Chapter 17: Breathing Technique
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It took me a week to fully recover, as whenever I breathe normally I feel pain in my lungs and throat, so I didn't force myself to perform any training. Elemental training included. I decided to take a full week's break from training.
I wasn't doing nothing during the week. No, I was creating new seals. I managed to create a gravity seal. I first tried to take inspiration from Guy and Lees' training with weights but due to the absence of weights in this era I tried creating a seal to put on objects to increase their weights.
I created it to put on my body but on second thought I decided otherwise. You never can tell whether the weight will crush me instantly. So I decided to try it out on objects first, then I created a remote control for it. It was successful.
I also created an area of gravity seal. I know. It sounds weird but that's what I decided to call it. It is a seal drawn around a given area and anyone who enters that space will have their weight increased.
I created it for training purposes but I suddenly got the idea for an anti-gravity seal. I reversed the gravity seal and made any object it is put on weightless.
This is my favorite seal as of yet, it grants me flying abilities but no control and that's where I have another issue. I came up with the theory that when I perfect my air transformation, it'll be easier to use.
These three seals were the result of my one-week break, and finally, it was time for me to show Hagoromo my breathing technique. I only hope he doesn't call that toad, whatever his name is. I feel like I know his name but can't remember. Meh, not like it matters.
Arriving at the training area, I see Hagoromo seated alongside an orange frog. 'Damnit, I didn't expect him to call that toad'. Though he must've been called to give his opinion, I honestly don't like the road. Don't judge me.
I bowed toward Hagoromo in greeting ''Good morning old man" and then looked at the toad curiously,
"Good morning Shun, how have you been? And this is my friend Gamamaru from the land of toads. It is where I learned about natural energy and Senjutsu , he is also the one that taught me about control"
"I'm alright now, thanks for asking, and nice to meet you Gamamaru sama, please advise me today"
"What a polite young boy, nice to meet you as well. Though I'm a little curious about this new version of drawing in natural energy, can you give me an explanation"
"Yes. I theorized that the same way we breathe when meditating, we could also breathe when performing other actions as well, such as running and most especially, fighting."
"Since we breathe during meditation to calm the spirit, we could also use a certain rhythm of breathing while performing other actions as well. That's the full explanation. I didn't expect that when I got a good rhythm to follow, I would draw in natural energy" I explained and finished with pride leaking from me.
I won't lie, I feel like when this technique gets perfected and passed down for generations to come, I would be a legend like the 'Sage of Six Paths' maybe I would be called something like the 'Sword Sage' or something along that line.
Gamamaru looked at me in astonishment and also confusion. I don't know what he is thinking and I don't want to know. I bet he'd still say it after he sees my breathing technique.
"Well why don't you show it to us young Shun"
Due to the silence, Hagoromo took the opportunity to interrupt our conversation and gave me the floor to perform the breathing technique.
I was a little bit nervous, I remember that my clone was just breathing with a certain pattern, and then suddenly got the right rhythm and then it was dispelled. I've also checked out the breathing pattern during the week so I was a little nervous.
Taking a sword stance, I took in a deep breath and allowed the oxygen to expand my lungs for a few seconds, and then I exhaled and held my breath for two seconds, and then repeated.
While taking in a deep breath, I went with the flow of the breathing and raised my sword overhead, and when exhaling, I swung down the sword as fast as possible.
On my third try, I felt the air I took in become more refreshing. I wanted to enjoy the refreshing feeling for some time but I suddenly felt that this was dangerous and suddenly remembered that this was what I felt before my clone dispelled.
Circulating by chakra, I used all my spiritual senses to make my chakra flow together with the external energy in my body as I exhaled and swung the sword down.
I opened my eyes as I felt something was missing from what I just did. I felt that I needed something fundamental. With no clue to what was missing, I decided to try once more, but before I could fully immerse myself into that state again, I was called by Hagoromo.
"That was dangerous Shun, you took in a huge amount of natural energy, though you didn't control it well, how did you manage that?"
I could tell he was prepared to step in and help me, should l lose control, even Gamamaru had a cane in his hand.
They both looked surprised and curious as to how I managed to expel the natural energy I took in.
"I suddenly felt that the air I inhaled was refreshing and wanted to enjoy it more, and then I remembered that I felt this was before when I first tried this, and then I circulated my chakra and used it to help me push the air out of my lungs. I felt that I was lacking something though so I'm going to try again"
They looked at each other and then looked at me for some time before nodding their head in acknowledgment. I then went back to the stance I was taking previously.
I repeated the same breathing pattern, but this time I kept circulating my chakra. At the fifth swing, I felt the same refreshing feeling but this time I felt the energy so I didn't panic, instead, I allowed my chakra to mix with this new energy as I swung the sword down while exhaling.
I felt a new energy in me as I swung the sword down. That must be senjutsu chakra, I didn't bother stopping to enjoy the small success, instead, I remained in that state and continued at that same rhythm.
After what felt like the twelfth swing, I felt my lungs hurting so I stopped and opened my eyes.
I then noticed that I was covered in sweat, and before I could dwell on the matter, I felt like my whole body was being bitten by ants, both internally and externally. Bearing the pain, I circulated my chakra to soothe the pain a little.
By the time I was done, Hagoromo and Gamamaru were both looking at me in astonishment.
Approaching them, I said, "This is my limit, I can't perform more than this, I feel like, should I continue, I would hurt myself"
Coming out of their shock or so it seemed, Hagoromo coughed lightly and said "Ahem. That seems to be the case. It seems you didn't need our help in the first place"
Gamamaru then added "And it seems that you didn't need guidance in the first place, if I am not mistaken, you have a body that has the potential to become the sage body. Though it'll be hard, it might take years even"
"What's this sage body?" I decided to ask to feign ignorance. It would be weird if a nine-year-old knows what a sage body is.
"A sage body is a body that is connected to nature, becoming one with nature. At that time you don't need to meditate or 'breath' to access senjustu"
I was excited, truly, if what Gamamaru is saying is true, then I will become like OG Sage in the future, not like Hashirama.
"When you're free you are welcome to Mount Myōboku to harness more potent natural energy"
"Thank you Gamamaru sama" I don't think I'll go though. I'm okay here, I could create a space and use seals to draw in natural energy and practice there.
Or I could even create a seal that performs both the function of drawing in natural energy and storing it, like a portable Yin Yang seal.
I even plan on creating the five breath styles from demon slayer, and for that, I would need to find a way to absorb elemental natural energy, at least the five major elements alongside Yin and Yang energies. I wonder what the result will be. Maybe I could create a realm in my dantian? Thoughts for the future.
Right now I should get used to this neutral natural energy and perfect my breathing technique. Maybe I'll just depend on this neutral natural energy and create the first breathing technique and call it sun breathing.
Nah I'm gonna have to learn Yin And Yang nature transformation and mix it with neutral natural energy and use it to create the first-ever breathing style.
It's gonna take a while, that's for sure, but it'll be a rewarding experience. I could give one style to Indra and Ashura each, how they go about it is up to them.
I bet Indra will find a way to use it without natural energy, or even his descendants. Imagine them creating their form of breathing. What a pleasant future awaits.
On second thought, I'm going to give them both the original breathing and let them see if they can master it, if not, they can create theirs. Now that's something to look forward to.
With this out of the way, it's time for some quality grinding and powering up.
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