Progress

Time flew by. Before they knew it, a year and a half had passed since Jiraiya had taken them on as his students.

Over the past year, with Nagato's help, Chiba, Yahiko, and Konan had all made tremendous progress.

With Nagato's seemingly inexhaustible chakra to draw on, everyone had greatly improved their ability to develop their own techniques.

Yahiko's Water Style had begun to show its fearsome potential, and he had made excellent progress with Wind Style as well. After learning several C-rank Water and Wind Style techniques, he had begun developing combination techniques that used both elements under Jiraiya's guidance.

Konan's Wind and Earth Style techniques had grown more powerful, and she had started exploring a third element: Water. Thanks to her exceptional mental strength and control, the C-rank genjutsu Jiraiya had taught her were already quite potent.

Of course, Chiba had changed the most.

With Nagato's almost limitless chakra, Chiba had caught up with his teammates. His Earth Style had improved tremendously, and he had also developed a respectable aptitude for Water Style. He could now just about be considered a two-element shinobi.

None of them could match Nagato's almost absurd rate of growth. He had barely trained in the five elements, yet had already developed them to an extremely high level, along with various unique little techniques of his own. Even so, all of them had made substantial progress.

Taking into account their gains in Taijutsu and their skill with other ninja tools and chakra, Jiraiya said they had reached the level of ordinary Chunin. Nagato, in particular, had already attained the strength of an elite Chunin.

Jiraiya never stopped praising them as geniuses.

After all, in the entire Ninja World, people who became Chunin at eight or nine were exceptionally rare.

And they had only been learning ninjutsu for a year and a half. They had to build a foundation while also making up for lost ground in Taijutsu and other areas they had neglected before they began training. Their progress was remarkable.

There had been shinobi who became Jonin before the age of six, but their circumstances couldn't be compared with these children's. Those prodigies usually started learning ninjutsu at two or three and had trained for at least three years. Most also possessed a clan's bloodline limit or secret techniques, so their growth couldn't be measured by ordinary standards.

The truth was, even Chiba, who seemed the least gifted, was far more talented than an ordinary person. And with Nagato's little boost speeding up their training, they had managed to achieve such impressive results.

With his two elements more or less developed, Chiba started looking into a third. He was already reaching for more.

He had little doubt which element to choose.

They were fighting in the Land of Rain, so Fire was out of the question. That left Wind or Lightning. Considering the boost it would give his Water Style, as well as certain possibilities in the future, Chiba chose Wind without hesitation.

"Wind Style? A good choice."

Jiraiya slowly nodded as Chiba came to him for advice.

"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't recommend developing a third element so early. They'd be better off specializing in two elements and improving their Taijutsu and chakra control rather than spending so much time on another one. But your circumstances are clearly unusual."

"With Nagato's help, it's certainly more convenient. If nothing unexpected happens, you should make decent progress with Wind Style in about three years."

"Three years? It takes that long?"

"Long?"

Jiraiya couldn't help looking a little exasperated at Chiba's question.

"That's actually a short time. The more elements you develop, the harder it gets. For an ordinary one-element shinobi, developing a second element often takes ten years, and a third might take twenty. A fourth could take even longer. The more elements you have, the harder it is to change your body."

"So that's how it works?"

"Yeah. I've been slowly working on a fourth element myself, but I haven't had much to show for it. My progress has been incredibly slow."

At the mention of a fourth element, Chiba remembered that even decades later, Jiraiya seemed to have mastered only four. His hopes of developing all five elements suddenly seemed to fall apart.

Jiraiya clearly wasn't short on chakra, yet his progress was so slow. It was true that he probably hadn't devoted much of his energy to the task, but even with Nagato's help, Chiba likely wouldn't be able to develop a fourth or fifth element much faster.

Seeing Chiba's thoughtful expression, Jiraiya said seriously, "Even if Nagato's chakra makes developing a fourth element easier for you after you've mastered the third, I'd still advise you to spend more time improving the elements you already have. The benefits of a fourth element wouldn't justify the time you'd have to put in."

Chiba nodded. He could see that for himself, even without Jiraiya's advice.

Instead of spending so much time developing more elements, he'd be better off focusing on the ones he already had. The boost from a fourth or fifth element was certainly tempting, but he didn't have decades to waste.

Improving the elements he already knew would be far more worthwhile.

That meant he'd have to make some changes to his training plan. He could take his time with Wind Style; as long as it offered some support, that would be enough.

What mattered most was developing the properties of Earth Style to suit him and learning new techniques.

But... it seemed he didn't have any powerful techniques to learn.

Was he going to have to invent his own ninjutsu?

Well... now that he thought about it, maybe that wasn't impossible.

At that thought, a few ideas suddenly surfaced in Chiba's mind. Maybe I could...