Chakra Cultivation

Another month slipped by quietly.

On the training ground of the Uchiha Compound, the fervent scene of cultivation continued unabated.

Now, looking around, one could already see many Uchiha ninjas steadily coating their fists, feet, or weapons with a thin layer of dark Armament Haki.

Though still far from a profound level, this pace of progress had already shifted Kikyo and the other instructors from initial shock to a kind of numbness.

Possessing a strong will is the necessary condition for entering the door of Haki.

The rest is just meticulous, grinding practice.

To reach the point where they could purely use Armament Haki to block enemy attacks, these Uchiha clansmen still had a long way to go.

Meanwhile, in the chakra training area carved out within Kuja City, the situation was rather complicated.

A few months ago, just as Yoru was preparing to teach the Kuja warriors the Golden Binding Technique, he suddenly remembered.

Right, it seemed like people in this world didn't have chakra.

How could they learn genjutsu without chakra?

But he was afraid that if they discovered the truth, they wouldn't teach Haki anymore.

So Yoru tricked the Kuja Tribe, saying that chakra was very easy to cultivate, that even three- or four-year-old children in their world could do it.

As he spoke, he had little seven-year-old Sasuke demonstrate a Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique for everyone.

Don't worry about whether it could kill an enemy.

Just look at that huge, blazing fireball—wasn't it cool?

That finally dispelled the Kuja Tribe's doubts, and they started training chakra from scratch alongside the Uchiha.

What surprised Yoru was that, although it was slow, the Kuja people could actually cultivate chakra.

He had thought that ninjas could cultivate chakra because the Hokage World had been transformed by the God Tree, giving its people the bloodline to do so.

It seemed that wasn't the case now; people from the Pirate World could also cultivate chakra.

As for the origins and connections, Yoru couldn't be bothered to delve into them.

Even if someone told him now that Devil Fruits were actually fruits that grew on the God Tree, he wouldn't be interested.

The gap in levels was too vast; he didn't want to waste time on such messy thoughts.

So, contrary to Uchiha Yoru's initial assumption that it would be completely impossible to cultivate, the Kuja warriors, relying on their far-superior, robust physiques, had indeed successfully refined chakra!

Their abundant physical energy, after initially merging with their spiritual energy, allowed the vast majority of the participating warriors

to reach a chakra level close to that of a Genin in the Hokage World within just a few months!

However, problems followed.

After reaching the Genin level, their progress suddenly slowed down, as if they had hit an invisible barrier.

To continue increasing their chakra, it seemed they needed more precise energy control and deeper insight.

This was completely different from the straightforward, brute-force style of Haki training that the Kuja warriors were used to.

Forget comparing them to Uchiha powerhouses like Shisui or Fugaku.

The chakra control of most Kuja warriors was even inferior to that of seven-year-old Sasuke.

At first, the Kuja warriors were excited about successfully refining this new power.

But as time passed, they felt the progress becoming increasingly difficult.

Although both the Uchiha and the Kuja had managed to get a foothold in each other's power systems, the boost to combat ability was clearly incomparable.

The Uchiha who learned Haki saw a direct and sharp rise in their combat power.

As for the Kuja warriors who learned chakra, the improvement to their strength...

Well, it couldn't be said to be completely nonexistent.

It just wasn't very noticeable.

Coupled with the fact that the Uchiha side had been slow to teach the method for controlling Sea Kings, impatience began to fester.

The breaking point of the conflict could be blamed on Shisui's advanced lecture this time, on "How to Use Genjutsu on Large Creatures."

"So, for creatures like Sea Kings, which have enormous bodies and mental structures vastly different from humans, ordinary genjutsu is hard to make effective.

It requires an extremely large amount of chakra as support, and an exceptionally high level of control over the Uchiha's Eye Power... uh..."

Shisui was speaking eloquently, and at the critical point, he habitually mentioned Eye Power, but immediately realized his mistake and quickly corrected himself:

"And it requires extremely high control over one's spiritual energy. Roughly estimating, one would need at least a Jonin Level of chakra for the genjutsu to have a sufficient effect on a Sea King."

His intention was to explain the difficulty of controlling Sea Kings, but he inadvertently revealed a key piece of information.

A Jonin Level of chakra!

As soon as the words fell, the Kuja warriors below, who had been struggling to understand, instantly erupted into an uproar!

"A Jonin Level of chakra?!"

"Our current Chakra isn't even enough to match that Uchiha brat (Sasuke) shooting off a fireball—Jonin Level? When will that ever happen?!"

"Did he just say 'Eye Power'? Isn't that something only their Sharingan can wield?! How could we possibly have that?!"

"Does controlling Sea Kings require not just massive Chakra, but also their Eye Technique?"

"All our hard training for months—was it all useless?!"

"They never intended to teach us for real from the start! They just tricked us into teaching Haki!"

Doubts and angry murmurs surged like a tidal wave.

Several hot-tempered Kuja Warriors shot to their feet, raising bows formed from snakes and aiming them at Shisui.

"Uchiha Shisui! You need to explain clearly! Is controlling a Sea King absolutely dependent on your clan's eyes?!"

An Imperial Guard demanded harshly, his face flushed red with the fury of being deceived.

They felt like months of effort had been a joke.

Shisui's heart sank, knowing he'd slipped up. He quickly waved his hands, trying to explain:

"Everyone, calm down. What I meant is that this method has a very high threshold—it's not the only path, nor is it something achieved overnight..."

But at that moment, the accumulated months of effort, combined with the crushing gap and sense of betrayal they now felt, had fully ignited the Kuja Warriors' emotions.

"High threshold? This is downright impossible!"

"Promising something with conditions we can never meet—if that's not deception, what is?!"

"Let's find their clan head! Go ask Uchiha Yoru directly!"

The crowd seethed with anger, and the training ground instantly fell into chaos.

Many Kuja Warriors turned on their heels and surged aggressively toward the Uchiha Compound.

Shisui tried to block them but was shoved aside by the agitated crowd.

Even though all of them together might not beat Shisui in a fight.

Without using ninjutsu or Eye Techniques, Shisui's physical strength was genuinely no match for these women.

Was he supposed to use the Armament Haki he'd just learned to stop them?

The Uchiha side was somewhat in the wrong, and the two parties weren't hostile yet.

Shisui really couldn't bring himself to strike them, so he could only watch helplessly as they marched toward the Uchiha Compound.

"Ah, forget it. I'll leave it to the clan head—Yoru will definitely have a way!"

Shisui scratched his head helplessly, admitting he was completely out of options for the current situation.