As I continued turning pages in the new book on Blood that I was reading, I found myself getting lost in its pages, so much so that I soon forgot about my hunger and continued to immerse myself until a soft *knock* on the door interrupted me, breaking my flow.
"Yes?" I asked, wondering who knocked on the door.
"Mister it's me Shizune. Are you alright?"
"Ah! Could you help me out?"
Shizune opened the door just as I remembered that I was terribly hungry. So I quickly showed her the storage seal she'd given me and asked her to help me out.
"I don't know how to use chakra. So I can't use this storage seal, could you please help me out?"
Shizune's eyes widened and then she *sighed* before looking at me with an accusing glare.
"If you can't use chakra why are you studying to be a medical ninja?"
"Ah…I was wondering if you'd teach me how to use chakra too. I've tried feeling it, but I couldn't for some reason."
Shizune *sighed* again before she spoke again, "Turn around."
I did as she told and turned around while standing to expose my back to her.
Shizune walked closer and placed her hand right under my shoulder blades.
For a few seconds, nothing of note happened, before I soon felt something cool enter my body using my spine as it spread along my nervous system. And suddenly a whole new world opened up to my senses.
It felt like I could look around inside my body. Flowing around in my body was a warm yet cool fluid that flowed steadily without any turbulence or resistance.
"This is chakra?" I asked as I enjoyed the comfortable feeling of life moving around my body.
Shizune smiled as she pulled her hands from my back and spoke teasingly.
"Now you can finally eat your lunch."
"Haha~ yes." I nodded before picking up the storage seal and pouring a little of my chakra into the paper.
Immediately a bowl of steaming hot noodles appeared in my hands and I played hot potato with the bowl for a few seconds before carefully placing it onto the table.
"Thank you for helping me out. Are there any techniques I can train in to gain a better foundation for learning Medical Ninjutsu?" I asked, hoping she would reveal a chakra control exercise so that I could practice controlling my chakra freely without arousing suspicion.
Shizune nodded and explained immediately, "You can use chakra to stick a piece of paper or a leaf to various parts of your body and try maintaining it for a long time."
"I see. So I just apply a little bit of chakra to the paper and it'll stick to my body?"
"Well, it is not that simple, but I recommend you read this book to get started. It has exercises that will take you from a beginner to an advanced stage." Shizune said pulling out a new book from the pouch on her waist.
The book was a little small, like a pocket journal yet I treated it with care.
A book written by Tsunade on chakra control was almost the same if not more precious than her medical ninjutsu skills since she was portrayed to be the best at controlling chakra in the anime.
I thanked Shizune and she quickly left, before I began to eat from my ramen bowl while reading the book about chakra control I just got.
'This ramen is so tasty!!!'
'Whoever made it must be a great cook.'
'Or maybe it's just tasty because I'm very hungry?'
'Ehh.. whatever.'
'So the first level is sticking something to your body using chakra.'
'The second stage is creating chakra threads to move those objects stuck to your body around.'
'The third stage is walking on trees or similar vertical surfaces.'
'The fourth stage is water walking.'
'The fifth stage is to be able to separate poisons from your body using nothing but chakra.'
'The sixth stage is hanging from a tree using chakra threads.'
'The seventh stage is to be able to mould various elements using chakra.'
'The eighth stage is to sense your surroundings using chakra.'
'And the ninth stage is to create a chakra field in your surroundings that can detect even the smallest and fastest changes inside it.'
'It seems to become harder and harder as the levels go by. And it also seems to be geared towards one thing in particular. It starts with using chakra inside the body but slowly trying to expand the range in which you can control and sense with your chakra.'
'Would something like this be the way to sense nature chakra too?'
I was a little confused at first but soon decided not to think about nature chakra because I hadn't even started the first step.
I finished my food, and after reading about the leaf concentration exercise, I tore a piece of paper from the storage scroll and stuck it to my forehead before guiding the chakra inside my body to exit from a tenketsu inside my body and cover the paper so it would remain stuck to my forehead.
'This is hard.' I thought as I saw the paper float down after the nth time I'd tried sticking it to my forehead while reading the book.
I could easily stick the piece of paper to my forehead while focusing on it. But as soon as my focus shifted to digesting the contents of the book I was reading, it would fall because my chakra flow became unstable, repelling it instead of sticking it.
'Well, Rome wasn't built in a day and I'm sure I'll take more than a day to master even the basics when Shinobi kids spend six years at the academy to master even this.'
With a small crash course in motivation, I continued on the arduous task of keeping a piece of paper stuck to my forehead while reading a book.
I hadn't realised it but day had soon turned into night, and Shizune was back at my door once again.
"Hello." Shizune greeted and I politely nodded, wondering why the girl had come to me. "Would you like to eat with Tsunade-sama, me and Tonton?"
I was a little shocked that Tsunade would tolerate me to have food with her but then I realised, 'Ah…they probably don't trust me so they want to figure out where I'm from by talking to me or something.'
I nodded quickly and began to follow Shizune to her room where Tsunade was already waiting.
As we entered the room, a special fragrance assaulted my senses. It was the smell of food and felt like it was made in heaven.
"How tasty." I nearly cried.
Tsunade who was in the room smiled as she patted Shizune, "Isn't my disciple the greatest!? She cooks such good food!"
"Ah, so it was you who made my lunch too?" I asked looking at Shizune.
Shizune blushed slightly but nodded calmly, accepting praise from both me and Tsunade.
We got talking as we ate our meals and eventually, when I'd drunk a little with the two of them, Tsunade began asking me questions as I'd predicted.
"Why do you want to become a Medical Ninja?"
I wasn't drunk to the point of a blackout and my body managed to hold out even though my tongue was a little loose so I spoke freely.
"...I've unfortunately or fortunately taken over someone else's destiny. And I want to help them. You see, I've had a rather ordinary life until now, and those people have given me a chance at a more interesting life. One that I can live on my own terms. So I wanted to get stronger because that's the only way a person can truly live the way they want in such a world."
Tsunade looked out of the window, gazing at the sky as if she were reminiscing about something and after a few seconds nodded, "Living life the way you want huh… I wonder if I'll be able to do that too someday."
I chose not to comment on her self-reflection and instead took another swig of sake from the bowl glass offered to me by Shizune.
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A/N : What in the world!? How far do you think the MC will get while he studies Medical Ninjutsu under Tsunade and Shizune?