Beta: TaintedLetter

(≧ڡ≦*)

Miwa's match was unsurprisingly one-sided. Most matches would go on until a technical victory was achieved (each successful hit earned one hit, and ten points made a victory), but Miwa was so laughably stronger than the fodder thrown at her it was over with a wave of her hand.

Killing them was not currently allowed, so she was forced to blow them out of the arena with the use of fūton chakra.

When she was done with her match she headed to where she was told to meet up with Gon and Killua prior. Gon was already waiting for her, and he waved cheerfully upon noticing her.

Miwa picked Gon up and tossed him up to the ceiling, eliciting a boyish giggle out of him. She caught him on the way back down, then tossed him back up again. He did a little roll in the air before coming back down. She set him back on his feet, smiling at his joyous grin.

"That was fun! What was it for?" Gon asked.

"I dunno. Just wanted to."

"... Do it again?" he sheepishly asked, causing Miwa to giggle at him. She bent her nose forward to nuzzle him reminiscent to how an animal would show affection. Her bangs tickled him, though, so he giggled again.

She tossed him back up a few more times—ignoring some of the odd stares the bystanders gave them—until Killua arrived. He watched Miwa toss Gon up and down, a slight frown on his face.

She noticed it and asked, "Do you wanna be tossed, too?"

"Hmph. Do what you want," Killua said, turning his nose up.

'How lucky for him I speak tsundere,' Miwa thought, popping out a shadow clone and starting to toss Killua now.

"Can you toss us from the ground of the skyscraper to above the skyscraper?" Gon asked excitedly.

"Probably. But we'd need more distance since I'd have to use fūton chakra to safely catch you," she said.

"Fūton?" Killua echoed, arms folded over his chest as he pretended very hard to look like he was not enjoying being tossed. The little twitching in the corner of his mouth betrayed him, though.

Miwa nodded. "Mn."

Miwa tossed her friends for another ten minutes before letting them down and dismissing the clone.

"Then next time let's do that!" Gon decided for the three of them.

"Okay," Miwa agreed with a smile.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Once the trio reached floor 100, they were given private rooms. And it was here, that Killua decided they were ready to learn about Miwa's chakra.

"The energy inside us, at its core, is the same," Miwa said, as she took a seat on Gon's bed. Gon and Killua both sat criss-cross on either side of her. "And after observing your cores closely the past couple of days I can say with absolute certainty that both of you have already been subconsciously drawing on it."

"I do?!" / "I'm what?!" Killua and Gon exclaimed at the same time.

"You do realize most children, regardless of how much they physically train, can't do the things you two are doing," Miwa pointed out, frowning. "Your strength, speed, and so on is dependent on your subconscious use of nen, or chakra, or whatever you want to call it. If you can learn to consciously control this energy there's no reason you can't learn ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, fūinjutsu, and so forth. At least, I don't currently see why not."

'Although the use without a proper chakra network will be... interesting.'

It's perfectly possible that they won't be able to do so because they lack that network.

'There's really only one way to find out, though.'

"Does that include teleportation and those completely awesome rasenballs?!" Killua excitedly demanded.

"Those are family secrets," she reminded him.

"We're getting married so it's okay, right?!"

Miwa rolled her eyes at that, as Gon whined, "What? I want to learn that stuff, too!"

'What is it with boys and wanting to learn new and dangerous ways to kill your enemies?'

I seem to remember a certain little girl wanting to learn all sorts of nasty little tricks.

'Th—That's completely different!'

Uh-huh.

Miwa coughed to clear her throat, fighting back her blush. "W-Well you're going to have to learn the basic stuff first anyway! Try learning to control your energy first, and we can move on to some ninjutsu later."

Both boys let out a whoop before tackling into her to hug her.

"Ahh!" Miwa squeaked, her face flaming red, which only caused her friends to laugh at her. "W-We're getting off-topic!"

It still took a couple of minutes for both boys to stop teasing their red-faced companion, and a few more for Miwa to calm down enough to resume instruction.

"A-Anyway!" Miwa cleared her throat, fiddling with her pigtails. "We'll start off on first locating your energy core."

"How are we going to do that?" Gon asked.

Miwa reached out to both of them, placing a palm on their chests. "I'm going to give you a small taste of my own raw chakra. Once you're aware of the feeling of chakra inside of you, you should at least have an idea of what to look for. Finding your core after that will be entirely dependent on you."

Miwa began to gently push out her own raw chakra—Kurama helpfully pulling out his chakra in the process so neither boys would be poisoned. She leveled it out, and carefully guided it inside of both boys—just barely going underneath the skin.

Chakra could become dense enough to cut through solid bone, but at its base it was intangible. It's how auras could be passed through without fuss.

"W-Warm," Gon breathed out, eyes widening in startlement.

Killua was silent, but his expression of wonderment spoke volumes.

"Chakra is unique to every person," Miwa explained. "This is my chakra—my signature."

"You're warm. Like a campfire!" Gon told her, placing his hand over hers. "Do you know what we feel like?"

"Mn. Gon when I sense your chakra you feel like a still pond with water that goes deeper than the ocean," Miwa answered. "And Killua is like fresh snowfall in a quiet forest, cold and soft all at once."

She retracted her hands, and both boys blinked vapidly as Miwa's chakra left them. Killua reached up and touched his chest where Miwa's hand had been. "That was weird. In a good way, though."

Miwa scratched her cheek, feeling oddly sheepish. "Um... I don't know if this might help you two, but the Chairman, Netero, mentioned that this world refers to chakra as nen."

"Nen...? Miwa, is this energy something everyone has?" Killua suddenly asked. "Did you see it in my brother, maybe?"

"Yes. Your brother and Hisoka had cores that reflected years of training with the energy."

"This must be it..." Killua muttered, his brow furrowing. "Did you see Zushi use this energy?"

"Mn... his core is much smaller than either of yours, but it does show some use," Miwa tried to explain, her eyes narrowing as she thought back on the small boy. "He's a little oak sapling that's finally above aground."

"Then... do you think Zushi's teacher, Wing, is the one who is teaching him?" Gon guessed. "What was his core like, Miwa?"

"Um, it certainly showed a lot of control. I didn't pay that much attention to his typing, though," Miwa admitted.

"Hm. I wonder if there's any difference between nen and chakra training?" Killua mused.

"We can always ask Zushi," Gon suggested.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt," Miwa agreed. "It would be nice to know the key differences in chakra against nen."

(≧ڡ≦*)

Finding Zushi was easy. Asking about nen was easier, and to the trios' surprise Wing interrupted Zushi's explanation and offered to give proper instruction.

That was how everyone ended up at Wing's home, several blocks away from Heaven's Arena.

"Nen, or flame, is a power that inflames our souls," he began. "In other words, it is the strength of your will. And the Four Exercises are part of a training curriculum that strengthens your will. Ten: focus the mind on a single point, reflect upon the self, and determine the goal. Zetsu: express or put into words. Ren: temper, or intensify, that will. Lastly hatsu: release it into action."

Miwa tapped on her chin, the description sounding... off.

Nen is only... what? A manifestation of will?

'But I definitely feel a combination of spiritual and physical energy inside of them. That's the definition of chakra, their energy core has to be similar to chakra at the very least.'

"Killua, in your match against Zushi, Zushi tempered his 'refusal to lose'," Wing added. "So allow me to demonstrate. Killua, I am going to kill you now."

'What?'

"Is that alright?" Wing inquired.

"Sure," Killua said with a shrug.

'What?'

Wing smiled politely in response. "Then let's go in order. First ten: I focus my mind on a single point." Wing changed his stance into some kind of weird position, where his knees were bent down and his two arms crossed straight down. "Zetsu: express yourself mentally or verbally. I will kill you."

There was a shift in the energy inside of Wing, the energy slowly spreading out to cover every inch of his form without the use of a network to guide it.

'Ooo,' Miwa thought, impressed by this level of control.

That ratio, though—

'Ah—!'

At its base, all core energies had a natural state of perfect balance. 50% spiritual, and 50% physical, or a 5:5 ratio. Undergoing nature transformations would change this ratio, skewing it in favor of the physical or spiritual. There were rare exceptions when different forms of chakra were added in—such as Kurama's chakra added in to Miwa's base changed her flat ratio into 5:5:3. Going past 10, or 100% always created for volatile or unstable reactions, hence why using Kurama's chakra—or senjutsu since that was added on, too—was so dangerous.

While Wing was drawing upon his base energy he did a complete flip!

His ratio, once 5:5 was now entirely skewed to 10 at physical energy.

'Is nen... a change in chakra?' Miwa questioned. She had never ever heard about a type of nature that could be entirely physical, or entirely spiritual. Seeing Wing's energy transform to such an extent was absolutely insane, borderline impossible.

The result of the change, though, was a sudden burst of malicious intent.

Miwa idly scratched at her cheek as the man released an aura of bloodlust and murderous intent. She was completely fascinated by this outstanding revelation of nen, and simply couldn't be bothered to care.

Besides, compared to Kurama's default presence of volatile chakra, it couldn't make Miwa even bat an eye.

For some reason it made Gon take a step back, and Killua straight up leapt up onto the ceiling in a defensive position.

A bit like a cat, actually, which made Miwa want to giggle at him.

Kurama straight up laughed at their reactions. They're scared of a little ant?! Ahahahahaha!

The energy died off, though, and his core snapped back to a default state. His signature was a lot like a mountain, and Miwa wondered if signatures played a role in the ratio?

Wing said with a smile, "That was ren. With enough strength and focus the will functions as action, or hatsu. If your will is strong enough, you can make your opponent back down without moving a muscle. The concept of bluffing is derived from this. Ren hardens that which is soft, and you lose the ability to correct an incorrect idea. Therefore, you should avoid using ren until your soul has fully matured—"

"Stop," Miwa cut in, shaking her head furiously. "No, no, no. That's not what you did. Your core—it's all physical energy!"

"Huh? Did his chakra change?" Gon asked, as Killua hopped down from the ceiling and reluctantly rejoined the duo.

"Mm-hmm! Like a change in chakra," Miwa explained, looking up at Wing with wide eyes. "What you teach, and what I was taught are completely different. Your reference of willpower, though, might explain why your energy turns into physical energy. But if you're talking about the soul, then you should be using your spiritual energy, right? But you didn't use any spiritual energy at all, that was entirely physical."

Wing blinked once, twice, then thrice, at Miwa's explanation. "Pardon? Chakra?"

"Mn! Like..." Miwa walked up the wall and stood upside down on the ceiling. "See? I've moved chakra to the bottom of my feet, but since it's not a change in nature it's remaining at its base. When you did that ren, thing, you turned your energy into something entirely physical.

"Wha—HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" Zushi gasped.

"You get used to it," Gon told him, patting the top of his head.

Miwa flipped off the ceiling and summoned her rasengan. "This is also not a change in nature. But when I change natures—"

Wing held up a hand to stop her. "Hold on. Let's go back to the beginning. What is chakra?"
"Chakra is the fusion of physical energy and spiritual energy," Miwa recited. "We all have it inside of us. At its base, it remains a perfect balance of 5:5, but when you change its nature that ratio changes. When you use nen, that ratio turned into 10, entirley in favor of physical. So nen is a change in chakra, yes?"

"I—I've never heard of chakra before," Wing admitted. "Nor am I familiar with these energies you speak of."

"Ummm... here," Miwa reached forward and showed Wing her chakra like she did with Gon and Killua. "You feel your chakra, too, don't you?"

Wing was silent for several minutes, contemplating this new information. "You... have already received information in chakra, and you were going to train Killua and Gon, yes?"

"Yeah. But their bodies are different than mine. It looks like this wo—looks like most people are predisposed to use nen, maybe?"

"How your body different?"

"You only have one core," she said, gesturing toward herself. "I have a network that runs alongside my nervous system, and many smaller opening points throughout that network. Using these smaller points—tenketsu—I can adjust the disbursement of my chakra. With my network I am also able to change the nature of my chakra, or use it to enhance my body. I'm not confined to categories like a nen user, but I can instead learn all of them."

Killua frowned. "Then could a nen user never learn chakra?"

Miwa shook her head. "It's not like that... the network makes it easier to control, but at the end of the day we're using the same energy. I believe with enough skill and practice you could learn how to disburse the energy through your body without the use of the network. That's how Gon's been pushing people out of the arena—he's been using a very small amount of his energy to enhance his strength. Even you do it sometimes, Killua, without realizing it. Wing himself was able to push his entire core to cover his body, but he did so by changing the nature of it."

Wing adjusted his glasses. "Hmm... Miwa, would you mind watching my, ah, core and telling me when my base ratio is off?"

Miwa nodded as Wing took a seat on the carpeted floor of his living room. He let out a slow breath, and began to meditate. It took a few minutes, but his core began to fluctuate.

"Your core is moving, um... the further you push it out the more the ratio is off," Miwa observed, feeling the odd change. "The ratio you have now is what's used for doton ninjutsu."

There was a thin line of sweat over Wing's forehead. "I do not have control over my nen to utilize it in its current state. It feels incomplete and intangible."

"Interesting... is your body predisposed and requires the complete transformation, or is it a mental block?" Miwa questioned.

"That would be difficult to say," Wing said, glancing over at Killua and Gon. "Have either of you begun your training?"

Both shook their heads.

"Then perhaps we should work together on this," Wing suggested. "When comparing Miwa's... chakra, to my nen there is a noticeable difference in use. I would like to see if it's due to the network she mentioned, or if perhaps chakra is something that can be taught."

"That's what we wanna know, too!" Gon said cheerfully. "Except we don't really know how to call on the energy at all right now."

Wing was silent for a minute, contemplating. "I have to admit I was wary of teaching nen to the three of you, but this viewpoint on chakra has ignited a level of curiosity I am reluctant to ignore. Miwa's chakra has such a distinct feeling to it, I can't deny its familiarity to nen, but I can also say that it's not the same, either. If nen is willpower—physical energy—and chakra is the fusion of that and spiritual energy, then what would happen if someone used entirely spiritual energy?"

"Such a question would require someone with precision control over their spiritual and physical energies," Miwa answered. She glanced over at Gon and Killua. "Are your bodies predisposed to using nen, or can you use chakra?"

"Only one way to find out!" Gon exclaimed, practically vibrating in place from sheer bubbly excitement.

Under Miwa and Wing's watchful eye Gon and Killua took the first step in their journey to mastering that powerful energy locked away inside of them. Both were able to locate their energy, and it took them a few minutes before they began to manipulate it.

They were trying to maintain the same wave of energy to keep the ratio even, but as Miwa witnessed it was a struggle. The spiritual energy kept slipping away from them, causing the overall ratio to skew to 100% physical, or nen.

"So it looks like your bodies are naturally inclined to use nen," Miwa concluded, her statement causing both boys to cancel their concentration. "But I did see a fluctuation in spiritual energy. I think, given enough time and practice, you might be able to control your spiritual energy enough to learn how to use chakra."

"Would it be best to learn how to use nen first, or chakra, though?" Wing asked.

"Nen is what their bodies are inclined toward, so I would suggest that first," Miwa answered. "When training in chakra, we have to first master our natural affinity before we are allowed to move on toward others. That being said, it seems like a lot of the beginning steps to using nen are similar to chakra. Maybe... maybe they can do both?"

"I wanna do both!" Gon exclaimed.

"We can multitask just fine," Killua agreed.

"Then while you practice your nen, you can practice... the leaf exercise!" Miwa said cheerfully, a big grin on her face.

"That sounds lame."

"It absolutely is."

(≧ڡ≦*)

No lie, I just really want Killua and Gon to learn chakra for teh lulz in later scenes when it finally becomes relevant. So this is my version of nen/chakra. I tried to keep it as close to canonical as I could. :)

No time travel AUs for this arc since there'd be no reason for them to come back to Heaven's Arena unless they decided to become floor masters for teh lulz. And since we've never met floor masters I have no idea how to make a joke about it. *shrug*

Next update: 03-09-2020. 

Answer: Something related to wind. There's a lot of utility in air / wind control. Water is tempting, but I think wind would be more fun.

Question: What kind of nen would you like?

Reviews are love!