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Chapter 6: Konohagakure no sato (4) - The Three Energies

Inside an office overlooking the leaf village, a man sat as he looked through a few papers and held a pipe in his mouth. Tobacco smoke slowly drifted out and floated before disappearing. This man was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage. But, while he was having a quiet day, something had happened that caught his attention and he called for an investigation. And it had been over three hours since then.

"Hokage-sama," a voice interrupted him and he looked ahead, seeing one of his Anbu kneeling on the floor in front of his desk. Hiruzen only kept his gaze on him for a few seconds before returning to the papers, but his mouth moved slowly to speak.

"How was it?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary really," the Anbu replied. "The two people who spoke to Uzumaki Naruto are not shinobi. In fact, it was a coincidence that they met, the two of them live in the apartment next to the young Uzumaki."

"What do your instincts and years of experience tell you?"

"The young man asked if Uzumaki Naruto could teach him some shinobi techniques, saying that it would be good to have something better to defend himself with on his future travels. He didn't really look dangerous, but he was attentive to his surroundings. In short, from everything I observed of him, he had already fought before and didn't trust new people very much."

"And the girl?", Hiruzen asked.

"And the girl?", Hiruzen asked.

"She... is a bit stranger."

"Strange?", the word caught Hiruzen's attention and he raised his gaze to the Anbu.

"If I had to say which of the two is more dangerous, then it would be the girl. She wasn't as attentive as the boy, but he could sense that she was more dangerous than the boy. She also possesses a more noble and refined bearing than a normal person. I wouldn't be surprised if she was or still is part of a noble family."

Hiruzen nodded, leaning his back a little further against the back of the chair. A noble girl who had no protection from other people was very rare, especially when they visited shinobi villages, which wasn't that common either. The two visitors were a little suspicious, but neither seemed to be after Naruto or the village's secrets, much less harm or attack anyone.

"I want you to keep an eye on them for a couple more days and report back to me everything you hear or see about them."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama," the Anbu disappeared after obeying.

The third Hokage sighed before rubbing his eyelids and looking back at the windows that looked out onto the village.

"I've had enough trying to figure out how Orochimaru managed to get into the village or his intentions. I don't think it was just for Uchiha Sasuke. Infiltrating just for a genin is a foolish thing to do, and Orochimaru is no fool. No... something else is about to happen... "

. . .

"Someone was watching us," Harry said seriously as he entered the apartment, catching Rias's attention, who frowned slightly.

"Really?... I couldn't feel anything."

"I'm kind of used to being watched, whether it be by my uncles or anyone else. I'm kind of used to the feeling and I felt watched when we talked to Naruto," Harry said seriously as he looked Rias straight in the eyes.

"And while I could be wrong, being cautious isn't bad."

Rias nodded seriously, "You're right. Let's not talk about anything related to the group or traveling, even things about our worlds. It would be best to stay relatively normal people like they are here and just wait a little longer."

"I think I'll use that time to read the books you sent me. I really wish they could give me information about the future of my world, at least Hogwarts and the magical community of Great Britain."

Rias let out a sigh.

"It's good that you have something to do, I don't have much I can do. Training would make them discover my power of destruction and we don't want that, at least not before the real mission begins."

Harry just smiled before walking towards the dining room, they had been talking in the small hallway at the entrance of the apartment. In that place there were no windows so they couldn't see them talking about anything, much less to let them read their lips. Besides, even if the one watching them was someone experienced and stealthy, he wouldn't do something like put his ear to the door to listen like a fool.

In short, at that time and place, it was the best opportunity they had to talk about what Harry felt, as well as decide how to act from now on.

. . .

Harry had his eyes closed while he had a wet towel over his damp hair. His lips were curved in a satisfied smile as he extended his arms up and let out a small moan.

"Now I understand why you love this hot spring thing so much."

Rias smiled happily and raised two fingers in the peace sign with her other hand on her hip. Upon discovering that there were hot springs, Rias decided that trying them out might be one of the best things they could do and not draw attention to themselves. Harry had never experienced this kind of bath and, even though he was with other men in the hot springs, the embarrassment quickly faded at how good his body felt.

"I also understand more your reasons for being a Japanophile."

Rias was embarrassed and blushed a little at those words. She didn't really hide the fact that she was in love with Japan and the many things there were in the country. However, she still felt a little embarrassed at the surprise when other people found out.

However, as they were walking out, they heard two voices that caught their attention.

"Leave me alone for a moment, gaki! I have to do my research!"

"No! You have to train me Ero-sennin! You can't look at women in the hot springs!" they clearly noticed that this was Naruto's voice shouting. Harry frowned a little at the blond's teacher who seemed to be a pervert. Rias just blinked and had a neutral expression, but her eyes were a little icy. She had no problem with showing her body... to a certain extent. Any woman would feel bad about being seen naked by an older man they didn't even know.

"... "

"..."

The two looked at each other as they heard a silence. This lasted for a few more seconds before an hour of enraged women ran out with a variety of weapons in their hands. They cursed Jiraiya before they started beating him up.

Harry could only watch in shock as the man was beaten into a bloody mess before recovering as if it was nothing and getting beaten up again.

"How... how does he do that?"

Rias raised her eyebrows, remembering Hyoudou Issei, who also seemed to recover from the Kendo club's blows out of nowhere.

"Some kind of ability that perverts possess?", she asked in a murmur.

The worst of all was that everyone but the two of them thought it was normal. No one questioned how such a thing was possible. They simply beat the pervert one more round to be satisfied and leave the place, leaving a slightly upset Jiraiya and a smiling Naruto.

"Serves you right, Ero-sennin"

"Shut up Gaki! You don't understand anything!", Jiraiya shouted before standing up and letting out a sigh at the ruined opportunity for investigation.

"By the way... who are you guys?... You didn't even help me, you just stood there watching!", he pointed at Harry and Rias.

"Oh... Harry! Rias! It's great to see you again-ttebayo!" Naruto greeted them with a big smile as he placed his hands behind his head.

"You know them, Naruto?"

"Yes... they are friends," Naruto replied as he nodded.

"Are you Naruto's master?" Harry asked with a bit of hesitation, but also a flash of curiosity in his voice, "I would like to ask you a question regarding chakra."

Jiraiya blinked at the sudden question and looked at Harry more closely before nodding slowly, indicating for him to continue.

"How exactly do you recover chakra? There is hardly anyone in our village who can be called a shinobi. And we have only left our village three times, four counting this one."

Harry asked with a bit of excitement. He really wanted to know how exactly that happened. If he had that information, he'd probably be one step closer to finding out more about the magic in his world.

"Look Naruto! You should ask more of those questions!" Jiraiya exclaimed with a smile as he crossed his arms with a slightly superior look. It's not that he wanted to be arrogant, but rather he wanted to seem cooler.

"Most people just know that chakra recovers eventually, even when you use it in jutsus. This is fine for most, who just want to get stronger without too many details."

"But the answer to that question is related to an art called Senjutsu."

Rias raised her eyebrows in surprise, not expecting Senjutsu to exist in this world as well. Senjutsu is a specialized field of Jutsu that allows the user to sense and gather the energy of nature," Jiraiya said more seriously.

"The energy of nature is present everywhere in the world. Sages - so called Senjutsu users - perceive this energy and mix it equally with the spiritual and physical energy of the body, thus reaching the so-called sage mode. However, this is dangerous without proper training and vigilance. You could die or turn into a stone statue."

"Now... since the energy of nature is present everywhere, a small... tiny part of it enters people's bodies. It is not something harmful, but by combining the physical energy you get from your cells, chakra regeneration is possible."

"It is well known that even with the energy of the cells, the latter only have a maximum of growth and regeneration. The small part of nature's energy revitalizes a little of the cells and, therefore, the chakra begins to recover little by little."

"But what about spiritual energy? "Isn't that also part of chakra?" Harry asked a little confused.

Jiraiya nodded, but his face became more serious than before.

"Spiritual energy is a little strange and it is possible for it to mix with physical energy through the body. This spiritual energy is not something you simply obtain with training and experience. If it were, everyone would have an abundance of such energy, creating an imbalance in the body."

"It's the soul..."

Rias raised her eyebrows in surprise, as did Harry. They didn't think that something like the soul really had any importance in this world. But it seems that they had underestimated the knowledge and complexity of this world.

"There really isn't much known about the soul," Jiraiya put on a curious expression as he looked to the side. "But, I know that the soul is a catalyst for spiritual energy. By having a soul, and having that small connection with the energy of nature, spiritual energy is born within a person."

"As someone ages... or rather grows, the soul does as well. Thus, spiritual energy also grows with experience and training. That's why it's really important for a shinobi to not only train hard, but also have a good diet and way of living."

"I see..." Harry nodded, looking at Jiraiya gratefully. "I really thank you for the answer, it was very informative."

"Don't worry! If people paid more attention to chakra, then this knowledge wouldn't be so rare!"

"Alright, Naruto! I'm a bit more excited now, let's train!"

"Yes! Finally! That's enough of such complicated and boring stuff!"

Jiraiya just exhaled loudly at Naruto's lack of interest. He simply jumped onto the roof of the hot springs and ran off with Naruto behind him.

"Good... now we have a more complete answer," Rias commented seriously.

"Yes...", Harry nodded. "And I think I'm understanding more of 'that' about my house."

"I hope you can come to a better understanding, Harry. It would be great to hear the result you come to."

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