The wind from the high mountains flew through the air and went through each and every single hair follicle that was Sanosuke's. The mountain trail that Sanosuke was traveling on was covered in dirt and kept on kicking up dust on his shoes with each step that he took. It was annoying that he couldn't train more in kenjutsu at the Akako Dojo, he thoroughly enjoyed the feelings of combat the he felt with every new kenjutsu technique that he learned at the dojo. There was just something about pitting his strength against a task that demanded for a rivaling power to challenge yours was liberating. He could fight back without the need to hold back and unleash his true potential.

Sanosuke was pissed off; he went down to the mountain trail to check out what kinds of missions were up to be done. Of all the missions that were able to do, there were missions that were either too high ranked, it didn't peak his interest, or it annoyed the hell out of him. The mission that annoyed him involved him going to the tower of heaven and fighting giant beetles. It wasn't the beetles that annoyed him. But it was the fact that every time he had slayed one of the gigantic, there would be a mysterious voice in his head that would tell him to "use your kunai." That voice really drove him on the brink of insanity every time he heard it, Sanosuke clenched his fist at the memory of his voice. A vein also popped up along his temple at the memory of his first C rank mission.

Shaking his head to cast out the mission he had done in the past, Sanosuke focused on the task ahead. Although he would love to continue his training of kenjutsu, he was ignoring a major part of his skills that he couldn't put off for much longer. As Sanosuke walked, he began to scratch his chin in order for him to concentrate on his thoughts. He didn't like it but the skill he also specialized in was chakra flow. Ever since he was a kid, he was adept in chakra flow. Chakra would be able to go into his body and flow through it rather easier than other shinobi that he knew of. But as a kid, he didn't specifically know why it was it was probably because he was a member of the Akuma clan. Before he moved to Kumogakure, his couldn't control his chakra and because of his inexperience in chakra control it had cost him dearly.

For several minutes Sanosuke stopped walking and looked over the mountain trail he was currently walking on. From where he was standing, he could see just about the whole village. The mountain trail he was standing on would eventually lead to the Durian Tree. As Sanosuke looked at the scenary from the mountain trail, he couldn't help but think about his past. Every single happy memory he had with his parents were when they would come to Kumogakure for a business trip that his father had with the Raikage. Sanosuke laughed slightly at the time where he had gotten lost in streets when he was 3 and cried and cried until his father found him. He remembered being treating to ice cream once his father found him. Feelings of nostalgia were replaced with feelings of grief and sadness; it reminded him of his loss and the inevitable cost that resulted in him being a shinobi of Kumogakure. "I was too weak" was all Sanosuke said before continue his walk up the mountain trail to the Durian Tree of Knowledge.

After getting to the end of the mountain trail, there was another mountain trail he had to take in order to get where he wanted to get. Sanosuke turned towards the inclining mountain trail that was on his right and walked up that path instead. The trail was a bit harder to walk on due to the fact that it was weirdly inclining on the ground. The trail had such a steep incline that he was forced to use chakra flow to make his feet stick to the ground to stop himself from slipping off from the ground and breaking his head. With each step he took, he had to be sure to moderate the amounts of chakra he needed to maintain his footing. If he applied chakra to his footing too early, the chakra would slowly run off his feet to be wasted needlessly; and if he applied chakra to his footing too late, he would slip and fall.

This process of chakra walking was a combination of the chakra control exercise that was he at the academy when he was attending it and a chakra control exercise that his foster father Takashi had taught him in order to control his unstable amounts of chakra his body held. It was a combination that he came up himself; his father's exercise was to focus chakra into his feet to keep him from moving as he father would try to push him over to see if his stance was sturdy enough, the academy's exercise was to see how long they can run up a wall. If you combine both exercises together and you get the ability to walk up inclining mountain trails. Sanosuke took another step and felt the weight in his left foot that he used to step with shift lightly off course, causing his balance and concentration to go out the window. It made Sanosuke fall flat on his face in the dirt.

After struggling to get up, Sanosuke shook the dirt from his face to look at the path ahead. He didn't necessarily have to take this path he was on; there was a perfectly fine path that was on the opposite side of the crossroads of mountain trails. Both trails eventually led up to the Duran Tree of Knowledge but Sanosuke after all was focusing on bettering his chakra control, so it was ideal that he picked the far more difficult path which was steeper than the other one so he can have a preliminary practice to his main chakra flow course. Upon picking himself up, Sanosuke walked up to the very edge of the mountain trail so that he arrived at the Duran tree.

The tree was exactly how he remembered it; the tree was standing on a tall along a mountain cliff. Red leaves from the tree were being shifted through the branches because of the wind as Sanosuke observed the Duran tree. Sanosuke noticed the demonic fruits that were hanging from the giant tree's branches. With him being under the Durian tree, Sanosuke made a smirk well it was about time for him to begin his special chakra flow training. Although he was above his genin classmates in kenjutsu, he was still just average in chakra flow and because of that he still needed to train it so that his ability in chakra flow can someday be on par with his kenjutsu techniques.

In the academy, he learned that chakra is created through physical energy which is gained from experiences gained by doing straineous activities like training, working out, etc. And the second component of chakra is spiritual energy which is derived from experiences gained by doing mentally stimulating activities like meditating.

Sanosuke was certain that he gained enough physical energy from his kenjutsu training. Now was the time for him to balance his newly acquired physical energy with an increased amount of spiritual energy. The ground felt cold to Sanosuke as he settled into a lotus sitting position. This was the standard meditating position that he was taught in the academy. He took deep breaths in as he tried to calm his breathing down. In order to gain more of an insight into your inner self, Sanosuke knew that you would have to get into a calm state. As tension that was formally in his shoulder diminished, Sanosuke could feel himself looking deeper and deeper into his mind. But for some reason, all he could see was darkness in his mind.

In frustration, Sanosuke snapped himself out of his meditation state. The normal tensions in his body were gradually returning to his body. "Damn it I didn't do it" Sanosuke mumbled as he was panting. The effort to pull on his chakra system to expand it was exhausting work. Being a part of the Akuma clan meant that Sanosuke would have to go inside the black crystal necklace that hung from Sanosuke's neck and stretch out the chakra system in the necklace with his own mind, which was not an easy task to do. It left Sanosuke mentally deprived, as though he just took several standardized tests in a row.

Before Sanosuke continued his meditation, he let out a big yawn. His journey to the Durian tree was a long one; the Durian Tree was on top of the highest mountain of Kumogakure and Sanosuke traveled up the mountain from the lowest point of Kumo which was the Rice Paddy fields. Needless to say it left him tired, maybe meditating might help him relax. Sanosuke attempted to close his eyes and focus on trying to find the inner pool of chakra that he should be pulling from his crystal necklace around his neck. If he pulled all out the chakra from his necklace and all of the chakra from his necklace and temporarily stores it into his body, then he should be able to see that chakra system in his mental image. But with every mental glance he tries to peek at, in his mind he sees nothing; he sees darkness.

A growl of annoyance escaped his lips as Sanosuke retreated his conscious out of his mental mind and back into the surrounding world. This time Sanosuke's face was baked in cold sweat, he was panting hard as well. Needless to say that Sanosuke was using more and more of his chakra with each attempt to pull his chakra from the necklace and into his body. Damn it why can't I do it? Sanosuke exclaimed mentally.

Footsteps behind him interrupted his mental preparations to go inside his mental mind once again. Sanosuke turned his body around to see who was coming behind him to see that it was an old man. The man looked as though he was about 80 years old. The old man wore nothing but robes that covered only one shoulders. There were multiple wrinkles around his body that looked as though he was malnourished; but yet the man looked as though he was completely fine voided from all sickness. The man looked at Sanosuke and simply laughed at him.

Usually Sanosuke would disregard all of those who tried to interrupt his training but the fact that this guy was laughing at him while he was going through his training really bothered him. Sanosuke turned his attention towards the man and apparently the skinny man noticed this and smiled at Sanosuke before plucking a fruit from the Durian tree. He plucked the spikes from the fruit and bit down on the fruit enjoying its flavor "You know, these fruits are good. They seem to blow my mind to all sorts of possibilities you know" the man said as he took another bite "Maybe you can take something from this."

Sanosuke walked cocked his head to the side at the man's saying. The man just laughed as he tossed Sanosuke the chewed fruit whom the genin of Kumo caught gingerly "Well I must be going now, good luck with that" the old man said.

Sanosuke looked at the fruit in his hand with disgust. That's freaking disgusting, how the hell could that guy just give him his chewed up fruit that he bit from. Before Sanosuke could voice his complaint, he noticed the man was gone from the wind. Sanosuke looked around the plateau of the Durian tree to locate the man but the man was no longer there anymore. With the man gone, Sanosuke looked at the fruit in his hand and thought about the man's words. He might as well give the man's words some thought. He bit on the fruit that wasn't bitten by the man and swallowed. He felt the fruit's sweetness wash down his throat and felt his chakra be vamped with power.

This feeling, Sanosuke was well accoustumed with this feeling, but he had never thought of controlling this feeling to help him better control his chakra flow. Sanosuke went into his mental state through meditation and focused hard on the process of pulling the chakra from his crystal and into his body. Burning sensations built up in his body as he focused the chakra into his body, as Sanosuke peered into his mental state with his conscious he no longer saw darkness. What was before his conscious a giant pool of chakra in a sphere. As Sanosuke watched the sphere of blue energy, it pulsed dramatically. Whoa, this was inside of me? Sanosuke thought to himself. He never figured that this huge sphere was inside of him.

Sanosuke slowly felt his conscious retreat to the real world. Slowly, he opened his eyes to the world and it felt more bright in his eyes. At first Sanosuke believed that his vision was dancing brightly only because he had just awakened. "I knew that guy was all talk" Sanosuke said to himself. That man was just another insane old fart. To prove his point, Sanosuke focused chakra around his body and suddenly felt his chakra burst out of his body. It exploded bigger and larger than Sanosuke ever experienced for himself. Lightning crackled more violently before him, Sanosuke was in awe. His chakra flow did increase dramatically. The old man was right after all.