Chakra Mountain Range

The next day, at a place called Whispering Stream Trail more than ten kilometers from Konoha.

Of course, this place was still within Konoha's territory. There were a few scattered settlements nearby, but the area was already considered rarely visited. Most of the surrounding land consisted of large training grounds that Konoha used for various purposes.

Whispering Stream Trail was a fissure more than three kilometers long, with an average depth of two hundred meters and a narrowest point of only five meters. Because it was narrow and shaded, with a stream running through the bottom and a waterfall at its source, the place was especially cool and damp.

Yuhara was currently staying somewhere at the bottom of the ravine. A campfire burned in front of him, while a pile of luggage sat to his right.

Although Yuhara was eager to improve his strength, that did not mean he would rush for quick results. On the contrary, he understood the importance of a solid foundation all too well. Thus, the first thing he needed to do was learn to control his Chakra in a more thorough and fluid manner.

The specific training method was to climb the cliff in front of him using only his hands.

The cliff faces on both sides of the fissure were wet and slippery, with an almost vertical incline. But the greater difficulty was that the slipperiness varied from place to place. To climb somewhere like this, he had to adjust his Chakra output with nearly every step.

A ninja's physical abilities differed from those of ordinary people, so Yuhara had set a rather exaggerated passing time... thirty seconds. If he could reach the top within thirty seconds, it would mean he had completed the training.

After washing his face with the chilly stream water, Yuhara decided to begin training.

According to his original idea, climbing to the top slowly without pursuing speed should not have been difficult. But things did not seem to be as simple as he had imagined... Rock walls covered in all kinds of moss were genuinely difficult to grip.

If he used excessive Chakra and let it overflow while gripping the rock, the training would not be that difficult. But that would mean abandoning the training's original purpose... Outputting the appropriate amount of Chakra under the appropriate circumstances was the true goal.

Yuhara climbed more than ten meters like a gecko. Then, he suddenly failed to hold on, and his entire body fell into the stream below... Well, that description was flattering him a little.

His performance was far worse than a gecko's.

The chilly stream water soaked Yuhara from head to toe. He shuddered violently before beginning to mutter, "I finally understand why I built a fire here."

He took off his drenched outer clothes and placed them beside the fire to dry. He also forcefully wrung the water from his underclothes, and then... training continued.

To be honest, this kind of training felt awful, because every time he moved, his hand came away covered in something sticky and slimy.

After more than half a day, most of the Chakra in Yuhara's body had been depleted, so he could only stop temporarily to rest. He ate some food to replenish his energy, then pulled out an elementary-school textbook from the Ninja Academy and began studying hard... This could also count as an alternative way of balancing work and rest.

Incidentally, Yuhara's textbook had not been bought from the Ninja Tool Shop. They did not sell such things at all. He had borrowed it from Jian Dong, who was, after all, a proper Konoha Ninja educated at the Konoha Ninja Academy.

The training location Yuhara was currently using had also been learned about from Jian Dong.

As it turned out, elementary-school textbooks were still useful. After reading through it, Yuhara could at least memorize the hand seals.

And so, he alternated between climbing, studying, and resting. By the end of the first day, Yuhara had barely climbed to a height of more than thirty meters. When night fell, he did not return to Konoha. Instead, after tidying up a little, he simply went to sleep at the bottom of the ravine.

After dawn, Yuhara's training method changed slightly. He began climbing while carrying equipment. The "ninja tools" he had commissioned had arrived the day before... This was not weighted training meant to further increase the difficulty. It was to keep him from climbing too high, falling directly, and dying.

For Yuhara, carrying half a ton of metal on his body was as light as a feather.

The principle was very simple. He merely magnetized the two pieces of equipment, then adjusted the direction of their magnetic poles so that they repelled the Earth's magnetic field and were naturally lifted into the air... Well, Yuhara did not really understand the principle. In any case, if he could do it, then he could do it.

Days passed. A week later, Yuhara finally climbed to the top of the cliff for the first time. Although he had nearly fallen to his death several times during that period, he had fortunately used his abilities to resolve the crises each time. It had been dangerous, but ultimately harmless.

Since he could already accomplish this, what remained was merely a matter of efficiency. From then on, Yuhara's training naturally changed from a "difficulty challenge" into a "speed challenge."

At the same time, he began developing his own ninjutsu... There was nothing he could do about it. No one was teaching him ninjutsu, so he could only develop and innovate on his own.

In fact, he already had a general idea. Otherwise, he would not have specially commissioned two ninja tools.

Under normal circumstances, considering the combat strength of ninjas at this stage, Magnet Release was definitely an extremely powerful weapon. Otherwise, the Third Kazekage would not have been called the strongest Kazekage.

As for Yuhara specifically, first, unfortunately, he was limited by his body's Chakra level and could not use those earth-shaking ultimate moves. Second, when it came to finer applications, he could do far more than Magnet Release was generally believed capable of.

Based on these two points, the basic direction for developing his technique was clear... small, refined, and as insidious as possible.

Yuhara sat beside the campfire that had been burning for a long time. He spread out his right hand, and a ball of mercury floated above it. The mercury bounced up and down little by little, resembling the mercury oscillation reaction he had once seen in his previous life.

It had to be said that Yuhara had a considerable degree of confidence in his ability to control metal. Otherwise, under prolonged contact, naturally evaporating mercury would have poisoned him to death.

As Yuhara gradually clenched the fingers of his right hand, the mercury began to bounce more and more violently. Then... Yuhara swung his arm and threw the ball of mercury out.

Immediately afterward, the mercury fell to the ground with a splat.

"The Chakra intensity, the speed of nature transformation, and the instantaneous burst of force all seem insufficient..."

Naturally, Yuhara had failed. He waved his hand, and the ball of mercury floated back to him.

Compared to the obstructed development of this technique, the development of another technique proceeded extremely smoothly, because it was not a technique at all.

Yuhara silently had the Sword Crate behind him dissolve open. Then, black steel slowly spread over his arms, his chest, and part of his back like flowing water.

The layer of steel looked extremely thin, but it possessed considerable hardness and toughness. Although its effectiveness against blunt attacks remained questionable, its effectiveness against stabs was nearly perfect.

"Absolute defense." Who would not want that? As someone afraid of dying, Yuhara naturally prioritized putting a turtle shell over himself.