Practice

But then again...

At my current level, I definitely couldn't create Ice Needles out of thin air. Maybe even if I managed it, they'd be incredibly brittle.

Could I gather water-nature chakra in my hand to form a needle, then freeze it with Ice Release chakra?

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he got to work.

But then again, Grandma had once told him that you had to eat a meal one bite at a time, and walk a road one step at a time.

So he decided to start by practicing with ordinary water.

He'd spend the afternoon on it.

After letting his imagination run wild for a while, he found a bucket, filled a basin with water, and sat beneath a tree to practice controlling the water, little by little.

"Come on, come on—rise!"

He spread his hands wide, striking a pose much like Qianlong's Nine-Clan Stripping Technique.

At his command, a drop of water rose into the space between his hands.

He slowly channeled chakra into the droplet, concentrating intensely as he tried to guide the water upward, stretching it out and thinning it... He wanted to shape it into a water needle.

Of course, it wasn't easy. Water had no fixed shape, so it needed to be guided with chakra. Too much chakra and it would swell; an uneven flow would make it twist or snap, sending it falling back into the water.

Once... twice... three times...

After so many attempts, Ning Xue was clearly starting to lose his cool.

"Seriously, why is this so hard?"

Ning Xue grumbled in frustration.

"No, I need to calm down. I'm getting worked up. I won't get anywhere like this."

He reassured himself that he could do it, then steadied his emotions and tried again, controlling his chakra to draw up a droplet of water.

This time, Ning Xue focused completely, feeding in chakra little by little. The flow was exceptionally steady, and he used his will to stretch the droplet up and down, bit by bit.

After a long while, thanks to his tireless effort, he finally drew a trembling, barely needle-shaped spike of water roughly six centimeters out of the basin!

"I did it!"

Ning Xue was thrilled, but quickly steadied himself, not daring to relax even a little.

Maintaining the water needle's shape, he took a deep breath and began the second step: freezing it.

Carefully, he separated off a trace of Ice Release chakra and created a tiny snowflake. Then, as slowly and gently as he could, he fed it into the fragile water needle, afraid that the intense cold might shatter it instantly.

The Ice Release of the Land of Snow ultimately worked by gathering moisture from the air into ice crystals—that is, snowflakes—which then gathered together and formed ice.

It was fundamentally different from the Mist Village's Kekkei Genkai, Ice Release.

One was a special type of Ice Release chakra.

The other was a special product of ordinary water and wind combining—in other words, ice.

A faint freezing sound rang out.

White frost spread rapidly upward from the base of the water needle. In the blink of an eye, it had frozen completely, becoming a crystal-clear Ice Needle!

Since it was made from water rather than formed purely from chakra, its clarity and hardness seemed a little lacking. But it was undeniably an Ice Needle he could hold in his hand!

Ning Xue carefully pinched the homemade Ice Needle between two fingers. Feeling its coolness and the sharp point against his fingertips filled him with a sense of accomplishment!

The process was cumbersome. He had to form the needle in his hand first, then freeze it. It was a hassle, but only for now. Besides, successfully creating the Ice Needle had confirmed his theory: this really was a viable path.

Perhaps he could use Wind Release in the future to make it even sharper.

"I'll keep practicing like this!"

He made up his mind.

First, he'd practice shaping water needles and controlling them. Once he was proficient, he'd try forming them directly with chakra and then freezing them. His ultimate goal was to create pure-chakra Ice Needles out of thin air!

Then he could keep some poison in his bag and form the needles whenever he needed them.

Just imagining Neji going numb in the hands and feet and growing weak all over in the middle of their next fight made Ning Xue feel so good he could hardly stand it. He was practically giddy.

Lost in his fantasy, Ning Xue wore a sinister smile.

But while dreams were beautiful, reality was harsh. If nothing unexpected happened, then something unexpected was bound to happen.

Since Ning Xue stopped using chakra to maintain it, the Ice Needle began to melt at a visible rate after just ten-odd seconds. It softened, and finally...

With a "plop," it snapped and turned back into a small puddle of water that fell to the ground.

"...Uh." Ning Xue's smile froze.

Only then did he realize that an Ice Needle formed from ordinary water would melt easily in a warm environment if he didn't use chakra to maintain it.

Especially if he didn't have enough chakra to keep it stable. It was a single-use item, and one with an extremely short shelf life.

"Looks like keeping some in a bag with poison for later is out of the question for now."

Ning Xue scratched his head, but he wasn't discouraged.

Then he'd just have to form them on the spot and fire them at close range. And his ultimate goal still had to be forming them from pure chakra—that would make the Ice Needles sturdier and easier to control.

The road ahead was long!

He gave himself a pep talk and continued the tedious practice.

As the old saying went:

Failure was the grandmother of success.

Besides, he was only three. What was the rush? Unless the Fourth Shinobi World War started tomorrow.

Since he'd already managed to form one, Ning Xue was in a pretty good mood. After all, if he could make one, he could make two.

He kept fine-tuning the chakra output, the shaping speed, and the timing of the freeze.

The sun gradually sank toward the horizon. Ning Xue was still sitting beneath the tree. The water in the basin had dwindled considerably; most of it had spilled onto the ground around him or turned into failed Ice Needles that quickly melted away.

During that time, Hyuga Ning had planned to find Ning Xue that afternoon and continue training his physical fitness and practicing Gentle Fist with him.

But when he saw Ning Xue sitting beneath a tree with a basin of water, doing who knew what, he thought it over and decided to turn around and leave, going to spend time with his wife, Xue.

Kids should be allowed to play if they wanted to.

By now, Ning Xue was nearly oblivious to the world around him, completely absorbed in his practice and research.

He was physically exhausted, and the delicate movements took a heavy toll on his mind as well. But his progress was impressive.

He could form water needles more than twice as fast as before, and their shape was thinner and more stable. The freezing process had also become much smoother, and his success rate had increased considerably, from one in ten to one in three.

More importantly, he now had a basic idea of how to produce water himself and then use Ice Release to shape it into a needle.

Even that small step brought him closer to becoming an expert at catching people off guard.

The sky had grown dark.

Just then, a gentle woman's voice called in Ning Xue's ear.

"Ning Xue, come in for dinner."

The familiar voice brought him back to his senses.

"Coming!"

Ning Xue hurriedly replied.

He stood up, patted his slightly numb legs, and headed inside. His mind was still replaying the afternoon's practice and planning tomorrow's training.

"Hmm... Tomorrow, I'll see if I can turn chakra directly into a water needle and skip drawing water from the basin... Maybe it'll last longer that way... And I'll have to figure out how to make the Ice Needles harder."

Still thinking it over, he returned to the house. In the warmth of his home, he ate a hearty dinner.