Chapter 3 – First Steps in Chakra
Night fell. The village was quiet, broken only by distant shouts or groans.
Kenjaku sat against the wall, muscles aching. Every injury throbbed. Every cut burned. He could not heal them. Not with cursed energy, not with power. They were permanent.
Chakra pulsed faintly in the air around him. Different from cursed energy. Pure, resistant, and alien.
He tried to move it. A flicker of warmth under his palm. Weak. Unstable. The body shuddered under his control. Pain lanced through his chest.
Slowly, carefully, he tried again. Tiny manipulations. Tiny movements. Tracing the flow of energy. Each attempt left him drained.
A small test: a pebble across the floor. It moved. Imperfectly. But it moved.
Hours passed. Small, careful movements. Observing, testing. No combat. No healing. No borrowed skill. Only survival and understanding.
By dawn, he could move objects, sense faint chakra traces, and slip past rain-ninja patrols.
The first steps had been taken.