Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp. 17. Operation Fucking Hyuugas

Kakashi could feel the sweat trailing down his forehead relentlessly as his eyes shot wide open, the Sharingan in his left eye bleeding red and pulling everything into focus. Across from him sits a dark haired boy with two eyes the same as his own, the stare pausing over his form.

"Chakra distribution is important, so make sure you're stopping the overload flow from rushing to your eyes, okay? It's not like when you channel chakra into your fist to make a strong punch. Your eye is different - it's connected to blood vessels and your brain, and if you're not careful, it can stimulate incredible damage to your eye," Shisui lectured importantly.

Kakashi immediately tries to draw back on the source of energy that's been building up behind his eyes for some time, and winces for his efforts. The Sharingan effortlessly calls for chakra - demands it even. It hurts. It hurts in a way that he never thought it could - and he doesn't understand when no one he's ever met with a dojutsu reacts this sort of way.

Pressing the heel of his palm into his eye to alleviate the ache, he's startled when Shisui's cold fingers pry his hand away. "No," he says. "Don't do that. It won't stop it from hurting. You need to focus and let your chakra recede into the center of your body."

Kakashi grits his teeth under his mask because he's trying. He's been trying for days. He's nailed down jutsus in less time. "I can't!" he explodes, feeling immensely frustrated. "Every time I pull my chakra back, it just goes straight up again."

Shisui lets out a small breath before inching up closer, his eyes analyzing Kakashi. "Don't worry, just calm down for a second. I have an idea. Close your eyes, okay? And I'm going to give you instructions and you're going to follow them to the best of your ability."

Kakashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the warmth of the sunshine trailing in through the windows through the house window on his skin.

"Good. Now, I want you to picture a jar in your head. Imagine it settling in right in your abdomen."

Kakashi arched a skeptical eyebrow. "A jar? Really? That's your bright idea?" It already sounded pretty stupid.

"Shut it," Shisui snipped, "and listen. Okay. Picture that you've taken the lid off of the jar, and that your chakra is... what's your favorite drink?"

"Water."

There's a silence and he's tempted to peek his eye open, but Shisui just clears his throat. "Water. Fine. I want you to substitute your chakra for water, and pretend that you're pushing all your water into that jar."

Kakashi's eyebrows scrunch up as he does as he's told, pushing his excess chakra into the container he's made in his head. The chakra is a lot more dense than water, but he supposes it's the same concept.

"Okay," he says, keeping a firm hold on his chakra, pushing it down into the jar. "Now what?"

"Now," he can hear Shisui's grin, "Put the lid back on your jar, and seal it tightly, hm? Make sure you close it properly."

He carefully tops his transparent jar with the silver lid, and when his eyes pop open, he frowns at Shisui. "I know how to close jars."

Shisui's grin becomes considerably wider, "The jar isn't real, Kakashi. It's just imaginary. A sort of placeholder." Kakashi is suddenly embarrassed, but then is more aware that his eye no longer feels like it's going to pop straight out of it's socket.

"Huh," he said. "I can't believe it worked!"

The dark haired boy stretched back, eyes tilted up to the ceiling almost lazily. "What was happening wasn't the fact that your chakra kept boiling over of it's own accord. It was a mind over matter thing. You didn't think that you could keep your chakra in control, you were doubting yourself. So when you think about the jar, it's almost like.... it's almost like an assist of sorts. With time, you won't need it anymore and you'll be able to naturally do it."