Taotie Technique

Akimichi Choza praised Denji's talent as a ninja.

He really wasn't wrong.

Akimichi Denji checked his own stats.

[Physique: 7].

By his estimation, a normal child at the Ninja Academy should have a physique of 5. Rock Lee, who had trained in Taijutsu all along, was at 7, just like him.

And his foolish little brother was at 6.

A normal Chunin's physique should be 8. In other words, in terms of physique alone, Akimichi Denji was already close to the Chunin threshold.

"But the core secret of our Akimichi Clan is converting energy into chakra. Given your situation, I have a few ideas. You may not be getting enough energy from food to meet your daily needs. Your Kekkei Genkai must consume a great deal of energy."

Akimichi Denji pursed his lips. That wasn't actually the case. The system was plundering all the energy, just like Yao Lao had done to Xiao Yan.

"To make better use of the Multi-Size Technique, our clan developed many complementary techniques. One of them is especially suited to your situation. It can improve digestion by using chakra to stimulate certain acupoints, speeding up your stomach's digestive process. That way, you can take in enough energy and store it as fat."

Akimichi Denji's eyes lit up.

It sounded like this technique would make an ordinary person turn into Ryoko faster.

But Denji was different. The system would store all the excess energy. And he could put that energy into his physique stat!

There was no way he was going to turn into Ryoko.

"I think this should let you take in enough energy and convert it into chakra. Then you can train in the Multi-Size Technique."

"What's this secret technique called?"

Akimichi Denji asked curiously.

Akimichi Choza answered slowly.

"Taotie Technique!"

"Take off your shirt. Training in the Taotie Technique requires stimulating specific acupoints."

"Yes!"

Akimichi Denji obediently did as he was told. He took off his shirt, revealing a pale torso without a trace of excess fat. Muscles were faintly visible beneath his fair skin.

Akimichi Choza extended two fingers and pressed them against several acupoints above Akimichi Denji's abdomen, sending chakra into them.

"Usually, after using the Butterfly Transformation, our bodies are damaged and all our fat is converted into chakra. That's when this technique is needed. There's no need to use it under normal circumstances."

After speaking, Akimichi Choza looked at Denji, who wore an expression of keen curiosity.

"You're the one exception."

Denji felt a warm current slowly flow through the acupoints. Blood rushed toward his stomach, which even began to churn audibly. The food he'd eaten at dinner was being digested at an astonishing rate.

The energy on his status panel was increasing faster than before, with [+6] and [+6] popping up one after another.

Twice as fast.

But along with it, the food in his stomach was also digesting faster.

Denji smiled with satisfaction.

The Taotie Technique was perfect for him.

When Akimichi Choza's chakra faded, the accelerated digestion stopped.

"The Taotie Technique was originally just something we used in emergencies. In a normal battle, there are plenty of situations where a ninja doesn't need to activate the Butterfly Transformation.

"If you use the Taotie Technique, it'll produce far too much excess energy. That energy will all turn into fat, which will seriously hinder you in daily combat. That's why we only activate it after using the Butterfly Transformation."

"Have you memorized the acupoints?"

Akimichi Denji nodded.

Akimichi Choza smiled in satisfaction and patted Denji on the head.

If that brat Choza were here, he probably—

Teaching a genius felt great. He got it on the first try.

"Practice it more, then. If you can't figure it out, take a look at this ninjutsu scroll."

With that, Akimichi Choza handed Denji a ninjutsu scroll.

The Taotie Technique wasn't easy to learn, at least not for members of the Akimichi Clan. The hard part was mastering the flow of chakra through the Zhongwan, Tianshu, Neiguan, Gongsun, and Fenglong Acupoints.

After all, the Akimichi Clan didn't have the Byakugan, so they couldn't pinpoint the acupoints.

It had taken him a whole month just to get started.

No matter how talented Denji was, it would still take him at least a week to learn it.

Choza stroked his chin, deep in thought.

Akimichi Denji checked his Wish Points, but he didn't intend to use them yet.

Using a Wish Point yesterday had made him realize that they were probably good for more than just simple ninjutsu training.

Last night, he'd trained the Akimichi Clan Chakra Refinement Technique to the Master level, its peak. But he'd still been able to use a Wish Point to advance it to Transcendent Mastery, and had even awakened Scorch Release, a Kekkei Genkai.

So the best way to use Wish Points was probably to save them until he hit a wall with a ninjutsu. At the very least, he should wait until he'd mastered the basics!

So Akimichi Denji planned to learn the secret technique on his own first, reaching the beginner level and saving himself a Wish Point.

Surely he wasn't so hopeless that he couldn't even manage to learn the basics, right?

The night passed, and dawn broke in the east. The first light of morning glimmered through the mist over the forest. Dew dripped from the tips of the grass, and birdsong rang out.

Akimichi Denji's eyes were bloodshot. His mouth twisted into a grimace, his eye sockets were sunken, and dark circles hung beneath his eyes.

He stared at the cold words on his status panel.

[Ninjutsu: Taotie Technique (Unlearned)].

The cold words pierced his heart: He admitted it. This body was destined to be hopeless at ninjutsu.

It didn't matter. It was time to bring out his world-shaking intellect. Deep Blue, add points!

[Taotie Technique (Unlearned) -> (Learned)].

[Effect: Focus and use chakra to stimulate specific acupoints, improving digestion].

A year of hard training flooded into Denji's mind. He felt that he could finally sense the acupoints. The downside was that he still had to concentrate fully to operate the Taotie Technique.

He couldn't exactly sit around all day running this technique just to eat more, could he?

He'd have to keep going.

A prompt appeared on the panel.

[Ninjutsu: Taotie Technique (Unlearned) -> (Proficient)].

[Effect: Runs automatically at all times; digestion multiplied by 3.]

Denji felt his stomach's digestive process forced open, rumbling like a machine with its casing off.

He hadn't slept all night, and his stomach was already empty. Now the sudden tripling of his digestive speed brought on a stabbing pain. Denji nearly fell to his knees. He struggled to his feet, rummaged in a drawer for a Military Ration Pill, and swallowed it slowly. At last, the pain eased.

But he could clearly feel that the Military Ration Pill, which usually took three days to digest, was now being rapidly broken down into energy to replenish his body. On the system panel, notices kept popping up: [Energy +9] [Energy +9].

At this rate, he'd use up a whole Military Ration Pill in just one day.

He grinned. He still had two Wish Points left.

Without hesitation, he continued to add points.

This time, the memories lasted a little longer than before. He felt the Taotie Technique reach a dead end here. Even the person who'd created the technique for the Akimichi Clan had never imagined that someone might digest food even faster.

The human body was a complex structure, after all. Changing one part of it would inevitably affect other organs.

So having one organ function too well wasn't necessarily a good thing.

But no one had ever imagined there'd be an outlier like Akimichi Denji, who could store all the excess energy.