Why "Ghost Talent" Is Used to Describe

Once the dust settled on the comprehensive assessment, Ling Xuan's life appeared to return to its former tranquility, but beneath the surface, things had quietly changed.

As the top-ranked student, not only had his status risen sharply in the eyes of his peers, but he had also earned a privilege that many envied.

Accompanied by an instructor, he was granted access to consult texts in restricted areas of the Konoha library.

That afternoon, with no classes scheduled, Iruka found Ling Xuan.

"Ling Xuan, the Third Hokage has granted special permission for me to take you to the library's special reading room today."

Iruka wore a gentle smile, but deep within his eyes lay an undisguised sense of anticipation and curiosity.

He, too, wanted to see what kind of attitude this youth—highly praised by both the chunin Toma and himself—would display when faced with such profound knowledge.

"I am troubling you, Iruka-sensei." Ling Xuan bowed slightly, his expression calm, though his heart was already rippling with excitement.

As one of the oldest and most profound repositories of knowledge among the five great ninja villages, the Konoha library surely contained the things he craved.

The two walked through the bustling library lobby toward a heavy wooden door located in the depths, guarded by two chunin.

After presenting the Third Hokage's special authorization and verifying their identities, one of the chunin opened the door.

The light inside was dim, and the air was filled with the faint, musty scent of old scrolls and the fragrance of ink.

Rows of tall bookshelves reached the ceiling, neatly stacked with countless scrolls and texts, both new and old, exuding a solemn and dignified atmosphere.

This was the first special reading area of the Konoha library, primarily housing detailed principles of C-rank and B-rank ninjutsu not open to ordinary genin and below.

It also contained intermediate and high-level chakra control techniques, as well as selected summaries of clan secret techniques and ninja world lore.

"Ling Xuan, the rule here is that all scrolls must be read on-site; they cannot be taken out or copied. You have three hours of reading time today," Iruka whispered.

"Take a look at what you want to learn first, and I will help you find it."

Ling Xuan nodded, his gaze sweeping slowly across the bookshelves.

His Eye of Truth was already operating at full capacity; the titles of the scrolls, their general content categories, and even the faint chakra imprints remaining on some of them were laid bare before him.

He did not rush to find scrolls for high-power offensive ninjutsu. To him, understanding the principles and mastering the essence was far more important than simply learning a few moves.

"Iruka-sensei, I would like to first look at advanced theories regarding chakra nature and shape transformation, as well as texts on the In-depth Analysis of Basic Sealing Techniques," Ling Xuan said.

Iruka nodded approvingly. This child truly was not blinded by the superficial appearance of power and knew to start from the foundation.

He quickly took several heavy scrolls from the shelf and handed them to Ling Xuan.

"Preliminary Exploration of Chakra Nature Fusion, <Detailed Explanation of Shape Transformation Profundities>, <On the Balance and Constraints of Sealing Techniques>... These are very precious theoretical works. I hope they are helpful to you."

Ling Xuan took the scrolls, sat down at a rustic wooden table, and slowly unfurled the first scroll, Preliminary Exploration of Chakra Nature Fusion.

The scroll recorded various conjectures, experimental records, and some successful low-level application cases from predecessors regarding the interaction and fusion possibilities of different chakra attributes.

To Iruka, Ling Xuan appeared to be reading earnestly and slowly.

But in reality, within the vision of Ling Xuan's Eye of Truth, every character, every diagram, and every curve representing chakra flow on the scroll.

Was instantly broken down into basic information units, then rapidly reorganized, analyzed, and deduced.

The fusion of fire and wind relied on the amplification effect of wind aiding fire and the resonant frequency of the two energies.

The theory of stable inner flames via spiral airflow proposed in the scroll coincided with the optimization direction of his previous Wind-Flame Prototype, but the handling of the details was still lacking.

The chakra ratio could be further optimized by introducing a third, neutral chakra as a stabilizing medium.

The key to the fusion of water and lightning lay in how to make water's conductivity and lightning's explosive nature coexist; the concept of a wet current beam was interesting, but the energy conversion efficiency was too low.

If one could stimulate water molecule structures with a specific frequency of lightning release, perhaps a new technique with greater penetrating power and paralyzing effects could be formed.

Ling Xuan was reading ten lines at a glance—no, he was reading a page at a glance!

These theories, which were abstruse and difficult for others, were as clear as the lines on his own palm to him.

An hour later, Ling Xuan put down the fifth scroll, which contained a summary of the Nara Clan's secret technique, the Shadow Imitation Technique (non-core).

He closed his eyes, and countless streams of information flowed and collided in his mind, sparks flying.

The secret technique of the Nara Clan was essentially the ultimate application of Yin Release chakra, materializing spiritual energy and extending and binding it through the medium of shadows.

This had a similar effect in the application of spiritual energy to the Mind Transfer Technique he had analyzed earlier, but the direction of application was completely different.

Iruka watched from the side, secretly alarmed.

In this hour, Ling Xuan had finished reading five texts that, in his view, would take at least several days or even weeks to initially comprehend!

Moreover, judging by his calm and thoughtful expression, he was certainly not just skimming through them.

"Ling Xuan... have you understood all of it?" Iruka couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Ling Xuan opened his eyes and nodded. "Yes, I have a general understanding. The wisdom of these predecessors is truly admirable; many of their viewpoints are very enlightening."

He paused and pointed to the scroll about chakra nature fusion from earlier.

"For example, the idea mentioned here about introducing an inert chakra as a buffer layer when fusing two conflicting attributes—although the book doesn't provide a specific implementation method, the line of thought is very ingenious."

The question he raised casually was one of the most core and difficult points in the entire scroll!

Iruka opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond for a moment. The depth of this child's understanding had far exceeded his comprehension!

Over the next two hours, Ling Xuan flipped through more than a dozen more scrolls, covering topics from intermediate barrier techniques and the principles of sensory ninjutsu to the general outlines of force-application techniques from ancient taijutsu schools.

Every time he read, it was a feast of knowledge for him, causing his theoretical reserves to skyrocket at a terrifying speed.

When the three-hour reading session ended and Ling Xuan and Iruka walked out of the Special Reading Room, the look in Iruka's eyes toward Ling Xuan had completely changed.

He began to truly understand why Chunin Toma would use the word "genius" to describe this boy.

That night, inside the room at the orphanage.

Ling Xuan sat cross-legged, the vast amount of knowledge he had absorbed during the day merging and crystallizing in his mind.

He extended his right hand, and a cluster of orange-red flames rose from his palm; immediately after, a pale cyan wind vortex appeared out of thin air, gently enveloping the flames.