Chapter 158 - Arrangement

"Good morning... panties."

The guest house was divided in two, fully equipped, vertical sections with Nik taking the lower floor while Shigure silently jumping onto the second floor.

"It's Shigure...". Shigure spoke with her foot placed on the ceiling while standing upside down, defying the gravity, fortunately, her clothes weren't gravity-defying and her pink kimono rolled down, revealing a white fundoshi digging into her butt akin to a thong while her raven hair followed a similar fashion.

"Pardon me... but from what I can see, those are panties."

Nik yawned and rubbed his eyes without pointing out the strange behaviour of observing him while literally standing over his head as he slept peacefully.

Speaking of sleep, he slept like a baby. His refreshed body would definitely agree to the statement as Nik slowly and reluctantly, rolled off of the bed and looked into Shigure's eyes.

"I would say that your actions are a breach of my privacy... but considering that I can see your panties, let's call it even?"

Nik questioned while Shigure finally jumped down, her tight and perky bosom beneath her chainmail armor managed to jiggle, attracting Nik's attention, while she thought for a while and spoke.

"Teach me... in return, I will teach you."

Nik couldn't help but get amused at her words. Shigure was beautiful, no doubt about it, her claim of being the only weaponsmith definitely pointed at her forging abilities. But Nik wasn't interested in that type of skill, at least, not in the near future. So, what could she teach?

"I am listening." Nik shrugged and Shigure nodded slightly before continuing.

"I will teach you Continuous Focus Breathing... and you teach me what you did."

Hearing the term— Continuous Focus Breathing— Nik immediately thought of what he is currently trying to achieve and finally felt his interest ignited.

"Continuous Focus Breathing?"

Shigure didn't reply and simply looked at him quietly. Although, Nik was quite curios if Shigure knew about him trying to practice the technique, but at large, he did not care that much. Nik had already grasped the path to achieve the goal, all he needed to do was tread it with a focused determination and not give up midway.

In fact, he had even greater plans with the breathing technique after he achieved Continuous Focus Breathing in one element breathing technique.

And also, there was the fact that he did not know how to teach others on how to directly control the Elemental Hamon.

Shaking his head, Nik finally refused.

"I am sorry. But I doubt that we will have time to train, after all, I am sent here to help."

"They do not need our help..." Shigure pursued while Nik frowned at her words, once again, he found himself uninformed about many things, but this time around, he had a trusty partner to turn to.

The Kasugai Crow.

Nik still shook his head and refused the offer.

"No thanks, I am not interested in teaching and learning things from a stranger."

Shigure finally frowned as her lightning-shaped brows rose up by a notch while she seemed to be pondering before nodding and passing by Nik before opening the door of the house and leaving the guest house.

"Alright now... where is the food..."

Nik diverted his attention and started his day by freshening up and then eating what he could cook from the present materials before bringing out his own meat jerky ration and finally, after one round of Focus Breathing Technique and supplementing the body with Hamon Energy, Nik finally set out of the house and once again stood between an unnatural number of shinobis that lived in a somewhat feudal style village.

Observing the beautifully designed houses despite the village's career as shinobis, Nik finally walked to one of the corners of the village, not leaving the boundary though, for he did not know what sort of traps were set around the village and gave a loud shout.

"Crow, get down here!"

His shout brought no small amount of attention towards him and through the use of [Life Vision], he already found himself surrounded by hidden shinobis and kunoichis, but there was no need to grow nervous now while a black shadow shot towards Nik before flapping its wings to slow down and flying around Nik.

"Caw, brat, you called me?"

Nik nodded and finally extended his arm to allow the crow to land and finally spoke up.

"I am assigned to this village as reinforcement, right?"

The crow nodded its head before shifting a bit uncomfortably while looking around while speaking.

"Yes. The headquarters assigned you to assist the Shinobi Village in slaying the apparent demon that is attacking the shinobi troops."

"And the shinobi village itself states that they do not require any assistance. Then, what does the headquarter have to say about that."

Nik continued while the crow nodded and grew silent.

After a few minutes of silence, the crow finally looked towards Nik and continued calmly.

"Although the shinobis may not need your assistance in hunting the demon... there are many things you can do..." The crow hesitated for a moment while Nik let out a relieved sigh.

"So." Nik cut him in between and spoke, "I am supposed to help them in domestic stuff?"

The crow nodded while Nik accepted calmly before letting the crow fly away and entering the village and returned to his guest house unceremoniously. Nik did not delude himself that he can gain information from a bunch of trained assassins, and, there was no need for him to partake in domestic activities.

Immediately, he stood in the empty region of the guest house and started performing the stretching exercise while activating his breathing technique. His muscles immediately contracted while veins popped over his body while his mouth produced strange and deep exhales. It was working, Nik could feel it. Even though Nik lasted a little longer than a few seconds when compared to his efforts yesterday, the progress was there.

Until...

"It won't work..."

Shigure spoke while looking down from her floor and finally, jumping down with a flip, landing right in front of the wheezing Nik.

"Your... direction is wrong... You need to be more active... I can teach you, but—"

"Can you... huff... please give it a rest already?"

Nik shook his head and unceremoniously unleashed his [Pheromone Illusion], that he has been keeping control of till now and instantly, Shigure's droopy eyes widened and her body trembled as Nik finally reigned in his technique and smirked at Shigure.

"I guess... eve you can't focus on your breathing if sexually stimulated, right? So, how about you help me practice the Continuous Focus Breathing Technique while I will help you to develop resistance against such physical stimulus."

Shigure finally controlled her breathing as veins popped around her body unnaturally before receding as she looked at Nik curiously and answering with a decisive nod.

"Then let's start." Nik shrugged while Shigure immediately punched out, but the force behind her punch was extremely controlled as Nik barely felt anything when the fist connected with his nose.

"You will dodge... while using the breathing technique... the moment you lose your focus, I will punch for real."

Shigure muttered as Nik nodded and immediately activated his breathing technique.

'Full focus... breath of water.'

The moment Nik felt Shigure's body twitch, he immediately sidestepped and then crouched, avoiding yet another kick passing right above his head before flipping back and evading a low sweep. Since the area of training was small and Shigure happened to be a certified Kunoichi, Nik soon started getting attacked for real where he did lose focus on many occasions, causing him bruises at many corners of his body.

And just like Nik thought, aside from delivering the materials for food, the duo were not contacted for anything. Their complete disregard for the reinforcements became plainly obvious, but Nik wasn't complaining, for it was time to fulfill his part of the deal. As Shigure sat on Nik's bed with her legs crossed and hands placed on her smooth thighs in a meditative gesture, he looked at Nik and nodded her head while Nik let out his Pheromones and filled the air with an aphrodisiac-like smell.

As Nik's scent filled the entire guest house, a barely audible exhalation leaked out of Shigure's plump lips as sweat started to flow out of her forehead while a soft blush touched her cheeks, yet, her violet eyes remained focused on Nik, as if threatening him not to commit any stupid action.

Alas, the kunoichi failed to understand that this uncharacteristic glare only made her more alluring while Nik grinned and took a step forward while continuing.

"This is my body's special ability... but, this simply cannot be characterised as a physical stimulus."

Hearing his words, Shigure frowned while keeping her quiet.

"What I mean is, usually, a man would touch you in certain places to heighten your sensitivity... and that is where you should be able to focus on your breathing technique.

Being able to keep your focus under my scent is barely an achievement.

So? Do you wish for me to continue?"

Nik's violet eyes glimmered as Shigure's blush deepened, but she did think about Nik's proposal seriously.