Special Talent

Chiba Etsu, who had been in despair, perked up again when he heard Jiraiya's words.

"Jiraiya-sensei, when you say I got it wrong, do you mean..."

As he spoke, eager anticipation shone in Chiba Etsu's eyes.

Could he have some special talent he didn't know about?

Jiraiya frowned and picked up a fragment of the broken Chakra Test Paper.

"Look here. Do you see anything?"

Chiba Etsu looked closely and immediately noticed something new.

"This is..."

In one corner of the fragment was a faint damp spot.

Could I have a water affinity too?

Chiba Etsu couldn't help showing delight.

Before, even if he'd suddenly gained three affinities, he wouldn't have been this thrilled.

But after the despair of having only one affinity, he suddenly felt that having two was already pretty good—at least much better than having just one.

Jiraiya heard Chiba Etsu's question and gently shook his head.

"You can't quite put it that way. Your situation... well, it's a little unusual."

"What's unusual about it?"

"Generally speaking, even among people with the same elemental affinity, some are more talented than others. But there's usually a limit to how weak an affinity can be. I've never seen one as weak as yours—so weak that the Chakra Test Paper can barely detect it."

Jiraiya frowned again.

"Hmm, judging by how it manifests, it hardly seems like an affinity you were born with. It's more like the tiny bit of affinity some ninja acquire later in life by practicing ninjutsu extensively, or through some other coincidence."

Chiba Etsu was momentarily speechless. He'd more or less guessed where this tiny bit of extra talent had come from. Most likely, before he arrived, this body had only had an earth affinity.

"So... it's useless, right?"

Jiraiya nodded. "That's right. An affinity this weak would be practically useless in battle. It can't give your ninjutsu any meaningful boost."

Just as Chiba Etsu was falling into despair again, Jiraiya shook his head once more.

"Of course, I wouldn't say it's completely useless. In some ways, it's still very helpful."

"Oh? How?"

"Well, the details are a little complicated. I'd better start by explaining how most ninjutsu specialists improve their strength."

Chiba Etsu looked at Jiraiya in confusion, wondering what this had to do with elemental affinities.

Jiraiya gathered his thoughts before continuing. "First, you need to understand that most ninja in the entire Ninja World have only one elemental affinity. But does that mean they can't become powerful? Not necessarily."

"Generally speaking, a ninjutsu specialist with one affinity has two ways to become an elite jonin. One is to keep improving the quality of their chakra while developing deeper applications of their element, thereby increasing the power of their techniques."

"The other is to work hard and develop a second affinity."

At that, Chiba Etsu suddenly remembered something.

He recalled that Yamato had later told Naruto the same thing: for an ordinary ninja with one affinity to become an elite jonin, he needed to develop a second one.

"Simply put, you can think of talent as your body's compatibility with a given element. It isn't set in stone."

In truth, talent and elemental affinities were both very complicated subjects. Jiraiya had put it this way to help Chiba Etsu understand as quickly as possible.

"Even if you don't have an affinity to begin with, you can still gradually alter your body by repeatedly using a certain type of ninjutsu over a long period, eventually achieving results comparable to having a natural affinity."

"So I can gradually develop this ability myself?"

"Exactly. Judging by how it manifests, that tiny bit of affinity you have is pitifully weak. But however you look at it, you've still gone from having none to having some. Don't underestimate that. Compared to other ninja who train to reach this point, you've saved yourself at least several years of hard work."

"Put simply, if it would have taken you ten years to develop a second affinity to a sufficient level, now it might only take seven."

All right, Chiba Etsu finally understood what this bizarre talent of his amounted to.

Put simply, he was the toughest of the weaklings, and the weakest of the tough ones.

Compared with other ninja who had only one affinity, he was undoubtedly a step ahead, having already begun developing a second one. But compared with ninja who had two or even three affinities, he was nothing.

He needed at least seven years to develop his second affinity, while ninja with multiple affinities would have already developed new abilities in that time.

Starting behind meant falling further behind. A gap this wide wouldn't be easy to close.

The more Chiba Etsu thought about it, the bleaker his future seemed.

Without comparison, there was no pain. If he were surrounded by ordinary ninja, perhaps he could still find some reason to feel superior. But the people around him were clearly all geniuses.

At the thought of Yahiko and the others leaving him far behind one day, Chiba Etsu couldn't help feeling down.

No, he couldn't just sit around and wait for it to happen.

Chiba Etsu soon calmed down and reassessed his role.

If this path won't work, maybe I can...