(mid-October, year 51 AK)
...
Yuta looked into the River of Time and focused on it, he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do here and what is the purpose of this place and the river.
As he concentrated and tried his best to sense something, or rather anything, from the River of Time, he felt that there is something extremely familiar in this river, he felt like there is a part of him were mixed into the waters of the river, or maybe it's the other way around, and it is the part of the River of Time were fused into his very being...
Yuta didn't know what the right answer to this would be, but he knew that he was connected to the River of Time, he was a part of it in a way, and he felt that this connection to the River of Time gives him... permission? authority? allows him to do... something? Yuta didn't know, but he felt like it all makes sense somehow...
'I don't know for sure, but I can assume that my Time Control ability gives me a connection to, and a some sort of authority over the River of Time. If I exercise said authority over it through my connection with it, I should be able to understand the River of Time and how I can use it for my own benefit.'
Yuta proceed and made effort to influence the River of Time, at first he felt like it's going well and he was about to get some understanding of its inner workings, but the next instant he felt extremely tired and he was forcefully thrown out from his mindscape and found himself back in the training grounds.
He fell backwards on the grass panting, his forehead was covered in sweat.
"I was so close to finally figuring everything out damn it!" He exclaimed with some regret.
...
'Well, anyway, that was interesting and productive experience.' Yuta thought, 'By following the soothing cold feeling that comes from inside, I managed to make my way into my own mindscape and established a some sort of connection with the River of Time. Now I feel this connection all the time and can return to that place whenever I want.'
'Now I'm no longer stumbling in the dark, and trying to instinctively follow the vague and elusive feeling anymore. Now that I discovered the way to my mindscape and the River of Time, all is left to do is to get the understanding of it and figure out how I can use or influence it to... to do what exactly? I don't know, maybe to stop the time or do time-travel?'
...
'Anyway, now I know exactly what I have to do, and I will figure everything out soon enough. I have to return to the orphanage now, I don't know how much time passed, I might be late... Time... The control over the time concept itself is within my reach, I feel so excited and thrilled right now!'
Yuta gathered his strength and with some effort he stood up and left for the orphanage, his body and mind felt exhausted, but his spirit was very elated.
...
Later next day Yuta skipped his usual Leaf Concentration exercise, and after his normal workout, he left the orphanage and went back to the training grounds nearby.
As he approached his usual spot, he confirmed that there was no one here this time.
He was planning to enter his mindscape and investigate the River of Time further, but first, he wanted to attepmt at the Tree-Climbing exercise once again, as it became a habit of his as he does it every time he came here.
Yuta went to the tree, placed one of his feet against the tree, and tried to concentrate as much chakra on the sole of his feet as he could possibly master at once.
Usually after he does that and applies pressure on his feet, as if to make a step forward, it slides down, it was always not enough chakra to stick it to the tree under his entire body weight. But not this time...
As Yuta gathered as much chakra as he could at once, and concentrated it on the sole of his feet, something unexpected happened this time, as the bark of the tree cracked and his feet was forcefully pushed away from it and Yuta fell to the ground after being pushed back.
"What the..." He mumbled in confusion.
'I was pushed back...' He thought trying to understand the situation, 'That means that I applied too much chakra, that never happened before, did my chakra suddenly grew overnight or something?'
Yuta concentrated on his own chakra and tried to examine his current state.
As he did that, he immediately felt that something changed about his chakra, it felt colder and deeper than before, like it gained some intangible weight to it.
'Huh, it indeed grew a little, but what is more significant, is that it changed. If before my chakra felt like a slightly warm small currents flowing inside me, now it felt a little cold, and while there is not much change in its quantity, it also gained some depth and feels like it has more weight to it now. What could have happened to my chakra?'
...
'The slightly cold feeling I get from my chakra now, it's the same pleasant cold feeling I get from the River of Time! That must be it, the connection to the River of Time I forged yesterday, the river must be influencing my chakra now, but how could that be?'
...
'Yesterday, inside my mindscape, I wasn't in my physical form, it was rather only my consciousness, I felt that the River of Time is connected to me, to my entire being, right in that moment I felt as one with it... But my physical body wasn't involved in the process, I was connected to it with my soul and mind only.'
...
'The River of Time connected to my soul now, it fused with it to some extent and influenced it. My soul, in turn, is the source of the spiritual energy, one of the two components of chakra, so the spiritual energy was influenced as well, and in turn, it influenced my chakra and made it colder and deeper, and that also made it stronger and allowed it to exert more strength during my attempt at the Tree-Climbing exercise...'
'The total amount of my chakra does feel a little bigger now than yesterday, but it is insignificant increase, it wouldn't allow it to become stronger to this extent, so it must be the change in its nature what caused it.'
'I'm not sure that my assumptions are correct, but this is how it looks to me... My chakra somehow acquired an attribute to it, a trace of the River of Time itself, or rather being influenced by it through its influence over my soul. At this point it's safe to assume that the River of Time was strenghtened my soul, and this happened all because of the Time Control ability made it possible!'
Yuta laid back on the grass and laughed happily with relief, he looked at the clouds in the sky with some spark in his eyes.
"Well would you look at that." He said in a bright and cheerful tone, "It looks like I won't be an average bottom-feeder at the academy and as a shinobi after all!"
'You've got me worried there for a while, you stupid Time Control ability...' He thought with relief and reassurance, 'Even with just this side effect improvement in my chakra I should be considered no longer having an "average" talent anymore, but at least a "above average" or even a "good" talent now.'
'I don't know exactly how much potential this improvement in my chakra quality has for me, but it is something, and it feels significant already. Even without any further consideration of my Time Control, I should be able to not fall too much behind the talented students of the Ninja Academy in the future, probably.'
Yuta's spirit is very elated right now. From the moment he ended up in this world of shinobi, bloodlines, talents and monsters, he developed an inferiority complex to some extent, as his talent was average and his training progress was quite slow.
He always kept in mind his dormant Time Control ability and expected great things from it, but as time passed and it was already a full year since his transmigration, the mental pressure was building up and he felt inferior in all aspects to the talented shinobi from the anime he remembered.
And as of now, though nothing much changed and his chakra improvement is not that ground-braking and life-changing, it still felt significant, and with that comes the promise of the better future and better chances to survive this shithole of a world, hence the buildup pressure had eased up significantly for Yuta, and he felt very optimistic.
'Well then, time to dive into my mindscape and get some answers from the River of Time!' He thought with resolve and sat cross-legged, ready to begin meditation to enter his mindscape...
--- AN ---
Damn, this cliffhanger again, it's not on purpose, I swear~
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