The Hodgepodge Shinobi: A Gacha-Gone-Wrong Adventure

Alex stood barefoot on the smooth obsidian floor of the Universal Mindscape, surrounded by infinite nothingness that somehow felt like a sacred dojo. The air was calm, but charged with anticipation. Oogway stood quietly beside him, staff planted lightly at his side. Across from them, Aang finished drawing a perfect circle into the black ground with the end of his glider-staff.

"Are you ready to begin?" Aang asked, looking up at Alex with bright gray eyes. "This will be different than anything you've done before."

Alex swallowed. "I've never done anything before."

Aang smiled gently. "Then today is a great day to start."

Oogway tapped the ground once with his staff. "Wisdom begins in humility."

Alex took a deep breath and stepped into the circle Aang had drawn.

Aang adjusted his stance, his feet sliding into a wide, balanced position. "We'll start with airbending movements. Not the element itself—your body isn't built to manipulate the winds. But your chakra is similar. It flows. So we'll teach you to move with it."

Alex blinked. "Wait, so I'm not airbending?"

"No," Aang replied. "But your chakra flows just like air. Quick, light, reactive. You can learn to guide it like a wind current. And maybe, eventually… cloak it."

Oogway nodded. "To master yourself, you must first know your rhythm."

"Right," Alex muttered. "Wind rhythm. Cloak. Got it. Like Naruto?"

"Who's Naruto?" Aang asked.

"Don't worry about it."

Aang stepped forward and extended his arms, palms open. "Follow me. Mirror my breathing."

He inhaled through his nose—long and smooth—and exhaled like a whisper. Alex tried to match him, arms raised, wobbling slightly.

"Good," Aang said. "Now, movement."

The Avatar began to sway, arms flowing in wide, graceful arcs, each movement connected to his breath. His feet shifted subtly across the circle, never planting fully, always ready to move.

Alex followed, poorly at first—too stiff, too robotic. But slowly, he found the rhythm. His shoulders loosened. His steps became lighter. It felt like a dance. A nervous, clumsy dance—but something clicked.

"Don't force it," Oogway said. "Let go."

With a grunt of effort, Alex spun clumsily on one heel—then stumbled forward, nearly crashing into Aang. But Aang just pivoted, guiding Alex's momentum with the palm of his hand and redirecting it outward like water spilling from a bowl.

"Nice," Aang said. "Let's try something now."

He stepped back and swirled into a slow stance, arms extended.

"I'm going to attack. Don't block. Redirect."

Alex's eyes went wide. "Redirect?! I just learned to walk without tripping five minutes ago!"

But Aang was already moving. He slid forward in a burst of motion, sweeping his staff in a wide arc aimed at Alex's side.

Alex yelped and tried to duck—too slow. The staff tapped his ribs. Lightly, but it stung.

"Try again."

Another swing. Alex raised his arm instinctively and smacked the staff head-on. The jolt ran up his shoulder.

"Ow—okay! Okay! What happened to redirecting?!"

"You blocked," Aang said. "That's not redirecting."

Third time.

Aang came in faster now—he moved like a breeze, barely touching the floor. His staff spun downward toward Alex's shoulder. Desperate, Alex raised both arms and shifted his stance awkwardly to the side—

The blow passed by. Barely. He'd shifted just enough.

Aang smiled. "Better!"

Oogway clapped once. "Now, feel the flow."

Alex's chest heaved. "That's… harder than it looks."

"Everything is," Aang replied. "Until you learn it."

They practiced for what felt like hours. Strike, dodge, redirect. Aang never went full force, but he didn't go easy either. Each movement demanded balance, awareness, and breath.

Eventually, Aang stepped back. "Let's move to chakra application."

Oogway floated forward now, raising his staff. "Your system fused many instincts into you—survival, fear, pain, grief. These are heavy things. They are loud. But you must learn to move quietly inside."

He tapped the top of Alex's head.

"Breathe. Focus your chakra into your limbs—not all of it. A trickle. Let it flow like a breeze."

Alex closed his eyes. He imagined wind in his arms. A slow current, moving through veins instead of blood.

He felt… something.

Not power. Not fire. But motion. His fingers twitched like they'd been tickled by electricity.

"Very good," Oogway said. "Now… cloak it."

Alex opened one eye. "Cloak it? How?"

Aang stepped beside him. "The same way you redirect attacks. Let your chakra flow around you, not through you."

Alex tried.

He pushed chakra outward… then mentally bent it around his own body, trying to imagine it cloaking him like a fog.

Suddenly—

The air around him shimmered. For a second, his arms disappeared. Or—not disappeared, but became… unclear. Like heat haze.

Oogway's eyes lit up. "Yes. Yes. That is your ability. Not attack, not defense—but concealment."

"Self-Concealing Chakra Flux," the system whispered in his head. "Side effect: partial invisibility. Duration: 3.4 seconds."

Aang nodded. "We can build on that. But you'll need control. The fusion you carry—it's dangerous. Wild. The more control you have over your chakra, the less it controls you."

Alex took a breath, then a second, shakier one. "Okay… okay. Let's keep going."

He straightened up, sweat on his forehead, but something steady in his chest.

He wasn't good yet.

But he wasn't helpless anymore either.

He had teachers. He had time. And inside this mindscape, he had both in abundance.

The training continued.

And for the first time, Alex didn't feel like he was running from something.

He was chasing it.