After dropping Aika off at home and tossing my clothes aside, the very first thing I did was finally sit down to a real breakfast. Pancakes just wouldn't go down, not with two women staring at me, both demanding answers. If I'm honest, that whole conversation didn't really change much for me.
I'd been chasing after Kushina and Mikoto before, and I'd keep doing it now - just with a little more determination. How my little confession would affect them, though, only Kami knows. We'll see, as they say.
I had absolutely zero desire to spend the entire next day lugging around training weights to make up for a missed session. So, for a solid three hours, I headed out to dust off training ground number 47.
Turns out, training in the morning is way easier than in the afternoon. It's not that your body is tougher in the morning. Physically, I felt just as good later in the day. The real problem was the sun, hanging right overhead and blasting me with a relentless thirty-two degrees Celsius. Thank goodness for the shade. I wanted to hit the hospital for a massage after training, but honestly, my top priority was to get myself under some cold water as soon as possible.
Back home, feeling refreshed and having sent my clones off to look for a summoning contract, I barely had the energy for anything besides collapsing on the couch.
"Hot days are coming - good thing the Land of Snow already invented electric fans. I should remember to buy one later…"
"Yip," Aika agreed, curling up next to me on the couch.
Once I'd caught my breath, I pulled out two storage scrolls - one for each clone - to recharge my chakra. I guarded those scrolls with my life. Which basically meant I kept them in a box of spare paper under my bed. Regular ANBU couldn't get into my apartment anymore, thanks to the barrier. The really nosy Root types wouldn't dare, since the main guy who suspected me of shady business had met an untimely end. Oh, how I love remembering Danzo's death. If only I could treat myself to that thought every day.
I gave the mental command for the clones to dispel, but nothing happened.
"Right… your mental link is fried. No big deal," I said, glancing at the clones. Then I dispelled them myself. Big mistake.
I realized my error the moment a wave of unbearable heat hit my gut. In a panic, I tried to get rid of the excess chakra.
With all that extra chakra, my control over the Shadow Clone technique went out the window. Instead of the two clones I'd planned, I ended up with six.
The heat slowly faded, and I found myself in a staring contest with my clones.
"You shouldn't have dispelled both clones at once - you had about ten percent of your chakra left," one of the clones pointed out. Not that I needed the reminder. I'd already learned that lesson the hard way. At least it was only ten percent of my chakra, so my body could handle it. Though I probably wouldn't have lasted more than a minute with that feeling.
After sitting for a bit to check how I was feeling, I sent the clones off to train the third stage of the Rasengan for an hour.
"Hope I didn't mess myself up… well, here goes nothing." An hour later, I dispelled the clones. They should've burned through most of their chakra by then. Luckily, when the chakra came back, there was no pain at all.
Now that I could finally relax, I started thinking over my recent screw-up.
For some reason, I'd always assumed that any excess chakra from dispelling clones just wouldn't come back. I pictured my chakra reserve as an open bowl. If you overfill it, the water just spills out. I'd never once ended up with more chakra than I started with after dispelling clones, since they always used up most of their own chakra on my errands.
So, getting half my reserve back after dispelling them already seemed like plenty. Turns out, I was wrong. The chakra reserve isn't a bowl, it's… a rubber balloon? No, a rubber balloon can stretch a lot under pressure. Okay, let's say it's a really tough rubber balloon.
Obviously, if you fill your reserve past its limit, you get pain and a spike in body temperature. Good thing I kept my head and dumped the extra chakra fast. Also, it's clear that when your reserve is overfilled, controlling chakra becomes a real challenge. So… if the chakra reserve can stretch from being overfilled, does it go back to its original size afterward, or does it stay a tiny bit bigger forever? There's no quick way to check. With the clones training every day, my control keeps improving, and the yang component of my chakra is slowly increasing too. It'll be hard to notice any real difference.
*Why am I puzzling this out alone? Wouldn't it be easier to just ask a specialist?*
****
"Hayana-san? Do you have a surgery scheduled?" asked a not-so-young, not-so-slim woman at the hospital reception.
"No, but I'd like to get a consultation. I heard she's one of the best med-nin in the hospital," I replied, putting on a pained expression and smoothing my stomach.
"Oh, I see. Yes, with her dōjutsu and experience, she'll definitely pinpoint your problem. But I'd actually recommend Ji-san. He's also a member of the Hyuga clan and specializes in diagnostics, though… he only sees patients before noon."
"I'd rather not put it off till tomorrow," I said with a crooked smile, trying to look like I was in serious pain.
*Who am I even putting on this act for? No idea. But it's probably better not to go looking for the wife of the Hyuga clan head without a good reason. Unnecessary rumors could really mess up my health.*
"In that case…" she started flipping through her schedule, "in twenty minutes, she'll have an opening. I can book you in. Consultation and diagnosis with Hayana-san will cost you… five thousand ryo."
"Book it," I nodded, and immediately put down half the amount the hospital charged. Call it a fifty percent commission - not bad, honestly. I could've paid the whole sum up front. At the end of the month, the hospital would give the money to the med-nin anyway, but some of them preferred to get paid right away. I didn't know what Hayana's policy was, but I wanted to hand her the money myself.
The woman called over a passing med-nin assistant and handed her my file, telling her to take it to Hayana. Here, med-nin assistants worked as both nurses and chakra batteries during surgeries. If the operating med-nin ran low on chakra, these assistants would use medical techniques to channel neutral chakra into them.
After waiting the scheduled twenty minutes in the general reception area, I headed up to the second floor, where Hayana's office was.
It was split into two parts. There was a regular doctor's office with a single bed covered in a white sheet and a desk nearby. Behind glass, hidden by beige curtains, was what I understood to be an operating room. Judging by the shadow moving behind the curtains, that was Hayana.
"Found it!" came her cheerful shout. A few seconds later, the door from the operating room opened. I was sitting on the bed, swinging my legs and watching Hayana as she turned toward me after closing the door.
"Eek!" she squeaked when she saw me, sounding like a startled lamb, and dropped a metal tray full of jars.
So much for shinobi reflexes. Spilled everything. Nice job.
I hopped off the bed and went over to help pick up the pieces. First, because I was tired of waiting and wanted to move around a bit. Second, because Hayana looked like she might faint right over the shards. If that happened, I'd be able to catch her.
"No, I can… I can handle it myself," she stammered, her face a mix of panic and embarrassment. I kind of get it. It's one thing to get caught, say, in the middle of something private, but another to be caught with a storage scroll kept in all the wrong conditions.
"Wow!" I said, genuinely impressed as her hand blurred, scooping up the shards at lightning speed. Damn, with a wife like that, who needs a broom? She could clean the whole house with one hand.
Once again, I'm reminded - Hyuga are terrifying opponents. In the time it takes me to land a single hit, someone like Hayana could strike dozens of times, damaging internal organs in the process.
"Yeah, here you go," I said, putting the one shard I'd managed to collect onto her tray.
She tossed everything into the trash can in the corner, then stood frozen, staring at me. [ image ]

"Did you… need something, Akira-san?" she managed to say.
"I came for a consultation," I replied calmly, looking away so I wouldn't make her any more uncomfortable.
"A consultation…? Oh, right, they told me there'd be another appointment." She pulled herself together for a second, but when she looked at me again, she blushed. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Could you check if I've damaged my chakra source?" When it comes to my health, I'd rather trust a doctor than my own gut.
"Your chakra source? Sure, just a moment." Without forming any hand seals, she activated her Byakugan and scanned me with a focused look.
I think I'm starting to get what kind of person Hayana is. She's the type who completely shuts out her emotions when she's working. No more stammering or blushing - just concentration and professionalism.
"Yes… I see some minor damage. Have you been taking soldier pills?" she asked, still staring at my stomach.
"No." I saw no point in lying, so I told her I'd gotten the damage from dispelling clones.
"I see. Fortunately, you reacted quickly and correctly. I can only recommend you go easy on chakra-intensive techniques for the next couple of days. Be careful with the Shadow Clone technique - it's considered dangerous for a reason. Plenty of people have ended up disabled on missions because of little things like that."
"Tell me, if, say, the chakra source is overfilled by a few percent, will it get damaged?"
"A few percent?" Hayana looked surprised and started pacing around the office, for some reason stepping only in the center of each square tile. "No, it can handle that kind of pressure, but you might feel a bit uncomfortable."
"Hmm, so is there any positive effect from that kind of pressure?" That was actually the main reason I'd come here.
Clicking her low-heeled shoes on the floor, she looked at me in surprise.
"I don't know. I mean, I've never read anything about it, but if you think about it… maybe…" She started pacing even faster. "Wait! We can test it."
And I really didn't like the look in her eyes. That's exactly how I look at my clones when I'm about to make them try something out.
Hayana, please, bring back your stammering and banish that Orochimaru-style mad scientist vibe.
"What are you doing?" I asked, keeping my voice calm.
"I want to channel a bit of neutral chakra into your source - it should easily take it and overflow a little," she replied just as calmly, her hand already under my shirt. She was fast. So fast I hadn't even noticed her get that close.
"Oh, well, that makes sense," I nodded, keeping my eyes on hers.
Her eyebrows shot up, and she blinked rapidly a few times.
"Sorry," she said, quickly stepping back and covering her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment.
She's both difficult and easy to deal with. After a few more apologies from her and my own request to help check the effects of a slightly overfilled chakra source, the experiment continued.
Thanks to her Byakugan, she had no trouble figuring out exactly how much chakra to pump in for a two or three percent overflow. After that, all I had to do was endure a bit of heat in my gut and the feeling of being completely stuffed. Hayana, meanwhile, sat and observed everything with her Byakugan. That wasn't easy either, since no one knew how long she'd have to watch.
"I can't take it anymore," she said at the thirty-five minute mark, deactivating her Byakugan and rubbing her eyes through closed lids.
"Did you notice any changes?" I asked, getting up from the bed to stretch my shoulders. I could feel the burning sensation had faded.
"Yes, the excess chakra slowly flowed through your chakra channels, expanding them. In turn, they gradually spread the chakra into your muscles. You'd never notice it without the Byakugan," she said, still massaging her eyes.
"So, there's no point in overfilling the chakra source?" I guessed.
"There is. After getting rid of the excess chakra, its size didn't go all the way back to normal. If we're talking numbers, say the source is ten centimeters long, after overfilling, it increased by… a tenth of a millimeter. (0.1 mm)"
"So, roughly a hundred repetitions like that, and your chakra would increase by ten percent?" I said, surprised.
Hayana nodded, and with a sigh, admitted, "It would be a great way to boost chakra, but doing more than one procedure a day could cause injuries. And no one's going to come to the hospital every day for three months just to increase their chakra by ten percent. Even if the procedure only costs a hundred ryo."
"Yeah, and you have to sit there for half an hour doing nothing, just putting up with the burning and discomfort in your chakra source," I added.
"Exactly… well, at least I learned something new about the chakra source. The day wasn't wasted." With that, she reached for a thick notebook on her desk and started jotting down notes.
"All right, then I'll come back tomorrow for another round. How much do I owe you?" I walked over to her with a spring in my step.
Hayana looked up from her notebook, surprised.
"Um, you don't have to pay, since…" Since you were running an experiment with me? Or is it to help blur my memory about what happened in your office?
"No, no, I'll pay." I counted out the fee for the consultation and put the bills on her desk, then asked about the cost of the chakra overfilling procedure.
"But… I told you, for any real effect, you'd have to come to the hospital every day for at least three months," she said, getting flustered.
"That's fine. I already come here for massages after training. I'll just combine the two."
"But… sports massage uses chakra. If the med-nin doesn't control the flow, it could affect your overfilled source," she started, uncertain at first, but finished with total seriousness.
"Oh, really? Well then… Hayana-san, sorry for the extra trouble. I hope you know how to do massages."
"I do, but… I'm very busy, and I don't offer that service." Her cheeks were bright red again.
"Well… maybe you could make an exception for me?" I asked with a gentle smile.
"Um… it would be very expensive. Five… no, ten thousand, that's it! I'm not going to set aside an appointment just for you for less. So, Akira-san, you'll have to find someone else…" Without saying anything, I pulled out my wallet and started slowly counting out the money.
"Here, seventy thousand ryo in advance for a week. What time should I come?" She stared at the amount in surprise, then looked at me with a kind of pleading expression.
"You're just messing with me because of that incident, aren't you?" She looked like she was about to cry.
"Not at all, Hayana-san. I just want help from a real specialist."
🔥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🔥
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