Over the next few days,
Life in the camp continued in a tense calm.
Yet Hyuga Tianyi felt that every day was incredibly fulfilling, even somewhat insufficient.
Like a parched sponge, he greedily absorbed every bit of nourishment he could come into contact with.
During the day, he trained at the training ground with Nawaki and Moonlight Kaede.
At night, after Nawaki and Kaede had gone to sleep, he quietly left and headed into a dense forest.
Referencing the water cutter in his materials, he adjusted it bit by bit.
Failure, adjustment, failure again, adjustment again... In the silent mountain hollow,
There was only the faint sound of flowing water, rustling leaves, and his gasps from excessive chakra consumption.
Time flew by amid his focused experiments.
Until the late night of the fifth day.
In the forest, Tianyi faced a large tree fifteen meters ahead.
His expression was calm, his gaze focused.
Above his right palm floated a water sphere no larger than a pigeon egg.
Inside the water sphere, countless particles could faintly be seen swirling at high speed.
He locked onto the center of the trunk ahead, and with a thought,
"Screee!"
An extremely brief, piercing shriek rang out!
A stream of water no thicker than a pen refill shot forth! It was incredibly fast.
The tree ahead offered no resistance at all, leaving behind only a hole.
Then the waterline pierced the rock behind the tree and emerged from the other side.
Its remaining momentum did not fade, boring a tiny hole of unknown depth into the mountain farther behind it.
Tianyi dispersed his chakra and walked over to the trunk.
He reached out and touched the edge of the hole. It was smooth and faintly warm.
Looking closer, the hole ran through the tree trunk, the rock, and all the way to the distant mountainside!
Tianyi then raised his hand and looked at it, recalling the power from moments ago.
Even his own eyes flashed with a hint of shock.
"It worked..." Tianyi let out a long breath of stale air.
At last, the most relaxed smile he had worn in days appeared on his face.
Though the consumption was greater and the control more difficult, its power far exceeded expectations.
This proved that the idea of scientifically optimizing ninjutsu was not only correct, but held enormous potential.
He looked up at the sky, which was about to brighten with dawn, and composed himself.
He swiftly erased the minor traces of his practice, then silently disappeared into the fading night and returned to camp.
Back in bed, Tianyi considered this ninjutsu's strengths and weaknesses.
As for its strengths, the first was concealment. The more powerful any ninjutsu was, the greater its chakra fluctuations.
But his water cutter was essentially a pure physical phenomenon driven by chakra: creating high pressure, then releasing it.
The chakra fluctuations when it activated were exceptionally faint. After repeated testing and sensing,
They were only equivalent to an ordinary C-rank ninjutsu, making them easy for opponents to overlook or underestimate.
Its second strength was penetration. An ultra-high-pressure water jet, especially one mixed with abrasives,
Had cutting power based on pure physical laws.
As long as the pressure was sufficient and the chakra control precise enough,
It could absolutely ignore most conventional defenses built upon chakra strength or special properties.
Earth-Style Wall? Water Formation Wall? Even some chakra shields? Before a sufficiently high-pressure water cutter,
They would likely be pierced like paper. In terms of point-to-point penetrating destructive power alone, calling it S-rank would not be excessive.
Finally, it required no hand seals, nor did he need to consider the coordination of chakra pathways. Once proficient, it would activate extremely quickly.
As for its weaknesses, the first was its limited range.
At present, even when giving it his all, its range while maintaining sufficient cutting power was only around twenty meters.
Beyond that distance, air resistance,
And problems with its own stability would cause it to weaken rapidly, its power dropping in a straight line.
Second, using it carried considerable risk.
At best, the ninjutsu would fail. At worst, the high-pressure water sphere would explode in his palm or before him.
Its power was enough to backfire on its user. That meant it could not be used in intense close combat.
But before its unparalleled concealment and near-bug-level penetrating power,
Those flaws were not unacceptable.
"Next, the main focus will be compression and formation speed."
Tianyi's eyes burned in the darkness.
"I have to reduce the ninjutsu's activation time to under two seconds!
And even aim for instant activation."
This ninjutsu attacked with a waterline. Its original modern industrial name was a water cutter.
Then it would be called Water Release: Waterline Slash!
With another thought, the Book of Ten Thousand Worlds' attribute panel unfolded.
Tianyi's gaze swiftly moved downward and stopped on the [Mastered Skills] section.
Sure enough, beneath the existing entries, a new line had appeared:
Release: Waterline Slash (Beginner)
"As expected..." His heart stirred as he looked at the "Beginner" suffix.
A powerful urge rose within him to add that one attribute point to it.
But in the end, he suppressed the impulse.
Attribute points were too precious, and there were currently too few ways to obtain them.
Unless he was at a life-or-death juncture and urgently needed this skill to undergo an instant qualitative leap to break the deadlock,
Otherwise... he could not spend them on a single skill.
Closing the panel, his thoughts returned to his next plans.
His offensive capabilities had been strengthened. Next, he needed to fill in the gaps in interference and concealment techniques.
Only concealment and interference could fully bring out the abilities of his Byakugan.
"Hidden Mist Technique, Earth Dragon Hide Technique..." He silently recited the names of those two target ninjutsu.
The most likely route at present was undoubtedly...
"Orochimaru." Tianyi pictured that figure in his mind.
One of the future Legendary Sannin, though he had not yet fully revealed the obsession and madness of his later years,
His interest in "things of value" was obvious.
His act of saving Nawaki had undoubtedly already caught Orochimaru's attention.
He had even received an initial investment. Using that as a bridge,
Attempting a deeper exchange of value might be feasible.
"I need to show enough value or potential for him to consider investing in me worthwhile."
Tianyi silently pondered what could truly move this research-minded ninja.
At that thought, he could not help comparing them to the Hyuga Clan he had been born into.
"For hundreds of years, they've done nothing but stubbornly cling to that Gentle Fist close-combat system..."
Tianyi was speechless. Gentle Fist was indeed exceptional in close combat.
The idea of using the Pressure Point Technique to seal chakra was also sound, but its limitations were far too great!
Its attack range was a fatal weakness, and it lacked effective long-range and group attack methods.
There were too few tactical options. Had the Hyuga Clan ever produced top-tier experts in its history?
Perhaps, but they had absolutely never reached the level of a Kage.
Not even mentioning existences like Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara, who could suppress an entire era alone.
They would struggle to even produce a ninja at the level of the Fourth Kazekage.
All their glory and the title of Leaf Village's foremost clan,
Before the Uchiha Clan was exterminated, how much of it had truly been supported by strength?
The more he thought about it, the more ironic it seemed.
Even to obtain a decent ninjutsu, he had to turn to others.
But first, he had to tell Commander Tian this good news.
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