Yuhara took another deep breath. In the next instant, his entire body seemed to dissolve into the lightning. At the same time, he could no longer suppress this intense Lightning Release. The freed current began scattering in all directions, and the lightning extending from his body crossed the narrow stream and spread all the way to the base of the rock wall opposite him.
Tigo was forced back step by step, while the overly shrill sound made her cover her ears involuntarily.
If Yuhara's previous state could be described as boiling water, then his current state was like pouring that boiling water into seething oil.
Seeing himself look like a giant sparkler, Yuhara could not help frowning. Then, under his control, the lightning around his body gradually weakened until it went out.
"Success."
Yuhara gave Tigo a heartfelt smile and even struck a slightly cheeky V-sign pose.
Based on the Six Rulers Technique, the Blood Loss Technique and Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm had taken effect in succession. However, rather than ninjutsu, it would be more accurate to call the three of them buffs.
The Blood Loss Technique went without saying. Its greatest function was to greatly enhance Yuhara's physical abilities. The Six Rulers Technique and Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm, meanwhile, were techniques that increased the quality of Chakra.
Moreover, there was no fundamental difference between Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm and the Six Rulers Technique. The difference between them lay only in the efficiency with which Chakra and Nature Energy were output.
Compared with the Six Rulers Technique, which directly mixed Nature Energy into the meridians, Arc Gradual was somewhat more complicated.
After witnessing the Magnet Release Ninja from Cloud Hidden, Yuhara had been consciously or unconsciously playing around with his Chakra. That was because he had discovered how controllable his Chakra was...
Yuhara seemed to be magnetic from the root of his being. Simply put, he could control not only metal but also the energy within his own body. Or rather, the latter might be the foundation and underlying cause of the former.
Therefore, after gathering the Nature Energy together through a Fuinjutsu formula, it also gained the foundation for further manipulation.
To explain Yuhara's Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm by analogy, suppose the Chakra flowing through his meridian system was a mass of blue cotton, while the Nature Energy within the seal was a mass of red cotton.
When the Chakra flowed through the Fuinjutsu formula, Yuhara began manipulating it. Through stretching and spinning, he twisted the blue "cotton" into a thread. He did the same with the Nature Energy. Then, in the next step, he twisted the blue thread and the red thread together into a single strand... This was the origin of what was called the "double-helix structure" in biology.
Well, it should be said that this was the "Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm."
And since he could twist them once or twice, he could naturally twist them three or four times. The reason Yuhara's Lightning Release had suddenly surged in strength a second time was precisely because he had twisted the two red-and-blue ropes together again. Strictly speaking, what Yuhara had just used was not Sevenfold Rhythm, but Onefold Rhythm and Twofold Rhythm.
In terms of energy density alone, Twofold Rhythm had already clearly surpassed ordinary Senjutsu Chakra. However, the difference between Yuhara's method and true Senjutsu was obvious—Senjutsu Chakra was a chemical reaction, while his method was physical addition.
Senjutsu Chakra had a higher energy-utilization efficiency. Even so, Arc Gradual allowed Yuhara to quickly apply Nature Energy in actual combat, so it was an excellent technique.
Even assuming that the energy density of Nature Energy was equal to that of a ninja's Chakra, his output efficiency in the Twofold Rhythm state was still four times its original level—truly a fourfold Kaio-ken.
Based entirely on Yuhara's subjective speculation, his Chakra quality in the Onefold Rhythm state was definitely inferior to Senjutsu Chakra. However, in the Twofold Rhythm state, it should be greater than or equal to Senjutsu Chakra... He was using twice as much energy as Senjutsu Chakra, then hoping for an attack effect equal to Senjutsu Chakra. That should not be too much to ask, right?
The Lightning Release in his "fourfold Kaio-ken" state was completely different from the Lightning Release in his "twofold Kaio-ken" state.
Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm was Yuhara's first attempt at an organic combination of "Magnet Release" and Senjutsu—a simple joining of the two—and the result satisfied him immensely.
As for the weaknesses of this technique, there were mainly two.
First, this kind of internal energy ZIP caused the energy flow to surge dramatically and placed a heavy burden on the meridian system. Given Yuhara's current condition, Twofold Rhythm was already his limit.
Second, Twofold Rhythm consumed twice as much Chakra as his normal state, so Yuhara would not use it except in extreme circumstances... The Six Rulers Technique was already a very good buff.
After completing the development of his new ninjutsu, Yuhara's use of Nature Energy had reached a level higher than Jugo's but lower than a Sage's. Moreover, through secondary compression, he could make the technique's effects approach Senjutsu. Although it was only physical addition, Yuhara had simply added a lot more.
In a sense, he could already be called a "Half-Sage" now—colloquially, Half-Sage Yuhara.
With his full firepower unleashed, Yuhara's strength could genuinely reach the level of an elite jōnin. His actual attack power could even surpass one Kakashi. The only problem was that he still had not solved his lack of Chakra at its root. His thirty-second period of being a true man was still far too short.
From this perspective, Yuhara could express a little gratitude toward Orochimaru. After all, Orochimaru had solved in a single injection the problem of accessing the Nature Energy that ordinary people could not encounter in their entire lifetimes.
Now that he possessed high-quality Chakra, Yuhara could actually try another technique. But there was no rush, because the problem he had faced from beginning to end was never a lack of attack power, but a lack of endurance... He was very hard, but he was also very fast.
If Yuhara returned to the battlefield next time, he could already be regarded as top-tier combat power.
Let us move the timeline back slightly.
When Yuhara and Tigo left Konoha's frontline camp in the Land of Rivers, the Fourth Hokage had not actually left. Aside from offering condolences, he had another matter to handle here.
The Land of Rivers stood between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. The country had once possessed a small shinobi village called Valley Hidden Village, but unfortunately, this village disappeared during the Third Ninja World War... No one knew why. It had simply disappeared.
Even Vortex Hidden Village, the village of the Uzumaki Clan, had been destroyed. It was only natural for the other small shinobi villages to be casually wiped out by one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. As for whether Valley Hidden Village would be rebuilt after the war, that would depend on whether the Land of Rivers could obtain support from a great nation.
Geographically, the Land of Rivers was a long, narrow country stretching from north to south. In the western part of the country, near the Land of Wind, there was a mountain range that ran across the country from north to south. This mountain range was called the "Brown Earth Mountain Range."
The mountain range was not very famous, but after the Third Ninja World War, one of its peaks became renowned far and wide, because its name was Kikyo Mountain... the battlefield where Konoha had crushed the Sand Hidden main force.
In any case, because this mountain range blocked the way, the warm, humid air currents from the southern ocean were stopped east of the Land of Wind. This terrain was one of the reasons for the Land of Wind's desert environment.
The warm, humid air currents followed the Brown Earth Mountain Range northward. After penetrating deep inland, they were eventually blocked on the southern side by the plateau terrain of the Land of Earth... This was the origin of the rainy climate in the Land of Rain.
Simply put, after the Kikyo Mountain Battle, Konoha took control of most of the Land of Rivers, while Sand Hidden could only hold the mountain range and prevent Konoha's forces from continuing westward.
Another important reason the Fourth Hokage had come to the frontline was to prepare to sign an agreement with the Fourth Kazekage—the "Konoha–Sand Hidden Mutual Non-Intrusion Agreement."
The agreement's main provision was that Konoha and Sand Hidden would each be forbidden from crossing the Brown Earth Mountain Range. Thus, the Brown Earth Mountain Range effectively became the ceasefire line between the two great shinobi villages.
The previous conflict should have been the last attempt by both countries. In the end, neither side had been able to make any meaningful progress, so both had completely given up.
Since neither side had the strength to advance, the agreement was signed very smoothly, without any unexpected complications.
After the agreement was signed, Konoha controlled roughly three-fifths of the Land of Rivers, all of it consisting of fertile food-producing regions such as plains and valleys with suitable climates. As for the area west of the mountains controlled by Sand Hidden... Let's not discuss it. Feel free to imagine it yourself.
This mutual non-intrusion agreement could basically be regarded as a sign that the two countries were about to withdraw from the war. After that would presumably come a ceasefire agreement and a truce agreement.
P.S. The map used in this work has been posted in the book review section.
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