Gap Cultivation

The chakra paper in his hand first became damp, then wrinkled, and finally split cleanly down the middle before shattering into pieces.

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

To be honest, Hyuga Ao was pretty carefree. She had never gotten around to checking her chakra nature all this time, just mass-reading jutsu knowledge in bulk.

Later, under the subtle influence of the Hyuga clan, she never systematically studied ninjutsu, so it never occurred to her to look into her chakra nature.

What the Hyuga clan wanted was a genius specializing in Gentle Fist, someone who handled everything with Gentle Fist. Ideally, she'd be pushed into a corner, then break through relying on Gentle Fist alone, carving a path for a Hyuga Kage.

If Hyuga Ao died, she died. The Hyuga clan would just lose some resources. So they never let her touch ninjutsu.

Why so many?

Hyuga Ao was shocked to discover she actually had four chakra natures.

I'm a Hyuga. That shouldn't be right? Hyuga Ao racked her brains, thinking about what made her different.

Right, Shikotsumyaku!

Shikotsumyaku could freely manipulate bone growth and quickly heal wounds from broken bones.

If that was the case, Shikotsumyaku should be a Kekkei Genkai formed from Yang, Water, and Earth. The Yang nature corresponded to stimulating bone growth and healing wounds. Since the material for bone growth didn't come from nothing, it required chakra support from Water and Earth natures.

Then Lightning and Wind were Hyuga Ao's own inherent natures.

Hyuga Ao nodded. "That explains it!"

After confirming her chakra natures, Hyuga Ao began formulating a supplementary plan.

In her previous battles, Hyuga Ao realized she severely lacked mobility, which was fatal for her combat style focused on close-quarters fighting.

Then there were some emergency jutsu, like special movement techniques. If Hyuga Ao had known Earth Release before, she could have tunneled out on her own instead of needing Namikaze Minato to dig her out.

The most pressing issue Hyuga Ao needed to solve now was her speed.

But fortunately, she already had some ideas.

Hyuga Ao closed her eyes and formed hand seals. Beneath her clothes, the skin on her legs seemed to writhe, as if something inside was stretching its body.

Hyuga Ao was altering the function of her leg periosteum. Originally, the periosteum she had laid beneath her skin only served a defensive purpose. Now she wanted to change it, hoping the periosteum could share the strain of the Body Flicker Technique.

Because when the Body Flicker Technique was activated, chakra needed to be concentrated to stimulate the legs, allowing a burst of speed to achieve the flicker effect.

Hyuga Ao wanted to modify the periosteum so it could bear part of the chakra load, reducing the fatigue caused by the Body Flicker Technique, thereby enabling prolonged, repeated use.

But modifying the periosteum was a long process. Hyuga Ao wasn't in a hurry. For now, she needed to find the flicker method that best suited her.

Hyuga Ao activated her Byakugan, preparing to observe the operational pattern of the Body Flicker Technique. Whoosh. She vanished from her spot and instantly appeared beside a tree stump in the Training Ground.

"Isn't this just brute-forcing it?" Hyuga Ao sat on the tree stump, chakra coating her hands as she massaged her leg muscles.

Shinobi were a notoriously short-lived profession, so when predecessors created the Body Flicker Technique, they didn't think about what would happen to the legs. After all, sometimes if you weren't fast enough, you died.

But Hyuga Ao couldn't accept that. She didn't want to wreck her legs like that.

So she reduced her chakra output, gradually letting her legs adapt to the pressure, while thinking about other ways to improve it.

Hyuga Ao thought it over and found there really wasn't much she could do. The next step beyond the Body Flicker Technique was a flicker with chakra nature added, but she didn't know much about that and planned to ask someone else.

As for the posture during the flicker and how to accelerate most efficiently, those weren't problems for Hyuga Ao. Since she could control her body perfectly, she could naturally achieve optimal force output.

"Sigh!" Hyuga Ao sighed. No choice. Time to train.

While Hyuga Ao was hard at work training the Body Flicker Technique, Kushina was pestering Nawaki for Orochimaru's notes on chakra nature transformation.

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

For now, Hyuga Ao couldn't push open the door to Hyuga Kage-level. To boost her combat power, she had to practice Nintaijutsu.

But unfortunately, Konoha was severely lacking in Nintaijutsu. After all, what was Nintaijutsu compared to giant mecha?

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

"Thanks, Nawaki-nii!" Kushina beamed. After her persistent coaxing, Nawaki finally agreed to lend out Orochimaru's training notes, but they had to be returned before Orochimaru came back to the village.

"Ao'er, come here." Kushina waved at Hyuga Ao. Since that day at the hot spring, their relationship had grown even closer. Maybe that was the benefit of being good at what you did.

"Wow, Kushina, you're so good to me!" Hyuga Ao hadn't expected her close friend to actually borrow Orochimaru's notes.

"Hehe, you know it. Don't act weird in front of me from now on, got it?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Hyuga Ao answered absently, already buried in Orochimaru's notes.

With a slight smile, Kushina didn't mind and pulled out a Sealing Jutsu scroll to read on her own.

Hyuga Ao flipped open Orochimaru's notes, skipping over Water and Earth to go straight to Wind and Lightning.

In her vision, her ultimate future form should reach the level of an immortal cultivator's primordial spirit—where a single thought could manifest a technique. That was why she had never studied ninjutsu directly, instead stockpiling all kinds of theoretical knowledge.

This theoretical knowledge would pay off when she pushed open the door to Hyuga Kage-level. Because if her guess was right, by then she should be able to send flames rolling with one palm and gales howling with the other.

But for now... Hyuga Ao's gaze settled on Wind Nature Transformation. She needed some lateral inspiration to help her push through that door.

After all, a stone from another mountain can polish jade.

Hyuga Ao skipped the path of Lightning Nintaijutsu that many reincarnator protagonists chose. First, that high-speed combat style was better suited for people with the Sharingan or those who used Weapons.

Second, Hyuga Ao had a different perspective on Wind Nintaijutsu.

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

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

Wind Nature Transformation training wasn't difficult—it was simply about making wind-natured Chakra sharper.

However, Hyuga Ao found a very interesting insight in Orochimaru's notes. He believed that everyone's Chakra nature transformation could be different, because in the natural world, wind and lightning—how many forms did they take?

The common understanding of Wind Nature Transformation was sharpness, simply because most Wind Release techniques killed through cutting. But if one's understanding of the nature transformation was different, then there would naturally be many variations.

If Lightning Release Nintaijutsu was about strengthening oneself, then Wind Release Nintaijutsu should emphasize control over the wind.

Using the Hyuga clan's ability to release Chakra from every part of the body, Hyuga Ao ran against the wind, her entire body enveloped in wind-natured Chakra.

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

In this process, Hyuga Ao experienced the ever-changing nature of the natural wind and the malleability of Chakra wind.

Under the caress of the natural wind, Hyuga Ao's own wind slowly took shape.

She used her Chakra to mimic the natural wind, trying to control it, to merge with it.

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

Through her Chakra wind, Hyuga Ao felt she had established a connection with the natural wind. The natural wind seemed curious and delighted by her presence, constantly swirling around her, guiding her, speaking to her, telling her stories...

The morning sunlight jolted Hyuga Ao awake. She realized with surprise that she had unknowingly arrived atop Hokage Rock, lost in enlightenment, blown by the wind all night.

Though she had spent the whole night in the cold wind, Hyuga Ao didn't feel cold at all, because the wind wrapped around her, warming her.

She spread her fingers, feeling the wind slip between them, then slowly closed her hand, following the instinct in her heart.

The wind gathered into a ball in her palm.

Hyuga Ao understood. She had grasped the wind!