Training

"I had basically met the prerequisites for developing Substitution Body Flicker. Next, I needed to give it a proper try."

With at least three months left for training, Uchiha Kiyoshi still had time to research this area. He had not spent all those years studying Sealing Jutsu Basics for nothing. He had learned the Uchiha Clan's most comprehensive Sealing Jutsu Basics, and he had studied them seriously, building an extremely solid foundation. That was also why he had mastered all the basic applications of Sealing Jutsu in just three months.

So-called Basic Sealing Jutsu was indeed only basic. Take one Binding Array, for instance—even an ordinary person with a bit more strength could break free from it. But Uchiha Kiyoshi was not looking at the effects themselves. He was looking at the combined applications of the formulas, much like the small Chakra circulation he had been working on before. With these basic combination methods, as long as they were layered and combined properly, all kinds of Sealing Jutsu could be developed.

Still, this was no simple task. There were already many Sealing Formulas, and combining them was not a matter of simply stacking them together, but of organically integrating them. For example, if "123" and "425" were combined, making them work would not mean merely placing the two sequences together in order. They might need to be arranged into something like 142325 instead. Then there was the question of whether identical formulas could be shared—some could, while others could not. Furthermore, Sealing Formulas were not merely drawn in sequence along a single line. Some were planar, while others were spatial. Overall, it was quite troublesome.

Those had merely been the simplest examples for ease of understanding. Real Sealing Formula combinations never involved fewer than ten formulas, and the amount of experimentation required far exceeded imagination. However, Uchiha Kiyoshi's foundation was solid enough for him to eliminate huge numbers of incorrect combinations outright. Coupled with the permutations and combinations he had learned in mathematics in his previous life, he held a considerable advantage over other ninjas.

"First, a small goal: develop a Sealing Jutsu that can temporarily seal Chakra inside a kunai."

Having set his goal, Uchiha Kiyoshi began another round of training.

Every morning, Uchiha Kiyoshi trained his body. By now, his physical development was fairly complete, and he could use weighted gear. So, he bought two sets of weights, one weighing ten kilograms and the other twenty. He wore the twenty-kilogram set while training and kept the ten-kilogram set on during everyday life.

Thanks to the Body Nourishment Technique, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not need to worry about exhausting his body, which was why he dared to train with weights. He was not some Canglan Beast. The weighted training was quite effective as well, and his physical abilities improved much faster.

Feeling his physical abilities rapidly improve again after so long, Uchiha Kiyoshi trained with even greater dedication.

"Unfortunately, the physical improvements from training don't have that same feeling of evolution as the Body Nourishment Technique."

Unlike the improvement brought by the Body Nourishment Technique's nourishment of the body, physical training did not give him the sensation of promoting bodily evolution. It simply strengthened his body. Still, that was enough. Uchiha Kiyoshi had yet to discover what use that feeling of evolution had, so naturally, he was in no hurry to improve in that regard.

After finishing his Taijutsu training in the morning, he practiced the Body Nourishment Technique after lunch. In the afternoon, Uchiha Kiyoshi trained in Ninjutsu, practicing both new techniques and improving his proficiency with techniques he had already mastered. Whenever he ran out of Chakra, he stopped to think through theoretical matters related to Sealing Jutsu. At night, after dinner and after recovering his Chakra, he worked on developing Sealing Jutsu.

Orochimaru also saw Uchiha Kiyoshi's diligent training. His progress was more or less in line with Orochimaru's expectations, so he did not interfere too much. Orochimaru focused most of his energy on Nawaki and Sarutobi Saku instead.

Sarutobi Saku was easy enough to handle. He had been talented from the start, and with his solid foundation, he had no trouble learning all kinds of things.

Nawaki was different. Although Uchiha Kiyoshi had answered his questions every day at the Ninja Academy and helped him make up quite a bit of knowledge, it was only enough to get him through the graduation examination. When it came to actual theoretical knowledge, Nawaki's foundation was extremely shaky. And was Orochimaru the kind of person who could not control him? Clearly not. Under Orochimaru's pressure, Nawaki had to study plenty of basics every day and submit to his teacher's inspections. For a poor student, this was simply the most miserable kind of training.

Outside of studying, Orochimaru also stepped up Nawaki's Chakra control training. With so much Chakra, how could it go unused? Learning more Ninjutsu was the best way to use it, but given Nawaki's situation, he still learned Ninjutsu very slowly. So, he could only train his Chakra control first. Sharpening the knife did not delay the chopping of wood. With better Chakra control, every other area benefited. It was not merely helpful for practicing Medical Ninjutsu. In fact, many Ninjutsu techniques required powerful Chakra control to complete.

As for Nawaki's miserable life, Uchiha Kiyoshi was powerless to help.

This was karma. Ah, if you did not work hard when young, you would only grieve when old—that was exactly what this meant. Though Nawaki was not old yet, the meaning was the same. He had refused to study properly before, and now he was suffering for it.

"If I put this formula here, the entire technique will run smoothly. Combining the Barrier, binding, and enhancement components should let it seal Chakra, right?"

Uchiha Kiyoshi carefully inscribed the formula combination he had just derived onto a standard-issue kunai. Seeing that the formulas did not conflict this time, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Over these three months, Uchiha Kiyoshi had combined a Basic Barrier, a Binding Array, and a Sealing Formula with an enhancement effect. After continuous derivation, he had finally stabilized the entire Sealing Jutsu. If its effects were good enough, it could be used to improve Substitution Body Flicker.

For three months, he had scrapped five or six kunai every day. They were only standard-issue kunai, but it was still enough to make Uchiha Kiyoshi's heart ache. To cover those expenses, he had taken on one or two D-rank Missions every day over the past three months.

Having finally stabilized the formula without scrapping the kunai, Uchiha Kiyoshi breathed a sigh of relief. If this continued, he really would not be able to keep it up. After all, the village only had a limited number of D-rank Missions. Even though he was a ninja qualified to accept C-rank Missions, the number of D-rank Missions he could take was capped. This was to prevent higher-ranked ninjas from farming missions and lowering the quality of their completion.

Uchiha Kiyoshi placed his right hand on the kunai and slowly poured Chakra into it.

"Hah... It's stable. Looks like these three months weren't wasted. As long as it can seal Chakra, it'll do. Keep going and see what the limit is."

Uchiha Kiyoshi continued injecting Chakra into the kunai's seal.

"Bang!"

At last, the seal on the kunai could no longer endure it, and the kunai was ruined.

"So the maximum the seal can withstand is around ten Ka of Chakra? No, under normal circumstances, it would be best to keep it below eight Ka. Only then can the entire technique operate normally."

Uchiha Kiyoshi looked at the ruined kunai and summarized the Sealing Jutsu's effects based on the experiment he had just conducted.

Honestly, Uchiha Kiyoshi was somewhat dissatisfied with the result. Half the Chakra consumed by the entire Substitution Technique went toward setting up the replacement object. In other words, the sealed Chakra was basically half of the Chakra needed to activate the Ninjutsu.

If it could only seal eight Ka of Chakra, then the range of the Substitution Technique would naturally be limited.

At Uchiha Kiyoshi's current level, with fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen Ka of Chakra, the replacement range he could achieve was only around five meters.

At Uchiha Kiyoshi's level of Substitution Technique, anything below three meters cost one Ka, four meters cost five Ka, five meters cost more than ten Ka, six meters cost around thirty Ka, and ten meters required one hundred and twenty Ka.

Every additional meter of replacement increased the Chakra consumption, and the increase became faster and faster. Even this was the best result after Uchiha Kiyoshi's improvements. That was the main reason the Substitution Technique, a Space-Time Ninjutsu, was so underwhelming.

"Heh, I'm setting my standards too high. Five meters already has practical combat value. It's barely enough for now, and there's still plenty of time. I can improve it slowly. What about adding a few more enhancement steps? Hmm, worth trying."

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