighting stance.

Mana did not like those terms at all, she may be able to track Kohaku’s movements using both her sensory and perception in a combination but she can’t combine them both into the state that is the Shingan. She had only achieved that once and it could’ve just been an accident. “No!” the magician thought, “It’s not an accident, just like it wasn’t an accident that I’ve discovered sensory, just like it wasn’t an accident that I’ve beaten Ayushi. I am strong and I WILL live, I will live and I won’t kill Kohaku-sensei, I will do this my way.” Mana thought as her determination built up. Kohaku kicked off the ground and for the first time in these couple of days so did Mana.

As the two came into the slashing distance Kohaku quickly drew the blade, it was a battojutsu technique of some sort, Mana could see it coming but not yet predict it, she drew her blade but not completely, just revealed a tiny bit of her katana to block the strike and not have her sheathe destroyed. Mana then jumped and rolled over her sensei’s back just to escape the close distance using this moment of surprise that his sword drawing slash was blocked. A tough kick pushed her forward, she was kicked in the back and just barely managed not to collide with the steel bars with her face and leave some nasty burns.

“This is hell, we are hanging above hell. This duel is a trial, which one of us has the will to live, learning Shingan is a crime punishable with the flames of hell and this duel of ours is to determine which one of us will answer for it. I have evaded the infernal judgment for over twenty years. If you hesitate to decide me guilty, it’s your body that will burn in the cleansing flames!” Kohaku shouted out.

“No…” Mana huffed as she stood up, “For all those that I love, for all those that I must protect and those that I want to see… I’ll open that cursed Shingan and win, however I will not kill you. Because whether you know it or not you are loved as well, I cannot be the judge of a man who is redeemed by love. I will crush you so that you can abandon this life of hell and return to a woman that loves you!” Mana yelled out as she charged forward at her sensei. This was stupid, she knew it. Kohaku quickly drew his sword and slashed at the iron bars below causing a flash of sparks to fly into Mana’s eyes.

The young woman grunted as the tip of her master’s blade entered her body, katana wasn’t a stabbing blade but… This was supposed to end this battle. She wasn’t as tough as Meiko or as enduring as her sensei, she couldn’t just brush jutsu away. The magician couldn’t understand why did her sensei only drive the blade in so shallowly, not even half of the blade went in. As the man pulled the sword out and backed off Mana succumbed to her knees. Misumi ran in with her hands open protecting the girl.

“It’s over, your daily training time is over, it’s almost midnight!” she shouted but Kohaku pushed her out of the way.
“My decision is final, she has opened the Shingan so she must adapt or perish…” Kohaku didn’t finish his sentence as Mana was no longer where he left her. She was by the edge of the arena, looking at the sharp wall of hardened magma.

“This… Material… It’s tough… Pierces flesh like butter… My sword… Sensei said… It’s nothing fancy…” Mana huffed out talking at the edge of where her life still hung.

“What are you doing? There is no escape, magician. Once you enter the arena you either die or kill the man against you!” Kohaku questioned her.

Mana lifted her sword in the air and rubbed the sharp blade against the wall, she then turned at her sensei still holding her side that was stabbed with one hand.

“I dulled my blade, so that once I swing my sword I do not chop something of myself off, because I plan to live a long and fun life surrounded by friends! I might still need that right leg in the future…” Mana replied after spitting out some blood. She could feel like being at the edge, soon this training would be over, whether it is she who wins and stands as a victor or her sensei would soon be made clear!

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Age : 32 Posts : 1495

“Mind’s Eye… Shingan!” Mana thought to herself trying to get her blurry vision in order, trying to maintain the force needed to press her side wound hard enough to not let too much blood spit out. Who cares what happens once she takes down this babbling idiot. Why did Misumi ever fall in love with this guy was beyond Mana but she was ready to go at him with all of her will, all of the perception she has acquired training with this man’s student. If she can’t open the Shingan then to hell with it. But why? Why couldn’t she?

“Combination of sensory and perception… All I need to do is to sense chakra and use perception to analyze what I sense… It’s a good theory, I wish I could’ve gotten it while I was in a better condition though…” Mana thought as she saw her sensei move, she jumped at him as well holding her naked dulled blade in her hand. There was no way to defeat this man without Shingan – he was a trained and honed swordsman and Mana just took a sword in her arms for the first time several days ago.

As the two approached to the point of resolution the magician saw her sensei draw again, she could feel his chakra flow in his arm, she could feel the points in his muscle at which the chakra concentrated – she could predict the angle of his slash! The magician ducked under the angle, starting to dodge before the man even attacked was a good way to dodge and so the man drew his blade but only hit air. Mana roared wildly as her dull blade hit the man in his face knocking him to the steel bars face first. The man yelled out as he pushed his face off the heated bars causing parts of his skin to stay stuck on the steel.

“HOW!? You saw my attack, you used Shingan but… How!? How is your Shingan more perceptive than mine?!” Kohaku yelled out, what did he mean? Was he using Shingan at that moment as well? Then why was Mana the one who perceived more of her opponent’s actions, why was her prediction superior, more acute? Suddenly the young woman realized, she started walking up to the bars herself and thrust her side forward burning the wound at her side up. The medical bills later are going to be off the charts! The magician knew why her Shingan was superior, she won this clash! She won this battle!

“It’s because I am more of a sensor than a perceptive combatant. Shingan is something that is consisting of two elements: perception and chakra sensory however that also means it can be used in two different ways. A perfect, ultimate Shingan is done by a master of both, sadly I doubt you’re a master of sensory, my perception also needs some work. That means that your Shingan is more perception oriented while mine is more sensory oriented. That means that your Shingan is superior at predicting current movements but mine is superior in predicting your movements before you make it, in other words, your Shingan makes it seem like I move slower than I see you move but… I can read your movements more precisely. That is why I can predict your answer to my moves further than you, I won.”

Kohaku shouted out angrily and charged at Mana, he waved his sword wildly left and right, upwards and downwards, diagonally in both directions but not a single strike could hit the magician. He was angry, he was easy to read but also – she could see his moves before they were made. If he was too fast for Mana’s tired and injured body to respond she could still weave hand seals and take him down with an illusion or a barrier but she wanted to win this the classic way. Without a doubt neither of the two dueling sides had the perfect Shingan but it could’ve been taken there with just a little bit of training.

Kohaku swung his blade sideways pushing Mana to the bars, the man then charged with a thrust but the girl moved sideways letting the blade get stuck in between the bars and broke it with a downwards slash. This katana was damaged by many years of fighting, Kohaku hoped to one day meet a person who could kill them and claim his style just as it was the samurai way but… Mana was no samurai, she couldn’t care any less about the bushido or whatever nonsense. She only cared that this place was abandoned and that Kohaku and Misumi retired. The magician jumped with the blunt edge of the katana impacting with Kohaku’s face as the man fell down.

“This is over. I have beaten you, you say there must only be one master of Shingan? Very well, retire and answer the feelings of a woman that loves you, make a family while I will carry the name of the master of Shingan and train a worthy successor when I feel like it. This Hell Dojo is now closed, as of today there will be no more trials, no one deserves Hell anymore. Shingan is a heavenly style, one that involves spiritual arts, spirituality and meditation. Hell isn’t all about that, I’ve seen Hell over these couple of days and I’m surprised you haven’t over the twenty years you’ve been living in here.”

After saying that Mana let go of her katana and let it fall many miles into magma below and the magician stepped into the tunnel. It’ll be tough making her way to the other side, maybe the Lightning Temple monks could heal her up? Either way, her body was aching and her vision was still blurry, she needed help. Misumi put a hand on Mana’s shoulder.

“Let me tend to your wounds properly, master of Shingan. You have freed me and my loved one from Hell, for that you deserve at least that much, I will this time use all of my medical skill to heal you.”

The magician and Misumi shared a smile. Kohaku still looked like he was contemplating Mana’s words but it didn’t look like he would be really against them, he must’ve just been affected by the fact that his Hell was now over. He was now a free man, free to live with the woman he loved without the burden of Shingan.

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[Training Complete]