Chapter 42: The First Step

Tsunade was deeply shaken by Yujin’s words. For some reason, she felt a profound fear when she understood the implications. The tremor in Yujin’s voice and the brief glimpse she caught in his eyes, as if he had remembered something disturbing, left her very afraid.

Knowing that someone she cares about is practically walking on a tightrope every day was despairing. It’s as if Yujin could die at any moment. This reality was hard to swallow, even for someone experienced with life-or-death situations like her.

Yujin noticed Tsunade’s distress, and his heart squeezed. He deliberated for a long time whether he would tell her, but in the end, he decided to. After all, you never know what might happen in the future. He didn’t want her to be caught off guard if he undergoes a Breakdown and ends up being killed by some ninja.

He needed to prepare her for the possibility.

When he started training Harmony, Yujin knew the risks, but he was never afraid. He always had complete confidence in himself. Unfortunately, that incident where he had his first Breakdown cast a shadow on his heart. Even though everyone he killed were enemies, one thing is killing people who were doing harm to others, you have a reason for that.

It’s entirely different what he did, indiscriminate killing. Although he was fortunate to have only killed enemies, at that moment, he was willing to kill anyone, even people he loves.

It was a bad feeling, knowing that, with one mistake, he could become an uncontrollable killing god. That’s why he isolated himself in the mountains and never left.

Taking a deep breath, Yujin composed himself. Tsunade still didn’t seem to have calmed down, so he decided to continue with the lesson.

“As I mentioned, I will teach you Internal Martial Arts. To practice any type of martial arts, it’s important to have a breathing technique. Please, sit in the position I am in.”

Yujin sat in the lotus position, hands in front of his chest, forming a hand seal that Tsunade and Duy had never seen.

The two copied Yujin’s position and began to breathe following his instructions.

The technique required perfection during its execution, so the two spent some minutes following Yujin’s instructions, but it didn’t take them long to learn.

When he saw that they could do it, Yujin stood up and continued guiding them, explaining more theoretical aspects of Qi and trying to explain the sensation of Qi entering the body so they could better perceive if they were succeeding.

He knew that, even if they seemed to be doing it correctly, they needed a perfection they had not yet achieved, so he also began correcting the small errors they were making without realizing.

Even after many minutes, however, they felt nothing. Although they had internal doubts, Yujin constantly explained to them that it’s not a quick process.

“Most people take days to create their first Qi thread. You will get it quickly, I believe, because of your experience with Chakra. Keep trying.”

Both nodded, and they continued. Over an hour later, the sun began to rise, and they finally felt a difference. When he saw their expressions improve, he explained.

“The first thirty minutes when the sun rises are the best for accumulating Qi. During this time, Qi is extremely pure, and therefore easier to absorb. Consequently, it is the perfect time for beginners to try to create their first Qi thread.”

Vaguely, both began to feel something entering through their noses during breathing. It was a very vague feeling, but they knew it must be natural Qi, so they continued to breathe.

Minutes passed, and when he saw that they were succeeding, Yujin fell silent and just observed. Thirty minutes later, they lost the sensation they had before and became confused. Before they stopped breathing, Yujin began explaining again.

“The thirty minutes have passed; now it is much more difficult, but keep breathing even if you don’t feel anything. Try to remember the feeling you had during those thirty minutes, and keep trying until you can do it without the help of the sunrise.”

Both nodded again and continued, but even after an hour, they couldn’t feel anything. Seeing this, Yujin approached them and spoke.

“Well, I wanted you to achieve it on your own, as it would improve your perception of Qi. With this improvement, in the future, you would have better results, but more than that, I think it’s useless.”

“What do you mean?”

Tsunade seemed worried that she might not be able to train Qi, but it was an unfounded concern. Yujin explained patiently.