Breathing

Grinding experience through breathing was not easy, because breathing was a passive process. Hyuga Ningyuan now had to consciously control his breathing at every moment.

The instant he forgot, the timer would reset to zero.

Unfortunately, his thoughts were extremely active, and he would lose focus if he was not careful.

Fortunately, every minute of consciously controlled breathing earned him 1 experience point and 1 General Experience Point.

In the third minute after adding breathing to his skill list, he gained 3 experience points and 3 General Experience Points. His breathing was now LV1 (3/10).

General Experience Points: 8

Hyuga Ningyuan put all his General Experience Points into breathing.

The next instant, a flash of light appeared, and his breathing was raised to LV2!

Breathing LV2 (0/100)

General Experience Points: 1.

"Breathe in, breathe out!" As his breathing level rose, Hyuga Ningyuan immediately felt the change.

His breathing rhythm became slower and more prolonged.

He had originally breathed 27 times per minute. Now, he only breathed 25 times per minute!

Moreover, each breath gave him 2 experience points and 1 General Experience Point!

"The higher the skill level, the more experience I gain from each action? Or has the quality of my breathing improved?" Hyuga Ningyuan thought about it and decided it was probably the latter.

Otherwise, there was no reason a mathematics master would gain 10 experience points from elementary school math problems.

That would make no sense.

"Sadly, General Experience is still just 1 point. Sixty minutes per hour, twenty-four hours a day—that's 1,440 General Experience!" Hyuga Ningyuan calculated that this income was quite high in the early stages, but would be low later on. Judging by this growth rate, a LV3 skill might require 1,000 experience points to level up. By then, General Experience would only be a tiny fraction.

So, General Experience Points could be used to level up other skills early on, but if he wanted to specialize in upgrading a certain skill later, he would have to focus on that skill itself.

Thirty-four minutes later, Breathing LV2 (68/100), General Experience Points: 34.

After breathing reached LV2, consciously controlling it became much easier. He hardly lost focus anymore, nor did he miss out on experience.

Thirty-four experience points. Continue upgrading breathing.

If you wanted to do a good job, you first had to sharpen your tools.

Besides, breathing had plenty of potential. Upgrading this skill was not a waste.

"Ding. Your breathing has risen to LV3."

"Breathe in, breathe out!"

Hyuga Ningyuan felt his breathing become much more prolonged again, and its rhythm became far smoother. His breaths per minute had dropped to 20!

Because his breathing level had risen so quickly and his previous memories remained fresh, Hyuga Ningyuan felt as if he had only learned how to breathe properly today, after living for so many years!

A slower breathing rhythm did not mean he inhaled less air each time.

On the contrary, he could take in a large amount of air in one breath, then maximize the use of its oxygen.

In other words, consumption had decreased, efficiency had increased, and meaningless depletion of his life force had been reduced!

Notably, upgrading LV3 breathing required 500 experience, not 1,000!

[Name: Hyuga Ningyuan (Ningyuan)

Gender: Male

Age: 5

Skills:

Sleep Level 1 (8/100)

Diet LV1 (1/100)

Marching LV1 (1/100)

Chakra Extraction LV1 (1/100)

Internal Force Extraction LV1 (7/100)

Magic Meditation LV1 (1/100)

True Qi Cultivation LV1 (1/100)

Water Drainage LV1 (1/100)

Learning LV1 (5/100)

Painting LV1 (1/10)

Mathematics LV1 (2/10)

Breathing LV3 (0/500)

Talent: Path Creator

Actively activate to enter Brain Overclocking state

General Experience Points: 1]

"This panel is finally starting to fill out!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded in satisfaction. It looked much more pleasing now.

"Ring, ring, ring!" The dismissal bell rang, and the entire classroom immediately erupted.

Teruhi Sōun smiled, announced the end of class, then left with his books.

The Ninja Academy did not have much time off at noon, only an hour and a half. Half an hour was for eating, while the remaining hour could be used for a nap.

Quite a few students directly took out their Bento and began eating. Some carried theirs to the rooftop, the training grounds, or the grove to eat.

Yūhi Kurenai also took out her Bento box, then remembered that Hyuga Ningyuan had already finished his Bento during the first break!

She was hungry too, but thinking of how one of her classmates had nothing to eat—

"How about... I share some of my Bento with you?" Yūhi Kurenai asked softly.

"No need." Hyuga Ningyuan shook his head. It was a time when they were growing. If he was hungry, was she not hungry too?

"I'll go out to the street and figure something out!"

"The street?" Yūhi Kurenai froze. "Did you bring money?"

"No, but I have a way!" Hyuga Ningyuan waved his hand and dashed out of the classroom.

"This..." Yūhi Kurenai was somewhat worried about Hyuga Ningyuan. After thinking for a moment, she set aside one-third of her Bento.

I'll eat two-thirds myself. If Hyuga finds something to eat, I'll finish the rest. If he doesn't find anything, I'll give this to him!

Students at the Ninja Academy could not only leave at noon, but could even leave during class.

Otherwise, how would all those poor students skip class?

Outside the Ninja Academy were three forks in the road. One led toward the residences of ninja clans such as the Uchiha, Hyuga, Sarutobi, and Shimura. One led to the commercial street, while the third led toward the nearby Hokage Building.

In fact, the Hokage Building was only a few dozen meters from the Ninja Academy. You could see it the moment you looked up.

It would have been easy for Hyuga Ningyuan to find food. He could simply go to the Hokage Building, where there would definitely be Hyuga Branch Family members on duty. Borrowing some money would be easy enough.

But he did not like owing favors, so he went to the commercial street instead.

Although Konoha was roughly the size of a county-level city, it did not have much of a commercial atmosphere. Its commercial street was smaller than the towns from Ningyuan's previous life.

"Yamanaka Flower Shop, Nara Pharmacy, Akimichi Barbecue, Fujikawa Grain Store, Tenten Weapon Shop... So Tenten's name actually came from her family's weapon shop!" Hyuga Ningyuan savored the name and found it rather good. Tenten Weapon Shop—customers every day?

As he walked, Hyuga Ningyuan suddenly noticed a shop in the distance that seemed newly opened.

Business did not seem very good. The owner stood at the entrance calling out constantly, but few customers went inside.

Then he saw the name: Ichiraku Ramen!

"Ichiraku Ramen opened this early?" Hyuga Ningyuan's eyes lit up. Wasn't there his place to eat?

He ran over. From far away, Teuchi saw Hyuga Ningyuan heading toward his shop and hurriedly called out, "Kid, want to try my ramen? Secret seasoning, newly opened shop—I'll give you a discount!"

Hyuga Ningyuan shook his head. "I don't have money!"

"Huh?" Teuchi paused, then said, "That's all right even if you don't have money. Come help me taste it. If it's good, you can bring your family here to eat!"

As expected of the only person in the village who did not discriminate against Naruto. If Hyuga Ningyuan had been a little thicker-skinned, he might really have gotten a free meal here.

But he did not like owing favors, so he shook his head and said, "I won't eat for free. How about I help you attract customers for half an hour, and you treat me to a bowl of ramen?"

"Uh, sure, but do you know how to attract customers?" Teuchi asked. It was not that he doubted the Hyuga Clan's abilities. He had just moved here and did not know the Hyuga Clan.

He simply felt that a five-year-old child might not know how to do this!

"Just watch me!" Hyuga Ningyuan directly took the towel off Teuchi's shoulder, then asked, "By the way, boss, what's your name?"

"Uh, Teuchi," Teuchi said.

"Got it!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded, then began waving the towel and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Teuchi family recipe, Ichiraku Ramen! Second in Konoha, third in the world!"

Teuchi nearly choked on his own spit. Second in Konoha, sure...

Wait, wasn't his the only ramen shop in all of Konoha?

As for third in the world...

"Kid, my ramen can't possibly deserve third in the world!"

"Teuchi family recipe, Ichiraku Ramen! Second in Konoha, fourth in the world!"

Fine, shout whatever you want. Teuchi felt he could not control him.

Most importantly, he really saw people being drawn over by the child's voice!!

"Kid, did you say this ramen shop is second in Konoha and third in the world?" This was a ninja with a sunny expression who looked like a warm and gentle man.

"Yes!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded.

"Who rated it second in Konoha and third in the world?" the ninja asked curiously.

"I did!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded seriously. "My mom is first. He's second!"

The ninja was speechless. Good grief, why was he arguing seriously with a child?

Still, since he was already here, he might as well try it. Since even a child said it was delicious, a child's taste would not lie, right?

Besides—

Those eyes... was this child from the Hyuga Clan?

Sorry, I made a mistake while updating the settings and scheduled the original Chapter 13 for the next day.