Yin Release Chakra

Although Yichen had successfully cultivated Chakra, it did not change his routine.

That tiny thread of Chakra was simply useless. In actual combat, it would not even deal as much damage as throwing a wooden Shuriken at an opponent.

His physique was too weak. He could not refine enough Chakra, nor could he even use it to enhance his attacks.

Yichen had never learned Chakra Control, which required constant practice through consumption. The tiny amount he had refined was nowhere near enough.

Following the method Teacher Ishikawa had taught him, Yichen brought his hands together, formed the "Ram" hand seal, and tried to mobilize his Chakra.

Hand seals truly were a miraculous method. With the "Ram" seal assisting him, that thread of Chakra visibly stirred, slowly moving in one direction.

Of course, whether it was moving in the direction Yichen intended was impossible to tell. At least it had moved.

Then, it was gone.

That was right. Yichen had used it all up.

Though he had expected it, Yichen still could not help feeling disappointed.

Controlling Chakra within the body consumed Chakra, but the expenditure was actually minimal. To a qualified Ninja, such consumption could be ignored.

But Yichen had refined far too little. He could not even withstand this most basic expenditure.

After calming himself, Yichen entered meditation again and began refining Chakra.

Thanks to his efforts over this period, Yichen's foundation was solid, and his Mental Power was strong enough. Before long, he refined another thread.

This time, Yichen did not rush to mobilize it. Instead, he settled down and continued refining. He did not know how long passed, but refining became easier and easier, and his Chakra continued increasing until his body began to feel discomfort.

This was his body's instinctive warning. If he continued refining, he would overload himself.

Overloading was a very serious matter for a Ninja. At best, it would damage the body and require time to recuperate. At worst, it would directly affect future development and could even cause the body to deteriorate.

When Yichen had studied theory before, he had suspected that Bloodline Disease might be caused by this kind of overexertion.

It was just that the overexertion caused by Bloodline Disease was passive. During the development of a Kekkei Genkai, the body was used without control or its self-protection mechanisms, resulting in irreversible damage.

Yichen did not dare play with fire and hurriedly stopped refining.

After carefully sensing the Chakra inside him, he found that its amount had increased by more than a hundredfold. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was not too little.

This amount was now the limit of Yichen's body. The total Chakra available for all future training would be this much. Once it was exhausted, he would need to replenish his body's energy, and only after sufficient rest could he refine Chakra again.

Taking a deep breath, Yichen formed the "Ram" hand seal again and mobilized his Chakra. With the hand seal's assistance, the Chakra slowly began to flow.

However, it flowed very slowly. Yichen concentrated and tried to control its speed.

A delightful scene unfolded. The Chakra became more active, darting about under Yichen's control. Although it was still not fast, there was clear progress.

Encouraged, Yichen pressed on and tried to control the direction of the Chakra's flow.

But this time, the results were clearly not as obvious. Although the Chakra changed along with shifts in his Mental Power, it did not follow Yichen's intentions at all.

It was like a beginner playing a game. They clearly wanted to make their character move forward, but because they did not know how to use the controls, the character only flailed around randomly.

That was how Yichen's Chakra Control was at the moment. He had no clue where to begin and could only familiarize himself with the flow of Chakra through repeated attempts.

He did not know how long passed before all the Chakra he had refined was exhausted. Only then did Yichen open his eyes, his face full of fatigue. This exhaustion was both physical and mental.

The physical exhaustion was easy enough to explain. Refining Chakra consumed too much energy. The mental exhaustion came from the helpless feeling of being unable to control it, which was unbearable and greatly deepened his fatigue.

If Yichen's soul strength had not been no weaker than that of an adult, he would never have lasted until he exhausted all his Chakra.

This was the situation for his classmates. Most of them were the opposite of Yichen. Limited by insufficient Mental Power, they often became mentally exhausted before they could use up all their Chakra.

Therefore, many students would practice with Chakra for a while, then rest while repeatedly going through the Chakra extraction process they had been practicing all along.

Yichen felt exhausted all over and decided to balance work and rest by lying on his desk for a short nap.

The result was that he slept through the entire day. He was only awakened after the afternoon practical combat class had ended, when a Teacher specifically came over to wake him.

Situations like Yichen's were fairly common at the Ninja Academy. When students first refined Chakra, they did not know moderation and became overly exhausted after repeatedly practicing Chakra Control.

Teacher Ishikawa was experienced and told everyone not to disturb Yichen. Thus, Yichen slept for an entire day. Now that he was awake, he only felt so hungry that his stomach was cramping.

After saying goodbye to the Teacher, he ate as he walked home. He could not train today. He would rest a while after getting home, then go to the cafeteria for dinner.

The next day, during theory class, Yichen once again practiced Chakra refinement and Chakra Control. This time was different from before. With some experience, Yichen began searching for patterns in controlling Chakra.

First was how to speed up Chakra's flow. This was relatively simple. As long as he concentrated his Mental Power more intensely, like exerting force, the Chakra would flow faster.

Second was the issue of direction, which was more troublesome. Chakra might have weight, but it had to be extremely slight. Even the smallest deviation would throw its direction completely off. This would be the focus of his future practice.

Finally, regarding endurance, Yichen had already realized what made him special.

Because of his Mental Power, he could practice Chakra Control much longer than others. From what he had observed, he also improved faster than they did. These were likely all benefits of having strong Mental Power.

His weakness was simply that his Chakra Amount was too low. To fully utilize his Mental Power, he had to strengthen his physique. That could not be rushed and would require patient, gradual effort. But there was another path he could try.

According to memories from his previous life, the Uchiha Clan was naturally strong in Mental Power but weak physically.

Yet their Chakra Amount was not low. Otherwise, they could not use a divine technique like Susanoo.

With that in mind, Yichen wondered whether there was a way to adjust the ratio between Mental Power and physical energy during Chakra formation.

If he could increase the proportion of Mental Power and produce Chakra inclined toward Yin Release, it should greatly alleviate his shortage of Chakra.

However, this method would be difficult to grasp. At the very least, Teacher Ishikawa had already stated that he did not know the key to it.

Yichen guessed that the Konoha Nara Clan likely possessed a related method, but given his current circumstances, there was no way he could obtain it.

He would try it himself first. If it truly did not work, then after becoming a Ninja, he would find a way to capture a Nara Clan Ninja and interrogate him.

Over the next few days, Yichen repeatedly meditated according to the method Teacher Ishikawa had taught him, but the result was always the same. Nothing changed.

After these attempts, Yichen guessed that the problem lay with the meditation method.

Everyone used the same meditation method. It was a form of the body's self-adaptation, through which the body naturally matched Mental Power with Chakra.

To change the ratio between them, he could only change the way he meditated.

Since he wanted to increase the proportion of Mental Power in his Chakra, he could try becoming more immersed in meditation and entering deep meditation.

But even if he could meditate more deeply, he would no longer have a clear consciousness to control Chakra. Not to mention refining Chakra while fighting enemies in battle afterward.

After thinking for a long time, Yichen suddenly wondered whether he could use Genjutsu to place his mind into a certain degree of slumber, while controlling the power of the Genjutsu himself to achieve a state between sleep and wakefulness.

That was rather fanciful. Casting Genjutsu on himself while half-asleep and half-awake, refining Chakra while fighting.

Ha! Yichen laughed at himself.

The Nara Clan truly deserved to be a great clan passed down in Konoha for so long. Their foundations were not something one or two people could crack.

Disappointed, Yichen chose to give up. He should sleep first. It would be more practical to increase the intensity of his physical training a little tomorrow.

In his dream, Yichen seemed to feel that there were two of him. One was asleep, and one was awake. The sleeping one began merging with physical energy, while the awake one slowly gathered the Chakra produced by their fusion.

This time, the amount of Chakra was clearly much greater than before. Yichen grinned foolishly in his dream.

When he woke the next day, Yichen was about to wash up when he suddenly sensed that something was wrong!

This was...

Why was there so much Chakra inside his body?

Could last night not have been a dream? Did I encounter an old grandpa?

Yichen carefully recalled it. The more he thought about it, the stranger the dream seemed. Could it be because of Soul Fusion? Could he use his mind for two things at once?

It was still early, so Yichen hurriedly ate breakfast and began meditating again. But while awake, he could not enter the meditative state from last night at all.

Helplessly, he trained first and decided to try again during class.

During theory class, while his classmates were all practicing Chakra refinement, Yichen began trying to enter the state from last night.

But no matter how he tried, he could not find the slightest clue. Left with no choice, he went to find Teacher Ishikawa and asked him to analyze the situation.

After hearing Yichen's description, Teacher Ishikawa was also somewhat confused. He first found the Sensory Ninja at the Ninja Academy and had him inspect the Chakra inside Yichen's body.

The Sensory Ninja discovered that, just as Yichen had said, his Chakra Amount was completely unlike that of a student who had only just learned Chakra refinement.

Furthermore, according to the Sensory Ninja, Yichen's Chakra felt different from that of ordinary people. It leaned toward darkness and might truly be Yin Release Chakra.

Ishikawa did not dare draw a conclusion lightly. After having Yichen return to the classroom, he immediately went with the Sensory Ninja to request an audience with the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.

At this time, the war in the ninja world had already escalated. The major Ninja Villages had basically all entered the conflict. Even relatively large minor Ninja Villages such as Rain Village had joined the war.

As for who might become a potential ally and who might stab them in the back, the upper echelons of every nation were still mutually suspicious and provoking one another.

As the military ruler of the Land of Earth, Ōnoki was in his prime, yet he was still overwhelmed with work.

At such a critical time, if Ishikawa had not belonged to the special institution that was the Ninja Academy, an ordinary Chunin would truly have had no way to see Ōnoki that very day.

When Ishikawa and the Sensory Ninja met Ōnoki, he was bent over a mountain of documents taller than himself.

Upon seeing the two enter, he first gestured for them to wait. Only after finishing the document in his hands did he raise his exhausted face to look at them and signal for them to speak.

After hearing Ishikawa's account, Ōnoki was somewhat surprised. He looked toward the Sensory Ninja and, seeing him nod in confirmation, said solemnly, "Whether it is Yin Release Chakra is still hard to say. Teacher Ishikawa, I will have to trouble you once more. After the Ninja Academy lets out, bring that child here. I will personally arrange for someone to examine him."

After Ishikawa and the Sensory Ninja left, a trace of gratified delight appeared on Ōnoki's face. "Are talented juniors finally beginning to emerge in the Land of Earth?"