Commentary

Adjusting his slightly disordered breathing, Taiichi was filled with excitement. This kind of battle, where he could fully utilize his strength, was so exhilarating.

"Jiraiya- sensei, now I'm going to get serious!" Taiichi, feeling his Chakra had recovered to about 70-80%, challenged Jiraiya loudly.

"Oh, kid, since you're so confident, then I'll have to get serious." Jiraiya said to Taiichi with a chuckle, not holding back.

Taiichi stylishly planted the Short Sword into the ground, his hands quickly Hand Seals, Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.

Taiichi quickly unleashed 36 Fireball, arranged in a three-by-three formation, attacking Jiraiya from different directions.

Jiraiya watched as Taiichi prepared to unleash his Ninjutsu, smiled slightly, and waited for Taiichi to perform. When he saw the Fireball flying towards him, he couldn't help but show surprise.

These Fireball were not only numerous, but more importantly, each one was under Taiichi's control, constantly changing its trajectory. That alone was remarkable.

It's important to understand that ordinary ninjas only control the direction of the Genin attack when Ninjutsu's being released, unlike Taiichi who maintains constant control over the Ninjutsu.

Earth Style: Earth Style Wall - A wide and thick Earth Wall rose from the ground, firmly protecting Jiraiya behind it.

Upon seeing Taiichi, Taiyi Hand Seals and used Shadow Clone. Two "bang" sounds were heard as a clone appeared on each side.

Without saying a word, the two clones rushed towards both sides of the Earth Wall as soon as they appeared.

Upon seeing Jiraiya behind the Earth Wall, the clones simultaneously Hand Seals, unleashing Wind Style: Great Breakthrough and Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

Two Ninjutsu, one wind and one fire, converged behind the Earth Wall. The fire borrowed the wind's momentum, and the wind borrowed the fire's power, instantly destroying the entire Earth Wall and Earth Wall behind Jiraiya.

Taiichi close eye on his surroundings. He knew, of course, that it was impossible to defeat Jiraiya so easily. Rather, this attack was meant to make Jiraiya more aware of Taiichi's current strength and methods.

Suddenly, Taiichi felt a slight tremor in the ground beneath his feet. Without thinking, he immediately jumped away.

In that instant, a pair of large hands burst forth from the ground and grabbed Taiichi's ankles.

Seeing this, Taiichi, who was in mid-air, didn't hesitate and swung his sword to strike.

With a "bang," Jiraiya, Jiraiya cleaved apart by a single slash. It turned out that this was just a Shadow Clone.

As the clone dissipated, after Taiichi stood up, another Jiraiya emerged from the ground, Fire Style: Great Flame Bomb, a huge Fireball flying straight towards Taiichi's face.

The distance was too close, and there was no time to use Ninjutsu. Taiichi could only concentrate all his wind-style Chakra on the blade and then slash at the Flame Bullet with all his might.

Unlike before, this time the wind on the blade wasn't sharp, but rather a rapidly swirling airflow.

As the blade flashed, the Flame Bullet was split in two, and the two halves were flung to the sides by the surrounding air Flame Bullet.

With a single slash, Taiichi was startled. That slash was a completely subconscious action, and he hadn't expected it to actually cleave through the Ninjutsu. The only slight shortcoming was that his first attempt at using it wasn't quite mastered, resulting in a patch of Taiichi's hair being singed by the fire.

Jiraiya was also surprised Jiraiya saw Taiichi cleave the Great Flame Bomb with his sword. He had never heard of anyone in the Ninja World who could cut through Ninjutsu with a sword. Just as he was about to try to stop it, he saw the Flame Bullet being cleaved and sent flying.

"Good technique. Shall we try this one next?" Jiraiya became interested and immediately Hand Seals, Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

An even larger firestorm transformed into a fire dragon and charged towards Taiichi. Taiichi knew that this was Jiraiya's deliberate sparring, so he no longer worried about his safety and focused on guiding the wind-attribute Chakra to flow more orderly and efficiently on the sword.

Compared to the previous rotation, this time the wind starts from the blades and spreads rapidly in all directions. Although this consumes more Chakra, the flowing wind is more conducive to slashing and deflecting the scattered flames.

As expected, with this modification, the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was split in two. The high-temperature flames rushed past Taiichi from both sides, but were unable to harm Taiichi due to the flowing wind.

The only downside is that you need to keep swinging the knife; if you stop, you'll be hit by a burst of flames.

Jiraiya was quite surprised to see Taiichi only slightly disheveled amidst the flames; he hadn't expected Taiichi to actually master this technique. Thinking this, he decided to stop holding back and charged forward for the first time.

Faced with Jiraiya's relentless pressure, Taiichi felt the pressure increase dramatically. Each Isshiki was Taiichi strenuous for Taiichi, even when he was unarmed. Not to mention using Ninjutsu, he could only barely parry Jiraiya's attacks.

As the saying goes, a prolonged defense will inevitably lead to defeat. After Taiichi was hit by a punch for the first time, he became Jiraiya's punching bag until Taiichi lay motionless on the ground, letting Jiraiya's fists come down on his head.

Looking at the fist hovering in front of his forehead, Taiichi couldn't help but smile wryly, "Jiraiya- sensei, you did this on purpose, didn't you!" Touching the bruise on his face and his aching right eye, he confirmed again, "You definitely did it on purpose."

"Haha, what are you saying!" Jiraiya laughed awkwardly at Taiichi's shameless behavior, while reaching out to pull Taiichi up from the ground.

The two sat on the open ground, looking at the river in the distance, slowly recovering their strength.

"Taiichi, are you aware of the problems you have in your battles?" Jiraiya spoke first.

Taiichi shook his head helplessly. He still lacked practical experience. In the past, the enemies he had faced were either too weak or he had won by using tricks. He had never truly encountered someone who could fight him head-on.

Jiraiya Taiichi shake his head, Jiraiya thought for a moment and understood the gist of it. He continued, "Your swordsmanship, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu are all outstanding individually, and your achievements in any one area are comparable to those of Jonin. However, your abilities do not complement each other perfectly. You cannot use Ninjutsu while performing swordsmanship, and in order to release Ninjutsu, you would directly stick your sword into the ground to form Hand Seals. This is a huge waste."

Taiichi and nodded from time to time. He also had this feeling, which made his fighting style always seem less coherent.

"Also, you don't know enough Ninjutsu. You don't necessarily need to be proficient in Ninjutsu you learn, but you must know a lot of them so that you can deal with all kinds of different situations."

"Of course, most ninjas have these problems, but since you've reached this level of strength, you need to find a way to solve them. The longer you delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for you," Jiraiya concluded.

"Then, Jiraiya- sensei, do you have any good suggestions?" Taiichi asked humbly.

"Ordinary ninjas choose to specialize in one area, becoming either Ninjutsu -type ninja or Taijutsu- type ninja," Jiraiya explained. "But you're different; you possess all-around talent and abilities."

"So, the first option is to learn One-Handed Seal; it would be even better if you could create a hand seal-free Ninjutsu. The second option is to exchange your merits for Ninjutsu from the village."

Seeing Taiichi still listening attentively, Jiraiya continued, "I can teach you some theory about One-Handed Seal, but you'll have to try them out yourself. Everyone is different. Don't even think about hand seal-less Ninjutsu; I don't know it myself."

"As for why you were asked to exchange Ninjutsu with the village, it's a village rule. The Ninjutsu you learn from the village cannot be taught to others without permission, unless you created Ninjutsu yourself or captured it from someone else." Jiraiya explained the reason why he wasn't taught Ninjutsu.

"Yes, I understand, Jiraiya- sensei." He naturally understood this.

Jiraiya he spoke, Jiraiya explained the theoretical basis of One-Handed Seal to Taiichi then continuously memorized and pondered them.

"That's all for today. I've eaten, I've beaten up the guy, so I'm off. I still have to hand in my mission." Jiraiya said, not waiting for Taiichi's Taiichi, and strode off into the distance.

"Ah, Jiraiya- sensei, you really did it on purpose." Taiichi complained to Jiraiya's back, only to be met with a distant wave from Jiraiya.

Watching Jiraiya's departing figure, Taiichi lay back down on the ground, gazing at the azure sky, savoring the battle that had just taken place.

Especially the feeling of slashing through Ninjutsu with a sword; if I could perfect this move, I believe it would definitely give my enemies an unexpected "surprise" in the future.

Without hesitation, Taiichi stood up, picked up his Short Sword again, and began to infuse it with wind-style Chakra. As the Chakra was continuously poured in, the air around the sword slowly began to flow. And with Taiichi's control, the form of the air flow was also undergoing subtle changes.

[You practice Chakra Control, and your understanding of it has improved.]

[Your Chakra Control skill +100]

[Your skill's Wind Release Nature Transformation +100]

[You have mastered a new sword technique; Advanced Swordsmanship +200]

Sure enough, as he practiced, the panel kept displaying prompts, and more insights emerged. Taiichi gradually mastered the correct way to use this sword technique.

Finally, Taiichi unleashed all his Chakra, channeling it into the Short Sword in his hand, wanting to test the power of this technique.

As more Chakra was poured in, the wind around the blade grew stronger, and the howling of the gale gradually rose, with the invisible wind even taking on a faint blue hue.

Finally, "click".