Learning Chakra Infusion

It was early. Too early. 

The sun had only just begun it's ascent into the sky and all that could be seen where it's little corners beginning to peak up above the horizon, lighting the sky up into a wondrous display of pink and red colours. It would have normally been enough to make the shy genin's mouth hang open in awe, but it was too early. His eyelids felt like lead as he slowly dragged himself out of bed, not even bothering to correct the ruffled up bed sheets that he had left in his wake. All his limbs felt unresponsive and sluggish, almost like they weren't his limbs but someone else's. The reason he was up so early was due to the fact that he had been having nightmares for the whole night and he hadn't been able to get back to sleep. Thus, he decided to actually try and make use of his supposed insomnia and train something. What he would train, he knew not, only that he wanted to train something, anything. Hopefully it would actually wake him up and not make him any more tired, though that was wishful thinking.

Sighing, the fatigued Hoshi shinobi pulled on his usual attire, though it looked a lot less composed than it usually did. In fact, Akemi's entire posture and overall looks gave off the vibe of someone who was tired. His usual soft blue hair was slightly matted and wet, due to his night terrors he had sweated quite a lot and he had yet to have a shower. Thinking off which, Akemi decided to have a shower, looking this ruffled and unkempt was bound to draw attention to himself, something Akemi despised and wanted to avoid at all costs. The thought of a shower was indeed, very enticing to the genin. Though, any more warmth would definitely make him way more tired, probably too tired to even function as a human being. After the shower he would probably practically be a living zombie, something that would presumably be very useful for most ninja villagers but not Hoshi. The genin liked to think that the village hidden in stars treated it's members like actual human beings and not just some disposable, expendable tools that could be thrown away at a moments notice. That had been one of the major deciding factors for Akemi when he had been deciding which ninja village to move to. What he hadn't counted on though, was the hostility shown towards ninja in Hoshi. It was very shocking when he had first arrived, though like most things in life, he pretended to ignore them, show them that their insults washed off him like water in a shower. Though the insults had cut deep.

He stepped out of his bedroom into his clean open-plan apartment. Akemi loved his apartment. He had been incredibly lucky that his parents had the foresight to lend him lots of ryo for his journey to The City Hidden In Stars. Without it he would surely be living on the streets right about now. Akemi was skint, it was probably because he hadn't been performing enough missions for the village. He could just never get around to them, he was always busy with training or other things. Akemi realised that if he wanted to perform missions to a better and easier standard he would have to join a team. The thought almost made him cringe. Not because he didn't like people, in fact he used to love talking to people, as long as it wasn't a group. No it was the fact that Akemi was completely and utterly socially awkward. During social situations he would just transform into a nervous wreck and start sweating profusely. Something he wished he could control, but was completely unable to, his mind just became completely blank and he started doing these weird fidgets that only occurred when he was around people. 

The bleary eyed teen slid open his glassy apartment doors and stepped outside onto the chilling balcony, staring down at the sprawling city below him. He had already long decided what technique he was going to learn, it was a technique that he believed would help improve his finesse and overall power with his bo staff. It was an advanced technique, but it was one that would open the gateway to many different weaponry techniques, even if he wasn't planning on going the weaponry route it would still be useful to have under his belt. Akemi loved versatility after all, he hoped chakra infusion would allow him to expand upon it. He also had a plan for chakra infusion where he could manipulate his scarf like an extra set of arms. Though he wasn't sure if it would work like that, only one way to find out!

Akemi reached his hand down and, in one smooth gesture, opened his weapon's pouch and pulled out the first kunai that his hand had graced upon entering it. He brought the kunai up to his eyes and studied it closely. Attempting to blink away the blurriness and tiredness in his eyes as he did this, he still hadn't properly woken up and every still looked unfocused and distant. Not unlike looking through the wrong end of a telescope. He continued to inspect the kunai for a while, circulating his chakra through the hand which was holding it and trying to push it into the kunai, though it wouldn't budge. It felt like he was trying to push against a brick wall. His chakra was just refusing to enter the kunai. Well, Akemi was an extremely slow learner so it was to be expected. But it didn't cease to infuriate him every time something would be beyond his control, it was hard to explain, it just annoyed him and made him feel scared and helpless.

After attempting to circulate his chakra into the kunai for a few more minutes, with no improvements to the first time, he put it back into his weapon pouch, sighing slightly. The genin figured that a nice cold shower would serve to wake him up and make him feel a little less zombified, while also improving the rate at which he learnt things. Normal Akemi was a slow learner. Half dead, tired Akemi was an appalling learner, he was likely not going to get anything done for the next few days if he continued as he was now, he just needed a good nights rest, is that so much to ask for? He slid open the glassy door and stepped back into his apartment, feet padding against the smooth wooden floor as he walked across the apartment towards the bathroom door.

Immediately after entering the bathroom he quickly got undressed and turned on the shower, on the cold setting. He stepped underneath the freezing water and nearly gasped in shock. It was freezing! Despite the cold however, he could feel clarity of thought returning to his head. The usual fog of tiredness was being lifted like a veil from his head with each passing moment in the shower. He realised he could probably continue to practice chakra infusion while in the shower. So, he grabbed his toothbrush with both hands off the sink and attempted to circulate his chakra through it. Watching it closely for any noticeable changes that might occur from the chakra he was attempting to fill it with.  He started by directing his flow of chakra to his hands, feeling the warmth and buzz emitting from his hands, due to the chakra, always comforted Akemi. It was a familiar yet foreign sensation, it was like chakra. Mysterious but comforting, like a mothers embrace. If his memory served correct, not one of the shinobi in the history of the elemental nations had discovered why chakra existed or why it acted why it did. It was just... There. Existential thoughts aside, he still wasn't feeling his chakra enter the toothbrush. It was continuing to just push against the boundaries of his hands, fighting and scratching, but not making it out. Maybe chakra infusion doesn't work on objects that aren't metal? He wasn't sure but it seemed highly unlikely, that would make the technique extremely useless.

He decided to try a different approach to getting the chakra into the toothbrush. Instead of trying to gently push it in, why not force it in with all his will? Sure, that was something that he usually tried to avoid, but his normal approach of dealing with it calmly was not working. So why shouldn't he just push it in with all his might? Changing tactics, he started gripping the toothbrush tightly. Though not that tightly, Akemi had enough strength to easily pulverise concrete if he wished it, what resistance would a small wooden toothbrush give if he decided to hold it full strength? It was his only toothbrush so he didn't care to find out. He started hammering his chakra into the toothbrush, trying to create a chink in it's armor. The chakra continued to hammer at the toothbrush and it seemed to be doing nothing. Akemi had never been angry at an inanimate object before. But this stubborn little toothbrush was started to piss him off. He gritted his teeth, completely unaware that he was still showering in the freezing cold water, all that mattered right now was this stupid little toothbrush that was refusing to cooperate. Suddenly, he a tiny metaphorical crack appear in the toothbrush, causing his chakra to began to ooze through the cracks into the toothbrush. He excitedly inspected the toothbrush, though he could feel no differences in the overall design or structural integrity of the toothbrush, he could feel his chakra seeping into it. Maybe it wasn't enough? Well, it was certainly better than nothing. 

He realised he was still in the shower so he quickly turned it off and got dressed back into his usual attire, placing his toothbrush back on the sink as he did this. Upon getting dressed, he exited the bathroom and collapsed onto his sofa, watching the arising sun. Now that he was awake it was much easier to appreciate the beauty of the sunrise and sunset in Hoshi. Being a desert, it was majorly comprised of flat land, which meant that no mountains or hills were impeding the beauty of the rising sun. He smiled and brought out a kunai from his weapon pouch before bringing it up to his face and studying it closely. 

Mentally affirming to himself that he felt he could do this, he started channelling chakra into the blade through a small 'Chink' the pool in the kunai was small at first but it was gradually growing bigger. A small blue aura could be seen starting to radiate off the blade, it was flickering slightly and was very weak, but it was there. It was proof that he was making progress. He could feel the kunai start to compact and strengthen in his hands, this was no doubt making it sharper as well. Giddiness started to rise up in his chest, he had actually learnt something rather quickly for once! He suppressed the excitement, he couldn't be sure if it was actually working, there was only one way he could think of to check.

He picked up a book, which was on the sofa next to him, and let the chakra disperse out of his kunai. Then, not wasting any time, he held the book firmly and plunged the kunai straight into the book, only feeling a little bit of resistance. Now, it was time to use it with the chakra. He slowly pulled the kunai from the book and filled it with chakra again, giving the kunai a blue aura. Then, he brought it down upon the book. The kunai went straight through the book, nothing else. Akemi didn't even notice the place where the kunai had connected with the book, it had just sliced through it like he was slicing through air. 

Looks like he had managed to learn something after all, he smiled.

Now, he had to try and use the chakra infusion for what he had learnt if for in the first place, to try and manipulate his scarf like an extra set of arms, something that would be quite useful down the line, he was sure of it. So, quickly, he grabbed his blue scarf and wrapped it around his neck. He closed his eyes and breathed, feeling his chakra circulating around him, and started pushing it into the scarf. He opened his eye and noticed that his scarf had a blue aura surrounding it, good. Next, he tried to use his chakra inside the scarf to manipulate it, though nothing seemed to be happening. Once again, his chakra seemed to be stubborn.

That was when he remembered, if you wanted something as delicately controlled as what he wanted he would have to make a completely new scarf, one that was saturated with chakra and thus, make it extremely sensitive to his chakra, and his alone. But that would mean that he would have to buy new thread and make a new scarf. See, Akemi had grown quite attached to his current scarf, losing it would be quite saddening to him. Then again, he didn't really have a choice if he wanted to continue with his plans of versatility. 

(Word Count: 2236
Claims: Chakra Infusion and 200 words towards Akemi's Living Scarf and 10 stats)

Approved.