The Realm

Time passed quickly, and soon it was the afternoon three days later.

The trees in the forest were still incredibly lush.

But if you looked closely, you would notice that many of the trees were oozing sap from around their trunks.

It was a kind of protective sap that trees secreted only after being injured.

But that only made things stranger.

Even if you climbed up to take a look, you could hardly see any damage.

This forest was Ye Yuexue's handiwork.

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

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

Three days of practice had already made Ye Yuexin familiar with the Void Rotation Technique.

Now, Ye Yuexue only had to form a single hand seal, and a flying dagger would instantly appear in Ye Yuexin's hand.

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

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

Although no wounds were visible, the daggers had truly pierced right through them.

That was why the trees were secreting this kind of sap.

Ye Yuexin didn't know whether he was training in the right direction.

But his flying daggers were getting faster and faster.

And he felt as though his understanding of the Wind Transformation was about to reach perfection.

Whether he was using his daggers or moving, the moment he formed an intent, the wind in the surrounding world would naturally lend him speed.

The feeling was incredibly strange, and he couldn't quite describe it.

Ye Yuexin even felt as though he wasn't cultivating, but cultivating immortality.

He felt that this was largely because he had spent two years meditating on a cliff.

That was when he had first been able to sense the wind.

Not ordinary wind, but wind that seemed alive.

Besides the wind's elemental transformation, there was another reason his daggers were so fast and precise.

That was his imagination.

Back in his previous life, when he practiced with flying daggers, he had already begun to focus on the kind of state described in novels.

The state of never missing, leaving no trace, and piercing anything.

Of course, back then, that state had been elusive.

It was only after coming to this world that he had made a little progress.

It was the state he called Flying Dagger Mode.

When Ye Yuexin entered that state, he felt as though he had a mind's eye, with incredibly detailed awareness of everything around him.

His control over his flying daggers also reached its absolute limit.

The daggers were already extraordinarily sharp and swift, thanks to the incorporation of the Wind Transformation's elemental nature. With that state enhancing them, they seemed to undergo a qualitative change.

Now, when they passed through a tree thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around, they left no visible damage at all.

Even though he couldn't see it, Ye Yuexin could clearly sense that the daggers had pierced straight through.

Over these three days, Ye Yuexin had also found time to look over the ninjutsu the Third Hokage had awarded him.

Honestly, that jutsu was relatively simple for him.

After all, his specialty was compressing wind-nature chakra through elemental transformation and then firing it.

For Ye Yuexin, who could compress wind-nature chakra down to the size of a flying dagger, this was very easy.

So Ye Yuexin mastered it in just two hours.

And he had even brought his idea to life: he could kick out blades of wind with his feet.

But that really did consume a lot of chakra.

The first time Ye Yuexin tried it, he kicked out a wind blade about two meters long, then immediately felt a little drained.

Sigh, I guess only Kakashi, who was always running out of chakra because of his Sharingan, could understand this feeling of not having enough chakra.

To be honest, though, Ye Yuexin had plenty of chakra.

Don't forget that his chakra level was still that of a Genin.

For a Genin, Ye Yuexin's chakra reserves were already on the high side.

They had learned at the Ninja Academy that chakra gathered in the middle dantian.

When a Genin first condensed chakra, it appeared as a mist.

After becoming a Chunin, condensed chakra turned into a white flame,

and for a Jonin, it became a blue flame. At Kage Level, it was still a blue flame, but with a faint milky-white tint.

Ye Yuexin didn't know what the higher levels were like; they hadn't studied them at the Ninja Academy.

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

Tomorrow, he would be going on a mission. He felt no pressure at all about teaming up with these future Konoha elites.

He figured it would be better than teaming up with Itachi Uchiha anyway.

After packing up, he decided to go out for a meal to reward himself.

After all, Ye Yuexin had spent the past three days training.

It was time to relax.

The streets of Konoha still seemed as peaceful as ever; you couldn't tell that they were in the middle of a war.

Ye Yuexin slowly blended into the crowd and ambled toward the dango shop. He'd suddenly gotten a craving for grilled meatballs. Training had to alternate between tension and relaxation. Balancing work and rest was the way to improve faster. That was something he'd learned from his two years of experience.

Just then, a young woman in a kimono stopped him.

She had long black hair and delicate features, with willow-leaf brows. Most striking of all were her vivid lips.

He didn't know what kind of lipstick she used, but they were as red as blood.

She had a slender figure and was dressed elegantly, looking every bit like a well-bred young lady.

"Red, when did you get back from your mission?" Ye Yuexin asked, looking at the young woman before him.

Were things so relaxed at the front now that people could come back whenever they wanted?

Suddenly, when he saw Kurenai Yuhi, Ye Yuexin froze for a moment.

"Are you saying you don't want me around? I've been gone for so long, and the first thing you ask when we meet is why I came back? Wuwu, I'm so sad."

So gross. Ye Yuexin watched Kurenai Yuhi keep shooting him sidelong glances.

He rubbed his brow helplessly. "Stop messing around. That fake expression of yours is so gross, Red. I haven't even eaten yet."

After Ye Yuexin saw through her act, Kurenai Yuhi didn't look embarrassed at all.

She arched her brows. "I wasn't at the front. I only took a long-distance escort mission a while ago."

Since Ye Yuexin was even shorter than Kurenai Yuhi, she leaned her head down slightly as she moved closer to him. "But you seem to have made quite a name for yourself, Moonheart. I heard all about it as soon as I got back to the village. You're now Konoha's strongest Genin, someone who can take on an elite Jonin by yourself."

Hearing Kurenai Yuhi say that, Ye Yuexin could only feel awkward.

"It's all just rumors. Anyway, you're dressed so nicely. What are you planning to do?" Ye Yuexin quickly changed the subject.

At his words, Kurenai Yuhi covered her mouth and laughed.

"I heard all about your big news as soon as I got back. I happen to have a day to rest, so I was planning to ask you out to dinner tonight. I didn't expect to run into you like this."

Ye Yuexin didn't know how Kurenai Yuhi had turned out this way. She had always had a mature, alluring air, even as a child. Every move she made was captivating.

"Really? That's..." But before Ye Yuexin could finish, a fragrance wafted over and interrupted him.

At some point, Kurenai Yuhi had moved closer. She was now only a few centimeters from his face. "By the way, you've been working so hard. Does that mean you're ready to marry me?"