The jewels

"I can't let my father die too.." , Naori shouted as he paced towards the door .Tengu pressed himself against the door, forcing it shut, his arms gripped Naori by the shoulders and held him back.

 “I can’t let you go, Master. They spare no one. They are blinded… blinded by desires, as every sorcerer is. They will do anything to find the key.”

Naori, pressed him against the door, looked up at the creature towering over him—straight into its eyes. With hope in his gaze and desperation in his voice, he said, “You will help me. You’ll help me bring my father back. My grandfather sent you here to help me".

 “That is what I’m trying to do...help you, protect you. I can’t stand against them alone,” Tengu pleaded.

Naori backed off a little, what's to be done ,he can't send someone to die for his mere selfish desperation, if only he had been stronger , if only he had someone else ,wait .... , his eyes shifted, there was someone, someone who helped him before 

"you would help me " , he sprinted up to kazanari 

"I can't—" 

 "why not , please..just help me rescue my father" his voice dropped cracking at every word 

"I am no match for the  Kiyomasa, noone is ,they are the strongest sorcerer family " kazanari shoved him off and moved 

" WHY WOULD YOU HELP ME EARLIER THEN !", something hit him ,"you picked fight with them doing that didn't you ". 

Kazanari froze mid step "MASTE—", Tengu's words were halted . 

"You don't understand the kind of mess you are in ", kazanari turned ," this is the amaterasu jewels we are talking about this isn't a child's play " he paced towards him .

Naori's gaze lowered 

"What do you even know about it , you're a child walking into this battlefield" he shouted 

"It..it appears.." naori stuttered " it appears and i don't know some war happens between you people, you sorcerers or whatever "  

"And what do you expect to do in this war , you can't control mana , you can't control your KI ,even though you are a Shohei, that's so riddicu— I strugg—,"kazanari cut his words short , his head shook in disbelief of the absurdity 

"You don't know the brutality of this war, millions die just to get their one wish granted by the jewels, and you expect to go out there and fight  the Kiyomasa,you are lucky to be alive right now " 

"that is why I have to go and save my father", Naori wasn't too unreasonable in his concern, even tho that meant risking everyone else,he was prepared. 

"Listen I know how it feels to lose someone, but right now we can't— " naori cut his words sharply ,"No ,You don't!!! You don't, I lost everyone my mother , my grandfather and now my ...", he teared up "The war? I don't care about the war, I just wanna save my father . Is it so wrong ". 

"You don't care about the war," Kazanari whispered softly , "but the war cares about you. You are a Shohei. The Kiyomasa will do anything to find the key and whether you have it or not, you are their greatest threat. They will stop at nothing to erase the Shohei lineage." 

"Master… he is right. For now, you should sleep. Tomorrow, I will teach you everything I can, and then we will go and bring your father back,".

Naori let out a long, unsteady sigh as his gaze drifted around the room, unable to settle. His eyes flicked to Kazanari’s for a heartbeat before he dropped them to the floor, only to glance back up again, unsure. He shifted his gaze toward Tengu, then away just as quick , he tried to steady his breathing. Another soft exhale escaped him, his eyes lowered once more and grounded himself. He raised His head and met their eyes with a fragile resolve. He gave a small, hesitant nod.

“…o-okay.” 

.....

....

.....

"You must be hungry, I will bring you food", Tengu broke the silence 

"No...i m—" a grumble interrupted Naori 

Kazanari gave a faint smile as he looked at Naori.

"You can’t fight a war on an empty stomach," 

Naori nodded gently, managing a small smile of his own as he tried to match the moment’s sudden softness.

"I will bring it right away ", tengu darted off the front door and vanished in an instant .

Kazanari took his white ,blood tainted shirt off and lowered himself onto the tatami mats, deep scars ran across his back , the wounds still angry and red . From his palm flowed the blue radiant light , it moved upwards from his palm to the chest , encircled the entire upper body in a radiant glow of blue light , this time naori wasn't  unfamiliar to it , it was mana . Under the radiance, Kazanari’s torn skin began to mend. The fresh wounds stitched themselves together . On his chest a weird circular birthmark grabbed Naori's attention. 

" You have a birthmark , too ? " 

Kazanari glanced at him 

" I have one on my chest too " Naori said 

" Atleast there's something common between us " kazanari said and continued to heal his wound .

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you… You did so much to save me…" Naori murmured.

"No, no—I shouted at you too… I'm sorry," 

"I can't believe I didn’t  know anything about my own family," Naori muttered, sadness slipped through his voice. 

"Did you know who I was when you saved me?"

"No… no, I mean…" Kazanari hesitated. "You just looked ....the Shohei were a legendary sorcerer family who won the last war and then vanished. But you… you looked like a normal kid who was just lost."

"Why did everyone hide my identity from me ? I wish I could I ask my grandfather but now .... He is gone" naori's voice lowered as his eyes stared in the blank .

"Hey… we’re going to save your father," Kazanari leaned forward a little. "You can ask him everything then, okay?" He offered Naori a faint, hopeful smile.

Naori managed a small smile of his own and nodded . 

"Back there… why did you tell us to turn in that direction? Did you know Tengu would be here?" 

"Ohh, it was just my intuition," Naori said.

"Your intuition?" Kazanari repeated with a smile.

"Yeah," Naori giggled softly. "It’s hard to explain, but my intuition always saves me somehow."

Kazanari held out his palm in front of Naori.

"Then tell me...what does my future look like?"

…

They burst into laughter.

"No, no this isn’t how it works," Naori said between laughs.

"No?" . 

They sat there quiet for a minute . 

"Hey… you never told me your name," Naori said, breaking the silence.

"Oh—Kazanari. I did tell you," 

"No, your full name," 

"Ohh… it’s Kazanari.y… Bushido. Kazanari Bushido," he said, stumbling a little over the words.

"Bushido? That’s a weird name," Naori joked.

"It is?" Kazanari asked

"Yeah....yeah, I mean… it is," he said 

"Like Mr. Bushido," Naori joked. 

"Mister?" Kazanari repeated, confused .

"You know… like One Piece. Mr. Bushido—Zoro. You don’t remember?" Naori leaned in a bit.

"One Piece? What’s that?"

"You don’t know One Piece? You’re weird , everyone knows One Piece!" Naori laughed.

"Oh… I’m not into movies," Kazanari forced a small, awkward laugh . 

"It's not a movie—" 

Tengu flew in through the front door. He landed soft, carrying a large bag which overflowed with fruit—apples, grapes, ume, wild berries and two jugs filled to the brim with fresh water.They devoured the fruits in the blink of an eye, their hunger was apparent.

After the meal, Tengu sat down near the door , his back rested against the wall . With his magic he conjured a Shakuhachi ( bamboo flute) out of thin air , the flute so large it reached down to his waist.he blew air into the angled mouthpiece, his fingers danced through the airholes .A soft, low hum drifted through the room, the notes warm and mellow, carried a drowsy, almost enchanted calm.”

Kazanari made himself comfortable on the tatami mats. With his back now fully healed, he lay down with his eyes closed, turned away from Naori.

The enchanting melody from Tengu’s flute made Naori drowsy as well, and he too lied down on the floor beside them.

…

“You said something?” he murmured, turning his head toward Kazanari but Kazanari was already asleep.

He glanced around and found Tengu slumped against the wall, the flute still rested at his lips as he too had drifted off.

A ripple of uneasiness passed through him, but the presence of the other two—this small, accidental closeness offered a sliver of comfort.He allowed his eyes to close, and sleep pulled him under.

“REMEMBER ME… KID!!!”

A sinister voice exploded inside his head.

Naori woke with a violent jolt, drenched in cold sweat. His breath hitched as his gaze snapped toward the door. It was wide open. Through his blurred vision he spotted a dark figure just beyond the threshold, its outline fluttered in the night breeze.His heart raced quick , he rubbed his eyes, his hands trembled and forced another look 

Nothing.

The door shut still. No figure. No breeze. The room cold and silent.

Tengu remained in his place by the door, head lowered, silently keeping watch as if nothing had happened at all.

The rest of the night passed by without any trouble.

"The human body has 2 components — Mana and KI " TENGU instructed .  

For the next 15 minutes, Naori kept his eyes shut , sat with his legs folded  over the tatami mats, hands rested on his thighs as he tried to sense out the mystic blue energy , the source of magic that flowed through the veins of every human , most unknown to its existence. But sitting in that seemingly vast, empty, silent  shrine room , accompanied by only his own thoughts all he could manage so far was to catch his breathing rhythm , air flowing in and out of him again and again , the sensation of his heart pounding against the walls of his chest , the occasional ramblings that sprang on his head ," Will this really work ? "," Is my father okay "? , "No..no..no...FOCUS "

An hour passed. The sensation in his chest grew sharper he felt the valves and atria of his heart open and close as they pumped blood. His chest expanded with each breath drawn through his nose, then contracted as the air flowed out again. Every intrinsic movement inside his body seemed to tingle through him with every step he took.

Another hour passed. Sweat dripped from his skin in thin trails that curled down his arms and shoulders. The sweat from his forehead slid over his nose and lips like a small stream that crossed his face again and again. Blood moved through his veins; he felt each pulse. Faint at first, yet clear enough to hint at the birth of a new sense. A surreal experience. But the mana—where was it? Sense it. Sense it. In the veins… no. Nothing.

Another hour passed. Blood rushed into the heart, the valves opened and shut, and the surge shot out again through the veins to reach every organ. Air moved in through his nose, flowed downward into his lungs; each bronchus took its share. The fluids in his body voyaged through the intestines, kidneys, and bladder. Every system, every involuntary act, every hidden rhythm fell into his control. His whole body stood as one with him, though it had always been his.

But the thing he sought , where was it?

Was it close at last?

He searched.

He pushed through veins, crossed arteries, rode with the food on its path from stomach to intestine.

Nothing.

But wait—something. There was something.

Was it in his veins? His arteries? His intestines, nerves, or maybe his lymph nodes? He felt it.Something moved.Not blood. Not lymph.A faint tingle stirred beneath the vessels, a presence he had never sensed. What first flickered like a spark of lightning now pooled into a force that surged through his system.Could he control it?

FOCUS.

He dropped every other sense. His mind hunted that single pulse, like a cat stalking a mouse.

There—he caught it.

The blue radiance he had glimpsed earlier now glowed inside him. It streamed through him like blood through veins, like lymph through its nodes, like oxygen through his lungs.

Mana.

Mana flowed in him.

A blue aura rose around his body. Wild, unrestrained, yet undeniably alive. Warm. Pulsing.

Naori opened his eyes. The sight hit him like a shock blue mana wrapped him in a drifting cloud of light.

“You’re a natural.”Kazanari’s voice snapped him back. He turned; the man sat behind him. The aura vanished at once.

“When did you—?”

“I was always behind you.” Kazanari stood. “. " it takes years for people to unlock their mana , and you did it in a few hours "

For another thirty minutes Naori practiced pushing mana through his palm. Sometimes too much burst out. Sometimes too little. Sometimes it spilled at once. Sometimes it twisted into odd shapes. But little by little, he gained control.

“Alright, now let's try to summon something,” Kazanari said. “You have heard of a kappa right? Just try to picture a kappa in your head, think of as many details as you can and direct the mana out of your palms. Think like you are going to shape a kappa out of your mana.”

“Ok .. I will try,” Naori said.

He closed his eyes.Green skin. Slimy body. Turtle shell—. His focus broke. Mana slipped.

Next try, mana flowed perfectly, almost under control, but his image crumbled. The mana lingered in the air and evaporated.

He tried again.

Slimy body, dish in head, mana flowed, Pointed beak, webbed hands, Wait, the mana thinned and disintegrated.

Another attempt.

Mana gushed from his palm.Head like a turtle. Green scales, steady,Let the mana form the pattern, good ,Greasy hair, big eyes, keep it flowing ,Dish filled with water.  now .A pattern formed on the floor and illuminated the room , it was small unlike Kazanari’s. From it rose a strange creature, it matched every detail: green body, dish on the skull, turtle shell, only smaller in size 

“Me kawa..TAro you MastaH? Room big , me wuv big room,” a childlike voice said.

Kazanari slapped a hand over his own mouth to choke his laughter.

“How do I send him away?” Naori blurted.

“Just point your palm towards him and think of pulling the mana back into your palms.”

He did, and the small kappa vanished.

“Alright , enough training mana , lets try to use your KI , that is gonna be your main source of power,” Kazanari said. He summoned an actual adult kappa— huge, nearly as tall as Tengu.

“Posses him , slowly , hands first,” Kazanari ordered.

“Right Away.”

Naori thrust out his arm.

The kappa’s webbed arms evaporated as it dissolved into a shapeless mass and entered Naori’s limb. A violent surge of black energy shot out of him.

“That's your KI,” Kazanari said.

Naori felt another arm move inside his own— cold, slick, wrong. The black haze wrapped his arm, then cleared, revealing a mutated limb: green, scaly, webbed fingers.

“Thats—” Kazanari froze, stunned.

“Posses him whole.”

kappa flung itself towards Naori and entered him , a huge black aura engulfed him like wildfire . "AHHH ... " he screamed in agony , his body felt torn apart , he felt as if there was someone else in his body ,a moment later he emerged out of the black smoke , his entire body covered in hard exoskeleton skin like that of a turtle shell , his arms bigger than normal , his hands turned into a sharp claws , legs were huge and muscular, everything had changed , except his face still humane , a light green hue painted on his entire body.

“I don't believe it !!! even for a shohei to master full transformation in first time—” Kazanari muttered.

“WANNA SEE YOUR GRANDPA,” a deep voice growled inside Naori with a chilling laugh.

“Who is that !!?” Naori shouted.

“What happened?” Kazanari asked.

“— nothing,” Naori said, tense. “How do I undo it?”

“Just like before thinking of pulling it on your palm.”

He reverted and Kazanari sent the kappa back.

“Everything okay ?” he asked as Naori’s face paled.

“i have a bad feeling where is Tengu,” Naori said.

“he has been guarding the shrine gate since this morning,” Kazanari answered.

“Wait then who was it who told me about mana and KI this morning,” Naori blurted.

“wait i didn't think about thi—” Kazanari froze. “i will check on him,” and he ran.

Minutes passed.

No one returned.

Unease crawled through Naori. He stepped out of the shrine. Moss-covered steps dropped between tall pines. At the bottom, he saw chaos. Tengu bound by chains of mana, surrounded by several men.

Before he moved, Kazanari grabbed him, dragged him behind a tree, and covered his mouth.

“DONT MAKE A NOISE,” he whispered.

“Who are these people?” Naori whispered back

“The kiyomasa,” Kazanari said. “we have to save him,” Naori answered.His urgency rustled the shrubs.

The men turned at once.

One stepped forward ; a middle-aged man in a black tuxedo and crisp linen trousers. He pulled out a coin, tossed it, saw heads, and smirked.

In a blink he shot forward, kicked a tree, and the trunk exploded. Several trees fell with it, clearing the area and exposing Naori and Kazanari as they ran.

“That's a.... BINGO!!” he whispered, eyes gleaming with a greedy, twisted smile.