A Comprehensive Training Plan

"Your performance just now was not bad, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

"When attacking, do not just focus on the openings your opponent reveals. More importantly, always watch whether their hands are forming seals. The moment you notice your opponent disappear, you should move immediately and watch for attacks from your blind spots."

After returning to the training room, Chiriku forcibly suppressed his smile, a trace of seriousness appearing on his face as he began evaluating and guiding Li Chuan's recent battle.

Li Chuan did not become careless just because he had won easily. Instead, he listened with great attention and occasionally raised some questions of his own.

His combat experience was indeed extensive, but that was when neither he nor his opponent used Chakra or ninjutsu.

Today had been his first real battle against a ninja, and his opponent had only been a Genin.

"Alright, we'll stop here for today. Go back and think over what you've learned."

Seeing that Li Chuan had not become arrogant after defeating Kukai and still maintained an earnest, studious attitude, Chiriku felt even more satisfied.

Now, he needed to devise a complete training plan for Li Chuan, covering everything from the basic theoretical knowledge a ninja needed to master to the study and practical training of every ninjutsu afterward.

After serving as abbot for so many years, he had finally found his drive again.

After the Civil War among the Guardian Ninja ended, only Asuma and he remained alive out of the original twelve like-minded companions.

Asuma had returned to Konoha, while he had returned to the Fire Temple in disheartenment and taken over as abbot.

He had originally intended to carefully train Kazuma's child, Sora, but Sora's body had developed problems several years ago that remained unresolved. Chiriku no longer dared to teach him ninjutsu.

"Yes, Master!"

Li Chuan gave Chiriku a Buddhist salute and left the training room.

Guidance from someone with an Elite Jonin's experience and insight had indeed given him a new understanding of combat.

"Creak."

After closing the training room door, Li Chuan headed down the corridor toward his private room.

As he passed the training grounds, he noticed that the Monk Ninjas training there occasionally stole glances at him. The jealousy and mockery in their eyes had diminished, replaced by a measure of awe.

During the month since joining the Fire Temple, he had not made much effort to interact with the Monk Ninjas. It was not because of any difference in status, but because he felt there was no need.

He had joined the Fire Temple to increase his strength. Any socializing unrelated to becoming stronger was a waste of time.

Besides, based on his experience dealing with people in his previous life, as long as you were strong enough, others would naturally fear and flatter you. Even a simple smile from you would seem charming to them.

After returning to his room, Li Chuan continued his daily Chakra extraction training.

His physique and spirit were both powerful, which was an advantage. However, increasing his total Chakra reserves still required more time and training.

A ninja's Chakra reserves had their upper limit determined by talent and their lower limit determined by effort.

Without talent, you could never attain Chakra reserves as immense as Naruto's. But without effort, you would not even have enough Chakra to cast a high-level ninjutsu.

After completing his Chakra extraction training, Li Chuan adjusted his breathing and posture. A faint sound like a cat purring began to emanate from his entire body.

This was Xing Yi Quan's supreme art: Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, with sinews and bones resonating as one.

In Li Chuan's previous world, martial artists did not only improve their physical condition through ordinary exercise. They also pushed beyond their limits through stance training and breathing techniques.

Low-level martial artists practiced stances. Once their stance training reached a certain level, they practiced breathing techniques, further tempering their bodies from the inside out.

The stance practiced by Xing Yi Quan was called the Three Stance Post, while its breathing technique was the Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound.

Although Li Chuan had now learned Chakra extraction and begun studying ninjutsu, he had never relaxed his breathing technique practice.

Because a powerful body was the foundation. The stronger the foundation, the more Chakra he could extract, and the greater combat power he could gain when enhanced by Chakra.

Stance training and breathing techniques were things this world did not possess. They were also the basis of how he could overtake others on the curve.

One month later, at the pond in the Fire Temple's rear courtyard.

Li Chuan wrapped Chakra around his feet and carefully stepped across the water's surface one step at a time, controlling the distribution of Chakra as evenly as possible to avoid falling into the pond.

Ever since sparring with Kukai, a Monk Ninja of the Fire Temple, he had undergone a series of formal ninja training sessions under Chiriku's guidance.

The most important part was academic study. Of course, it was not astronomy, geography, physics, or chemistry—Chiriku believed that Li Chuan, who had been born a prince, would surely have no trouble with those.

The subjects Chiriku taught Li Chuan included identifying different kinds of ninja tools and understanding the advantages and disadvantages of various bladed weapons in different combat situations.

He also taught him about frequently used ninja items such as Explosive Tags and Ration Pills.

He learned the ninja rules that all ninjas regularly mentioned, the team strategies and formations commonly used in ninja battles, the interpretation of basic ninja signals, and the ninjutsu specialties of the Great Ninja Villages.

As well as common knowledge that most ninjas knew.

Much of this knowledge was useless to the Fire Temple's Monk Ninjas, since they might never travel far from the temple in their entire lives and had no need for it.

But for a direct disciple like Li Chuan, a future Elite Jonin, it was absolutely necessary.

Otherwise, when he traveled in the future and happened to fight other ninjas, knowing nothing about such matters would put him at an inherent disadvantage. If things went badly, it could even cost him his life.

When Chiriku had first left the Fire Temple to travel, including when he joined the Twelve Guardian Ninja, he had suffered from this lack of knowledge.

Fortunately, he and Asuma, who came from Konoha, were friends. Asuma taught him much of the valuable ninja knowledge he had learned in Konoha, while Chiriku taught Asuma the Fire Temple's Secret Ninjutsu.

Besides academic study, there was Chakra control training. At first, it involved attaching Chakra to the feet to climb trees, followed by the more advanced exercise of walking on water.

As for practical combat training, there had been none since their previous match.

According to Chiriku, Li Chuan's combat skills were not a problem and were sufficient for the time being. He needed more knowledge from his studies and better Chakra control before he could further learn new ninjutsu.

Once he had mastered new ninjutsu, he could then use practical combat to integrate them into battle and develop his own fighting style.

Li Chuan could only sigh that joining the Fire Temple had truly been the right choice.

Even in Konoha, no Jonin would likely have the patience and time to give him such detailed guidance.

Moreover, there were indeed many things about ninjas that he did not understand very well. What he had thought he knew was merely the tip of the iceberg shown in an anime he had watched as a child in his previous life.

And because so much time had passed, many of those memories had become blurry.

"Not bad. Your Chakra control has improved greatly again."

As Li Chuan walked step by step across the pond's surface, Chiriku approached with several small rectangular slips of paper in his hand.