Choosing Scrolls

Seeing the mountain of scrolls piled before him, Moriyue finally remembered Kumogakure's way of doing things.

Kumogakure might have been relatively united internally, with only a handful of rogue ninja in its entire history—the fewest among the Five Great Ninja Villages—but its style could only be described as swift, forceful, overbearing, and tyrannical.

They treated their own people and outsiders like entirely different species. Although some people targeted Moriyue, they only talked about it. Those who practiced Nintaijutsu were naturally hot-tempered, and that was only because Moriyue was from the same village. If he had been an outsider, they would have charged in and punched him already.

Kumogakure was this domineering toward outsiders. If you had something they wanted, they wanted it too. If they lacked something, they would take it. Out of resources? Simple, take them! Technology hit a bottleneck? Simple, take someone else's! Not enough ninjutsu or forbidden techniques? Simple, whoever had them got robbed!

Moriyue seriously suspected Kumogakure had so few rogue ninja because the moment they fled, the Raikage dragged them back and beat them senseless before they could get far.

Kumogakure was like the bully of the ninja world. If you had something good, you had better hide it, lest Kumogakure set its sights on it. They had even dared to kidnap the princess of Konoha's Hyuga Clan. They were practically the pirates of the ninja world.

Now that he understood all that, Moriyue could accept why there were so many scrolls before him. Good heavens, Kumogakure had really looted plenty. With this inventory, it would be impressive if their own village's ninjutsu made up even a tenth of it.

"Teacher Yugito, can I really look through these however I want?" Moriyue rubbed his eyes, unable to hide his excitement.

"Of course... not." Seemingly taking revenge for Moriyue's strange way of addressing her, Yugito Nii shook her head.

Watching Moriyue's expression shift from wild joy to utter despair, Yugito Nii felt much better and continued.

"Counting my share, you can take two scrolls. There may be a lot of scrolls here, but few will suit you. Many forbidden techniques are impossible to succeed with at all, and some are only incomplete copies. Don't get your hopes up too high."

Yugito Nii gave Moriyue a warning. There were many scrolls here, but no especially powerful ninjutsu. After all, those techniques were controlled by the Raikage and the major clans. The ninjutsu left here could only be considered average.

That applied to ninjutsu, however. As for forbidden techniques, prestigious clans would not touch them, which was why quite a few strange forbidden techniques had been left behind. Moriyue might find something useful among them.

"Two? Works for me. Thank you very much!" Moriyue was not greedy at all. Yugito Nii had already shown him great consideration by bringing him here, and now she had even given him her own slot. Although she might not need these scrolls herself, he would remember this favor.

"Take your time choosing. I'll wait by the door." Yugito Nii turned around casually, crossed her arms, leaned against the stone wall, and closed her eyes.

After thanking Yugito once more, Moriyue turned and walked toward the bookshelves stretching beyond sight. It was time to choose his scrolls.

He passed directly by the shelves of ninjutsu scrolls. No matter how good the contents were, they did not suit him. Looking at them would only make him more frustrated. The Chakra within his body was too unstable; there was no way he could perform ninjutsu normally unless there was some forbidden technique that could stabilize his Chakra.

"Hm? Nintaijutsu?" Moriyue bypassed the ninjutsu shelves and arrived beneath a bookshelf marked Nintaijutsu. Carefully maintained scrolls sat upon it, each with a thoughtful note attached.

"Nintaijutsu: Lightning Light Armor: Activate the Chakra within the body and spread it across the body's surface like flowing water, forming an armor of lightning. Compared to ordinary Lightning Armor, it possesses greater flexibility, but lacks the explosive power of ordinary Lightning Armor."

"Nintaijutsu: Sword Leap Flame: Combine Fire Release with a katana to form a blade of flame. A Fire-attribute Nintaijutsu with certain characteristics of the Wind attribute."

"Nintaijutsu: Flowing Wind: Use one's Wind-attribute Chakra to envelop the body, surrounding oneself with the power of wind to reduce resistance and greatly increase movement speed."

"..."

The Nintaijutsu, each with different effects and activation requirements, left Moriyue dizzy. He had only seen things like this in fantasy novels. Seeing those descriptions with his own eyes made everything feel somewhat unreal.

"These Nintaijutsu are effective, but they demand high-level Chakra control. My Chakra is like an untamed wild horse. It'd be hard to make such precise changes. Is there anything simpler and more straightforward...?"

Although these Nintaijutsu looked excellent, Moriyue was not dazzled by them. What suited him was best. It did not matter how useful they were if he could not use them in the first place.

Thus, Moriyue directly ruled out every Nintaijutsu requiring precise control. No matter how extravagantly their later descriptions praised them, he refused to look. At last, after a long period of sorting, he found several Nintaijutsu suited to him.

"Nintaijutsu: Crushing Break: Condense Chakra at a single point to form Spike Armor of different attributes according to the nature of the Chakra."

"Nintaijutsu: Lightning Torture: Stimulate the power of lightning to strengthen the body, using lightning to activate the muscles. During activation, the user must continuously endure the pain caused by lightning. This technique can permanently improve the caster's physical abilities."

"Nintaijutsu: Reversal: Reflect a portion of an enemy's close-range attack back at them. This technique places high demands on the caster's physical strength, and the reflected damage is limited. After repeated testing, it has been deemed of low practical combat value and is not recommended for training."

Looking at the three scrolls in his hands, Moriyue honestly wanted all of them.

Crushing Break could attack and defend. The Spike Armor it formed could be used for both offense and defense. Lightning Torture could endlessly strengthen his body, and using it in battle could catch an opponent off guard. Reversal was even simpler and more direct—it reflected damage. If you hurt him, you hurt too. Hitting him was the same as hitting yourself.

His original plan had been to use one of his two slots on Nintaijutsu and the other on a forbidden technique. If he found a useful forbidden technique, he would use both slots on forbidden techniques. Yet before he had even looked at the forbidden techniques, he was already in a dilemma.

"Damn it, why can't I take them all? If I secretly took one more..."

Shaking his head, Moriyue still worried that Kumogakure had some way of detecting it. It was better to play it safe.

After hesitating again and again, Moriyue temporarily kept Nintaijutsu: Lightning Torture. Reversal had a great effect, but it demanded high physical qualities. He would definitely come here again, and in the meantime, he could use Lightning Torture to improve his physical abilities.

A growth-type technique could never be too much of a loss. He just did not know why no one had chosen this ninjutsu.

"I really want to pack them all up and take them away. Crushing Break, Reversal, wait for me. I'll definitely come back." Moriyue reluctantly glanced at the remaining two scrolls, then silently returned them to their original places. To keep others from noticing, he even tucked them behind other scrolls.

"Next, I'll go take a look at the forbidden techniques. I've been looking forward to this for so long."