Time passed, and Ling spent six fulfilling months under Tobirama's brutally exacting guidance. He grew a little taller, and his obsidian eyes became increasingly calm. The sharp glints that occasionally flashed through them left the orphanage caretakers faintly startled whenever they happened to notice.
His gray hair remained conspicuous, but the children gradually seemed to grow accustomed to his solitary habits and a quietness far beyond his years. They troubled him less often-after all, the chubby boy who always wanted to bully others had inexplicably fallen and torn three pairs of trousers, and now sobbed that he would never dare approach Ling's dining table again.
[The stability of your chakra polarity simulation has improved by three-tenths of a percent. Barely acceptable.] Late at night in the spiritual space, Tobirama delivered his usual scathing assessment. [But your efficiency at capturing water molecules from the environment remains poor. In dry conditions, especially, you're practically useless.]
Ling had long since grown accustomed to these assessments. They no longer stirred him; he even felt a little amused-if "poor" was measured against Tobirama himself. By now, he could condense three to five highly pure droplets on his fingertips within a single breath, and could begin guiding water from a vat into thin, sharp sheets that lasted nearly ten seconds. Had anyone outside known how quickly he was progressing, it would have made any jonin's jaw drop.
[If you're satisfied with this, you'll never reach the true pinnacle of Water Release.] Tobirama coldly cut off any trace of complacency before it could emerge. [Starting tomorrow, you'll undertake extreme training in chakra Shape Transformation. Your goal is to condense pure water into a blade.]
"A blade?" Something stirred within Ling.
[Correct. Water can be both supremely soft and supremely hard. The essence of Shape Transformation lies in extreme compression and stable shaping. You have the potential to produce absolute pure water, which means your Water Blade could theoretically approach the sharpness of a real metal blade without limit-or even surpass it! It has no impurities, no structural flaws, and excellent energy conductivity!] Tobirama's voice held the excitement of a mad scientist. [Imagine a glimmering blade made entirely of water, yet capable of cutting through anything!]
The vision set Ling's heart racing.
The next day, his training intensified. Instead of a large water vat, a shallow basin stood before Ling.
[Concentrate! Infuse your chakra into the water. Don't churn it around by force-guide it! Imagine forging an invisible mold, compressing the water molecules to their utmost, arranging them, fixing them in place! Give them the concept of a blade!] Tobirama's voice was like ice water used to quench steel.
Utterly focused, Ling held his small hands over the basin and slowly released his chakra. The water rippled, and a small stream rose, attempting to take on a flat, sharp shape. A moment later, however, the mass collapsed with a soft pop, splashing his face.
[Idiot! Insufficient compression! Your will to shape it isn't firm enough! Again!]
[Stability! Keep your chakra output absolutely steady! Your fluctuations are bigger than ocean waves!]
[Over seventy percent of the energy dissipated! Wasteful! Disgraceful!]
Failure. Failure. Yet another failure.
Ling lost track of how many times he had failed. His mental energy and chakra drained rapidly, leaving his face pale, but the fire in his eyes burned ever brighter. Though Tobirama's tongue was vicious, every rebuke pinpointed his mistakes, allowing him to adjust immediately.
At last, just as the setting sun was about to sink below the horizon, Ling's trembling fingers guided a Water Blade into a precarious hover a foot above the basin-roughly ten centimeters long, thin as a cicada's wing, quivering slightly, with a sharp, cold gleam flowing along its edge!
It was not completely transparent. Instead, it bore an intensely concentrated pale-blue glow, like a miniature blue arc of electricity, and emitted an extremely faint, high-frequency hum.
I did it!
Joy surged through Ling, and the Water Blade shuddered violently, nearly collapsing again. He hurriedly gathered his focus and devoted everything to sustaining it.
[...Hmph. Finally, something passable.] Tobirama fell silent for a moment before giving a cold snort. [Hold it! Feel its structure! Remember the frequency and intensity of this chakra output! Try controlling it to cut forward!]
Ling gritted his teeth, veins throbbing on his forehead, as he struggled to sustain the Water Blade that embodied six months of effort and countless failures. He tried to move it slowly forward. It drifted shakily less than half a meter before finally bursting with a snap into a fine mist that dispersed into the air.
Exhausted, Ling sank to the ground, gasping for breath, his entire body drenched in sweat. Yet an intensely excited smile spread across his face.
He had done it! Even if only for an instant, he had truly created a blade of water that defied common sense!
[Don't celebrate too soon.] Tobirama promptly doused his enthusiasm. [It lasted less than three seconds, its effective attack range was negligible, and its energy efficiency remained abysmal. Moreover, you can only achieve this with a water source close at hand. You're still nowhere near casting without a water source, let alone condensing an Air Blade!]
"Yes, Teacher! I'll keep working!" Ling's voice was weak, but brimming with determination.
Just then, a slight commotion came from the orphanage entrance. Some important figure seemed to have arrived.
Spiky silver-white hair, a black mask, a forehead protector worn at an angle, and a lazily half-lidded right eye-Kakashi Hatake.
Ling's heart abruptly skipped a beat. He immediately suppressed his presence, instinctively smoothing away every faint chakra fluctuation left over from his practice.
Kakashi scanned the courtyard as a matter of routine. When his gaze passed over Ling in the corner, it paused on that distinctive gray hair for an instant so brief it was almost imperceptible, then moved away as though nothing had happened. He exchanged a few words with the director, set down the supplies, and turned to leave. The entire visit was swift and quiet.
Ling slowly released a stale breath.
[Oh? Kakashi Hatake.] Tobirama's voice rang out, calm and unruffled, yet carrying an all-seeing chill. [According to the information in your soul's memories, he's the "Copy Ninja," "Sharingan Kakashi," Minato Namikaze's student, the future jonin instructor of Team 7, and one of the early guides of the child of destiny. A man steeped in tragedy whose talent was squandered.]
Ling remained silent. Yes, Tobirama knew the entire "plot," as though he had read a book called Naruto. This was Ling's greatest advantage, but it also often brought a strange sense of detachment.
[He noticed you,] Tobirama stated. [Not because he detected your practice just now. That paltry disturbance wasn't enough to register with his senses. It was your hair. The mutated gray produced by combining Hatake silver hair with Yuki black hair is conspicuous enough. The Hatake Clan has few members. Any blood relative living outside the clan would draw attention, especially...] He paused. [Especially from someone his age who has just lost everyone important to him. Deep down, he may have developed a distorted attachment to ideas like "family" and "blood ties" without even realizing it.]
Tobirama's analysis was cold and precise, based entirely on intelligence and psychological deduction, without a trace of personal feeling.
[This means you've officially entered the Konoha High Command's watch list-or at least that of Kakashi Hatake and the forces behind him. There are both risks and opportunities. The risk is that your abnormal growth may be exposed sooner. The opportunity is that this may give you access to more resources.]
[Change of plans.] Tobirama issued his orders decisively. [Physical conditioning and reaction training will take higher priority. I'll immediately begin compiling an extreme training regimen and a neural reflex stimulation program suited to your body's current condition. Before outsiders discover your techniques, you must first have a body capable of protecting you!]
[As for Kakashi Hatake and those predetermined "futures"...] A note of absolute indifference entered Tobirama's voice. [Knowing the plot is an enormous advantage, but it is by no means a shackle. Your very existence is the greatest variable. There's no need to deliberately conform to it, nor to force changes upon it. Power is the foundation of everything. Once you possess enough power, you can naturally decide how to write a new future-or...how to exploit those "predetermined fates" for our greatest benefit.]
Ling clenched his fists. Tobirama's words stripped away the subtle emotions he carried as a "reader," laying the brutal, genuine laws of survival bare before him.
He knew Kakashi's story and felt sorry for him. But now, he understood even more clearly that his first priority was to survive and grow stronger.
He looked down at his fingers, still trembling slightly from excessive practice.
The glimmering blade was only the beginning.
That glance from a predetermined fate no longer weighed on him. Instead, it had become a spur.
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