Chapter 4: Hatake Style Awakens
Kaien stood barefoot in the clearing behind the Hatake compound, the morning mist clinging to his skin like a second layer. Dew soaked the grass beneath his feet. His hands, calloused beyond his years, gripped a training sword—nothing more than a carefully carved branch. But in his hands, it was a weapon of intent.
He exhaled.
Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance.
The motion flowed from his spine. One step forward—precise, weightless. A twist of the torso, a blur of his arms. He sliced through the mist as though it were flesh. The breathing technique resonated in his lungs and core. With each swing, a soft vibration passed through his arms, echoing like a whisper from the template deep within him.
[Sun Breathing Mastery: 7.2%] [Total Template Progress: 12.6%]
He stopped after the seventh repetition, controlling his breath until the rising heat in his muscles tempered down. His body was young—barely three years old—but he'd already pushed it to perform feats no child should.
Then, the sound of sandals crunching gravel.
Riku Hatake stood with his arms crossed, watching.
"I've seen that movement before," Riku said, voice unreadable. "But not from any shinobi in this village."
Kaien turned to him and bowed, the stick lowered to his side like a real katana.
"It's something… that came naturally."
Riku stared long, then tossed him a real wooden training sword. He caught it easily.
"Then let's see how natural it is when it meets Hatake steel."
Two hours later.
Kaien lay on the grass, chest heaving, arms shaking. His hands stung from the repeated clashes. Bruises darkened his forearms, and his vision blurred slightly from fatigue. Riku, though holding back, had pressed him like a jonin instructor.
But Kaien hadn't backed down once.
"You're faster than most of my clan's genin," Riku admitted. "But you rely too much on instinct."
He tossed a scroll beside Kaien.
"Hatake Sword Style—Intermediate Volume One. Memorize it. In two months, we test again."
Kaien nodded, pushing himself upright despite the ache.
[Hatake Sword Style: Initiated] [Progress: 3.0%] [Template Progress: 13.2%]
That night, Kaien sat beneath the paper lamp in his room, the scroll unfurled before him. Chakra coursed through his eyes as he activated a subtle perception jutsu—not quite the Sharingan, but a heightened visual memorization technique he devised by combining basic chakra control and breath.
He studied every movement, posture, note of footwork.
By dawn, he had it all committed to memory.
Week after week, Kaien trained alone and with Riku. The Hatake sword style emphasized rapid draw attacks, parry-reflect counters, and chakra-infused cutting precision. It wasn't as graceful as Sun Breathing, but it was lethal and efficient.
Kaien began weaving them together.
His draw speed increased with Sun Breathing's internal rhythm. His counters became cleaner, his blade heavier with intent.
He even began practicing other Breathing Styles in short sessions—Lightning and Water first, then Earth and Flame. Each one affected his footwork, his posture, his blade.
[Lightning Breathing: Initiated – 1.0%] [Water Breathing: Initiated – 1.0%] [Earth Breathing: Initiated – 0.6%]
One evening, while practicing with a training dummy, Kaien delivered a four-strike combo that left the straw and wood mangled in unnatural angles.
[Achievement: Elementary Mastery of Four Breathing Styles] [+10% Template Progress] [Template Progress: 23.2%]
He paused, panting. The system update filled him with warmth.
He was rising.
Final Test – End of Year 3
The courtyard was silent.
Riku stood beside a tall man in full armor—steel layered with black fur, a katana at his side. A samurai from the Land of Iron.
"This is Genzō," Riku said. "A traveling warrior who agreed to test your skill. No chakra, no jutsu. Only sword against sword."
Kaien bowed. So did Genzō.
Then they clashed.
The samurai's blade was heavier, experience bleeding from every swing. But Kaien's style was fluid, evasive, and unpredictable. He shifted from Hatake draw stance to Sun Breathing strike mid-motion, bending angles no standard warrior would.
Ten strikes. Fifteen. Thirty.
Then Kaien caught the edge of Genzō's sword mid-swing and twisted, redirecting it wide—then countered with the Second Form: Clear Blue Sky in a full 360-degree strike.
His blade stopped one inch from Genzō's neck.
Silence.
Then the samurai sheathed his sword and bowed deeply.
"I yield."
Riku looked on, a faint pride in his gaze. "You're not a Hatake. You're something more."
Kaien exhaled slowly, the rhythm never broken.
[Victory Achieved: Defeated Expert Samurai Using Sword Skill Only] [+7.5% Template Progress] [Current Progress: 30.7%] [Status: Year Three Complete – Sword Foundations Forged]
He walked off the field alone, but his shadow stretched longer than his age. He was no longer just a prodigy.
He was a weapon in the making.