Coming One After Another

"I merely happened to collect the corpses of one or two Kikaichū from places you'd been," Kagetsu gave Aburame Qingzhi his answer.

Aburame Qingzhi fell silent after hearing Kagetsu's answer. He found it hard to believe it could be something so simple and understated. To accomplish that, not only would he have needed to be careless enough not to recall the Kikaichū he had sent out, but Kagetsu would also have had to keep constant watch over someone with as faint a presence as his.

Yet there were no flaws in that explanation. Having received an answer, Aburame Qingzhi simply stopped pressing the matter. He gave Kagetsu three crisp nods, then turned and left.

Nara Kagetsu's Insecticide:

Quality: Blue

Materials: Neurotoxin, Herbs.

Effect: A drug developed specifically against the Aburame Clan's Kikaichū. It kills them by affecting their nervous systems.

Conclusion: Highly lethal to Kikaichū and takes effect in an extremely short time.

Recognition: 50/100 (The higher the Recognition, the more inspiration and rewards you will receive in specialized subfields of similar works.)

Rewards: Physical Fitness +1, Chakra Volume +10

Watching Aburame Qingzhi leave, Kagetsu glanced at his Status Panel. As expected, the insecticide he had made had already given him feedback. After looking around the field, Kagetsu pulled up his Talent Status Panel and Physical Fitness Status Panel once more.

Talent Card: Mayuri Kurotsuchi

World: Shinigami

Quality: Blue (120/1000)

Effect: Growth-Type Research Talent (You are a born scientist and researcher. Your talents will shine in Research and Development Fields.)

Field: Your research talent in Biological and Neural Fields far surpasses that in other Research and Development Fields!

Passive: Biological Modification!

Accumulation: No research can be separated from the accumulation of vast knowledge and material experimentation. All knowledge you possess will be understood and remembered more efficiently, then returned to you in the form of rewards as an alternative kind of Knowledge Feedback!

Achievement: For every recognized creation you produce, the higher its Recognition, the more your Physical Fitness and strength can be enhanced.

Recognized R&D Products: Dog Food, Kikaichū Insecticide, Yin Release Secret Technique: Shadow Coffin.

Rewards: Physical Fitness +3, Chakra +100

Obsession: Become a scientist who surpasses Kisuke Urahara

Kagetsu instantly felt his somewhat drained body and mind grow more invigorated. The stamina and Chakra he had expended in the earlier battle were also replenished considerably in that instant.

Though the Status Panel was not particularly detailed, based on his extensive training over this period, as well as targeted comparisons with his classmates, clansmen, and the daily Physical Fitness of Genin among the academy teachers, Kagetsu could make a fairly accurate estimate from the information he had gathered, the Status Panel, and his own rate of improvement.

Of course, the information he had collected still needed more meticulous updating, so his estimates might not be entirely accurate. But a ninja's strength could never be completely fixed or certain in the first place.

Thus, Kagetsu could only use this information to roughly estimate what level his Physical Fitness, Chakra volume, and other attributes placed him at among ninja.

Put simply, if a Ninja Academy student's Physical Fitness was rated at 10, then a Genin's Physical Fitness and Chakra volume would fall between 10 and 100. After the Golden Finger's enhancements, his Physical Fitness had now reached over 30, meeting the Genin standard.

The same went for Chakra volume. A Genin's Chakra ranged from 100 to 1,000. This had been inferred from how many times a Genin could cast ninjutsu of a certain level.

For example, with his current Chakra volume, Kagetsu could cast the Clone Technique three times in succession while maintaining the Shadow Imitation Technique for around ten minutes.

The Nara Clan was not known for its Chakra volume. Among the three Ino-Shika-Cho clans, the Akimichi Clan unquestionably ranked first in both Chakra volume and Physical Fitness. The Yamanaka excelled in mental power and sensory abilities, while aside from their brains, the Nara Clan generally had worrying Physical Fitness.

Even as a member of the clan, Kagetsu had seen clansmen use tonics to strengthen their bodies more than once. His father, Nara Shikaji, was one of them.

Sometimes, Kagetsu even believed that the Nara Clan's laziness, proficiency in pharmacology, and skill at conditioning people's bodies had all been forced upon them by their abysmal Physical Fitness.

Because their Physical Fitness was poor, they developed the habitual tendency to be lazy.

Because their Physical Fitness was poor, long illness had made them into doctors, allowing them to refine, summarize, and test a set of tonic treatments suited to the Nara Clan.

Why was the Nara Clan so keen on raising deer? Because every part of a deer, especially its Deer Antler, was a treasure to the Nara Clan.

Poor Physical Fitness in one person might be an isolated case, but if nearly every Nara clansman was like this, then perhaps the influence of some kind of power had to be considered.

For example, the Shadow Secret Technique of Yin Release?

Chakra in the ninja world was itself a power refined through the combination of spiritual and physical energy. Once Chakra of different attributes reached a certain stage, if one's Physical Fitness or some other aspect failed to meet the required standard, it would in turn oppress and affect its host.

Either the body or the mind.

Take the Uchiha, a clan whose dōjutsu was likewise Yin Release in essence. Their mental and psychological states were quite concerning. Other Kekkei Genkai Clans also suffered, to varying degrees, from serious Kekkei Genkai Diseases.

All things considered, the Nara Clan not having formed a Kekkei Genkai and merely possessing poor Physical Fitness was already quite fortunate.

Without the Physical Fitness enhanced by the Golden Finger, he would most likely have been like most of his clansmen right now—listless and unmotivated when it came to the matters at hand.

At present, in terms of Physical Fitness and Chakra volume alone, he might not have been among the top students in his year, but he could at least escape the ranks of the dead last.

As he created more and more R&D products and gained increasingly higher Recognition, his Physical Fitness and Chakra volume would also continue accumulating little by little.

Unfortunately, only ninja with Chakra could grant Recognition to Kagetsu's creations. Otherwise, he could have made some simple, practical products that could be widely distributed, harvested Recognition from the village's civilians, and piled up his Status Panel data through sheer numbers.

"Third match: Uchiha Obito versus Kakashi Hatake."

Yeka Shuren's loud announcement from the field jolted Kagetsu awake from his absorbed examination of the Status Panel. He looked toward the field with keen interest.

Though he knew Kakashi Hatake would certainly win, and Uchiha Obito would not be able to force much of Kakashi's strength out of him, both of them possessed things that interested him.

Hokage's Office.

After finishing his official duties and taking a break, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was using the Telescope Technique to observe the examinations in the arena.

Having given speeches at the Academy before, he had discovered quite a few promising talents among the civilians and small ninja clans. Though the Genin students' battles were riddled with openings in his eyes, as Hokage, he could still use the candidates' performances to make suitable arrangements when assigning them to teams in the future.

For instance, which children could be led by Jonin, which would be led by Chunin, which needed further attention and training, and so on. Although Academy teachers would submit student grades and all relevant information, he would still take the time to watch and relax, so that he had a clear understanding of things.

"Your son, Nara Kagetsu, performed exceptionally well."

Nara Kagetsu's battle against Aburame Qingzhi had just ended. Having watched the entire fight, Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pipe and smiled at Nara Shikaji, who was helping him handle official documents nearby.

"Not at all. Lord Hokage, you flatter him." Nara Shikaji shook his head. As he swiftly dealt with the documents at hand, making annotations one after another before setting them aside for the Hokage's review and decision, he modestly replied.

Even Nara Shikaji found his son difficult to figure out. After learning the clan's Secret Ninjutsu, Kagetsu had not become languid and lazy like the other young children of the clan. It seemed that his body could perfectly bear the burden imposed by the Shadow Secret Technique.

Though he was not energetic every moment of every day, compared with the clan children who always wanted to slack off and find somewhere to lie down and rest, Kagetsu's behavior was undoubtedly that of a normal person.

"Judging from his performance in battle, he is already a qualified Genin. He has brains, strength, and nearly every move his opponent made was within his calculations. A standard Nara-style battle." Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a cloud of smoke, his face appearing and disappearing behind the haze, his tone full of appreciation.

The three clans of Ino-Shika-Cho were themselves the Hokage's greatest supporters. In terms of overall clan strength, they might not have been as powerful as combat clans such as the Uchiha and Hyuga, but with their respective Secret Ninjutsu and unique traits, their members possessed irreplaceable advantages in many roles, much like the Hyuga Byakugan.

As the brains of the three clans, the Nara Clan could organize complicated official affairs with impeccable order and serve as strategists during wartime. Most Nara women were also highly skilled in pharmacology and Medical Ninjutsu, forming the foundation of the Medical Department.

The Akimichi Clan had Torifu Akimichi, another disciple of the Second Hokage. Their clan's Multi-Size Technique could, when used well in combat—especially in large-scale wars—produce destructive power comparable to that of a large Summoning Beast.

The Yamanaka Clan specialized in using their clan's secret techniques for interrogation and extracting intelligence. Most of their members also served in the Interrogation Department and Anbu.

Not to mention that Kagetsu was from one of his own staunchly loyal core clans—even judging solely by his performance in the arena, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that he deserved praise.

For a six-year-old to use both the Shadow Imitation Technique and the Shadow Strangulation Technique in succession was already surprising enough. What surprised Hiruzen Sarutobi even more was the scene of the Aburame Clan's insects suddenly dying in large numbers.

Judging from the performance, Hiruzen Sarutobi could roughly guess what method Kagetsu had employed, but that very possibility left him uncertain.

"Have the Nara Clan's insecticides become capable of affecting the Aburame Clan's Kikaichū?" After pondering for a moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally took the initiative to ask Nara Shikaji beside him.

"Insecticide?" Nara Shikaji looked at the unpleasant sight of insect corpses carpeting the ground in the crystal ball's image, then shook his head under the Third Hokage's gaze.

"I may have to go home and ask Yoshino about that. She handles matters related to medicine in the clan."

The Third Hokage nodded at those words and did not press further. He was merely somewhat curious about Kagetsu's method. Since he had not immediately received an exact answer from Nara Shikaji, he did not mind.

Perhaps the Aburame Clan would be more concerned than he was about the formula and information for a medicine capable of killing Kikaichū.

As for the possibility of a conflict between the two clans arising because of it, the Third Hokage had not even considered it.

After all, making insect-killing medicine was not the Nara Clan's main business. Compared with selling medicinal herbs and medicine, these so-called insecticides were practically dispensable.

Moreover, the Aburame Clan's insects were not so fragile. Kikaichū were only one type among the insects they raised under contract, and they could even be bred and evolved in a short time to develop targeted resistance.

After watching the next few practical examinations, the Third Hokage shut off the Telescope Technique and resumed handling the accumulated work in front of him.

After World War II ended, Konoha received an enormous number of mission orders. Those orders had filled nearly all of Konoha's ninja capacity. Aside from the necessary forces left behind to guard the village, almost every Konoha ninja had spent the past two years tirelessly accepting and completing missions.

The other ninja villages, having lost large numbers of ninja at every rank during the war, had also pulled back their claws and retreated into their respective villages to lick their wounds.

The end of the Ninja World War also brought merchants from every nation, who had lain dormant, back into activity. Konoha took the largest share of the profits, while the ninja villages of the other great nations, after the costs of war, each gained enough mission funds to fill their bellies and grow strong again.

Although the ninja villages still fought and competed fiercely over missions, the tension had not yet developed into signs of immediately launching the Third Ninja World War before they had fully recovered.

It could be said that this was a rare period of peaceful development after World War II.

Having regained abundant funds, and with the postwar boom causing ninja mission volume to surge and vast sums of money to flow into the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi once again recognized the importance of Medical Ninja. At last, in accordance with Tsunade's request, he invested a large sum of money to fully establish the framework of the Medical Department.

At this very moment, a white-haired middle-aged man was silently wandering along a street in the village lined with bathhouses, seemingly scouting the area.

Just as he found an excellent spot and was about to lean in for a look inside, a somewhat hoarse voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"You're as incorrigible as ever, Jiraiya!"

The sudden voice did not startle the white-haired man. As if he had long anticipated that someone was behind him—and knew exactly who it was—Jiraiya pressed his eyes to the hole he had found and peered inside several more times before reluctantly standing up. He turned around and met the gaze of the pale-faced man in white robes behind him.

"It's been a long time, Orochimaru. Didn't Tsunade come with you?" Jiraiya clasped his hands behind his head, his face carrying a touch of joy at their reunion.

"She's using work at the Medical Department and alcohol to numb herself right now."