Three years... three agonizing years have passed since that incident of helplessness and powerlessness. When I was broken down to vegetable, and the trauma of multiple dozen deaths... when my body was mutilated... limb from limb, head separated from torso in agony... was not a good feeling. I never wanted to be put in such a position.
For a long time, the trauma locked my jaw tight and froze my face into an emotionless mask. I could neither speak nor could I smile or show any expression.
I will have my day, Konoha. When I do, I will slaughter every single soul responsible. Ibiki Morino, for breaking my mind and torturing for hours. Inoichi Yamanaka, for controlling my conscious like a cheap puppet.
Tsunade, for sitting through the whole torture and buried the truth. Minato Namikaze, the supposed hero who tortured Darui and dragged me away like spoils of war. And Danzo Shimura, whose short-sighted idiocy made him the biggest fool of them all.
A day doesn't go by without my fear of death... not because of I'm afraid of death itself, but because I dread leaving before I can ensure every last one of them gets sent to hell.
If I make a list of names there is no end, but a list is useless without the strength to execute it. Grandpa and mother were teleported to Konoha, a week after I came back to Kumo, that was the first attack. But, they returned injured though they destroyed major constructions in the process. Konoha has reanimated Hiruzen, Dan, Sakumo and few other old shinobi from warring era.
~~
I pushed myself up from the dirt, completing my final set of push-ups. Sweat slicked my toned, wire-thin frame, dripping from my chin. My body was growing and adapting to the brutal demands I forced upon it daily.
My Kenjutsu skills are sharper now, a deadly dual weilding dance. Reaching down, I picked up my two customized tanto blade. Etched into the base of the hilt was a inked Positive Fuinjutsu Seal. I raised my left hand, staring at the corresponding Negative Fuinjutsu Seal placed on to my two palm.
With a fluid motion, I hurled the tanto blades across the clearing. They sliced through the air, embedding themself with a dull thwack directly into the bullseye of two worn practice board.
I flared my chakra, activating the negative seal in my palms. Instantly, an invisible tether snapped between my palm and the hilt of the blade. The tanto blades ripped itself backward out of the wood, flying through the air in a silver blur. I caught them seamlessly by the handle, instantly toggling the seal off.
Next, I scattered a handful of shuriken into the practice boards. With a flick of my wrist, they flew backward into my pouch. The mastery was coming along nicely; I could now activate, deactivate, and move the placement of these seals at will. Since, the speed of seals were not fast. I usually put the seal on an object and throw it, which makes it more physical.
I turned my attention to a massive boulder resting at the far edge of the training grounds. This was my wall.
Every time I tried to use the pull to drag the boulder toward me, it would inevitably yank me off my feet, sending me drifting helplessly through the air toward the boulder until I switch it off. Because the stone possessed far more mass than my early adolescent body. I have been trying this for hundreds of times with hundreds of failures.
I gritted my teeth, refusing to let the failure break my focus. I slammed my feet into the dirt, channeling chakra deep into my lower body to anchor myself to the bedrock of the earth. I forcefully injected a massive surge of chakra into the negative seal on my palm, targeting the positive seal I had previously placed on the boulder.
The boulder groaned, its base creaking against the earth as it shifted a fraction of an inch. A sharp, burning sensation flared in my sinuses, and a steady stream of blood began to drip from my nose. The strain was immense, but I smiled through the blood at a little bit of success. I stopped proceeding further.
~~
It still takes half an hour to make the new seal. I can control the movement of the any of the existing seals.
To further test my limits and build my physical endurance, I moved the seal from my shuriken and drove it onto the ground. Using my own body as a counterweight, I fought against the gravitational pull of the seals, trying to physically rip the earth apart.
It was brutal, agonizing work, but I made sure to stop just as my muscles began to tear. I was still growing; destroying my foundation now would ruin the vengeance I promised for tomorrow.
Once my physical and sealing training were complete, I transitioned to Ninjutsu. My natural chakra affinities leaned heavily toward Water Style (Suiton) and Earth Style (Doton)... surprisingly it was not Lighting style, though I do have the affinity. Grandpa had managed to secure a cache of advanced jutsu scrolls from a Konoha trade exchange.
Though many of them were complex A-rank techniques that my current chakra reserves couldn't yet sustain, simply studying their theory gave me a few brilliant ideas for my own jutsu, knowing that there is a path for Water and Earth style in Kumo, felt good.
I wiped the blood from my lip and began weaving a sequence of hand seals, pushing my chakra to gather faster.
"Water Style: Syrup Wave!"
I exhaled sharply, spewing a cascading wave of water across the clearing. This was the jutsu I invented myself from the Water Wave jutsu, I was able to add Yin Chakra to my Jutsu... the art of creating form out of nothingness. The moment the wave hit the ground, it transformed into a thick, highly viscous, amber-like syrup. Any enemy caught in its wake would find their boots instantly fused to the terrain, their mobility completely stricted.
Without missing a beat, my hands blurred through another sequence.
"Water Style: Drill Gun!"
Instead of a standard, linear water bullet that relied on simple impact, I focused the water chakra at the very tips of my fingers, spinning the liquid at a hyper-velocity RPM. I pointed my hand at a thick oak tree and fired. The compressed, spiraling bullet tore through the air with a high-pitched screech. It smashed into the bark and continued it's drill cleanly through the trunk, exiting the other side and embedding itself deep into a second tree before finally stopping.
After my torture, I was able to understand that I have incredible mental strength, resilient spiritual energy and true to my doubts I was able to use Yin release and I am quite talented at it.
I closed my eyes, preparing to practice my new technique... that I had failed to manifest dozens of times before. But as I tried to drew up on my reserves, my chakra was almost completely exhausted.
It seems Hinata has not come today, I thought, letting out a tired breath.
~~
A/N: Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0