The Ability to Learn Every Ninjutsu

What was the essence of ninjutsu?

It was Chakra!

In the ninja world, Chakra was the foundation of all ninjutsu. Ninjutsu was merely the external expression of this energy known as Chakra.

Every ninjutsu was achieved through Chakra.

And the basis of using Chakra to perform ninjutsu lay in nature transformation and shape transformation.

Li Yao did not dare claim that all ninjutsu worked this way.

But he was certain that the vast majority of ninjutsu had been developed based on Chakra's nature transformation and shape transformation.

Chakra's nature transformation gave various ninjutsu their elemental properties.

For example, Chakra with a fire nature displayed the properties of fire, causing Fire Release to possess the characteristics of heat, light, combustion, and so on.

Meanwhile, Chakra's shape transformation gave ninjutsu their forms.

For instance, the forms of Fire Release ninjutsu such as the Fireball Jutsu, Fire Dragon Technique, and Phoenix Flower Jutsu were all bestowed by Chakra's shape transformation.

Simply put, Chakra's nature transformation turned pure Chakra energy into energy or matter with certain physical properties, such as fire, water, and lightning from the natural world, allowing it to inflict physical damage upon reality.

Chakra's shape transformation was a further stage of processing, responsible for molding that energy into forms with greater destructive power.

It was like Chakra with a Steel Release nature granting it the physical properties of steel, then Chakra's shape transformation giving that steel the form of a sword. Combined, they became Steel Release—Steel Sword Technique.

It could be said that nearly all ninjutsu could not escape Chakra's nature transformation and shape transformation.

Even the Rasengan, which had no elemental attribute, was a ninjutsu developed through Chakra's shape transformation.

Ninjutsu that involved only Chakra shape transformation were the easiest for Li Yao to learn.

As long as he could personally sense the Chakra shape transformation of the Rasengan, Li Yao could instantly learn it.

He possessed the ability to absolutely control his own Chakra for nature transformation and shape transformation.

He also possessed Chakra sensory abilities powerful enough to perceive the nature transformation and shape transformation within a ninjutsu's Chakra.

With both of these monstrous abilities, Li Yao had the absolute confidence that he could learn every ninjutsu.

And reality proved him right.

In fact, it took him only three days to replicate and condense the sealing Chakra within the Sealing Jutsu Formula on his body.

The only reason it took three days was because the nature transformation and shape transformation of sealing Chakra were relatively complex, and he needed three days to fully perceive them.

Otherwise, Li Yao could have condensed the corresponding sealing Chakra in a day—or even a second.

However, although he had condensed the corresponding sealing Chakra and could remove the Sealing Jutsu Formula on his body at any time, how to conceal his constantly increasing Chakra reserves from the ANBU ninja was still a problem.

For now, it was fine. His Chakra reserves were not particularly high.

The Chakra within the Sealing Jutsu Formula on his body did not react much, and inspections would reveal no abnormalities.

But once Li Yao's Chakra reserves continued to increase, ninja capable of sensing Chakra reserves would definitely detect it through the Sealing Jutsu Formula on his body.

When that happened, the ANBU would certainly become wary of him, which would not be conducive to his plan of launching a surprise counterattack.

"I need to find a way to store the increased Chakra without letting anyone sense it."

As Li Yao contemplated how to hide his growing Chakra reserves, the Blast Squad brought him to the entrance of a gloomy underground base.

A four-man squad dressed in uniforms and masks different from those of the ANBU had already been waiting at the entrance.

This squad was one of Root's two four-man teams.

The captain at the front stepped forward and stopped the Blast Squad.

He then approached the torture bed and carefully examined Li Yao's body.

When he saw the black Sealing Jutsu Formula appearing across Li Yao's body, he immediately frowned and looked at Blast. "Remove the Sealing Jutsu Formula on the target."

Blast's gaze sharpened as he refused, "The target is extremely dangerous. Lord Hokage specifically instructed that the Sealing Jutsu Formula must not be removed under any circumstances."

"I know," the Root squad captain said. "I will place a new Sealing Jutsu Formula on the target."

Distrust seeped through his words, causing Blast's brow to furrow slightly. The Root squad captain's attitude made him, a direct subordinate of the Hokage, deeply displeased.

He knew very clearly how important—and how dangerous—the target was to Lord Hokage.

He did not dare remove the Sealing Jutsu Formula rashly.

Using the lack of an order from Lord Hokage as his reason, Blast refused the Root squad captain's request.

"Fine. Then leave him to us."

The Root squad captain did not press the matter further. He called for his team members to take the torture bed from the Blast Squad and push it into the Root Base.

Blast remained where he was, frowning as he watched for a while.

He knew the reason the other party had not continued to insist was because they were confident they could remove the Sealing Jutsu Formula on the target themselves.

That made him somewhat worried that something might go wrong.

After considering it, Blast decided to report the matter to Lord Hokage.

In the Hokage's office, after Baku received the answer that there was nothing to worry about, he stopped paying attention to Li Yao's affairs.

The Root Base had been built upon the secret facility once used for the Wood Release restoration project.

That was why the Third Hokage had considered handing Li Yao over to Danzo.

At the moment, Danzo was not at the Root Base, nor was he even in Konoha. He had gone out on a mission with another four-man Root Squad.

A different four-man squad was assigned to take charge of Li Yao.

They brought Li Yao into a sealed chamber.

The equipment here was no less advanced than that of a high-end biological laboratory on Earth in his previous life. There were even high-tech devices like computers.

Everything here looked far more professional than Interrogation Room Number Three.

Li Yao's clothes were stripped away, and he was laid naked on a stone bed covered in sealing formulas.

The Root Squad captain stood behind Li Yao's head while the other three took up positions on three sides, surrounding him in the middle.

"Sealing Technique—Release!"

The Root Squad captain and his three teammates formed hand seals, then pressed their hands against the four circular points on the stone table carved with sealing formula patterns.

As the four men's Chakra activated the sealing formula on the stone table, Li Yao felt a force drawing away the Chakra within the sealing formula on his body. Even the sealing formula Chakra he had copied and condensed was being pulled along by that force.

Li Yao hurriedly dispersed the sealing formula Chakra condensed within his body, allowing it to revert to ordinary Chakra. Only then did he avoid having it drawn away.

Otherwise, if the amount of sealing formula Chakra extracted was wrong, they would notice his ability to remove sealing formulas himself.

Li Yao did not want to bear the consequences that would follow.

After half a year of torment, Li Yao no longer underestimated any ninja in this world.

In a world with supernatural powers, there was no such thing as being too cautious.

Once the sealing formula Chakra on Li Yao's body had been extracted, the seal was gone, and he could freely control his Chakra again.

However, Li Yao made no movements and remained in a vegetative state.

Even though he could reclaim control of his body at any time and recover from that state, he continued maintaining it.

As long as he could keep living, he would continue accumulating strength and wait for an opportunity to escape.

If it truly came down to a life-or-death crisis, then he would risk everything.

Li Yao's mentality was far steadier now than it had been half a year ago.

Or perhaps... he had simply gone numb.

It was what happened when one no longer feared death.

"Eight Trigrams Seal!"

After removing the seal on Li Yao, the Root Squad placed an Eight Trigrams Seal on him. Li Yao sensed it carefully and found that its effect was similar to the seal that had previously been placed on him.

It could likewise seal and restrain his Chakra.

But it also had an additional effect: the Eight Trigrams Seal could continuously absorb Chakra from his body to maintain itself.

The seal previously placed on him required Baku to replenish it with Chakra at regular intervals to keep it active.

From that alone, the Eight Trigrams Seal was somewhat more powerful than the previous sealing technique.

For Li Yao, this Eight Trigrams Seal was troublesome.

He could copy and condense Eight Trigrams Seal Chakra to break free of its absorption of his Chakra.

But if he did that, his ability would be exposed.

Before he found a way to secretly store Chakra, Li Yao could only stop copying and condensing Eight Trigrams Seal Chakra.

"Put him in Experimental Pod Number Eight."

The Root Squad captain ordered his teammates. Root currently had no time to study Li Yao, so they could only store him away for now.

There were eight cylindrical glass experimental pods in the laboratory, each filled with nutrient fluid specially used to cultivate cells. They were the most suitable place to store experimental subjects.

They could maintain an experimental subject's vital functions to the greatest extent possible without requiring frequent inspections, since the computers would monitor them automatically.

Li Yao was placed naked into Glass Experimental Pod Number Eight and stored away.

Li Yao did not know the state of his physical body. His Chakra sensing could only detect Chakra; materials such as glass and equipment contained no Chakra, so he could not see that he had been submerged in nutrient fluid and stored away.

However, Li Yao could sense that he was surrounded by a mass of Chakra filled with faint life force.

The nutrient fluid contained Chakra.

This Chakra carried a special vitality that was nourishing Li Yao's physical body.

He could feel his bodily energy increasing.

That meant his physical body was recovering its vitality.

Although he did not know what was happening outside, Li Yao could be sure that he probably would not need to risk his life just yet.