Ninjutsu Research

Of course, in the end, they still did not use Explosive Tags to blow up the fish.

After all, they had caught the fish to eat. How could they turn it in for the mission if it had been blown to pieces?

Kisame stopped Zabuza from pulling out an Explosive Tag and said with a smile,

"The best ninjutsu for dealing with these Black Sea Sturgeons is the C-rank Water Prison Technique. Watch closely."

As he spoke, he walked to the mouth of the cave and began forming hand seals.

Snake–Ram–Horse–Rabbit–Ram–Horse–Rabbit

"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"

Kisame gave a low shout, crouched down, and pressed his hand against the water at the cave entrance.

An invisible layer of chakra spread outward and downward from his palm, gradually enclosing into a sphere. As Kisame stood up, he actually pulled a Water Ball straight out of the seawater.

Inside the Water Ball, a pitch-black fish could be seen swimming around. It had a spindle-shaped body, was over half a meter long, and looked as though its entire surface was covered in bones.

"Not bad. Caught one on the first try."

Kisame held up the Water Ball in one hand and showed it to Araki and Zabuza.

"So this is a Black Sea Sturgeon? It looks like it's all bones!"

Araki moved closer and studied it carefully before asking.

"That's why ordinary fishermen have a hard time dealing with them. They're not just difficult to find; they might not even be able to beat them," Kisame added.

"This mission is considered complete. We just need to bring it back. You two can practice ninjutsu here. The sooner you improve your strength, the sooner we can go out and take on missions real ninjas should be doing, instead of playing house here."

"Yes, Captain!"

Araki and Zabuza answered in unison.

After spending a day on the sea, Araki had trained the Body Flicker Technique to what Kisame called a "traveling level," then began studying another D-rank ninjutsu, the Water Replacement Technique.

The most basic Substitution Technique was an E-rank ninjutsu, one that even Ninja Academy students could learn.

Its casting process was simple; it only required one hand seal.

At first, Araki did not understand the principles behind the Substitution Technique. From what he had seen in the anime, it seemed like some miraculous dodging skill, something like "get out of the way fast."

But that was not the case.

First of all, the Substitution Technique was merely a sleight of hand.

The principle behind it was made clear by its name: it used another object to take the damage in place of one's body.

This substitute object had to be prepared in advance. In an instant, it needed to transform into the user's appearance and stand between the user and the enemy, completely obscuring the user's figure.

People often relaxed after succeeding, so while the substitute object was being struck and the enemy's guard was down, the real body could use the chance to move and hide, looking for an opportunity to turn defeat into victory.

However, this ninjutsu was only effective against inexperienced enemies, or enemies who had become careless for one reason or another.

Simply put, it was most useful and most frequently used among genin. The higher a ninja's rank and the more experienced they were, the less likely they were to be fooled. Trying to force it in a dangerous situation might instead get oneself killed.

More advanced elemental replacement techniques spared the trouble of preparing an object beforehand. Flowing water, sand, mud, and so on—different attributes corresponded to different materials, but all of them were extremely common things found in nature.

Second, the D-rank Water Replacement Technique was more lifelike and could endure more damage. It would not reveal its true form after a light hit, could deceive the enemy for longer, and left more opportunities for the real body to act.

It was especially effective when used on water, since the real body could hide directly within the water, making any flaw difficult to spot.

Araki mastered this ninjutsu quickly. After all, it was merely a simple advancement of the Substitution Technique.

Next came the only C-rank ninjutsu Araki currently possessed—Gale Palm.

That said, why had Araki, who had watched the Hokage anime and understood its various elemental combinations, transformations of nature and form, and the principles behind advanced ninjutsu, not developed his own ninjutsu?

Because developing ninjutsu was not such a simple matter. Leaving aside the fact that he had long forgotten the hand seals for those techniques, take the Rasengan, the seal-less ninjutsu most widely discussed among transmigrators, as though everyone could learn it, for example.

The anime had explained the training process for that technique very clearly, and Araki was confident he could train it successfully on his own. Wasn't it just repeatedly bursting Water Balls and balloons?

But after analyzing it, he felt the technique was not very useful to him because it did not fit his fighting style.

If Araki had the chance to get close to an enemy and hit him with a Rasengan, then stabbing him with a sword would be just as clean and decisive.

He actually wanted to develop some seal-less ninjutsu himself to use alongside his swordsmanship, especially Wind Style-related techniques.

After all, swift winds suited a swordmaster better!

But the biggest problem was that he did not know how!

The body Araki had inherited belonged to nothing more than a civilian. Its understanding of ninjas was not even as extensive as what he had learned from watching anime in his previous life. He was not talking about the plot, but the most basic principles of chakra and ninjutsu.

In his view, the process of casting ninjutsu bore a certain resemblance to the Three Mysteries of Buddhism. The mystery of speech corresponded to the name of the ninjutsu, the mystery of body corresponded to hand seals, and the mystery of mind perhaps corresponded to more advanced chakra manipulation, such as transformations of form and nature.

And the most crucial part among them was the hand seals.

Araki now had enough control to gather the chakra in his body in any part of himself—his hands, the soles of his feet, his mouth, and so on. But he still did not understand how to turn it into wind, water, or other elements the instant chakra burst out of his body.

This was a technical barrier that could only be understood by learning ninjutsu of the corresponding attribute and experiencing it firsthand.

For example, after reading the training scroll for Gale Palm, Araki took a deep breath, rapidly formed several hand seals, suddenly pressed his palms together, and shouted, "Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

Whoosh—

A fierce gust suddenly erupted from between his hands. It even stirred the seawater beneath his feet, turning into a small shower not far ahead.

So this is Wind Style...

Araki remained in that pose, silently sensing the changes his chakra had undergone just now.

During the hand seals, the chakra I refined gathered in my hands. Then, the instant my palms came together, it surged out through the chakra points in my palms. The chakra had already transformed into wind the moment it erupted. At that time, the seal I formed was... Dragon?

"Could that seal be the key to transforming chakra into wind?"

Araki tried forming the seals again. This time, he moved much more slowly, sensing the changes in chakra flow within his body one seal at a time.

Ordinary people would not dare to break down a ninjutsu like this, because it could cause the technique to fail.

But Araki was different. First, he already understood the overall flow of chakra within his body when casting Gale Palm. Second, his powerful control over his own body meant that even if he failed because his hand seals were too slow, he could still consciously guide the chakra in the right direction.

Step by step, after three seals, chakra had already gathered in his palms.

"Next is the Dragon Seal!"

Araki's hand shape suddenly changed as he formed the Dragon Seal with both hands. At that moment, he could clearly feel the chakra gathered in his palms beginning to surge outward uncontrollably.

This time, he omitted the final motion of pressing his palms together to compress the wind. Thus, the airflow shooting from his palms was not as sharp and violent as the Gale Palm from before; it was merely like an ordinary strong gust.

"Is this... Wind Release: Great Breakthrough?"

Kisame Hoshigaki's voice was somewhat puzzled. "Araki, I remember you only exchanged for the C-rank Gale Palm, didn't you?"

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