Interlude 1
There was a soft knock on the door.
"You may enter."
One of the lesser kitsune entered my office, holding the report on the investigation I ordered. She waited silently until I was done with my current paper.
"Report."
"Yes. Our scout just came back, the boy is as clean as can be." she stated, as if she had checked herself.
"Oh? Do explain how you're so sure of that." She flinched a little bit, but I've been trying to increase her secretarial skills as a favour to her grandmother. Supposed to help her get a husband or something.
"Ah, yes. Due to the boy's skill in sensing, a senior scout was dispatched for the preliminary round. Both his parents are completely clean of any supernatural markers, save for the small mark that humans get when they pray to the Abrahamic god but aren't fanatically devout." That's good so far. They aren't a proxy nor are they likely to have some of the more... genocidal ideals of the religious types.
"And what of the boy?" The girl - Kitsara - fumbled to the next paper in the pile she was holding.
"Yes, preliminary scans showed no external influences at all, not even a missed sacred gear or a hidden reincarnation. Soul and Spirit wise, Nathan Meyer is a 5 year old boy with no detectable ties to any supernatural faction. The writer of the report would like to note that while his readings were clean, they were much stronger than usual and the exact quote here says 'his soul was always in motion'."
"Hn, continue."
"Ah- yes Ma'am. The American agent, who was accompanied by a senior senjutsu user as per your order, has sent his report back. The suburban town where the family lives is only really notable for two things: being on the upper end of the middle class, and the company where Nathan's father, one Stanley Meyer works at." oh? That's curious.
"Why is the company of note?" Normally I wouldn't care, but I am technically in business with them too. The girl flipped through a few pages before finding the one she was looking for.
"The first thing that caught the agents' attention was that it was the kind of company that is based inside cities more often than not, especially one of this scale. It was eventually determined that the company is based in this town due to some land grants given out during the second world war, and once the war ended it pivoted to a more decentralized format compared to other companies of the era. This let it keep its headquarters in the town, alongside the tax advantages of the original land grant, while still staying competitive." That makes sense I suppose. Better yet, it means that the company isn't a proxy to get at me either.
"And the town itself? The boy mentioned a possible fallen angel?" Probably one of Grigori's two winged field agents, but you can never be too cautious with those nut jobs.
"Yes, the town was actually very barren in relation to the supernatural presence. There was one Grigori agent, but he was actually determined to be living with his wife and 2 small children. Once this was seen, our scouts backed off to not be a threat. Other than that, there are some minor nature spirits and that's it." That's weird. Even with modern pollution and deforestation, there should be more than that.
I straightened up from my seat and looked a little harder at the kitsune, "Did you identify the reason for that? That little presence is well below any kind of statistical variation." I would know, my senjutsu lets me sense decent portion of the world, so I always know what the population is like within a few thousand kilometers.
"No reason was found. The agents had a similar thought to yours, but were unable to identify anything that would directly or indirectly cause such a vacuum."
"Tell them to leave it for now, but if we keep in contact with Nathan for them to keep an eye on it."
"Yes, I'll tell them right away Ma'am." said Kitsara while scribbling something down, probably just my order so she doesn't forget.
Now for the part of the report I was dreading. What was actually up with that little freaky child? I don't particularly care, but my dear Kunou finally made a friend on her own that wasn't trying to take advantage of her, either for themselves or by their parent's order. I hope he hasn't done something stupid while messing with senjutsu that would cause me to have to ban Kunou from seeing him for her own good.
"So? What was the final decision on the kid? Any ideas why he's so talented while being completely isolated from the rest of the supernatural?"
"Well, we actually had to consult some of the older records and even asked some of the old senjutsu masters, but we think the boy may be an incomplete natural sage."
"WHAT?" damn, there hasn't been a human sage in hundreds of years. They were already rare when I was young, but after the industrial revolution that number dropped to nearly zero.
"Yes, but only an incomplete. One of the esteemed elders took a look at him while we were asking around, and was surprised what he saw. According to the elder, the boy has a natural physique that meets the requirement for Path of Body." Well, isn't that something. I thought he was an unnaturally cute kid, but I didn't think it would be that.
See, being a Sage, with a capital S, starts with three parts. The Path of Body, the Path of Breath, and the Path of Nature. The overall process of becoming a Sage is composed of three main parts, namely the Body, the connection with Nature, and the Breath that connects the two.
There is the Self, the body. What makes someone them. Even though it's called Body, it refers to everything. Mind, Body, Soul, Ki, anything that is part of the whole that makes someone. The first stage of Sagehood begins with mastery and cleansing of the Self. This is very intricate to do, and involves an extreme amount of training and rituals designed to assist. Unless you are born with an extreme affinity with senjutsu and the sage arts, like some nature spirits, yokai and some humans, like Nathan.
The second stage of Sagehood is the Path of Breath. It is a transitory stage, focused on enlightenment and understanding. It is expressed by syncing ones breath with one's body. This sounds simple, but there is a horrendous amount of meta-physical mumbo-jumbo that goes into it, which makes actually training this stage take years. It's also why most Sages are old farts.
The final stage to becoming a Sage is the Path of Nature. Syncing ones breath with the world. Once again, this sounds simple, but it's the most difficult, and lethal step. It is the process of syncing one's body and more importantly, breath, with the world around them. Using the Breath as a bridge between the Self and Nature. What this really means is using all that training in the first two stages to resist natural energy, absorb it, and use it for your own goals. This is noticeably different from normal senjutsu where natural energy is manipulated entirely externally.
"How did those old coots react to finding a natural sage, even if incomplete?" I hope they didn't do something stupid.
"Well, the elder examining our young guest was so excited he called all his friends who weren't out of the country..."
"Damn it, if I wasn't sure all those old farts are loyal I would have had their hides for pulling a stunt like that." I really would have too, drawing so much attention towards us.
"Did they say anything when they got together? Any new perspectives from such an illustrious gathering?" Damn old farts, making more work. I barely see Kunou as it is with all the messes they make.
"All they could agree on was that Nathan had what they considered a physique that was perfectly in tune with nature, to the point that many of them got new ideas for refining themselves. Expect many of them to be incommunicado for the following weeks while they do that."
God damn it, even if Nathan doesn't know it, I owe him so much now. I can't skimp on rewards either, because if he becomes a Sage and notices all those old farts copied him years ago he'll know something is up.
"Nothing more than that?" I hope those dumbasses at least got me some good information.
"Actually some of the more knowledgeable ones did give some good info. It seems that while Nathan has a natural Sage physique, he is actually missing the spiritual component. It can only be considered a pseudo-natural Sage, but they did note his breath and Ki flow were odd, and some proposed that the boy was instinctually progressing along the Path of Breath." That is some damn good info.
"So we have a natural born pseudo-sage that has ties to us and no other factions. What is your opinion of the boy?"
"Well, uh, I thought he seemed like a thoughtful child, and princess Kunou seemed to enjoy spending time with him." and isn't that the real crux of the problem.
"Yes, Kunou doesn't have many people her age she can interact with. She's too willful for me to push her to lock down a 'childhood friend' too, and the other pantheons might pitch a fit if I force something with someone from a different continent. Oh well, we will see where this goes for now." I really wanted to sigh too, as securing a natural sage, especially in this age, would be a wonderful boon.
"How about this. The boy wanted training information and general political information. Give it all to him, and get those old fogies to add some personal methods for general Ki and senjutsu usage, with an emphasis on sensing and hiding. That should pay off our debt from those people copying his physique and also hide him from the world until he can protect himself."
Gathering the papers in her arms, Kitsara gave a quick bow.
"I'll do so at once, Lady Yasaka."
"You may leave." I said, waving my arm. She swiftly left my office, closing the door with naught a sound.
I leaned back in my chair, thoughts in the clouds.
Nathan Meyer, I wonder how much that name is a coincidence.