New Skill: Spirit Network

Hyuga Qingchuan returned home, first washing the clothes soaked in stinking sweat before taking a comfortable hot bath.

Feeling refreshed, he lay on his bed and rested with his eyes closed.

The moment he closed his eyes, he began unconsciously taking stock of his abilities.

The Quincy had given him powerful long-range capabilities.

When enemy intelligence was lacking, even a Ninja Academy student like him could kill a Chunin.

However, because his physical condition had yet to improve, his Quincy fusion rate was not very high.

This meant his Spirit Particle Gathering efficiency for forming arrows was likewise low.

Not only did it consume a great deal of energy, but it was also slow to form.

Therefore, Holy Arrow could only be useful when he had the initiative.

But putting all that aside, once he lost the initiative, things became difficult for him.

When he killed the two bounty-ninja brothers—

His first shot had killed one of them outright.

But after losing the initiative, he had racked his brains and laid trap after trap, yet had still nearly perished together with his opponent.

And that result had only been possible because his opponent had lost his reason in anger.

Therefore, he estimated that his overall strength was currently, at best, only slightly stronger than a Genin.

Given his current situation, although the Stone Gate occasionally bestowed its favor upon him—

Those favors were mostly skills and did little to improve his fundamental chakra reserves and physical condition.

No matter how many skills he had, they could only improve his all-around combat ability.

But the most basic foundation of a ninja's strength should come from talent, chakra reserves, aptitude, physical condition, and the like.

Skills could only be regarded as tools for utilizing those foundations—or amplifiers.

Take Flying Raijin, for example.

Flying Raijin was indeed a groundbreaking and incredibly powerful ninjutsu.

But its true strength lay in how perfectly it brought out Minato's talent for space-time techniques, exceptional neural reflexes, and learning ability.

Even if an ordinary person learned Flying Raijin, without reflexes as extraordinary as Minato's, teleporting in front of an enemy would only mean delivering themselves to their death.

The three people who had also learned Flying Raijin, including Shiranui Genma, could only use it for simple teleportation.

If there was still some room for debate with an S-rank ninjutsu like that—

Then Madara's Majestic Destroyer Flame perfectly explained what it meant to say:

"It wasn't that the ninjutsu was weak. The person using it was."

So, for his true hard-power improvement, he would still have to wait for his body to gradually grow and train.

Only after improving his chakra reserves and physical condition would he see a major leap forward.

But all of that takes time. How am I supposed to get through things before then?

The Third Shinobi World War is just around the corner. If I don't find my place before then, I'll be cannon fodder.

His head ached.

First, I'll put all the Energy Crystals I've accumulated recently into my fusion rate.

He entered his mindscape and discovered that, including today's thirty, he had accumulated ninety Energy Crystals.

He dumped all of them into his fusion rate at once.

The Energy Crystals were rapidly consumed, and his fusion rate continuously rose from 36.02%.

It abruptly stopped upon reaching 40%.

A line of text appeared.

[Your imprint fusion rate has reached 40%. You have unlocked a new racial skill.]

[Spirit Network—Compresses the scattered spiritual particles in the atmosphere and renders them visible in the form of ribbons or smoke. Can be used to quickly locate nearby targets or track their movements.]

Spirit Network?

Was that the one Uryu Ishida had used early on to show off in front of Ichigo?

He carefully sensed the details of the skill.

He discovered that, just like Holy Arrow, because he could not perceive spiritual energy, the substance being compressed had become chakra instead.

With a thought, he activated the skill.

Around his body, numerous ribbons spread outward like blooming flower buds.

The ribbons drifted and swayed in the air, some white and some blue.

He grabbed one that was relatively close.

He found that it was actually his grandmother's aura.

Could it even detect ordinary people?

Then this blue one belonged to a ninja.

He sensed another blue ribbon nearby and found that it was actually Hyuga Kaze's aura.

He reached out and grabbed it, confirming that it was indeed him. He was in the kitchen.

His father had actually returned from a mission.

He was immensely excited and began sensing, one by one, whom each ribbon belonged to.

Some he recognized, while others he did not.

During the process, he discovered that this skill had another method of activation.

He could activate it within his consciousness without needing to manifest it.

The range would be much smaller, though.

However, that did not matter much for people with keen senses and high spiritual pressure.

That was also why captain-level individuals were rarely seen using Spirit Network later on.

They could simply sense within their consciousness, which was far faster than manifesting it directly.

He compared it to the Byakugan's sensing ability.

He found that when using Spirit Network within his consciousness, its range was considerably smaller than the Byakugan's.

But its advantage was that it activated faster than the Byakugan; with a single thought, he could sense everything.

Once manifested, however, Spirit Network was no less capable than the Byakugan's perception.

If he increased its output, its sensing range could even exceed the Byakugan's.

At the same time, the details it perceived differed from those sensed by the Byakugan, each having its own strengths.

It was like visible light and invisible light—the details they used to perceive the world were different.

Thus, the worlds they presented each emphasized different details.

"This is an excellent supplement to the Byakugan's perception."

Hyuga Qingchuan nodded, deeply satisfied.

He added the final ten Energy Crystals to his fusion rate as well.

His fusion rate rose again, stopping at 40.52%.

The Energy Crystals had been completely used up.

He looked over his personal information.

-------------------------

Racial Imprint: Quincy (Ordinary, Fusion Rate: 40.52%)

Talent Skill: Spirit Particle Gathering

Racial Skills: Holy Arrow, Spirit Network

Emblem: Innate Full Soul Power

Bloodline Limit: Byakugan

Chakra Attributes: Water, Lightning

Energy Crystals: 0

-------------------------

This time it was Spirit Network. He wondered what skill would unlock next time.

The Quincy had plenty of good things.

Hyuga Qingchuan looked forward to it immensely.

Afterward, he changed into clean clothes and decided to go outside for some fresh air.

Walking down the street, Hyuga Qingchuan took in the sights of Konoha's streets.

Before he knew it, the holiday was nearly over.

When he had first transmigrated here, he had resisted this world.

But now, he had fully integrated into it.

He realized that Konoha Village's commercial district was highly developed, with every kind of industry imaginable.

It was hard to imagine that a settlement of this scale was named with an administrative designation as small as "village."

As he passed a crossroads—

He suddenly sensed something unusual behind him. In his perception, a gaze had fallen upon him...

Hyuga Qingchuan continued walking forward without revealing anything.

With his current strength, and without activating the Byakugan—

He should not have been able to sense someone behind him.

Besides, this was inside the village. Safety should have been guaranteed.

"Hyuga Qingchuan!"

A cold, steady voice devoid of emotion came from behind him.

Only then did Hyuga Qingchuan turn around as though he had been suddenly called, his expression carrying just the right amount of confusion.

Sure enough, on the rooftop of a house diagonally behind him, a ninja wearing an animal mask was staring down at him.

ANBU?

Or Root?

Seeing his bewildered expression, the other party lightly leaped down from the roof and landed without a sound.

"I am an ANBU operative. Codename: Wildcat."