One Year

Early morning, in a medium-sized training ground somewhere in Konoha, two Higashino Makotos stood facing each other.

Suddenly, one of them—the long-haired Higashino Makoto—reached both hands to the ninja tool pouch at his lower back, swept them forward, and several shuriken shot at the other Higashino Makoto at high speed.

The shuriken flew fast and straight toward the target, a linear trajectory without any arc, nothing like the flashy techniques of the Uchiha Clan.

The defending Higashino Makoto gripped a kunai in his left hand, deflecting the shuriken with a series of clinks, then drew the Kurogane Wood Short Sword from his back with his right hand and engaged the charging long-haired version in combat.

Both sides attacked at blinding speed, each strike aimed at vital points, but every blow was blocked. Their positions shifted constantly, fighting from the ground to the trees, then back down to the earth.

For a moment, figures moved like shadows, dust billowed, kunai and shuriken flew wildly, and the clatter of metal rang without pause.

Suddenly, the long-haired Higashino Makoto kicked his opponent away. As the other flew backward, he quickly fired four kunai from left and right.

The long-haired Higashino Makoto formed hand seals rapidly.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."

A gale neutralized the attack and blew the kunai back toward the opponent.

The short-haired Higashino Makoto initially thought to block the jutsu with Earth Style Wall as usual, but this time he chose otherwise. Instead, he burst chakra in his legs, dodged the technique at high speed, and Body Flickered behind the other, stabbing the long-haired Higashino Makoto in the back.

"Poof!" The other exploded into a cloud of white smoke.

The short-haired Higashino Makoto grunted and dropped to one knee, his left hand instinctively touching his stomach. There was no wound, but a sharp, vivid pain shot through him.

Both were Higashino Makoto, but one was a Shadow Clone. To tell them apart, the clone had used Transformation Jutsu to take on long hair.

Shadow Clone was a remarkable jutsu, capable of creating one or more solid clones from chakra alone. Almost no one in the Shinobi World could tell them apart—not even Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Its weakness was an inability to withstand blunt force beyond a certain threshold, or cuts and stabs from ordinary sharp weapons.

At the same time, it split the user's chakra evenly among the clones, and before vanishing, it transmitted the pain of injury along with experience and memories back to the original.

It was a great jutsu for reconnaissance and confusing enemies, but those with insufficient chakra or weak willpower—unable to endure severe pain—should use it with caution. One mistake and it was a free kill for the enemy.

This was just the basic Shadow Clone Jutsu, creating only a few solid clones. With the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, an ordinary ninja might kill themselves using it.

It was classified as a Forbidden Jutsu for a reason—it really wasn't something a regular ninja could handle.

Why was Naruto the only one who dared use it like that? Because he had Uzumaki Clan blood, and more importantly, he had at least two fathers helping him bear the backlash.

Kurama: "???"

Asura: "???"

Ever since Higashino Makoto learned Shadow Clone Jutsu, he had been using his excellent chakra control to gradually experiment with creating clones using less chakra, so they no longer split his reserves evenly, making the technique more practical.

On the other hand, he regularly sparred with his clones to train his combat skills and reaction speed, while also building up his pain tolerance. So when he struck, he went all out, aiming straight for vital points.

Unfortunately, a clone was just himself. They knew each other's habits too well. Aside from training neural reaction speed, the actual combat experience gained was minimal.

But the pain returned was anything but minimal.

After gathering the scattered ninja tools, Higashino Makoto sat at the top of the Big Tree, took a sip of the nutrient water Higashino Megumi had prepared, and gazed at Konoha, which seemed unchanged from a distance, pondering his next training direction.

Time had slipped by—over a year had passed. He was now over five years old, and had grown a lot taller.

The situation in the Shinobi World grew increasingly tense. After celebrating his fifth birthday, his father Higashino Jiro had rotated back to the border for garrison duty.

His mother Higashino Megumi worked at the hospital as usual.

Over the past year, Higashino Makoto's group of four occasionally went out together to play, exchanging training insights and honing their wilderness survival skills.

But since the new semester started, Hayate Gekko had officially enrolled in the academy, and Uchiha Shisui—due to his outstanding talent—had begun receiving guidance from clan ninjas alongside other promising Seedlings, leaving little time for outings.

Even Uzuki Yugao was no exception.

The adults saw the Shinobi World's situation clearly. War could break out at any moment. Any clan with foresight had started intensifying their Juniors' training, hoping they would survive the coming conflict.

Though everyone talked about relying on the team and trusting Comrades, every ninja knew that when it came down to it, personal strength was the best guarantee of survival.

In this past year, Higashino Makoto had learned the basic Three Body Techniques, the standard Body Flicker Technique, foundational Konoha Style Swordsmanship, a few ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Shadow Clone Jutsu.

These ninjutsu included: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, Earth Release: Decapitation in the Earth, Earth Style Wall, Water Style Wall, and Genjutsu: False Surroundings Technique.

All of these were common techniques, with the highest rank being B-Rank. The Higashino Family were just Commoner Ninja; even after three generations, they had no high-level jutsu above B-Rank, nor did they have a unique swordsmanship system like the Moonlight or Uzuki clans.

With Higashino Makoto's precise chakra control, learning them posed no difficulty. His body, strengthened daily by absorbing White Natural Energy, had grown formidable, and his Chakra Amount was abundant—he certainly wouldn't Offline after a few C-Rank jutsu.

Of course, the highest-level technique he currently mastered was the A-Rank Rasengan. After all, it was the only jutsu in the original work with a detailed explanation of its principles and training method. Not copying it would be a disservice to his identity as a Transmigrator.

But so far, Higashino Makoto had noticed a problem.

Whether it was the Rasengan—which he couldn't use openly yet—or his other jutsu, none of them quite fit the Combat Style he envisioned. The reason was simple: too inefficient.

Among the three categories—ninjutsu, taijutsu, and Genjutsu—ninjutsu was the flashiest, and what most kids dreamed a ninja should be.

Who wouldn't want to defeat enemies with a gorgeous, powerful jutsu, earn the admiration of Comrades, become Hokage, marry a Rich Beautiful Woman, and reach the Peak of Life?

But reality was different. Ninjutsu consumed the most chakra. With the pitiful Chakra Amount of an average Commoner Ninja, playing the ninjutsu artillery style just wasn't feasible. Their lifelong Combat Style was to cast a supporting jutsu, then stand back and toss shuriken and kunai.

Higashino Makoto had a natural method of cultivating natural energy. He was certain that as his training deepened, he would never lack chakra. Still, he looked down on ninjutsu somewhat.

Unless he poured massive chakra into expanding a jutsu's attack range to achieve area denial, ordinary ninjutsu rarely hit anyone. They were usually used for Sneak Attacks or forcing an Opponent to reposition.

The famous Great Fireball Technique had even become a mercy technique—it had never actually burned anyone to death.

Was it that ninjutsu wasn't strong enough? Not really. Most ninjas had high attack power but low defense. Even a Kage-level ninja, if caught completely off guard by a Great Fireball, would still die. The main issue was that ninjas were too fast and could easily dodge, making ninjutsu seem inefficient.

In the thousand years since ninjas first appeared, what had killed the most of them? It was unremarkable metal weapons like ninja swords, shuriken, and kunai.

Compared to forming hand seals and unleashing ninjutsu to kill an enemy, stabbing them with a kunai was clearly faster and saved more chakra.

The path Higashino Makoto envisioned for himself was one of blazing-fast, powerful taijutsu. Thanks to Natural Energy's continuous transformation of his body, he believed his physique would surpass anyone's.

Then, to complement that taijutsu, he aimed to develop attack methods that could be unleashed instantly through ninja swords or hidden weapons, boosting his killing efficiency.

In his vision, something like the Sword Qi from martial arts novels in his Previous Life suited him better.

And as it happened, the Shinobi World already had such attack methods.

A typical example was the Vacuum Sword used by Jonin Shirakumo Hayama of Konoha later on, or Danzo the Pot Kage's Wind Style Shuriken and Wind Style Kunai, where he infused Wind Release Chakra into his weapons.

Danzo could even form a sword directly from Wind Release Chakra. As shady as that old man was, you had to admit that in all of Konoha, few could surpass him in Wind Release mastery.

Fortunately, Higashino Makoto already possessed Wind Release Chakra, saving him the trouble of spending a huge amount of time cultivating that nature first.

With that in mind, his Training Direction became clear.

He should devote all his time to Chakra Nature Cultivation, learning from the past but not being bound by it, to develop his own Combat Formula.

With his continuously expanding foundation in Chakra Theory, combined with knowledge from his Previous Life, he believed it was definitely feasible.

Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't learn ninjutsu. On the contrary, just as mastering precise chakra control made learning ordinary ninjutsu easy, reaching a high level in Nature Transformation would make learning corresponding Advanced Ninjutsu exceptionally effortless.

Sharpening the axe won't delay the chopping of wood.

Beyond that, he couldn't neglect Medical Ninjutsu either. It was a very practical series of techniques and would deepen his chakra control even further.

After finishing his thoughts, Higashino Makoto had also recovered his stamina. He immediately put on his heavy Weighted Equipment again and began his physical training.

Now, the metal plates inserted into the Weighted Equipment were twice as many as a year ago.