Chakra Attributes

This was where Yichen's advantage as a transmigrator showed itself. Chakra had endless uses, and solving the problem of giving water a fixed form would not be difficult. It all depended on what his Chakra attributes were.

At that thought, Yichen could no longer hold himself back. He immediately headed out to the Contribution Exchange beside the village Mission Hall and used the Contribution Points he had earned from copying books to exchange for a sheet of Chakra test paper.

After exchanging for the test paper, Yichen felt a little pained on his way home. One sheet had cost him fifty Contribution Points, spending eighty percent of what he had earned from copying books.

Chakra test paper was not difficult to make. It was expensive because it was a necessity. Every Ninja would buy one, or they would have no way to determine their future direction.

When he got home, Yichen eagerly poured Chakra into the test paper. Half of it became wet, while the other half crumbled apart.

"Hmm, water and earth," Yichen muttered.

The result was neither gratifying nor disappointing. His long-term goal, Dust Release, still required fire and wind. Since he had no innate fire or wind attributes, developing Dust Release would be more than twice as difficult. However, his current problem required Earth Release, so he at least had a chance of solving it.

"Sigh!" Yichen sighed, then pulled himself together and began considering how to use Earth Release to give water a fixed form.

It was a difficult undertaking, but it was not beyond Yichen's level. Although his overall strength was far inferior to that of an ordinary Genin, his progress in Ninjutsu training had indeed reached the point where he could move on to the next stage: Nature Transformation.

Normally, by the time someone could skillfully perform the Three Basic Jutsu, their Chakra Amount was roughly enough to cast C-rank Ninjutsu. After completing missions for a while, adapting to using Chakra in real combat, and becoming a Ninja in body, energy, and spirit, they could begin learning attribute-based Ninjutsu.

After that, they would study Nature Transformation while learning how to cast Ninjutsu. This was far more difficult than training in the Three Basic Jutsu.

Then there were missions to consider. They could not freely use up all their Chakra on Ninjutsu, so their progress would be extremely slow.

Other than a few geniuses, most people had to become Chunin and receive the village's specialized training before they had a chance to learn a C-rank Ninjutsu.

Yichen's circumstances were special. Although he could be considered proficient in the Three Basic Jutsu, that was entirely due to his exceptional Chakra control. His Chakra Amount was still far from enough to cast C-rank Ninjutsu.

Logically speaking, there was no need for him to practice Nature Transformation yet, because even if he did, it would be useless.

But now Yichen had discovered a new use for Nature Transformation, so he simply decided to make Chakra Nature Transformation a major focus of his upcoming training.

Yichen had no clue how to train Nature Transformation. In his memories, Naruto's Wind Release Transformation training had been completely mindless, relying entirely on muscle memory.

That method did not suit Yichen. His physical condition made that kind of mindless training unsuitable for him.

But that was fine. In Iwagakure, there might not be many good methods for training other things, but for training Earth Release, Teacher Ishikawa said it was no problem at all.

When Teacher Ishikawa heard that Yichen wanted to train Earth Release Nature Transformation, he merely frowned before directly telling Yichen that the village had a dedicated training site for Earth Release Transformation. It was open to everyone for free, and anyone in the village could go.

During lunch, Yichen followed Teacher Ishikawa's directions to Training Ground No. 9. Unlike the other training grounds, this place had no targets for practicing kunai and no humanoid Wooden Dummies for physical training. There were only rocks of every imaginable shape and size.

According to Teacher Ishikawa, these rocks had been created by the various Earth Style Ninjutsu cast by Jonin since the founding of the Land of Earth.

The reason the First Earth Shadow had chosen to build Iwagakure here was because he had recognized the value of this land.

This land could greatly slow the dissipation of Earth Style Chakra.

There was no need to find that strange. The Ninja world was full of strange places. The endless gales of the Land of Wind could not be explained by common sense, while the lightning of the Land of Lightning could overturn scientific laws.

Iwagakure's advantage lay in this holy ground for Earth Style training.

Following Teacher Ishikawa's instructions, Yichen wandered through the rock forest, searching for a rock that could resonate with his Chakra.

As long as he found such a rock and sat beside it to carefully comprehend it, there was a high chance that he could cultivate Earth Release Nature Transformation.

This advantage was the main reason Iwagakure had the largest Ninja population among the Five Great Nations. The cost of cultivating Earth Release was lower than in other countries, which was why the Land of Earth dared to train so many Ninjas.

As Yichen wandered through it, the feeling was wondrous. It was as though these stones were alive and had preferences of their own. He could clearly sense that some rocks were not close to him, some were indifferent to him, and some yearned for him.

The rocks that yearned for him seemed like children calling for their mother, urging Yichen to approach.

Yichen was in no hurry. He first walked around this vast rocky area before finding a rock that had the strongest connection with him.

The stone was a perfectly regular sphere. Based on the description in his memories, it seemed to be that Ninjutsu used by one of the Sound Four, the one that could trap people inside and absorb their Chakra from the outside.

What was it called again? Earth Prison Technique?

Yichen circled the sphere several times before choosing a position where the call felt strongest. Then he placed his left hand on the sphere, formed One-handed Hand Seals with his right, and began channeling Chakra into it.

When Yichen's Chakra came into contact with the Chakra already within the sphere, it was as though he had formed a connection with the person who had cast the Ninjutsu.

Through that faint connection, Yichen saw several blurred fragments. They were all special experiences from the original owner's life, scenes that must have left a deep impression before that person died. Unfortunately, the sequence was a complete mess, making them impossible to sort out.

Moreover, all of Yichen's attention was focused on comprehending the feeling of the other person casting Ninjutsu. As a result, he barely remembered the contents of those fragments.

From the outside, Yichen appeared completely motionless. Yet his mind seemed to be wrapped in a mass of warm liquid, as though he had returned to a womb. His whole body curled up, unable to move. After an unknown amount of time, Yichen began adapting to the sensation and slowly stretched out his limbs.

In the end, Yichen stood within the liquid and began walking around in small steps.

He did not dare step outside the liquid. Instead, he deliberately wandered through every corner of it.

It was hard to compare this strange sensation to any life experience. It felt as though something had suddenly appeared in his mind, yet also as though nothing had changed.

If he had to make a comparison, it was like learning to ride a bicycle in his previous life. Before learning, no matter what he did, he could not maintain his balance. But after learning, it was difficult even if he wanted to lose his balance.

Gradually, Yichen realized that the thing wrapping around him was Chakra—Earth Release Chakra, Chakra left behind by the original owner. It was miraculous. At the same time, Yichen also understood how to transform Chakra's attribute.

Naturally, Yichen opened his eyes and emerged from his previously motionless state.

Only this time, he was not outside the sphere.

He was inside it.

During the process just now, Yichen had gradually merged into the interior of the Earth Prison Technique.

After regaining consciousness, Yichen sensed the Chakra in his body and gave a bitter smile. His Chakra had been completely exhausted.

Although he did not know why he was inside this Ninjutsu, Yichen knew that if he wanted to get out, he first had to extract Chakra.

But then something happened that left Yichen speechless. The Chakra he extracted was being absorbed bit by bit by the Ninjutsu.

The absorption speed was extremely slow. After all, this Ninjutsu had been here for who knew how long.

But Yichen did not have much Chakra to begin with, and he had no idea how much Chakra he would need to leave.

If it was not enough, he could only remain trapped inside and wait for rescue.

Fortunately, he had just eaten lunch, so there was still some Chakra in his body that he could extract.

Yichen carefully sensed his surroundings, found the spot where the absorption rate was slowest, sat down cross-legged, and calmly extracted Chakra.

Yichen could now extract Chakra while standing, and could even extract it while using Chakra. But doing so would slow him down. His Chakra was already insufficient, and if he took too long, even more would be absorbed.

After an unknown amount of time, Yichen felt that his body had nearly reached its limit. Then, following the strange sensation he had comprehended earlier, he released Chakra outside his body, maintained it over his skin, and slowly passed through the Earth Prison Technique.

After coming out, Yichen let out a sigh of relief. In that brief minute or so, the Chakra in his body had nearly been exhausted again.

He glanced back, and the lingering fear in his heart surged up once more.

If his Chakra had run out halfway through, he would have been stuck inside. Fortunately, it had been a close call without any real danger.

The method Yichen used to get out was similar to Mu's Earth Style: Earth Submergence, but that did not mean Yichen could cast that Ninjutsu now.

Rather, the Chakra within this Earth Prison Technique had a special connection with Yichen. It greatly facilitated his movements, allowing him to burrow out from within.

In another place, Yichen would never have been able to use this method.

Although it had been dangerous, he had not suffered any harm. Yichen was still more delighted than frightened. The trip had not been wasted. Without understanding how, he had learned Chakra's Earth Release Nature Transformation.

Filled with excitement, Yichen headed toward the Ninja Academy. Extracting Chakra had taken quite some time, and he had also spent a lot of time earlier searching for a Chakra rock that suited him. Classes at the Ninja Academy were almost over.

Still, Yichen needed to let Teacher Ishikawa know he was safe and tell him the good news.

When Teacher Ishikawa saw Yichen return, he also breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried too. He had already been thinking that if Yichen had not returned by the end of classes, he would go to Training Ground No. 9 to look for him.

Seeing that Yichen was clearly much more exhausted than he had been at noon, Teacher Ishikawa comforted him. "How was it? Have you seen how amazing that place is? You have relatively little Chakra, so your comprehension will be slower than most. Go a few more times than others, and you'll gain something."

Seeing that Teacher Ishikawa still wanted to comfort him, Yichen quickly said, "Teacher Ishikawa, it wasn't like that. I've already succeeded in comprehending it." As he spoke, he described his earlier experience in detail.

Teacher Ishikawa was left speechless after hearing it. With Yichen's tiny amount of Chakra, it was probably not even one percent of what Teacher Ishikawa had possessed when he went to comprehend it back then.

How many times had he gone before succeeding? Forget it. He did not dare calculate it too carefully.

Although Teacher Ishikawa felt some lingering fear over Yichen's recklessness, he remembered that Yichen would probably only visit this rock forest once. So he did not lecture Yichen too much, allowing him to avoid another bombardment from the Will of Stone.