Divine Sense · Telekinesis · Needle

Shangguan Yue sensed a subtle fluctuation of chakra suddenly appearing near him, closing in on his position.

"Hmph, I'd like to see what kind of secret technique is so stealthy."

"I had no choice before, but now that my spiritual power has broken through to the Minor Accomplishment stage, even if I can't compare to a Jonin, an average Chunin certainly can't match my spiritual power."

"It's the perfect time to test my newly acquired ability. Although the radius is only two meters, if I condense it into a single directional line, it reaches five meters. I refuse to believe I can't catch you this time."

Shangguan Yue held his breath and focused. As soon as the target entered his range, his spiritual power transformed into a needle and shot rapidly toward the faint chakra he had sensed.

His vision followed the spiritual power, and Shangguan Yue watched as his mental needle pierced a weed, causing the chakra to vanish instantly.

Shangguan Yue frowned as he looked at what he had pierced.

"This is... a chakra insect? The Aburame Clan?"

"How could I possibly be involved with the Aburame Clan? That shouldn't be right."

Shangguan Yue was utterly baffled. On the other side, sensing the death of his insect, Aburame Torune retreated immediately without a moment's hesitation.

"Damn it, how did my insect die?"

Based on the final information transmitted by the insect, Aburame Torune couldn't even begin to judge what method the opponent had used.

"To kill my insect in an instant without leaving a single trace—it seems the opponent is extremely powerful."

What happened after Aburame Torune returned to the Root remained unknown, but from that moment on, Shangguan Yue never sensed anyone watching him again.

"Hm? Gone? So vigilant."

Shangguan Yue closed his eyes to perceive his surroundings, discovering that the other distant chakra fluctuations had also vanished.

"It seems the opponent has recalled all their insects. Fine, I won't dwell on it; strength is the only truth."

"It's fortunate I have divine sense. I never expected the God-Slaying Art's method of cultivating spiritual power to be so unique."

"Spiritual power can be projected out of the body; it can be used for perception or manifested into a physical form for attacks."

"Right now, my spiritual power is scattered around me as mental particles, covering a 50-meter radius. It's a pity that this only allows for detection, not sight."

"With vision sharing, the limit is only five meters. If I could reach the realms of legend, I could see the movements of the three realms with a single thought."

Shangguan Yue spent a while indulging in fantasies about his future prowess before finally pulling his focus back.

"Well, there's no one left. After such a long period of continuous detection, no new watchers have appeared. It seems they've given up. Let's see what Tsunade gave me."

Shangguan Yue withdrew his spiritual power, sat cross-legged, and channeled chakra into the scroll. With a pop, the scroll unfurled.

"Damn, this is huge."

As Shangguan Yue unrolled it, the scroll stretched out for twenty meters, densely packed with the evolution of medical ninjutsu from its inception to the present.

"This... Tsunade is really careless, just giving this to me?"

Shangguan Yue drooled with a grin. This item was far too precious; if other ninja villages knew he had this in his possession, every spy and bounty hunter would be at his doorstep within a day. He began to read carefully.

"Although I don't want to be a nurse, medicine and martial arts are inseparable. With a foundation in medicine, practicing martial arts becomes easier. I refuse to believe I can't develop this Void Step."

...Time Skip...

It wasn't until evening that Shangguan Yue finished devouring the contents of the medical ninjutsu scroll.

Crack.

Shangguan Yue stood up, stretching his joints until they popped.

"I never realized chakra control worked like this."

"Original ninjutsu only forces the body's chakra to flow according to hand seals, forming various techniques that are then expelled from the mouth."

"However, because it's unconscious, the chakra just executes without regard for quantity, which is why cultivation is so difficult."

"You have to control the amount, but chakra control is incredibly hard. Without a conceptual understanding, you can only learn to control it by practicing ninjutsu over and over again."

"Once mastered, the chakra used to trigger the technique is just a range of values—it means you've learned it, but you haven't mastered it."

"Entry is easy, complete mastery is hard, and improvement is even harder."

"However, as long as I master chakra control, practicing any ninjutsu in the future will yield twice the result with half the effort. My Void Step will be easier to improve, too. It seems I need to hurry up and train."

"Still, Tsunade thinks too highly of me. This method of cultivating chakra actually starts by manipulating cells? That's too insane."

That's right—manipulating cells. Using your own chakra to control the chakra within a test subject to repair wounds and the like.

Shangguan Yue looked at the fish tank that had popped out alongside the scroll, where a few small fish were swimming vigorously.

"This... fine. I'll just follow the steps in the scroll one by one."

With no concept of how to do this, Shangguan Yue held a "dead horse as a living horse doctor" mentality, as this all seemed very fantastical to him.

Shangguan Yue coated his right fingernail with chakra, grabbed a fish with his left hand, and swiped his right hand across it, leaving a gash on the fish's body.

Looking at his handiwork, Shangguan Yue nodded in satisfaction. "This chakra really is a cure-all, though the application is too crude."

Shangguan Yue pressed both hands, coated in chakra, onto the fish. "Come on, let me see how this works."