"Haaaa... Let's start," Shin thought to himself, taking a deep breath as he lay back on the bed he'd woken up on. His body sank into the mattress, and his eyes closed, trying to focus.
The goal? Creating the Hell's Divine Tree inside his body. Not exactly your average afternoon task, but there wasn't much choice.
He had no idea if he'd succeed or what kind of messed-up consequences would hit him if he failed.
But what he did know was that there was no other option. He needed to create the Hell's Divine Tree like a Heavenly Demon, or it was game over.
His system had been very clear about one thing: no Hell's Divine Tree, no Heavenly Demonic Energy.
And without that energy, all the fancy Heavenly Demonic Arts—and any demonic arts, really—were just out of reach. Kind of a big deal for someone in his situation.
"I can do it!" he practically yelled inside his head, trying to psych himself up. His fists clenched for a moment before he forced himself to relax.
With a deep breath, he started to follow the instructions laid out in the Hell's Divine Tree manual.
"Okay... first step... feel all the energy in my body," he mumbled to himself, brow furrowing in concentration. His mind reached out, searching.
"Where is it? Where is it?" Shin's face scrunched up in frustration as he tried to sense his chakra.
But all he could feel was... nothing. Just pure, endless darkness. His heart rate sped up for a second.
He was absolutely sure this was the Naruto world—shinobi, the Land of Fire, the other major nations, all of it. So where was his chakra?
Then, like flipping a switch, it clicked.
"Ah! There it is!" he almost shouted, his excitement bubbling over. He could finally see it—the chakra pathways glowing faintly inside his body, like veins of light.
The chakra itself flowed through those pathways like a gentle stream, winding its way through every part of him. It was... beautiful, in a weirdly mesmerizing way.
'Next step,' he thought, trying to stay on track. Now that he could feel his chakra, he started gathering it. Slowly but surely, he directed all that energy traveling through his body toward his abdomen.
The sensation was strange, almost like gently tugging at something inside him, guiding it to pool at one specific spot.
"Huh... controlling chakra's supposed to be this easy?" he muttered to himself, eyes still shut but brow raised in confusion.
The show made it seem way harder, like you needed top-tier chakra control to pull off anything serious. But here he was, moving it around like it was no big deal.
He wasn't complaining, though. The original Shin, before Eren took over his body, was notoriously bad at chakra control. Like, embarrassingly bad. It made no sense how smooth this was for him now.
But whatever. He didn't have time to dwell on it. There were bigger things to worry about right now.
He pushed the stray thought aside and refocused on the task at hand, his grip on his chakra tightening as he mentally prepared for the next step.
"Now for the most difficult step..." Shin braced himself, mentally preparing for what was coming next. He slowly began channeling chakra from all over his body, guiding it toward a single point in his abdomen.
The process felt like moving a heavy load through his veins, each push a little more intense than the last. He focused all of it into one spot—the very center of his abdomen.
"Ugh!" Shin mentally screamed, his teeth gritting hard. The moment the chakra hit its target, a searing pain ripped through him, like his entire body was being torn apart from the inside.
It wasn't just his abdomen that hurt; it was like every nerve in his body was on fire. His mind flashed images of his flesh peeling away, though he knew that wasn't actually happening.
The pain continued, dragging on and on, each second feeling like a small eternity. Shin wanted to scream out loud, but his voice was trapped in his throat.
Honestly, at this point, he'd rather get kicked in the balls—repeatedly—than deal with this level of agony. Yeah, that would actually be a nice alternative right now.
Is this it? Am I going to die? he thought helplessly, panic starting to take over as all the chakra gathered into the center of his abdomen.
The pressure was unbelievable, and the pain ramped up another notch. He felt his hope slowly draining away, like sand slipping through his fingers.
But just when he was about to throw in the towel, something changed. The chakra in his abdomen began to shift, taking shape. The pain, which had been unbearable, started to fade, disappearing little by little.
His whole body seemed to relax, muscles loosening, like some unseen weight had been lifted off his chest. He gasped inwardly in relief.
When the sensation finally stopped, he looked within his body and saw the chakra had condensed into... a seed? A big one, at that.
The seed had a dark, almost ominous texture, like it was made of shadows.
It radiated an eerie red aura that flickered around it like flames, pulsing with raw energy. Shin could hardly believe what he was seeing.
The seed had fully formed, and with that, his body seemed to take over. His eyes snapped open, no longer able to stay shut.
"Haaaa... haaaa..." Shin panted heavily as he lay there, chest rising and falling with each desperate breath.
His lungs felt like they were on fire, and he could barely catch his breath. It was like his body had forgotten how to breathe, and he was relearning it all over again.
{Congratulations, Master. You succeeded in forming the Seed of the Hell's Divine Tree.}
The system's panel suddenly popped up in front of his face, its cheery words floating on the screen like it hadn't just put him through the worst pain of his life.
Veins popped out on Shin's forehead as his eyes twitched in anger. That smug, cocky voice was like nails on a chalkboard right now.
He was furious—no, beyond furious. He could feel the rage boiling inside him, but he forced himself to take a few calming breaths, though it wasn't doing much.
"System! Why the hell didn't you tell me this would hurt so much?! The manual didn't mention anything about it, either!" he said, his voice a little louder than usual, though he wasn't exactly shouting.
He wasn't trying to startle himself into more pain after all that.
{Hmmm...? Master, I wasn't aware of the pain myself. I don't have any detailed information on the Heavenly Demonic Arts, nor can I read those books. The only information available comes from the manuals themselves.}
Sigh.
Hearing the system's explanation, Shin could only sigh, shoulders slumping. There wasn't any point in arguing with it.
The system didn't care about feelings, and even if it had intentionally left out the part about the excruciating pain... what could he do about it, really?
It's not like he could square up and throw hands with a system. He let out another long breath, trying to shake off the frustration.
"Let's just forget about it..." he muttered to himself, brushing off the annoyance. His hand instinctively moved to his abdomen, where he could feel... something different.
His body didn't feel like it had before. It was as if something new was buzzing just beneath the surface, a strange energy humming softly inside him.
He blinked in surprise. This had to be it—Heavenly Demonic Energy. He could feel the power swirling within him, something far more intense and refined than just regular chakra.
From what he knew, it was a combination of mental, physical, and cosmic energies all fused together into one. And now, it was coursing through his body like a second heartbeat.
It was awesome—really awesome. A grin started creeping onto his face as he reveled in this newfound power.
The pain had been brutal, sure, but if this was the result... maybe it was worth it? Probably. Shin was about to dive deeper into his thoughts when—
Knock, knock.
"Son, are you awake?"
Shin froze, his grin vanishing as the sudden knock on the door startled him back to reality. His head snapped toward the sound of the voice. Great. Just what he needed right now—company.
{A/N: May I dare ask for some comments, My noble sir?}