Self-Taught Elementary School Diploma

Yuhara had spent a full month crouching around Whispering Stream Trail. In the blink of an eye, it was now the 48th year of Konoha.

His long period of wilderness training had also reached its end. Compared with a month ago, saying that Yuhara had been reborn would be an exaggeration, but he did indeed feel completely different now.

The only slight regret was that, in the end, Yuhara had failed to improve his rock-climbing time to under thirty seconds. He had not achieved that goal, but by the end, he had already come quite close to it. This showed that he no longer had any major problems controlling his own Chakra.

After gaining some understanding and recognition of Chakra as a special form of energy, Yuhara finally confirmed one thing: his Magnet Release was indeed composed of Earth, Wind, and Lightning Release Chakra. In other words, by this world's definition, it was not a Kekkei Genkai, but a Kekkei Tōta.

Although he had confirmed this, Yuhara decided to bury it as a secret for the time being, because he really did not want to make himself any rarer than he already was... Judging from his encounter in the dungeon back then, Orochimaru did not actually place much importance on Magnet Release Ninjas. In other words, he did not consider this Kekkei Genkai particularly rare or valuable. But what if a Kekkei Genkai was not a Kekkei Genkai, but a Kekkei Tōta?

So he had better not make trouble for himself.

Aside from the special abilities brought by a special Dotonjutsu, on a fundamental level, this also meant that Yuhara was naturally proficient in the nature transformations of three Chakra attributes. In a sense, he could be considered a naturally gifted talent.

Earth and Wind Chakra required seals and techniques to unleash their power, but Lightning Release was somewhat different. In reality, once Chakra was transformed into the Lightning attribute, it already possessed a certain degree of power and utility.

The problem was that Lightning Release placed considerable demands on a person's ability to withstand it. To put it bluntly, one had to get struck by electricity before one could use it to electrocute others.

For a technique like Chidori Stream, the difficulty of cultivation lay less in refining high-intensity Lightning Release and more in figuring out how to endure that Lightning Release oneself.

However, since Yuhara was a Magnet Release Ninja, he could solve this problem through a relatively crafty method. Although his use of Magnet Release was still crude at this point, he could already begin imagining a beautiful future.

The limited physics knowledge Yuhara had possessed in his previous life told him that electromagnetic force was the second strongest of the four fundamental forces, while gravity was the weakest. On the microscopic level, the electromagnetic force between two electrons was roughly ten to the power of forty or fifty times stronger than their gravitational force. The two forces were on entirely different orders of magnitude.

If he could make that difference manifest on a macroscopic scale, then, heh heh, what would Planetary Devastation amount to? By then, everyone would have to debate who was truly more qualified to resist a rice ball... All right, that fantasy belonged purely to the category of "anything is possible in dreams."

Setting aside those unrealistic fantasies, apart from solidifying his foundation, Yuhara had completed the development of the three offensive ninjutsu he had envisioned during those thirty days. He had also achieved a preliminary application of Lightning Release. Thus, aside from close combat, he finally had other conventional offensive abilities.

In addition, Yuhara had realized that he had unknowingly mastered an impressive special skill—catching a blade barehanded with one hundred percent success. If it was a straightforward slash, he was completely confident that he could catch it with his bare hands, unless his opponent was using a plastic knife.

Aside from the things he had figured out and learned, there were still some matters Yuhara had not understood, such as his "special passive," whose activation conditions remained unclear. Although it was currently useless, it definitely represented the correct direction forward. Whether by coincidence or good fortune, Yuhara's body could already bear Nature Energy... Although that bodily transformation had nothing to do with a Cursed Seal, out of habit, he decided to temporarily call it "Cursed Seal Mode: Blood Loss Technique."

In any case, over the course of that month, Yuhara had basically completed the training goals he had set in advance. No matter what, being able to set aside such a complete and lengthy period for training during the war was something worth being grateful for. To put it less pleasantly, it was all thanks to the sacrifices of his original teammates... Even after all this time, Team Z still had not been completely filled out.

If he had to summarize his training life during this period in one sentence, it would be this: knowledge was power, and self-teaching an elementary school diploma was far better than dropping out of prenatal education.

After completing his training, Yuhara cleaned up the household trash he had accumulated over his long stay. Then, after stretching, he set off toward Konoha.

At that moment, Yuhara was considering whether he should visit the coordinates left behind by the female ninja Hotaru. Perhaps he might discover some of Orochimaru's little secrets there. But after thinking it over, he suppressed the impulse... It was not time yet.

As he thought about the matter, Yuhara reached Konoha's gates before he knew it. When he subconsciously raised his head, he suddenly discovered that he had encountered an "acquaintance." Although he had never met the man in this life, the man's outfit was simply too distinctive. It was practically impossible to forget.

After all, only one of his eyes was exposed.

"Kakashi Hatake..." Yuhara subconsciously spoke the man's name.

Kakashi had clearly heard Yuhara's voice. He raised his head and glanced at Yuhara, but after realizing that he did not know the man, he lowered his head and continued walking... For a genius like him to be recognized by strangers was perfectly normal.

Having encountered his idol, Yuhara wanted to go over and ask for an autograph. How about having him sign "Kakashi the Fifty-Fifty"? ... All right, that was purely a joke.

During this period, Yuhara had even caught sight of Minato Namikaze from a distance, but what good did that do? When all was said and done, they were not people from the same world.

Kakashi looked rather gloomy at that moment. After all, he had lost a teammate a few years ago, and soon he would become even gloomier, because he was about to lose his teacher as well.

In Yuhara's memories, the end of the Ninja World War had been marked by the Fourth Hokage taking office. In other words, the Third Ninja World War had ended not long after Minato Namikaze became Hokage. But the truth was not like that; his memories contained discrepancies... Even after the Fourth's death, the Ninja World War continued for several more years.

Yuhara watched as Kakashi Hatake left Konoha alone, his figure vanishing at the end of the road. Then he turned back toward the village, which was bathed in the setting sun.

Sparse cooking smoke obscured the evening glow on the horizon. As dusk approached, noisy merriment and peaceful tranquility blended together in the most ordinary way. The thoroughly everyday scene stirred an irresistible longing within him.

If time could continue like this forever, that would be best.

Unfortunately, the Ninja World War still had a long way to go.