[Sage Clan Guiding Technique]!

Hah!

Roar!

Before Nara Kaikei even approached the Temple of Fire's training ground, his ears had already caught a burst of impassioned, wild roars.

He instinctively stopped and looked at the clan head beside him.

"Hmm?"

"The Temple of Fire's ninja monks demand extremely high Physical Prowess from themselves."

Nara Shikano remained composed, making no mention whatsoever of his own embarrassment when he had first heard these masculine roars.

"Kaikei, you can think of them as a group of taijutsu-type ninja who specialize in the Steel Fist Style.

"For ninja monks, they can go a day without eating, but they cannot go a day without training their bodies."

Taijutsu-type ninja of the Steel Fist Style... those guys...

Nara Kaikei instinctively imagined a group of youthful kappa wearing dark green bodysuits.

That was even more terrifying, hey!

But since he was already here...

Nara Kaikei took several more steps forward, and his ears caught an even clearer series of dull impacts.

It sounded as if those youthful kappa were holding one intense, exciting flesh-on-flesh collision contest after another up ahead.

This time, before Nara Kaikei could look toward the clan head—

Master Chūkaku quietly appeared once again, drifting before the two of them like a gust of wind.

For some reason, Nara Kaikei always felt that the Abbot of the Temple of Fire was probably the sort of man who came with the wind and left with the wind.

Nara Shikano smiled in greeting. "Chūkaku, I brought Kaikei over to see the Temple of Fire's distinctive training methods."

Master Chūkaku responded with a smile. "The Temple of Fire never refuses visiting worshippers."

Nara Kaikei added, "Master Chūkaku, I would like to have a practical spar with one of your temple's ninja monks. Would that be convenient?"

The clan head's intentions had already been revealed that morning when he gave him the [Chakra Crystal].

He hoped that Nara Kaikei could spar with the Temple of Fire's ninja monks to test the effects of the [Chakra Crystal].

But even if the clan head had not brought it up—

Nara Kaikei would not have let the ninja monks in this temple off for nothing after coming all this way.

Even if "the Temple of Fire might possess a special Sage Mode" was merely a vague rumor and conjecture—

Nara Kaikei would not easily pass it up for the sake of the name "Natural Energy."

"You are too courteous, young benefactor Nara."

Master Chūkaku pressed his palms together and nodded with a smile.

"I will make the arrangements."

Just as I observed before.

Standing to the side, Nara Shikano looked gratified as he stroked his beard and smiled.

Among the lazy and indolent Nara Clan, there really is a diligent, ambitious genius of the younger generation!

Leaving aside the old clan head's wild thoughts—

Nara Kaikei followed Master Chūkaku into the Temple of Fire's training ground.

It was a vast open-air training ground, with training equipment for strengthening the body piled in every corner along the walls.

In the center of the training ground stood a group of bare-chested, bald, muscular men drenched in sweat, sparring with one another in close-combat techniques.

Apart from a very few exceptions—

Most ninja did not deliberately pursue the training of their Physical Prowess to the limit.

But Nara Kaikei had to admit it.

The impact and sheer awe brought by this gathering of muscular brutes before him...

Really was powerful. Powerful indeed!

As expected, moderate fitness attracts the opposite sex; excessive fitness attracts the same sex.

Nara Kaikei examined himself.

If his ninja talent in this life had not basically all gone into "Mental Energy" and "learning knowledge"—

Perhaps he would have had to walk the path of a pure taijutsu-type ninja, a muscular brute who fought hand-to-hand.

Still, taijutsu depends on talent too.

The distance between a taijutsu genius and a taijutsu ordinary person is probably Rock Lee and Might Duy...

At Master Chūkaku's arrangement, a small bald boy with muscles squeezed out from among the crowd of burly men and came before them.

"Diroku, twelve years old, Apprentice Ninja Monk."

After hearing Master Chūkaku's introduction, Nara Kaikei looked at the muscular little bald boy opposite him.

So this was the Temple of Fire monk who would later be able to summon a "Little Gundam"...

Diroku also understood why Abbot Chūkaku had called him out and had been staring intently at Nara Kaikei.

The benefactor opposite him looks so thin. He clearly hasn't trained his body much. My muscle strength should be greater than his...

Nara Kaikei and Diroku moved to an open area and formed the Opposing Seal toward each other.

This was basic etiquette required before ninja engaged in a practical spar. Corresponding to it was the Reconciliation Seal.

The Opposing Seal was formed.

The next moment, Diroku lowered his right hand, leaned his upper body slightly forward, and repeatedly stamped his feet against the ground as he rapidly closed in on Nara Kaikei.

That level of speed... a genin-level ninja monk?

Nara Kaikei's thoughts stirred, and he had originally intended to use the Shadow Secret Technique immediately.

But considering the [Chakra Crystal] he had received that morning, he gave up the idea of using the clan's secret technique to end the battle instantly.

In the time Nara Kaikei spent thinking, Diroku had already closed in.

The ninja monk stomped hard on the ground and sprang sharply into the air. He raised his right leg high, then chopped it down like a battle axe straight toward his opponent's head.

Bang!

With a dull impact—

The feedback of striking something solid traveled through his heel, making Diroku slightly delighted.

But when he focused his eyes, he saw no human body—only a cloud of scattered smoke and several flying wood chips.

What he had kicked was not his opponent at all, but merely a wooden post that had appeared from who knew where.

E-Rank Ninjutsu: Substitution Technique!

"When Diroku jumped into the air, he seized that fleeting blind spot in his Line of Sight to use the Substitution Technique, then moved away from Diroku."

Master Chūkaku, watching from the side, spoke calmly.

"Shikano, young benefactor Nara's battle instincts are quite sharp."

As one of the Three Body Techniques taught at the Ninja Academy, the Substitution Technique was only E-Rank in difficulty.

It was not some "Space-Time Ninjutsu," nor was it some "miraculous life-saving technique."

The essence of the Substitution Technique was merely a very low-level deceptive disruption technique that made an opponent mistakenly believe their attack had succeeded.

Diroku landed heavily on the ground. With one foot on the wooden post, he looked straight ahead and happened to spot Nara Kaikei.

[Detected that a D-Rank Ninja Battle Mission has been triggered!]

[D-Rank Mission: Temple of Fire Apprentice Ninja Monk]

[Mission Content: Defeat/Kill Apprentice Ninja Monk Diroku]

[Mission Reward: D-Rank [Ninja Scroll]]

[Mission Notice: A D-Rank Ninja Battle Mission against the same target can be completed once per week]

Nara Kaikei ignored the mission information that had appeared on the panel and still maintained the pose of the Opposing Seal he had just formed.

He raised his right forearm upright before him, extending his index and middle fingers and pressing them together. This was the Opposing Seal.

A basic point of ninja knowledge: performing the Opposing Seal one-handed was one means of refining Chakra.

E-Rank Ninjutsu: Clone Technique!

Two clones identical to Nara Kaikei in appearance and build appeared around him.

Nara Kaikei stepped forward, and the two clones sprinted toward Diroku alongside him.

"Only using low-level ninjutsu like the Substitution Technique and Clone Technique?"

Nara Shikano stroked his beard, unable to hide the smile on his aged face.

"I thought Kaikei would directly use the clan's secret ninjutsu..."

This is the ninja Clone Technique!

Diroku's pupils contracted slightly, and his gaze immediately dropped downward.

Ordinary Clone Techniques aren't difficult to identify. As long as I observe carefully, I can tell which one is the real body!

The clones created by the equally E-Rank Clone Technique were merely illusions. They had no physical form, and naturally, they had no shadows.

By checking whether a shadow existed, one could distinguish the "real body" from the "clone"!

The clone on the left has no shadow, the cen—

Before Diroku could clearly observe the differences among the three figures—

All three Nara Kaikeis burst forward with agile speed, charging ahead like arrows loosed from a bow.

Body Flicker Technique!

So fast!

Before Diroku could react, Nara Kaikei had already closed in on him.

The clone on the right and the one in the middle instantly burst into smoke and dissipated into the air.

The real body on the left raised his left hand at just the right moment. Chakra gathered within the Chakra Acupoints in that hand, then shot forward alongside a left straight punch.

Bang!

Nara Kaikei's left fist struck Diroku squarely on the chin, sending the latter's head snapping to one side under the powerful force.

In an instant, Diroku felt as though a full water-and-land ritual had been held inside his head, with chimes, cymbals, and gongs ringing all at once.

The area around the human jaw contained an abundance of vagus nerves. When an attack struck the jaw, the impacted vagus nerves transmitted that compressive force to the brain's main neural pathways, causing the brain to feel dizzy.

As long as a ninja still possessed a human body, they could not ignore the sensation of this neural impact.

But Diroku seemed to have undergone extremely rigorous resistance training at the Temple of Fire.

Nara Kaikei's left straight punch did not knock him unconscious on the spot. He merely looked somewhat dazed.

So...

Bang!

Nara Kaikei decisively followed up with another punch.

That bang of a punch made Master Chūkaku's eyelids twitch and Nara Shikano's mouth twitch.

Diroku fell to the ground in response.

At that moment, the panel refreshed with a mission completion notification.

[You have defeated the D-Rank Ninja Battle Mission target!]

[You have obtained one D-Rank [Ninja Scroll]!]

Another D-Rank scroll...

Without much expectation, Nara Kaikei casually opened the [Ninja Scroll].

It can't be another Body Flicker Technique, can it?

[Opening...]

[Contents recorded in this D-Rank Ninja Scroll: Jutsu]

[D-Rank Jutsu: Sage Clan Guiding Technique]

[Jutsu Description: Guide qi into harmony, guide the body into suppleness. A basic training method passed down by the Temple of Fire for thousands of years, using Mental Energy to optimize the body and mind]

[Jutsu Effect: Enter a tranquil, self-forgetting state through breathing exercises, enhancing one's ability to sense and interact with the outside world]

[Jutsu Evaluation: A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality]

Many thanks to "A Du" for the 500 Qidian Coins reward!!