[Dragons breath!]

  I breathe out a small breath of lightning that coats the Ninjutsu Genin's chest and burns a small hole into it... I have been practicing my secret moves within the challenge scroll I was awarded.

  ...

  Its going smoothly and helping me learn my current strength- I should be at the top of my css with all these skills in use, unfortunately that means I was being an idiot and not choosing the right skills... ever since learning the ranking system of this world I have been comparing it to the ranks of my skills and they... could be better.

  Don't get me wrong- staring is great in so many situations, I just wish I had a better grasp on what I should have chosen in order to make myself better within this world.

  Ignoring my stupidity I have been experimenting with Lightning Mana, and it is quite different than what i thought it to be- I had wanted something from a typical high fantasy world and got it... but it isn't the mana one would normally see in those types of settings, normal mana would follow rules and have certain phrases or runes to activate them, it would be a naturally flowing current that wizards tap into.

  It only regenerates when I sleep... or sit still for a long time and it often weakens or grows depending on the weather or environment... for example we had a storm the other day and my blood pumped like I was on drugs and I felt the raw power course through me... but on the clearest days my lightning mana feels dormant and I have to shake it awake before using it.

  And so that leads me to my current training- figuring out what Lightning mana actually is since it isn't the typical stuff- I have been fighting these Genin for weeks now and all the information I have is what I have told you above.

  Haaa-

  I am flung from the Challenge and onto my bed... what to do... maybe if I ask Gramps he can help me? I would rather keep this a secret... but I would also rather have a bundle of information to further improve myself rather than blindly upgrading whatever like in the past...

  Well Danzo has been testing my blood all the time with the amount he collects... its not like they need to know I breathe lightning or am quick- I am sure they have tested me multiple times due to my systems upgrades.

  Yeah... I should ask Gramps about this one and hopefully he can tell me what this Mana is.

  I get up and off my bed- I grab my jacket and don it before leaving into the streets of Konoha, eventually arriving at the Hokage's office which hopefully holds my answers.

  I knock on his door and here him call me in... opening the door and closing it as I enter, I step up to the chair opposite of gramps and sit on it.

  "What may I do for you today Kenzo?" Gramps asks me, I can hear him scribbling away at some documents.

  "My blood feels... potent and powerful... I am sure you have done tests and such- is their any information you have through any blood tests done on me?" I ask hopefully and here him stop writing.

  "Hmmm... we have indeed done some blood tests and I am afraid we found no conclusion to what is affecting you" Gramps admits and I frown.

  "Can I have the reports and stuff on me...? Even the Oorochimaru ones...?" I ask.

  "... I can... did you wish for me to go over them with you? I have some time after these few documents?" Gramps asks and I smile... probably the only way I get to read them is with supervision and I will take Gramps over anyone any day.

  "Yes please" I bow my head and he clicks his fingers.

  ...

  A few minutes go by and I hear someone flicker in and drop some documents on his desk- Gramps whispers something to him I cannot hear and suddenly the room feels a tad colder.

  "You may take your blindfold off, we have activated some seals in the room so you may see these documents..." Gramps tells me and I undo my blindfold... making sure to focus on the documents rather than accidentally stare at Gramps.

  "Lets start with these ones, very early blood test to check if you had any retives" Gramps hands me the first document and I scan over it.

  From before I had mana... and only had breathing... the lightning I swallowed then- that did something and made all my blood incompatible with chakra techniques and various tests that mess with it too much... what was that Lightning substance that I breathed in? It meshed with my mana and made it improve my Burst Breathing.

  ...

  This report is too simple... or every test had the same result- lets see another one.

  "This is from various tests the year you entered the Academy" Gramps hands some over.

  Hmmm... nothing much different... except there was two events and two separate reactions... on the 12th of January my blood merely spttered and went bck... but on the 16th of January my blood exploded and emitted some lightning before turning bck.

  "Was there a difference found in the different dates?" I ask.

  "Nothing much we could find- there was a few rogue ninja trying to steal from the hospital on the 16th and that's the only difference we could find" Gramps informs me.

  "What about weather... was it stormier on the 16th?" I ask.

  "No, in fact it was clearer that day" He replies while smoking from his pipe.

  ...

  That's odd... I feel like I am missing something... lets do a test.

  "Hey... can you shock me with a small Lightning jutsu really quick?" I ask.

  "... I have a small shock jutsu yes, hold out your palm, this will tickle" I close my eyes and focus on my blood... on the mana as I raise my palm.

  *ZzZzZ*

  Small amounts of Lightning chakra caress my palm and tickle it... I focus down on my blood and watch the 'mana' move around and when my blood flows near my hand... it grows ever so slightly- to the point I barely notice.

  "The ninja in the hospital... did they use a bunch of lightning jutsu?" I ask and Gramps nods.

  So that solves that.

  And with the way Gramps is looking at me it seems he is understanding the same as well.

  "These are the next documents... from your time in Oorochimaru's den" Gramps hands me the thickest pile of paper and I sort through them... focusing only on the tests surrounding my blood and the lightning I breathed in.

  ...

  Hmmm....

  Not much differing results- although there us an interesting page where that snake decided to bombard my blood with Lightning chakra to see if it liked it... turns out that my blood grew in potency or power signals...? What is this terminology...??

  "I can see you are confused- he heavily coded all these documents and these are the best we could transte..." Gramps informs me and I nod.

  Potency? Potency in what? Vitality? Lightning... mana? What was my mana before it was named that? It was what I had breathed ages ago wasn't it? But mana was injected into my veins like it didn't belong and changed my body to be odder...

  Did I name it mana myself? I was so focused on having something out of this world that I didn't name it right? No... maybe? Or perhaps the helping entity is aiding me by calling it mana... or maybe mana cant exist here and he created a technical mana that fits my criteria and doesn't break the rules of this world.

  I need more information...

  "Next please... preferably tests from within the st few months" I ask and Gramps hands over the st documents.

  "That is the most recent ones... right before your 'midnight' training with danzo- and the others after it" Gramps smiles knowingly... so they know I got a powerup... but not exactly what it could be.

  ...

  I read through the documents and find what I was looking for.

  The most recent ones tell me that my blood now acts normally until chakra was added in tests, the chakra backshes and zaps whoever tries to mess with it...

  So it was more chaotic and exploded at nearly everything before my mana was injected into me... and then become more refined ter on? Less chaotic and more controlled?

  So mana is a controlled substance of what was pced into me?

  ------

  Complete: Impressive deductions.

  Reward: Knowledge.

  ------

  Knowledge?

  ------

  Nature chakra exists in the world and flows as apart of life... it fills every being and every lifeform... except Humans and some animals? Why? Because those certain creatures are filled with Chakra. Yang and yin mixed together for there own formu.

  A body filled with water cannot store oil.

  Burst Breathing mortal limit made me reach for... different methods- Lightning. Pure lightning in chakra form, not Chakra made by man- but rather nature... that is what you swallowed and you harnessed it through breath and technique.

  Then came along mana.

  I 'recreated' it like you focused on during your skill scroll through evolving your body to be different from normal humans, you had raw nature chakra from a storm within you... and I stole a dragon from another realm and plundered its heart- the blood changed your body to be more animalistic and allowed your heart to produce nature chakra like most other lifeforms in the elemental nations.

  Lightning Mana is nothing more than a refinement method of Nature chakra- one unseen by this world as the current methods vary in use and training, one that would spread if you taught it and willingly gave others your blood- if you will it and another injects it- they will have this nature chakra same as you.

  ---

  Woah. Knowledge.

  I blink slowly as I look down at the papers in front of me... nature chakra refined? So refined to only hold lightning within it and nothing else? And I naturally pump it out unlike most other sentient creatures who do not- it seems trees and rocks are the kinds of lifeforms that soak up natural chakra...

  Too much information.

  Wait- so I don't have a limit on my Lightning mana, and improving it is actually just improving my gathering speed? Or producing speed and it wont produce more without any actions from me? How do I gain more nature chakra? Or lightning nature chakra to refine it with my blood into Lightning mana?

  So much to learn... but now I understand it a lot more- perhaps I should make a weaker lightning skill next time and see how much power I should get... or maybe I should get a natural chakra gathering skill?

  Or perhaps they already exist here? Oorochimaru's documents make sense when you repce certain words like potency with improve nature chakra levels... maybe I should ask Gramps... or maybe I should keep this a secret- right now he doesn't know about either technique of breathing.

  "Thank you very much Gramps- this was very helpful!" I say.

  "Hm? How so?" He asks.

  "Well... I now know that my blood is filled with some secret power that keeps growing stronger when meditating... so I should keep meditating and see what happens" I reply.

  "Very well, you can always come to me if you need anything Kenzo- I will get these cleaned up, and have some money to eat Ichiraku's with Naruto tonight okay?" He hands me some money as I do up my blindfold and I smile.

  Alright, dinner is settled- lets get Danzo's stupid training over so I can eat.

  -one month ter-

  *Sm!*

  *Pow!*

  I sm into the root ninja and hit him in the leg before rising up to- *Ssh!* damnit.

  "Thirty eight- you are getting worse from your previous scores, stop unlearning what has been taught" the Root ninja tells me and I sigh.

  "Cease" Danzo orders and we both turn to him, the ninja gets on his knee and lowers his head while I stand tall... maybe a bit wobbly from the various cuts and bruises on my body.

  "Kenzo. You are learning a second style of fighting in your free time, why?" Danzo asks and I raise my brow.

  "Sorry?" I reply.

  "You have been moving faster than your taijutsu combos can be performed and relying on... headbutts for your finishers- indicators of learning separate styles that do not match up with your current abilities" Danzo questions me.

  I see... so he can tell I have been training my secret skills... sometimes I hate the observation prowess of ninja- I smile innocently and shrug my shoulders.

  "If you will not take this training seriously why should I put any effort into it? Why should I not waste your time?" He questions.

  "If you wish to give up you can. wimp" I smile as innocent as possible and endure the rising pain within my mouth- my tongue shes around and blood starts to spill from it as it twists and pulls on the mark.

  He frowns at me and gets up.

  "If you wish to improve stop your extra training, or learn to endure more" Danzo slowly walks over to me and sms his cane into my stomach.

  I fall to the ground and cough up blood... I hold my stomach and wince as the pain takes over- he knows how to hit someone and he knows exploit the mark to deal maximum damage without killing me.

  "I..." I try to speak but the blood pooling in my mouth stops me from replying and annoying Danzo further.

  "Two more ninja are in need of duties- they will train against you in the standard formu of Genjutsu, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, they will not give you breathing room and they will not hold back- for every hundred losses to them you will add an extra ten ps to run around this training ground" Danzo sms down his walking stick and returns to his chair.

  Two more root ninja walk out to the training arena and I get up off the floor, ignoring the pain and looking at them.

  How do I even beat these guys...?

  *Smack!*

  -one hour ter-

  *Bam!*

  -another hour ter-

  *WHAM!*

  I get sent to the floor and the final bruise graces my flesh as I lie down on the stone arena... none of the three opponents have any wounds at all and one of them barely participated.

  "160 ps" they tell me before flickering away.

  I get up and slowly wobble to the side of the arena... I definitely don't look the same and my hair is dyed red now... maybe my skin as well- I was healed whenever I was close to death at least.

  I shakily start to jog forward- he doesn't allow me to walk these ps.

  "Kenzo. When did I ask you to beat three root ninja?" Danzo mocks and I roll my eyes.

  "You only needed to buy time in order to do less ps- you went toe to toe with three trained operatives within root, that is something only a fool does" He continues as I wobble around the corner.

  "Your skills are most notably your intense Genjutsu and Dojutsu- use them well, you have a strong physique that can grow into a well defended brute, don't rush your enemies- ever, you must be a tower on the battlefield- unmoving and strong, your genjutsu must bring about changes on the battlefield that will turn the tide and keep you safe, use genjutsu to hold your enemies back instead of creating openings for attacks you know will not hurt them..." Danzo continues to rant on as I jog forward...

  I smell of iron and feel like a bag of broken bricks, I wish to sleep and my body wants to do anything but ps... and yet even now I am learning, maybe I should separate myself into two separate fighting styles...?

  Like don't use any genjutsu or staring in my genin challenges... only using what I keep secret to try and win? So my breathing techniques... that would allow me to stop crossing wires in my training when I instinctually rush an enemy and create openings with my genjutsu to dragon breath them... or headbutt them in Danzo's arena.

  I will make sure to train two distinctive styles separate form each other I should follow Danzo's advice and become a tower within the battlefield for my first style, someone who maniputes the battlefield and debuffs his enemies- a support character rather than offense or defence.

  I nod my head in thought and perk up to finish my running as Danzo rattles on with great advice and training methods- so I wont be using the spear at all now, shame... I liked the idea of that.

  Though my second fighting style would be a whole lot more close combat with how short my breath weapon is... though I was hoping to have it longer range in the future... I should consider learning skills that favour close combat anyway, especially if my other skills favour me as a 'tower'.

  I look Danzo in the eye and smile once more... just to annoy him.

  "Ten more ps" He commands and I keep jogging onwards.

  I am in a very privileged position here... I should ask to leave Root before I graduate though... actually... I might run into an 'accident' out in the field if I do... and Danzo might make a training 'accident' if I don't...

  We will think on this ter, for now I must continue to run forward.

  Thanks for reading :)