006. The Promise.

As he pushed his body upwards, the muscles in his shoulders and back would bulge, showing a masculine side of him that Miyano had not seen before.

'Oh wow, I never knew Minato kun was so ripped. I wonder how it would feel like to have those strong arms around me.'

Miyano's face turned red and he found himself looking away out of embarrassment for thinking about something like that. Remembering his reason for staring in the first place, he called out his name, his shock coming back. "Mi…nato?"

His voice came out softer than he had intended and Minato who was a few feet away from him couldn't hear his voice.

"...99, 100!" He laid on the ground, panting hard when he suddenly noticed that the others were watching him. "Uh is something wrong?" He sat up, and after getting a view of his legs, Minato finally understood what had happened. "I unlocked one!" He said with excitement.

"It appears so." Bato dono was just as surprised as the others were but his hatred for Minato prevented him from acknowledging that. "You seemed to have unlocked the last chakra, root. That doesn't mean anything if you're still the weakest." He said in a rude tone and walked away.

"Don't listen to him," a girl said, a warm smile on her face. "I thought you were amazing."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm Aiko."

"Minato."

"Right, you're the uh…"

"The Unwanted." There was an obvious change in her expression when he said that. Maybe she hadn't known who he was before approaching him. He expected her to walk away or say some mean comment about him but she didn't.

"It was nice meeting you, I never thought that anyone like you could ever unlock one so quickly."

"Because I'm an Unwanted?"

"I didn't mean it as an insult, it's just.. Bato dono said some things about the other Unwanted, making them sound extremely useless. But you don't fit in that description."

"Oh uh.. thanks."

Miyano couldn't hear their conversation but the girl was smiling at Minato and he looked like he was blushing. At a point, she reached out and touched his arm and for some reason it upset Miyano.

He started to walk over to them but paused mid way.

'What am I doing? Why should I care if he talks to some girl?'

He cautioned himself to focus on their main reason for training but his curiousity was eating away at him. He wanted to know what they were talking about.

"Hey Minato Chan!" He called out and the latter immediately ran up to him.

"Miyano San, did you see? I managed to unlock one!" He reported with an excited look on his face.

"I did." Miyano smiled, he was glad that Minato didn't hesitate to leave the girl he was talking to. "Really impressive."

"Miyano San, can I train with you?"

"What?"

"I mean, if it's okay with you…I just thought that since we're kinda friends now it'll be better if we…trained together?"

It took all of Miyano's effort to hide his excitement. He initially wanted to train with Minato but he didn't want to ask him cause he thought it might make him look uncool.

"Sure. But don't expect me to go easy on you."

"Of course!"

The rest of the training for that day was mostly meditation and tai chi. Bato dono insisted that they kept at it until each of them unlocked at least three of the seven chakras.

"Stronger chakras makes stronger heroes." He said.

By the end of the day, kaito had unlocked four chakras. Minato came in second at three, the rest of the summoned had two while Minato remained with just one.

"Get some rest young heroes. As important as it is to work out, getting an adequate amount of rest is also important. Training continues tomorrow at first light."

"Hey loser, what happened? I thought you were going to unlock all the seven chakras today." Kaito mocked as they walked back to their rooms. "Just give up already, you're worthless wherever you go. So why do you keep hanging on to life so pathetically? Shouldn't this be enough sign that you're not wanted anywhere? I'm sure even death will be reluctant to take you."

His comment was followed by the mocking laughter of some of the others.

Among the group, Aiko was the only one who didn't laugh at Minato, but she didn't say anything in his defense either.

"Listen here Unwanted, I'm not going to let you or anyone else ruin this for me. I want to be the best and gain more power than all of you combined, and I won't let a puny weakling like you get in my way." One of them, a girl named Aimi said. She had an icy expression on her face, giving her the appearance of a mean and possibly proud girl.

"Be nice." Miyano said, getting between Minato and the others. "Minato Chan is doing the best he can. He was already at a disadvantage being summoned here as an extra, what he needs is our support not criticism."

Minato looked up at the tall figure shielding him from the judging gaze of the others, a feeling and safety and warmth overwhelming him. Even though they had only just met, something about the situation they were in felt familiar…almost like it had happened before.

But they were right, he was going to be an hindrance to them if he couldn't get stronger. It made him wonder if that was what pushed the others to the dark side.

Summoned to another world against your will, then being called an Unwanted and casted out like a monster.

Bato dono praised kaito when he unlocked his first chakra, but when he did, the old man barely showed any interest. It was almost like he wanted him to give up.

Minato had dealt with frustrations in the past, he knew the feeling. He was also very familiar with the feeling of depression, feeling left out, not being accepted anywhere. All that wasn't new to him, but it might have been a different case for the other Unwanted.

Probably consumed by the feeling of jealousy towards the heroes, and feeling unwanted and useless, the past Unwanted made dangerous decisions to prove that they were not useless.

But he was going to be different.

Either he was going to be acknowledged or not, either he was going to be rewarded or not, Minato swore to do his best and grow. Not for anything but to live up to Miyano's expectations.

After they had all settled in their respective rooms, Minato decided to try some of the mediation poses they did during training.

Bato dono said the key to understanding tai chi was to learn to control your breathing while moving around. Taking deep controlled breaths while moving your body helped in increasing the flow of chi.

He had no skill or ability but it could be acquired, but it all went down to his body capacity. Mastering chi and unlocking his chakra would expand his magicule restraints, giving his body more space for acquiring skills.

Sometime after midnight, Minato felt a change in his body. He looked at his hands and saw that they were emitting a green fire aura.

He closed his hand in a tight fist, he was one step closer to achieving his aim.

'I won't stop till I get to the top. Just watch me Miyano San, I'm going to make you proud.'