Samurai on the Mount [P]

Akira sat atop the very peak of the Three-Wolves' Mountain. He meditated on the thought of water, its fluidity and its grace. The way that it moves and bends around every obstacle that may get into its flow. He had learned of a hidden technique that would increase his abilities exponentially. He had already mastered the first of its abilities, known as chakras. He glanced down to the scroll in front of him, looking at the orange lotus below the red one. 'Sacral Chakra.' 'The Sacral Chakra is your passion and pleasure centre and it is located in the pelvic area. While the Root Chakra is satisfied with survival, the 2nd chakra seeks pleasure and enjoyment. The gift of this chakra is experiencing our lives through feelings and sensations. The second chakra is the centre of feeling, emotion, pleasure, sensuality, intimacy, and connection. The way to overcome and master this chakra is to overcome one's guilt.' He just had to figure out what he was guilty for. What did he feel guilty for? Everyone had minor sins, but those most certainly didn't amount to high levels of guilt. He had no idea how to even begin to go through his life to find the one thing he was the most guilty for. So, he supposed that would be the first topic for his meditation.

1/10

"You can't pour from an empty cup." 

Guilt for resting. This is something that Akira could see. He did feel guilty when he took time to sit down and rest. He felt guilty when he called an early day from training or missions to rest. But, he couldn't keep it up, you can't keep running without taking time to recharge. 

*FLASHBACK*

'A seven-year-old Akira ran through the halls of the orphanage. He bumped into one of his friends who rubbed their eyes tiredly. "Why are you napping in the middle of the day?! Don't you have chores?" Akira asked surprised. The little boy merely chuckled to his red eyed friend. "I finished my chores, i took a nap!" Akira looked absolutely shocked. This boy finished his chores and took a nap? Why didn't he try to work on more chores? Why did Akira always find more chores? Because he would feel bad if he wasn't doing something.'

*END FLASHBACK*

Looking back on that day, Akira had to chuckle. Why did he feel guilty about taking time to rest himself? Was that not the most logical thing to do? Wouldn't he get more done on a full chakra battery so to speak? He had to let this guilt go. But, he could tell this wasn't the only thing he felt guilt over.

2/10

He actually remembered suddenly a time, recently that apparently he had repressed. A time he had lied that led to the death of someone who was innocent. He had been on a lower level mission recently that had escalated rather quickly, it was something that no one expected, and frankly he hadn't been trained for really. It was a few months ago now, he couldn't believe it, but his mind had repressed the memories of the mission due to the graphicness of what happened to not only himself, but to the people around him as well. 
*FLASHBACK*
Akira crawled out of bed with a slight groan as he got dressed and grabbed his gear. He had been called on a mission today that would prove to be one of the hardest missions of his life, but this wasn't known to him until later. He moved out the door and made his way out of the village and over the mountain to the west, moving towards a nearby village hidden in a valley. His task was to spy on the government officials of the village and then report back. He, under NO circumstances was to show them that he was a Samurai or that he was affiliated with Shimogakure.

3/10

The village was around twenty miles away from Shimo, so it would take him a day and a half to get there if he was able to move uninterrupted. He set out of the village hidden in frost with a steady pace. It was snowing pretty heavily, as was the norm for this area of the world. He thought briefly about the scroll he had found about the incredibly powerful, but deadly technique. He would begin learning it soon enough. For now though, he would need to put all of his focus on this mission and what it entailed. There were many things he had to focus on to complete this mission to a decent level. He had to find his targets, get close to his targets and then leave without answering more than the bare minimum of questions as to who he was and where he came from. He knew this mission would take a few weeks at least, but he was prepared. He had training in stealth and espionage missions, he just knew that most Samurai weren't sent on these missions unless they were in, had been in, or would soon be recruited into the FROST unit. He wondered if that is what this was.

4/10

Was he being recruited into the most elite combat and stealth units in the Land of Iron? He wouldn't know until he finished this mission, but it could also be a test of loyalty and following orders. The Government of Shimo was going through a very tough transitional phase at the moment and was in the fine line between barely holding it together and total collapse. SO, there would sometimes be test missions to determine the loyalty of the Samurai who was tasked to the mission. He knew where his loyalties lied and he would abide by his oath until the day he died, or Shimogakure ceased to exist. He honestly didn't know which would happen first after learning what he now knew about himself and his clan. He was effectively immortal with the only thing able to kill him being chakra exhaustion. He had even learned that it took very little chakra to keep basic bodily needs met, meaning he couldn't die of malnourishment as he naturally fed off his own chakra, and it didn't take much chakra to fill him up. He arrived at the village in the height of the snow storm. He wondered how he would be able to enter and where to stay to begin his mission.

5/10

He ended up shacking up with the local innkeeper and his family. Faa Ghet and his family were very hospitable to the young scholar who was looking to learn about all of the villages and their cultures in the Land of Iron. Akira had come up with that lie on the spot after he was caught off guard, meeting the innkeeper just outside of the village. He found his target rather easily, the man frequented the local bar every morning and evening. The first two weeks kept Akira plenty busy, following the man around secretly and finding dirt on him so to speak. Well, apparently, not only was the man an alcoholic, he also dealt in narcotics and prostitution. To make matters worse, he had his hands deep in the pockets of a powerful criminal ninja organization that kept him funding in exchange for a steady supply of the females of the village to be used.. well he didn't want to think about it. He had to fight back the urges he got in these two weeks to simply kill the man and free these people of his burden, but he knew that the criminal organization would then fully take over the village. 

6/10

With what he now knew though, he would be able to get a mission to do just that when he left to go back to Shimogakure. It was finally the fated day for him to head home. He had packed his bags and already bid farewell to the innkeeper. IT was as he walked through the door that he felt the flames. Apparently the organization that the leader of this village worked for, had come to collect some unpaid debt or teach the man some form of lesson. As much as Akira wanted to help, he couldn't break his mission vows. He had to continue on the path for his mission. When he saw the ninjas coming at the inn, he simply took up a sloppy stance and moved to attack them. He was almost immediately shot through his forehead with a crossbow. He fell backwards and simply played dead, but he watched as the innkeeper and his family were murdered before his very eyes. In fact, as it would turn out, every member of the village were killed, including the leader of the village. It took him another three days before he returned to Shimogakure, as he went through burying all those that had died.

7/10

*FLASHBACK END* 

Akira thought back to that mission with a sad look in his eyes. All of those innocent people killed all because of one man's pride and arrogance. Akira felt guilty due to having the ability to act and at the very least save a few of the villagers, but being duty bound to hold his peace. He felt useless and angry at himself for letting those people die, but he had to remember that he was honor bound to stick to his word to Shimogakure that he would not reveal any connection to the village, this included any prior training or any proficiency in any form of combat. He knew he had to forgive himself, to get over the shame he felt for allowing not only those in the inn to die, but also everyone in the entire village while he laid there and pretended to be dead. That was the hardest thing he had ever done, sure, it hurt when he was 'killed', but the pain of listening as children and elderly and the rest in the village were actually killed while he yet lived was far more painful. He supposed this was the internal baggage that came with being a Samurai.

8/10

He felt a weight lift from his shoulders as he saw a vision of the innkeeper and his family smiling at him. They knew? All this time and they knew he had deceived them, yet they forgave him. A single tear made its way down his cheek as his aura turned a vibrant orange before flashing yellow. It would seem he was also on the verge of unlocking the third chakra, the Navel chakra. He had finally mastered the Sacral Chakra by forgiving himself, and ridding himself of guilt, he had tapped into the water nature within himself and washed away the negative memories that had plagued him for so long. He was now ready to move on to opening up the next chakra, the Navel chakra. It was going to be much easier now as it dealt with Shame and Shame comes as a byproduct of guilt. His removal of his guilt had also weakened shame's grasp on him. He sat back down in the meditative position and pulled the scroll down a bit so that he would be able to clearly read the portion about the Navel chakra and all that he would possibly need to know about how to activate it and how to use it properly. 

9/10

The third chakra is the center of willpower. While the Sacral chakra seeks pleasure and enjoyment, the third chakra is all about the perception of who you are. The gift of this chakra is sensing your personal power, being confident, responsible, and reliable. Its element is fire, the color yellow and the right to act. The major weakness or thing that blocks this chakra off from access is the feeling of Shame. One must release their shame to be able to control this chakra to the highest degree. It would normally take a while to do this, but since he was only ashamed of the thing he had covered in the last chakra, it was only needed to forgive himself and to truly let the shame inside of him burn into ashes and be blown away in the wind. He had done this and now his aura changed to a yellow color. He could feel his chakra had started to reform itself at a high rate, even outdoing the amount going into this technique, effectively making it more than self-sustaining. He would spend the rest of the day training in that form. After just a few more hours, he had mastered combat in that form and had learned to access it at will.

10/10 [Claiming Sacral Chakra]