Murakami remained where he was and watched the two approach the tree.
Neither appeared particularly enthusiastic.
Which was understandable.
Less than twenty minutes ago they had been struggling against Kaito-sensei's clones, getting knocked around the training ground like leaves caught in a storm. Now they were being instructed to repeat an exercise academy students usually learned before graduation.
The irony wasn't lost on him.
Then again, most shinobi misunderstood fundamentals.
People often assumed a technique became unimportant once it was mastered. In reality, the opposite was true. The more advanced a shinobi became, the more obvious it became that everything eventually circled back to the basics.
The clones from earlier had not defeated Hideki and Sora through superior strength. They had defeated them through superior fundamentals.
Hideki, naturally, understood none of this.
"This still feels ridiculous," he muttered as he stopped before the tree.
Murakami wasn't even surprised.
If Sora's flaw was overcomplication, Hideki's was the complete opposite. The boy possessed an almost supernatural confidence in his ability to solve problems by throwing himself directly at them.
Unfortunately, reality rarely cared about confidence.
Hideki planted a hand against the bark and took a breath.
A moment later chakra gathered beneath his feet and he pushed himself upward.
The first step held.
Then the second.
Then the third.
A grin immediately spread across his face.
"I got it."
Murakami said nothing.
The fourth step landed.
The fifth almost did.
Then Hideki's grin disappeared.
CRACK.
His foot sank slightly into the bark.
The chakra output beneath his sole surged instinctively as he tried to correct the mistake.
Then it surged again.
Then everything collapsed.
A second later he was sliding down the trunk with all the dignity of a sack of potatoes.
THUD.
Hideki sat there for a few moments staring at the sky.
"...I almost had it."
"You made it four steps."
"Exactly."
Murakami looked at him.
Hideki looked back.
The two maintained eye contact for several seconds.
"...Those aren't the same thing."
Hideki clicked his tongue.
Meanwhile, Sora had already stepped forward.
Unlike Hideki, he didn't immediately begin climbing.
Instead, he stood in front of the tree studying it.
Murakami watched him silently.
Five seconds passed.
Then ten.
Then fifteen.
"...It's a tree." He couldn't help but say.
Sora glanced sideways.
"I know."
"Good."
"I am evaluating the exercise."
Murakami looked at the tree.
Then at Sora.
Then back at the tree again.
A tree.
A completely ordinary tree.
One that had probably spent its entire existence standing there without realizing it was currently being evaluated.
"...And?"
Sora frowned slightly.
"And what?"
"What conclusions has the tree provided?"
Hideki snorted.
Sora ignored both of them and finally moved.
Compared to Hideki, his initial control was noticeably better.
Which was expected.
Sora lacked Hideki's physical instincts but made up for it with precision.
His first step attached cleanly.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Soon he had climbed higher than Hideki managed.
Six steps.
Seven.
Eight.
For a brief moment, his ascent looked stable.
Murakami narrowed his eyes slightly.
Not because Sora was succeeding… because he wasn't.
He simply hadn't failed yet, the distinction mattered.
As Sora continued climbing, Murakami could already sense the fluctuations beginning to appear.
He was making tiny adjustments.
Then adjustments to the adjustments.
Then corrections to the corrections.
The boy was trying to manually regulate every minor variation in chakra flow.
An impossible task.
Control was not achieved through constant interference.
It was achieved through consistency.
Sora was treating chakra like a problem to be solved rather than a part of himself.
Predictably, the result followed shortly afterward.
His footing destabilized leading to a shift in balance.
Then gravity resumed its ancient and undefeated campaign against mankind.
THUD.
Sora landed beside Hideki. Heavier, considering the height he had climbed.
For a few moments neither spoke.
Hideki was lying on his back.
Sora was sitting upright.
Both stared at the tree.
One looked annoyed.
The other looked personally offended.
Murakami found himself strangely amused.
Children really were fascinating creatures.
A few days ago these same two had willingly charged into combat against armed bandits.
Now they looked like they were losing an argument against forestry.
Eventually Hideki pointed accusingly toward the tree.
"I think this thing is broken."
"The tree?"
"Yes."
Murakami glanced toward it.
The tree remained silent in its own defense.
"A compelling argument."
"I know, right?"
"No."
Hideki frowned.
Sora sighed.
Murakami folded his arms and looked toward the trunk again.
Neither of them had realized the actual problem yet.
Hideki was still trying to overpower the exercise while Sora was still trying to understand it before experiencing it.
One relied too heavily on instinct, the other relied too heavily on thought.
Ironically, both flaws led to the same outcome.
A lack of awareness.
Not awareness of the tree or of the exercise, but awareness of themselves.
Because chakra was not something external. It wasn't a weapon one picked up when needed and discarded afterward.
It was part of them.
As natural as breathing.
As constant as blood flow.
And until they understood that...
This tree would continue winning.
Murakami's gaze lingered on the two for a moment before he spoke.
"Again."
Hideki groaned immediately.
Sora released a long sigh.
Yet both boys stood up anyway.
Murakami watched them approach the tree once more and nodded inwardly.
At least that part wasn't a problem.
Neither lacked determination.
They simply lacked understanding.
"This time, try running up the tree instead of walking."
…
Murakami watched the two take turns charging at the tree.
The first few attempts were predictably terrible.
Hideki made it halfway before his chakra destabilized beneath his feet. The adhesion vanished instantly and he slipped backward, windmilling his arms before crashing into the ground with enough force to send dust flying.
"Mark it," Murakami said from where he stood.
Hideki groaned. "Mark what?"
"The point where you lost control."
The boy blinked.
Murakami pointed toward the trunk. "Use a kunai."
Understanding dawned on both of them.
Every time they lost their footing, they carved a small mark into the bark before falling down.
The exercise immediately became more useful.
Now they could see their progress and consciously decide how they landed.
A mark at two meters.
Then three.
Then four.
Each failed attempt left another notch on the tree, and slowly, the marks began climbing higher.
Murakami folded his arms as he observed.
The improvement wasn't anything dramatic, but it was steady, which was exactly how growth was supposed to be.
Not instant breakthroughs but gradual accumulation.
The sun continued rising overhead as the morning stretched toward noon.
Before long, even Murakami began finding the heat mildly annoying.
With a casual wave of his hand, chakra flowed into the earth.
RUMBLE.
Stone rose from the ground and folded inward upon itself.
A small shelter took shape in the training area, little more than an elevated platform covered by a slanted roof of hardened earth.
Nothing fancy but enough to provide shade.
Murakami stepped inside and sat down cross-legged.
Hideki stared.
"You made a house."
"It is a roof."
"It has walls."
Murakami ignored him.
"Less talking. More climbing."
Hideki clicked his tongue and charged the tree again.
The training continued.
Every few attempts Murakami would offer a correction.
"Too much chakra."
"Your output fluctuated."
"Maintain it before you move."
"Stop forcing it."
Most of the advice went to Hideki.
Not because Sora was better, simply because Hideki made more mistakes.
Many more mistakes.
The difference was impressive.
By the fifteenth attempt, Sora was already nearing the top.
By the eighteenth, he touched a branch just below the highest point.
And on the twentieth, his foot landed against the uppermost section of the trunk.
Sora's eyes widened.
For a split second, disbelief flashed across his face.
He reached the top.
The next moment he ran back down the tree, maintaining his chakra all the way to the ground.
The instant his feet touched earth, a grin spread across his face.
A genuine one.
Not the composed expression he usually wore.
A grin.
Despite the sweat running down his face and soaking his clothes, he immediately looked toward Hideki.
The triumph in his expression was impossible to miss.
Hideki's eye twitched.
Murakami gave a small nod.
"Good."
Just one word.
But Sora straightened slightly at the praise nonetheless.
Murakami tapped the space beside him within the earth shelter.
"Sit."
Sora didn't argue.
The moment he sat down, the fatigue became obvious.
Maintaining that level of chakra control repeatedly had drained him more than he realized.
Meanwhile, Hideki stared at the tree.
Then at Sora.
Then back at the tree.
His expression gradually became darker.
"…Nope." He rolled his shoulders. "Nope. Not happening."
Sora smirked.
"Show-off." Hideki pointed accusingly.
"You think you're better than me now?"
"I didn't say that."
"You thought it."
"I definitely thought it."
"THAT'S WORSE!"
Hideki immediately charged the tree again.
Murakami watched him go before shaking his head.
Some battles truly transcended logic.
Then he looked toward Sora.
"Rest and recover your chakra."
Sora nodded.
Murakami continued. "Running is the easy part."
Sora's smile froze. "…What?"
"This was only the first stage." Murakami pointed toward the trunk. "Once your chakra recovers, you'll start walking up and down instead."
Sora stared at him. "Walking?"
"Yes."
"That's easier."
Murakami looked at him. "I don't think so."
Sora narrowed his eyes before understanding dawned on him.
Running allowed momentum to hide imperfections, but walking did not.
Every step required constant control and adjustment.
Murakami leaned back slightly against the stone wall. "Recover first."
His gaze shifted toward Hideki, who had just fallen out of the tree for what felt like the hundredth time.
Then toward the dozens of marks carved into the trunk.
Progress was always slow and messy, but it was progress nonetheless.
And for shinobi...that determined your life and death.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
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