Ginseng

September 9, Konoha Year 42.

After the Second Great Ninja War, the ninja world had entered a state of overall peace punctuated by local conflicts.

But that had nothing to do with Kamiya Keiyun. He was still running!

The more he used this sideways explosive, ground-hugging flight method, the more proficient he became. Its efficiency rose, and his speed steadily increased.

"Eh, there's a bend ahead..." Kamiya Keiyun looked forward. The Land of Fire had many hills. Small hills only one or two hundred meters tall were everywhere, and most were covered in trees. If he did not detour around them, he could not maintain this high speed.

"But isn't this the perfect chance to practice dodging? I can treat those oncoming trees like fists being thrown at me. Damn it!"

He was still thinking when he slammed into an oncoming tree.

Had he not hurriedly turned his back and taken the impact with it, his nose would have suffered.

"Fuck, that hurt!" Kamiya Keiyun clutched his chest. Chakra protected his back, so it did not hurt much, but his heart had probably stopped for a second or two from the violent collision.

"No, my method is wrong!" Kamiya Keiyun slowly sat down and considered the problem with his dodging just now.

He had thought that to dodge, he simply needed to adjust the force his feet exerted against the ground.

But in reality, his inertia was too strong, and his angle adjustments were too slow. Though he changed direction, he still crashed into the tree because he was moving too fast.

The idea was right, but it was not enough!

After pondering it, Kamiya Keiyun felt that he could not merely adjust his feet. He could also use the wind rushing toward him.

Since he was flying close to the ground, he could not think of himself as a person. He had to think of himself as a bird, or an airplane!

How did airplanes adjust their flight posture and evade shells?

First, with flexible tail fins—his feet.

Second, with wings that could alter their angle.

Kamiya Keiyun had no wings, but he had arms and shoulders. He could likewise use the wind to change direction!

After summing it up, Kamiya Keiyun stood and tried again.

This was actually difficult. Which ace pilot had not gone through hundreds of hours of flight training before fully mastering an airplane?

But it was not that difficult either. After all, a bird only needed a few days, or even a few hours, to learn how to fly.

Besides, Kamiya Keiyun had [Heaven Rewards Diligence]. This talent rapidly increased his skill proficiency, greatly shortening the time he needed to learn a skill!

Thus, during the first half hour, he was still stumbling along. During the next half hour, he could easily adjust his posture and use the wind to dodge the trees rushing toward him.

By the third hour, with the combined adjustments of his feet and body posture, no tree could stop him!

Even against something like a sudden obstacle appearing from nowhere, Kamiya Keiyun could react in the nick of time and dodge instantly!

Buzz!

Kamiya Keiyun came to an instant stop like a gust of hurricane wind.

The Chakra in his body was already depleted. He looked somewhat weak, and his head had begun to ache.

His legs were also sore and numb from running nonstop.

Yet Kamiya Keiyun was incredibly excited. This movement technique, designed for long-distance travel and skilled at evasion, was nearly perfected!

"Based on the theories I currently understand, this method is already the fastest way to use energy like Chakra!" After all, even rockets relied on reaction force. So did he.

"Even if it improves in the future, it will only improve in efficiency and quantity. The method itself will not fundamentally change!"

Therefore, this could already be considered a mature technique. It could be named.

Kamiya Keiyun summarized the characteristics of this movement technique. First, it was naturally fast. Second, it used wind resistance. Third, it was extremely agile. It could evade not only attacks coming from the front, but also surprise attacks from behind.

It would leave enemies able to touch only his shadow!

This move could be called Catching Wind and Shadow!

Wind God Leg, First Move: Catching Wind and Shadow, mastered!

Kamiya Keiyun returned to the meditation space and updated the new information.

Sun Keiyun (5 years old)

1. Chakra Refining Technique: Mastered

2. Hand Seals: Mastered

3. Bright Virtue Qi Cultivation Technique: Qi Cultivation Second Layer

4. Wind God Leg: Proficient

4.0. Basic Leg Techniques: Mastered

4.1. Catching Wind and Shadow: Mastered

5. Cooking Gold, Serving Jade: Proficient

6. Listen to Sound, Perceive Reason: Proficient

7. Pure Tranquil White Lotus Sutra: Passive, no rank.

8. Clone Technique: Mastered

9. Transformation Technique: Mastered

10. Substitution Technique: Mastered

11. Shadow Clone Technique: Mastered

12. Mud to Stone: Mastered

"Damn, looking at it this way, I've grown quite a lot recently!" Kamiya Keiyun was very satisfied. Just a few days ago, he had been completely penniless and had nothing!

Was this the power of a World Secret Treasure? He loved it!

He would get another one when he turned ten. He wondered what he would obtain that time.

Sitting down, Kamiya Keiyun ate something, then checked the sky and corrected his direction.

Chakra needed time to recover, so naturally he could not keep running. He could only walk slowly.

When he spotted another small branch along the road—quite straight and only thumb-thick—he simply cut it off with the dagger he carried, peeled away the bark, and eventually made a staff 1.2 meters long.

With two light swings, it whistled through the air!

Kamiya Keiyun tried channeling some of the little Chakra he had just recovered into the staff. He had discovered while learning the Substitution Technique that wood had great affinity with Chakra.

After Chakra was infused into the wooden staff, it was as though it had been coated in Armament Haki. Its hardness soared and its power increased greatly. When smashed down hard, it could even crack stones!

Its practical combat value might not be great, but it should be enough for self-defense or fighting wild beasts.

"Hm?" Kamiya Keiyun suddenly spotted something. He quickly moved closer and pushed aside the tangled bushes.

Beneath the bushes was a patch of plants he recognized very well.

Their leaves were oval, with five leaves—three large and two small—arranged around the stem into a distinctive five-pointed star.

"Is this... ginseng?" Kamiya Keiyun hurriedly brushed away the dirt and carefully pulled one out.

The plant's main root was spindle-shaped, with many fine tendrils growing below it. It looked very similar to the pictures Kamiya Keiyun had seen online!

The only difference was that the ginseng online was generally dried, while the one in his hand had just been unearthed and was still moist and fresh.

"It really is ginseng!" Kamiya Keiyun was somewhat shocked. The issue was not that he had found ginseng, but that this ginseng was so huge. It was thicker and longer than his forearm!

It had to be over a hundred years old, right?

He took out his map and checked it again. That was right. Although this was a mountainous region, there were villages all around the mountains. The population was sparse, but there were still several thousand households.

So this was not some uninhabited wilderness. Perhaps no one farmed in the mountains, but hunters would certainly pass through.

And this patch of ginseng was not even hidden. How had no one dug it up?

Kamiya Keiyun suddenly had a guess.

Did the people here not know what ginseng was useful for?

Was that possible?

Of course it was possible. Even in the modern era, when modern medicine had proven ginseng's effects, Westerners and most Asians still did not use ginseng. Ginseng's main customers were Huaxia people and overseas Chinese.

Even in Korea, which was famous for ginseng, domestic sales of their ginseng were not high. Most of it was sold to Huaxia.

The most frustrating part was that their ginseng was also bought from Huaxia. They merely put a Korean label on it, and its price could rise severalfold or even dozens of times.

"Still, it's also possible that ginseng truly has no use in the ninja world!" Kamiya Keiyun considered it, then carried the ginseng back. He had passed a small river just now!

He washed the ginseng in the river, then Kamiya Keiyun plucked off several tendrils and ate them directly.

Whether it worked or not, he would know after taking a bite.

After eating the ginseng tendrils, Kamiya Keiyun found a clean place to sit and quietly waited for the medicinal effect to kick in.

Before long, he felt a change!

The speed at which his Chakra recovered began increasing rapidly. If he had originally recovered one point every eight minutes, he was now recovering one point every two minutes—four times the original efficiency!

"It works!" Kamiya Keiyun was ecstatic. Ginseng had not become useless in this world. On the contrary, because people knew so little about it, most ginseng had grown for extremely long periods, making its effects exceptionally potent!

Ginseng's primary effects were replenishing vitality, calming the mind, and enhancing intelligence—in other words, providing a double boost to physical energy and mental energy! And physical energy and mental energy could combine to form Chakra!

That meant that as long as he had a sufficient supply of ginseng, Kamiya Keiyun could possess an endless supply of Chakra!

And with endless Chakra, Kamiya Keiyun could practice the Bright Virtue Qi Cultivation Technique for longer. He could also boldly train Cooking Gold, Serving Jade without worrying about the amount of Chakra he had!

He could even create more Shadow Clones to help him do more things!

Japan did not produce ginseng. Ginseng originated in the northeastern region, namely China, Korea, and Russia, so only people from those places had the habit of eating ginseng.

Japanese people did not have a habit of eating ginseng.

Japan had the term "ginseng," but Japanese ginseng generally referred to carrots.

This was based on reality.