Starving Oneself is the Way to Go
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How does one unlearn something as instinctive as walking? Horyu considered the question, his gaze settling on the soft earth beneath his feet. Each step he took seemed to betray him, announcing his presence to the world. He had always moved with a certain degree of stealth, necessary for a shinobi, but this—this was something entirely different. The Feather-Wing Kata demanded a level of finesse and subtlety he hadn't encountered before.
Taking a deep breath, Horyu closed his eyes, attempting to clear his mind of all preconceived notions of movement. He visualized himself as an owl, gliding silently through the night, its presence known only when it chose to reveal itself. When he opened his eyes, there was a newfound determination in them.
He tried again, focusing on the distribution of his weight and the placement of his feet. The forest floor, littered with leaves and twigs, was unforgiving, but slowly, he began to notice a change. His steps grew lighter, less obtrusive. It wasn't perfect, but it was progress.
Shizuka watched from a distance, her expression inscrutable. "Better," she finally conceded, "but still not good enough. You're thinking too much about it. Let it come naturally."
"Naturally," Horyu echoed, the concept seeming almost alien in this context. Still, he pressed on, driven by the challenge and the knowledge that mastering this kata could provide him with an unparalleled advantage.
After what felt like an eternity, Horyu slumped against a tree, staring blankly at the unchanging moon that dominated the sky of the Twilight Realm. The absence of the sun and the stationary moon made it impossible for him to track time. "All this darkness is messing with my sense of time," he muttered, feeling his stomach growl in protest. "I'm starving."
Yoru landed beside him, tilting its head as if scrutinizing Horyu's complaint. "Given your current skill level, you won't catch anything here. The creatures are too well-adapted to the dark. They'll hear or see you coming from miles away," Yoru remarked, its tone matter-of-fact.
Horyu frowned, pondering his options. He could easily pull out some provisions from his inventory, but where was the challenge in that? He saw this as an opportunity to push his limits, to adapt and overcome. "Guess I'll have to up my game then," he decided, standing up and dusting himself off.
Yoru eyed him skeptically but nodded, spreading its wings as if to say, 'Show me what you've got.'
Horyu spent the next few hours attempting to stalk various creatures, using his newly learned techniques from the Feather-Wing Kata. Despite his best efforts, his presence was still too noticeable, his movements too loud for the sensitive ears and eyes of the Twilight Realm's denizens.
Exhausted and no closer to catching his dinner —or was it lunch?— Horyu collapsed back under the same tree, a sigh escaping him. "This is harder than I thought," he admitted, glaring at a particularly cheeky bird that seemed to mock him from a safe distance.
"Of course, it is. You're trying to use human senses in a realm where they're practically useless," Yoru commented, hopping closer. "You need to think like one of us. Use the environment, become part of it."
Horyu considered Yoru's advice, his gaze drifting to the moon. "Become part of the environment, huh? Alright then, let's try this again."
Horyu stood, his eyes closed, trying to tune into his surroundings with a focus that felt almost meditative. "Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again," he muttered under his breath, a smirk playing on his lips despite the situation. But then, remembering the quiet prowess of the owls, he couldn't help but wonder, "Sound of silence, huh?" Yet, the thought quickly faded as he realized the complexity of what he was asked to do.
The impossibility of the notion momentarily broke Horyu's concentration. The paradox was clear: movement inherently produced noise, a fact ingrained in his understanding through countless hours of genjutsu training aimed at crafting illusions so lifelike they even mimicked the subtlest sounds. And yet, here he was, trying to defy this core principle, to embody silence in motion. The challenge was not merely physical but deeply philosophical, requiring a reevaluation of his very approach to movement.
"Forgetting how I moved before to learn from nothing. Only if it was that easy," Horyu muttered to himself as he attempted to blend into the environment of the Twilight Realm. His steps, though growing quieter, still disrupted the natural silence of the realm, a stark contrast to the Owl Tribe's near-ethereal presence.
The Feather-Wing Kata, with its emphasis on silent movement and ethereal agility, was proving to be a significant challenge. Every move Horyu made was a conscious effort to mimic the owls' graceful, soundless glide, but human instinct and physicality often betrayed him. The Kata wasn't just a set of movements; it was a transformation of one's very essence into something akin to the tribe's revered creatures.
Horyu paused, trying to catch his breath after several hours of relentless practice. The twilight of the realm, with its perpetual dusk, lent an otherworldly quality to his training, the constant dim light both a comfort and a curse. "Becoming part of the environment?" he said aloud, half-expecting Yoru to offer a sarcastic retort.
Instead, the owl perched silently, observing. Horyu appreciated the quiet; it allowed him to reflect on his progress, or the lack thereof. Despite the frustration, he couldn't help but feel a grudging respect for the Kata and its origins. The Owl Tribe had cultivated a martial art that transcended physical combat, embodying their spiritual connection to the natural world.
Horyu's thoughts were interrupted by a rustle nearby. Instinctively, he crouched, scanning the shadows for any sign of movement. The wildlife of the Twilight Realm was elusive, their adaptations to the constant dim making them nearly invisible to untrained eyes. Horyu realized that to truly master the Feather-Wing Kata, he needed to understand these creatures, to see the realm as they did—a world of shadows and whispers.
Then it dawned on him, unlike sun in this realm ever. The first thing Horyu did upon arriving in the Twilight Realm was to activate his Sharingan to navigate through the darkness. "The creatures here have adapted to the darkness, but I've been cheating with Sharingan," he realized. Deactivating the dojutsu, he was immediately engulfed in darkness, relying on his other senses to "see" his surroundings, not with his eyes but with a heightened sense of awareness.
The darkness was initially disorienting, but as Horyu focused, the realm around him began to take shape in his mind through the sounds and subtle shifts in the air. "So, this is how it feels to truly listen," he muttered to himself, a smirk touching his lips despite the seriousness of his training.
Horyu sat back against a tree, his gaze lost in the depths of darkness that surrounded him. Without the aid of his Sharingan, the Twilight Realm felt even more alien, its secrets cloaked in shadows that even the keenest eyes couldn't pierce. "I guess I won't be eating tonight," he muttered, resigning himself to meditation instead of pursuing a meal he knew he couldn't catch.
As he closed his eyes, the sounds of the realm grew louder, more distinct. The rustling of leaves, the distant hoot of an owl, the soft murmur of the river nearby—all these elements formed a symphony of the night that he had, until now, only partially appreciated. It was a harsh reminder of his limitations, of the gap between his human senses and the creatures born to this eternal dusk.
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