Age: 8 Years Old (Three years have passed since Academy Entry)
The sound of coughing echoed through the secluded training clearing behind the orphanage. It was a wet, ragged sound—the sound of lungs that were being pushed beyond their biological design.
Renza was on his hands and knees, his snow-white hair matted with sweat and dirt. Blood dripped from his nose, spotting the dry earth beneath him. In front of him lay two shattered wooden swords.
He had tried it again. Total Concentration: Constant. And for the hundredth time, his body had rebelled.
"Your heart is a pump, not a furnace," Renju's voice echoed in his mind.
Renza gasped for air, his chest heaving. In his mind, he could see the move—the 1st Form: Dust Whirlwind. It required him to flood his legs with oxygen and chakra simultaneously. But his 8-year-old arteries weren't thick enough to handle the pressure. Every time he got close to holding the breath for more than a minute, his vision blurred and his nose bled.
"Damn it..." Renza hissed, wiping the blood on his sleeve. "If I can't even breathe while sitting still, how am I supposed to breathe while killing?"
Twenty feet away, Renju was leaning against a tree, his face pale. His raven-black hair hung limp. While Renza was trying to find the "Power," Renju was trying to find the "Stability."
Renju wasn't bleeding, but his hands were shaking uncontrollably. He had been trying to hold a meditative breathing state for thirty minutes. At the twenty-minute mark, his nervous system had begun to misfire.
"It's the chakra," Renju said, his voice strained. "We're trying to use Breathing to force nature energy into our cells without Sage Mode. We're essentially poisoning ourselves, Renza. Our bodies are too small. The 'Abyss' I want to reach... I'm just drowning in it."
Renza looked at his friend. They were the top of their class, yes. To the other students, they were monsters. But between the two of them, they knew the truth: They were failing.
"The graduation exam is tomorrow," Renza said, standing up on shaky legs. "They're sending us to the Forest of Death. If we don't use the Breathing, we're just average kids with good swordsmanship. Minato is already mastering the Body Flicker. We're falling behind."
Renju looked at the stone faces on the mountain. "We aren't falling behind. We're building a foundation. If we force it now, we'll be dead by twelve. Tomorrow, we don't use 'Constant.' We use 'Bursts.' Ten seconds of power, then rest. It's the only way our hearts don't stop."
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The Forest of Death: The Graduation Exam
The atmosphere at Training Ground 44 was suffocating. The air was thick with the scent of oversized predators and rotting vegetation.
Instructor Daigo stood before the class of thirty hopefuls. "You have six hours. Reach the central tower. If you encounter a Chunin examiner, flee. If you are cornered, survive."
"Begin!"
Renza and Renju didn't move with the crowd. They vanished into the undergrowth, moving in a practiced "Shield and Spear" formation.
For the first two hours, they were ghosts. Renju led, using his heightened senses to detect the moisture in the breath of hidden examiners. They avoided three traps and bypassed a squad of older students who were already crying in the mud.
But at the four-hour mark, the "Realism" of the Shinobi world caught up to them.
A Chunin examiner—a man with a scarred face and a heavy flak jacket—stepped out from behind a giant cypress tree. He didn't say a word. He threw three kunai with killing intent.
Renju reacted first. "Water Breathing... 1st Form: Surface Slash!"
He took a deep, sharp breath—a Burst. For five seconds, his heart rate spiked to 150 BPM. His sword moved with a fluid, heavy weight, clanging the kunai away. But as soon as the breath ended, Renju's lungs burned like he had swallowed glass. He stumbled, gasping.
"One breath?" The Chunin sneered, appearing behind Renju with a wakizashi drawn. "Is that all you—?"
"WIND BREATHING!"
Renza roared. He didn't have a choice. He ignored the pain in his chest and forced a violent intake of air. Total Concentration: Burst.
"1st Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"
Renza spun. The wooden blades in his hands whistled, the air around them actually compressing into a faint, shimmering vacuum. He struck the Chunin's blade. The impact wasn't like wood on metal; it sounded like a small explosion.
The Chunin's eyes widened as his feet slid back three feet in the dirt. "What is this strength?"
But Renza couldn't follow up. His nose began to bleed instantly. His "Burst" had lasted seven seconds, and his body was screaming at him to stop. He fell to one knee, coughing violently.
"Renza!" Renju lunged forward, grabbing his friend by the collar and throwing a smoke bomb.
They scrambled into the hollow of a rotted log, both of them heaving for air.
"I told you..." Renju wheezed, clutching his chest. "Ten seconds... is the limit."
"It's not enough," Renza whispered, spitting blood. "To kill a man like that... I need a minute. I need to be able to breathe through the pain."
"If you do that, your heart will scar," Renju warned.
"Let it scar," Renza retorted, his grey eyes flashing with that familiar, manic light. "I'd rather die with a sword in my hand than live as a 'fodder' ninja for the rest of this war."
They sat in the dark, listening to the Chunin searching for them outside. They realized then that their "Breathing" wasn't a cheat code—it was a gamble. Every time they used it, they were trading a piece of their future health for a second of God-like power.
They didn't win that day by being "Calamities." They won by being smart. Renju used a water-slicked trap to trip the examiner, and Renza used a final, desperate burst of speed to snatch the scroll from the man's belt before they bolted for the tower.
When they reached the tower, they were the first ones there. But they didn't look like heroes. They looked like survivors. They were covered in blood, their lungs were whistling, and their hands were shaking.
Instructor Daigo looked at them, then at his stopwatch.
"You passed," Daigo said quietly. "But a word of advice. That 'technique' you're using... it's eating you alive. Slow down, or you won't live to see the end of the year."
Renza just gripped his broken wooden hilt and looked at Renju. They had graduated. They were 8 years old. And the war was waiting for them.