Having just learned the Three Divine Techniques, Keiyun barely paid attention in the classes that followed. Not only was he absent-minded during lessons, but the moment the dismissal bell rang, he vanished without a trace.
Umino Iruka saw it all clearly from the front of the classroom and could not help shaking his head. His evaluation of Kamiya Keiyun had begun to decline.
What did talent matter? Without hard work, he would never achieve much in the future!
Although they were not teaching much yet, it was enough to reveal a person's nature. He had seen plenty of children like Kamiya Keiyun—talented, but impatient and unwilling to study.
It was a pity, but Umino Iruka had no intention of intervening. After all, Ninja Academy teachers did not feel responsible for ensuring that every student succeeded.
At the Kamiya Family home, Keiyun had just called out, "I'm back."
Then he heard Kamiya Sanyō roaring, "Nature then shifts! Nature then shifts! Why can't you remember these three words?!"
"Nature then what?"
"Shifts! Shifts!"
"Nature what shifts?!"
Bang!
Keiyun looked up and saw his sister Sanyō storming downstairs. The moment she spotted Kamiya Keiyun, it was as though she had seen her savior. "Little brother, you're finally back! That cat is unbelievably stupid! I can't teach her at all!"
"How is that possible?" Kamiya Keiyun froze. When he had talked with the cat yesterday, she had seemed quite smart!
"If you don't believe me, try it yourself!" Sanyō said irritably. "I taught her the Three Character Classic all day today, and she still couldn't even finish the first line!"
"Really?" Kamiya Keiyun looked up and saw the little kitten appear on the stairs. She stretched lazily, then leaped down.
Keiyun hurriedly reached out and caught her.
"Ruri, can you really not learn it?" Kamiya Keiyun asked.
"Learn what?"
"At the beginning of life, human nature is good. Natures are similar, habits grow apart?" Kamiya Keiyun recited.
"At the beginning of life, human nature is good. Natures are similar, habits grow apart!" Ruri repeated.
"If not taught, nature then shifts. The way to teach is to value dedication!" Kamiya Keiyun recited again.
"If not taught, nature then shifts. The way to teach is to value dedication!" Ruri continued repeating.
Kamiya Keiyun turned to look at Sanyō and found her staring wide-eyed at Ruri with a wronged expression. "Ruri, do you have something against me? Why can't you recite it when I teach you, but you have no problem when he does?"
"I think Ruri is like a little child. You need to be patient when teaching her. At her age, she'll definitely learn new things slowly!" Kamiya Keiyun said carefully.
"Am I not patient enough?" Sanyō snapped. "I've been reciting those two lines for nearly the entire day!"
"How about you try again?" Kamiya Keiyun handed Ruri to Sanyō.
"Mm!" Sanyō looked a little aggrieved, but she still accepted Ruri.
"Teach her properly. Later, I'll teach both of you three ninja techniques—real ninja techniques!" Kamiya Keiyun tried using encouragement.
"Hmph!" Sanyō carried Ruri upstairs with quick steps, saying as she walked, "Ruri, pay attention! Learn as quickly as you just did!"
"Hah." Kamiya Keiyun shrugged. Was it difficult?
It did not seem difficult at all!
Arriving in the backyard, he began studying the Three Body Technique.
He was not trying to become more proficient with it, but rather to investigate the principles behind the three techniques.
Modern science had long proven that focusing only on application while neglecting theory was the wrong path.
Even if someone rose quickly through practical applications, they would have to painstakingly make up for their shortcomings later and repay what they owed.
Kamiya Keiyun had always believed in knowing not only how something worked, but why it worked. Though for now, that remained only a goal.
First was the Clone Technique.
He formed Hand Seals and sensed the flow of Chakra inside his body, but unfortunately, the changes happened far too quickly.
He felt the Chakra in his body rapidly circulate the instant he finished the seals, then return to its original position.
The entire process was incredibly fast, perhaps only one or two seconds. Before Kamiya Keiyun could even sense it clearly, an illusionary image of himself appeared beside him.
If he had not felt a slight drain of Chakra, he would have thought it was an illusion!
"Mm, slowly, one step at a time!" Kamiya Keiyun slowed down his Hand Seals.
The Clone Technique had three seals in total. After forming the first one, he felt the Chakra in his abdomen begin moving toward his legs.
With the second seal, Chakra spread from his feet into the surrounding area, forming a sensory range roughly five meters in radius.
Then Kamiya Keiyun could guide it, causing it to gather in a chosen direction.
The third seal—shaping!
The entire process had to be completed within two seconds. If it exceeded two seconds, the Chakra risked going out of control. If the Chakra was still inside his body, it would retract into his abdomen. If it was outside, it would dissipate into nature.
"So that's how it is. Chakra is released from the feet onto the ground, then shaped into an illusory human figure." Kamiya Keiyun nodded, but instead of diminishing, the doubts in his heart only multiplied.
First, why could Hand Seals control Chakra and make it perform these actions, while his own mind could not?
Second, when he practiced the Clone Technique under Kakashi's guidance, the clone had automatically appeared beside him, yet he had clearly not specified where it should appear.
But during his second and third attempts, he discovered that he really could control where the clones appeared. There could even be more than one. As long as he had enough Chakra, he could create three clones at once anywhere within a five-meter range.
So if the clones' positions required mental control, why had his first successful Clone Technique worked?
Third, it was not strange that Chakra could take human form. He could shape it into human forms inside his body, and the external environment was far larger than his body. The amount of Chakra he needed to control was also less, making it countless times easier than his Bright Virtue Method.
But how did the colors on the clones' bodies form?
How could Chakra possess color? Shouldn't it be pale blue? How could it display every shade of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet found on a person?
As everyone knew, color appeared because matter reflected sunlight. So could Chakra reflect sunlight as well?
Could consciousness even control the colors Chakra reflected, making it reflect whatever light one wanted?
If it was controlled by consciousness, then a person's body contained so many colors. Such an enormous amount of calculation would require a supercomputer even in the modern age, yet ninja calculated it with their minds and did not even get a headache.
Was that reasonable?
Kamiya Keiyun pondered and experimented for another long while. Apart from gaining a deeper understanding of the Clone Technique and becoming proficient in using it, he made no further progress.
"Internal force and true qi are absolutely incomparable to Chakra. This kind of energy seems to possess an extremely high energy level and degree of mystery!" Kamiya Keiyun silently noted down these questions.
He did not yet have the ability to solve these mysteries. He could only research them slowly in the future.
"Tsk, if only I had an electron microscope."
After sighing twice, Kamiya Keiyun continued his research. Next came the Transformation Technique and the Substitution Technique!
Before you continue