[Chapter 20 - Rest, Yohei. Rest. (Part 1)]
The Flame and the Void.
It was something Yohei faintly remembered from his other life. He wasn't sure where it came from – if it was some kind of actual Zen tradition, or if it was from some fantasy book or anime. But he knew, more or less, the beats of it.
One was supposed to visualize a single candle flame surrounded by an absolute void, and into the flame they should throw… everything. Everything that could be an obstacle or distraction to their current goals.
Feed into the flames your fears, your pains, your emotions, your expectations, and what you're left with is a state of absolute focus and clarity of mind.
It vaguely reminded him of the Litany Against Fear, and that, at least, he remembered a bit more clearly.
'I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will allow it to pass over me, and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.'
…It was also similar to the concept of fearlessness shown in the movie After Earth, which really had no right being as good as it was.
Yohei idly wondered if the Chaos Scroll also had those techniques stored inside it, and if he'd ever get them. But a moment later the thought drifted, and faded away as he let out a long breath.
He wasn't sure if what he was experiencing right now was similar.
In fact, he was pretty sure it wasn't.
Rather than a state of… selective awareness, it was more like he was making himself hyperaware of everything, both internal and external.
As he breathed in, he saw the air entering his body as if it were a water current – and when that current entered his lungs, he saw the oxygen pooling in the alveoli until it bypassed their walls, diffusing into the bloodstream and binding to the hemoglobin, carried into the heart and then pumped through the tens of billions of rivers called blood vessels, feeding energy into the cells and life into his body.
And with this pulse of life came thought – rational and irrational, conscious and subconscious, the counting of the number of inhalations he had engaged in since he began meditating, the faint leftover ache from yesterday's injuries, the feel of saliva pooling in his mouth, the creaking sound of his door being opened, the smell of breakfast coming from downstairs, the anxiousness that ever accompanied every thought related to the Chaos Scroll, the longing that always came with the remembrance of his other life, the fear for the future…
He went through all of those thoughts all at once, with no recognizable beginning nor end, and no clear point of connection between them. He felt them flow through his mind – and as his cells burned through the energy he gave them and produced carbon dioxide, he felt those thoughts follow the same river paths his blood took as they returned to his lungs, and were expelled from his body as he exhaled, leaving space for more.
He was, at the same time, thinking about everything and nothing in specific, and this felt…
'Like I'm high,' he thought, in a giddy kind of serenity.
This bubbling feeling of euphoria, as if he were experiencing life for the first time since he was born – like all those years he had been experiencing things through a muted filter, with the volume turned low and with constant noise muddling everything…
Was this how all the monks felt when they meditated?
'Sneaky bastards, they were keeping this to themselves all this time?'
"Yohei?"
He opened his eyes.
'Mommothermymomnanamiokaasasnmamamãemamãehomesafelightmorningwindowthesunyellowwarmsowarmsoftamusedworriedconfusedexasperatedyoheiyoheimyname–'
"Are you okay?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and a confused smile, moving from the door into his room.
Yohei exhaled one last time, feeling his smile grow as the glow of his turquoise chakra receded back into his skin. He chuckled. "Yeah… I think I am."
She sat next to him on the bed, pulling him into a one-armed hug as he uncrossed his legs and relaxed his body.
"What were you doing?" she asked as she combed through his hair with her fingers.
Yohei let out a pleased hum, yawning. "Nature Transformation."
She let out an interested and pleased sound. "Already? My Yo-kun really is the best. But I thought today was meant to be a resting day?"
"It is," Yohei confirmed lazily. "Meditating like that is actually really… relaxing."
'And stimulating.'
"Mou, must be nice having a Water Affinity," she grumbled with an audible pout. "There's nothing relaxing about Lightning Chakra."
Yohei laughed. "I can imagine. I'm kind of curious, though. Is it like putting your finger in a socket?"
"Hmmm… It can be, if you 'turn it up' too much. But mostly it just feels like the world's most irritating buzzing ever, and your body prickles and tingles like there were a thousand centipedes walking on it."
Yohei shivered. "That sounds like a nightmare," he said hollowly.
"Mhm!" Nanami agreed with two little huffs of air.
"But can't you just… 'turn it down' and make it feel like a full-body massage instead?"
"You can," she said with a groan, "but it just needs so. Much. Control. I can do it if I want, but I need to concentrate so much on the process that I can't relax at all!" She huffed. "You should have gotten my chakra nature, Yo-kun! Then you could use it to give me a massage! We could have made it your training!"
Yohei laughed. "I think if I had to pick another nature it would be Lightning, but I'm more than happy with Water." Then he turned his head to look at her teasingly, a grin on his face. "Speaking of, where did it even come from, huh? You have Lightning and Dad had Fire – how come I got-"
Before he could even finish speaking, her fingers were already pinching his cheeks and pulling tightly on them, making him let out a whine.
"Oi, oi, oi, Yo-kun, what are you talking about? You're not insinuating anything, are you? Even if you're my precious son, I'll still get mad if you say something like that about me, you know? You think Tatsuo-kun would marry a harlot? Huh? Huh?"
"I'm joking! I'm joking! You're going to tear them off!" Yohei cried out, tapping on the backs of her hands.
She let go with a sniff. "Of course you're joking – your ass would be bright red right now if you weren't. Honestly, have you been listening to what I've been teaching you every night? Chakra nature isn't always inheritable – although the parents do have some influence, in the end it's always down to a combination of individual characteristics."
"I know that," Yohei said as he rubbed his cheeks with his hands, "but still, there's no one in the family that you know of with a Water nature?"
"I can't exactly ask them at this point, can I?" she said dryly, making him let out a startled snort. She chuckled, then tapped her mouth with a finger. "I suppose… one of my parents may have had it? They were from the Land of Snow, after all."
Yohei blinked. "Right, I… forgot about that. Have you ever, you know, gone there?"
"Sure," Nanami confirmed carelessly. "First out of curiosity, then on a few missions before it got messed up with the civil war. It's so cold in some parts there that you can spit and it'll turn to ice before it hits the ground. It's horrible."
Yohei shook his head with a smile. "Honestly, that sounds like a dream, Mom. I don't know how you can like the heat so much."
She grinned, looking off to the side.
"Maybe you'll get it someday." Then she chuckled. "But I suppose that's another indication of where you got your Water chakra from. Seems like it jumped a generation."
"You reckon the Yang came from Dad's side of the family, then?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I'm pretty sure that's all you," she said with a soft smile, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "So, what are your plans for the day?"
Yohei hummed contentedly. "I don't have anything planned, actually. Ren invited me to his home so he could teach me some basic Fuinjutsu seals, but if I have to read another word in less than twenty-four hours my brain will turn to mush."
Nanami giggled. "Such a drama queen. You'll just laze around, then?"
Yohei nodded seriously with a happy smile. "Lazing around sounds perfect. Especially since I'll spend the whole day out tomorrow."
Nanami's eyes turned flat at his words, despite retaining their amusement. "Right, you'll go 'Beast Hunting.'"
"Yup," Yohei agreed shamelessly, popping the 'p'. "Apparently it's a rather common thing to do? I had no idea. Say, have you ever tried it?"
Nanami shook her head. "Too much work, too much responsibility, too much noise. I didn't see a point back when I was in the field, and even less so after I started working at the hospital."
Yohei hummed. "What about a blind reverse summon?"
"No, Yohei, I was never suicidal," she said dryly, with a chuckle.
"Oh, come on," Yohei said with a teasing smile. "You never asked yourself what you'd get? What kind of animal best reflects who you are?"
Nanami went quiet, looking up considerately. Then she turned to look him in the eyes, blue matching blue.
She smiled.
"No."
Yohei blew a raspberry. "You're no fun."
Nanami started laughing, hooking her arm around his neck and dragging him along as she stood up. "You take that back – I'm the most fun person ever!"
"You're not!"
"I am! And I also make the best breakfasts ever – but if we take any longer it'll get cold, so come on, you lazy bum!"
Yohei let out an indignant squeak as he was dragged out of his room, to the sound of her laughter.
'I… really love this.'
-~=~-
To his credit, Yohei did spend the morning exactly as he had planned to – lazing around and not doing much besides breathing, eating, and existing. It was actually a great time, and it felt really good to spend some time with his mom after the hectic week, but eventually…
Well, the stillness started bothering him.
Which was worrying, because Yohei was a consummate lazy-ass, and proud of it!
Sure, he wasn't like Shikamaru, who would get bothered even by interesting things interrupting his rest, but there were few things either of his lives liked more than just sitting on the couch and picking up something to read, or lying down with some music on and existing in a state of no thoughts.
Was he turning into a goddamn training maniac!?
…
That might actually be good for his life expectancy…
But not today! Today was meant for rest!
Which is why, when he started getting the itch to go back to his room to read through the biology books or start doing chakra exercises, he immediately stood up and decided to do something neither of his lives would consider doing on their own –
Leaving the house.
"Oh! Going out, Yo-kun?" Nanami asked with some surprise as she saw him move to the front, tying down his – still steel-toeless – shoes.
"Yup!"
"Why, I thought you had nothing planned?"
"I don't!" Yohei confirmed with a smile. "Any suggestions on what to do?"
Nanami pouted. "Mou, you don't want to spend the day with your mama? Have you gotten to your rebellious phase, Yo-kun?" she asked with a fake sniff.
Yohei only gave her a flat, amused stare.
She giggled, dismissing the fake tears. Then she looked to the side as she tapped her finger on her mouth. "Something to do, huh? Hm… Well, Tatsuo-kun and I would go out sometimes just to watch people and make fun of them while eating something."
"That's horrible, Mama," Yohei replied dryly.
Nanami winked, peeking her tongue out the corner of her mouth and knocking on her head. "Tee-he."
Yohei snorted, laughing.
Still, he considered what she said.
'Watching people, huh?'
Bringing his hands up in the Ram hand seal, Yohei was soon enveloped by a white cloud.
Puff.
"Eh?" his mom sounded, confused about why he had used the Transformation Jutsu. When the smoke vanished, however, she leaned forward eagerly, stars in her eyes. "Eehhhhh!?"
Where before Yohei had been wearing a simple black T-shirt and baggy shorts, he now seemed to be dressed in clear white pants and a white, long-sleeved open shirt with a high neck and black insides, exposing his chest. His skin, previously olive, had changed to the paler shade of his mother, while his hair turned straight and gained the blue coloration of her own.
…In sum, he looked like a child male version of Nanami.
"EHHHHHHHHH!?"
Yohei snickered, showing that his teeth had become a bit longer and sharper in the transformation. "You liked it? That way, even if I'm caught stalking people like you used to do, no one will recognize me."
Asking if she liked it was a bit cruel. Seeing the look on her face as she stared at him, hands on her cheeks and barely holding in a squeal… well, it was fair to say that she loved it.
"Well, I'm going."
"YO-KUN! NO! DON'T GO! STAY! LET ME SEE, LET ME SEE! AHHHHH, YOU'RE SO CUTE! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LOOK SO MUCH LIKE YOUR FATHER? NINE MONTHS, YO-KUN! NINE MONTHS AND YOU ONLY GOT MY EYES! PLEASE DON'T GOOOOOOO!"
Spoiler: Yohei's "Undercover" Transformation - sans mask and hole
-~=~-
He was only half-lying about his reason for using the Transformation Jutsu to become this… miniature version of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. More than being harder to recognize, what he actually wanted was to keep the transformation over his eyes, so he could use –
Shinsogan.
With a flex of chakra toward his eyes, he felt his dōjutsu activate, putting everything out of focus for a second before it all snapped back into place.
It was the first time Yohei was using it in public, and… well, it was quite the underwhelming experience.
He had only activated it thrice before – once in his bedroom to check what it looked like, where it had no effect; once in his past classroom, where there was a 'red line' for pretty much everyone around him; and once in the forest during his genin exam, which was much the same as before.
Here, out in the streets of Konoha, he could almost mistake it as if there was nothing different about himself – he had no interest in the random passersby, and the random passersby most definitely had no interest in him. But then he'd see someone he knew, or a neighbor, and a thread would materialize from nothing as they entered his field of view.
Seeing those strings also allowed him to make a new observation. While they were mostly smaller than some of the bigger strings he'd seen before – like the one connecting him to Hinata, or the one between him and Souma – they were also more… solid? Old? Sure?
It was weird to describe, and it was more of a feeling rather than an actual visual aspect of it, but he had the impression that even though they wouldn't give him as much detail as a bigger one would, they were also under a lot less risk of diminishing in size.
On a counterpoint, he also noticed something of the opposite nature once he leapt up to the eaves of a house and started watching the people moving on the street. The speed at which he could build new connections with those random people was much lower than the speed it took for him to build one with his classmates who didn't have one. And it could crumble even without him looking away from them.
There was no perfectly consistent timing, but… if for classmates it took a few seconds to see the strand grow noticeably, with random passersby it took minutes.
He did notice that it was noticeably faster with people he found himself… well, attracted to. The more attractive the person, the quicker it formed, which showed that this at least was an important factor for his ability, even if not the only one.
At some point, he decided that rather than quick tests he wanted to observe the whole process happening in real time – so he sat down in a comfortable place to stalk – observe people and decided on a target subject.
SHIBATA MIO
STRANGERS
'How hurtful, Mio-chan…'
That was the girl he had picked to observe at random, mostly because she was reasonably close to his hiding spot – and distance between him and a target seemed to matter – but also because she was working at a stall, so she was unlikely to move away and make him have to follow her to continue the progress of his ability.
He had only settled on her a couple of minutes ago, and it was already paying off. For one, he managed to discover another factor in the workings of his dōjutsu – names.
The red thread between the two of them was still a few meters away from being completed after he spent some time paying attention to her appearance and the details of her face and clothing – but the moment he heard who he guessed to be her mother calling her name, it rushed forward and attached itself to her heart. Sure, it was still thin as a spider's web, but it was there!
It was, however, only enough to give him information he already had – namely her name and their relationship status.
It took several more minutes of observation for him to gain access to more information – and even that wasn't by itself, even if he had seen the strand thicken as he spent more time watching her. What triggered the change, to be specific, was when he noticed a rather interesting detail about her.
Mio was a pretty girl.
No, wait, there's more to it than that!
Mio was a pretty girl, and that's why her mom put her as the face of their little business, handling the customers while she stayed in the back making the imagawayaki they sold. When there were no customers in sight, Mio would chat in a relaxed, if slightly bored, manner with her mother, laughing here and there. The moment a customer appeared, however, she would put on a cheerful face and act kindly toward them – which was perfectly normal for anyone who worked in customer service, of course – but there were some differences in how she handled different customers.
With adults she'd act peppy and a bit doltish, putting on that charming younger-girl act that made adults want to buy from the 'hard working kid'.
With kids she would instead act all cool and confident, putting on what Yohei liked to call the 'nee-san' act to get them interested in buying the imagawayaki, and incentivizing them to bring their friends.
With guys her age, though? Especially the ones who came by to try and flirt or impress her? She'd act perfectly civil and put on a smile. It did, however, lack the warmth she showed to the previous demographics.
The biggest difference was when girls her age appeared, especially pretty girls. That's when he'd see her closest to how she was when alone with her mother. Her face would get an almost unnoticeable blush and she'd laugh at anything they said, while her eyes did a mad dance, not knowing where to look.
Yohei's suspicions were confirmed when the 'ink' that appeared beside her in his vision, informing him of her name and their relationship, melted and reformed into different words.
IS INTERESTED IN CINEMA
LIKES GIRLS
DISLIKES BOYS
'Oof. Sorry, Mio-chan, it seems things between us weren't meant to be…' Yohei 'lamented' inside his head.
Despite joking, he felt a bit… well, actually very uncomfortable violating the girl's privacy and spying on her like this. But it did help him understand one more part of his power.
'Learning something about the individual increases our bond and gives me access to more information.'
Which he had already guessed, but as always, having confirmation was preferable. He could have reasonably told himself that the 'likes girls' and 'dislikes boys' parts came purely from his own observation, but there was nothing to indicate her interest in cinema beyond maybe – maybe – her little acting act.
'Well, I guess this is it, enough with the stalking bit. Besides, this ended up becoming a training session all the same. What the hell is wrong with me?' Yohei grumbled. Then he smiled. 'But I guess one last test wouldn't hurt, and Mio-chan deserves a gift for being such a wonderful assistant.'
Thinking so, Yohei once more brought his hands together in the Ram hand seal, bringing on another puff of smoke as he was left transformed into a new form.
"Ah, ah, testing, testing," he tried saying, smiling upon hearing how his voice came out.
'Can't really check to see if it all looks okay,' he complained, looking down at his body. 'But I based this mostly on Mom, so it should be okay, right?'
"Well, damn," Yohei said with a sharp grin, looking down at himself. "I look hot. Now let's rock that girl's world."
-~=~-
'There's a lot of movement today,' Shibata Mio thought lazily.
It made sense, of course. Weekends were always when they got the most movement – couples taking their children for a walk, kids enjoying the lack of classes, teenagers hanging out with their friends…
And it was a good thing. Great, even!
They hadn't had any financial problems for a while now, not since those first few months after…
After the thing.
But it was always good for business to be doing well, right? It meant that she'd get the money she needed to go to the capital faster, and it also meant more pocket money she could use to go out with her friends.
But it also meant that she had to spend the whole day seeing couple after couple doing couple things…
And that wasn't fair!
Not at all!
She also wanted to go on a date, dammit!
She wanted to put on her nice clothes! She wanted to spend some of her money buying overpriced things she shouldn't just to make her date smile! She wanted to kiss! And – and hold hands! And all the other things couples did!
She was the only one in her circle who had never dated before now! Even Kaito had a girlfriend! Kaito! Monkey-ears Kaito!
And she couldn't even complain about it! Because she knew that her mom would easily let her go out instead of working if she said she got asked out! In fact, she would insist on it! Mio knew that because just an hour ago a boy had asked her out for the third time this month and she had to almost beg the woman not to close up the stall!
The problem was that she wasn't interested in the kind of people who were interested in her. And the kind of people she was interested in weren't interested in her!
She knew that for a fact, because she had already been rejected by three girls! Three!
'It's not my fault,' she reassured herself in her mind. 'It's this damn village's fault. Prudes! Prudes, all of them! Weren't ninja supposed to be deviants!? The books lied to me!'
"Hello?"
'But it's okay,' she consoled herself. 'Just a few more months. A few more months and I'll be off to the capital to study. And everyone knows what the girls in the capital get to, right? So it'll all–'
"Excuse me?"
Mio blinked, finding herself dragged out of her thoughts by a voice like velvet that seemed to envelop the words uttered by it, then bash through her ears, beating her brain into submission.
Embarrassed – and knowing from the voice alone that she was only going to embarrass herself further – Mio psyched herself up for the next torturous minutes as she raised her gaze. "Ah – I'm sorry, dear customer, can I-" She choked on her words.
Standing in front of her was a girl – no, a woman. Yes, a woman. A one-point-eight-meter-tall woman, with moon-pale skin in the likeness of the Hyūga, dressed in low, plain white pants that exposed the top of her navel, and a black crop top that did nothing to hide the steel-hard muscles of her abdomen, while at the same time hugging snugly the humongous mountains that dared call themselves tits.
That alone would have already short-circuited Mio's brain, but the look on the statuesque woman's face was somehow worse than all of it. A perfect face that put her favorite actresses to shame, pearl-white teeth exposed in a sharp, fanged, dimpled smirk, and crystalline blue eyes looking down at her in a lidded gaze that made her feel like a bunny in front of a fox – all of it framed by long, luscious silvery-white curls that made the devil in front of her look like an angel.
Spoiler: Lesbian Destroyer no Jutsu
'Ah. I'm going to die.'
The woman's smirk seemed to sharpen even more at that thought, as if she could read Mio's mind.
'Or maybe she's smelling my weakness?'
"Could I get some pancakes, please?" her killer asked – though it felt more like a demand.
"Ah, yes! We have anko, custard cream, chocolate, sweet potato, and cheese fillings! Which one would you like, dear customer?" Mio said.
Or – well – tried to say. What actually came out of her mouth was something like:
"Ajh heash! wedjsah ang, suharsh weam, sdiohti, whwesast oaho-"
Luckily, she shut up before she could embarrass herself further. Unluckily, that only happened after the woman's warm chuckles cut through the fog in her head as she leaned against the counter, arms pushing together underneath her bust to push them up in a move that Mio was pretty sure should be illegal.
"You're adorable," the woman said, eyes narrowed in amusement.
"Heh. Heheheh. Ehehehehehehehehheheheheh-"
She kind of blanked out after that.
Mio was vaguely aware of her mother appearing by her side and talking with the woman, getting her order in and receiving the payment before handing her a paper bag filled to the brim. But she only really came back to reality when she saw those blue eyes lock onto her own as the woman winked.
"Sayonara, Mio-chan," she said sweetly as she turned and –
'Oh my kami, look at that-'
"Mio!" Her mother's voice called her back from the sight of paradise. She jumped in her seat, looking to the side at the disappointed look on the woman's face. "Stop staring like a dog looking at a piece of meat! Honestly, I raised you better than that, girl."
"Ah – AH! Eh… what?"
…Her brain may still have been a little fried.
-~=~-
"Pfft-!"
Yohei couldn't stop laughing at the dazed look of the girl he'd left behind.
Was what he'd just done a little mean?
Maybe.
But she certainly looked like she'd enjoyed it, and he couldn't bring himself to feel guilty as he felt the new weight on his chest, signaling that the Chaos Scroll had become active again.
'Jackpot,' he commented in his head. 'Should I head home now?'
He considered it for a few moments before shaking his head.
'Nah, better not. This will be either a new Manual or… a new Summon. If it's the first, I'm not going to be able to stop myself from starting to study it today, depending on what it is, and if it's the latter then I'm not going to be able to use it right now anyway. I should just look for something else to do now that I'm done with this little expedition. But what?' he asked himself, humming, then standing up and patting the dirt off his clothes as he felt an idea take shape. 'One last use of the Shinsōgan for the day.'
Activating his dōjutsu – still behind the mask of a transformation, though this time his first one – Yohei leapt atop a power pole and looked at the many lines that appeared from his chest, now that his line of sight was increased by his altitude.
'My mom, told me, to pick, this one, right here,' he sang to himself, picking one at random and memorizing its direction as he deactivated the dōjutsu. 'And I'm not going to disobey my mom.'