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The little creek hurried along, splashing and bubbling over rocks as it wound its way through the quiet woods. The jewel-blue water, with sunlight flickering on its surface, was refreshing to the touch as Takuma sat in the middle of the creek in his swimming trunks, submerged to his waist.
He pulled his arms out of the stream, and a thick glove of water stuck to his open hands, perfectly covering his skin as he flexed his fingers. Water's principle of cohesion was the name given to water's tendency to stick to itself or other things. Strengthening the adhesive force enabled water to be shaped into various forms. He manipulated the water around his hands to reduce the force needed to break it into mist, but it just slopped off his hands and splashed into the stream.
If it were so easy, then no one would be training finger and wrist dexterity to sign hand seals faster.
He dipped his arms back into the stream to pull out another pair of water gloves. He shook his hands hard, and the water splattered off because of his poor skill with the principle. He dipped again and, this time, poured more water-natured chakra into the water gloves, and when he shook his hands, the water didn't splatter. On lower levels, quantity could make up for the lack of quality, but it was a waste from a practical standpoint.
Training the principle was no different from training nature transformation for individual ninjutsu. The nature transformation exercise mentioned in B-rank scrolls was focused, compatible with ninjutsu, and thus yielded quicker results due to its speciality. Principles were broader concepts with wider application that may not match a shinobi's arsenal of ninjutsu; they had to be adjusted per the target ninjutsu and were entirely dependent on how the shinobi applied them.
Earth Release: Earth Spear utilised the earth's principle of hardness, which, as the name suggested, encompassed the earth's hardness and softness. The creator had based the ninjutsu around that principle; it was integral to its functioning—but that didn't stop, say, Takuma from inserting a different principle into it to modify it to some extent, like how Anko had done with her Fire Release: Twin Flame Whips. Not every principle would fit, and even if something was compatible, that didn't mean he would be able to apply it properly.
After another twenty minutes of repetitions, he weaved hand seals for Water Release: Deep Sea Arms. The creek's water crawled onto his back, and then eight thick tentacles shot out from his back. He caressed one of the tentacles and, upon a closer inspection, felt its surface to be akin to an elastic skin that kept the water mass wrapped within. The adhesive force along the surface was strong enough to give the tentacle its shape, but the contained water mass was kept close to its natural state to allow for the flexibility needed for the jutsu.
The more he thought about it, the more questions arose.
Where was he to apply the principle of cohesion to the jutsu? Making the outer skin more rigid or thicker would decrease the tentacle's elasticity and flexibility. The same would happen if he strengthened the adhesive bonds throughout the water mass.
"That's not right…"
He signed another set of hand seals for Water Release: Spirit Water Wave. A globe of bubbling water rose in front of him. He stacked four tentacles horizontally in front of the water globe and shot a bullet with as little force as the jutsu and his skill could muster, and the bullet still pierced all four tentacles and struck a rock, disappearing. Who knew shooting a bullet weakly would be so hard? The next shot worked, and a water bullet floated in the fourth tentacle in the row.
As the water bullet sat in his open palm, he realised he had never held or properly seen the water bullet up close. It was strange. The shape was utterly solid, but it wasn't cold or icy as one would expect. If his hands were dry, holding the bullet wouldn't have wet his skin. There was no way for water to be this solid without an ungodly amount of pressure, and he was sure the chakra in a C-rank ninjutsu could replicate it.
Theoretically, he knew that the water-nature chakra held the water molecules in place. Where water would naturally flow or separate, the chakra made sure it didn't go anywhere, with respect to each. It was like the chakra was glue—where the glue in the tentacles had some give and flexibility, the glue in the bullet locked everything down.
The two ninjutsu used the same principle of cohesion but in two different ways.
It made sense to him, but accomplishing it practically was a different matter. The two ninjutsu and their hand seals handled that load. Not to mention, the two applications of the same principle were so different that they might as well be two separate principles. And then there were more principles and their varied applications for both water and earth.
Jōnin were supposed to master two natures, and that seemed like a long path to him.
"Have to get there sooner rather than later," he muttered to himself as the two water ninjutsu fell to the water.
He dipped his arms into the water and pulled out the water gloves, then shook them off and repeated until his skin was like a wrinkled avocado.
If he couldn't figure it out right now, he just needed to keep doing it until he got it, and if that wasn't enough, he just needed to add more numbers.
———
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In the calm and safe clinic office of Yamanaka Inenpachi, Takuma sat on a comfortable leather recliner with the iryō-nin's hands around his head. Opposite to them sat a shadow clone. The clone and the iryō-nin shared a nod before the clone released himself. Invisible to them, the two foundational energies rushed back to the original's body.
"Focus," Inenpachi instructed.
Takuma squeezed his closed eyes as he zoned in on the spiritual energy that entered his body through the tenketsu points across his spine and shot right up to his brain through the chakra pathways. He breathed out as he took control of the rushing spiritual energy before it could enter his brain and redirected it in a particular, pre-determined pattern dictated by the method created by Inenpachi, who had managed to make an insane amount of progress with a single test subject—and himself, he had bought the Shadow Clone Jutsu as part of the research—who wasn't always reliably available.
The problem he had been trying to solve was the chronic, prolonged use of shadow clones. Using multiple shadow clones for a few hours wasn't a practical problem. Yes, it put a considerable strain and stress on the brain as it was forced to triage hours of memories and experience in a matter of seconds, but it was nothing a few good nights' sleep couldn't solve.
The real problem came when the brain was repeatedly forced to take on that stress day after day, not allowing for recovery. Cognitive overload and intense stress raised cortisol and related stress hormones, and chronic elevations were known to damage hippocampal neurons, impair memories and psychological health.
The core idea behind his research was straightforward. Instead of forcing the brain to take in the mass of memories and experience in a short span of seconds, they could spread the absorption over an extended period, like a minute or more. It wouldn't be possible to do in an urgent situation like combat, but in everyday life, Takuma could sit down and take a couple of minutes for each clone to reduce the strain on his brain.
But that was only one of the components of Inenpachi's method. He figured out a way to route spiritual energy, carrying the experiences, so the brain could better process details, emotional, procedural, and associative memories.
He had updated the method, which had steadily improved over time. The first method made it so that Takuma was safe to use one clone for four hours a day, but the second method raised the limit to two clones for five hours each, totalling ten hours a day, which was a 150% increase. And now, with the third iteration of the method, Takuma could use three clones for six hours a day, bringing the total to eighteen hours a day, an 80% increase.
"How do you feel?" Inenpachi asked after Takuma was done assimilating the memory.
"I think you've got it this time," Takuma answered, shifting in the recliner to get comfortable.
It had been three weeks since they had experimented with the third clone using the third update. It wasn't perfect, but Inenpachi had tweaked the method until Takuma felt no adverse effects over the course of a week.
"We still have to observe over the long term. Come to me the moment you feel any negative side effects," Inenpachi said while he took some notes in his research journal. "I think I'm ready to publish our progress. What do you think?"
"I think we should wait. Let's add one more clone before you publish," Takuma replied.
Inenpachi turned around to gaze at Takuma in surprise, not expecting the response. "May I ask why?"
"Would publishing our progress make you stop?" Takuma asked, sitting up in the chair, gazing intently at the iryō-nin. "Publishing that paper might give you a sense of finality that'll let you move on? Explore another topic? I'm saying this because that would leave me in an awkward position."
While he was the one testing and using the methods, Inenpachi was the one who created them. Without Inenpachi, he had no way to progress and would need to find someone else to continue the research, which might take forever and might not work out the same.
It took Inenpachi a moment, but his eyes widened as he said, "You want more?"
"I do."
"You're getting three clones for roughly eighteen hours, Takuma. Is that not enough?"
"Not nearly enough."
Takuma's sincere and matter-of-fact tone gave Inenpachi pause, making him realise that he was dealing with someone who was not normal. If before, he thought of Takuma as a run-of-the-mill workaholic who wanted clones to do more work, now he was looking at someone with an obsession towards something that demanded more clones than anyone would need.
"What do you need more clones for?"
"Work and training."
"Are you sure that's healthy?"
"This, what we are doing here, is for that exact reason. I'm aware how insane it sounds, Doc. You're not the first person to point that out. But the truth is, I have some non-negotiable goals I need to attain. I need more time just to give myself a chance."
"Wouldn't it be better to re-evaluate those goals?"
"Already did that." Takuma shrugged. "I'm not saying you should abandon everything else and go all-in on this, but I can't afford to stop right now. So, what do you say?"
A silence lingered before Inenpachi sat behind his desk and gazed at him for another moment. "I'm still interested in this research, so no, I won't stop working on it. Publishing might even open doors to some research grants. As long as we continue to make progress, I don't mind continuing to work with you on this. But as your collaborator, if not your friend, I'll say that it's okay to take your time. You're still very young, Takuma. I know you're a young chūnin, but work is not everything. Please take time for yourself and your personal life."
Takuma nodded. "Good. And I will. Don't worry, doc, I will."
Both of them knew that Inenpachi wasn't convinced, but he didn't show it.
"If you don't mind me asking. Has there been any progress with the black wall in your brain?
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