The One-Tail's Power

Hatake Sakumo felt the care his student had shown him. He was deeply moved, and a little wistful.

This time, he didn't thank them. Instead, he stood up. "Come on. I'll train with you."

Genma finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he glanced at the [Setting Collection] and nearly lost control of his expression.

Whoa!

What a haul!

During the training that followed, Genma was clearly distracted. Kakashi beat him up before he finally pulled himself together and focused on training.

After lunch, Hatake Sakumo sent Genma and Kakashi off to school.

But there was no way they were going to attend class.

Their Shadow Clones went in their place, while Genma and Kakashi secretly went off to train again.

Same old spot.

As soon as they slipped into the woods, Genma focused his attention on the [Setting Collection].

He'd had 1 Setting Value before, but now he had... 10!

In other words, changing the fate of his teacher, Hatake Sakumo, had earned him 9 Setting Values in one go.

That was insane.

But after checking the log, he understood why.

Changing the fate of his teacher, Hatake Sakumo, had also changed Kakashi's.

For Kakashi, his father's suicide had been the first major upheaval and turning point in his life.

Together, those changes had earned 9 Setting Values. Was that a lot?

Genma didn't think so. Not at all.

But now that he suddenly had so much to work with, he needed to think carefully about how to make the most of it.

"First, I still need to solve the problem of my chakra reserves. That's the foundation, and it's the most important thing."

"For instance, if I had more chakra right now, I could grind out experience with Shadow Clones, and make faster progress with Wood Release Chakra Mode, too."

Wood Release Chakra Mode wasn't suited for combat yet, but Genma could clearly feel his body changing. He had high hopes for what it could become, so it was worth investing time in.

As for his chakra reserves, having more Setting Values opened up more options.

For example, he could directly change the setting for his chakra reserves, an option he hadn't chosen as his top priority before.

Another option was a long-term one: further modifying the Chakra Refinement Technique's settings.

Or he could add a new setting, such as stamina or constitution.

When he'd had few Setting Values, Genma had to choose carefully.

But now... he wanted everything!

"Impulsive decisions are a recipe for disaster. I can't just go wild."

Genma struggled to keep himself in check.

After giving it some thought, he decided that adding a setting for constitution or stamina wasn't a good choice—or rather, compared with directly increasing his chakra reserves, it wasn't as cost-effective, and it would be redundant.

That was because increasing his chakra reserves would inevitably boost his stamina and even his mental strength.

If he added settings for stamina and constitution, he might have to add one for mental strength later, too.

Continuously modifying the chakra-reserve setting directly could improve his stamina and mental strength at the same time.

Constitution and stamina were off the list!

"Of course, I have to think long term, but I also have to consider what I urgently need right now."

Genma had already come up with an idea for how to further modify the Chakra Refinement Technique's settings.

At the moment, he could refine the power of plant and animal cells into chakra. The next step was Natural Energy.

But it was easy to see that even if he could absorb Natural Energy and refine it into chakra, he'd still need to gradually transform his body.

Without a sufficient chakra reserve to build on, Sage Mode alone wouldn't be much more practical than his current Wood Release Chakra Mode.

"I want both the present and the future!"

With 10 Setting Values at his disposal, Genma felt confident.

He turned his attention to the chakra section first.

Chakra: 1 card (setting can be modified)

As far as stamina went, Genma was already on par with Kakashi.

And he was gradually pulling ahead. That was the result of Chakra Refinement Technique version 1.0—or, in other words, Wood Release Chakra Mode.

So what should he raise it to?

Maybe he should find someone to use as a benchmark.

Take Jiraiya, one of the peak civilian-born ninja. His stamina rating was 10, making him practically a mini-Tailed Beast.

Hidan was about the same, as was Kisame, the Tailless Tailed Beast.

Suddenly, an idea struck Genma: why not use Tailed Beasts as a unit for measuring chakra reserves?

From the One-Tail to the Nine-Tails, they offered a neat progression in chakra levels.

If you didn't have Tailed Beast-level chakra, could you really claim to be cheating?

But if he raised his chakra straight to Tailed Beast levels—even just to Shukaku's level—would 10 Setting Values be enough?

After all, Genma currently had 1 card's worth of chakra, but that card was only the amount Kakashi had at age seven.

After thinking it over, Genma decided to test the waters first.

He'd start by matching Jiraiya at his peak.

Huh? It only cost 5 Setting Values.

What about the One-Tail's power?

8!

A wave of warmth surged through his body. Every cell was jubilant.

There was no visible change on the surface, but as the setting was modified, Genma's body underwent a complete transformation.

An invisible force reshaped him, and his stamina climbed higher and higher.

When everything had settled, Genma felt terrifyingly strong.

He immediately raised his hands and formed the signs. A cloud of smoke billowed, and Shadow Clones appeared—nine in total.

He'd never learned the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, but he'd mastered the Shadow Clone Technique and had incredible control over his chakra. Using the Multi Shadow Clone Technique was simple.

At Genma's command, the nine Shadow Clones went to gather plant chakra.

After thinking for a moment, Genma tried to concentrate Yin Release Chakra.

Previously, his limited stamina had restricted his Yin Release Chakra ratio to 7:3. Now that he had an enormous reserve of stamina to draw on, he wanted to see how far he could go.

7.5:2.5—no problem.

8:2—still no problem.

But Genma could feel his mental strength nearing its limit.

As expected, when he pushed further, 8.2:1.8 was his limit.

If he pushed any farther, even if his mental strength held out, he felt that he'd certainly die from mental exhaustion as soon as he used up all the chakra he'd refined.

"I wonder if this ratio is stronger than the Yin Release Chakra in the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan, weaker, or about the same."

Genma was eager to find out, but then he dispersed all the Yin Release Chakra he'd refined.

Next, he refined Yang Release Chakra.

Last time, his limit had been 6:4.

Trying again, Genma immediately raised the ratio to 7:3: seven parts physical energy to three parts mental energy. This required far more resilient mental fortitude. He needed to fuse a small amount of mental energy with a large amount of physical energy to refine chakra and keep it under control.

It also took a great deal more stamina and mental strength.

For example, when refining chakra normally, the ratio was 1:1. At this point, Genma could already use mental and physical energy equivalent to a single strand of hair to refine chakra.

But when it came to 7:3 Yang Release Chakra, he couldn't refine it using seven strands' worth of physical energy and three strands' worth of mental energy.

He needed over ten thousand times that amount.

That was why he'd run out of stamina last time.

Now that he had enough stamina, he managed it with ease.

But Genma also realized that he couldn't control Yang Release Chakra at this level as smoothly.

"If I used Yang Release Chakra at this level to heal myself, I'd be just like Senju Hashirama. I wouldn't be able to control the healing precisely."

Genma felt the powerful Yang Release Chakra within him, but his expression was grave.

A lack of control meant that in this state, even a minor injury would trigger seal-less healing through cell division.

Just like Senju Hashirama—or, more precisely, Tsunade's Yin Seal, Strength of a Hundred Technique, and Creation Rebirth.

That was over-healing!

"You need incredible control to flexibly adjust the strength of Chakra Nature Transformation. And in battle, you also need enough mental focus to heal in stages... It really is incredibly difficult."

Genma furrowed his brow. He'd previously thought that Senju Hashirama's passive, seal-less healing caused over-healing because his natural constitution made it impossible for him to control it skillfully. Now, it seemed that wasn't the whole story.