Renjiro lay on the cold floor, his chest rising and falling slowly as he allowed the fatigue to ebb away. For several moments, he simply lay there, staring up at the ceiling.
But after a while, Renjiro took a deep breath and forced himself to sit up. He crossed his legs into a lotus position, folding his hands in his lap. His back straightened as he closed his eyes and focused inward. He had to meditate to speed up chakra recovery.
He could already feel the faint pulse of chakra within him, swirling and building slowly with each breath he took. The familiar sensation of energy circulating through his body brought him comfort.
'I just need to recover a little more,' Renjiro thought to himself as he centred his focus.
Time slipped away as he sat there, his breathing even and calm. An hour passed in silence, and slowly but surely, Renjiro could feel his chakra reserves replenishing.
He opened his eyes for a moment, gauging the amount of energy he had recovered.
'This should be enough, right?' he thought, but just as the words passed through his mind, a sharp pang of memory hit him.
The intense pain he had felt from depleting his chakra made him think twice. The thought of repeating that mistake made him uneasy.
Renjiro sighed and allowed himself to settle back into his meditative state.
"Better not rush it," he muttered.
"Another hour should do the trick."
So he continued. The second hour dragged on slower than the first. His mind occasionally wandered, tempted to break free of the calm rhythm of meditation, but he resisted the urge.
When the hour and a half had passed, Renjiro finally opened his eyes, his body feeling refreshed and recharged.
He uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet, stretching his arms above his head with a soft groan. His muscles protested the movement for a moment before relaxing.
"I think it's safe to say that the multi-shadow clone jutsu is sorted," Renjiro mused aloud, rolling his shoulders as he spoke.
"I just need to keep increasing the number of clones I can create at once. Once I can surpass fifty without passing out, then I'll consider it mastered."
He felt a surge of satisfaction at the thought. Progress. It was a steady climb, but he was getting there.
Turning his attention to his next task, Renjiro began to consider his options.
"Now," he muttered, "I just need to decide between the Yamanaka clan's technique and the Eight Gates. Which one should I learn next?"
Both techniques were immensely useful, and both could elevate him to a whole new level of skill.
Yet, his time was limited. Tomorrow, he would have to return to his duties within the force. He didn't have the luxury of endless days to train in solitude.
'While it would be ideal to learn both,' he thought,
'I only have time to focus on one for now.'
Then, a thought crossed his mind, lighting up the solution.
"Actually," he murmured to himself, "while my time is limited, I can just leave shadow clones at home to train." His voice grew more confident as the idea took shape.
"Since I won't be going on any missions anytime soon, I can let the clones handle most of the grunt work while I focus on what's most important."
However, as much as the plan made sense, it quickly became clear that it wasn't a perfect solution.
"Only one of the jutsus can be learned with continuous practice," Renjiro realized, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"And that's the Eight Gates."
He paused.
"The Yamanaka clan's technique is different. I can't just train it on my shadow clones as I thought. I need a real person to practice on."
The Yamanaka technique was invasive, requiring deep concentration and precision to control the mind of another person.
He couldn't just rely on his clones to give him feedback. They were still extensions of himself, after all. And there was something fundamentally different about practicing on another living being.
"I also have to start practising on dead bodies first," Renjiro muttered, cringing slightly at the thought.
Killing and storing bodies was fine but the idea of using corpses for practice didn't sit well with him, but he knew it was necessary.
"Once I master that, then I can move on to living subjects."
He let out a soft sigh. "I wonder how the Yamanaka clan teaches its members this technique."
It was something he had pondered more than once. It wasn't like the Uchiha clan, where most things were learned through rigorous self-training or the guidance of a family member. The Yamanaka had always been more secretive about their methods.
A sly grin spread across Renjiro's face. "Maybe I can sneak into their compound and observe them. Or I can just wait until I leave the village and use the technique on a few bandits. That would be easier." He nodded to himself, satisfied with the idea.
For now, however, the Yamanaka technique would have to wait. Renjiro's focus shifted back to the Eight Gates.
He closed his eyes and began to pull the details of the technique from his memory.
The Eight Gates were points along the chakra pathway system, each of them locked by a different tenketsu point in the body.
Renjiro could visualize it clearly now—each of the first gate represented a different level of power, a different level of risk.
'So it seems I need to focus on my brain and spinal cord to open the first three gates,' Renjiro thought, piecing together the method.
'The final gate, the Gate of Death, is located in the heart, and some gates are spread throughout the stomach region, I can't remember. I just hope Duy helps me fill in the blanks.'
'But for now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll just focus on the first gate.'
Renjiro opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright," he said quietly to himself.
"To begin, the first gate is located in the left hemisphere of the brain. It frees me of my inhibitions, allowing me to push my body beyond its normal limits."
His voice was calm, and measured, as though reciting from a textbook.
"So I just need to meditate. Great!"
With a determined nod, Renjiro settled back into his lotus position on the floor, closing his eyes once again.
The air around him was still and quiet, the dim light of the room casting soft shadows across his face. He took a deep breath, centring himself, and began to focus inward.
But this time, things felt different. Renjiro could feel the subtle tension in his mind as he attempted to delve deeper.
Meditation had always come naturally to him when it involved chakra recovery. It was a familiar routine, one he had honed over the years.
But now, the goal wasn't to replenish his chakra. It was to tap into a different kind of power that resided within the core of his being. And it was proving more difficult than he had anticipated.
His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to locate the first gate within his mind. He knew where it was—he had studied the scroll countless times—but finding it and activating it was another matter entirely.
Minutes passed, and Renjiro's frustration began to grow. He opened his eyes with a frown, staring at the floor in irritation.
'Am I doing something wrong?' he wondered, his mind racing.
'The scroll just said to look deeper within… but it's not like I have a lot to work with.'
He shifted slightly, his hands clenching into fists on his knees.
'Or maybe I'm going about this the wrong way?'
A thought passed through his mind, and Renjiro paused, considering it.
'While meditating for chakra has always come easily to me,' he thought, 'that doesn't mean the same method will work here.'
He realized now that he had been approaching this the same way he approached everything else with the same meditation technique that Miwa had taught him years ago when he had been struggling with chakra control.
Back then, it had helped him immensely, but this was different. The Eight Gates were not about chakra control—they were about raw and somewhat physical power.
Renjiro took a deep breath and allowed himself to relax. He closed his eyes once more and let go of the rigid meditation style he had been relying on for so long.
Instead, he tried something new. He visualized the first gate again, focusing on the left hemisphere of his brain, but this time, he didn't try to force it open. He allowed himself to simply observe it, to feel its presence.
Slowly, something began to shift. There was a subtle sensation in the back of his mind, like a door slowly creaking open.
Renjiro's breathing grew deeper, his heart rate quickening ever so slightly as he delved further into the feeling.
And then, without warning, a loud sound echoed through the room.
"Crack!!"
Renjiro's eyes shot open in shock.
=====
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