The third month began before dawn.
Kaelen stood alone in the clearing outside Razen's hut, the heavy sword resting across his shoulders. The wind bit at his skin, but he didn't shiver anymore. His body had changed—tougher, sharper, and quicker.
Razen stepped out silently from the shadows, arms crossed. His expression was unreadable, as always.
"You're not slow anymore," he said after a long pause. "But you're still not fast enough."
Kaelen nodded, adjusting his grip.
"I'm ready."
"No, you're not," Razen replied. "But we don't have time to wait for perfect. The third month isn't about muscle. It's about instinct."
Razen tossed him a cloth, rolled up and stained from use.
"Wrap your eyes."
Kaelen hesitated. "What?"
Razen's voice turned cold. "If you need to see the enemy to beat them, then you'll die in your first real fight."
Kaelen said nothing.
He wrapped the cloth around his eyes.
---
The Blind Phase
For the next week, Kaelen trained without sight.
Razen attacked him from every angle—quiet as smoke, fast as lightning. Kaelen learned to listen, to feel the ground shift beneath his feet, to sense the flicker of chakra in the air.
At first, he was thrown to the ground every time.
By the fourth day, he could dodge one out of five strikes.
By the seventh, he could parry without seeing—and land one clean hit.
Razen nodded once, then changed the routine again.
---
The Blade Ritual
Week two began with silence.
No more physical training.
Razen led Kaelen deep into the woods, where no voices could be heard. They arrived at a small shrine built of black stone, hidden beneath a canopy of thick vines.
"Sit," Razen said. "Don't move. Don't sleep. Don't speak."
Kaelen sat before the altar, the heavy sword on his lap.
For two days, nothing happened.
Then… something changed.
The forest grew still. The wind stopped. And Kaelen felt the sword pulse faintly in his hands.
Like it recognized him.
Like it was waiting for him.
His chakra stirred—not wild and raw like before, but calm, deep, controlled.
When Razen returned, he said just one thing:
"Now it's your blade."
---
Final Days
The last week was chaos.
Kaelen's training returned to full speed—but now it was different. He was faster. His blade moved as if it knew where to go before he told it. His strikes had weight, precision.
He trained until his arms screamed, then trained more.
Razen watched silently, only speaking at the end.
"You're no longer an academy student," he said. "You're almost a shinobi. One step remains."
Kaelen stood taller now, his breath steady.
"What step?"
Razen turned away.
"The exams begin in five days."
---