The next day
Training began before the sun had fully risen. The air in the yard held the cold of early morning, and the ground still carried faint moisture from the night. Roen stepped into position without speaking. The eldest was already there, rolling his shoulders once before reaching for the rack.
His father did not call him by title or rank.
"Genryū."
The eldest answered with a short nod as he lifted the dadao in his right hand and adjusted the kodachi at his left. Shinra Genryū. It fit the posture, the steadiness, the expectation.
The father stepped forward to meet him.
There was no announcement to begin. The movement itself was the signal. Steel met steel almost immediately, the sound sharper in the quiet morning air. Roen focused carefully, letting his eyes track the exchange rather than chasing every motion.
Genryū initiated with a downward strike reinforced by wind. The change was subtle but noticeable. The blade did not merely descend; the air around it displaced slightly, compressing before impact. When the edge scraped against the wooden post after being redirected, the cut was too clean for untreated steel.
Chakra flow.
Layered, not fused.
The father responded without raising his voice or changing stance. Lightning gathered along his blade in a thin, controlled line. It did not flare outward. It remained tight against the metal. When the blades met again, the contact produced a brief tightening in the air.
Roen felt it.
Not as sound, but as pressure. His ears dulled slightly and his breath shortened without permission. The sensation lasted less than a second, yet it was enough to force a small adjustment in his stance. The ground felt denser beneath his feet, as if the air itself had thickened.
Genryū stepped back first.
The difference was not speed. It was density.
Roen's scaling model shifted internally. He had estimated his eldest brother near high-chunin levels based on physical performance. Watching the exchange now, he understood that raw totals were insufficient. Control altered outcome disproportionately. Two similar reserves did not produce similar results when refinement differed.
The father disengaged and spoke evenly. "Stacking elements is not fusion. Pressure must stabilise before compression."
Genryū lowered his blade slightly, absorbing the correction without argument.
Roen registered the phrasing carefully. The distinction was technical, not theatrical. Wind layered with lightning was one thing. Altering the medium itself was another.
For a moment, the yard seemed too sharp to him. The clash of steel overlapped strangely with a distant memory of another sound the faint vibration of a notification from a device that no longer existed. His hand twitched toward his side before he stopped himself. There was nothing there to reach for.
The dissonance passed quickly, but it left a thin afterimage in his thoughts.
The father called the second brother forward, and the intensity of the spar shifted accordingly. The gap between Genryū and the others was clear even without formal measurement.
Roen kept his breathing steady and summoned the interface briefly, keeping it faint at the edge of his awareness.
VIT: 4.3
CHK: 6.1
CTL: 3.5
Incremental growth. Nothing dramatic.
The numbers did not account for what he had just felt. They did not quantify pressure or density or the way the air seemed to compress when control surpassed a threshold.
He dismissed the panel.
His earlier model was not wrong.
It was incomplete.
And incompleteness, in this house, was dangerous.
The session ended without ceremony. The father dismissed them with a brief nod, and the brothers moved toward the rack in practiced silence. Genryū wiped his blade carefully before returning it to its place. The second brother muttered something about stance timing, and the third argued back under his breath. The exchange carried no hostility. It was routine.
The father entered the house first.
The others followed.
Roen lingered.
The yard felt different without movement. The posts stood still again, scarred from years of repetition. Fine grooves ran through the wood where blades had cut too deep. The ground beneath the sparring space was slightly compacted compared to the surrounding soil. Even the air seemed lighter now that pressure had dissipated.
He stepped toward one of the posts and ran his fingers lightly along a clean split in the grain likely Genryū's wind-enhanced strike. The cut was precise, not ragged. Controlled.
He looked up at the roofline of the house. It was not a large compound, but it was deliberate. The structure was balanced, functional. No decorative excess. Everything here existed for a reason.
The village beyond the fence stirred slowly. A distant cart rolled over stone. Somewhere further off, a dog barked once and went quiet.
For a brief moment, the world did not feel like a battlefield.
It felt inhabited.
He walked along the edge of the yard, studying details he had ignored before the small storage shed for training weights, the shallow dip in the grass where someone had paced repeatedly, the faint burn marks near the far corner of the ground. Lightning practice, likely controlled.
When he finally stepped inside, the house carried the scent of rice and broth. The second brother had already begun eating. Genryū sat upright, posture straight even at the table. The father spoke little.
Roen ate quietly.
Conversation remained minimal, but not strained. The third brother complained about wrist soreness. The second mocked him lightly. Genryū corrected them both when they drifted too loud.
It was not warmth.
But it was structure.
After the meal, Roen excused himself without drawing attention and returned to his room. He slid the door shut and sat cross-legged near the window.
The system prompt still lingered faintly at the edge of his awareness.
Mission: Establish Chakra Sensory Baseline
Progress: 67%
He inhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
This time, he did not search for chakra. He waited for it.
The warmth gathered more quickly than before. It ran along his forearms in a faint current, then pooled near his center. Instead of attempting to move it outward, he focused on differentiating it from muscle tension and blood flow. Subtle variations became clearer. The distinction sharpened.
He directed a small portion toward his right palm without forming a seal.
The current wavered.
He adjusted breathing.
It steadied.
The sensation held for several seconds before dispersing naturally.
A notification appeared.
Progress: 100%
Mission Complete
Reward Applied: Minor Control Stabilisation
The change was not explosive.
It was refinement.
He summoned the panel.
VIT: 4.4
CHK: 6.1
CTL: 4.0
COG: 7.0
ADP: 12.0
Control had risen noticeably compared to the others.
The increase did not feel like a surge of power. It felt like friction had lessened slightly. When he guided chakra again toward his palm, it responded with less resistance.
He exhaled slowly.
Outside, the yard was quiet.
Inside, the house moved in routine.
The world did not tremble.
But it was moving.
And so was he.