Cultivating Chakra

It must be said that Jiraiya was indeed playing favorites.

Upon confirming that Nagato truly possessed the Rinnegan, Jiraiya immediately resolved to properly instruct Chiba and the others.

Undoubtedly, Jiraiya was quite stirred at this moment.

In Jiraiya's eyes, this child before him, possessing the eyes of the legendary Sage of Six Paths, was very likely the legendary Child of Prophecy he had been searching for all along.

In particular, Nagato's ideal of pursuing peace—which stemmed from Yahiko—as well as his desire and opportunity to become his apprentice, truly aligned with certain aspects described in the prophecy.

These factors only served to make Jiraiya more certain of his convictions.

Thus, under Nagato's influence, Chiba and the others were finally officially recognized by Jiraiya and taken on as his disciples.

Although Jiraiya claimed he was merely teaching them some skills for self-preservation, everyone knew that he had actually changed his mind for Nagato's sake.

However, that was of little importance; regardless, the ninjutsu training for Chiba and the others was finally about to begin in earnest.

"First, I will explain the general principles of chakra and some points that require special attention. You must commit these to memory."

"Next will be the methods of condensing chakra and the specific operations involved."

"Following that, we will cover knowledge regarding chakra and elemental affinities. You might not find much use for these in the early stages, but if you wish to go further on the path of the ninja, you must firmly remember these lessons."

There was no need for Jiraiya to remind them; Chiba and the others were recording this knowledge with extreme seriousness, not daring to show the slightest bit of slack.

The kind of lax, sheep-herding behavior seen in Naruto and his peers—sleeping through class and skipping lessons—was simply impossible for Chiba and his group.

To put it bluntly, they had gambled their lives to earn this opportunity to learn ninjutsu, so they cherished this rare chance more than anyone else.

It took a total of three days for Jiraiya to finally teach them the majority of the foundational knowledge and basics they needed to know in advance.

"That concludes the basic theory for now. I will teach you the rest as we progress through our future training. Now, it is time to begin the real practice."

With that, Jiraiya had them assume a meditative posture.

According to Jiraiya, this position was conducive to focusing their minds and improving the effectiveness of their cultivation.

The four children quickly and earnestly performed the movements Jiraiya requested.

Once seated, Chiba and the others were all visibly excited.

Because they were finally about to truly touch upon chakra and become ninjas.

Immediately after, Jiraiya condensed several portions of chakra and attached them to the palms of Chiba and the others, beginning his explanation.

"Generally speaking, to cultivate chakra, certain foundational conditions are required, such as physical strength and mental focus. Fortunately, your foundations in these areas are quite decent. Now, I will explain the steps in detail once more."

As Jiraiya spoke, Chiba and the others focused their minds on the warm mass of chakra in their hands.

It must be said that the difference between having a teacher and not having one is truly vast.

It is like someone who has never seen a tiger; no matter how others describe its color or its gaping maw, it is likely difficult for them to imagine what a tiger actually looks like.

But once someone places a photograph of a tiger before them, they know exactly what a tiger looks like without another word.

The situation before them followed much the same logic.

Before coming into contact with chakra, no matter how they imagined it—even though Chiba knew chakra was a mixture of physical and mental energy—it would have been impossible for him to know how to generate it.

But now, with a ready-made template provided by Jiraiya, everything became much clearer.

Before long, Chiba and the others began to extract chakra one after another.

Nagato was undoubtedly the fastest; possessing the Rinnegan, he was likely no stranger to this energy, and it was even possible that chakra had already been generating within his body on its own.

As such, it took him less than five minutes to extract chakra.

The second fastest was Konan, who took significantly longer, a full hour.

Next was Chiba, who took about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Finally, to Chiba's surprise, Yahiko was actually quite slow, taking over an hour and a half.

The group did not understand what their results signified, but Jiraiya, standing right beside them, could not help but feel surprised.

Jiraiya was not surprised that Nagato could master chakra so quickly; after all, judging by how he had killed that ninja earlier, Nagato should have already mastered some applications of chakra.

What truly surprised Jiraiya was the speed at which Konan and the others extracted chakra.

"I never expected you all to be geniuses."

With that, Jiraiya explained in detail.

"Considering your age and physical fitness, generally speaking, anyone who succeeds in condensing chakra for the first time within three hours can basically be called a genius. At the very least, you have a certain advantage in Yin Release—that is, in the strength and control of your mental attributes. Your performance was excellent, especially Konan's; she was truly outstanding."

Hearing Jiraiya say this, Konan could not help but blush with excitement.

Chiba could not help but glance at Konan. He could roughly guess why his own mental attributes were strong—after all, he possessed a dual soul—but for Konan to surpass him in this regard was quite surprising.

As for Yahiko on the other side, he was actually not weak either; if not for his own special circumstances, Chiba reckoned he would have struggled to keep up with their pace.

Seeing Yahiko looking dejected because he had finished last, Jiraiya laughed heartily.

"Don't be too discouraged yet. Yahiko, you actually have your own advantages, namely your strong physical constitution. This will bring you many benefits as well, and in combat, it will likely be even more intuitive than mental strength."

Hearing this, Chiba could not help but pose a question: "Teacher Jiraiya, how long did it take you to extract chakra back then?"

"Ahem." Jiraiya looked at Chiba with slight embarrassment and quickly changed the subject.

"How could I possibly remember something from so long ago? Let's drop that subject. The next test I'm about to conduct is generally far more critical to a ninja's future, as it directly impacts their combat effectiveness."

As he spoke, Jiraiya produced a few pieces of paper that looked entirely unremarkable.

While Konan and the others watched these papers with curiosity, Chiba already knew what they were.

This must be the Chakra Test Paper. What kind of affinity will I have?

Chiba stared at the test paper before him, his mind racing with guesses about his own nature, and for a moment, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.