Shota spent the next three days resting and thinking about nature manipulation.
The first day was mostly sleep. His body needed it badly. He had travelled around for a month without any rest. He was always on guard and he could not just take naps in front of the Kazekage who was his boss and can reduce his salary for being lazy.
He woke only to drink water or eat a little fruit that Shizu left by his bedside.
On the second and third days, he kept his promise to spend time with Shizu. The little girl had been waiting patiently for him to get his rest.
She bounced into his room each morning with a bright smile and her small training pouch.
Today was his last session with her as Shota sat on the floor with her and watched her work on chakra strings. She had improved a lot since he first taught her the basics. Now she could create one thin, glowing chakra string from each of her ten fingers. The strings also did not flicker out quickly anymore.
Shota decided to push her a little further. "Try making more than one string from each finger," he told her gently. "Start with two per finger. Keep them thin and control them separately." Shizu nodded with determination. Her small brow furrowed in concentration.
At first, the extra strings wobbled and merged together. But after a few tries, she got the hang of it. Soon she had twenty separate strings dancing from her fingertips like delicate threads of light.
Shota smiled at her progress. She was making good progress, and he was sure that by the time she graduated from the academy, she would be good enough to survive on the field unless she encountered very bad luck.
She was also no longer depressed about being compared to him in the academy. The constant shadow of "The Eraserhead's little sister" had started to lift. She was starting to see her own strength.
Between training sessions with Shizu, Shota made time to visit the matron. He found her in the kitchen, stirring a large pot of soup.
Usually she greeted him with a warm smile. But today she was different. Her shoulders were slumped. Her eyes looked tired and distant. She barely looked up when he entered.
Shota stood in the doorway for a moment. "Matron, are you alright?" he asked quietly.
She kept stirring the pot. "I'm fine, child. Just eat your lunch when it's ready." Her voice was flat, without its usual warmth.
He stepped closer. "You don't look fine. Something is wrong. You can tell me."
She sighed and set the spoon down. "Not now, Shota. Just... go play with Shizu or rest some more. I'll be alright." She turned away to grab bowls from the shelf.
Shota wanted to press her further, but he could see she needed space. He nodded slowly. "Okay. But if you need to talk, I'm here." He left the kitchen feeling a little worried for her.
The matron had always been the steady rock of the orphanage. Seeing her like this unsettled him. He made a mental note to check on her again tomorrow.
After leaving the matron, Shota went straight to meet Spider. The Anbu Division Commander had sent a message earlier that morning. It was time to continue their lessons on advanced nature manipulation.
Spider waited for him at the Anbu training ground.
Spider looked at him with his usual calm expression. "You have thought about what I told you the last time we talked?"
Shota nodded. "Yes. A lot. It changes how I see my own jutsus."
"Good," Spider said. "But let's just give a small demonstration first. I will use a Wind Great Breakthrough jutsu with only five percent of my chakra. You go ahead and use ten percent of your chakra to use your own Wind Breakthrough jutsu."
Shota agreed. They walked to opposite sides of the wide, sandy clearing. Spider removed his mask for a moment and smirked. "Oh, and use your binding cloth to protect yourself."
The words carried an ominous warning. Shota frowned but did as he was told. He wrapped his special binding cloth around his body underneath his armor.
The cloth was way more expensive and durable than regular fabric. He wanted it to take the first damage rather than risk his skin or important gear. Not that he thought Spider's five percent Wind Breakthrough would do much against his own much more powered version.
But since Spider was demonstrating why nature manipulation mattered, Shota did not want to take any unnecessary risks.
Both of them formed the hand signs quickly. They gathered wind chakra in their mouths and supercharged their jutsus. Shota felt the familiar rush of air building inside him.
He added extra chakra to make his attack stronger. Spider waited patiently until Shota was ready. Then both released huge bursts of wind from their mouths at the same time.
The two Wind Breakthrough jutsus clashed in the center of the field. At first, it looked even. Shota's stronger chakra pushed forward with raw force.
But then something strange happened. Spider's weaker-looking wind suddenly swelled. It pulled in surrounding air as well as his own jutsu like a vacuum. The gust grew thicker and faster. It swallowed Shota's jutsu completely. A massive wall of wind rushed toward him.
The force hit like a hammer. It tore through his armor in several places. Sharp cuts appeared on his binding cloth underneath. The impact lifted him off his feet and sent him flying backward. He slammed hard against the rock wall behind him. Pain exploded across his back and arms. He slid down to the ground in a heap.
Shota pushed himself up slowly. He wiped blood from the various cuts that now marked his face. His breathing came in short gasps. Shock kept him frozen for a moment. He stared at Spider in disbelief.
Spider walked over calmly and crouched beside him. "Now you see why everyone fears you, my dear kohai. Your ability makes it so that all the principles that a person has learned about their chakra nature and how they have used it to make their jutsu stronger become meaningless."
He paused to let the words sink in. "This is the reason why our spars were much closer than they used to be. I refrained from using advanced nature manipulation in my jutsus since I had refrained you from using Erasure to make the fight fair."
Spider stood up and looked down at the damaged training ground. "Right now I had used a single principle in my jutsu. Wind is made of air. It is everywhere. I had used the surrounding air and wind to join my jutsu along with the wind generated by your own jutsu."
Shota listened carefully as Spider explained the principle in more detail. The key idea was that wind was not just the air a shinobi pushed out from their mouth or hands. Wind existed all around them at all times.
True masters of wind nature did not create wind from nothing. They commanded the air that was already present. By shaping their chakra to pull in nearby air currents, they could amplify even a small gust into something massive. This principle turned a simple Wind Breakthrough into a storm that fed on itself and on the opponent's attack.
Spider called this principle "Atmospheric Resonance." It meant making the jutsu resonate with the natural air around it.
Instead of fighting against the environment, the user worked with it. The wind from Shota's own jutsu had become fuel for Spider's technique.
Spider continued. "You pushed out a strong burst, but it was isolated. Mine reached out and connected to everything else. That is why it overpowered yours so easily. Advanced nature manipulation is not about more chakra. It is about deeper knowledge of how the element behaves in the real world. It is also about how you can make it behave in a way you want it to."
Shota was still in shock. He had thought that he had long reached the level of a jonin. He had killed a squad of Kumo shinobi comprised of jonin just a month back so easily.
The memory of that fight flashed in his mind. He had erased their jutsus one by one and cut them down with minimal effort.
But he was so wrong. So very wrong. His jutsus were nowhere near their level. His Erasure was the only thing that had saved him from certain death at the hands of those jonin.
Without it, they would have torn him apart with techniques like the one Spider had just shown.
For the first time in a long while, he realized how much further he still had to go.
--------Author Notes---------
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