Then he adjusted his breathing and focused inward.
A moment later, a strange power rose within his body.
This power did not belong to the Naruto world. It was fundamentally different from chakra.
He clearly couldn't understand this power.
It was clearly unfamiliar to him.
And yet, its use felt as though it had been engraved upon his soul.
Chiba knew that this power was called [Gravity]!
The next moment, Chiba released this power from his body and began to extend it outward.
The power spread very slowly.
To Chiba, it felt like groping his way across a river by feeling for stones.
At first, it extended quickly.
But as the distance increased, it began to slow down.
After extending just one meter, it came to an abrupt halt.
A radius of one meter was the limit of the area whose gravity Chiba could control at that moment.
Then—
With a clang, he struck the ground with his Zanpakuto, which had taken the shape of a cane.
This wasn't necessary to activate the ability.
But the unconscious gesture seemed engraved upon Chiba's soul.
He knew this gesture belonged to the Fujitora Issho template.
That was because Chiba had inherited Fujitora Issho's moves.
And it seemed he had inherited his habits for activating abilities, too.
In an instant,
the ground within that one-meter radius trembled.
It was as if some force had seized it and pressed it down hard.
Feeling the power shift, Chiba murmured,
"So this... is gravity?"
The next moment,
Chiba increased the force, and the ground within that one-meter radius trembled even more violently.
It was as if it were bearing an enormous weight.
The ground instantly sank a full centimeter.
This was gravity produced by atmospheric pressure.
Gravity Suppression was one of Fujitora Issho's signature techniques.
It used the tremendous gravity of atmospheric pressure to pin down every enemy in range.
The force of its gravity was even enough to press a hole into the ground.
Clearly, Chiba couldn't achieve that level yet.
Chiba withdrew his ability.
After this simple test, he already understood the source of gravity's power.
By infusing his swordsmanship with gravity, he could overcome Chiba's greatest weakness at this stage—
his lack of strength.
By strength, he meant physical strength alone.
A five-year-old body was inevitably limited in stamina.
With ten percent of Fujitora Issho's template, Chiba should theoretically have been able to kill an elite jonin with his swordsmanship.
But he still couldn't do it.
His speed and strength were far inferior to an elite jonin's.
However, the Press-Press Fruit had allowed Chiba to overcome his current limitations.
"Once I get used to gravity, my strength... will make a huge leap!"
He wasn't joking.
Chiba raised his hand.
The cane in his hand transformed into a Tachi and settled at his waist.
The next moment, Chiba slowly drew it.
The blade reflected a chilling gleam in the moonlight.
He raised his Zanpakuto over his head and aimed it at a huge boulder ahead.
He channeled gravity into his Zanpakuto.
Then—
he brought it down in a single slash.
In an instant, as his Zanpakuto swung downward,
an invisible slash shot out from his blade.
It was sword pressure—stronger than ever before, infused with gravity.
Until now, Chiba had only been able to produce a streak of light with his blade.
He had reached a certain level of mastery in swordsmanship, but without the necessary strength, it had been nearly impossible to unleash sword pressure like this.
But with the Press-Press Fruit, Chiba had done it.
The gravity-infused sword pressure soared through the air and cleaved the huge boulder in front of him in two.
The shattered rock testified to gravity's incomparable power.
Even though he had used up a great deal of stamina,
as he looked at the huge boulder he had brutally split apart,
Chiba knew—
he had become stronger again.
He loved this feeling.
"Oh no, that made too much noise... The patrol must have noticed!"
Before he could attract any attention, Chiba hurried away.
Within the Uchiha Clan, he didn't have to worry about spies from Anbu or the Root Division.
They weren't brazen enough to pull something like that right under the Police Force's noses.
That night, Chiba slept soundly.
He usually woke up early, but today he got up even later than Koizumi.
When Chiba woke to find Koizumi sitting by his bed in cute pajamas, he got to experience what it was like to be woken by an adorable girl.
It wasn't as though he had any particular interest in that sort of thing.
But the feeling of being healed in both body and soul made him feel that his life now was worth protecting.
The Press-Press Fruit had drained so much of Chiba's stamina that he was completely exhausted.
Sleeping until he woke naturally—
felt great.
And Chiba—
had practically woken up from hunger.
"Honestly..."
"Chiba, you can sleep in if you want, but why is your stomach rumbling? You ate so much yesterday."
Chiba smiled and patted Koizumi on the head.
"That's because..."
"Even while I was asleep, I could smell the breakfast you made for me."
"If that's the case, then hurry up and get up and eat!"
Koizumi waved her little fist, looking delighted.
At the dining table, Chiba immediately began wolfing down his food. Koizumi stared at him in amazement.
"Chiba... when did you start eating so much?"
"Maybe training has been wearing me out lately."
"No, no matter how hard you train, that's an outrageous increase in how much you eat. It's practically doubled."
Chiba had already eaten a lot even before this.
After all, he was different from other five-year-olds. He trained every day.
"I'm going to be eating a lot for a while."
After all, his Daily Mission had gone from one thousand swings to ten thousand.
That tenfold increase would drain Chiba's stamina.
And he also needed to practice and develop his Press-Press Fruit abilities every day, which would use up far more stamina than before.
"Chiba, if you keep eating like this, we'll run out of food."
"Maybe we'll have to mooch meals from the neighbors before Father and Mother get back."
"Don't make it sound so pitiful!"
"The forest in the Uchiha Clan's territory is a natural hunting ground. It's easy enough to hunt a couple of animals."
"Once we bring back some game, we might even eat better than we do now."
"Just don't eat so much you turn into a pig."
Koizumi rolled her eyes at him, then snapped,
"Chiba, you're the pig!"
As he ate, Chiba planned out his training schedule.
His sparring sessions with Itachi every day were non-negotiable.
He needed to finish his Daily Mission first thing, and training and developing the Press-Press Fruit had to become a priority, too.
More importantly—
Chiba looked at his system panel.
That special mission that could be triggered at random.
It was a feature Chiba cared about a lot.
So far, the system hadn't assigned him a single so-called special mission.