065 NenXWhistle

"Our task today is to check along the river stretch. On top of that, we don't want to be targeted by the nagas so stealth will be needed. Good thing for us you learned Zetsu last night." Lara stopped for a while to explain.

"Zetsu, other than allowing us to be more perceptive of Aura from other sources, also allows us to hide our presence in some way. When in Zetsu, people tend to ignore us as if we don't exist until they catch us right in their field of vision. Couple that with careful walking and we might as well be invisible to the perception of others. And that similarly works to animals and monsters alike. Zetsu also accelerates your recovery from exhaustion as you are not letting any Aura leak away from you."

"A general rule to be mindful about. Any Aura or Nen exiting your body makes you stronger than you are physically able to, in return of exhaustion." Lara demonstrated by using Ren. "Controlling the Aura with techniques such as Ten from leaking away extends your stamina and endurance from attacks. And then lastly, keeping it inside your body with Zetsu helps you recover however you are exposed to only your physical strength." Lara continued to demonstrate by shifting from one technique to other.

"In theory, you can go forever without sleeping with Zetsu alone. However, mental stress is another factor. You can only go so long without sleep before breaking. So it is always advisable to continuously strengthen your own body if you want to be- what was your dream again?" -Lara

"To be the Hunter King, the strongest Hunter there is." Silver reminded Lara.

"Well, that."Lara pointed. "I will lead us in this exploration while we both use Zetsu. It will be a good tracking practice and Zetsu practice for you. While in Zetsu, we might lose one another. So I will from time to time flare up Ren for a second to allow you to perceive my general direction. If you lose sight of me longer than 2 minutes, flare up your Ren for a good minute. That'll make sure I am still within the vicinity to look for you. Any questions?"

"None."

"Good. We set off now." The duo entered Zetsu as they go to the river.

<30 minutes later>

'Where is he, damn he either lost me or he is better at hiding than I anticipated.' Unable to shake her worry, Lara stopped in a small clearing and flared her Ren longer than usual past the 30 minute mark.

10 seconds later, a hand reached out to her wrist without her noticing. She tensed up and activated Ten.

"Why did we stop?" Asked Silver.

She looked at the perpetrator and saw the familiar blue-silver hair. 'That was scary.' "Where were you? I didn't see you following me for a long time."

"I thought we were supposed to be sneaky?" Silver has been following Lara from above the trees. With the spider setules, he can cling on to any branch and trunk without problems. With his strength, he can jump from one tree to another. He would also try his best to be on the other side of the tree from Lara's point of view so he doesn't expose himself. As the saying goes, if you want to hide something hide it above the head. No one ever looks up.

"We are now approaching the river. From here, I'll follow along the shore. You are our lookout. Warn me if anything out of the ordinary comes. On second thought, you should also send me signal every 5 minutes so I'm sure you are still around. How about you give me a whistle?" Lara look at him expectantly.

"A whistle? Like this?" *wiiiiiiz*

"Pardon me, was that what you call a whistle? It sounds like someone trying to hide his fart. Do it like this."

"Create a hand chamber while "cupping" your hand. There should be little to no holes other than the entry point in your thumb. The air is blown between the thumbs into the hand and while adjusting your fingers to create different pitch. With it, you can create some chirps like those of the birds." She then demonstrated and blew some air to the entry.

*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*

"Wowww... Can you do it again?" Silver tried to do it on his own but could only make a farting sound.

"Haha... Ok, but if you can't do it we can settle with your farting whistle." She joked.

She then repeated her action and generated the chirping sound.

*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*

"You don't have to push yourself. You can't be a genius to eve-"

*chirp* *chirp* *chirp* *chirp*

"This is fun! Were you saying anything?" Silver innocently asked.

"Nothing. You be careful yourself. Nagas are monster and not animals. They think and not purely driven by instincts."

"I'll make sure not to forget." Confirmed Silver.

Lara then started her investigation along the river. While Silver hid in the trees with his 'Ear En' active every now and then. He realized he doesn't have to have it active all the time, he can still use it to hear anything within 50 meters.

Silver then looked at the treasure hunter in action. He tried to copy it with his scarlet eyes but all he could get from it is how to carefully dug things or stones. He didn't learn how to identify where to dig. It looks like my eyes can only mimic muscle memory and not the knowledge of it.

For the past year, Silver has been trying to understand his scarlet eyes. Without Nen, his scarlet eyes can mimic normal people's action, but not how or why they did that. He has to learn how to apply it himself or own it per se. Then, when the action is used in conjunction with Nen techniques such as Ren, Zetsu, Ten, Gyo, En, In, Ryu, etc., he has to use Gyo to be able to mimic it. Then, when it comes to Hatsu abilities, he also has to use his own Hatsu, Sharingan, to copy them. Then, he would be given tasks to complete to fully use them without restriction. Like his situation right now, he is to not hurt any humans or animals for 1 week straight. Someday, when he fully masters Nen he will dig dipper into his own ability.

'But for now, I am a look out.'