A whole month had passed since I had arrived in this world. There was plenty to do, not much time to rest, but I did not despair, knowing that I had everything ahead of me. I really liked the Shinobi Academy. Of course, the knowledge they gave there was extremely insufficient: historical stories were extremely superficial, calligraphy was studied very leisurely, despite the complexity of the language, and geography was limited to general concepts such as north, west, east, and south, as well as the location of other Great Countries relative to ours. In three or four lessons, we only learned the capitals, which we did not need at all yet.
More interesting were the physical training lessons: in addition to serious physical exercise, active games were often involved, the names of which, for some reason, never stuck in my head. The simplest was tag, and even that was easy to get tired of; my physical condition still left much to be desired. With my classmates, I developed a stable neutrality, which implied communication, mutual assistance, but nothing more. I communicated with everyone and did not deprive anyone of my attention; for me, everyone was equally a child, albeit each with their own quirks.
Unfortunately, sometimes my gaze would flash with condescension addressed to my classmates, which irritated many, most often ordinary clanless children. They were upset that someone on the same level as them was looking down on them. And this led to one very unpleasant incident for me. Their resentment gradually accumulated, and then one fine day, it spilled out. How do children usually resolve various kinds of grievances? That's right, such things in childhood are generally resolved with fists that run over the offender's face.
Well, in my case, unfortunately, not only over the face. Evening. A training ground at the academy. There were five of them. And I was alone. As sad as it may sound now, the arithmetic turned out to be incredibly simple. At the most interesting point in my beating, one of the academy teachers, who for some reason was late at work that day, showed up at the noise, scaring the young hooligans away. They ran away, their heels flashing. However, I never gave them up to the teacher, lock, stock, and barrel. I'm not used to snitching. In my defense, I want to say that these guys also got it.
After this incident, they didn't bother me anymore. Well, I was only glad about it, and unspeakably so. In addition to the academy, I had other concerns: after classes, I spent about two or three hours every day with the blacksmith, helping the master as best I could. Unfortunately, my weak arms and inability to work with chakra did not allow me to help him with force, but my nimble legs and curiosity provided, at the very least, moral support to the blacksmith. He also once told me in a very original way why he had not had an assistant before.
"You know, kid," the man began the conversation one day, looking from the freshly polished katana to me, "each master has his own recipes for metalworking and the technique of creating a perfect sword, discovered by himself or inherited from his ancestors, which a craftsman who respects himself and his family would never share with his rival, even for the sake of patronage of some powerful person. These secrets of craftsmanship concerned everything: the raw materials used, the methods of smelting and forging, the temperature of the water at different stages, and other tricks."
I listened to him attentively while simultaneously putting new goods on the display case, trying to figure out what he was getting at.
"And one of the old legends said that one day a blacksmith saw that a "colleague" who came to visit him secretly dipped his hand in the water that was intended for hardening steel."
I was just about to turn to face the master when the tip of the katana sheath lightly touched the skin of my neck. To be honest, I didn't expect that.
"Instantly, without saying a word, he grabbed the sword and chopped off the unfortunate man's hand."
And then, looking into my surprised eyes, he burst out laughing so hard that I didn't have the strength to hold back a smile on my face, despite the delicate situation. The man immediately removed the empty scabbard from my neck, into which the katana was immediately sheathed. Then he handed me the sword.
"You're not one to get scared easily, kid," he told me as he continued to laugh. I was perplexed, looking now at the outstretched sword, now at the man himself.
"Is this some sort of test?" I asked, taking the item from the rough hands, admiring the gifted katana. It looked more like a work of art than a murder weapon. At that moment, it seemed to me that not a single drop of blood had the right to appear on this blade; it was so perfect.
"You've already passed it, kid." He didn't hesitate to pat me on the head. His eyes flashed with mischievous sparks. "Consider it an original way to tell you about it. I don't sense any bad intentions in you, unlike other guys I had to deal with before you, and I like you. You could say that the probationary period is over, my young friend."
As soon as he finished speaking, I immediately began to express my gratitude. The blacksmith had placed the greatest trust in me, and I couldn't let him down. He's a cool guy after all! After this event, the old master began to slowly share with me useful skills that could come in handy in his difficult craft. Of course, I didn't have enough strength for practical training yet, but the theory was also very useful, and I committed it all to memory, throwing my laziness aside.
After work I didn't have much time left, and since I had to get up very early at the academy, I had to go to bed early to get enough sleep. I knew the benefits of getting enough sleep, after all. So I spent the remaining two or three hours in the library, learning various sciences more deeply. The first thing I did was look for such a concept as chakra theory. As much as I wanted to start "conjuring" as quickly as possible, I didn't want to harm myself in any way. After all, how do our Russian people act? First, they break something while assembling it, and then they say, "That's strange; why did it break? I did everything right... I'll go look at the instructions."
At first, that's exactly what I wanted to do according to my mentality, but then I finally listened to the weakening voice of reason and decided to look for the notorious "instructions" first. After I had processed all the information I found in the library, I quietly howled and reproachfully stared somewhere into the sky. As it turned out, the local authors really, really love "water" and philosophical reflections. They tell about their exploits so figuratively that you want to find "Edo Tensei," refine this technique so that the summoned feel pain, and then hand them over to Morino Ibiki's dungeons. And, perhaps, take part in their interrogation on the topic: "Why do you mock future generations of students like that?"
In general, I had to work hard. It took me almost two months to summarize the information I had received from all the scrolls without being distracted by anything else! However, to tell the truth, part of this time was needed to remember the Russian language in written form and get the hang of it. Have you ever tried to write with your left hand? My motor skills were at a very low level! I decided to keep records in my native language since there is no more effective way to encrypt my observations in this world. I hope that I am the only transmigrator at the moment who arrived from planet Earth and knows how to read Russian. And it would be even better if there were no transmigrators at all besides me.
But, in spite of everything, the job was done: having summarized all the information I had received and having squeezed out of it grains of more or less plausible knowledge, I finally decided to do my future "magic."
The next day began as usual. The only thing that irritated me was the phenomenon of extended time: as soon as I sat down at my desk, in anticipation of the awakening of my hearth, time began to drag unbearably slowly, terribly irritating. What's more, I even tried to take a nap... and you know what? According to my calculations, I spent at least an hour in my sleep, during which time another lecture was going on. But in reality, no more than ten minutes passed... All that was left for me was to howl quietly, so that no one would hear, at the ceiling, and then, clenching my teeth, wait for all the lessons to end.
Finally, having waited with difficulty for the end of classes, I went to have a snack before a significant moment in my life. Having eaten a portion of sweet dango (my favorite sweet sauce has a simply jaw-dropping name!), I ran into my apartment just in case, taking with me the scrolls with the theory and a portion of rice with meat, which were the main dish here.
After searching for a while, I found a pretty nice clearing. It wasn't officially a training ground, since there was nothing man-made there. And there was no broken iron, which meant that no one was training there. Which was especially good since the place was really very good, and it was relatively close to the dorm where I was currently living. Having settled down comfortably under a large tree, although they were all large here, I once again quickly ran through the theory to remember all the most interesting and tricky points.
If you take into account most of the information, then everyone learns to feel chakra in their own way. First of all, meditations took place. Oddly enough, there is no specific method; however, everyone can do it. It all just depends on age. Usually this happens by the age of ten for every chakra user, unless he is from some clan. For others, it happens much faster, somewhere around the age of six or seven. I am clanless. My body, alas, has not received training since childhood, but, on the other hand, I must have my own advantages.
In any case, in the absence of a technique, I would still find out what definitely cannot be done with chakra channels and what can be done, but with caution. Therefore, I have approximate training plans prepared in advance. In general, I sat down to meditate. As I found out from many sources, the ability to meditate is not given to everyone. And an example of this is Naruto, who, due to his character, will never be able to meditate properly in his life.
Of course, he has bouts of seriousness, but they are very, very rare. Maybe he really was able to meditate for some time on Mount Myoboku to feel the nature chakra, but he did it no more and no less than sixteen years old. What can we say about seven-year-old Naruto? After all, at this age he is even more energetic and absolutely incapable of the slightest concentration.
Meditation is an extremely difficult way to understand yourself more deeply. Feel yourself from the inside, sense every muscle, every nerve fiber, and even try to understand your inner world. In general, this method offers great prospects for development, but not every shinobi will be able to embrace them... This activity requires incredible concentration, the ability to sit in one place for a long time, proper imagination, and simply the right character. And mine, I hope, is just right for this.
In fact, this does not imply a certain concept that denotes a set of emotional reactions to an unusual situation for an individual, but a slightly deeper meaning: as far as I understand, the broader a shinobi can think, the greater prospects he will be able to open with the help of such a useful tool of self-knowledge as meditation. So, now I am trying to better understand myself, my current body, and even the unknown energy that makes me not just an ordinary person but a warrior, a hired killer in the future, with the help of meditation.
The first few minutes, it was very difficult for me to find at least approximately the right state. The blades of grass tickled my skin pleasantly, the tree bark I was leaning against seemed harder and rougher than before, and the occasional gusts of wind only disrupted my concentration, which included attempts to detach myself from all of this. I don't know how long I sat doing this; after a while, I simply lost count of it and allowed some new, previously unexperienced feeling to carry me away. I knew nothing about meditation, but before that, I couldn't even imagine that it would be so great! A crystal clear mind, unburdened by thoughts, an absolutely calm and detached state. All of this was simply mesmerizing in the unusualness of the feelings I was experiencing.
I didn't even notice how several hours had passed; I was so detached from the world. It was impossible to express in words, but take my word for it; this is one of the most interesting and, even in some ways, pleasant states. That day I did not feel chakra, but I was absolutely convinced of the benefits of meditation and the prospects for its development. After all, if this was only the first step, then what could be achieved in the future? Even my rather well-developed imagination gave in to the prospects. It was truly fascinating... and not only because of its benefits.
Since then, I have become almost obsessed with meditation. I liked devoting time to self-knowledge so much that I very soon learned to measure the time spent on it. And having acquired such a necessary skill, I began to spend literally all the free time that I had left after other things.
Thus, it was not surprising that during the next lesson I was somehow quite routinely able to identify something foreign in myself, something that I had not felt in myself before. Having barely caught on to the necessary sensation, I was able to awaken the chakra quite quickly. After all, I mastered the necessary methods, which are the next step after meditation, first of all. Almost every scroll I read literally quoted its brothers. They all wrote that each shinobi felt chakra in his own way, and no one could accurately describe their feelings.
Of course, there were some associations, but in essence they were in no way able to reflect the true feeling of this power in oneself. Yes, for me, chakra was associated precisely with power. No, not like that. With Power! And no, not the one that was so minimalistically shown in one galaxy far, far away... no, this power gave a real feeling of its power! I really felt what I would be capable of in the future! But then again, this is only the first step in mastering chakra... I feel that I still have a lot of interesting things ahead of me!