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Chapter 7: Tenet
🕑 Added 2023-11-03 15:48:36 +0000 UTCThere was a massive power outage in my area for almost 20 hours. It really screwed me over and when I went out to get dinner, as I couldn't cook or warm anything at home, I made the mistake of buying a burger. What was the issue? Well, it was nothing more than a big-ass beef patty, and weak, thin bread buns. If I wanted a steak, I would have ordered one. They couldn’t even get my order right as I asked that they swap out the fries for rice, only for me to get home-realize that they didn’t so I just handed the fries to my neighbor’s dogs while we just sat in a circle talking about whatever shit came to mind.
Chapter 7: Tenet
In a second where there was silence, there was another where a rumbling clap could be heard as Shizune and Izuku arrived at their destination. Izuku hadn't realized just how bad the teleportation would be as it felt like he had eaten rotten food, seen his grandfather naked and ridden the world's most intense roller coaster all in the span of 5 seconds. “Oh, I think I’m going to be sick.” Once his feet touched the grass, he was already sprinting to the nearest bush, which fortunately there were many as he threw his head into it, not caring for the leaves and sticks and lost his breakfast.
Shizune watched the kid throw up his food, having suspected that he'd have that reaction as they had been told that their teleportation was extremely jarring for human senses. “I told you to hold onto your stomach, human.” They stated. “Honestly, what is so bad about that?” They never had any issues with it, they knew they were great but were humans just that weird?
Not rising to their bait, he let out the last of his vomit, hating how his mouth tasted like acid and bile as he wiped it away with his sleeve. “Okay…okay, I’m good now. So,” He looked around, seeing that they were in a clearing of sorts. “Is this the place?” But it was certainly different. He knew that it couldn't be any later than maybe 6 but the place was covered in a thin but very notable mist, one that he suspected never truly left. The sun was up in the sky, with plenty of white fluffy clouds.
In the distance, he could make out other peaks which made him suspect that they were in the middle of a mountain range, but he couldn't place where on many of those peaks, he could see waterfalls, he could even hear water flowing in the distance, all around them in fact as the entire area was covered in streams and rivers. Looking around, he saw that the many plants that lived in the area were wild, lush and extremely beautiful, many of them taking from all sides of the rainbow with insects like ladybugs and butterflies all over the place.
From the thousands if not tens of thousands of flowers, shrubs, moss-covered trees and giant mushrooms that dotted the area, the scent of nature was nearly intoxicating, relaxing in ways he would sooner compare to drugs. If there was but one constant, it was the fact he could see and hear dozens of cats, some as small as typical house pets, others the size of jaguars.
Shizune seemed pleased with how enthralled he was with their home and couldn't help but boast. “Yup, welcome to Mt. Myōboku. My scared grounds, my scared mountain.”
“Where is it?” No way this was close to the sanctuary, hell he didn’t think it was anywhere in Honshu.
“Somewhere in the wide expanse of the universe.” Shizune grinned, their face filled with shiny white teeth as he signed, he should have known he would get a non-answer from the youkai. For all he knew, this wasn’t even on Earth anymore, but in a world which Youkai called home.
Trying to not think about the implications that could come from travelling to another world where no one but a supernatural creature could ever hope to bring him home, he decided to focus on something he could influence. “Well, where are we going to stay?”
“I stay wherever I please, you on the other hand,” Shizune could sleep wherever they pleased, but since the human would need shelter, she gestured behind to a structure he hadn’t noticed till now. “Over there.”
That structure looked like a run-down old shed. Its door was barely holding onto the hinges, and its windows were little more than boards that could held closed by rope. It had been built by the 2nd fellow to attempt training and they hadn’t seen the need to tear it down once they croaked.
Izuku wasn’t expecting much, and so long as he didn’t have to worry about freezing to death in the night, he would take it. “…Alright. Anything else I should know about? I am yours for the next 6 months.” He asked as he walked towards his new dorm to leave his stuff, his teacher floating by his side.
"Not much, I thought I could give you the day to walk around and see all the splendor and glory that is my mountain before I ground you into the dirt.” They casually stretched as they talked, with Izuku nodding along once he reached the dorm and opened the door, seeing that the interior was as bad as he suspected with the bed being little more than a pile of leaves and an old blanket, he'd have to gather more to replace them since most looked dead. There was a small spot in the corner with a chimney, a spot to warm himself and cook food, but he also noted the lack of pots and pans so he'd be eating fruits and anything he could stab on a stick to roast but with so many rivers, he was bound to find some fish.
And it was a mountain claimed by a cat spirit and inhabited by cats, there had to be fish in the rivers.
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Setting his stuff down, he left the shed and closed the door as gently as he could, wincing at how its hinges creaked and moaned from that simple movement. He didn't know where he should start with the tour of the place, but he thought it would be best to try out the rivers as he'll need which ones he can draw drinkable water from and fish in, then he'll explore the forests for spots for wild berries and fruits which he could eat.
With a plan of sorts in mind, he turned to leave but was stopped by Shizune, who had curled up into a large fluffball not too far from him. "But before then, why don't we talk? I wish to gauge what is it you know about tenet, and what you believe Sage training is.”
“Of course,” Recalling that he didn’t have much choice, he approached and sat on the grass, noting that it was still covered in dew and wet. “What is it you would like to know?”
“It’s cute that you think you can teach me.” Shizune giggled, not caring for his unimpressed look. "As for my question, I want you to explain to me what you think tenet is." He raised an eyebrow at that, he knew what it was, they knew what it was-why would they need him to explain it?
Still, that couldn’t be the only thing to the question, was this a test perhaps? Did they wish to test his knowledge on it? Maybe, as if they taught the master, it stood to reason that there were perhaps things she hadn’t taught him or didn’t know herself. “Tenet is…” He stopped himself, thinking about the demand from Shizune. They didn’t ask him to tell him what tenet was, but what he thought it was, so the best response would be his take on it.
“Tenet is the power that exists in all living things, it’s born from a mix of spiritual and physical power, which is why different plants and animals have different amounts.” He settled on something short, but straight to the point.
Shizune nodded. "Good, you're at least well taught as I can't stand dealing with humans who can barely explain such simple things." She had dealt with at least two others before him that were like that, the 6th wasn’t good with words even if he could understand the basics well enough and the 3rd was just an insanely talented idiot.
‘I’m not sure if they hate humans, or just love to mock us.’ Izuku wondered to himself as he heard that reply.
“And what is tenet used for?” Shizune asked him, laying their head on their legs, calm and relaxed now that they were at home.
“A lot of things, primarily reinforcing from both internal and external damage. It can also be used to enhance and expand one's own five senses to superhuman levels comparable to that of a person with a sensory quirk." He thought about the 5 basic techniques of tenet, two of which he hadn’t yet learned never mind mastered.
“And can all things use tenet?” Shizune asked him, getting him to shake his head.
“No, it requires training, years of it to be considered able to use it in any meaningful way.” That was one of the first things he learned.
“That is your first false statement, human.” Shizune smiled at his confusion as they decided in their infinite wisdom to grace him with the answer. “How can all things have it, yet not use it? You might as well say that all mammals can’t use blood.”
When they put it like that, he supposed it made sense, but that left questions of its own. "Like you said, all things have it, and its primary use is to reinforce the body," Shizune stated but quickly added. “That is how all humans and animals alike can develop quirks, how else would an otherwise normal be able to handle their newfound abilities? I don't know about you, but humans aren't meant to shine like the sun, or cover themselves in fire and walk around like that's normal."
"But that's just their quirk at work," Izuku replied, he had studied quirks for years, leaned about them the same as everyone and there wasn’t anything that could hint to tenet…but then again, he could still recall that damned trip to the doctor, the man stated that even then, decades since quirks had appeared that there was still much, they didn't understand. Was part of that because no one thought of tenet?
“If that is the case, why does it take up till their 4thbirthday for them to develop one?” They asked him, getting no response as he wanted to say it was because the body needed time, but if the quirk was a part of you, wouldn't it appear at birth as it did with some cases? Present Mic frequently talked about how much he loved his parents who loved him even after he nearly deafened them when he was born.
If time was the issue, wouldn't it make more sense for quirks to present themselves in one's teenage years when puberty was already making radical changes to them? He never stopped to think why it was 4 that became the norm.
Shizune could see the gears shifting in his head and nodded, pleased that he was capable of such thought. “I’ll tell you why, it’s because they spend the first 4 years subconsciously building up enough tenet so that when they first use their quirk, they don’t kill themselves.”
"If that is the case, why don't more people know about it? Why did I only find out about tenet when I met the master?" He couldn't help but ask as this could change everyone. If tenet became much more known, it could answer so many questions and open so many doors!
“Because most don’t realize what just happened. And it’s not uniform as some people do the process of gathering tenet in the womb, or perhaps their mother unknowingly shares some of their own with them, hence why some humans are born with their quirks active right out the human oven.” Shizune explained as they didn't spend too much time watching humans, but they had done it enough over the centuries to make educated guesses, which as far as she knew, had been proven accurate with how humans and these…quirks worked.
“But I’m quirkless.”
“One needs tenet to use a quirk without dying, but one doesn’t need a quirk to have tenet.” Shizune yawned, having thought such a fact would be obvious. “But I digress, training one’s tenet through physical activity and experience is why quirks gain in strength, as they increase the strength of their container that is the human body, which means they can hold more tenet. Izuku nodded, that part he knew.
"Of course, there are exceptions as while tenet can improve the body, these changes aren't permanent. Hence genetics come into play as you might know." Shizune continued to explain the relationship between tenet and quirks, but there was another issue Izuku was seeing with it.
“But that is all subconsciously, it’s less thought and more instinct, right?” He asked, waiting for them to nod before he continued. “Then could they train their tenet directly to further increase their power?” All Might's body was crippled by that injury of his, but if he learned to use tenet, couldn't he enhance it to decrease that limit? He wouldn't regain the lost limbs, but he'll be in better shape overall, he could see his time limit pushed by to 5, maybe 6 hours because of it. If not his body, then couldn't he further increase his already demi-God-like power?
What if weaker heroes did so, would someone like Ingenium be capable of casually running over water and up buildings without needing to push themselves? Would someone with a minor telekinesis quirk like Inko be capable of pulling entire cars towards her? Would Hisashi be able to breathe out hot enough flames in great enough quantities to compete with flame heroes like Endeavour?
“Yes and no,” Shizune wiggled their head. “Sure, like some of those humans you know, they could train in it, but their quirks serve as a block to any meaningful development.” He cocked an eyebrow at that.
“How does that work?” There were plenty of quirk users in the sanctuary that used tenet just fine. Just thinking of one name, Kyūfune was great at using one form of tenet which he didn’t.
“Like I just said, they subconsciously use their tenet just to maintain their bodies thanks to the effects of their quirks, in many cases it fuels it." They started as they waved a paw in the air. “Imagine someone that can expel water from their hands, where does the water come from?” They asked him, with Izuku's mind jumping to Singapore’s top hero and rumored close friend to All Might, Big Red Dot. Despite the fact he looked like a humanoid lion, his quirk was related to water and allowed him to produce vast quantities of it from his mouth, with enough force to even knock trucks into their side.
“Their bodies.” He wasn’t surprised when Shizune shook their head, he wasn’t all that confident in his answer.
“And where, pray tell,” They learned in a bit closer. “Would a human body store that kind of water?” When he didn’t answer, they continued.
“Here is another example, what does a human that creates and controls fire use to fuel that?” He thought of Endeavour, and while largely unapproachable, he couldn’t help but respect his drive. But when it came to his quirk, he couldn’t answer as perhaps it was his will that allowed him to control his flames, but fire worked on three basic things: Oxygen, fuel and heat. The human body could perhaps provide two of those things, as insane as that was, what was he burning as fuel?
In a flash, he realized that that was. “Tenet.”
Shizune nodded, pleased that he was starting to understand what they were trying to say. “That’s right. They’re already using all the tenet they’ll ever have access to just to use those quirks of theirs, which comes on top of mutating and protecting them from the quirk’s effects.”
“But that doesn’t answer the question, why can’t they train it?” He asked, as that didn’t explain why they couldn’t train in tenet, only why they couldn’t use it like he could.
“Tenet might exist in all things, but it’s unique to all of them. quirkless like yourself are blank sheets, so tenet can serve multiple purposes with you, which is why you can train it far more effectively.” If they could give an example, it would be an all-purpose container. You could put anything you wanted in it, so long as it could fit.
"For someone with a quirk, it's different as their tenet is always used in just one way, it takes on 1-maybe 2 forms. For them to gain the same advancement you'll have in perhaps a month, they'll have to train for 16." In contrast, those with quirks were specially made-containers meant to hold certain things. Because of that, they were great at what they were designed for, and subpar at anything else.
“So, they can train in it, it’ll just take too long to make any use of it?” If Shizune was right in her estimation, then for someone like Hawks to become as proficient as he was after a single year, he’ll have to dedicate 16 years, even if he started now, he would only be as good as Izuku by his early 40s. And that didn’t take into account that Izuku had 4 years’ worth of training under his belt when it came to tenet.
"Yup, if you flimsy humans had longer lifespans, then we can take but since it takes mastering sage mode to slow down the ageing process to begin with, you can see the dilemma so many of your kind face." Shizune bemoaned how short a human lifespan was on average. Sure, older folk tended to be a riot to either mess with, or speak with, but they were far from their prime and couldn't entertain them in ways a younger one could.
"Slowed ageing?" He knew about that part, at least partially as he was taught early on that even just a novice who achieved a gold belt was at the stage where their bodies would naturally be tougher for longer. But he didn't think that it slowed down the ageing process itself.
“Yes, tenet users typically enjoy a passive ability of cell rejuvenation. You can’t regrow limbs and you can still die, but you’ll find that the aging process is decreased.” They waved that off, much to his surprise.
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“And this is taken to new levels with sage mode?” He asked, seeing another reason that people before him would have sought out this power.
“Yup,” Shizune nodded. “Once you reach your peak, which I’m told is 30-35, you’ll find yourself staying for decades. Just look at the girl you call master, how old do does she appear to you?” They asked him, putting him on the spot as he stopped to think about it. She didn't look like a spring chicken, that was for sure, but she was far from an old hen either.
“Early, maybe mid-30s.” If he had to compare her, she looked like she could have known people like Present Mic and Midnight, or at least attended high school a couple of years before they did.
“And how old do you think she is, and no,” Shizune asked, raising a paw to stop him before he could respond. “No nonsense about it being rude to think about a woman’s age.” Closing his mouth, he thought about the question.
Sure, she looked to be in her 30s, but that wouldn't line up with what he had seen in his time under her tutelage. Not only was she referred to as the founder of the sanctuary, an institution that was 50 years old, but she had students far older them him, people in their late 30s who spoke of her as if she raised them, or was someone who was in their lives since childhood. There was how she walked, how she moved in most spaces as he had seen Bakugo enough to know when someone walked as if they believed they owned whatever room they were in. But with her, he saw what it looked like when someone did own the room, not just through power, but experience and wisdom that could only come from age.
Then there were the times when she would reference events and people from decades ago, such as when she mentioned a hero who had retired over 30 years ago or a celebrity that hadn't been considered 'dream boat' material for the better part of a quarter century. She preferred to watch older entertainment, stuff that couldn't even be found on TV and needed to be brought on niche websites, saw modern games as 'boring' whenever brought up and enjoyed 'classics', stuff so old that one needed to play them on PC as no console made in the past 40 years could support it.
“You’re going to do that a lot, aren’t you?” Shizune spoke up, interrupting his mutter storm he blushed, looking away as he couldn't believe he did that before a youkai. “No answer the question.”
After another moment of thought, he said his answer. “Late 60s.”
“Wrong, if I’m remembering things right, that little girl is around 95.” His eyes almost fell out of his head at that, that couldn’t be right, even if tenet, he knew users in the sanctuary in their mid-80s who very much looked to be in their late 40s.
“9-9-95?!”
"Yes, little human. She's quite old enough to be your great-grandmother. Hope you weren't thinking about asking her out on a date." Shizune poked fun at him as they might not be human, but they knew enough about them to know that their little student was quite the catch, the cat-like features only made it all the better.
Izuku didn't fall for that though, even as he collected himself after learning that detail about her age which he swore to never bring up he ran the risk of losing his head. “I wasn’t.”
“How boring,” Shizune pouted, they'll have to try harder to make him flounder, how else were they supposed to get their entertainment from him in between brutal training sessions? “But anyway, you can see how mastering the sage arts has helped her then.”
"Yes, but how does this relate to actual sage training?" Izuku asked.
“To answer that, you need to know what sage mode is.” Shizune started to explain as they drew what looked to be a human body in the dirt, one that had a little box shape in its chest.
"Normally, whether you have a quirk or not, you create your tenet energy as a living being. Training such as the one you've been through can be used to increase one's standard amount, increase the size of the container, and strengthen the body to allow it to use greater amounts of tenet without injury." They tapped the box, seeing that he was following along well enough.
“Sage mode is taking tenet from your surroundings and mixing that with your own, giving you access to power that no single person could ever hope to create on their own.” They added to the drawings squiggly lines moving towards the container, which now looked to be both larger and filled to the brim.
“It’s taking from the creatures and lifeforms around you?” Izuku didn’t know how he felt about that, essentially stealing the life force of others to empower one’s self was the most villainous thing he could think of. He wished to achieve his goals and make a better world, but he didn’t want to stoop to such levels to do it, he refused to.
“In a way, all things naturally leak out tenet, unless they’re trained like yourself and most of the other humans under the girl’s care, it will always leak out of you. Same with plants and animals. To use Sage is to access that wasted tenet and pull it into your own body.” Shizune informed him, lessening his concerns about the ethical ramifications of it.
“Of course, this is heavily dependent on what life can be found around you as while it can linger and even travel in the air, areas with increased life like forests and cities were the best place to gather," Shizune added, to which he nodded as he made sense that a technique that drew on life needed life to function. However, the odds of him finding himself somewhere with none at all were slim to non-existent as what would a hero be doing in such a location.
“Is that why we’re training here, because of the abundance of life?” That would make sense, but Shizune didn’t immediately confirm it.
“Yes and no,” He looked back at them, eager to hear their reasoning. “There are plenty of living things here, sure, but it’s also easier to learn Sage mode in the spirit world as you humans call it. If I were to train you in the human world, it could take us easily 4 times as long and I don’t feel like using over 2 years of my time for humans that almost always fail to become sages.”
"I don't have 2 years to use to train." He decided to focus on what he could understand, and focus on the spirit world stuff later.
“Then we’re on the same page, human.” Shizune wasn’t in the mood to explain it to him. If he wanted to learn, he could do it on his own time with one of the other cats that lived here. “As for the training that goes into sage mode, it builds on the ideas that created the five training levels of tenet itself.” They wiped away their drawing in the dirt, their eyes turning to him.
"Why don't you explain what those are and how you understand them in this new context." They didn’t ask, they ordered. Knowing that this was another test of his knowledge, he wouldn’t back down even if he was concerned that he might get some stuff wrong.
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“Because everything is always leaking out tenet, and it takes time for it to reform even with training, the first thing we’re taught is Mōfu. This allows us to open all 261 tenet points on the body to allow for even and quick distribution of tenet which would otherwise leak out randomly.” He explained, with Shizune nodding as he went along but he couldn't be sure if that was due to them agreeing with him or just pushing him to continue.
"The next part is learning how to control the flow of your tenet and keep it around yourself for your use, this is what causes those who train with it to be able to maintain healthy cells and promote accelerated cell growth. Granting increased healing and stamina even if you're older." He knew that a lot of people stopped there, as while they couldn’t do nearly as much, the boost to their immune system, stamina and physical appearance was enough.
“The next would be Osaeru,” He began, trying to word it as well as he could. “While learning how to control the flow of your tenet is all fine and good. That doesn’t eliminate the fact that it’s still traceable. It might be a bit harder, but it can be done which is why learning how to stop the flow of your tenet entirely can mean the difference between victory and defeat. It also has the added benefit of increasing fatigue recovery and healing.” That was why it could be a challenge to even notice that a tenet user was in a room.
It had its downsides as they’ll still be seen. And if someone was already tracking you, they’ll notice you vanishing and just get more alert to try and find you again. It also meant that you couldn’t use or detect tenet which left you a sitting duck. "I see it like how in some games, the player character just needs to stop taking damage and find somewhere to rest for a big to regain stamina and health."
“Weird way to put it, but not inaccurate.” Shizune chuckled at that but otherwise didn’t stop him.
“The third training form would be Shūchū,” Izuku continued, thinking of those days when he reached it. “When you get to this level, you take what you learned in the first two and expand on it, learning how to more accurately direct and control your tenet energy. Not just stopping its flow, or keeping it around yourself as an invisible blanket.” The master compared it to learning how to stand, and then how to walk, with the 3rdstep being how to run, even on uneven surfaces.
“The master had us train with it by placing a seed on our foreheads and instructing that we concentrate on sending our tenet into it. Too fast and the seed dies, too slow and the flower that forms will be deformed and small. The key is in control, finding the right amount and learning how to keep it there.” He smiled as he recalled when he went through it. a sunflower growing on his forehead was one of the funniest things he'd ever seen.
After that, she told him and those who were training with him to continue to do it, while carrying out tasks such as chores and answering random questions, teaching them parrilla processing as they couldn't take the time to constantly focus on it, it had to be something near instinctual much like running as no-one does it while thinking about how they'll move their muscles and retain balance.
“The last of the four basics would be Senren, which is when we…I was trained to increase the output of my tenet energy to explosive levels, greatly amplifying base strength and durability. It also serves as training to increase how much tenet one can generate and hold." If the others were considered to be blanket, this was a sword as while it boasted defense, it was better used in offence as he did when he ripped out that villain's eye, as he allowed him to pierce through its murky, slime body and effortlessly snatch its organ.
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“Those are the basics, things that anyone that wishes to train in tenet needs to learn and eventually master.” Shizune nodded, pleased that he managed to understand all four steps. As they observed him again, they could tell that he was well versed in that, as his tenet wrapped around his entire body like a blanket, without any conscious thought from him. He also had far more than most humans did, if they had to rate it, she'd say at this stage, the boy had a High C-category.
It wasn’t the highest they had worked with, being below the average, but considering all those before him as people in their mid to late 20s, it was quite impressive.
“However, because sage mode at the end of the day, is an augmentation to what you already know, it means nothing to someone who isn’t proficient in the 5 basic skills of tenet.” They didn't want him to have any delusions of what Sage mode was. At its core, it was a bower buff.
Izuku thought they'd be more, and looking at Shizune's grin, he suspected that there was but they simply weren't telling him. But as he couldn't force them to talk even if he wanted to, he just went along with it. “I can only use 3 of them at the moment, but I was learning from a friend how to use the 4th.”
“Those being?”
“Nezumito, Hyōjutsu and Yukitora.” Izuku answered with his three strongest in no particular order but developed a little red on his cheeks when he recalled the 4th. “My skills with Feline purr are…below subpar at the moment.” Kyūfune was helping him with that, as while she wasn’t the best, she had the most in-depth understanding of it, which he supposed made sense as she wished to be a doctor.
Shizune nodded, taking in what he said and while they would have liked for him to be proficient in all 5, 3 wasn't bad. With Nezumito, it was a boast to his 3 senses of sight, smell and hearing along with the bonus of a 6th sense which among other things, measured their strength from a distance, could detect the presence of others, pick up on emotions and core natures of people and even detect intention. Of course, that was all things that needed to be gained through hard work and training but she knew enough about the boy to know he could track presence, emotions and strength. They also know that he could use the more advanced form of Húxū which was necessary for him to have reached the belt he now had.
Hyōjutsu was simply, the art of using tenet to augment one's speed, acrobatics and agility to be more like a cat's, the superior if you asked them. It could be used to flood their muscles, veins and bones with tenet for a momentary increase in speed to cover short distances so fast one could assume you teleported, which worked best when avoiding an attack; another use would be when the user focuses a fixed amount of tenet to the bottom of their feet, or any other body part really and stick to practical any surface they wish, from walls to even ceilings. They liked that one the most as screwing with humans by appearing upside never stopped being amusing; the third use come from using what the second did, but to another level and walking on water, making it so that no stream, river or lake could keep you from your pray; the last one would be flooding their entire bodies with a controlled, continued flow of tenet to boast their speed, reaction time, reflexes and acrobatic ability to superhuman levels.
The third one, Yukitora was the most direct one for combat, even if with other two helped as that was the skill of coating parts of, the entire body or objects in your procession with tenet to augment their durability and power. It was also the only one that was 'visible' to others who could interact with tenet, with the color being entirely dependent on the person. It was also the skill that took the idea of Senren and applied that to others, mainly inanimate objects, which could be used to cause tremendous internal damage, or just cause the object's structural integrity to utterly fail and…well, explode.
"But with what you said about the training methods, they'll all be correct and crucial to learning Sage mode," Izuku asked.
“As we established, tenet is typically made inside the body, but Sage mode draws on tenet from outside the body.” They tapped his belly with her claw, which they had extended before he could even realize it.
“So, training must first begin with the container, your body as we need to both increase its capacity and strength, else you’ll just leak out all that excess tenet at best.” He didn’t like how that sounded.
“And at worst?” Shizune merely smiled at his discomfort.
“You’ll die a very painful death.” They had seen it once before, with the 4th trainee if they were recalling things right. They had tried to force it early when they weren't paying attention and by the time Shizune had arrived to help, they were already convulsing on the floor as their body tried and failed to handle the influx of tenet before they died. A shame really, Shizune liked their jokes.
“What will this training include then?” Izuku gulped.
“First, I’m going to place a seal on you, which will block your use of tenet. Then I’ll train your body into the ground, breaking you down and building you back up so that physically, you can handle the power.” Shizune waved her paw about, and in it, appeared a small paper seal with the kanji for ‘seal’ written on it but they didn’t do anything else with it.
Waving their paw again, the seal vanished. "If you survive that part, we'll move on to the next which will take what you learned in Senren and crack it up a notch. Increasing the 'size' of your tenet points, your body's tolerance for it, and the size of your tenet container."
"That…doesn't sound too bad," Izuku stated, to which they smiled at him like he was a naïve child about to be humbled in the worst possible way.
“That’s what they all say, and just like them, you’ll curse my name before pleading for even the smallest mercy in less than a month,” They got up and walked closer to him, looking down at him in a way that blocked the sun, casting him in their shadow where he could only focus on their eyes. “That I can promise you”
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It was brought to my attention recently that I haven't done enough to flesh out the power that is tenet, and I have to agree with that as I forgot that as the writer, I have all the knowledge, I already prepared all the notes on what it can and can't do, when it can be used, what powers it gives, etc. This chapter, at least parts of it were meant to happen later, but I felt like shifting things around wouldn’t mess with the overall story too much.
It also gave me a chance to explain just how tenet is a thing in this world as while some quirks…just work, like how Yaomomo can eat a four-course meal and somehow have enough fat to produce literal cannons, I decided to add something of an explanation to that. Tenet could be thought of like Nen, or Chakra in that everyone has it, but not everyone can consciously use it but it's essentially to life as if you lose all of it-you die. Those with quirks are already using more of theirs when compared to an un-trained quirkless person as one doesn't have a quirk to fuel.
But much like a video game, those with quirks are locked to certain class roles, which means that they can't use the full range of tenet abilities. And yes, I'm aware that someone like AFO would have the time to learn it, but considering his 50 years of training would only be as good as Izuku or Mellissa's 3.1 years, there is little reason for him to bother as the time he'll need to sink in just to achieve a middle rank in skill wouldn't be worth it so in essence, I created an in-universe reason for why 90% of villains that try to use tenet will never match the MC and I didn't need to make him Ninja-Jesus to do it.
For the power ranking system Shizune used when describing Izuku's current power level, it's the same one used to classify villains with the weakest being F, followed by E, then D. All the way to the top, which is S-class.
