Root's ghostlike midnight visit had pierced the fragile calm of the Hatake Residence like an icy needle. Though Ling shuddered at the memory, fear did not consume him. Instead, he turned all that pressure into fuel for his training.
He knew he had even less time left.
Under Tobirama's guidance, the focus of his training began to shift. Since his Wind Release affinity had already been exposed, and it complemented his path of "pure water," showing a little "talent" for Wind Release became a new, plausible disguise and direction for his progress.
[Wind is not merely about sharpness and cutting,] Tobirama explained in the spiritual space. [It is also about flow, trajectories, and penetration and control that leave no gap untouched. Try incorporating Wind Release chakra into your footwork and movement.]
So, during his courtyard practice, Ling began "trying" a new way of running. He deliberately made his movements look clumsy, sometimes nearly tripping because of his "poor control." Yet under Kakashi's occasional glances, his speed seemed to improve slowly, his steps grew lighter, and even the sound of the wind stirred by his running seemed a little smoother.
He even began "experimenting" with shuriken. Using the somewhat worn training shuriken Kakashi had given him, he practiced throwing at the wooden post-a new one Kakashi had put in. Naturally, his first throws went crooked and wide. Gradually, however, he "figured out" a little "trick." The shuriken's flight seemed to grow steadier, and occasionally he even managed to lodge it precariously in the edge of the post.
"Wind Release chakra... seems to make it fly a little steadier?" After one practice session, Ling spoke softly to Kakashi, who was leaning beneath the veranda, adding a touch of "uncertainty" and the excitement of "discovering a whole new world."
Kakashi's page-turning hand paused. He lifted his gaze from Icha Icha Paradise, glanced at the shuriken quivering in the edge of the post, then looked at Ling's small face, damp with sweat and full of anticipation.
"Mm." He gave a mild, noncommittal response and returned his attention to his book.
But a few days later, a better-maintained set of training shuriken that fit his hand more comfortably, along with a basic scroll titled "A Detailed Beginner's Guide to Shuriken Throwing," was casually left outside Ling's door.
Ling quietly accepted them, understanding perfectly. Kakashi had picked up on the signal he was sending and offered tacit approval and limited resources in this way. It was an unspoken understanding.
His real training continued at a furious pace in secret. His Water Blade practice entered a new stage. Under Tobirama's relentless instruction and high-pressure guidance, Ling began trying to incorporate the rudimentary Wind Release concepts of "sharpness" and "oscillation" he had grasped into the Water Blade.
The process was extremely dangerous and difficult. Combining two nature transformations was no simple task. The slightest mistake could cause a chakra conflict, collapsing the Water Blade or even injuring him. Out-of-control water blades and swirling wind frequently cut tiny wounds into Ling's hands, which rapidly healed through his powerful physical recovery and the nourishment of his chakra.
[Idiot! Balance! Wind is the wings, the thrust, the frequency! Water is the core, the form, the vessel! I'm not telling you to stir them into a pot of mush!]
[Feel the wind's path. Guide it around the Water Blade. Accelerate it! Make it oscillate! Don't let it destroy the blade!]
[Your will! Use your will to unify them! What do you want it to cut apart?!]
Through countless failures and Tobirama's roars, Ling's understanding of combining wind and water gradually deepened. Though he remained far from a perfect fusion, he could just barely give the Water Blade's edge a faint, extremely unstable, pale green wind sheen that vibrated at high frequency, significantly improving its penetrating power.
He had not neglected his practice of the Ice-Breath Concealment Technique, either. Now, he could not only conceal his presence perfectly, but had even begun trying to mimic the sounds around him-the rustle of wind through leaves, the faint flutter of insects' wings-to blend his "existence" more completely into nature.
Yet the pressure lurking in the shadows did not diminish with his progress. Although that powerful Root ninja had not slipped directly into his room again, Ling could feel that the sense of being watched had never vanished. It had merely become more concealed and distant, like a venomous snake coiled in the darkness, patiently waiting for its prey to expose a weakness.
That invisible pressure kept Ling's nerves constantly taut.
One night, Kakashi again returned well past midnight, carrying a stronger smell of blood and a deeper exhaustion than usual. Rather than immediately returning to his room, he did something rare: he sat beneath the veranda, gazing at the moon while silently wiping blood from a kunai.
Ling had not been sleeping deeply after his earlier training and nervous strain, and Kakashi's movements woke him. He slipped soundlessly to the door and peered through the crack.
In the moonlight, Kakashi's back looked especially lonely and burdened. His movements as he wiped the kunai were slow and forceful, as though he were trying to erase something that could never be wiped away.
Ling suddenly remembered descriptions from his previous life of Kakashi during this period-mired in darkness, struggling with his past, bearing endless guilt and death.
Perhaps the night was too still, perhaps the pressure of the past few days needed an outlet, or perhaps it was that subtle connection born of their shared bloodline. Whatever the reason, Ling found himself asking softly, "Mr. Kakashi... are you all right?"
His voice was quiet, yet it sounded especially clear in the utter silence of the night.
Kakashi's hand abruptly froze over the kunai!
He slowly turned his head.
Moonlight illuminated half his face. His exposed right eye no longer held its usual languor or indifference, but a bottomless darkness and cold that seemed ready to swallow someone whole. Too many tangled, painful emotions churned within it, so intense that Ling instantly felt unable to breathe!
That gaze was like a wounded, extremely dangerous lone wolf baring its vicious fangs when someone peered into its den.
The look frightened Ling so badly that his heart seemed to stop. He instinctively stepped backward, his back striking the door hard with a soft thud.
The cold and darkness in Kakashi's eye swiftly receded, covered once more by his customary mask of indolence. It happened so quickly that the previous moment might have been Ling's imagination.
He looked away and continued wiping his kunai. His tone returned to its usual flatness, with even a hint of deliberate distance. "I'm fine. Did I wake you? Go back to sleep."
Ling did not dare ask another question. He hastily retreated into his room, his heart still pounding wildly.
He leaned against the back of the door, unable to calm down for a long time. The Kakashi he had glimpsed just now had been unfamiliar and terrifying.
[Hmph. Did you see that?] Tobirama's cold voice sounded. [That boy carries hell inside him. Don't try to touch darkness you don't understand. In this world, surviving and growing stronger are the only things that matter. Needless sympathy and curiosity will only get you killed sooner.]
Ling remained silent and clenched his fists.
That fleeting crack made him understand more clearly just how much weight and danger this seemingly peaceful Hatake Residence bore.
The thin bond between him and Kakashi, held together by their bloodline and the Third's orders, was far more fragile than he had imagined.
He had to grow stronger faster, not merely to face Danzo's threat, but also to... have the ability to protect himself, and even to choose, whatever upheavals the future might bring.
In the courtyard, Kakashi still sat beneath the veranda, looking at the moon. The kunai in his hand glinted coldly, casting light across his shadowed, unreadable profile.
The rest of the night passed in silence.
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