Terrifying Talent

That evening, after dinner, Li Chuan returned to his room and began his first attempt at extracting Chakra.

After taking Chiriku as his master, Li Chuan had Kino and the others return to the Prince's Mansion. He had come to the Fire Temple to train, not to enjoy himself. He did not need servants waiting on him.

Li Chuan's behavior made Chiriku nod to himself in approval.

Although he knew that someone Li Chuan's age who began extracting Chakra and training would likely only ever reach the strength of a Genin, Li Chuan was his disciple in name, after all. He still hoped his disciple would put in some effort.

Of course, as a high-ranking prince, Li Chuan's treatment differed from that of ordinary disciples. At the very least, he had a private room and did not need to sleep in a communal dormitory with the other monks.

"Oh, this is quite simple!"

When Li Chuan first tried extracting Sage Art Chakra, it was not as difficult as Chiriku had said. It did not take one or two weeks just to get started.

Instead, he smoothly balanced the three types of energy—physical, spiritual, and natural—in the proper proportions and transformed them into Sage Art Chakra.

After thinking about it, though, he felt that this was only natural.

What was the difficulty in extracting Chakra? What determined the speed of Chakra cultivation? Chiriku had explained all of that in detail today.

There were three main difficulties in normal Chakra extraction: the body, the spirit, and control.

Sage Art added one more element—natural energy. However, since it required such a tiny amount, it could be ignored.

The stronger the body and spirit, the easier it was to sense and extract energy. The stronger one's control, the more smoothly one could fuse the three types of energy and convert them into Chakra.

This might be rather difficult for ordinary seven- or eight-year-old children.

But for Li Chuan, it was exceedingly simple.

First came the body. The most important thing in martial arts was the body. Stance training, breathing techniques, Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, and the like were all meant to strengthen the internal organs and fleshly body.

Even without Chakra or ninjutsu enhancing his body, Li Chuan's current raw physical strength was probably much greater than that of an ordinary Genin. He might even rival some Chunin.

One had to know that his original body had nearly been developed to the limits of humanity. After arriving in this world, the number of his cells had suddenly more than doubled.

Then there was his spirit. How could someone who had trained kung fu to his level and frequently fought Life-and-Death Boxing matches be weak in spirit or willpower? Coupled with the spiritual accumulation of two lifetimes, he was even stronger.

The clearest manifestation of this was his exceptionally powerful memory in this life. If he concentrated, he could achieve the level of remembering something after a single glance.

Lastly came control, which was even more his forte. For a martial artist, being able to basically control every muscle in the body was the bare minimum.

That was why, when Li Chuan began extracting Sage Art Chakra according to Chiriku's method, it went so smoothly.

Moreover, given Li Chuan's physical condition, his Chakra extraction speed far surpassed that of ordinary people, because the speed of Chakra extraction was primarily related to the body.

The stronger a person's vitality, the stronger their physical energy, and the faster they could extract Chakra. A typical example was Naruto of the Uzumaki Clan.

Of course, having a large amount of Chakra did not necessarily mean one was powerful. A ninja's strength could only be judged by considering ninjutsu, Body Technique, experience, skill, and other factors together.

Even when Naruto was still a Genin, the Chakra in his body far exceeded that of Kakashi, an elite Jonin. Yet Kakashi could take Naruto down with one hand.

Still, having more Chakra was definitely a good thing. It meant that between opponents of equal strength, the one with more Chakra would certainly win in a battle of attrition. Many extraordinarily powerful ninjutsu also required massive amounts of Chakra to cast.

The next day, in the same training room.

"Chuan, extracting Sage Art Chakra is inherently more difficult than extracting normal Chakra, so you must be patient. After trying last night, if there was anything you did not understand, you can ask. Your master will explain it to you.

"Our goal for these next two weeks is to first extract Chakra. Only after you possess Chakra can we proceed with the following lessons."

Chiriku knew that many problems would inevitably arise when someone first began extracting Chakra. Afraid that his prince disciple would be discouraged, he offered some reassurance as soon as he sat down.

"Master, I have already extracted Chakra!"

Li Chuan smiled faintly.

He felt there was no need to conceal his strength and talent from Chiriku. He believed he should demonstrate them more. Only by making Chiriku feel that he was not a disciple merely playing around, but one with genuine hope of becoming strong, would Chiriku teach him all of his ninjutsu.

"What? You have already extracted Chakra? That's impossible! Regarding Chakra extraction, I think you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself. Taking a few months to extract Chakra is perfectly normal—"

Chiriku did not believe Li Chuan's claim that he had already extracted Chakra at all. His first thought was that this prince disciple of his cared too much about saving face.

That was perfectly normal. Having served as the Daimyo's guard, Chiriku knew very well that nobles cared greatly about appearances.

Li Chuan did not explain. Instead, he directly gathered Sage Art Chakra in his hand and made it emit a faint golden glow.

He did not yet know hand seals or ninjutsu, so he could only use this method to prove that he could successfully extract Sage Art Chakra.

When Chiriku saw the distinctive golden glow of Sage Art in Li Chuan's hand, it was as though someone had cast a silencing spell on him. His eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and all sound ceased.

He was certain that Li Chuan had not possessed even a trace of Chakra yesterday. He was also certain that what rose from Li Chuan's hand now was the Sage Art Chakra unique to the Fire Temple.

So Li Chuan, this twenty-year-old prince, had truly succeeded in extracting Sage Art Chakra in just one night.

At the same time, Chiriku felt another wave of regret. With such outstanding ninja talent, if Li Chuan had become a ninja as a child, he might have grown into another fairly powerful Jonin in the future.

What he did not know was that Li Chuan had not taken one night at all. He had smoothly extracted Sage Art Chakra, which was even slower to extract than normal Chakra, in merely a dozen seconds.

"Excellent. You are very talented, and your master is deeply gratified. Since you can already successfully extract Chakra, today we will learn the most fundamental element of ninjutsu: hand seals.

"Basically, most ninjutsu are released through hand seals. There are twelve seals in total, each with its own unique gesture. Some of them are rather difficult.

"Now follow me and learn them one by one. Remember, they must be precise. Otherwise, the ninjutsu cannot be successfully released.

"The first: Rat!"

"Rat!"

Li Chuan took one look at Chiriku's hand gesture and immediately copied it exactly.

With a martial arts expert's control over his muscles, combined with his ability to remember anything at a glance, such hand seal gestures posed no difficulty for him at all.

Chiriku carefully examined Li Chuan's gesture. He had originally intended to correct any mistakes, only to find that there was nothing at all to correct.

"Very good. The Rat seal is relatively simple. Next, we will learn the Ox seal."