Guy's Guidance

When the door to the training room was kicked open again, Takuma was attempting to make two vines perform different movements simultaneously.

As a result, the two vines tangled together and tied his hands into a tight knot.

"Yo, young man! I heard you've come up with something interesting!"

Might Guy stood in the doorway, his thick eyebrows glistening in the sunlight as he grinned, revealing his signature sparkling smile.

Behind him followed Rock Lee, leaning on crutches, and Tenten, who wore an expression that clearly said, "I don't know these two people."

"Guy-sensei insisted on coming to take a look."

Tenten sighed, "I couldn't stop him."

"Of course you couldn't! Youth does not allow one to miss any passionate moments!"

Guy strode into the training room. Seeing Takuma tied up like a rice dumpling by his own vines, he froze for a moment before tears suddenly gushed from his eyes.

"So moving! You're actually fighting against yourself, young man! This is youth!"

"Guy-sensei, he just messed up the operation." Tenten debunked him with a deadpan expression.

Takuma finally untied the vines and stood up, shaking out his wrists.

To be honest, being cornered in a training room by Konoha's Blue Beast was quite stressful.

"Tenten says you're creating your own Ninjutsu?"

Guy wiped away his tears and looked at Takuma earnestly, "Let me see."

Takuma hesitated for a moment, then extended his right hand.

Green patterns lit up on his palm, and a deep green vine as thick as a thumb emerged, slowly growing to about a meter in length.

Guy leaned in to observe, reaching out to pinch the surface of the vine.

"The hardness is decent. What about the growth speed?"

Takuma channeled his Chakra, and the vine grew another half-meter.

"How long does it take from forming the hand signs to full deployment?"

"About... two seconds."

Guy shook his head.

"Too slow."

Guy stepped back two paces and crossed his arms, "Two seconds is enough for an enemy to kill you three times."

"You're using hand signs to control it, right?" Guy asked.

"Yes, the same process as standard Ninjutsu—"

"Wrong."

Guy interrupted him. His voice lacked its usual passionate high pitch, replaced instead by steady instruction, "This isn't Ninjutsu, young man."

Takuma blinked in surprise.

"Ninjutsu is something you create and then it's done."

Guy held out his hand, showing Takuma his bandages, "Once a Fire Release is sprayed out, you don't need to worry about it anymore; once a Water Release is released, you can't take it back. But look at this."

The bandages were wrapped around Guy's wrists. As his fingers moved slightly, the ends of the bandages swayed flexibly, as if they had a life of their own.

"This is my weapon, and it is also a part of my body."

Guy said, "I don't need hand signs to control these bandages. I want them to move, and they move. What do you want that vine to do?"

"Restrain enemies, assist in defense, coordinate attacks—"

"Then it shouldn't be a dead vine."

Guy held up a finger, "Treat the vine as an extension of your body, not as a product of Ninjutsu. Does your hand need to form hand signs to move?"

Takuma was stunned.

He looked down at the vine in his palm.

The vine hung there quietly, motionless.

It was indeed alive; it could sense Chakra and could be controlled.

But the method of control was through Chakra commands, just like operating a puppet—issue an order, wait for execution.

No wonder Tenten could easily cut off its path with a Shuriken.

Because that wasn't a "reaction," it was "executing an order."

"Guy-sensei..." Takuma looked up, "Could you demonstrate?"

Guy grinned, his teeth flashing with a glint.

"Watch closely!"

With a wave of his arm, the white bandages flew out like a nimble snake, carving an arc through the air and precisely wrapping around a wooden training post in the corner.

It was a pure physical movement; the bandages were like an extension of his arm.

"Again!"

The bandages released the post, recoiled in mid-air, wrapped around a second post, and then swung back to wrap around a third.

The three bandages tightened simultaneously, pulling the three posts together with a dull thud.

Guy retracted the bandages and looked at Takuma: "Do you understand?"

Takuma nodded slowly.

Don't use Chakra to control the vine.

Use the body to perceive the vine, turning the vine into a part of your fingers, your wrist, your arm.

"But... the vine is a product of Chakra, not a physical weapon—"

"That's exactly why you need to do this even more!" Guy slapped Takuma's shoulder heavily, nearly knocking him to the ground.

"Precisely because it's made of Chakra, it's more flexible than bandages! Bandages have a length limit, but your vine can grow, can branch out, and can be repaired at any time! The potential of this thing is much higher than my bandages!"

Takuma rubbed his sore shoulder, but his mind suddenly cleared.

That was it.

He had been researching the Mimicry Wood Release as a Ninjutsu, obsessing over Chakra ratios, stability, and hand sign speed.

But the vine was essentially a living Chakra product; it should be more flexible than any inanimate weapon.

"Let's try again." Guy retreated to the wall and beckoned to Tenten, "Tenten, attack him with Shuriken."

Tenten took out three Shuriken: "What intensity?"

"Normal is fine."

"He'll get hit—"

"Then let him get hit."

Guy looked at Takuma seriously, "Pain is the best teacher. Young man, are you afraid of pain?"

Takuma remembered the training sessions for the Eight Inner Gates and swallowed hard.

"...I am."

"Even if you're afraid, you must do it! This is youth!"

Tenten sighed helplessly. With a flick of her wrist, the three Shuriken shot out in a triangular formation.

Takuma instinctively formed hand signs.

The vine had just begun to grow when the Shuriken were already before him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With three crisp sounds, Tenten threw three of her own Shuriken to deflect her own attack.

"Your vine is too slow." Tenten frowned, "If I were an enemy, you'd already have three holes in you."

"Don't help him, let him do it himself. Young man, stop thinking about hand signs. Close your eyes."

Takuma hesitated, then closed his eyes.

"Feel the vine in your hand. It is a part of your body. If someone attacks you, your body will dodge automatically, right? Let the vine learn to dodge, learn to block."

Spider-Sense was a warning system.

If he linked his Spider-Sense with the vine, it wouldn't need to pass through his brain; the moment he sensed it, the vine would react automatically—

The sound of Shuriken cutting through the air.

Spider-Sense issued a warning.

Takuma didn't open his eyes, didn't form hand signs, but instinctively raised his hand.

The vine in his palm shot out, sweeping across the air.

One Shuriken was knocked away.

The other two weren't blocked; one grazed his ear, and the other embedded itself in the wall behind him.

"Progress!" Guy's eyes were wet with tears, "It only took three seconds to make progress! My blood is boiling!"

"Again." Takuma opened his eyes. This time he didn't close them, but stared intently at Tenten's hands.

Tenten threw five Shuriken this time.

The vine popped out automatically, sweeping two away in mid-air.

At the same time, another vine shot out from his left hand, blocking one.

Two more hit their mark—one stuck in his shoulder, and one grazed his thigh.

Tenten was about to stop, but Takuma shook his head and pulled out the Kunai.

"Continue. These minor wounds are nothing."

With the Wolverine Healing Factor combined with the Senju physique, these flesh wounds would knit together in a dozen seconds.

Tenten bit her lip and took out eight more Shuriken. The training lasted for two hours.

Takuma's clothes were shredded by the Shuriken, but the success rate of the vine's interceptions increased from twenty percent at the start to fifty percent.

By the end of the training, he could already have two vines intercepting Shuriken from different directions simultaneously in mid-air. Although the success rate was only fifty percent, the reaction speed of the vines was already much faster than it had been initially.

"Do you see?" Guy stood on the sidelines, arms crossed, "You aren't using Ninjutsu now; you're using your body. The reaction speed of the vine depends on your body's instincts, not your hand sign speed."

Takuma retracted the vines and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Guy-sensei."

"Don't thank me!" Guy gave a thumbs up, his teeth flashing, "Guiding the younger generation is the responsibility of the seniors! This is youth!"

"Guy-sensei." Tenten said quietly from the side, "Did you forget that you were supposed to take Neji to train today?"

Guy froze for a moment, then jumped up abruptly.

"Oh no! I'm going to be late! Lee, Tenten, let's go!"

Before leaving, Guy looked back at Takuma.

"Young man, I have high hopes for the potential of that Ninjutsu of yours. Wood Release is a power that can pacify chaotic times. Although your vines are still weak, you're on the right track. Practice hard, and don't embarrass youth during the Chunin Exams!"

The three of them left in a flurry, Lee's crutches clattering rapidly.

Takuma stood where he was, looking down at the vine patterns on his palm.

Treat it as an extension of his body.

Not Ninjutsu, but a limb.

He moved his fingers slightly, and the vine emerged from his palm, bending flexibly with the movement of his fingers.