Chapter 3: The Body Before the Technique
Raiden did not wait seven days. He waited eleven minutes.
He lay facing the canvas, counting the drip of the bucket, when the cold light suddenly flared on at the edge of his vision. Not with its usual calm. It flickered twice, unevenly, like a faulty lamp.
[COMPILATION INTERRUPTED.]
Progress: 2%.
Reason: critical physiological risk.
You said you would be inactive for seven days.
I did. But I ran a full scan of your body before installing the technique, and the result requires me to stop.
A chill ran down the back of his neck.
What did you see?
If I had continued, the installation would have rewritten your chakra channels to support the Earth Style Wall. But your body is in a condition where those channels have no foundation to sustain the change. The probability of permanent damage was 34%.
I will not make that decision for you. I stop, and I explain.
Raiden stared at the ceiling for a long moment. Thirty-four percent. He had almost said begin as easily as ordering a cup of coffee.
Thank you for stopping.
Do not thank me. I should have run the scan before proposing the seven-day timeline. That was a miscalculation on my part.
It was the first time the voice had admitted a mistake. He took note of it.
He took a deep breath, glanced around, and lowered his voice inwardly, out of habit.
All right. Then we are not installing anything now. Let's start from the beginning. I need to understand my body for real, Kira.
Kira?
Q.I.R.A. is too long. Kira is easier. If you don't like it, I'll stop.
There was a brief silence, and the cold light pulsed once, softer.
Accepted. Kira.
What is your request?
I want you to analyze everything. The chakra system of this world, how it really works, and my body inside it. Then I want a plan to increase my chakra without destroying anything, and to improve my body at the same time.
Understood. But this is not quick.
To map this world's chakra system and compare it against every cell, channel, and tissue in your body, and then build a safe method, I need 3 hours of total processing.
During that time I will be occupied and will barely respond. Only in an emergency.
Three hours.
Three hours. It cannot be done properly in less.
Raiden looked at the canvas, at the wounded, at the bucket. Three hours of silence in the middle of a war. It could be an eternity or a rest.
Fine. Do it.
[FULL ANALYSIS INITIATED.]
Estimated duration: 3 hours.
See you soon, Raiden.
The cold light shrank until it was a tiny dot at the edge of his vision, and it stayed there, pulsing slowly, like an ember.
* * *
The three hours were the longest of his life.
He lay there doing nothing, because there was nothing to do. He counted the drops from the bucket until he lost count. He watched the morning light shift from gray to gold through the canvas. He watched one medic change bandages, another carry a body covered by a sheet, another hand out water. He watched the boy on the next cot, the one with the trembling shoulders, finally turn his face and fall into a real sleep.
He thought about his old life, and was surprised by how distant it felt. He thought about the brown-haired boy who had fallen beside him in the fight, the one whose name he had never known.
Only when the light crossed the canvas at midday did the dot at the edge of his vision grow and flare back to life.
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE. Time elapsed: 3 hours, 4 minutes.]
Report available.
It's time.
* * *
The light swelled, and in front of him a translucent figure took shape: the outline of a human body, and inside it a fine web of blue lines, branching like roots.
First, the world.
Chakra, here, is not a single thing. It is a blend of two energies.
The first is physical energy: it comes from the cells, from food, from rest, from blood. The second is spiritual energy: it comes from the mind, from discipline, from experience.
The body mixes the two and conducts them through a network of channels, the chakra circulatory system, which spreads through the whole body like veins. The exit points of this network are the tenketsu, the tiny "doors" through which chakra escapes to form a technique.
So chakra depends on the body.
Entirely. And that is where your problem lies.
The figure changed. The blue web grew thin in some places, broken in others, and a red light pulsed in the legs, the arms, and the abdomen.
Your body was undernourished for years. Your cells produce less physical energy than they should. Your chakra channels are narrow and fragile in several regions, like an old hose full of cracks. Your reserve is 38 CP, but your body can only release a portion of it at a time without risking the entire network.
If you forced chakra now, as you wanted to do with the Wall, the channels would crack. It would be like pumping high-pressure water through a leaking hose.
Raiden looked at the figure in silence. For the first time, he saw with his own eyes how damaged the body he had inherited really was. It was not just weakness. It was accumulated neglect.
And what do I do?
First, the body. Then, the chakra. In that order.
If you try to raise your reserve before repairing the foundation, you lose. If you repair the foundation first, you gain more, and faster, in the end.
But you can help with that. You told me you work on my cells.
I can. That is one of the ways I differ from an ordinary shinobi.
My processing operates at the cellular level. I can monitor your cells, identify what is failing, and adjust internal chemical signals to speed up repair, nutrient absorption, and energy production. It is not magic. It is optimization. But it is an optimization no medic in this world can perform.
Then tell me. What's the method?
* * *
PHASE 0: REPAIR (3 days, in RECOVERY MODE).
Objective: rebuild the cellular foundation and fix the most serious channel flaws.
Diet: three full meals a day, with protein, healthy fat, and carbohydrates. You will eat more than you are used to.
Sleep: eight to ten hours a night. Repair happens during deep sleep.
Movement: no exertion. Only what is needed to stay on your feet.
Goal: stable channels, no critical fragility. Reserve rises from 38 to 44 CP.
What comes after Phase 0, we will design together once you have recovered. An ordinary training plan will not work for you, and I know why. But that is a matter for later.
Raiden read it to the end, twice.
Three days of repair. You said this takes weeks for anyone else.
For anyone else, it does. I can compress it because I work directly on your cells, twenty-four hours a day, without pause.
But there is a price, and you need to know it before you accept.
Tell me.
To do this, I must enter RECOVERY MODE. All of my capacity goes to your body. For the 3 days, I will be disabled: I will not speak, analyze, or warn you of danger. Only the cellular repair continues.
When the process ends, you will receive a notification, and I will reactivate on my own.
He was silent. Three days without the voice. Three days alone inside his own head again, only now knowing how much he would miss it.
And the Sharingan?
It keeps working, but without my support. I recommend you use it as little as possible. Only in an emergency.
And if something goes wrong in those three days?
You will have to handle it on your own. But in the infirmary, with medics nearby, the risk is as low as it can be. If I did this on a mission, it would be suicide.
There is something else: this pace is only possible now because your body is far below where it should be. Any improvement yields a great deal when the baseline is this poor. Once it reaches normal, the gains will slow down, as with anyone. Do not count on this a second time.
Raiden thought. The impatient part of him, the part that remembered every scene where heroes grew in weeks, wanted to argue. But the part that had watched a boy die beside him without a name knew she was right.
I accept.
Confirm?
Confirmed. Activate recovery mode.
[RECOVERY MODE ACTIVATED.]
Duration: 3 days.
Q.I.R.A. entering inactive mode.
See you soon, Raiden.
Eat well. Sleep well. Trust.
The cold light shrank, and shrank, and went out.
Raiden waited. Nothing. He tried calling her from within, just once, to test it.
Kira?
Only silence. But beneath his skin, in his arms, his legs, his chest, something began to move, thin and distant, as if someone were stitching something very deep.
* * *
A medic passed by with a tray, left a plate of rice with a piece of dried fish beside the cot, and moved on without a word. It was more food than Raiden had seen in days.
He took the plate in both hands. The rice was lukewarm, the fish too salty, and it was the best thing he had tasted since waking in this world.
He ate slowly, chewing every bite, like a sacred task.
When he finished, he lay on his side, facing the canvas, and closed his eyes. Outside, the thunder rolled again, closer. This time, he did not flinch.
* * *
Day 2
He woke to sunlight crossing the canvas and the strange feeling of having truly slept.
It was not the light, jumpy sleep of the past few days. It was deep, heavy, the sleep of someone who had been switched off and back on. His body still ached, but it was a different ache, almost good, like a muscle that had just been used. He lifted his arm and saw that the bandages had already come loose. Underneath, the skin had a livelier color.
Kira?
Silence. It was strange to wake without the voice. He caught himself waiting, out of reflex, for something to say good morning.
Breakfast came with a nurse.
She was a woman of about forty, hair pulled into a tight bun, with the thick hands of someone who had been working since before dawn. Her name was Hanae, and she had a habit of talking while she examined, without waiting for answers. She took his wrist, pressed it twice, checked his pupils with a small flashlight, and probed his ribs.
"Steady pulse," she murmured. "No fever. Yesterday morning you looked like a corpse, and today..." She stopped, frowned, and squeezed his arm again. "Are you eating?"
"Yes," Raiden answered, and he did not have to fake the surprise in his voice.
"Kid, I've never seen a genin recover like this. That cut on your arm closed in two days." She shook her head. "Must be the Uchiha blood. You people have a strange constitution."
Raiden said nothing.
Hanae went back to writing on her clipboard, then looked around at the crowded cots, the new wounded arriving in a line, and sighed.
"I need the beds," she said bluntly. "You're not in danger, and there are people here worse off than you. I'm discharging you today. You'll stay in the genin quarters, east wing. Rest, eat well, and if you get dizziness, fever, or a bad headache, come back here right away. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Good." She scribbled something on a slip of paper and handed it over. "Discharge. Show this at the entrance to the quarters. And drink water, boy. A lot of water."
Raiden took the paper. It was the first time, in this world, that someone had decided something about him when it was not a matter of life or death. It was almost strange.
The genin quarters were a long tent with wooden bunks and thin blankets, smelling of sweat and wood smoke. It was almost empty, because most of its occupants were at the front. Raiden was given a bunk in the corner, near a canvas window, and a ration of rice and dried meat.
He ate everything. Then he walked slowly to a stream near the camp, drank water until he felt sick, and came back. Nobody spoke to him. Nobody needed to.
That night, he lay on the bunk and looked at the wooden ceiling. He called inwardly, just once, without hope.
Kira. Are you there?
Nothing. Only the silence, and the invisible work that continued beneath his skin, like the low hum of a distant machine.
Then it's just me and my body, he thought. And, in a strange way, he did not find that so bad.
He slept.
* * *
Day 3
He woke before dawn.
He lay still for a while, eyes closed, feeling his own body. It was something new. There was no pain, no dizziness, none of that damp weight in his bones. His lungs filled all the way to the bottom. His fingers moved without trembling. For the first time since waking in this world, the body felt like his.
He got up, crossed the flap of the quarters, and stepped outside. The sky was pink, and the morning air smelled of wet earth. In the distance, the sound of the war went on, muffled, like a thunder that never ended.
But here, in the middle of the camp, the world was quiet. He stood there a while, just breathing.
And at the edge of his vision, without warning, a cold light flickered on.
[NOTIFICATION: RECOVERY MODE COMPLETE.]
Duration: 3 days.
Q.I.R.A. reactivating.
Good morning, Raiden.
Kira.
Final report for Phase 0.
The figure of the body reappeared in front of him. The blue web was thicker, more even. The red light had almost completely vanished.
[PHASE 0: REPAIR. COMPLETE.]
Chakra channels: stable. Critical fragility eliminated.
Chakra reserve: 44 CP (before: 38 CP).
Body weight: +2 kg of muscle mass.
Endurance: approximately 60% of an average genin. Before: 30%.
Sharingan: 1 tomoe, stable. Residual ocular overload: 0%.
In plain terms: you went from "nearly dead" to "weak, but healthy." That is an enormous improvement for three days.
Raiden stared at the numbers. 44 CP was still below average, but for the first time, the body seemed to have a foundation.
I missed you.
I did not miss anything. I was inactive.
But the records show you called me three times.
Twice. The third was by accident.
Noted.
He laughed, short, the first real laugh since being reborn.
* * *
He sat on a rock at the edge of the camp, facing the sunrise, and was quiet for a while, thinking.
Kira. Now comes the hard part, right?
Which part?
Training. You said that from here on the gains slow down. But I look around, and I don't see anyone with time to train.
In the distance, a line of men carried crates of supplies toward the front. Others sharpened blades, others dug trenches, others slept sprawled on the ground, wherever they had fallen.
This is a war. Nobody stops for a whole day to do push-ups. If I vanish for three hours a day to train, someone will notice, and they'll send me wherever they need me. And if I do everything we agreed on before, running, push-ups, taijutsu drills, I won't last the first week.
Agreed.
You agree?
An ordinary training method demands free time, guaranteed rest, and a safe place. You have none of the three. If I designed a plan like the ones in Konoha in peacetime, it would fail by the second day.
What you need is a field method. One that uses the war instead of fighting it.
Raiden smiled sideways.
That's what I thought. So let's design it together. I know how this camp works. You know how my body works.
Accepted. You start.
He thought for a moment, watching the line of men with the crates.
I can't stand still. Whoever stands still becomes a target, or gets drafted for the front line. But nobody notices the ones who carry supplies. Messenger, porter, infirmary helper. They're jobs nobody wants and everybody needs.
Good observation. And those tasks have an advantage: they are already physical training. Carrying weight, running between posts, climbing and descending terrain. You train your body without looking like you are training.
Exactly. And there's more. I can keep an eye on the others' training while I work. The training ground is on the route for half the deliveries.
Correct. Then I can propose the structure. Let me build the first version, and you correct it.
Go ahead.
* * *
FIELD METHOD. Version 1.
PRINCIPLE: no training requires separate time. Everything happens inside the camp's tasks, in short blocks.
1. BODY: INSIDE THE WORK.
You volunteer for carrying and delivery tasks: supplies, water, messages between posts. Every trip is endurance. Every crate is weight. I will control the load: it starts light and rises slightly each week, without you needing to count.
On Sundays, no extra tasks. It is the rest day, and I use sleep for repair.
2. CHAKRA CONTROL: ALONG THE WAY.
While you walk or carry, you keep a thin thread of chakra in your feet, as if gluing the sole to the ground. It is invisible, costs almost nothing, and trains the precision of your channels. Ten minutes per trip, at most. I will tell you when to stop.
3. HANDS AND SEALS: IN THE GAPS.
In any pause, sitting, with a hand in your pocket or under a blanket, you practice the finger movements. The seals you have already seen, Ox, Tiger, Dog, Boar, without chakra, only the form. This prepares your muscle memory for when I install the techniques.
4. EYES: IN SHORT BURSTS.
Whenever you pass near a training session or a fight, you activate the Sharingan for 3 minutes at most. I analyze what you see and store it. At night, we review. More than that, and your eyes overload.
5. FOOD AND SLEEP: NON-NEGOTIABLE.
You eat everything that shows up, always. You sleep whenever you can, without guilt. I repair cells during sleep, even a short one. Sleep is where training turns into strength.
6. CHAKRA BUDGET.
Your reserve is 44 CP. There is one fixed rule: 30 CP stay untouchable, saved for emergencies. Only the surplus can be spent on training, and never before a patrol or a risky shift.
Raiden read it all slowly, then raised an eyebrow.
This is good. But there's a problem.
Which?
If I suddenly show up at a bunch of posts, watching others fight and carrying too much weight, someone will notice. Especially after the nurse mentioned my Uchiha blood. I don't want attention.
Agreed. Proposal: you stay within the ordinary. You never carry more than the others carry. You never arrive earlier or later than the routine allows. If anyone asks, you are a late-blooming genin, weak, trying to be useful.
And I add one rule: if anything falls outside the normal, any look that lingers too long, any question, I warn you, and you stop the day's training.
That's better.
He was quiet a while longer, still watching the camp wake up. He thought of everything he would have to do: the routine, the crates, the seals hidden in his pocket, the bursts of the eyes. It seemed small compared to what he had dreamed of during the marathons of his past life, when heroes trained on isolated mountains for a whole year.
But it was real. And it was his.
Kira. How long until the Earth Style Wall?
By my estimates, with this method, your channels will be ready for installation in about six weeks. After that, the seven days of compilation, this time without risk.
Six weeks.
Fast for a late-blooming genin. Slow for someone who knows what is coming.
He smiled, without joy.
Yes. I know.
I know. That is why I am here.
The sun finished rising over the canvas, and outside the camp woke up in noise: orders, footsteps, the clink of metal. Raiden got up from the rock, straightened his vest, and walked off, unhurried, toward the supply depot.
[FIELD METHOD: ACTIVATED.]
Day 1 of 42.
First task: report to the depot and ask for work.
Remember: weak, discreet, useful.
Weak, discreet, useful, Raiden repeated inwardly.
And he went.