Interval Training

The chakra test paper in her hand first became damp, then wrinkled, before finally splitting cleanly in two and crumbling apart.

Hyuga Ao fell into deep thought. Water, lightning, wind, earth?

Come to think of it, Hyuga Ao was rather careless. All this time, she had never thought to check her chakra affinities, only reading through large quantities of ninjutsu knowledge.

Later, under the subtle influence of the Hyuga family, she never systematically studied ninjutsu, so she never thought to examine her chakra affinities.

What the Hyuga family wanted was a genius specializing in Gentle Fist, someone who responded to everything with Gentle Fist—preferably one who would fall into desperate straits and then break through with Gentle Fist, thereby opening a path toward Hyuga's Kage Level.

If Hyuga Ao died, then she died. At most, the Hyuga family would lose some resources. Thus, the Hyuga family had never let Hyuga Ao touch ninjutsu.

Why did she have so many?

Hyuga Ao was astonished to discover that she actually possessed four chakra affinities.

I'm a Hyuga. That shouldn't be possible, should it? Hyuga Ao racked her brains, thinking about what was different about her.

Right, Shikotsumyaku!

Shikotsumyaku could freely control the growth of bones and rapidly heal wounds caused by broken bones.

If that was the case, Shikotsumyaku should be a Kekkei Genkai formed from Yang, Water, and Earth. Yang corresponded to stimulating bone growth and healing wounds, while the materials for bone growth did not come from nowhere, so it required the support of Water and Earth chakra.

Then lightning and wind were Hyuga Ao's own affinities.

Hyuga Ao nodded. "That explains it!"

After confirming her chakra affinities, Hyuga Ao began drawing up a supplementary training plan.

In the previous battle, Hyuga Ao had discovered that she was seriously lacking in mobility. For someone whose fighting style centered on close combat, that was fatal.

Then there were some emergency techniques, such as special movement techniques. If Hyuga Ao had known Earth Release earlier, she could have escaped on her own at the end instead of having Namikaze Minato dig her out.

The most urgent problem Hyuga Ao needed to solve now was her speed.

Fortunately, Hyuga Ao already had some inspiration.

Hyuga Ao closed her eyes and formed seals. Beneath the hem of her clothes, the skin on her legs seemed to writhe, as though something inside was extending her body.

Hyuga Ao was altering the function of the periosteum in her legs. The periosteum she had originally arranged beneath her skin had only served a defensive purpose. Now, she wanted to change it, hoping that the periosteum could share the burden of the Body Flicker Technique.

When the Body Flicker Technique was activated, chakra had to be gathered to stimulate the legs, allowing a momentary burst of speed to achieve the effect of body flickering.

Hyuga Ao wanted to modify the periosteum so that it could bear part of the chakra load, reducing the fatigue caused by the Body Flicker Technique and allowing her to use it repeatedly for extended periods.

However, modifying the periosteum was a long-term process. Hyuga Ao was not in a hurry. For now, she first had to find the Body Flicker method best suited to her.

Hyuga Ao activated her Byakugan and prepared to observe the operating principles of the Body Flicker Technique. "Whoosh." Hyuga Ao vanished from where she stood and instantly appeared beside a tree stump in the Training Ground.

"Isn't this just relying on brute force to create a miracle?" Hyuga Ao sat on the tree stump, chakra coating her hands as she massaged the muscles in her legs.

Being a ninja was a fairly short-lived profession, so when their predecessors created the Body Flicker Technique, they had never considered how the legs would hold up. After all, sometimes, if you could not run fast enough, you died.

But Hyuga Ao could not accept that. She did not want to abuse her legs like that.

Thus, Hyuga Ao reduced her chakra output, letting her legs gradually adapt to the pressure while thinking of other ways to improve the technique.

Hyuga Ao thought it over and found that there really was no good solution. Further strengthening the Body Flicker Technique would mean using a body flicker with an elemental chakra affinity. She did not know much about that aspect, so she planned to ask someone else.

As for posture during body flickering and how to accelerate most effectively, those issues were not problems for Hyuga Ao. Since she could control her body, she could naturally produce force in the optimal manner.

"Ugh!" Hyuga Ao sighed. There was no way around it. She would just have to train.

While Hyuga Ao was rigorously training the Body Flicker Technique, Kushina was wearing Nawaki down over Orochimaru's notes on chakra nature transformation.

This was also something Hyuga Ao had asked her to do.

Hyuga Ao still could not push open the gate to Hyuga's Kage Level for the time being. To increase her combat strength, she could only practice Nintaijutsu.

Unfortunately, Konoha was terribly lacking in Nintaijutsu. After all, what was Nintaijutsu compared to a giant robot?

Therefore, Hyuga Ao could only research a Nintaijutsu of her own. She had figured Kushina would definitely have a way to help her find some training notes on chakra nature transformation.

"Thank you, Big Brother Nawaki!" Kushina beamed. After her persistent coaxing, Nawaki finally agreed to lend her Orochimaru's training notes, though they had to be returned before Orochimaru came back to the village.

"Ao'er, come here." Kushina waved to Hyuga Ao. After that day at the hot springs, Hyuga Ao and Kushina had become even closer than before. Perhaps that was one of the benefits of being good in bed.

"Wow, Kushina, you're so good to me!" Hyuga Ao had not expected her best friend to actually borrow Orochimaru's notes.

"Hehe, as long as you know. And don't act weird in front of me anymore, understand?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Hyuga Ao answered casually. By then, she had already buried herself in Orochimaru's notes.

Kushina smiled faintly and did not mind. She simply took out a Sealing Jutsu scroll and began reading it herself.

Hyuga Ao opened Orochimaru's notes, skipped past Water and Earth, and went straight to wind and lightning.

In her imagination, her ultimate future form should reach the level of an immortal cultivator's Primordial Spirit True Person, where a thought could create a technique. Thus, she had never studied ninjutsu, instead supplementing her knowledge with various theoretical principles.

These theories would repay her when she pushed open the gate to Hyuga's Kage Level. If her prediction was correct, she should then be able to make flames roll with one palm and hurricanes blow with the other.

But now, Hyuga Ao's gaze settled on Wind Nature Transformation. She needed to draw inferences from related matters to help her push open that gate.

After all, the stones of other mountains could be used to polish jade.

Hyuga Ao skipped the path of Lightning Nintaijutsu chosen by so many protagonists of fanfiction. First, that sort of high-speed combat was more suitable for someone with the Sharingan or someone who used weapons.

Second, Hyuga Ao had a different view of Wind Nintaijutsu.

Three days later, Hyuga Ao ran aimlessly into the evening breeze.

She had completed the first stage of Wind Nature Transformation training.

Wind Nature Transformation was not difficult. It merely required making Wind chakra sharper.

However, in Orochimaru's notes, Hyuga Ao found a particularly interesting interpretation. Orochimaru believed that everyone's chakra nature transformation could be different, because how could the wind and lightning in nature have only one form of expression?

The common understanding was that Wind Nature Transformation meant sharpness, but that was merely because Wind Release techniques were mostly lethal through cutting. If one's understanding of Release techniques differed, then nature transformation could naturally take many forms as well.

If Lightning Nintaijutsu emphasized strengthening the body, then Wind Nintaijutsu should emphasize control over the wind.

Taking advantage of the Hyuga ninja ability to release chakra from every part of their bodies, Hyuga Ao ran into the wind, Wind chakra permeating her entire body.

The natural wind and Hyuga Ao's wind collided and merged.

Within that process, Hyuga Ao experienced the variability of the natural wind and the malleability of chakra-created wind.

Under the caress of the natural wind, a wind belonging to Hyuga Ao slowly took shape.

Hyuga Ao used chakra to imitate the natural wind, attempting to control it and merge with it.

Gradually, Hyuga Ao changed from running against the wind to running with it.

Through the chakra-created wind, Hyuga Ao felt that she had established a connection with the natural wind. The natural wind seemed curious and delighted by her presence, constantly circling around her, carrying her along, speaking and telling her things.

The morning sunlight shook Hyuga Ao awake. Only then did she realize that, without noticing, she had already arrived atop Hokage Rock, where she had gained enlightenment and let the wind blow over her for an entire night.

Although she had been exposed to the cold wind all night, Hyuga Ao did not feel cold, because the wind wrapped around her and warmed her.

She spread her five fingers, feeling the wind pass between them. Her fingers slowly closed, following the feeling in her heart.

The wind coiled into a ball in her hand.

Hyuga Ao understood. She had grasped the wind!