Sweat, Bruises & Leviathans

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<<<>>>

It had been a week since Kaoru began improving his skills under Ogashi's guidance.

"Grandpa Ogashi, when can I start training in kenjutsu?" Kaoru grumbled without opening his eyes.

He sat in the center of the pond, calmly circulating chakra through his newly formed pathways while also trying to sense the water particles around him.

"Not yet, Kentaru. Your body still needs time to adjust to the new flow," Ogashi replied, finishing the last lines on a scroll he'd been preparing for Kaoru. "That growth in strength you've already felt is just the beginning. Your speed, power, and even regeneration will improve much more. But we're laying the foundation for something far more important - the final, most difficult step: your head."

He stood and walked toward the pond, then casually tossed a small rock at Kaoru.

"Ugh…" Kaoru winced, rubbing the spot where it hit. "I told you I can't sense anything like this! You need to explain how the sensing is supposed to work." He glared up at the old Leviathan, who just stared back, disappointed.

"Kid, you might just be talentless." Ogashi sighed, crossing his arms. "Maybe I should teach you something else instead…"

He trailed off, mumbling under his breath just loud enough to annoy Kaoru.

'This old man…' Kaoru clenched his jaw, already used to the teasing. His first impression of Ogashi - dignified, wise, and solemn - had turned out to be only half-true. The elder Leviathan loved to mess with him.

But the frustration wasn't just from the teasing.

'This is seriously getting on my nerves. I've made no progress with my awareness.' Kaoru exhaled sharply through his nose, trying to push away the irritation. 'I'm supposed to feel everything around me, but I can't sense a damn thing.'

He closed his eyes again and tried to refocus.

Meanwhile, Ogashi walked back to the large stone table, cluttered with scrolls.

"He's hit a wall." He muttered, sorting through their old training records. "Might be time to change the method."

He glanced back at Kaoru, who still sat in the pond with eyes closed and fists lightly clenched in concentration.

'He gets more motivated when he sees results… Maybe I need to give him smaller goals. Let him feel like he's moving forward. That sense of achievement might push him through the wall.'

Ogashi paused, taking a moment to study Kaoru properly.

His frame was noticeably different - leaner, stronger, more defined. The training and the newly formed pathways had reshaping his body even faster than Ogashi had expected.

'Good. We can start pushing the next stage soon.'

<<<>>>

"Are you sure about this, Akane?" Shin asked one last time as they passed the edge of Takimura's outer perimeter.

"Lady Suikage told me I'm just one step away from creating my own nintaijutsu." Akane answered confidently. Despite being Mei's sister, she trained under Maki, her style simply fit better. "I can't afford to get distracted with some summon right now. I need real fights. If I'm going to grasp that final step, it'll happen in combat."

Her gaze was firm, the fire in her eyes leaving no room for second-guessing.

'Besides, Mizuki and Kaoru are already ahead of me. If I want to catch up, I need to keep moving forward.' She trusted Kaoru's judgment about Senjutsu, but the idea that some mysterious beast was simply going to teach her an elite-level ability was hard to believe. She'd rather rely on her fists.

"Alright then. Let's go." Shin gave her a quick nod and flickered toward the forest.

"Sensei, I don't know where we're going," Akane called out, chuckling as she caught up beside him.

"Remember the boy Kaoru nearly died to during the Chunin Exams?" Shin slowed slightly, just enough for their conversation to continue. Akane gave a quick nod.

"Tsunade was supposed to deal with their clan, but now that she's back in Konoha, and this territory is under our control, it's our problem. If those rumors are true and they're still kidnapping kids, we're eliminating them."

He didn't go into more detail. Talking too much while flickering through the dense forest was pointless. But Akane could already tell what wasn't being said.

"You're saying the village already sent OININ before us."

Shin smiled faintly in response, which meant one thing.

This wasn't a mission to confirm anything. It was a clean-up.

"We'll be fighting a lot, then," Akane muttered, eyes narrowing as they moved.

<<<>>>

"Kid, what's your second element?" Ogashi asked, lifting his head slightly from the scroll in front of him.

"It's wind, but I haven't trained it much," Kaoru replied, breathing heavily. His arms trembled slightly as he resumed circulating chakra through his body and trying to extend it outward in fine threads.

"Yes, I've noticed." Ogashi's tone was flat as he shook his head and started writing a new line on the scroll.

"Grandpa Ogashi, what are you writing now?" Kaoru asked between breaths, restarting the chakra thread exercise.

'This training is both boring and exhausting. I get why I'm doing it, but there's no way this is the most efficient way to improve chakra control.' His progress felt sluggish, and it was wearing on him. Still, Kaoru kept pushing himself to the edge, refusing to give up.

"I'm writing the method that'll allow you to increase your chakra reserves, or more precisely, help you store chakra for future use," Ogashi said without looking up. "I've adjusted some of the details so that someone like you can manage it. I also wrote a slightly altered taijutsu manual to help improve your kenjutsu."

Kaoru listened while focusing on the circulating flow again. He pushed his chakra outward, trying to stretch it into thin threadlike tendrils around him, but they collapsed the moment he lost focus.

Panting hard, sweat dripping from his chin, Kaoru leaned forward and took a deep breath. His body ached from strain, but a sudden thought lit up his expression.

"Grandpa Ogashi, will this method help with genjutsu?" he asked, voice rising with excitement. "If I can constantly circulate chakra like this, wouldn't that disrupt the flow enough to stop genjutsu from working?"

But instead of praising him, Ogashi just stared at him, unimpressed. He shook his head slowly, a deep sigh escaping his lips.

"Kid… have you not fought anyone who uses genjutsu before?" he asked, giving Kaoru a flat look like he'd just asked the dumbest question possible. "Your eyes make you immune to genjutsu."

"Huh?" Kaoru blinked. "But…"

'The noda clan heir…' Kaoru instantly remembered.

"Your chakra is constantly disrupted already. Every water particle around you connects to you through your chakra. That's enough to screw with any normal genjutsu." Ogashi stood up and grabbed one of the weight seals from the table. "The kind of genjutsu strong enough to bypass chakra disruption won't be stopped by any simple method anyway."

"So… how do I defend against genjutsu that can't be broken with chakra control?" Kaoru asked, restarting the exercise despite the soreness in his limbs.

Ogashi smirked. "Easy. Don't get caught in the genjutsu in the first place."

Kaoru stared at him flatly, and Ogashi chuckled.

"Listen, kid. The world runs on cause and effect. Powerful techniques come with demanding requirements. Even your eyes need an immense amount of chakra and a strong body to use properly."

He leaned forward, tapping Kaoru on the shoulder with a tentacle. "The strongest genjutsu, the kind that can't be dispelled, usually needs more than just a glance or a sound. The user might need you to be confused, exhausted, emotionally unbalanced… or maybe just too weak to resist. Maybe they even need you to lack confidence altogether. It's not just about the chakra flow." He paused, furrowing his brows. "The user would also need a very powerful dojutsu, maybe even more precise than yours."

Kaoru narrowed his eyes. Ogashi's tone had shifted slightly, like he wasn't just giving a lesson anymore. Like he was remembering something. A technique. A fight.

'That wasn't just a random example…' Kaoru kept quiet, but the curiosity was already burning in his head.

"Kid, put on this weight," Ogashi said, handing Kaoru a 40-kilogram seal.

"From today onward, we're ending your training days with intense physical work. Your body's adjusted well to the new chakra flow, and while you're much stronger physically compared to before, your taijutsu, especially your kenjutsu, is still too rough. I don't know who you've fought so far, but they must've underestimated you… or your speed gave you too big of an advantage."

Then, he walked to the center of the training grounds.

"But you can't rely on that. Never rely on luck. Always assume everything will go wrong. And even then, you need to have a way to win."

"Attack me."

Kaoru blinked, surprised at first. But his confusion quickly gave way to excitement as he shot forward, slamming his foot into the ground and closing the gap.

"Don't use your eyes," Ogashi reminded calmly. "Only focus on chakra circulation and taijutsu. That's all we're doing today."

Kaoru didn't answer. He was already grinning as he closed in.

He threw a kick aimed at Ogashi's shoulder, but before it could connect, the older Leviathan gently pushed his calf and redirected the attack like swatting away a branch.

Kaoru landed and stepped back, resetting his stance.

Then he charged again, trying to keep his feet low and his balance tight. His left jab missed as Ogashi shifted his weight to the side. Kaoru followed up with a right hook, hoping to catch him on the blindside, but it was stopped cold as a tentacle snaked out and wrapped around his wrist mid-motion.

"You're too slow, kid," Ogashi chuckled, and before Kaoru could respond, he was airborne, tossed like a crumpled piece of paper.

"It's the weight seal!" Kaoru grumbled as he hit the ground.

"Yes, yes, blame the weight. But you're still too slow," Ogashi said, not even looking up.

The spar lasted two more hours. Kaoru kept going, adjusting, adapting, pushing himself harder with each round. But he didn't land a single hit.

Now, he lay flat on the ground, chest rising and falling as if he'd been holding his breath underwater. His limbs felt like lead. His skin stung from dozens of deflections and trips.

"Grandpa Ogashi…" he finally said once his breathing eased a little. "How long do you think it'll take me to land a hit on you?"

Ogashi was back at the scroll table already, writing again.

"What do you mean by how long?" the Leviathan chuckled without turning. "Your lifetime won't be enough, kid."

Kaoru groaned but couldn't help the faint smirk forming on his lips. It was frustrating. But it was fun too.

And Kaoru wasn't the only one having fun. Ogashi's dull, repetitive days were finally gaining some color thanks to teaching him.

"Kid, I'll spar with you three times a week," Ogashi said suddenly, his voice casual. "The remaining four will be split between Sona and Soma."

Kaoru facepalmed immediately, but the old Leviathan wasn't finished.

"I don't specialize in taijutsu or kenjutsu. They both do. Sona is obsessed with swords, you'll get proper kenjutsu experience with her. And Soma loves taijutsu more than breathing."

Ogashi's tone changed, shifting from lighthearted to serious in an instant.

"There's something else, Korara. We haven't talked about it yet… but our summoning seals are different from what you're used to. You won't be able to summon us mid-battle, not for a long while, anyway. You'll need to learn a complex fuinjutsu seal that has to be built through water, and I'll teach you that later."

He paused, then added, "But the most important part is that you can only make a contract with one Leviathan. Just one. And it's for life."

Kaoru didn't say a word, but his face fell.

"You'll also need someone much younger than me. Required chakra is directly tied to Leviathan's size, and as you've seen, my true size isn't something you can afford to bring out during a fight." Ogashi gave a laugh, but it wasn't a free one. There was a faint trace of something behind it. Bitterness, maybe. Or regret.

"Unfortunately, there are only two Leviathans you can make a contract with."

Kaoru didn't need to hear the names. The moment Ogashi said two, he knew.

"Sona and Soma."

**

Reminder - Break Tomorrow

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The link is also in the synopsis