Earth and Fire Melt

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. Last night, the orphanage finally saw a second child successfully condense chakra. His name was Horibe Ryuichi, an eleven or twelve-year-old boy with a precocious personality.

Over these fifteen days, Sato Hideaka also discovered his talent, which far exceeded that of ordinary people. He realized he could perfectly control every cell in his body, drawing energy from them at will. With mental power far beyond his peers, he could convert all of this energy into chakra.

However, others could not do this. The number of cells they could use to refine chakra was limited, and they lacked his perfect control to convert all that energy into chakra. In other words, following this pattern, if they trained for the same amount of time, Sato Hideaka would possess significantly more chakra.

If the chakra Horibe Ryuichi condensed in one session was a single drop of water, the chakra Sato Hideaka condensed in one session was a full bowl. The two were absolutely incomparable.

Most importantly, Sato Hideaka possessed not only perfect control over his body's cells but also absolute control over his chakra. This talent had been verified during his earlier practice of tree climbing, water walking, and vertical wall climbing.

As if it were an innate instinct, Sato Hideaka found these exercises completely effortless, unlike the struggles of Second Pillar, Uzumaki Naruto, or Sakura in the anime. He mastered these abilities after just a single attempt.

At the time, Yakushi Nonō was by his side, her expression one of utter shock and disbelief from start to finish. She looked at Sato Hideaka as if she were staring at a monster.

This kind of talent was simply monstrous.

On the lawn in the orphanage's backyard, Sato Hideaka was working hard on his push-ups: one, two, three, four, five... one hundred thirty-one, one hundred thirty-two.

Sweat beads rolled slowly down his already forming muscles. Sato Hideaka's gaze was fixed firmly ahead, his body rising and falling in a rhythmic, astonishing frequency. Every movement was swift and powerful, much like an aggressive hunting leopard.

Thanks to his perfect control over his cells and muscles, every repetition engaged his entire body. Each movement was equivalent to a full-body workout, and this efficiency had brought about a qualitative change in his strength, speed, and endurance in just fifteen days.

Of course, this high-intensity training also increased his appetite more than threefold.

Twelve-year-old Horibe Ryuichi sat nearby, watching Sato Hideaka's relentless training. A flash of envy crossed his eyes. Being precocious, he knew the gap between them, and he understood that as time passed, this gap would only continue to widen.

"Hideaka, Ryuichi, I was just looking for you two. I didn't expect you to be here..."

Yakushi Nonō had finally escaped the entanglement of the other children in the orphanage and arrived at the backyard where Horibe Ryuichi and Sato Hideaka were. She smiled at them both.

"Sister Nonō, is there something you need?" Sato Hideaka stopped his training, walked over to Yakushi Nonō with Horibe Ryuichi, and asked curiously.

"Hideaka, the amount of chakra you've condensed is enough to start learning ninjutsu, though you still need to work hard, Ryuichi. Here are the training scrolls for the Three Body Technique and the 'Basic Ninja Knowledge' scroll. Take them..."

Yakushi Nonō handed the four ninjutsu scrolls to the two boys. After they reached out to take them, she produced two slips of paper and said, "These are chakra test papers. Just channel your chakra into them, and you will know your chakra affinity. Then, I can help you find some suitable ninjutsu to practice."

Sato Hideaka nodded, took the legendary chakra test paper from Yakushi Nonō, and channeled his chakra into it. He then watched intently as the paper began to change.

The test paper split into three distinct areas: one caught fire, one wrinkled, and the third shattered instantly.

"It seems Hideaka has fire, lightning, and earth chakra affinities. That is quite an impressive talent!"

Yakushi Nonō smiled at Sato Hideaka, then handed another test paper to Horibe Ryuichi. She looked at the less confident boy with encouraging eyes, signaling him not to be afraid.

Horibe Ryuichi carefully channeled his chakra into the paper, and it shattered instantly. He possessed only one chakra affinity: earth.

Yakushi Nonō patted Horibe Ryuichi on the head and encouraged him with a smile, "Ryuichi has an earth affinity. The Third Hokage of Konoha is also famous throughout the shinobi world for his earth-style ninjutsu. You must work hard, Ryuichi!"

"Yes, yes!"

Hearing that the Third, a man renowned across the shinobi world, excelled in earth-style, Ryuichi nodded excitedly, his tight face breaking into a smile.

Sato Hideaka stood to the side, speechless. It was obvious that Nonō was just comforting the child. While the Third Hokage did indeed favor earth-style, he was a man known as the Shinobi World Professor who had mastered the vast majority of ninjutsu across all five elements—water, earth, wind, fire, and lightning—and could even combine them to enhance the power of his earth-style!

Looking at Horibe Ryuichi, who had been beaten down by his own lack of talent and had lost his confidence over the past few days, Sato Hideaka moved his lips, but ultimately decided not to reveal the cruel truth.

"I happen to be heading to Konoha today, so I can help you look for some suitable ninjutsu... Hideaka, don't push yourself too hard during training. You'll hurt your body, you know?"

Yakushi Nonō straightened their messy clothes and took a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the sweat from Sato Hideaka's forehead, a pang of concern in her heart.

"Yes, I will be careful. I won't let my body get damaged!"

Sato Hideaka nodded. With his perfect control over his cells, he could receive feedback from them at any time; if his body reached its limit, he would know.

After giving further instructions to the other teachers at the orphanage, Yakushi Nonō was seen off to the gate by Sato Hideaka and Horibe Ryuichi. She waved at them, and under their watchful eyes, she set off toward Konoha.

Sato Hideaka returned to the backyard and sat on the wooden floor at the entrance of the stilted house, his legs dangling in the air. He rested his chin on his hand and began to think.

The more chakra affinities one possessed, the more versatile their combat style could be. Having fire, lightning, and earth affinities was undoubtedly a great start.

However, if he only knew ordinary ninjutsu of these three elements, his lethality would likely be insufficient to even make a dent in the late stages of the story, where Wood Release, Shinra Tensei, Tailed Beast Bombs, and massive Susanoos were being unleashed like map-clearing weapons.

Since he possessed three chakra affinities, perhaps he could start by attempting to fuse them into a Kekkei Genkai.

Kekkei Genkai were categorized into ocular, elemental, and others. Because they were typically passed down through family bloodlines, they often brought war, misfortune, and even the threat of extinction to the clans that possessed them.

However, elemental Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tōta were not necessarily limited to inheritance. The Second Tsuchikage had taught his student, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, the Dust Release—a Kekkei Tōta formed by fusing three chakra elements. This meant that Kekkei Genkai could actually be created through self-synthesis and study.

Sato Hideaka sat up straight, placed his palms together in front of his chest, and, following the instructions in the "Basic Ninja Knowledge" scroll, began to isolate the individual elemental attributes within his chakra. He separated the earth affinity into one hand and the fire affinity into the other.

A tiny, dancing red flame flickered in his left hand, while a yellow, spherical mass of energy pulsed and shifted in his right.

These were pure, isolated chakra elements.

He slowly brought the wisps of fire and earth chakra together. When they converged, a violent fluctuation occurred. A massive repulsive force knocked his hands apart, and the chakra vanished into thin air.

Cold sweat broke out on Sato Hideaka's forehead, and he felt a lingering sense of fear.

Fortunately, he had kept the amount of chakra to the absolute minimum and was experimenting outside of his body. Otherwise, that repulsive force would have surely left him severely injured or even killed him.

A single failure did not discourage him. He tried again. After seven or eight attempts, he discovered that when he combined the fire and earth chakra in a six-to-four ratio, a miracle occurred.

The nimble, dancing fire chakra and the heavy, shifting earth chakra fused perfectly, forming a dark red, scorching, fluid-like substance. Bubbles began to form within it, looking exactly like...

Like molten lava.