Shisui stood in the middle of a compact training ground ringed by tall cedars. The trunks made a natural wall, and a strip of hard-packed earth ran down the center like a track.
"Time to work on your Flicker," he said.
I looked around. "Where is Kaen? I thought he wanted this too."
"He does," Shisui replied. "You rely on Flicker more and you are farther along. I sent a shadow clone to guide him at the next field."
I whistled. "Good use of shadow clone."
He smiled. "It is very useful in cases like this. Most shinobi avoid it because of the risk and because they do not have the chakra to spare. We do."
The word we put a lift in my chest. Prodigy perks were real.
His eyes narrowed as if he heard my thoughts. "Do not let that go to your head. Shinobi with near-limitless chakra have died because they wasted it. Being smart and resourceful with your chakra, with precise control, is better than having too much and throwing it away."
I nodded. "Understood."
He clapped once. "Then let me announce the Flicker Improvement Happy Camp is now open to a very lucky student."
I stared at him with a deadpan look. He coughed. "Tough crowd. Fine. Here is the plan. We improve efficiency first, then effectiveness. Four stages. You do not move on until I say."
I stepped onto the track. "Let's do it."
What followed was not a single session but the start of a routine. Each stage bled into the next over days, the drills repeating until they carved themselves into my muscles and coils. And so we began with, "Stage one," he said. "Marker discipline."
He placed flat river stones every five meters. Each one had a tiny chalk dot on its center. "Land with the ball of your lead foot on the dot. Not near it. Not grazing it. On it. Twenty repetitions, both directions. If you miss, you reset the count."
I drew chakra into my legs and flickered to the first stone. The world blurred. I touched down a finger's width to the left. Shisui said nothing. He just tapped the start stone with his sandal.
Back to zero.
By the seventh attempt, my breath had settled into a steady rhythm. Gather on the inhale. Release on the exhale. I started hitting the center more often. By the thirteenth, I landed clean five times in a row before a tiny overpush slid me past the mark. I reset without complaint. The game made sense. Smaller surge, sharper stop.
On the twentieth clean landing, Shisui nodded. "Good."
"Now we move to stage two," Shisui said. "Body control."
He tossed me a set of ankle straps. The leather was thick, the weights stitched tight and even. "Wear them. This is not to slow you. This is to teach your chakra to reinforce muscle and tendon correctly."
I buckled them on and the ground felt heavier. He pointed to the stones again. "Repeat the drill. If your landing scuffs the dot, you reset."
The first step nearly folded my knee. The second slammed my heel too hard, and the jolt shot up my spine. Shisui's voice stayed calm. "Lower the surge a bit. Let your muscles take the weight instead of relying on chakra alone."
He continued, "Prime your muscles first, then use your chakra control to add only the amount needed to Flicker to your mark. The less chakra you force into your legs at once, the less strain you put on them. Strong muscles paired with precise chakra control will work wonders. At first, it will not come by instinct, but with time and repetition, your body will start doing it subconsciously."
His words were something I could relate to, given how I did the same with my lightning chakra circulation.
After a few Flickers I started to get the hang of it. Luckily they were very short bursts, so I did not collapse from muscle strain, not to mention the regular breaks Shisui gave me to make sure I paced myself and my muscles.
"Stage three," he said. "Hold and release."
He stepped beside me. "Gather chakra as if you will Flicker. Do not move. Hold the pressure steady for a count of five. At my signal, release to the next dot."
I gathered lightning chakra into my legs. The hum built in my calves, then climbed through my hips and into my ribcage. It clawed for release, five counts stretching out like ten.
"Go."
I moved. The landing was clean, but my legs tingled with leftover static. We repeated, increasing the hold to seven counts, then nine. Each time, I fought the shiver that wanted to run through the coils and spill power early. Each time, the release smoothed out a bit more.
Shisui watched my posture more than my speed. "Relax your jaw. Shoulders down. Breath even on the hold. If the breath rattles, the chakra rattles."
I filed that away. He was right. When the breath stayed soft, the surge behaved.
He finally raised a hand. "Break. Stretch the calves and the arches."
I dropped to the ground and worked my feet with my thumbs. The soles burned. He handed me a canteen and remarked as I was drinking, "Well done. Even though we have been pacing it carefully over the days, you are moving through this training course much faster than most people."
I raised an eyebrow. "Most?" Then I went back to drinking.
He laughed. "Wait until you meet Itachi."
I choked so hard I nearly drowned on the water, Shisui giving me a sharp look of concern. For the rest of the day I slipped, making small mistakes every time that name echoed in my head.
Stage four came next. "Integration," he said, his tone serious.
He scattered the stones out of a straight line and into a winding path. Left, right, short, long, then tight again. "Follow the order I call. No sliding stops. Land exactly on point, ready to strike from each position."
He called the sequence like drum beats. "Two. Five. Three. Seven. One."
I moved. The path forced quick changes of direction and small bursts. By the third chain, I could feel the difference. The holds kept my coils from leaking, the weight taught my legs to brace, the marker discipline kept my feet honest. I was moving quicker without feeling wild.
He cut in halfway through a sequence and tapped the inside of my ankle with a staff I had not even noticed him carrying. "Stop flaring on the inside edge. Distribute evenly. Again."
I adjusted. The next landing came very precise, with minimal chakra waste or muscle strain, which made him nod as if impressed with the understanding, precision, and focus I showed, far beyond my years.
We kept running the sequence until my shirt clung to my skin. When he finally called a halt, the sun was already hanging just above the trees. ""Walk," he said. "Do not sit yet. Flush the legs."
I obeyed, pacing the edge of the field until the buzzing in my thighs dulled to a low throb. Only then did he lead me through slow laps and long stretches. When we finally sat, the ache in my body settled deep and steady instead of sharp.
Shisui studied me in silence, the tomoe of his Sharingan turning as he traced the tension in my muscles and the faint static still clinging to my coils from earlier bursts. When he spoke at last, his voice was calm. "Progress, not mastery. If you keep at this, your Flicker will sharpen. Your body will stop fighting the technique and start carrying it."
"Thank you, sensei, for your guidance and for sharing your experience with me."
He rested a hand briefly on my shoulder. "It is my job as a sensei, you know." His smile widened. "It is also a reward of its own to be the one who trained yet another prodigy. Now I can boast to my clansmen that I taught two." He laughed joyfully at the thought.
His laughter made me smile as I lay back on the floor, staring up through the cedar canopy and soaking in his bright mood. The work hurt, but each landing felt truer than the one before. If I kept this pace, then with time the Flicker would stop feeling like a struggle and instead become a natural part of the way I moved.
The sun was sinking, painting the sky gold. My legs throbbed with the ache of effort, an ache that carried the promise of strength.
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A/N: I never share anything from the advanced chapters, but someone gave me such an amazing piece of feedback on the fight happening there that I am too proud of it not to spoil you guys a little lol. It is honestly the best feeling when people actually see and appreciate the effort that goes into crafting those fights.
***Do not read this if you want to avoid even slight spoilers for future events.
comment by: Vas Thanks for the chapter. Since you've specifically asked for feedback at the start I'll speak in detail. 1. This has to be one of the most accurate depictions of Shisui I've ever read. People know the name Shisui of the body flicker, but they never focus on speed and just speed because of the Sharingan. Here I like that there's an emphasis on reaction times not being able to process his movements and attacks even by an outside observer like Noa. Really brings home the terror and quiet menace of Shisui and why he earned the title in the first place. Very very very good depiction. 2. "Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan spun into full view, his eyes sharp as blades. He shifted the flow of his chakra with perfect precision, feeding power into the clash at just the right points." This is **critical** and must be highlighted. I think most will miss the subtle implications and how rare this is.. peak tier skilled writing here for many reasons. Without mentioning the two special abilities of each eye the Mangekyo Sharingan enhances the base Sharingan capabilities, improving perception, reaction speed, and overall sight to a higher degree than the three-tomoe form. I've read a ton of Naruto fan fictions. I mean an unhealthy amount with a lot of focus on Sharingan and I'ver never never never never never never never never I mean never seen someone highlight this point. Shisui here briefly awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan specifically to upgrade his eyes to enhance his abilities **just** to overpower and merge his attack to overwhelm the enemy. I'm impressed because not only does it show control and tactical awareness, but also shows how he conserved chakra, which reminded me that he took Soldier pills to rush over as well. The saying "show don't tell" & "less is more" was excellent here and made the story feel so much realer with consequences. 3. The fight scene was great. I felt the descriptions were perfect and transitions between action on the combat sequences felt smooth. Like I mentioned Noa's POV was excellent because it brought home the eeriness of it. Watching shinobi die through various wounds while not seeing the attacker or even processing the attack is definitely terror inducing. Truly Shisui of the Body Flicker and you did justice to the name.