Progress

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a full year and a half had passed since Jiraiya took the group as his students.

In this recent year, with the help of Nagato, Chiba, Yahiko, and Konan had all made tremendous progress.

With the help of Nagato's inexhaustible supply of chakra, everyone's development of their own abilities had been greatly enhanced.

The power of Yahiko's Water Style had begun to show its ferocity, and his Wind Style had also been developed quite well. After learning a few C-rank ninjutsu of the wind and water attributes, Yahiko had begun to develop combined ninjutsu of dual attributes under Jiraiya's guidance.

The power of Konan's Wind and Earth Style ninjutsu had also increased, and she had begun to attempt the development of a third attribute, water. Moreover, due to her outstanding mental energy and control, the few C-rank genjutsu Jiraiya taught her had also become quite powerful.

Of course, the one with the most significant transformation had to be Chiba.

With the help of Nagato's near-infinite chakra, Chiba had caught up to his teammates. Not only had his Earth Style ability been greatly enhanced, but he had also developed decent Water Style abilities, and he could now barely be considered a dual-attribute ninja.

Although none of them could compare to the cheat-like growth of Nagato, who had developed all five attributes to a high level of attainment with almost no training, as well as various unique secret techniques of his own, they had all made significant progress.

Combining their progress in taijutsu, other ninja tools, and chakra, according to Jiraiya, they had initially possessed the strength of ordinary chunin, especially Nagato, who already possessed the strength of an elite chunin.

Regarding this, Jiraiya constantly praised them as geniuses.

One must know that in the entire Ninja World, those who grew into chunin at their age of eight or nine were few and far between.

Especially considering they had only been exposed to ninjutsu for a year and a half, having to build a foundation while catching up on taijutsu and other abilities that had been underdeveloped due to a lack of prior training, it was undoubtedly very rare.

Although it was not unheard of to have jonin under the age of five or six in the Ninja World, their situations could not be completely compared to these children. Such children usually started coming into contact with ninjutsu at the age of two or three, having practiced for at least three years, and they usually possessed their own family's bloodline limits and secret techniques, which could not be calculated by common sense.

It could only be said that even Chiba, who had the most average aptitude, was actually far superior to ordinary people in terms of talent. Coupled with the small boost provided by Nagato to accelerate their training, they were able to achieve such excellent results.

Seeing that the initial development of the dual attributes was complete, Chiba was not satisfied and began to think about how to develop a third attribute.

For the choice of the third attribute, Chiba basically had no suspense.

Fighting in the Land of Rain, choosing fire was impossible, so besides wind, there was lightning. Considering the amplification of the water attribute and several future possibilities, Chiba chose the wind attribute without hesitation.

"Wind attribute? A good choice."

Looking at Chiba, who had come to seek his advice, Jiraiya nodded slowly.

"If it were someone else, I wouldn't suggest they develop a third attribute too early. Instead of spending a lot of time, it would be better to specialize in dual attributes to improve their taijutsu and chakra levels, but your situation is clearly a bit special."

"Using Nagato's ability is indeed quite convenient. If nothing goes wrong, your wind attribute will be able to achieve something in another three years."

"Three years? Does it really take that long?"

"Long?"

Hearing Chiba's words, Jiraiya couldn't help but feel a bit speechless.

"This time is actually considered very short. You have to know that the further you go in developing body attributes, the harder it gets. Take an ordinary single-attribute ninja, for example; developing a second attribute often takes ten years, and developing a third attribute might take twenty years. A fourth attribute might be even harder, as the more attributes there are, the harder it is for the body to change."

"Is it really like that?"

"Yes, in fact, I have also been slowly developing a fourth attribute, but the results are not very obvious, and the progress is very slow."

"A fourth attribute..."

Thinking that Jiraiya seemed to only have four attributes even after decades, Chiba suddenly felt that his idea of wanting to develop five attributes had fallen through.

It was clear that Jiraiya was not lacking in chakra, but even he was developing so slowly. Although there might be a reason that Jiraiya's energy was not focused on this, if he wanted to develop a fourth or fifth attribute, even with the help of Nagato's power, it probably wouldn't be much faster.

Looking at Chiba's thoughtful expression, Jiraiya said seriously, "Although in the future, with the help of Nagato's chakra, you might find the fourth attribute much easier than the average person after you finish developing the third, I still suggest you put more energy into your existing attributes. Compared to the gains of a fourth attribute, your investment is not proportional."

Chiba nodded gently. Even without Jiraiya saying it, he could think of this point.

Instead of spending so much time developing more attributes, it would be better to put his energy into his existing ones. Although the amplification effect of the fourth or fifth attribute was very tempting, he didn't seem to have decades to waste.

Compared to that, the effect of developing his existing attributes was undoubtedly more valuable.

Therefore, his training plan would undoubtedly have to be modified. The wind attribute could actually be developed slowly; as long as it could have a certain auxiliary effect, it would be enough.

The key was still the development of the earth attribute, which was most suitable for him, and the learning of techniques.

However... it seemed he had no powerful techniques to learn.

Did he have to create his own ninjutsu?

Hmm... come to think of it, it didn't seem impossible.

Thinking of this, several ideas suddenly appeared in Chiba's mind. Maybe I can...