23. Chapter 23, Artistic Conception

Time passed quickly, and soon it was the afternoon of the third day.

The trees in the forest remained incredibly lush.

However, if you observed closely, you would notice that many of the trees here were secreting a type of sap from their trunks.

This was a self-protective fluid that trees only secreted after being injured.

Yet, this made the situation even more peculiar.

Because even if you climbed up to look, you could barely see any signs of damage.

This forest was the masterpiece of Ye Yuexue.

For the past three days, Ye Yuexin had been training here.

Not far away, Ye Yuexin had just finished his training and was sitting on the ground drinking water.

Three days of exercise had allowed Ye Yuexin to become familiar with the Void Rotation Technique.

Now, as long as Ye Yuexue formed a hand seal, a flying dagger would instantly appear in Ye Yuexin's hand.

Furthermore, Ye Yuexin's sense of space had become much clearer.

These trees were the targets Ye Yuexin used to practice his flying daggers.

Although the wounds were invisible, the daggers had truly pierced through them.

That was why the trees were secreting such sap.

Ye Yuexin did not know if his direction of cultivation was correct.

But his flying daggers were becoming faster and faster.

Moreover, he felt that his comprehension of the wind nature transformation was on the verge of reaching great success.

Whether it was his flying daggers or his movement techniques, whenever he used them, the wind nature of the natural world would come to accelerate them at a single thought.

This feeling was very strange, and he could not quite put it into words.

Ye Yuexin even felt that he was not just training, but cultivating immortality.

As for the reason, Ye Yuexin felt it had a lot to do with the two years he spent meditating on the cliff.

It was only during that time that he had been able to perceive the existence of the wind.

Not ordinary wind, but wind that felt as if it were alive.

Beyond the wind nature transformation, there was another reason why his flying daggers were so swift and precise.

It was also due to his wild imagination.

When he practiced throwing knives in his past life, he began to focus on the state of mind described in novels.

It was that state of "never missing a target, leaving no trace, and piercing through everything."

Of course, at that time, such a state was elusive.

After coming to this world, he had finally achieved a small measure of success.

It was the state he called Flying Dagger Mode.

In that state, Ye Yuexin felt as if he possessed divine consciousness, perceiving his surroundings in immense detail.

Moreover, his control over the flying daggers reached an extreme limit.

The daggers, which were already exceptionally sharp and swift due to the integration of the wind nature transformation, seemed to undergo a qualitative change under the enhancement of that state.

Now, even after passing through a tree as thick as two men could embrace, not even a mark of damage could be seen.

Even if it couldn't be seen, Ye Yuexin could clearly sense through his perception that the flying dagger had pierced straight through.

During these three days, Ye Yuexin also found time to look at the ninjutsu that the Third Hokage had rewarded him with.

To be honest, that ninjutsu was relatively simple for him.

After all, his specialty was compressing the nature transformation of wind-attribute chakra before launching it.

For Ye Yuexue, who could compress wind-attribute chakra down to the size of a flying dagger, this was quite simple.

Therefore, it took Ye Yuexin only two hours to learn it.

Moreover, he had truly realized his wild idea: he could kick out wind blades with his feet.

However, the amount of chakra this wasted was truly not a small sum.

When Ye Yuexin tried it for the first time, he kicked out a wind blade about two meters long, and immediately felt a bit drained.

Sigh, this current situation of insufficient chakra was probably something only Kakashi, who often ran low on mana after obtaining the Sharingan, could truly empathize with.

But in truth, Ye Yuexin's chakra was not exactly low.

Do not forget that his current chakra level was still that of a genin.

For a genin's chakra capacity, Ye Yuexin's was already on the higher side.

As taught in the Ninja Academy, chakra is gathered in the middle dantian.

When a genin first condenses it, it appears in a mist-like state.

After becoming a Chunin, the chakra condensed would turn into a white flame, and upon reaching Jonin level, it would become a blue flame. As for the Kage level, although the flame remained blue, it would lean slightly toward a milky white.

Ye Yuexin did not know about higher realms; the Ninja Academy had never taught them.

He glanced at the sky; the sun was about to set, and the forest was gradually growing dim.

Tomorrow was the day to head out on a mission. Ye Yuexin felt absolutely no pressure about teaming up with these future elites of Konoha.

At least it's better than being on a team with Itachi Uchiha, he thought to himself.

He tidied up and decided to treat himself to a meal at a restaurant today.

After all, Ye Yuexin had spent the last three days entirely in training.

It was time to relax.

The streets of Konoha appeared as peaceful as ever on the surface, showing no signs that they were still in a time of war.

Ye Yuexin slowly merged into the crowd, strolling leisurely toward the dango shop. He suddenly had a craving for grilled dango today. Training required a balance of tension and relaxation; combining work with rest was the only way to progress faster. This was the experience he had summarized from his two lifetimes.

Just then, a young girl wearing a kimono blocked his path.

The girl had long black hair and a delicate face with willow-leaf eyebrows, but what stood out the most were her vivid lips.

He didn't know what kind of lipstick she used, but it was a bright, blood-red color.

With her slim figure and well-fitted clothing, she looked every bit the young lady of a noble family.

"Kurenai, how come you're back from your mission too?" Ye Yuexin asked, looking at the girl in front of him.

Was the battlefield so relaxed now that people could just return whenever they wanted?

Suddenly, seeing Kurenai Yuhi, Ye Yuexin was momentarily stunned.

"Are you trying to shun me? I've been gone for so long, and the first thing you say when we meet is to ask why I'm back? Wuwu, I'm so heartbroken."

So disgusting. Ye Yuexin watched Kurenai Yuhi, who kept glancing at him with her eyes.

He rubbed his brow in utter helplessness. "Stop messing around... that fake expression of yours is so disgusting, Kurenai. I haven't even eaten yet."

After her act was exposed by Ye Yuexin, Kurenai Yuhi didn't show the slightest bit of discomfort.

She arched her brows and said, "I didn't go to the battlefield. I just took a long-distance escort mission a while ago."

Since Ye Yuexin was still a bit shorter than Kurenai Yuhi at the moment, she leaned in close to him and lowered her head slightly. "But Yuexin-kun seems to have made quite a name for himself. I heard all about it the moment I returned to the village. You're now the strongest Genin in Konoha, capable of taking on an elite Jonin one-on-one."

Hearing Kurenai Yuhi say this, Ye Yuexin only felt embarrassed.

"Those are just rumors. By the way, you're dressed so beautifully, what are you planning to do?" Ye Yuexin promptly changed the subject.

Hearing Ye Yuexin say this, Kurenai Yuhi covered her mouth and giggled.

"I heard about your sensational news as soon as I got back, and since I have a day off to rest, I was planning to ask you out for dinner tonight. I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence," she said.

Ye Yuexin didn't know how Kurenai Yuhi had grown up, but she had been the "big sister" type since she was a child. Every move she made was incredibly alluring.

"Is that so, that's..." Before Ye Yuexin could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a wave of fragrance hitting his face.

Kurenai Yuhi had moved closer at some point and was now only a few centimeters from his face. "Tell me, since you're working so hard, have you prepared yourself to marry me yet~?"