The rain had washed the trees clean.
Mist drew over the place like smoke that had forgotten its fire.
Raen sat outside the cave, knees drawn to his chest, watching the light break over the wet stones.
For the first time, the silence around him didn't feel empty.
It felt alive.
Kaien's voice came from behind him.
"You've stopped fighting it."
Raen nodded, "Maybe I'm just tired of hating myself."
The old man chuckled, settling beside him,"Tiredness can be a kind of wisdom."
He stared into the fog. "Tell me, when you stilled the world last night.... what did it feel like?"
Raen hesitated. "Like… falling into nothing. But it wasn't cold, it was quiet and peaceful."
Kaien smiled faintly. "Then you've touched the edge of Mushin."
Raen turned to him, "Mushin?"
"It means no-mind. To act without fear, without grasping for control. You've spent your whole life trying to force yourself to be like others. But your power comes from the moment you stop forcing anything at all."
He picked up a pebble and let it rest on his palm. "The Flow is motion. You are stillness. So you must learn to move through stillness."
Raen frowned. "How do I do that?"
Kaien stood, gesturing for him to follow. "By listening until there's nothing left to listen to."
"Old sages said, power is formless, even an ant can crush an alephant if it bite on right direction"
They practiced on the plateau until the sun sank.
Kaien's lessons were nothing like the training Raen had seen in the village.
No stances. No strikes. Only breathing, balance, and silence.
"Every warrior chases strength," Kaien said, circling him slowly. "But strength is just nothing and nothing is power. You listen to the space between sounds. Your power comes form within."
When Raen moved too quickly, the air trembled, and Kaien shook his head.
"When you move with thought, the Flow resists you. When you move with Mushin, the world forgets you're there."
Hours passed. The sky deepened to violet. Raen's legs shook, his breath ragged, but something inside him loosened. For a heartbeat, he felt the wind pass through him, not against him.
Kaien's eyes opened sharply. "Good. That's the beginning."
Raen blinked. "What did I do?"
"You disappeared," Kaien said, almost in wonder. "Just for a moment."
"I disappeared?" Raen asked surprisingly, "like invisible?"
"Not exactly, more like your existence could not be sensed by chakra. The first step to learn Mushin, empty yourself "
That night, they sat by a small fire.
Raen stared into the flame, remembering how easily it had vanished before.
This time, it flickered steady, unafraid.
Kaien spoke quietly. "There will come a day when the Flow Order learns what you are. They will call you danger, as they once called me. But remember stillness isn't the end of life. It's what holds life together. You are precious, everyone is imperfectly perfect and that what maintain the life"
Raen looked at his teacher, feeling the warmth of the fire against the cool breath of the cave.
For the first time, those inside of him didn't fight him.
He whispered, "Then teach me, Master. Teach me to walk between them."
Kaien nodded, eyes reflecting both flame and shadow.
"Tomorrow, we will begin to move as the world perceive you. Tomorrow, you will learn Kyu, first chapter of mushin"
And the last drops of rain slid from the cliffs, the moonlight dancing the night.
The boy who was denied of his dreams, made fun of by his peers, rediculed by the elders and rejected by chakra, now is taking his first step to resist history and prove the world.