Three Basic Jutsu

Yichen stood on the Ninja Academy's training ground. His hands formed four seals in succession, then with a poof, his entire body transformed into Teacher Ishikawa's appearance. After sensing the state of his body, Yichen let out a breath. This was the first time in his life he had successfully performed a complete ninjutsu.

Four hand seals had taken him over three seconds in total, nearly a second per seal on average. That speed was still far from enough for actual combat, but the battlefield changed constantly. If he had companions to support him and buy him a few seconds, this speed would barely suffice.

Yet this single ninjutsu had nearly exhausted all of Yichen's current Chakra. Moreover, as the only ninjutsu he had mastered at this stage, the Transformation Jutsu had little practical combat value.

After more than a year of practice, Yichen had learned to skillfully use Chakra in Taijutsu. In other words, he could reinforce every move with Chakra. When attacking with fists and feet, his body was still flesh and blood, but under Chakra's enhancement, its power was no longer what it had once been. If he used weapons such as Kunai or blades in battle, he was even more different from an Ordinary Person.

Chakra truly was a miraculous power that could turn mortals into immortals. Although Yichen was still a seven-year-old brat, with Chakra, his physique had long surpassed that of a normal Adult. Weapon in hand, he could easily fight ten people without Chakra by himself.

However, relying solely on Chakra-enhanced Taijutsu was actually how samurai operated in the current Ninja World. What distinguished Ninja from samurai was their dazzling array of ninjutsu.

Just over half a month ago, the Sensory Ninja who had long worked at the Ninja Academy confirmed that Yichen's Chakra Amount was sufficient to use the Three Basic Jutsu. Of course, it was only enough for one.

From that point on, Yichen began practicing the Transformation Jutsu. Teacher Ishikawa had already explained the relevant knowledge of the Three Basic Jutsu during theory classes. However, the Teacher had made it clear that students were forbidden from practicing them privately before a Sensory Ninja confirmed that their Chakra Amount met the standard.

Thus, Yichen had actually only practiced the Transformation Jutsu for around half a month. Do not think that learning one of the Three Basic Jutsu in half a month was easy.

As someone who had experienced it personally, Yichen had only one word for it: miserable.

This was how Yichen had spent the past few days: extract Chakra, practice ninjutsu according to the method for performing the Transformation Jutsu, fail, exhaust his Chakra, and end the day.

That was right. Since his Chakra Amount was only enough to perform the Transformation Jutsu once, and he did not dare overtax his body, he could only try once a day. He only dared make another attempt after his body had mostly recovered the next day.

Later, so as not to waste time, Yichen would extract his Chakra first during the day, then practice hand seals, Taijutsu, and other things, leaving the Transformation Jutsu for last.

Although changing the order kept him from wasting much time, the feeling of concentrating hard, trying once, and then having to wait until the next day was truly miserable. It was like playing a lottery game with one draw a day. After waiting a whole day in eager anticipation, it was over in one second—and all he drew was "Thank you for participating."

No matter what, Yichen had finally succeeded.

Tana, Shinohara, and the others standing beside Yichen all cast envious looks his way. Do not think that taking Yichen so long to learn the Transformation Jutsu meant he lacked talent. In fact, only three people in the class had successfully performed the Three Basic Jutsu so far.

One was Ikura, the only person in Yichen's class capable of performing all three of the Three Basic Jutsu. Another was a blond-haired girl named Meikou. Like Yichen, she came from an ordinary Ninja family, but she was luckier than him in that both her parents were alive. They treasured their precious daughter greatly and spent all the money they earned from missions on her.

Meikou possessed powerful Chakra Control, and her physique was also far better than Yichen's. The combination of the two made her the second student in the class to perform the Three Basic Jutsu.

Yichen was the third. No one else could successfully perform the Three Basic Jutsu at present. Most of the students in Yichen's class still had not reached the required Chakra Amount, while a small number whose families had prepared them to become Ninja had already met the requirement. But Chakra Control was difficult to shortcut; in most cases, it depended solely on one's talent and hard work.

People like Tana had reached the required Chakra Amount long ago, and their Chakra Amount was several times Yichen's, yet they still could not perform them.

As the first ninjutsu a Ninja learned, the hardship of controlling Chakra from nothing into something was truly difficult to describe. This was also why there were so many Ninja willing to stake their lives on their own Ninja Way. Everyone had started from zero and grown bit by bit, shedding countless drops of sweat along the way. Their wills far surpassed those of ordinary people.

However, although Yichen was the third student to perform the Three Basic Jutsu, that did not mean his Combat Power ranked among the top three in class. So far, Yichen's physique still ranked near the bottom of the class. Though he had increased his financial investment, the results in improving his physique were not particularly significant.

After all, Yichen had originally been at the very bottom of the class. Based on physique alone, he had been nowhere near the standard for entering the Advanced Class. His gradual progress over the past two years was inseparable from his persistence and effort. Furthermore, as an Adult, his mature mentality allowed him to train more diligently, frequently assess his gains and losses, and adjust his training methods. That was also one of his advantages.

Therefore, although his physique ranked near the bottom, the Quasi-Yin Attribute Chakra extraction method had barely raised his Chakra Amount to the point where he could perform the Three Basic Jutsu, placing him in the class's first tier. Unfortunately, the Three Basic Jutsu were not particularly useful in actual sparring. Everyone still relied on Taijutsu in battle.

Although Yichen had more Chakra than many of his classmates, that merely meant he could maintain Chakra-enhanced Taijutsu for a little longer. Before his opponent exhausted their Chakra, they would have already knocked Yichen down with the advantage of their superior physique.

Over the past two years, Yichen had lost far more fights than he had won. His inferior physique also meant that his use of Kunai, Shuriken, and other weapons was far behind that of classmates with stronger bodies.

Fortunately, Yichen also knew his shortcomings. His improvement over the past two years had actually been obvious. From starting at the bottom, he had learned to make use of his endurance, avoid the enemy's sharp edge, and raise his class ranking to the lower-middle tier.

He believed that as his Chakra grew and he brought ninjutsu into actual combat, his advantages would gradually increase.

Just as Yichen's thoughts drifted, Shinohara's sour voice came from beside him. "Hmph, it's just the Three Basic Jutsu. I'm only a little short of mastering them myself. And even if this guy has learned the Transformation Jutsu, what is there to be proud of? I can still send him flying with one punch."

Hearing that, Yichen turned his head and gave Shinohara a disdainful glance. Although Shinohara had beaten him many times in sparring over the past two years, and although Yichen was still no match for him now, if he could not win a fight, could he not even win an argument?

So, using Teacher Ishikawa's tone, Yichen said, "Ahem. Shinohara, that is where you are wrong. You clearly cannot compare to him, so why refuse to admit it? Go copy the basic theory of Kunai throwing ten more times." Wearing Teacher Ishikawa's body, Yichen spoke slowly and leisurely.

Shinohara's breathing caught. He was the type like Naruto—good in actual combat but terrible at theory. His Kunai throwing scores were actually not bad, but his theory grades were abysmal. As the only person in the class who had failed even the basic theory exam for Kunai throwing, he had been publicly criticized by Teacher Ishikawa more than once or twice.

Listening to the laughter of his classmates around him, Shinohara shouted furiously, "Bastard, change back already!"

Yichen smiled faintly and formed hand seals with both hands. With a poof, he changed back into himself. Teasing Shinohara a little was enough. Otherwise, he would get beaten again.

At that moment, Teacher Ishikawa came over and praised Yichen, telling everyone to learn from him. He also took the opportunity to promote the Will of Stone. Teacher Ishikawa was not surprised that Yichen had learned to perform the Transformation Jutsu so quickly. Other than Yichen himself, he was the person who understood Yichen's talent best.

Teacher Ishikawa asked Yichen whether he wanted to learn the Substitution Technique or the Clone Technique next.

Yichen had prepared for this already. "I want to learn the Clone Technique."

Teacher Ishikawa nodded, explained the key points and precautions of the Clone Technique once more, then walked toward the other students. Although Yichen had long known the relevant theory, he still listened carefully to Teacher Ishikawa's explanation. There was no room for carelessness when performing ninjutsu, especially since he had no spare Chakra to waste.

After reviewing the key points of the Clone Technique in his mind once more, Yichen stopped thinking about it and began practicing Taijutsu instead. There was not much Chakra left in his body now, only enough for him to barely carry out some simple training.

After dinner, Yichen did not return home directly. Instead, he went to the village's Barrier Team. He had come here to work. That was right, work. As a Ninja Academy student—and a seven-year-old one at that—he was not qualified to accept missions. But considering that the expenses of becoming a Ninja would only increase in the future, once Yichen confirmed that his Chakra had reached the level needed to perform the Three Basic Jutsu, he had proactively sought out Ōnoki.

He hoped Ōnoki could find him a job and increase his income. At the time, Ōnoki had asked what requirements he had for the job, and Yichen answered that it would be best if he could learn something from it. Considering that the war had left every position in the village severely short-handed, Ōnoki did not refuse. He arranged for Yichen to join the Barrier Team as an intern.

As a Genius whose Mental Power talent surpassed ordinary people, the job Ōnoki arranged for Yichen was actually a perfect fit. The work here relied most heavily on sensing, and Yichen's Mental Power had been comparable to that of a normal Adult two years ago. Now, it far surpassed ordinary people. In terms of Mental Power strength alone, after two years of growth, he had already surpassed many Chunin.

However, Ōnoki had one requirement: Yichen had to successfully perform one of the Three Basic Jutsu before he could officially begin work. Thus, today was actually Yichen's first day interning with the Barrier Team.

As arranged beforehand, Yichen found the person in charge and presented the work authorization Ōnoki had written for him.