Yang Release

Ito Makoto did not waste his evenings; he had reached an agreement with his mother to dedicate that time to studying medical ninjutsu.

As for why he wanted to learn medical ninjutsu, it was because this was the only way for Ito Makoto to gain direct access to Yin-Yang Release.

Yin-Yang Release was far less common than the five elemental releases of Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Lightning. Certain specialized Yin Release and Yang Release techniques were treated as secret arts, permitted only for clan members to inherit. Examples included the shadow techniques of the Nara Clan and the Akimichi Clan's Multi-Size Technique.

In the ninja world, the only Yin and Yang Release techniques that could be easily learned were genjutsu and medical ninjutsu.

For Ito Makoto, who harbored ambitions of mastering Yin-Yang Release, medical ninjutsu was the simplest path toward eventually grasping Yang Release. Furthermore, his mother, Mika, was a medical ninja who had already mastered these techniques, so there was no need for him to seek help from anyone else.

Mika did not refuse her son's request. Although she was already exhausted from working at the hospital all day, she braced herself for the sake of her child and began teaching Ito Makoto medical ninjutsu.

"Xiao Cheng, the entry point for any medical ninja is learning the fundamentals of human anatomy." Mika placed a half-dead fish on the table.

"However, I am well aware that you don't want to learn medical ninjutsu to become a medical ninja; you simply want to use it as a means to treat wounds. Therefore, those biological studies aren't urgent."

"Let's start directly with the medical ninjutsu itself."

Ito Makoto nodded to show he understood.

"Medical ninjutsu training always begins with healing a fish." As she spoke, Mika placed her hand on the fish's body, and a green glow of chakra illuminated the room.

Wearing his sunglasses, Ito Makoto secretly activated his Sharingan.

In just thirty seconds, the once half-dead fish began to swim and jump about with vigor.

Mika returned the fish to a basin filled with water.

"This is the foundational technique of medical ninjutsu—the Mystical Palm Technique. Although it is only a C-rank technique, it can handle common wounds, making it suitable for a beginner like you."

Immediately, Mika began to explain the chakra circulation path and the hand seals for the Mystical Palm Technique. Ito Makoto committed every detail to memory, verifying them against the changes he observed with his Sharingan.

"How is it? Did you memorize it?" After explaining the usage of the basic medical ninjutsu, Mika asked.

"I have the process down," Ito Makoto replied.

"Then give it a try yourself."

Mika took the previously healed fish out of the basin once more.

Thwack—thwack—

With two heavy strikes of a stick, the fish was left half-dead again.

Ito Makoto's mouth twitched as he looked at the fish, then at his mother, who remained completely unfazed.

His mother was truly not someone a young, inexperienced person like him could compare to.

"Go ahead, give it a try."

Mika pushed the fish toward Ito Makoto.

Ito Makoto let out a heavy breath, placed his hands on the fish's body, and blue-white light began to emanate from his palms.

What is going on? Ito Makoto was deeply confused; the color of the light clearly wasn't right.

Seeing that Mika didn't stop him, he continued to cast the Mystical Palm Technique, attempting to heal the fish.

However, after half an hour, the fish died of suffocation without having moved a single time.

"What happened? I clearly performed the Mystical Palm Technique," Ito Makoto asked.

From the perspective of his Sharingan, his execution of the technique had been perfect. There was almost no difference between his performance and Mika's. His naturally superior chakra control made his level of completion comparable to his mother's.

"It's fine, this is a very normal phenomenon," Mika said with a smile. "You simply haven't mastered the nature transformation of Yang yet."

"Nature transformation of Yang?"

Mika began to explain what the nature transformation of Yang entailed.

According to her description, mastering the nature transformation of Yang was a prerequisite for entering the field of medical ninjutsu.

Chakra possesses seven attributes in total: Yin, Yang, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Lightning, corresponding to seven types of nature transformation.

Yin Release and Yang Release differ from the other five attributes; they do not require an innate elemental affinity. Because Yin Release represents spirit and Yang Release represents the body, everyone—barring a few special cases—possesses both spiritual and physical energy, meaning everyone is born with the potential for both Yin and Yang Release.

However, mastering the nature transformation of Yang is not simple.

For ordinary ninjutsu, such as the five elemental releases, one can perform them by learning the hand seals even without mastering nature transformation. For instance, when the Allied Shinobi Forces collectively performed the Earth Wall technique in the original history, they were able to execute it immediately just by learning the seals, though the power of the technique was slightly weaker.

As the technique is performed repeatedly, the chakra automatically adapts to the attribute and generates nature transformation. Once the nature transformation for the corresponding attribute is mastered, one can perform ninjutsu without seals, and the power of the technique increases significantly. For example, Fire Style becomes hotter and has a larger range.

However, this method is too time-consuming, and few ninjas adopt it nowadays.

Furthermore, there is another way to master the five nature transformations: through special training tricks that allow chakra to quickly adapt to an attribute, generating nature transformation in a short period, after which one can master the ninjutsu.

For example, when Naruto Uzumaki was learning Wind Style, he used the trick of making a leaf thinner and sharper to master the nature transformation of Wind within a few days, after which he was able to use Wind Style ninjutsu.

This method is much faster and consumes less time.

There is no inherent superiority between these two methods; the accumulation-based approach simply consumes more time and energy, while the trick-based approach allows for quick and simple learning.

As for Yang Release ninjutsu, there are no tricks. One must first learn simple medical ninjutsu and then practice continuously; as time passes, the chakra automatically undergoes nature transformation, eventually leading to the mastery of the nature transformation of Yang.

In this process, there are no shortcuts; it relies entirely on the accumulation of time.

Moreover, without mastering the nature transformation of Yang, the healing ability of chakra is very weak; often, even consuming a large amount of chakra is insufficient to heal a minor scrape.

Only after mastering the nature transformation of Yang does the healing capability of medical ninjutsu far exceed that of medical ninjutsu performed with ordinary chakra. Even deep injuries, such as those from slashes or surgical incisions, can be healed rapidly.

Of course, what one masters at the start is merely the primary level of Yang nature transformation. As training continues, the depth of this Yang nature transformation will grow increasingly profound, advancing step by step from primary to intermediate, and finally to advanced. Chakra imbued with advanced Yang nature transformation will allow for medical ninjutsu far more powerful than that produced by ordinary Yang nature transformation.

Once the Yin-Yang nature transformations are grasped, the degree of chakra nature transformation will deepen over time, and its power will gradually increase. It is a process of endless learning.

In contrast, once the five basic nature transformations are mastered, they are mastered; there is very little room for future improvement.

Ito Makoto understood this point quite well. In the original plot, while both were Yin-Yang Release techniques, the Yin Release of the Nara Clan could only be used to bind people, and the Yang Release of the Akimichi Clan could only be used to enlarge limbs to smash people. Yet, the Six Paths Level Yin-Yang Release could negate all ninjutsu and regenerate flesh at will. It is likely that the difference lies in the level of Yin-Yang nature transformation.

Although the process of learning Yang Release was quite time-consuming, fortunately, the results did not disappoint Ito Makoto.

After practicing medical ninjutsu for several days and healing a large number of fish, Ito Makoto logically mastered the primary Yang nature transformation, stepping through the gates of Yang Release.

This primary Yang nature transformation is both the proof of a medical genin and the entry point for Yang Release. In other words, Ito Makoto could now officially graduate as a medical genin.