Chiba had already planned to train hard under Jiraiya, learning several defensive techniques. But who could have guessed things would go awry with Jiraiya, too?
"I'm sorry, but I may not be able to teach you any particularly powerful techniques." Jiraiya's face was full of helplessness.
"Why?"
Chiba couldn't help feeling confused. Jiraiya didn't seem like the sort of person who would keep things to himself.
Jiraiya sighed. "To be honest, I know a lot of fairly powerful techniques. I have B-rank Water Style, Fire Style, Earth Style, and Wind Style techniques, and even a few A-rank ones. But I can't teach you any of them."
At that, Chiba suddenly realized something.
"I guess it's because of Konoha."
"That's right. The techniques I learned are considered Konoha's property. Without the village's permission, I can't teach them to outsiders. If anyone found out, I'd be branded a rogue ninja, and you would be relentlessly hunted down."
"It would be that serious?"
Chiba was taken aback at first, but he quickly understood. That made sense. No village would allow its techniques to leak out.
Every shinobi village took this sort of thing extremely seriously. If they discovered a leak, the consequences would probably be even worse than Jiraiya had described.
Besides, even if Konoha let it slide out of respect for Jiraiya's standing, Jiraiya's character meant he would never secretly leak its techniques.
So that meant Chiba's hopes of learning powerful techniques from Jiraiya had just been dashed?
Jiraiya looked rather helpless, too.
"That's not all. I can't even teach you some modified C-rank techniques that bear Konoha's signature, or techniques of my own invention that have already been recorded by Konoha."
"So all I can teach you now are some common C-rank and D-rank techniques from various villages that I've collected myself."
Chiba was even more speechless. No wonder Yahiko and the others could only use C-rank techniques after spending so long with Jiraiya. That might have made sense for the others, but Nagato had so much talent—how could that be right? He hadn't expected this to be the reason.
Chiba was completely devastated. If Jiraiya was telling the truth, what was he supposed to do now? He'd already lost his bloodline cheat, and now he couldn't even learn any decent techniques. He was weaker than weak.
Seeing Chiba, Yahiko, and the others looking so dejected, Jiraiya patted their shoulders and comforted them. "Even if I can't teach you powerful techniques, I can teach you the principles behind them and how to develop your own. With your talent, I'm sure you'll be able to create techniques powerful enough to suit you."
"Actually, studying and developing new techniques yourselves will also help you develop your elemental abilities and become truly strong in the future. Remember, techniques aren't the main thing that determines a fight. What matters most is how the ninja use them. In the hands of a strong ninja, even a C-rank technique can be formidable."
After hearing Jiraiya's words, Yahiko and Nagato nodded in agreement. They hadn't expected much to begin with.
But Chiba couldn't help feeling even more dejected. Jiraiya's words might have fooled the others, but they couldn't fool him.
A powerful technique was a powerful technique. Given the same amount of power, the one with the stronger technique would undoubtedly have the advantage.
And that supposed benefit of developing techniques themselves was just meant to console them. Did learning powerful techniques stop them from creating their own?
But no matter how frustrated Chiba felt, the fact remained: Jiraiya couldn't teach them any powerful techniques. That was settled.
All he could do was study Jiraiya's so-called theories about techniques and figure out how to develop some himself.
Still, a huge question surfaced in Chiba's mind.
When Yahiko and the others fought Hanzo in the future, surely they wouldn't still be using C-rank techniques? But if Jiraiya wouldn't teach them anything stronger, where would they get their techniques?
Could they really rely on techniques they'd developed themselves in battle? No matter how talented they were, developing techniques took time.
Chiba had a vague feeling that there was some secret he didn't know about.
Soon, after teaching Chiba and the others the principles behind various techniques and the meanings represented by the different hand seals, Jiraiya formally began teaching them techniques.
To train their abilities, Jiraiya didn't teach them the techniques outright. Instead, he had them work them out for themselves.
Three months passed in the blink of an eye. During those months, Jiraiya explained how different techniques worked, and through the combined effort of Chiba, Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, they finally worked out nearly all the basic E-rank techniques, such as the Three Body Technique.
Jiraiya praised them as geniuses over and over.
In truth, E-rank techniques weren't very complicated. Even so, it wasn't easy for a group of children who had never studied ninjutsu to work them out on their own.
The fact that they had made progress so quickly was proof enough of their talent.
Well, Chiba had probably benefited a lot from the others. It turned out he was only a little more sensitive to techniques than Yahiko. Nagato and Konan were the real driving forces behind figuring them out.
While learning these E-rank techniques, they also finally built up a sufficient amount of chakra under Jiraiya's guidance.
Once they had accomplished that, Jiraiya finally began the next stage of their training.
Based on each of their affinities, Jiraiya began teaching them their first genuine D-rank techniques.
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