Rikunai: Genesis

Chapter Fourteen: The Fire Inside

For the next half of the day, Gyra trained using the same techniques Raja taught Tiomoyo. However, Gyra simply couldn't grasp it. He was getting incredibly frustrated with his lack of progress, which only made his concentration worse.

Raja was unresponsive, simply holding his finger on Gyra's index finger.

"Again."

Gyra summoned as much Wind-form as he could from his finger, but it simply washed away. He didn't understand. He could produce enough Wind-form from his body to propel people high into the air, but he couldn't move a finger with Wind-form from his.

"I- I can't!" Gyra yelled out as he failed to move the finger again.

"Tiomoyo completed all ten fingers in three days. Are you not his equal?"

Gyra was seething. He didn't care if the man before him was God himself, but he wasn't going to let him disrespect him like this. However, the act of being trained by such a powerhouse was enough to keep the boy in check.

Gyra tried again, and he failed once more.

"Maybe you're not cut out for this kind of training. Don't worry-" Raja sarcastically smiled. "-I'm sure Tiomoyo will be a great Shi-Nin commanding officer to you."

You bastard.

Gyra gritted his teeth and locked eyes with the veteran. "Watch me."

Raja's finger went numb as he flew to the ground. A massive spike of Lightning-form with a spiral of Wind-form surrounding it erupted out of the boy's index finger. It reached into the sky and exploded, creating a visual similar to a lightning bolt. Raja noticed something else, however, as he collected himself. Orange sparks were circulating around the attack, too. His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed.

"You were supposed to use Wind-form."

"Oh," Gyra's head fell to the floor as a wide smile crawled across his face. "Whoops."

Raja instantly appeared behind the boy with his tremendous speed and tapped him on the shoulder. "I won't train you if you intend on electrocuting me, Izukai."

"You act as if someone of your caliber could be affected by an attack from a measly nobody Li-Nin." Gyra craned his head back. His eyes were filled with a sadistic spark as if he was enjoying this a little too much. His grin reminded Raja of a man he used to mentor, a failure of his. The words from the teenager sounded just like what he would say.

"Watch it," Raja warned as his fiery eyes flared.

Gyra rolled his eyes and held out his index finger. His posture was straightened, and he seemed larger. Raja couldn't tell what had happened, but he could sense something. It was a fire, not in the literal sense, but something inside of him was lit by Raja's ridicule. Gyra was twitching like he was remembering a suppressed memory.

"I see you need a different kind of training. You don't have the concentration of Tiomoyo, but you certainly have more Reiki and more raw power behind your attacks. It's like a sniper versus a shotgun. Devastating, but for different purposes."

"Oh? What do you have in mind, sir?" Gyra's eyes narrowed as his words became slicked with irritation.

"I want you to break through my own Wind-form with Lightning-form. You seem to be particularly in tune with that Seidou, despite the fact you say you're a Wind-form specialist. We'll train you in that."

Raja stood still and produced a technique called Vortex, a high-level technique that utilized the constant collapse of Wind-form into the user's hand to create a vortex stemming into the palm of their hand. It could stop bullets and most medium-sized attacks, but it was a particularly hard defensive technique to use correctly.