Nagato's Limits

Yichen was in grave danger under Yahiko's systematic offensive, but he always managed to hold on and was not defeated. Of course, this was also partly due to Yahiko not going all out.

However, although Yichen did not fail, he was never able to widen the gap between himself and Yahiko.

It wasn't until later, through experience, that Yichen found an opening in Yahiko's attack sequence, allowing him to slightly increase the distance between the two.

Yichen didn't waste the hard-won opportunity. As he created distance, he began Hand Seals. By the time Yahiko approached again, a Water Style: Water Line Jutsu was already shooting towards him.

Yahiko quickly dodged, but he clearly hadn't expected Yichen to use Ninjutsu so fast, so he was a bit flustered. This gave Yichen more opportunities to use Ninjutsu.

Yichen naturally missed his chance, and a Water Style: Water Wave swept Yahiko away a distance.

Then, taking advantage of Yahiko's moment of caution regarding his follow-up attack, he unleashed Ninjutsu with a large number of Hand Seals: Group Water Style: Water Line Jutsu.

Although the water line wasn't very powerful, it was still something Yahiko couldn't withstand with his bare hands. Helpless, Yahiko realized he'd been tricked and had no choice but to retreat again and again.

After Yahiko regained his footing, he found that Yichen was still Hand Seals. He waited patiently for a few seconds, but Yichen still hadn't finished. Yahiko's face darkened. Was he being underestimated?

Yichen was also somewhat embarrassed. He didn't want this to happen either. Wasn't this Ninjutsu he had just learned? Wasn't this a rare opportunity?

However, Yahiko ultimately didn't dare to step forward. He had already missed his chance, and if he risked advancing any further, he might not even have a chance to escape.

Finally, Yichen unleashed his Water Style: Raging Waves, but Yahiko was quite far away at the time. Although he dealt with it somewhat awkwardly, he was not seriously injured.

However, their duel could no longer continue.

Seeing the disheveled Yahiko and the embarrassed Yichen, Konan smiled and stepped forward to divert everyone's attention. She Yichen said, "I'll do the second round."

Yichen quickly nodded in agreement with Konan's words.

The battle with Konan was even more difficult for Yichen. Both of them were ninjas who attacked from a distance, but Konan could also fly.

Although Yichen didn't know how long Konan could maintain her flight, he felt he definitely wouldn't last until she landed.

Because Konan's Paper Style Jutsu technique has a very large range, although most of the paper doesn't have much harmful power, the occasional Exploding Tag mixed in are still enough to cause Yichen.

The key point is that this special Kekkei Genkai seems to be able to be used without Hand Seals, which makes it inferior to the Hand Seals speed that I am best at.

So Yichen dodged and weaved, unleashing over a dozen waves of Ninjutsu, but when he realized he couldn't clear the sky full of paper scraps, he had no choice but to concede defeat.

Finally, it's Nagato versus Yichen. Yichen knows quite a bit about Rinnegan abilities from the original Nagato, but he can't show it. Moreover, Nagato probably hasn't developed his Rinnegan much yet, so he probably won't need to use it against Yichen.

Faced with the monstrous physique of the Uzumaki Clan, Yichen dared not get close, so he immediately created distance and then attacked with ranged Ninjutsu together with Nagato.

It's clear that Nagato was deliberately letting Yichen, choosing not to engage in close combat but instead using Ninjutsu, which he wasn't particularly skilled at.

It wasn't that Nagato lacked talent in Ninjutsu, but Jiraiya didn't teach him. Jiraiya was rational in this regard; Ninjutsu belonging to Konoha couldn't be passed on to outsiders. Therefore, they didn't know many techniques, basically only some low-level Ninjutsu they obtained from the ninjas of the Land of Rain.

However, ranged Ninjutsu combat is not Yichen's forte. Although Yichen seems to have learned a lot of ranged Ninjutsu, including single-target and area-of-effect techniques, he can't use many of them in actual combat. Moreover, his attributes are limited to only water and earth.

However, Nagato's Ninjutsu encompassed all five attributes, although all Nagato Nagato's C-rank Ninjutsu.

Even so, this is enough to make Yichen uncomfortable. Yichen only has two attributes, making him easy for Nagato to target. Although Yichen knows a few B-rank Ninjutsu, they all require many hand seals, making them unusable in actual combat.

Fortunately, Yichen has the Water Style: Water Pressure Line Jutsu, a bug that is close to the power of the Water Style: Water Pressure Line Jutsu, but its casting conditions are only C-level. Therefore, even when facing the Earth Release Earth Release, which is countered by it, he can still have an advantage.

It was precisely because of the immense power of the Water Style: Water Pressure Line Jutsu that Yichen was able to hold on and not be killed by Nagato's Five Elements Ninjutsu.

But everyone could see that if Yichen didn't change his tactics, he was destined to lose in the end.

So when Nagato used a C-rank Fire Style Jutsu, Yichen took the opportunity to use an Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall, and then secretly used Earth Style Clone technique behind the Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall.

However, this scene only hastened Yichen's defeat, because in the face of the Rinnegan, such tricks were like child's play.

Nagato immediately saw through the Earth Style Clone, and then used the opportunity to his Yichen, unleashing Shinra Tensei at Earth Style: Earth Submergence.

Seeing this, Yahiko burst into laughter, clearly realizing that Yichen looked far more disheveled than he had.

When facing the Rinnegan, Yichen deliberately used the Clone Technique, as his character was supposed to be unfamiliar with the Rinnegan. The reason he did this was because Yichen felt that continuing in this way would prevent him from determining Nagato's limits.

In the three matches, Yichen was only able to put up a fight against Yahiko, but he was basically unable to put up any resistance against Nagato and Konan. This result was somewhat disappointing for Yichen.

After the battle, the three of them did some reflection. Although Yahiko and his companions were powerful, they didn't actually understand ninja combat very well. So it was actually Yichen, the loser, who taught the three of them.

Yichen shared a lot of the experience that Yahiko had taught Ide. In fact, both Ide and Yahiko were Taijutsu Ninja, Ide's experience was more useful to Yahiko.

Yichen's defeat against Konan lay in being countered. Faced with the Paper Style Jutsu Kekkei Genkai, which required no Hand Seals, Yichen's most proficient Hand Seals were suppressed. Furthermore, Konan's ability to fly blocked Yichen's path to combat using special Nintaijutsu.

Yichen suggested that Konan practice throwing weapons. Currently, Konan's Paper Style Jutsu attacks rely on sheer numbers, using large-scale Paper Style Jutsu to surround and trap enemies, then launching attacks from all directions.

This method works against ninjas like Yichen who lack Chakra, but it becomes too passive against ninjas who can use Ninjutsu over a wide area.

Therefore, Yichen suggested that Konan develop a new way to use Paper Style Jutsu, which could turn Exploding Tag into Shuriken- like projectiles to strike enemies in a small area. A single Shuriken is not very powerful, and a barrage of Paper Shuriken is not fatal, but if there are a few Shuriken that can explode, then there is no way to deal with them.

Exploding Tag are very useful; Genin use them, Chunin use them, and even Kage Level ninja use them. It all depends on whether you can use them well. For example, Hanzo of the Salamander's Exploding Tag Formation is incredibly powerful.

In the original story, Konan's use of Exploding Tag against Obito can only be described as wasteful.

As for Nagato, Yichen hadn't even reached his limit, so it would have been impossible for him to offer guidance. However, Yichen had a cheat code: Naruto's fighting style in the original work was clearly good and could be used as a reference.

In the original story, Nagato unleashed his Rinnegan in a desperate situation, releasing Rinnegan power all at once. At that time, Nagato was just a Jonin a huge amount of Chakra, not yet Kage Level.

So that Nagato severely damaged Nagato's foundation. Coupled with the subsequent injury to both legs, Nagato became even more immobile and could only fight using six puppets.

But the situation is different now. The Rinnegan is still dormant, while Nagato has reached the Kage Level and his legs are fully functional. Nagato is now developing the Rinnegan gradually, without exceeding the limits of his body's capacity.

Therefore, Nagato is still the kind of ninja who can utilize the Uzumaki Clan.

Yichen said to Nagato, "Nagato, you're about to become Kage Level, far surpassing me in that respect. I can't offer you any advice. But I have an idea."

"Your Chakra reserves are enormous, and you have red hair. I'm guessing you're from the Uzumaki Clan. Although I don't know why you were born in the Land of Rain before the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed, this guess is probably correct."

"Our Iwagakure has taken in many members of the Uzumaki Clan. I have a friend of the same age named Uzumaki Yumi, who is also a ninja with a huge amount of Chakra. In battle, she uses physical clones to wear down her opponents and gather information about them at the same time."

"Perhaps this method would suit you."

At this point, Yichen paused and said, "It's just that my Earth Style Clone was taught by the village and can't be passed on to outsiders, otherwise I would have taught it to you."

Yahiko quickly said, "Yichen, please don't offend Iwagakure for our sake. It would make us feel bad too."

In Yahiko's view, although Yichen was slightly weaker than them, Yichen came from Great Ninja Village and had a much brighter future than the three of them. He didn't want someone like Yichen to be ostracized by the village because of them.

Yichen smiled and said no more.

Nagato and Konan, on the other hand, began to consider Yichen's suggestion. Nagato, in particular, was the most perceptive. After Nagato finished speaking, he immediately thought of many tactics that involved using physical clones in conjunction with Yichen's suggestions. It felt as if the door to a new world was slowly opening.

Originally, when Nagato heard about the Uzumaki Clan, he was still pondering the accuracy of Yichen's judgment, but now his mind was completely occupied with various tactics involving the coordinated use of clones.

The four sat by the lake and chatted for a while longer. Suddenly, Yichen asked Nagato, "Nagato, how do you manage to transform into all five Chakra natures?"

Yichen knew, of course, that this was the power of the Rinnegan, but he pretended not to know.

Nagato thought for a moment and said, "I don't know either. I feel like I'm most comfortable using Wind Release Ninjutsu, but using other Ninjutsu isn't difficult either."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "It's just that the feeling is a bit different when developing other attributes for the first time. It feels like the attributes hidden deep within the body are suddenly activated with a thought."

"Well, at the time, I just felt that the Wind Release became unusually active, and then my plan to develop a new attribute succeeded all at once."

As Yichen listened to Nagato's description, he tried to determine how the Rinnegan would affect Nagato's body.

"Perhaps this influence subtly changes one's constitution," Yichen reasoned, but as he listened, something seemed amiss.

The human body must possess all five attributes, otherwise it wouldn't be able to survive. However, the body is not perfectly balanced; there are slight differences in the distribution of these attributes.

The difference in the Five-Attribute resulting from this subtle variation is actually very small, but that small difference is enough for ninjas to exploit.

To use an analogy, let's assume that the amount of each of the five human attributes is around 10,000 points, but with slight differences. Let's say a ninja has 10,005 points in Water, 10,004 points in Earth, 9,999 points in Fire, 9,999 points in Lightning, and 9,998 points in Wind.

This ninja's water and earth attributes, aside from the majority used to maintain the balance necessary for life, have a surplus. Therefore, their Chakra manifests as both water and earth attributes, with Water Release the most abundant and easiest to cultivate.

However, this doesn't mean the other three attributes are uncultivable; rather, these three attributes are almost entirely used to maintain bodily balance, making them very difficult to extract.

Of these three attributes, fire and lightning are still somewhat promising, since this person's weakness is wind, and compared to Wind Release, fire and lightning are slightly more abundant.

However, the last attribute, Wind Release, is too difficult to develop because Wind Release is mainly used to maintain body balance, and there is no extra wind attribute. It is impossible to convert to Wind Release under normal circumstances.

But after listening to Nagato's detailed explanation, Yichen had a bold conjecture.