Although by the later stages of the Fourth Shinobi World War, most of the overpowered characters in the Naruto world could whip out techniques in an instant, with no concept of a casting windup, ordinary ninja couldn't afford to be careless with the tedious steps of forming Hand Seals, converting chakra, and releasing it.
What's more, even when they executed the entire process flawlessly, the point and efficiency of chakra release were still constrained by various external factors. They simply couldn't act as freely as the main characters, without any restrictions.
As Soji understood it, before his brother-in-law Neji appeared, one of the main reasons the Hyuga Clan's secret technique, Rotation, was known only to the Main Family was its unique method of releasing chakra!
Without instruction in the clan's secret technique, ordinary ninja couldn't release chakra simultaneously from every tenketsu in their bodies the way the Hyuga Main Family did, then use rotation to create an absolute defense.
Even highly skilled jonin, when fighting, usually released ninjutsu only from fixed points like their hands, feet, and mouths.
Sand Ninja puppeteers, too, connected Chakra Threads through their fingertips, using all ten fingers to perform elaborate, uncanny puppet shows.
That was why Teacher Motonari had advised Soji to use his hands—the release method he was most familiar with—during the initial experiments. It would let him precisely control how much chakra he released and avoid accidents.
"Listen carefully. You have a natural talent for developing your bloodline abilities, but you should approach any attempt in a completely new field with caution." Nara Motonari placed a hand on Soji's shoulder from behind, giving the boy his final instructions before he began.
"For your first experiment, don't expect to reach your ultimate goal right away. Your task is to test the practical potential of the new theory. Choose a technique you're confident in as your test medium, use the method you know best to control your chakra, and make the experiment as small as possible... In short, you can never be too careful."
"I understand, Teacher." Soji had always known how to take good advice.
He didn't find Teacher Motonari's words tedious. Instead, he committed the kind warning to memory as he gathered the chakra inside him and began his first practical test.
According to the chubby Akimichi Todo, the basic principle behind the Second's Inversion Chakra Conversion Method wasn't complicated.
It simply shifted the energy-conversion process from inside the body to outside it, avoiding the risks of conversion.
That way, the user didn't need to worry about elements like wind, fire, earth, and water detonating prematurely inside their body. It was an indirect way of increasing output efficiency.
And the "Harry Potter Spell" inherited within Soji didn't require him to consider spell models or the principles behind how spells worked. In that respect, he could skip the process of adapting to the new method.
So when Soji released chakra from his palms and directed the energy outside his body to become fuel for the spell, he achieved results right away, despite never having practiced anything like it before!
Under the influence of Accio, a branch about twenty meters away snapped under an external pull and flew toward the boy!
In the past, Soji could hardly have controlled an object so closely connected to other things at will. He might not even have been able to direct the spell to find the precise point of stress.
But after switching to the new conversion method developed by the Second, the feeble Accio received an instantly visible boost. It could even snap a thumb-thick branch from a distance, performing an action much like Banshō Ten'in!
The result sent Soji, who had initially been cautious, into a frenzy of excitement!
He did his best to suppress his excitement and shared what he'd felt while casting the spell with Teacher Motonari. To his surprise, aside from congratulating Soji on his impressive results for a first attempt, Motonari didn't seem particularly excited.
"Getting results on your first try is a pleasant surprise. Looks like you really are lucky~"
Teacher Motonari first ruffled Soji's hair, then quickly sobered up and continued, "But ninjutsu is what lets a ninja survive. Its power matters, but what matters even more is reliability...
"Fighting by rolling the dice and hoping your techniques work isn't a smart approach. Now that you've confirmed the theory has practical value, the second step isn't to expand on your findings. You need to remember how it felt to cast that spell and make your new skill reliable as soon as possible."
"I understand. This is what scholars call reproducibility testing, right?"
"More or less." Teacher Motonari nodded, then immediately reconsidered. "Though learning ninjutsu is different from learning medical techniques. A subjective, intuitive feeling can't always be turned into an easily measured standard... In any case, give it a few more tries. At the very least, you need to settle on the correct procedure."
"Yes. I'll make some adjustments."
Following his teacher's advice, Soji extended his right hand again and aimed at another sapling nearby.
He followed the same steps as before, releasing chakra first and then activating the spell.
But this time, the branch he'd targeted only bent inward a few centimeters before the wood sprang back and returned it to its original position.
...Clearly, just as Teacher Motonari had feared, the bootleg version of Banshō Ten'in failed to snap its target this time.
Aside from some mild disappointment, the result also made Soji realize once more that he really didn't have the talent of a ninja in the narrow sense of the word.
The Second's Inversion Chakra Conversion Method was even harder to control than he'd expected.
Aside from the lucky fluke of his first attempt, the boy had run into trouble on his second try.
He'd mistimed the conversion, so the spell he cast afterward failed to connect with the chakra he'd already released outside his body!
The precious energy dissipated into the air for nothing...
As a result, Accio went back to drawing power from inside his body, and both its conversion efficiency and its range naturally suffered.
Once he'd identified the problem, the boy learned from his mistake and deliberately started the conversion earlier on his third try.
But this time, he misjudged the amount of power he needed!
When casting a spell the usual way, it drew power automatically from the chakra pool. As long as he had enough chakra to maintain the technique, there was no need to worry about its supply.
But now that the conversion process had been moved outside his body, the scale of the spell had to match the amount of energy he released!
Putting a small horse in front of a large carriage went against the laws of nature, but stuffing a rocket engine into a tiny old-person's car could just as easily cause a traffic accident.
Drive recklessly, and your loved ones will weep.
After repeatedly going through the pointless cycle of failure, exploding, failure, exploding, Soji managed only four successful casts in half an hour.
And even including his initial experiment, the results varied wildly.
From a gentle breeze to broken bones, Accio had become a "gacha" skill in Soji's hands.
It was nothing like the effortless control he'd had over the Filth-Licking Technique and Rain Woman's Heart Technique.
On top of that, Soji's frustratingly small chakra reserves made trial and error even more costly. The development of his new technique had hit a bottleneck right from the start.
Soji's dream of using Banshō Ten'in with one hand and Shinra Tensei with the other would have to remain just that—a dream.
Although the development of the new technique had run into setbacks, Soji still had to keep up his social work.
The Konoha Socialite spent a few days gradually getting used to the demands of a long march. Then she quickly turned her attention to socializing and began looking for opportunities to talk with the important people in the support team.
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