6: Elusive Mechanisms

Kana found herself pacing back towards the gardens, her chakra at the forefront of her mind.

Her discoveries in the rear chambers had so far merely traded one set of worries for another. Well, not entirely. She had more answers than she did before. But now her priorities had to be reorganized yet again. She needed to find out what all the powers at her disposal were.

Before, why she was even alive had been the more pressing concern.

It was clear now that the ritual's grim benefits had been passed onto her, at the cost and expense of the lives of everyone else in the temple, sparing her alone. That reality of itself was and would be tough to process, but the danger of her own power was clear and present.

Now, what she was capable of would define how she should proceed.

There was doubtless much more she could learn from that unruly mess of a library, but some of the prime information she sought could likely be found much more easily by looking within herself instead.

As she neared the entrance archway where the passage ended, Kana closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

She had spent the better part of an hour trying to shake off the shock of her realizations—to no avail—and finding herself unable to concentrate on reading and sifting the excruciatingly disorganized documents. All the while, she could feel the sensations in her chakra, taunting her with knowledge just outside of comprehension.

How irritating it was, to feel as though one both does and does not know oneself. Felt but not understood. Known but not expressed.

She would attempt to meditate on this—try to work it out by feeling and intuition rather than run in circles with logic while distracted. The serenity of the gardens and hotspring ought to provide a more relaxing atmosphere conducive to that.

Opening her eyes and lifting her head, sights to either side of her provided some momentary distraction.

To her left, the skylight above the gardens shone down again with light like that of mid-morning. However, it had been nearing dusk when she entered the rear chambers. Had she really been back there so long...? Kana figured she would have gotten too tired to continue and resolved to sleep when she could bear no longer. But that feeling never came, which was curious...

Additionally, on her right, the same odd genjutsu-like barrier Kana had dispersed in order to enter the hidden gardens had reappeared, though with a surprisingly marked difference. To Kana's eyes, the illusion of a dead-end wall now was mostly transparent, and she could see the dim passageway she had first arrived from through it.

Yet somehow, it appeared no light from the garden leaked out through the archway, the illusion still obscuring the interior from the outside world. Partially stepping into the illusion, Kana peeked her head out and confirmed this was the case. It did not obstruct her passage at all, but the outer hall was still dim. Perhaps this meant it was more of a barrier then?

Substantially intrigued, she picked up a bit of stone rubble from the outside and brought it into the illusion. It passed through without problem. This was quite something.

Even after stepping out into the outer hallway entirely, the illusion remained unchanged. Reeling her hand back a bit, she tossed the bit of stone at the illusion, but this time it bounced off and rolled back towards her, crumbling slightly.

Perplexed, she picked the stone back up and stuck her hand holding it through the illusion, then dropped the stone. She could see it fall and hit the ground, but she heard no sound from the outside.

Kana's eyes narrowed at the sight and she slid back a few steps, scrutinizing the phenomena before her. Whatever it was, it was quite effective, aside from the transparent aspect. Then, why had it been so easy to penetrate when she first arrived? Or perhaps it was not easy, but just responsive to the way her chakra had invaded it.

She hadn't been able to see through the illusion either, until she "broke" it when she arrived. Did that mean only people who had entered and the things touching them could pass through freely?

Kana tilted her head slightly, before closing her eyes again.

Whatever the case was, investigating it was not what she had set out to do right now. It likely wouldn't even qualify as urgent either, compared to the list of worries on her mind. For whatever reason, it seemed she had unfettered access to the secret gardens, and even if it became sealed off again, Kana remembered how it felt to pierce the illusion and disperse it. She suspected she could do so again if necessary.

With the barest hint of a rueful head shake, she started to reenter the gardens before stopping abruptly and looking back behind her.

Remembering further, she also recalled how her suspicions lead her to conclude that something was hidden here. The unsettled dust now contained her footprints... it was even more obvious that the hidden door was near. A rather disappointing loophole, in her estimation.

Kana didn't want anyone else to make the same conclusions she had, if somehow they were to sneak down here without her noticing. It would be best to handle this just in case.

Pondering a moment, Kana slowly brought a hand to her chin.

Actually.... she might be able to kill two birds with one stone here.

Focusing on the energy within her, she felt the way it circulated, the way it reacted to her will, the control she could so effortlessly exert over it. A part of her, her chakra.

It was somehow both the same and different from what she remembered before the ritual, the intricacies of these changes being exactly what she had initially wanted to, yet stubbornly put off exploring, until now. The hesitation seemed mostly some form of mental block she'd had since awakening, the turmoil of her confusion.

But with her newfound insights, and as the reality of her situation became more apparent, that hesitation evaporated.

Bracing her legs, Kana's hands flew into a few seals effortlessly; it was almost subconscious how her chakra molded to her whim, the nature transformation happening instantly. She knew how to do it, as if she had done so many times in the distant past. It was like recalling a skill she hadn't used for months, utilizing a curious hybrid of muscle and spiritual memory. She knew some theory too from her improvised studies, but actually implementing a technique was even more efficient, intuitive.

Taking a moderately deep breath, she idly noticed that she again had not been regularly breathing in the first place. For how long had...?

But it was no concern for now. She echoed her desire with a thought, mouthing the words without actually speaking them:

'Fūton: Daitoppa' [Wind Release: Great Breakthrough]

A great torrent of wind accompanied her exhaled breath, shooting down the entirety of the passageway in front of her and blasting all the dust, rubble, and unlit torches away with it.

The gust was so concentrated that even after it reached the end of the passage, it shot up the spiraling ramp and out of Kana's sight, pulverizing smaller debris as it did so.

A few heartbeats passed in relative silence as the roaring echo of wind dulled and then dispersed.

Blinking slowly, Kana gradually relaxed her stance and stood normally. The jutsu was a definitive success.

She hadn't been sure if she could do it, some part of her still doubting from her days in captivity. That sentiment could not have been more thoroughly shattered now.

More than anything though, she was just happy to have achieved a goal here, one which she'd set for herself both in her naive hope of escaping her former captivity, and as a major priority after she had reawakened from the ritual.

Practicing jutsu in theory was one thing, strengthening chakra control yet another, but it was only now that she could recall ever having fully completed a ninjutsu.

Though, she had thought it would take more than one go to clear everything...

After all, Kana had only put what she felt was a modest amount of chakra into the technique. Was it just that her chakra had been used very efficiently?

Perhaps she still wasn't entirely in tune with her body. Perspective was a tricky matter indeed.

Inspecting her handiwork in the hallway, Kana could see that all obvious traces of her presence were gone, though the inordinately clean hallway might garner some suspicion regardless.

She would take what she could get. If she cleaned out the rest of the temple halls, perhaps even lingering doubts could be mitigated. It wouldn't do for only one hallway to be suspiciously clean, after all.

While thinking of it, why not?

What she had in mind before was to simply meditate and practice the use of her chakra, and the dusty hall had just been a convenient opportunity to get started.

But now Kana wanted to practice actually performing jutsu as well. Rather than just feeling around with her chakra, it would make sense to get some practical experience with ninjutsu in as well.

Actually releasing techniques would also hopefully help build up her understanding of how it felt to really use the elements too, and perhaps this understanding would lead to insight about the kekkei genkai she supposedly possessed. On top of the base natural affinities, she already knew of Kōton and Yōton, but there were certainly more than those two. She itched to grasp them, to wield them. They were hers now.

This was definitely a good idea.

The corners of Kana's lips briefly pulled up with the anticipation, but quickly fell back down into her ordinary neutral expression as her thoughts progressed.

It would be unwise to practice in the gardens. She didn't want to accidentally wreck such a beautiful and serene place! Damaging the temple itself wasn't ideal either, given that she planned to use its facilities for a while, so Kana decided to head for the main entrance.

The hallways between here and there would taste her Fūton just as this one had.

Once she was done outside, another go at the hotspring would be a perfect reward to end the day. Her experiments would likely work up a sweat, after all.

Author Note:

If you don't mind, Long note incoming. TL;DR: 1Translation tough, so some Japanese will be preserved.

I plan to use the Japanese names for most (if not all?) of the techniques in the story.I think they sound much better that way, and it fits more with my mental image. I watched the subbed versions and all, so I like hearing that version better. I will put the English names in brackets next to these names like is done in this chapter, for ease of readability. EX: Fūton: Daitoppa [Wind Release: Great Breakthrough].

After a technique is named in English once or twice, I might start to put the translation in a footnote instead if it is frequently used, again for ease of readability. EX: Fūton: Daitoppa2[Wind Release: Great Breakthrough]

or even, maybe just EX: Fūton: Daitoppa [Great Breakthrough]

Similarly, I plan to use the Japanese honorifics for most (again, if not all?) direct conversation. I don't think English can quite capture or translate what honorifics imply. I apologize if that is grating, but I much prefer to keep as much of the original vibe as possible. Lots of implications of status and relationship and such.

EX: What is "Lord Hokage", "Lord Hiruzen" in English, might be "Hokage-sama", or "Sarutobi-dono"

For things like the name of a Title or occupational position that might easily get confused, I default to an English equivalent.

EX: "Chief of ____ ", "Head of Security", etc.

Sorry for the long note, but wanted to make it known.