Itsy Bitsy Spider

47. Intuition

Feitan drove them hard, but to say that would have been an understatement.

Perhaps "ground them underfoot" would have been more accurate.

He didn't just have them exercise (no, that was ridiculous); if he was going to have them do any physical work, he was putting them through manual labor. Of course, he did use other methods when he ran out of chores to give them. Working on shaping their aura into letters and running through the alphabet gave them more control over their nen. Trying to hit him with small bursts of their own aura would help in their accuracy and precision. Sparring with Feitan, even if it was slowly, would develop how they used the flow of their nen. And tossing them off a cliff and having them maneuver their way down safely with bursts of their aura would help in all three. It was easier to improve when your life was at risk.

(If any of them failed, he supposed he could jump after them and save the ungrateful brats before they hit the ground. It wouldn't be too hard.)

As Kalluto had already gone through years of tough training as a Zoldyck and already had his Hatsu, he had no need to join them. He was with the other three for simple exercises, but aside from that, he often liked to watch from the sidelines, lounging casually, and infuriating them. Zushi was diligent, and was a bit stuck on Ren, but they had gotten over that obstacle within two days of Feitan pushing him to his limit. His former master had been pretty good, Fei guessed. As for Rein, she was mostly only caught on how she should proceed with her Hatsu, so there weren't many worries there.

Now Lucky was a bit more tricky. He had been using his destructive Nen for all his life—though unknowingly—so using it came naturally to him. It was stopping it that was giving him some real problems.

Zetsu was not an option. As Machi had deduced before, if Lucky closed off all his aura nodes, his destructive Nen would build up inside his body, and he would die. Going unnoticed by Nen users would never be possible for him, but if Feitan made him strong enough, he wouldn't have to meddle with them anyway.

So then came the problem of making him stronger. Lucky's aura was immense to begin with, so he held a lot of power. But power meant nothing if you used too much of it, and Lucky tended to overuse it, a lot. He wasted too much aura on a single move, and the repercussions were inescapable. He would be sparring, but his aura would leak off of him and he would get tired easily. He would panic and send off a huge burst of nen that in turn, ended up flinging Lucky into the air. If he wasn't careful, he might accidentally manipulate his surroundings so that he would be buried alive. There wasn't really any way to know.

He lacked control over his own aura, something that could be fatal in time. The solution? Feitan proposed that he do absolutely nothing for three days straight, or more precisely, react to nothing for three days straight. His nen could not move if he did not feel anything.

Thus, amid a friend group comprised of murderers, thieves, assassins, and orphaned children, Lucky set out upon the most boring day of his life.

Not thinking and not feeling were two very difficult things to accomplish, Lucky decided while walking aimlessly throughout the forest. You have to think about the fact that you can't think or feel, which only causes you to think about that even more, doesn't it? And not feeling. He had to feel the lack of feel and keep it empty of feel while not feeling like he was thinking that he had to think not to feel or he would otherwise end up thinking about the fact that he wasn't supposed to think to feel but to feel and think not.

Calculus had been so much easier.

A lot would have easier, actually, if he'd known about the existence of Nen in the first place. If only he didn't have to have gone through years of confusion and driving all his loved ones away. Perhaps he would have been able to control it better, and perhaps he wouldn't have had to have been so alone.