The second step of chakra seeding was pure hell for me. It was one of the most difficult things I had ever tried, harder than learning D-rank jutsu of other chakra natures. But the technique I had in mind was so vivid I could not give up on it. After almost a month, a few mostly uneventful missions, and endless team-coordination drills, I finally managed to maintain a stable circle around myself.
Sena walked into the training ground with a small smile. "So, you finally managed the second step. Took you longer than I expected. Maybe you are normal after all."
I gave her a deadpan look. Somehow that made all the effort feel cheaper, like the hours I had stolen from my ninjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, and fuinjutsu training had not been worth it.
I laughed anyway, pride rising in my chest. "Behold, my amazing field." I knelt and set my palm to the ground, seeding the area with careful control, then moved in fast but deliberate steps in a spiral from the center outward. I planted the nodes one by one, silently praying to every god I knew that they would hold. To my relief, they did. A complete ring formed around me, the earth properly seeded and the anchors stable. I could not stop grinning at the hard-won result.
Sena's eyebrow climbed. "That small circle is it?"
I coughed into my fist. "It is not small. It is… average."
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as if physically restraining her annoyance. I kept smiling.
She opened her eyes, brows still raised. "Fine. The next step is to feed that circle with chakra. Think of the ring as dough made of layered bread." She shook her head as if she still couldn't believe the analogy, then went on. "Your chakra acts like the heat that makes the dough rise, increasing the concentration of chakra in the field. The nodes will draw in that extra energy and use it to keep feeding the ground and the air until the right balance is reached. Once the concentration is stable, the nodes will finally lock the entire field into a solid, steady circle."
I nodded. I had expected that to be the next step, but I had not dared try it yet in case I ruined the ring I had finally stabilized. "So I will need a lot of chakra to maintain a large field."
"Yes," she said. "Your reserves are great, but if you try to use shadow clones while keeping even a small field active, you might end up flat on your face from exhaustion."
"Yeah," I sighed. "Eventually I will need a much larger area than this."
"I do not think you will have the reserves for what you want for a couple more years," she replied bluntly. "Even then, keeping that size alive will eat most, if not all, of your chakra."
"I will cross that bridge when I get to it. If I have to, I will make a very limited version first, just to prove the concept."
"That is your best choice for now," she said with a nod. "Alright, that third step should be easy enough for you. Try it."
I glanced at the ring I had just shown off. Half the nodes had already dimmed, their faint glow almost gone. The rest flickered like dying embers. So much for lasting power.
"Did not even survive long enough for me to gloat," I muttered, then added under my breath, "and it is a chakra-hungry nightmare."
I shifted to a fresh patch of ground and started again. I let my chakra seep out slowly, layering it so it would cling longer. Then I walked the vortex from the center outward, planting each step deliberately until I reached the edge. A quick check told me the nodes were holding, a soft hum under my senses.
Back to the middle. I switched to the next part, borrowing the control I used for sensing. I spread chakra outward in a controlled ring to match the circumference. The flow pulled evenly from me while I kept my breathing steady and my focus tight. The anchors drew in what I fed them, spreading it through the ground and into the air, reinforcing the entire field.
Then, once the concentration of chakra reached the right point and the balance settled, everything clicked together so smoothly that a grin crept across my face despite the strain. In a moment of pure bliss, the entire field shimmered to life. It stabilized completely, and I stopped forcing more chakra out as I felt I had grasped the full concept of the chakra field. Understanding settled over me, clear and steady, as if I could finally see the field as a single, complete structure. I had the sense that creating one would somehow be easier from now on.
The field wrapped around me like a living veil of chakra, the air itself carrying a soft, shimmering glow. As a sensor, it felt almost otherworldly, as though the ground and the air had become a single luminous web, and every strand brushed gently against my awareness.
Sena's eyes widened, her surprise genuine. "I'm impressed."
"I think that's the first time you've said that unironically," I replied, still staring at the shimmering field.
She chuckled. "You deserve it. That is an amazing field, and on the first try too."
I nodded, pride racing ahead of sense. "Yes, praise me more. My talent is..."
The words died as my chakra faltered. Focus slipped. The field collapsed. "Aaah!" I barked, frustration bubbling up. The nodes remained and the ground stayed seeded, but the chakra in the air vanished almost at once.
Sena laughed lightly. "That is what you get for losing focus."
I stayed there a moment longer, breathing steadily and glaring at the ring of faintly glowing anchors as if they had betrayed me.
Sena stepped closer, her expression thoughtful. "Alright," she said, "let's move on to the next step."
I straightened up and wiped the sweat from my brow. "There's a next step already? I just got this to work for a few seconds."
"Do not worry," she said. "The more you practice, the easier it will feel. By improving your control, you'll also reduce how much chakra you use. Not by a lot, but enough to make keeping the field steady less demanding."
I looked around the circle and nodded. "Alright. I will keep at it. What is the fourth step?"
She studied me for a moment. "I'll tell you, but don't try it today. You've already used a lot of chakra, and pushing any further might cause problems."
"I am not a reckless kid who will try it right away."
"Really?" she asked, eyes narrowing.
I scratched the back of my head with a nervous laugh. "Definitely."
"Fine," she said with a soft exhale. "The fourth step is another tough one. This is where you convert the neutral chakra in the field into an element. In your case, lightning. Shizuru can help you with the hand seals you'll need, but stabilizing elemental chakra across a wide area takes even finer control. You may have to keep holding the seal to keep the element stable."
My eyes widened. "What if I convert the chakra inside my body first and then push it into the field?"
"It is possible," she said with a small nod, "but converting the chakra inside your body first and then pumping it into the field would be much slower. It's far more efficient to pump large amounts of neutral chakra into the field, which is much easier to do, and then use the hand seals to convert it there."
Then she said with a joking tone, "Unless you have lightning running through your veins, you'll have to do it the hard way."
Something sparked so hard in my head I swore I could feel it. Stormdrive. If I activated it, used the boosted speed and control to set the field faster, then pumped the lightning chakra already racing through my circulation straight into the ring… I could turn the whole thing into a lightning field. Overpowered. Dangerous. Perfect.
A grin spread across my face, my chakra flaring before I could stop it as a laugh slipped out. Then, without a sound, Shisui appeared beside us, as if he had blinked into existence where he hadn't been a fraction of a second before.
I let out a very manly scream. Sena only shook her head.
His eyes swept the ground once and then met ours. "We have an urgent C-rank from the Hokage," he said. "Come with me now. We cannot delay."
We both nodded. As I fell in behind him, one painful thought thumped through my skull, I really should not have used that much chakra in training today.