Ninja Hand Seals

Once Jiraiya began formally instructing the group, the days that followed grew rather dull and tedious, as the first step required the boys to condense their chakra.

Meditation is an incredibly taxing mental endeavor. Unlike the physical exhaustion of strength training, the boys felt dazed and sluggish after every session. Fortunately, having endured hardships since childhood, they possessed an extraordinary capacity for refining their mental energy.

In less than three weeks, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan had each sensed their own mental energy, followed naturally by the perception of cellular energy, allowing them to begin the preliminary refinement of chakra. Compared to the others, Yuehua Ai's progress was even more pronounced. Although his mental energy far exceeded that of an ordinary person—making the process of condensing it significantly more difficult—he possessed the mind of an adult. He was more capable of enduring hardship and maintaining discipline in his training, so his level of mental refinement was in no way inferior to the others.

The most direct benefit of this mental refinement was a massive increase in the amount of chakra Yuehua Ai could extract. His chakra reserves were now not only five times greater than before, but the density of his energy was also incomparable to his previous state.

Once everyone had successfully extracted chakra, Jiraiya initiated a new round of training. Unlike the mental fatigue of meditation, this training was pure physical torture. Though painful, the group actually preferred this to the monotony of meditation; they even found themselves somewhat addicted to the current regimen.

Taijutsu is the most fundamental and indispensable skill for any type of ninja. Once the boys had successfully extracted chakra, Jiraiya shifted their training to the practice of taijutsu.

Taijutsu stands alongside ninjutsu and genjutsu as a pillar of power. Whether a ninja is formidable depends not just on the strength of their ninjutsu or the invincibility of their genjutsu, but on their overall capability. Many ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques require taijutsu to be effective. In a real battle, an enemy will not stand idly by watching you weave hand signs without interfering. Therefore, even if a powerful ninja does not specialize in taijutsu, their proficiency in it can never be weak.

Taijutsu grants a ninja greater movement and striking speed. Only when taijutsu training keeps pace can a ninja create the necessary environment to unleash their other specialized techniques. Imagine Uchiha Madara: with his invincible ninjutsu and genjutsu, he could still charge in and out of the Allied Shinobi Forces empty-handed during the Fourth Great Ninja War using nothing but taijutsu. The importance of taijutsu to a ninja is self-evident.

The importance of taijutsu is not merely in supporting ninjutsu or genjutsu. As one of the three foundations of a ninja, taijutsu itself is a path that leads to the pinnacle of strength. Might Guy, a ninja who specialized in taijutsu, was called the strongest by Madara during their battle when Madara was in his Six Paths form.

The scope of taijutsu is vast. A ninja's movement and combat maneuvers all fall under this category. Human motion combined with the application of chakra is, in essence, taijutsu. Of course, these are merely the basics. Techniques like the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, the Eight Inner Gates developed by the Second Hokage, or Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred are also taijutsu, though they are high-level extensions of the fundamental art.

For children like Yuehua Ai, they were naturally not yet ready to touch upon high-level taijutsu. Jiraiya's current training for them consisted only of running, weight-bearing exercises, frog jumps, and squats. After all, they were late starters, and those foundational elements had to be built up bit by bit.

"Huff... huff..." The boys gasped for air, lying scattered across the tatami mats. Sweat had long since blurred their vision, and they were now too exhausted to even twitch a finger. After all, running fifty 50-li was no easy feat, even with the chakra they had recently acquired.

"Alright, alright, sit up quickly. A mere fifty li is nothing to make such a fuss about. When your body is exhausted, that is the best moment to practice chakra refinement. Only in this state can you better unearth your cellular potential and perceive the energy hidden in the deeper layers of your cells."

"Sit properly and maintain your chakra extraction state. I am going to teach you something new!" Jiraiya patted the table and commanded the group.

"What new thing? Ninjutsu, genjutsu, or something else?" Hearing that Jiraiya was going to teach them something new, the boys were instantly invigorated, scrambling to sit up straight.

Seeing the boys quickly settle down, Jiraiya nodded in satisfaction.

"This kind of training is essential for the days to come, so you must maintain it without interruption. You must understand that to become a powerful ninja, you must first possess a powerful physique. The body is the foundation of everything."

After emphasizing the importance of physical training, Jiraiya paused to observe their reactions. Seeing them all nod in agreement, he stopped belaboring the point and continued with his new plan: "Keep up the physical conditioning. As long as your chakra growth rate remains as it is now, you will soon be qualified ninjas."

"A ninja is a ninja, after all, and a qualified one cannot lack techniques. Therefore, I have decided to teach you some ninjutsu during your rest periods after physical training."

"Ninjutsu, it's really ninjutsu!" Not only Yahiko and the others, but even Yuehua Ai was truly excited. Were they finally going to touch upon ninjutsu!?

Watching their excited expressions, Jiraiya laughed, but couldn't help but dampen their spirits: "Ninjutsu is not easy to learn. To master it, you have to learn many other things. Do not dream of reaching the heavens in a single step. The sweat required for a ninja to master ninjutsu is no less than the rain falling from the sky. Very well, we start from the basics. Today, I will teach you how to weave hand signs!"

Although Jiraiya used the metaphor of sweat and rain to humble them, the boys were not discouraged. Compared to sweat and physical pain, they feared their own helplessness more. They hated the situation where they could do nothing while their companions faced danger. Compared to that despair, they preferred this life of sweating buckets every day while feeling themselves grow stronger.

Ninjutsu hand signs!? Yuehua Ai muttered to himself. He knew a little about hand signs. They were the foundation for a ninja to release techniques, the method of converting chakra into a "jutsu." Because he hadn't put much effort into Naruto in his past life, he knew a few gestures but was not entirely clear on them.

In fact, after his own chakra levels increased, Yuehua Ai had tried experimenting with hand signs on his own. Although he didn't know many gestures and was ignorant of the specific signs required for actual ninjutsu, that didn't stop him from researching. After all, he had been a research fanatic in the field of biological cell studies in his previous life.

After several private attempts, Yuehua Ai's results in ninjutsu research weren't great, but they weren't a total failure either; at the very least, he had once managed to summon a water ball the size of a basketball.

Although the summoned water ball had no power and was only good for washing his face or hands, it could indeed be counted as a ninjutsu, as it had successfully achieved the conversion of chakra into a "jutsu."

Having had that successful experience, he had gained some understanding of the role of hand signs in releasing ninjutsu. Ninjutsu requires hand signs not to look cool, nor to show off power or mystery. Hand signs exist simply to cause chakra to change, realizing the transformation from pure chakra energy into other types of energy.

Through hand signs, the chakra flowing through the body's meridians makes contact via the arms, forming an external "great circulation" different from the internal one. The speed, frequency, path, and intensity of the chakra in this great circulation are all different. When the chakra from both sides of the body meets at the hands, its nature is altered, and the powerful interaction between the two allows pure chakra energy to transform into various other energies.

If one were to compare chakra to an electric current, the hands would be the electrical appliances. Different hand signs are different appliances; different appliances produce different energies, which then act upon different fields.

In fact, after several experiments, Yuehua Ai had seen through the essence of hand signs. To him, the study of these signs had gradually pulled back the veil of mystery from the field of ninjutsu.

"Hand signs!" Yahiko and Nagato blinked. In their minds, ninja hand signs were quite high-end. For ordinary people, the mystery and power of a ninja were remembered through two characteristics: the release of ninjutsu and the weaving of hand signs.

"Regarding the hand signs required for ninjutsu, there are twelve basic seals. Their names are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar."

"Now, watch me closely as I weave them. This is the Rat seal: thumbs overlapped, right thumb on top. Ox: right hand horizontal, left hand vertical. Tiger: thumbs of both hands must be straight. Rabbit: right hand with all fingers except the pinky straight, the other four fingers gently curled. Dragon: thumbs overlapped, left thumb on top. Snake: fingers interlaced. Horse: elbows extended, index fingers of both hands touching to form a triangle. Ram: thumbs extended upward and overlapped, left thumb on top. Monkey: pinky and thumb parallel. Rooster: pay attention to the angle of the thumbs and the position of the fingers, don't get them mixed up. Dog: right fist placed in the palm of the left hand. Boar: pay close attention to this one; this posture requires good wrist flexibility, be careful not to injure yourself."

"Good, I will slow down and do them a few more times. You must memorize them well. Later, you will practice these repeatedly. If you forget, ask your companions first. If you are still unsure, come and ask me. Now, focus your attention, I am starting!"

With that, Jiraiya performed the twelve hand signs several times in sequence, repeating the precautions for each movement as he went.

Because the boys followed along and imitated him as he performed the signs, they quickly committed the twelve seals to memory.

Once they had memorized them, Jiraiya had them perform the signs one by one. After their movements became gradually standard, he clapped his hands, signaling that he had something to say.

"My students are indeed clever. You were able to memorize them after only a few attempts; that is good. Although you have memorized them, this is still only shallow memory. Hand signs are the foundation of ninjutsu. If you cannot even weave signs properly, you have no right to call yourselves ninjas. I do not need you to memorize these gestures deeply; what I want is for these gestures to become your instinct."

"Instinct is more reliable than any companion. Training hand signs into instinct is difficult, but precisely because it is difficult, you must spend more effort and more time."

"I am giving you one week. During this week, apart from chakra extraction and physical training, all your spare time must be spent practicing hand signs. After one week, I will teach you ninjutsu, but if I check your hand signs and find anyone unqualified, hmph, I will let you know what cruelty truly means!"

Jiraiya had spoken with a degree of seriousness at the start, but by the end, his tone carried a wicked grin. Although his expression was one of vicious playfulness, his earnest gaze left the group with no doubt that if they failed to meet his requirements in a week, he would absolutely punish them severely.

"Yes!" the boys responded loudly, and Yuehua Ai was no exception.

They began weaving the signs immediately. Driven by curiosity and nervousness, the boys dared not slack off. Weave and weave—as long as their hands weren't broken and their fingers remained intact, this week would require constant repetition. After one set of signs, they would simply begin again!