The days flew by amid the drudgery of D-Rank Missions, Team 7's basic teamwork drills-mostly Naruto and Sasuke arguing while Kakashi played peacemaker-and Ling's secret training.
Every afternoon, Ling arrived at Training Ground Seven on time. He strictly followed the exercises in Kakashi's scroll, refining his chakra control and making his Water Release Ninjutsu faster and smoother. He played the part of a gifted Genin diligently strengthening his foundations to perfection.
The real work, however, always began after these "surface exercises."
[Enough. Stop wasting time drawing flowers with water.] Whenever Ling finished Kakashi's assignments, Tobirama's cold, impatient voice sounded in his mind right on cue. [Focus, and continue constructing the Flying Thunder God Formula! Today's target is to hold it steady for five seconds!]
Ling immediately gathered his thoughts and sat cross-legged. Once again, chakra as pure as a watery diamond gathered at his fingertips, and he began tackling the dizzyingly complex basic formula.
Failure, collapse, then gathering it again...
Failure, collapse, then gathering it again...
The exhaustion of such intense concentration far exceeded physical fatigue. Every failure came with Tobirama's merciless, biting criticism.
[The structure is crooked! Your chakra output along the third rune line on the left is one percent too high!]
[Stability! How many times have I told you about stability? Imagine it having to remain utterly motionless in the turbulence of space-time!]
[Again! You think you can learn my Flying Thunder God at this level?]
Ling gritted his teeth, sweat soaking the hair over his forehead, but his eyes never wavered. He knew Tobirama's harshness was the catalyst for his rapid growth. Every criticism pinpointed a weakness, allowing him to adjust and improve more quickly.
Through countless failures and Tobirama's reprimands, his microscopic control over chakra was pushed to unprecedented heights. The formula at his fingertips went from lasting only an instant to three seconds, then five... It remained unstable, but the progress was plain to see.
At the same time, he never lowered his guard against his surroundings. That cold, sinister sense of being watched by Root clung to him like a parasite, appearing almost every time, lurking far away in the depths of the woods.
[That rat is back.] Tobirama always warned him immediately. [Southeast, thirty meters away, the usual spot. Gather your thoughts. Stay relaxed on the outside and alert within.]
While continuing to construct the formula, Ling would spare a sliver of attention to make his expression look more like he was performing some tedious chakra control exercise. Occasionally, he even deliberately let a little chakra dissipate from his fingertips, forming a small, harmless stream of water to mislead anyone watching.
It was a silent contest. Under Tobirama's guidance, Ling pushed himself relentlessly at the edge of his limits while carefully concealing his true trump card. Meanwhile, the observer in the shadows tried to find any trace of anything unusual in his nearly flawless performance.
Several days later, during a team D-Rank Mission to help an old farmer repair field ridges washed out by a torrential rainstorm, Ling found an opportunity.
The fields were a muddy mess after the storm, with water spilling everywhere. Ling volunteered for the hardest job: draining the standing water. He pressed both hands into the muddy water and slowly fed chakra into it.
To everyone else, he was simply using exquisite chakra control to guide the water with remarkable efficiency.
But in reality...
[This is a rare opportunity,] Tobirama said quietly. [Use this mud and the chaotic currents to try leaving an extremely faint chakra imprint on the underside of that boulder where you're channeling the water. Don't attempt to construct a complete formula. Just leave a unique "point" that you can sense. This is preliminary practice for a Flying Thunder God mark!]
Ling understood at once. Holding his breath and concentrating, he continued controlling the broader flow of water while separating out a gossamer-thin strand of pure water chakra. Like the finest engraving blade, it silently left an exceedingly tiny chakra imprint in a hidden hollow beneath the boulder being scoured by the current. Its structure was simple, yet it carried a unique frequency of fluctuation.
The moment he finished, he severed his connection to that strand of chakra. The imprint remained successfully, and thanks to the chaotic surroundings and his superb concealment, it attracted no one's attention-not even any watchers who might have been lurking in the distance.
[Very good.] Tobirama offered a rare word of approval. [It's crude, but you've taken the first step. From now on, sense this imprint regularly. Get a feel for its "coordinates" in space, and for the subtle fluctuations caused by changes in distance and surroundings.]
A small thrill of delight stirred in Ling. This meant that even without the complete Flying Thunder God Technique, he had begun to touch upon the realm of spatial marking.
When the mission ended, the old farmer thanked them profusely. Looking over the freshly restored fields, Kakashi patted Ling on the shoulder. "Nice work. Your chakra control has improved again."
"Thank you, sensei," Ling answered calmly, as though he had done something utterly insignificant.
Only he knew that beneath that mud, he had planted the seed of a spatial miracle.
That evening, Ling dragged his exhausted body back to his lodgings. The combined drain on his mind and chakra nearly sent him straight to sleep. Yet in the moment before he drifted off, he still followed Tobirama's instructions, focusing his mind and trying to sense the faint imprint far away in the fields at the edge of the village.
At first, he sensed nothing. There was only emptiness.
But he did not give up, continuing to recall the unique fluctuation he had felt when leaving the imprint.
Finally, just as his mind was about to relax completely, an exceedingly faint, almost imperceptible connection seemed to cross space and pulse gently at the very edge of his perception!
It vanished in an instant, but it had truly been there!
Ling's eyes snapped open. His exhaustion vanished, and a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
It worked!
[Hmph. You sensed it?] Tobirama's voice came at just the right moment, carrying a hint that he had expected this. [Remember that feeling. Starting today, add another exercise to your nightly meditation: sense the imprint and strengthen your connection to it. Once you can clearly perceive its presence and direction, we can move on to the next step.]
The road was long, but he had taken the first step. Ling clenched his fist, feeling that faint resonance with a distant point in space, his heart filled with anticipation for the future.
Meanwhile, deep in Konoha's shadows, Danzo listened to his subordinate's report that "Ling Hatake performs intensive chakra control training daily, with consistent results and no obvious abnormalities." His fingers tapped against the back of his chair, a light flickering in his lone eye. No one knew what he was thinking.
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