Chapter 36

"When the time comes, we can just set out from Loguetown."

"Warship Island isn't far from there, right? I remember you mentioning it."

"Yeah."

Xunjing nodded firmly. "It's not far at all. A day's voyage at most."

"But speaking of which, exploring the map is a real pain without something that can fly."

"Mom, have you found a suitable flying mount yet?"

A flying mount would make things much faster.

Otherwise, who knew how long it would take to unlock all those islands one by one?

It was far too slow.

"I have a lead."

Uchiha Chisato shook her head. "I've had our clansmen asking around these past few days."

"Three days ago, word came back from the Land of Rivers. They found a giant eagle ninja beast."

"If everything goes smoothly, they should bring it back tomorrow or the day after."

"But there's another problem."

"Can a ninja beast be brought straight into the Pirate World?"

"Or do you need to form a contract first?"

"Do you also have to get it to like you?"

If so, that would take quite a bit more time.

"Uh..."

Xunjing paused. "That depends on how smart it is. If it's highly intelligent, I'll need to spend more time with it."

"If the eagle hasn't developed full intelligence, I can force a contract on it, or just use the Space-Time Gate as a stepping stone to bring it along."

Ultimately, that rule existed to keep Xunjing safe.

Otherwise, things could easily go horribly wrong.

If he wasn't transporting someone between worlds and was merely putting them into the Space-Time Gate Space, there weren't nearly as many restrictions.

As long as he deprived them of the strength to resist, he could take them straight inside.

He had already verified that the last time he asked Rayleigh to hunt Sea Kings.

After all, the higher a Sea King's rank, the more developed its intelligence was.

Those giant Sea Kings over a thousand meters long even had complete languages of their own. They could understand human speech and communicate with people.

"Then you'll have to put some effort into getting this ninja eagle to like you first."

"After all, ninja beasts are generally intelligent. Some powerful ones can even speak human languages outright."

Uchiha Chisato reminded him from beside him.

"Sure. I'll just build a bond with it over time."

Xunjing nodded in understanding. "Ninja beasts aren't like humans. Their minds aren't as complicated, so it's easier to win them over."

"I'll feed it plenty of Sea King meat and Nutrient Pills. It probably won't take long to meet the contract requirements."

If only humans were that easy to win over, things would be much simpler.

"That's true."

Uchiha Chisato nodded. "Then it's settled."

A few hours later,

Xunjing finally finished reading through all the Sealing Arts and related knowledge he had acquired this time.

He hadn't skipped the Flying Thunder God Technique, either. He read it from beginning to end and committed everything to memory.

Of course, mastering all of them would still take a great deal of practice.

After dinner,

Xunjing officially began cultivating chakra.

This was his first time extracting chakra, and his first proper cultivation session since successfully awakening his talent.

The moment he activated the refinement technique, Xunjing found the entire process unbelievably smooth.

It was nothing like the struggle he had experienced before.

What's more, with just a gentle push, he easily produced a considerable amount of chakra.

The energy contained in each cell was dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of times greater than it had been a month ago.

After his first success, Xunjing didn't stop. He continued practicing the Chakra Refinement Technique over and over, steadily mastering it while pushing hard to raise his chakra capacity.

[You practiced the Chakra Refinement Technique. Proficiency +30, chakra +10.]

[You practiced the Chakra Refinement Technique. Proficiency +40, chakra +10.]

[You practiced the Chakra Refinement Technique. Proficiency +52, chakra +12.]

As his proficiency climbed, both his efficiency in using cellular energy and his extraction speed improved rapidly.

The amount of chakra he could produce each time also rose steadily.

His total chakra reserves surged even faster.

Some people claimed that a ninja's chakra capacity was fixed at birth and couldn't be increased through ordinary cultivation.

Xunjing had only just become proficient in the Chakra Refinement Technique, which drew energy from every single cell. Once he mastered that process, only two paths remained for increasing his capacity: wait for his body to grow naturally, or train his body hard enough to make his cells more resilient and capable of storing more chakra.

His mental strength had to keep up, too. But sufficiently intense taijutsu training would naturally strengthen his mind as well, just more slowly. In short, the body and soul had always progressed together.

Xunjing was still far from being able to "extract energy from every cell instantly," so his chakra reserves continued to soar. From 0.1 Kakashi units to 0.2, then 0.5... he only stopped when he reached 1.5. By then, he had mastered his Chakra Refinement Technique.

The panel clearly displayed: [Uchiha Chakra Refinement Technique (29,851/100,000, perfection)]

With excellent comprehension and great talent, he naturally progressed quickly. Besides, the technique itself wasn't difficult.

He muttered, "I'll need a few more days to fully perfect it and break its limits. I wonder what I'll comprehend after that? Could I start cultivating immortality outright? Or push the refinement technique to another level?"

On further thought, cultivating immortality outright wasn't very realistic. The leap was too great, and he hadn't even encountered natural energy yet.

"But if I can break the limits of a Sage Art Cultivation Method, I might be able to elevate it into a path to immortality."

Shikkotsu Forest should have sage arts hidden away. He had already become Tsunade's student, so he could find an opportunity to obtain Katsuyu's Summoning Contract later. When the time was right, he would learn from the Slug Sage.

Deep down, though, Xunjing wanted to create sage arts suited to humans, or even a method for cultivating immortality, rather than those half-baked monster paths. After all that training in the Toad Sage Art, Jiraiya still ended up with toad warts on his face. Something was clearly wrong with that.

"Next, I should work on chakra control."

He cast aside his stray thoughts, opened the door, and walked into the backyard. A large tree stood beside the little training ground. He stopped in front of it, gathered chakra in the soles of his feet, and stepped onto the trunk.

Crack! The bark shattered, sending wood fragments flying.

Too much. He quickly reduced the amount and tried again.

This time, his foot held firm.

A new entry appeared in the panel's skill section.

Uchiha Chisato nodded gently, resting a hand on his head as she said warmly, "All right, get some rest early."

"Got it!"

Xunjing answered, then turned and returned to his room.

The night passed quietly.

At first light,

Mother and son had breakfast with Mikoto. The meal was made with Sea King meat, and it tasted good.

After breakfast, the three went to the little training ground in the backyard, sat cross-legged together, and began practicing the Life-Nourishing Art.

[You consumed Sea King meat to support your practice of the Life-Nourishing Art. Proficiency +10, lifespan +9, life origin +0.03.]

"The Life-Nourishing Art is still some way from perfection."

"Once I reach that level, its lifespan-extending effects should become more pronounced."

"Just thinking about it makes me excited."

"I wonder what it'll become after I break its limits, though."

Xunjing practiced the Life-Nourishing Art five times, only stopping once he had digested most of the food in his stomach.

He went to take a shower first, then returned to the backyard.

While occasionally guiding his mother and Mikoto through the finer points of the Life-Nourishing Art, he began practicing hand seals.

There was no rush to learn ninjutsu. Improving his chakra control and hand seal speed came first.

With sharp tools, chopping wood would be easy.

A few days wouldn't matter.

The time he saved once he started training in earnest would make it worthwhile.

[You practiced hand seals and successfully acquired the skill: Hand Seals. Hand Seals proficiency +1.]

[You practiced hand seals. Hand Seals proficiency +2.]

[You practiced hand seals. Hand Seals proficiency +3.]

Perhaps Xunjing's recovered body already had a solid foundation, or perhaps the Life-Nourishing Art had improved his coordination, on top of his already decent constitution and comprehension.