C-rank Ninjutsu

Ninja could not learn Ninjutsu just by looking over a scroll once or watching someone else perform it once.

In his memories of his previous life, Itachi Uchiha had watched Fugaku perform the Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu and succeeded on his first try. That did not mean Ninjutsu was easy to learn. Just look at Sasuke's experience to understand how difficult it was.

And Sasuke was already one of the rare talents of the ninja world. He was someone who had thoroughly overshadowed peers like Shikamaru, who were destined to become Jonin.

So, under normal circumstances, learning Ninjutsu required a Ninja to try dozens of times, even scores of times, to find that feeling.

But how many times could a Ninja's Chakra Amount support a technique?

For someone like Yichen, who could only perform a C-rank Ninjutsu once a day, if he practiced once a day and, given his high talent, assumed he needed thirty attempts to succeed—

Then Yichen would have to drastically cut down on the Chakra he spent learning other things for an entire month, all for that one daily attempt at the Ninjutsu.

And after a month, Yichen would only have learned the Ninjutsu. To perform it proficiently and raise its success rate, he would still need to adapt to all kinds of environments and try to simplify the hand seals required to perform it.

Adding it all up, even a year might not be enough. And Ninja spent most of their time carrying out missions. They had to conserve Chakra and could not be in poor condition every time they went on a mission. That would be courting death.

Based on this, the ninja world had developed a substance that could quickly replenish expended Chakra without causing side effects to the body. Rather than medicine, it was more like medicinal food.

This medicinal food was packed with nutrients and could quickly replenish what the body had consumed. Someone who ate it could extract Chakra multiple times in a single day.

If they ate medicinal food for all three meals, the additional Chakra Amount they could extract in a day could reach roughly 50C.

That was enough for a Ninja to perform C-rank Ninjutsu dozens more times each day. Moreover, this kind of continuous practice made it easier to find the right feeling and gain deeper insights.

Normally, one portion of medicinal food contained thirty meals. At three meals a day, it could last for ten days.

Over those ten days, a Ninja could practice a C-rank Ninjutsu hundreds of times. The chance of learning it would be very high.

Usually, after a Ninja advanced to Chunin, the village would reward them with one portion of medicinal food and do its best to help the newly promoted Chunin learn a C-rank Ninjutsu.

Only a Chunin like that could take on the role of team captain. Otherwise, what use was the title of Chunin? They would merely be a somewhat stronger Genin.

Of course, the village only provided the medicinal food. The Ninja had to pay for the Ninjutsu themselves.

However, Yichen's parents had left him two C-rank Ninjutsu scrolls, saving him a considerable expense.

Holding the mission reward voucher Ōnoki had given him, Yichen registered at the Contribution Office, then exchanged it at the exchange center for one and a half portions—forty-five meals of medicinal food.

He then spent another ninety Contribution Points to hire a specialized chef to prepare it.

The price was not actually expensive. Back when Yichen copied books, he could earn two Contribution Points, so spending two points to prepare one serving of medicinal food was reasonable.

After all, medicinal food made by professionals was more effective than that made by ordinary people.

Without wasting any time, Yichen had several days left before school started, so naturally he would not squander them.

He began eating medicinal food that very afternoon. Its effects were obvious. After eating, he felt as though he had endless strength throughout his body.

This was a sign that his body had been replenished excessively. If he did not promptly use up the surplus energy, symptoms such as nosebleeds would soon appear.

In severe cases, it could even harm the body.

Yichen had long understood the pros and cons, so he did not hesitate. He began mobilizing Chakra according to the method recorded in the Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall scroll.

The reason Yichen learned Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall first was because it was simple. Its transformations were few; after the Chakra left the body, it mainly formed an Earth Wall in front of him.

Unlike Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear, which also required controlling the spears' direction and number.

Yichen's hands rapidly formed hand seals. There were seventeen in total, and because he was unfamiliar with this method of mobilizing Chakra, it took him over nine seconds.

Then Yichen crouched down and slapped both palms against the ground, sending all the Chakra he had mobilized into the earth.

Then there was no then. Forget an Earth Wall—not even a dirt ridge or mound appeared. That single attempt had wasted 1.3C of Chakra.

Although he had long expected C-rank Ninjutsu to be difficult to learn, seeing no result at all still made Yichen's mouth twitch.

Hand seals assisted with mobilizing Chakra within the body, but once it flowed outside the body, it relied entirely on experience.

This was his first time mobilizing such a large amount of Chakra, and Yichen was completely unable to restrain it. As a result, the Chakra simply ran wild.

Fortunately, the medicinal food's effects had begun to kick in. Yichen started extracting Chakra again and only stopped when his body once more reached its limit for storing Chakra.

It was his first time extracting Chakra without feeling as though his body had been hollowed out afterward. It felt wonderful.

That was how Yichen practiced again and again, gradually beginning to control the Chakra into an Earth Wall.

At first, it formed a small mound, then a large mound. Realizing he had gone off course, Yichen changed his control method again. This time, a small dirt ridge began to form. Feeling that he had found the right direction, Yichen began controlling it with greater precision.

Gradually, the outline of an Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall appeared.

After more constant attempts and practice, Yichen finally mastered Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall after consuming twenty-seven meals of medicinal food. A full nine days had passed as well.

Over those nine days, Yichen spent more than an hour training Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall after every meal.

Now, he could complete fourteen hand seals in just over five seconds and perform Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall with a one hundred percent success rate.

The number of hand seals had fallen from seventeen to fourteen, while the Chakra Amount required had dropped from 1.3C to 1.1C.

Yichen was deeply moved. He was grateful for transmigrating, grateful for his powerful Mental Power.

Chakra control far beyond that of ordinary people had brought Yichen enormous convenience in his Ninjutsu training.

Normally, a newly promoted Chunin would need to use up an entire portion—thirty meals—of medicinal food just to barely perform a C-rank Ninjutsu.

Yet Yichen had not only managed to perform it, but also raised his proficiency. Not only did he have a one hundred percent success rate, he had even reduced the number of hand seals by three. His Hand Seal Speed had also clearly improved.

Yichen's Hand Seal Speed for the C-rank Ninjutsu Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall was now about the same as for the D-rank Ninjutsu Clone Technique and Transformation Jutsu.

This was also Yichen's own standard for judging whether he had completely mastered Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall.

As for his most skilled Ninjutsu, Substitution Technique, Yichen could form three seals per second. Clone Technique, Transformation Jutsu, and Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall could only reach around 2.6 seals per second.

With that, his training in Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall came to a temporary end. Yichen decided to rest for a while and let his body relax before learning his next Ninjutsu.

This period of study had also brought an additional benefit: Yichen's understanding of Earth Release had deepened greatly.

He could now transform Chakra into Earth Release with a single thought. There was no longer the slightest awkwardness or obstruction.

Next, Yichen decided to first become proficient with Water Release Chakra. Originally, his plan had been to learn Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear after Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall.

But after discovering that learning Ninjutsu could improve his proficiency in Release Transformations, Yichen changed his mind.

He planned to first learn a Water Release Ninjutsu and use it to practice Water Release Transformation.

Yichen had originally possessed one thousand Contribution Points. After the reward for the S-rank mission arrived, that number directly reached eleven thousand.

That was enough for Yichen to buy an ordinary B-rank Ninjutsu, or several C-rank Ninjutsu.

So Yichen decided to exchange for a C-rank Water Style Jutsu suited to him.

As he flipped through the Water Release Ninjutsu descriptions in his hands, Yichen discovered that Iwagakure did not have many advanced Water Release Ninjutsu, though there were quite a few common C-rank ones.

For example, the Water Style: Water Arrow Jutsu used by the Mist Ninja who had gifted Yichen his first kill was recorded in Iwagakure's collection.

Speaking of that Mist Ninja, Yichen remembered something. Before dying, that Mist Ninja had seemed to be using some kind of Sensory Ninjutsu.

For the old Yichen, Contribution Points had not been plentiful, so naturally he could not exchange for too many Ninjutsu.

Now that he could not spend all these Contribution Points in the short term, could he exchange for a Sensory Ninjutsu to try out?

Previously, although Yichen had also worked shifts with the Perception Squad in the Barrier Team, that work did not require him to perform Ninjutsu. Ninja only needed to use the prearranged barrier to spread their perception.

This was very easy for Yichen, whose Mental Power talent was exceptional.

Having experienced perception before, Yichen greatly envied that god's-eye view sensation. So he asked the staff whether there were any Sensory Ninjutsu available for exchange.

The staff handed Yichen a noticeably thinner booklet. It contained descriptions of several C-rank Sensory Ninjutsu. Upon seeing their prices, Yichen was startled.

Ordinary combat C-rank Ninjutsu cost more than one thousand points. For instance, the seventeen-seal Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall cost seventeen hundred points, while the fifteen-seal Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear cost nineteen hundred.

For the same Ninjutsu, the fewer hand seals it required, the higher the price. For example, a ten-seal Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall cost forty-five hundred points.

The most expensive C-rank Earth Style Ninjutsu was the six-seal Earth Style: Earth Submergence. It cost even more than some B-rank Ninjutsu, reaching thirteen thousand points. Yet the nineteen-seal Earth Style: Earth Submergence only cost thirty-five hundred points.

But regardless, if one did not consider Ninjutsu with simplified hand seals, ordinary C-rank combat Ninjutsu generally cost between one thousand and four thousand points.

Sensory Ninjutsu, however, were clearly a tier more expensive than combat Ninjutsu.

The cheapest C-rank Sensory Ninjutsu on the list still cost thirty-two hundred points. Even that was a useless Ninjutsu with too many hand seals, high Chakra consumption, a small sensing range, and strong sensing fluctuations.

Truly practical and cost-effective Sensory Ninjutsu cost at least seven thousand points.

Yichen had his eye on a Sensory Ninjutsu used by Konoha ninja in his memories of his previous life. After forming hand seals, one only had to touch a finger to the ground to gradually sense the Chakra conditions in the surrounding area.

Its sensing range increased with Chakra Amount, Chakra control, and Mental Power.

It could be said that after buying it once, one could use it for a lifetime.

It had countless advantages, except the price was a little high: thirteen thousand points. He could not afford it!

Yichen memorized the price and decided to start saving after exchanging for a Water Release Ninjutsu.

Next, Yichen began searching for a Water Release Ninjutsu that suited him.

First, he ruled out those that consumed large amounts of Chakra. That was his weakness. Then he focused on ones that emphasized Chakra control, since those were more worthwhile for him.

There were not many Ninjutsu that met both requirements, and Yichen was surprised to find that Water Style: Water Arrow Jutsu was among them.

However, Yichen did not choose Water Style: Water Arrow Jutsu in the end. It created quite a number of water arrows and was a Ninjutsu for small-area saturation attacks.

What Yichen wanted was a single-target Attack Ninjutsu.

In the end, Yichen chose Water Style: Water Line Jutsu.

This Ninjutsu did not have high attack power among C-rank Water Style Jutsu. It concentrated Water Release Chakra at a single point, then used it for a focused breakthrough.

Water Release attacks were already weak among the Five Elements Ninjutsu, and Water Style: Water Line Jutsu was even among the weaker Water Release Attack Ninjutsu.

The biggest reason Yichen chose this Ninjutsu was its compression property, which held great potential.

In his memories of his previous life, Sage Fukasaku of Mount Myōboku and the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama had both used this kind of highly compressed Water Release, though they had used it for cutting.

Water Style: Water Line Jutsu also used the principle of compression, but at its current stage, the density was insufficient for cutting. It could only strike wherever it was aimed, serving a function similar to senbon.

However, considering that it only consumed 0.9C of Chakra, Yichen felt it was suitable. At the very least, it was excellent for practicing Water Release Chakra Transformation.

And because it had low practical value, it was cheap as well, costing only the base price of one thousand points.

Yichen exchanged for Water Style: Water Line Jutsu, gave the Sensory Ninjutsu manual one last reluctant look, and left the exchange center.