The herb vendor hesitated. Seeing that Kawaki Aoba truly did not seem to be lying, and wanting to sell off these unwanted herbs as soon as possible, he nodded. "Fine, thirty ryo it is. Be sure to come again!"
Kawaki Aoba paid, tucked the herbs into his cloth bag, and felt his heart fill with delight.
He looked at the sky. It was only morning, so he still had plenty of time to keep browsing.
Carrying the cloth bag, he continued weaving through the eastern market, occasionally stopping to talk with vendors and ask whether they had any unusual items.
Meanwhile, at the inn, Asuma sat cross-legged on the floor of his room, his eyes closed in concentration.
His hands formed the seals for chakra refinement as he immersed himself entirely in studying the deeper principles of chakra.
He could clearly sense the chakra within his body flowing slowly in cycles along specific pathways.
He had always felt that his chakra control was not precise enough. Whenever he used ninjutsu, some chakra was inevitably wasted, greatly reducing the technique's power.
He tried adjusting the speed of his chakra flow, compressing it little by little to make it denser and more refined.
The process did not go smoothly. Several times, improper chakra control sent a sharp pain through his chakra pathways.
But Asuma did not give up. Recalling the chakra-control techniques his master had taught him, he continuously adjusted his condition.
After an unknown amount of time, he slowly opened his eyes and rapidly formed hand seals. A fireball—not very large, but exceptionally condensed—shot from his mouth and landed steadily in the open space at the center of the room. Rather than spreading out as it had before, it remained concentrated, and its power had clearly increased considerably.
A faint, pleased