Chakra Sensing

"Taijutsu and Water Release are my current strengths."

"Although I obtained the basics of genjutsu and improved my chakra control, genjutsu isn't my forte. My next step should still be studying Earth Release..."

Kyoichi made plans silently.

The genjutsu reward had been an unexpected bonus and wasn't enough to include in his plans.

Earth Release was still more important.

Water Release was powerful, but it had certain geographical limitations.

He still had to master Earth Release.

Of course.

There was another important reason—

To be promoted to Jonin, mastering two nature transformations was a mandatory requirement. Otherwise, even if Kyoichi had enough merit, he could only serve as a Special Jonin.

If he wanted to secure a place in Konoha, being merely a Special Jonin was absolutely not enough.

Kyoichi stood at the doorway.

The Kanda family home wasn't small, but there were only a few people living there. His parents had died in the Second Shinobi World War, and his grandmother had passed away years ago.

However.

There were still some "treasures" in the house—

Several scrolls his grandmother had left behind.

The Senju Clan had been very generous. Whenever one of their members married someone from another clan, they would let her take some things with her as a dowry. Those scrolls had been brought from the Senju Clan.

His predecessor had never paid them any attention.

But.

Kyoichi felt there might be something useful among them.

He carefully searched through them.

Sure enough!

One of the scrolls contained something special.

Some of Tobirama Senju's swordsmanship materials. Although they were merely copied notes and had not been systematically organized into sword techniques, they formed a complete swordsmanship system.

Konoha Style Swordsmanship!

"This book really is a treasure."

Kyoichi sighed inwardly.

His grandmother had been incredibly wise to choose to copy this book instead of taking ninjutsu scrolls.

If a descendant had enough insight, they could derive an entire swordsmanship system from this book. Unfortunately, his father seemed to lack that insight and had failed to comprehend the secret techniques.

Although he had mastered some swordsmanship, it was very shallow. By his predecessor's generation, it had been abandoned altogether.

Kyoichi pondered for a moment before putting the book away.

He would study it carefully tonight.

He looked through the remaining books. They weren't ninjutsu scrolls or secret manuals, merely ordinary books recording the family's history. Yet compared to the Second Hokage's swordsmanship notes, those history books had been read far more often.

Fine, time to start training.

After resting, Kyoichi had recovered.

He walked into the courtyard.

The next moment, he formed hand seals...

"Body, wouldn't practicing this yourself be more effective?"

"I need to train my body, so I'll have to leave the swordsmanship to you."

Kyoichi smiled.

The clone was speechless.

Of course.

Why would anyone create a Shadow Clone if not to enjoy the good life?

Time to train.

The next day.

Kyoichi arrived at the academy in high spirits.

He had finally experienced the strength of the Senju bloodline today.

It wasn't merely physical constitution.

Yesterday, his Shadow Clone and his original body had undergone high-intensity training, yet after one night, he was bursting with energy again, without the slightest trace of fatigue.

Obito, on the other hand—

When Kyoichi entered the classroom, he couldn't help feeling amused.

Obito had arrived just in time.

He looked as though he had sprinted all the way there, expending a great deal of chakra on the journey. Now he was panting heavily and looked utterly miserable.

"Teacher, I—I'm not late."

Obito took several gasping breaths.

Afraid of being late, he hadn't stopped once along the way. His Taijutsu and Body Flicker Technique were already poor, and by the time he reached the academy, he had almost no chakra left.

"Yesterday, I said you would be the first to come up and demonstrate combining the Clone Technique and Transformation Jutsu."

Kyoichi stood at the podium, smiling warmly.

"Huh?"

Obito's face instantly stiffened, then quickly fell.

He had forgotten about that.

He had only himself to blame for letting his mouth get him into trouble.

Or perhaps—

He shouldn't have failed to take Rin out for ramen yesterday.

He took a deep breath.

Then, steeling himself, he walked up to the platform.

He quickly formed hand seals. Compared to Naruto, Obito's chakra control was still considerably better. After all, he didn't have the Nine-Tails rampaging inside him. But still...

His chakra control was terribly poor.

Before long.

Chakra leaked out, and moments later, a Kanda Kyoichi appeared beside Obito, tilted over on the ground.

"Absolutely identical."

Kyoichi marveled inwardly.

Obito wore a bitter expression.

He didn't feel embarrassed. He was only wondering whether Kyoichi would punish him again because of this.

This teacher...

He was a good person, but he was as narrow-minded as the eye of a needle.

"You have plenty of chakra, and you have decent talent in ninjutsu and shuriken techniques. But Taijutsu and chakra control are your weaknesses. You need to train harder and catch up. Otherwise, you'll become a burden on the battlefield in the future."

Kyoichi reminded him.

Obito hurriedly bowed. "Thank you, Teacher!"

His previous teachers had only shaken their heads.

But.

This Kanda teacher didn't look down on him. Instead, he had offered him guidance. That alone made Obito cast aside many of the thoughts in his mind.

"Tree climbing and water walking. Figure them out yourselves."

Kyoichi spoke indifferently.

"Tree climbing and water walking?"

Many of the students below were puzzled.

Iruka included.

They were civilians. Before being assigned to teams and taking masters, how would they have known about such things?

"Attach chakra to the soles of your feet to climb trees. As for water walking... it means using chakra to let yourselves walk across the surface of the water."

Kyoichi explained.

"I think I heard my father mention that before."

"Have you practiced it?"

Obito asked.

"No. I did it without practicing."

Kurenai Yuhi shook her head.

"..."

Damn it.

People with good talent were so annoying.

Obito cursed inwardly.

"Teacher, could you explain it in more detail..."

"Sure."

Kyoichi explained clearly how to climb trees and walk on water.

This kind of knowledge wasn't a secret technique.

However.

Knowledge itself had barriers. Without someone to teach them, the people below would never learn about it.

He mentioned these things because he hoped the civilian children could practice ahead of time. That way, they wouldn't fall too far behind others on the battlefield in the future and would have a slightly better chance of surviving.

Of course.

Perhaps the Third Hokage had intended to wait until they were assigned to teams before teaching them.

But.

This was wartime. What Jonin had the time to teach them?

"Practice more in your spare time. All right, next..."

Kyoichi nodded, signaling for the others to come up.

Aside from Obito, the others hadn't expended much chakra, and their control was fairly good. Combining the Transformation Jutsu and Clone Technique wasn't difficult. Toward the end, he demanded that they increase the number of clones.

That made things much harder.

However.

By then, even Obito had recovered. Although two or three of his clones were grotesque, it was clear that Obito's abilities had not yet reached Naruto's level. He had merely exhausted his chakra and embarrassed himself earlier.

Soon.

The class ended.

"Easy!"

Kyoichi was thoroughly enjoying himself.

The children of the shinobi world were far easier to teach than the brats from his previous life. Every one of them was obedient. Even the naughtiest students did nothing more than arrive late or skip class and leave early.

Moreover.

Since taking over, he hadn't had a single student leave early.

Back in the office.

Kyoichi glanced at the System Panel.

[Completed teaching 'Combining the Transformation Jutsu and Clone Technique,' 'Tree Climbing,' and 'Water Walking.']

[Evaluation: Excellent.]

[Reward: Chakra Sensing.]

Chakra Sensing?

Kyoichi looked around, then made up his mind and chose to claim it.

Afterward, he placed his finger against the ground. Before long, chakra spread outward, and everything around him entered his mind.

"As expected, it's this technique!"