Training for Bloodline

Corvin once again had a daunting task ahead of him. Having finally obtained the ability to use lightning natured chakra after many days of rigorous training with his mother, it was now time for him to try to put this new found skill to use. While Corvin was relatively certain that he would have eventually been able to gain access to a second chakra nature, much like he is certain that he could eventually unlock a third, he was not nearly as certain when it came to his clan's trademark ability of Magnet Release. His father did not have it, for example. There was no guarantee he would either. All he could do was try. The problem was, much like when he wanted to learn how to unlock his lightning chakra, he did not know where to begin. Chakra paper was going to be useless in this instance since his goal was not to unlock some new form of chakra, he was instead trying to meld the two together. 

He had asked his parents if they thought someone else in their clan would be willing to help out with this task, but they insisted that this was something he had to do on his own. They insisted that if it was within him to do, then he would be able to do it without assistance and would be better off for it in the end. This is something that greatly frustrated Corvin. He knew full well that other kids in his clan had help from their parents or relatives unlocking their Magnet Release. He could not understand why it was so important to them that he do it on his own. How could they be so sure he would be able to do it? It is not as though either of them had to go through anything of this sort. He could have simply gone behind their back and asked for help anyway, but then he felt as though he would be acting dishonestly toward his parents. Instead, there he sat under the tree in his back yard at Sunagakure. Heat was beating down upon him on this hot day. Around him was a thin line of iron dust. Somehow, some way, he had to find out if he was even capable of manipulating that dust.

Corvin figured he could start this simply. First, he tried to see if he could summon up a bit of earth natured chakra in one hand and a bit of lightning natured chakra in the other. He focused on this for several minutes before bringing his hands together. The result was more sweat and frustration. He tried this several more times with much the same result. Next, he decided to try the method his mother had used to help him gain access to his lightning natured chakra. He tried feeling the emotions that both lightning and earth brought out in him. He tried holding these two emotions together in his mind and tried visualizing them coming together. Still nothing. Unwilling to give up, he tried thinking about the emotions and facets of magnetism. He tried thinking about all the various ways you could view magnetism, dust, and iron. Again, all he got was sweat and frustration. He went into the house and grabbed one of the leftover boxes of chakra paper from his previous training. He brought it outside and took out two sheets. Resting one in each hand, he tried seeing if he really was able to bring the two chakras of lightning and earth out at the same time. It turns out, that was not at all what he was doing. Instead, he found that the best he could do was fire off one after the other in quick succession, but try as he might Corvin could not get the two to happen together. 

After several hours with the same result, he finally went inside feeling defeated. He laid his head on the table and sighed heavily. "You should not give up so easily son," his father said. "You know this is not something that is going to happen over night." This proved to just annoy Corvin. "I know, but I do not even have any way to know if I am even making any progress. I have no way of knowing if I am doing anything right or wrong. You insist I have to do this on my own, but no other kid in our clan has to do that. It just does not feel fair." Frustrated, he walked out and went into his room and stared at his ceiling for a few hours. He could not see why they refused to understand. It is not as though he was unwilling to do training or work hard, but without direction it felt like he was getting nowhere. On top of that, he had no way of knowing if he would even be capable, so it could easily be for nothing. He really did want to be able to use his clan's trademark justu, but at that point he felt hopeless. It was then a soft knock came at his door. Opening it, he was surprised to see his frail old granny standing there. She was smiling widely and resting on a cane that could easily have been many times as old as Corvin himself.


"Granny! What are you doing here?" Corvin said as he hastily tried tidying his room. She simply giggled and walked in, taking a seat on his bed. "Your father told me that you spent some time today trying to learn the clan ability." Corvin sighed and hung his head as he sat next to her. "Going that well eh? He also told me that he was trying to get you to do it on your own. A sort of strength building exercise," she said, looking at him as best she could through her thick glasses. "Yeah granny. And I am trying at it, but I think it is just too hard for me to do on my own," he said with dismay. "Course it is," she said bluntly. Corvin looked at her puzzled. "It is not really something you can do all on your own," she said in reply to his look. "I don't understand granny. Why did dad insist I had to do it on my own?" Corvin asked. "Well, your father is probably just embarrassed that he could not do it. He knew that if you asked for help I would likely be the first person you came to. He was worried I would tell you stories about his failed training and did not want you to look at him differently," she said softly. "Your father is not without skill, just has too much pride. But he does not want to see you fail either. So he spoke we me and we have an agreement. I promised not to tell stories about him and he has agreed to let me train you starting tomorrow. The only condition is that I get your bed while I am here," she said laughing. Corvin hugged her tightly and left the room. He made sure to go over and thank his father for swallowing his pride for his son's sake. Then he made sure to get a good night's rest. 


The next morning he was woken up abruptly by has granny whacking him on the behind with her cane. "I'm up, so you're getting up," she said. Looking out the window, the sun had not even begun to rise. He started to wonder if he was going to regret asking his granny for help. He got up and got ready for training. After eating breakfast, the two of them headed outside. The dew was still heavy in the grass, but granny ignored it as she went and stood in the middle of the yard. Corvin took his place in front of her. "Now, when you were taught how to use your second chakra nature, it probably had a lot to do with feeling how it affected you and understanding all the aspects of the nature, right?" she asked. Corvin nodded to affirm her suspicion. "Yeah, well that is all hogwash when it comes to this. Kekkei Genkai has nothing to do with emotions or feelings. At least ours doesn't. I want you to forget all that. Now aside from that, tell me what you tried." Corvin explained to her his attempts at bringing his two chakra natures out at the same time in either hand, as well as how much of a failure those attempts were. 


"That explains why you could not pull it off. There are many Kekkei Genkai that require you to do just that, and usually when that is the case the person inherently has the ability to bring them out together in just the way you described. That is not how our abilities work. First of all, you are not trying to bring them to your hands, this isn't some fireball you mean to throw across the field. It is something within you, more akin to an aura that emanates from you. Now, with practice you can direct and manipulate that aura, but like I said it starts out from your core. Second of all, you are not trying to bring the two natures out at the same time and then combine them. What you need to do is bring them out already merged as one unit. It might sound like the same thing, but the difference is crucial. Try not to think of them as separate types of chakra. Think of them instead as two parts of a whole, neither complete without the other. Last of all, stop trying to feel your way into this. It isn't about discovering something new. It is about unleashing something already within you. It is in your blood boy, not your mind."


Corvin tried taking this all in. He did his best to let go and stop grabbing for it with his mind. He tried letting his body do all the hard work. Building up chakra at his core as granny instructed, he tried making this into an aura. This was the type of exercise granny had him do for a few days. It was tough bringing the two chakras out together as one unit, and even tougher to maintain that as he built it into an aura, but the more he did it the more he felt it getting easier. Eventually granny had him stand in the circle of iron dust and try bringing out the aura. Sure enough, the dust rose up, surrounding him. His father, watching from the window, let out a yelp of happiness and Corvin ended up dropping it, but there it was. He knew it was possible. The next few days were filled with exercises on making the dust move where he wanted it, holding it for extended periods, and forming it into various shapes. 


Finally, granny decided that she had taught Corvin enough for him to be able to make his own way without her. "So how much is this training going to cost me, eh granny?" Corvin said with a giggle. "Just come visit your old granny every once in a while and we can call it square," she said hugging him a little too tightly. That night at dinner his father could do nothing but sing his praises, insisting that they were going to have to have a celebration with some of the other clan families. Corvin felt that this was all a little too much, but did not say anything. It seemed his father was more happy about this that Corvin was, why take that away from him? He now had the ability to manipulate iron dust. It was a skill that was sure to come in handy on countless occasions. All he had to do from this point was be sure to train in order to hone this skill and gain an ever growing collection of more iron dust.


(Word count: 2012 reward: Magnet Release bloodline with Iron Sand element unlocked, along with any other rewards that come with the training)

Approved
+10 stats
+20 Jp