A Seeker's Journey Of Transmigration

Hatamo Taijutsu

Sweat poured down Dandin's olive colored face. His red hair was wet from his perspiration, and his arms and legs trembled. He breathed heavily from exhaustion. Dandin focused his mind and called forth his chakra barrier again. With considerable effort he moved his body to do pushups. The instant he lowered his body to do the first pushup his chakra barrier became unstable and then dissipated. A puff of his chakra evaporated, and he dropped to the ground. "I'm completely spent."

"You're doing well Dandin," Mujin encouraged his son. "But you're too focused. You have to make the chakra barrier a part of you just like breathing. Just like your heart beating."

Dandin was frustrated. Until now his training progressed smoothly but this Taijutsu was too difficult for him to grasp quickly. "Why can't I do that?"

"You have to have calm control. It has to be a flow. It can't be something you force. It's too hard to make the barrier and your body move separately. They need to be one, in the same way that you don't have to control your body's heartbeat when you rest, run, or play. Your body knows how to tune itself. The chakra barrier has to become a new part of you."

Dandin didn't answer his father. He knew what he meant but he didn't know how to make it happen. In his mind he thought, "but how do I do that? I'm only two, why do you think I can grasp this concept so well?" but out loud he only asked, "what am I missing?"

"Like I said, you try too hard. Why are you trying to do pushups already? Why not walk? Why not play? Why not just make the barrier and maintain it first?"

"That's not fair dad, you told me to do the exercise routine."

"I did, four days ago, but that's when I thought you'd master this Taijutsu style quickly. Usually, it's easy for young ninjas to learn and hard for old ninjas because it's something that a simple mind can accept easier. But you seem to be the strange exception to that rule. Maybe it's because I'm not a good teacher? Maybe it's because you're much smarter than the average kid. Either way it seems clear that you are over analyzing the jutsu and that has hindered your ability to learn it."

"..."

Dandin was troubled by what his father said. Could it be that, in this world, he had too much life experience to learn a jutsu that required childlike faith. That was his conclusion based on his dad's explanation.

To clarify he asked, "the problem is that I don't believe enough?"

Mujin thought for a minute and then shook his head, "Not that. At least belief isn't the right word. I can believe that the sun will rise tomorrow. That belief can radically change the way I live. It may be a very strong belief. It might be a true belief. But it's not the same thing I'm talking about. I'm talking about acceptance. You have to accept that something about yourself is true."

Dandin blinked his eyes a few times in confusion.

Mujin scratched his head. "It also confused me. I can't really explain more to you about it than that. You either live the chakra barrier or you don't live it. However, you can't actively force the barrier to work. It has to flow naturally because that's what it will always do."

"Like how water always flows downstream?" Dandin asked.

"Not that either. Think about the balloon analogy again. When you blow air into the balloon it stretches and bends to accommodate the air. It doesn't only move down it also moves up and out. That's how flexible your chakra barrier must be."

"..."

"Don't get discouraged. You're only two. Even if it takes you two years to learn this Taijutsu style you'll be ahead of all the other boys in the clan. You'll also be able to fight on par with some Chunin level ninjas in Taijutsu. That's how strong our style is."