Ninja Academy, classroom.
Teacher Yamada droned on at the podium, explaining the key points of chakra refinement, hoping that the few students who still had not refined chakra could accomplish it as soon as possible.
Most of the students in their seats were doing their own things. Yamada did not mind this. Putting aside the children from the ninja clans, even for the students who had already refined chakra, the current material was a waste of their time. As long as they did not disrupt the studies of other students, Yamada left them alone.
Taichi was one of those students in his seat. Now he no longer needed anyone to watch over him, and extracting chakra had slowly become a habit. Right now, he was practicing ninja hand seals. After all, ninjutsu could not be performed just by remembering it; practice was also indispensable.
Take hand seals, for instance. Remembering them was only the first step.
The second step was to form the hand seals skillfully and accurately with both hands.
The third step was to mobilize chakra while forming the seals. After all, the existence of seals was to guide chakra in order to release ninjutsu better.
Only when all three steps were completed could one form seals and execute ninjutsu. As for the speed of forming seals, that relied entirely on long-term training to achieve muscle memory.
At 11:30 AM, the morning classes ended.
As soon as the teacher left, the classroom instantly became rowdy.
Students who lived close to the academy went home for lunch, while those who lived far away had to stay at the academy and eat the bento they had prepared early in the morning. Taichi, Guy, and Kakashi were among the latter.
Following yesterday's sparring match, the friendship between the three of them had gradually deepened. Now, the three gathered together to eat and chat.
Just as the three of them were wrestling with their bentos, a voice interrupted them.
"Taichi, I have some sushi here. Would you like to try some?"
All three raised their heads at the same time, six eyes fixing on the source of the voice.
Shizune looked a little shy under the gaze of those three pairs of eyes. Taichi was slightly surprised, but thinking of what had happened earlier, he smiled calmly and did not refuse. "Thanks, Shizune. Then I won't hold back."
Thus, the trio of hearty eaters became a group of four. Of course, it was clearly two separate groups: Guy and Kakashi sat closer together, while Shizune and Taichi formed the other pair.
Since Shizune treated Taichi to her food, Taichi naturally had to offer something in return. "Shizune, this is braised pork I made myself. Have a taste."
"Ah! That's amazing! Did Taichi-kun really make this himself?!"
Shizune was shocked. She had not expected Taichi to be so skilled that he could make such complex dishes.
She reached out and picked up a piece. The taste was truly fantastic—an unexpected deliciousness.
"How is it, Shizune? Isn't Taichi's cooking heavenly?" Guy chimed in at this point.
Taichi glanced sideways at Guy, and seeing that eager look, he pushed his lunchbox forward. "Here, you two try some too!"
Guy and Kakashi exchanged glances and, without standing on ceremony, each picked up a piece of meat and began to eat. Guy had tasted Taichi's cooking before. Kakashi, eating it for the very first time, immediately mirrored Shizune's expression, casting a look of utter shock at Taichi. The two, having tasted Taichi's food, also shared their own dishes with him.
Lunch lasted only fifteen minutes, and Shizune's remaining sushi was also polished off by Taichi. From then until 1:30 PM was lunch break. However, Taichi was not that free; he picked up Basic Ninjutsu Theory from his desk and read it while practicing hand seals with one hand.
Guy was fast asleep nearby, Kakashi had wandered off somewhere, and Shizune slowly drifted off to dreamland while watching Taichi's movements.
At 1:30 PM, classes resumed with theory and ninja tool throwing.
The theory class was the same as always: those who wanted to sleep slept, those who wanted to eat snacks ate snacks, and those who wanted to daydream daydreamed. There were also those who studied diligently, such as Taichi Matsushita, Shizune, and Rin Nohara. Everyone arranged their time according to their own needs. After all, this was the ninja world, and anyone who truly failed to study properly was playing with their own life.
The theory class was followed by ninja tool throwing. After a few days of practice, everyone had clearly improved. At the very least, they reached a level where they could hit the target. As for Kakashi, Taichi, and Asuma, they hit the bullseye every single time.
[You practice ninja tool throwing; related comprehension improves!]
[Your skill Ninja Tool Throwing has improved. EXP +1]
[You focus on ninja tool throwing practice. Genin class EXP +1]
[Congratulations! Your skill Ninja Tool Throwing has increased to Lv3 (0/400)]
Accompanied by the upgrade of this skill, a long period of insight into practicing ninja tool throwing melted into every single muscle of Taichi's body.
After a few days of practice, ninja tool throwing had risen to Lv3. Taichi picked up another kunai, and with a wave of his hand, it hit the bullseye dead center, feeling even easier than before. Next, he picked up two kunai at once, held them between his index, middle, and ring fingers respectively, and flicked them toward the target.
Two "thwack, thwack" sounds rang out in succession. Both kunai hit the target. Although they were not in the bullseye, this difficulty had increased linearly.
Guy watched from the side with his jaw dropped, and Kakashi also looked at Taichi in astonishment. He knew from experience that even for him to reach Taichi's current level had required a long time of practice, whereas Taichi had only spent a few days.
"Taichi, do you have some kind of secret trick for this?!" Shizune could not help asking.
"What secret trick could there be? I just practiced and practiced, and suddenly it felt like I could do it. I tried it out and didn't expect it to actually work," Taichi said with a hint of complacency.
Hearing this, the others all rolled their eyes in unison.
At 5:00 PM, the day's classes ended.
Taichi bid farewell to Guy and the others and hurried toward the orphanage. He wanted to ask Nonō if she had received any news from Tsunade today.
Arriving at the orphanage and seeing everyone busy preparing dinner, Taichi stepped forward to help as well. This delighted the group of brats immensely, who cheered that they would get to eat Big Brother Taichi's cooking again, making them work even harder at their tasks.
Taichi suppressed the restlessness in his heart and joined everyone in cooking dinner.
After everyone finished eating and tidied up the place, Taichi pulled Nonō into the office.
"Sister Nonō, did you receive any news from Lady Tsunade today?" Taichi asked straight to the point.
"No, I didn't," Nonō replied, unfazed. Having lived through such a long time like this, she had more patience than Taichi.
"That shouldn't be. This verification should be very fast. How could there be no news?" Taichi asked, puzzled. Yet, thinking of Tsunade's personality and her recent state of mind, Taichi felt a bit uncertain again.
"Do you think Lady Tsunade forgot about it?"
"Taichi, don't be so anxious. Maybe Lady Tsunade was delayed by something else," Nonō comforted him.
"That's true. I was too impatient. This kind of matter isn't something we can control. For now, we can only wait for a reply from Lady Tsunade's side," Taichi adjusted his mindset.
Afterward, Taichi chatted a bit more with Nonō about his daily life at the academy before leaving the orphanage. Before parting, Nonō repeatedly comforted Taichi and told him not to worry.
Returning home, Taichi took out his scroll and read as usual. Today he was going to practice the Three Body Technique. With all these days of laying the groundwork, both in chakra and basic knowledge, Taichi had reached a certain level. It was time to begin formal ninjutsu cultivation, even if it was only the most basic Three Body Technique.
First was the Clone Technique.
Taichi stood still, feeling the chakra flowing within his body, and then slowly formed the hand seals for the Clone Technique: "Boar-Snake-Tiger," carefully experiencing the movement of the chakra mobilized in his body by each hand seal.
After trying this back and forth seven or eight times and feeling it was about right, Taichi suddenly accelerated his hand seals, flashing through the three seals in an instant. He softly called out, "Clone Technique!" and felt the chakra in his body rapidly flow along a specific trajectory, directly dropping by a chunk. Immediately after, amid a puff of white smoke, another "Taichi" appeared beside him.
"Yeah, success on the first try!" Taichi was excited. The system panel immediately issued a prompt.
[Congratulations! You have learned Clone Technique Lv1 (0/100)]
Taichi carefully examined the clone before him, discovering that there were still many shortcomings. The most obvious was that this height was clearly much shorter than his main body, which was a huge flaw. Of course, this was only the beginning of his cultivation; with continuous future practice, making it look genuine enough to fool anyone was a sure thing.
Feeling the chakra within his body, he discovered that the consumption of this Clone Technique was actually quite small, so he proceeded to test the Transformation Technique.
The same process: familiarization, testing, and then Boar-Monkey-Rooster-Dog-Snake. A puff of white smoke rose, and Might Guy appeared on the scene.
Likewise, once more with Boar-Boar-Ox-Dog-Tiger, the pre-prepared substitution log turned into Taichi's appearance, while Taichi himself could take the opportunity to slip away. This was the Substitution Technique.
Sure enough, Taichi thought to himself, he had a talent for ninjutsu. The Three Body Technique was mastered as soon as he learned it, and as long as he slowly practiced the quantities from here on, it would not be a problem. Checking the chakra inside his body again, he found that the consumption was not very large and it was slowly recovering, so he decided to practice a bit more.
Name: Taichi Matsushita
Profession: Genin Lv2 (184/200)
Talents: Diligence Makes Up for Mediocrity, Academic Overachiever
Age: 6 years old
Physique: 10
Strength: 11
Agility: 10
Spirit: 18
Chakra: 785 (4200)
Attribute Points: 5
Skill Points: 5
Skills: Basic Taijutsu Lv6 (465/1000), Basic Meditation Lv6 (895/1000), Chakra Refinement Technique Lv2 (145/200), Ninja Tool Throwing Lv3 (35/400), Transformation Technique Lv1 (15/100), Clone Technique Lv1 (12/100), Substitution Technique Lv1 (16/100)
Evaluation: Having learned the Three Body Technique, you are already a standard battlefield cannon fodder.
Looking at this slightly plain panel, Taichi felt as if he could see himself slowly growing stronger. A wave of excitement surged in his heart, and throughout his entire body, an extra surge of strength welled up to support Taichi in continuing his training.
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