005-Is the Golden Finger a Ghost Pressing Bed?

Seeing his parents leave, Higashino Makoto sat silently on the bed, sensing the extracted chakra slowly dissipating.

Chakra wasn't like Internal Force or mana—it couldn't be stockpiled. If extracted and not used, it would gradually return to the body.

Unless stored through special methods, like Tsunade's Yin Seal Technique.

Once the chakra had fully dissipated, Higashino Makoto immediately formed the Unfinished Seal with both hands and resumed extraction. This was chakra training.

Because chakra was energy meant to be used on the spot, ninjas always extracted it before battle to have it ready for combat.

But the problem was, your enemy wouldn't stand there waiting for you to slowly extract it.

Ninjas weren't Heroes—they wouldn't talk about honor or wait for you to prepare before settling things.

A ninja was a profession that valued efficiency. Completing the mission was the top priority, and for that, any means were fair game. Sneak attacks, poisoning, threatening family and friends—that was all Basic Operation.

So while you wasted time extracting chakra in front of an enemy, their choice would definitely be to come over and send you off.

With a ninja's Attack Speed, a little bit of time was enough for them to kill you nine different ways.

For a ninja to have Combat Power, they had to train chakra extraction until it became a bodily instinct.

The standard for this instinct was no longer needing to carefully balance the ratio of Mental Energy and Body Energy, nor needing to form Hand Seals. Instead, the moment the thought arose, chakra would be successfully extracted within the body.

At the highest level, the body would even autonomously synthesize some chakra during normal times.

The Yin Seal's function was to collect and compress this chakra that was autonomously synthesized and naturally dissipated, making it available to burst out during battle.

That meant having a Super Large Mana Bar for nothing compared to others, naturally giving a huge advantage, and even granting Eternal Youth.

Rumor had it that Tsunade did exactly that. A woman Dozens of Years Old, still acting young all day, her age fluctuating daily between ten and thirty.

Extracting chakra again, Higashino Makoto found that after one successful experience, the second time was easier. He no longer had to carefully balance the ratio of the two energies.

It was as if his body had developed a memory, slowly solidifying the chakra synthesis path. The speed of synthesis had also increased a bit, but he still needed the Unfinished Seal as an aid.

Good. This would be his Training Homework every night from now on.

Until he trained it into a bodily instinct.

Once the chakra naturally dissipated, Higashino Makoto began his third extraction.

After repeating this cycle several times, he checked the clock and ended tonight's training, since it was almost time to sleep.

After being reborn into the Shinobi World, his daily routine had become extremely disciplined. He went to bed on time every day, giving his body plenty of recovery time, and never carried fatigue into the next day.

The next morning, he also woke up on time to exercise, never allowing himself the thought of lazing around or sleeping in.

When he reached the living room, he found his parents had already gone to sleep. Several empty liquor bottles sat on the dining table.

His parents were both young people in their twenties. Normally, after a separation, a reunion would mean some enjoyable physical activity, but the master bedroom was completely quiet now.

It seemed the couple, seeing their son was a Genius, had gotten a little too happy and accidentally drank a few too many bottles. Now they were sleeping soundly.

A ninja's profession required constant vigilance, which was why alcohol was one of the three prohibitions. For them to indulge like this, besides happiness, family was also a safe harbor for the heart.

Humans were an intelligent species prone to extremes, and ninjas who wielded powerful strength were even more so.

The masterminds behind the scenes—whether they'd lost too many little brothers, lost a goddess, or lost a good friend—had all turned into Psychopaths one by one.

A happy family was the cure for all of that.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what many ninjas lacked.

Higashino Makoto quietly cleared the empty bottles and snacks from the table, did a quick cleanup, and prepared to wash up and sleep.

Back in his bedroom, seeing he still had some time, he sat silently by the bed and practiced his Hand Seal speed.

For now, he wasn't sure about his future Combat Style.

He didn't yet know whether Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu suited him better, but no matter what, grinding up his Hand Seal speed was definitely the right move.

When his self-imposed bedtime arrived, Higashino Makoto extracted chakra one last time for the day. Once he sensed his cells beginning to tire but his body still full of strength, he dropped his head onto the pillow and let the chakra dissipate naturally.

The biological clock he'd cultivated over the past few years let him fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, and he soon drifted into dreams.

But tonight, something went wrong. He quickly realized he was still awake—awake in an unusual way, as if his senses had become much sharper.

This shouldn't be happening!

Reborn into a family with a happy, fulfilling life, and with every day spent productively, he had no mental drain. Insomnia shouldn't have been possible.

Was it the joy of successfully extracting chakra for the first time, making him too excited? Or was it the chakra dissipating inside his body?

Since he couldn't sleep, Higashino Makoto decided to go to the study and look at some books on Chakra Theory. Maybe he'd find the answer there.

But soon, he found he couldn't move at all. His body felt locked to the bed.

This situation felt familiar. He quickly recalled experiencing something similar before—back in his Previous Life, right before the college entrance exams.

Back then, a few nights had been like this. His eyes could see clearly, but his perspective was fixed, his body completely immobile, and an uncontrollable fear spread through him.

It had terrified him at the time, until he later learned it was Sleep Paralysis caused by excessive stress, commonly known as Ghost Pressing Bed, triggered by pressure during adolescence.

Since he'd been through it before and knew the cause, there was nothing to fear.

Higashino Makoto even found it somewhat interesting to observe his familiar bedroom ceiling from this state.

Then he realized he was wrong.

This was absolutely nothing like the ghost pressing bed from his previous life.

His body was indeed fixed, completely unable to move, his eyes couldn't turn.

But his field of vision could rotate—he could look wherever he wanted, as freely as he pleased, like a fixed camera that could adjust its angle at will.

Then he "saw" his own body sleeping soundly on the bed.

At this moment, he seemed to be floating above it.

What was this? Soul out of body?

Calm down!

Higashino Makoto analyzed carefully.

This was the Naruto World, different from his previous life—souls truly existed and were visible. He knew of several kinds.

Leaving aside the dead lying in the Pure Land who could be pulled out by Impure World Reincarnation, among the living, Orochimaru would start experimenting on his own soul in a few years, and Dan Katō used to enjoy floating his soul out to cut others.

Shadow Clones could even split consciousness.

But all of those could move freely, unlike his current state—able to see, but not move.

He thought over the known information for a while, finding nothing that matched his situation, so Higashino Makoto began observing this world from this perspective, trying to analyze the cause.

Then he noticed the difference in this state compared to normal.

The world was still the same world, the environment still the same environment.

But beyond that, the space seemed filled everywhere with an extremely faint mist.

This was something he had never seen or felt from a physical perspective.

Under this special viewpoint, the mist showed a ribbon-like fluidity, like rivers flowing freely between heaven and earth, displaying faint shades of white, red, green, purple, and cyan.

What was this?

Higashino Makoto tried to move them with his will, and found he could slightly nudge some.

He attempted to attract the most abundant red mist. When a thread of red mixed into his consciousness, he immediately felt an incredibly violent aura invading.

Danger! Danger!

Instinctively, he cut off the connection and expelled that thread of red mist.

He could expel it on his own? Then there was nothing to fear.

So he tried the other colors, finding them all dangerous, but unlike the red's invasion, the others seemed to want to assimilate him.

Only the white was different. The white mist seemed to try to decompose him, but its power was too weak, making the process very slow and still within tolerable limits.

Higashino Makoto noticed that after the white mist mixed and tangled with his consciousness, it flowed toward the body sleeping on the bed.

He observed calmly, seeing no abnormality in the body. The consciousness floating above seemed to become a filter, resisting the white mist's decomposing force and sending the filtered mist to the flesh.

While filtering, Higashino Makoto also thought.

What exactly was this mist?

He reviewed all the Shinobi World intelligence he knew, leaving only one answer: Natural Energy.

But did Natural Energy have so many types? The original story never said that. Could this be his Golden Finger?

Yes, as a reincarnated person, how could Higashino Makoto not want a cheat? After all, cheating was legal in this world—no one would ban your account.

Leaving aside the various bloodline cheats, in the later stages, the admin Six Paths Old Man personally came down to give cheats to his own reincarnated kid.

After giving bloodlines, he gave his own son's reincarnated Chakra; after giving Chakra, he gave a resurrection on the spot; after giving resurrection, he gave Six Paths Yin-Yang Power.

Then there was nothing left to give.

Face... he had no face left.

After reincarnation, Higashino Makoto was just a commoner, not a Six Paths descendant, no Sage's Eye, no Sage Body, and no one had stuffed a pet in his belly as a hand warmer.

For a while, he even called out to System-kun, Panel-kun, and Deep Blue-kun before bed, but got no response.

So he started disciplined self-study, trying to grow stronger through his own training.

He had even thought that if this body really had no talent, he'd go recognize Might Duy as his godfather and practice the Eight Inner Gates as a life-consuming path.

As for seeking out Orochimaru, he never considered it—that buddy was too twisted; ordinary people couldn't handle him and would easily become experimental material.

Now it seemed his Golden Finger had arrived. Didn't that mean he wouldn't have to fight to the death anymore?

If I worked hard before the Golden Finger arrived, and I still work hard after it arrives, then didn't the Golden Finger come for nothing?

No, Higashino Makoto actually felt he needed to work even harder from now on.

Just then, he suddenly felt his consciousness couldn't hold out. If it continued, he would disappear and become part of the white mist. So he immediately cut off the connection, like a scumbag who vanishes after tricking a girl's body.

His consciousness felt a wave of fatigue. With a thought, he returned to the body on the bed and fell into deep sleep.

It seemed this cheat wasn't easy to use either. One slip, and he could turn himself into a vegetable.

Natural Energy was good, but you couldn't overindulge. Drink too much, and you'd ascend to heaven!