Chakra Refinement Technique

After more than a month of school, the children of Sunagakure's Ninja Academy finally reached the first true threshold of their ninja careers—the study of the Chakra Refinement Technique.

The atmosphere in the cave classroom was more solemn than ever before. Standing on the platform were not only Chunin Arai, but also two stern-faced Special Jonin. Their sharp gazes swept over every child below like hawks, and the invisible pressure made even the most mischievous Hushan shrink his neck and dare not act out.

"What I'm teaching you today is the foundation of everything a ninja does—the Chakra Refinement Technique!" Teacher Arai's voice was unusually stern, even carrying a note of warning. "Listen carefully! Chakra is a form of life energy produced by the perfect fusion of mental energy and physical energy! It is not limitless. Excessive refinement can seriously damage the foundation of your bodies and may even endanger your lives!"

He paused, his gaze turning colder. "Therefore, the village has decreed that until you have fully mastered it and can control it freely, no one is allowed to refine chakra privately without the supervision of an instructor or a ninja guardian from your family! Do you understand?! This is not a joke. Violators will be severely punished!"

The classroom was utterly silent. The children only half understood, but all of them were intimidated by their teacher's unprecedented seriousness.

Shaye sat quietly in the corner, understanding at once. This rule seemed harsh and rigid, but it was actually necessary protection. For children who had only just come into contact with the ninja path and had weak awareness and control over their own bodies, blindly refining chakra without supervision was no different from playing with fire. At the same time, he clearly sensed the disparity hidden behind this rule—children with ninja parents could naturally practice more at home under their parents' watch, while children from civilian families could only seize the limited time available in class. Their starting points were already different.

He could not help thinking of his father, Shaliu. His father had never allowed him to engage with anything related to ninjutsu at home, especially chakra refinement. He had once thought his father was merely being overprotective, but now he understood that Shaliu knew his physical foundation was too weak. Contact with this kind of energy extraction too early would do him more harm than good.

"Now, everyone, sit cross-legged! Close your eyes and cast aside distracting thoughts!" Another Special Jonin began guiding them. His voice was comparatively gentle as he led the children into the proper state. "Feel every cell in your bodies. Physical energy lies within them. Focus your minds—that is the power of your thoughts... Try to guide these two powers out carefully, then slowly, slowly bring them together at your abdomen and merge them..."

Shaye followed the instructions. For him, "focusing his mind" and "casting aside distracting thoughts" were practically instinctive. The immense mental energy carried by his soul from another world was like a silent deep sea, instantly stirred into motion, dense and pure.

However, when he tried to sense the so-called "physical energy," he encountered a tremendous obstacle.

This prematurely born body had an incomplete foundation. Its cellular vitality was far below that of ordinary people, like barren, parched land. The "physical energy" that could be squeezed out was minuscule, scattered, and weak. His powerful mental energy was like a surging river, yet it could not find enough matching physical energy to merge with.

With every attempt at guidance, that faint physical energy seemed as though it would be scattered and swallowed by his vast mental power. This was not because his control was insufficient. On the contrary, his mental control was too strong, making the extreme frailty of his physical energy all the more apparent. The proportions of the two were severely unbalanced, making stable fusion impossible.

Changes gradually began appearing throughout the classroom.

The sturdy boy named Black Ant was the first to display an extremely faint energy fluctuation around his body. Though rough, it carried a wild vitality. Teacher Arai walked over and sensed it carefully before giving a rare nod. "Not bad. Keep it steady."

Soon afterward, several other children born into ninja families, or those with strong physical foundations, also began sensing energy. Faint, nearly imperceptible fluctuations spread from their bodies.

Most of the civilian children, however—including the timid Keli and the stiff Wenshu—still wore blank expressions. They frowned anxiously, trying hard but unable to find the right approach. The troublemaker Hushan had long since lost patience, secretly opening his eyes to peek around.

Shaye, meanwhile, had fallen into a unique predicament.

Fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and his face grew even paler than usual. To outsiders, he looked no different from the children unable to sense energy, perhaps even more strained because of his frail body. Only he knew that it was not that he "could not sense it," but that he "could not balance it."

His mental world roiled like a stormy sea, while his body was like a battered little boat, utterly incapable of bearing or responding to that power. Every attempt at fusion was like striking a slender embroidery needle with a massive hammer. The only result was that the needle bent or even snapped. Waves of weakness and stabbing pain rose from deep within his body.

Time passed second by second.

Under the individual guidance of the two Special Jonin, more and more children successfully refined their first trace of chakra, and excited smiles appeared on their faces.

Shaye was still stuck in place. He could even clearly "see within" the unbalanced energy field, yet he could not solve the fundamental problem—his body was too weak.

Teacher Arai walked over to him and sensed him, his brows drawing tightly together. He could not feel the surging mental power within Shaye. All he could sense was the lack of physical energy and the extreme difficulty of fusion.

"His physical foundation is too poor!" Arai said bluntly in a low voice to the colleague beside him, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness. "At this rate, it'll be difficult for him to refine chakra. Forcing it will only hurt him."

Shaye heard those words, but he did not give up. He stopped trying to "merge" the energies. Instead, he used all of his formidable control for an extraordinarily delicate task—as though operating under a microscope. From the barren land of his body, he slowly and carefully "drew out" thread by thread of that negligible physical energy, then guided mental energy that had likewise been compressed to its limit toward it, attempting contact at an almost stagnant pace.

It was painstaking work, with absurdly high demands on control.

As the class neared its end, most of the children had already experienced the sensation of chakra and were excitedly whispering among themselves. Even Keli and Wenshu had barely succeeded once with the teachers' help.

Only Shaye remained with his eyes tightly closed, struggling alone.

Teacher Arai checked the time, shook his head, and prepared to announce the end of class.

At that moment, Shaye's body gave an extremely slight tremor.

A stream of energy thinner than a hair, so faint it was nearly impossible to detect, finally fused together with difficulty and only briefly under his precise control. At his lower abdomen, it formed an exceedingly weak trace of aura, as though it might extinguish at any moment.

He had succeeded!

Yet the sensation of success was so weak that even Teacher Arai beside him did not notice at first. It was only when the other Special Jonin, whose senses were sharper, gave a surprised "Hm?" and looked closely at Shaye.

"Arai, wait... This child seems to have... succeeded?"

Teacher Arai froze, then immediately bent down to sense him carefully. After a long moment, he confirmed it in disbelief. "...He really did it? It's so weak... but it is indeed chakra."

He looked at Shaye with a complicated expression. This might have been the weakest chakra, and the most arduous refinement process, he had ever seen. But in the end, it was still a success.

Shaye slowly opened his eyes and let out a long, exhausted breath. All color had drained from his little face, as though he had just recovered from a serious illness. Yet deep within his black eyes, a nearly imperceptible glimmer flashed.

Though it was only a trace, so weak it could be ignored.

It meant that the door leading to that world had finally been pried open by him, in the clumsiest and most difficult way, by a crack too small to see.

He was the last in the class, and also the one who had struggled the most.

(End of Chapter)