Sensory Jutsu

The only B-rank Sensory Jutsu in Kumogakure was called Chakra Sensing.

It was a jutsu that detected chakra fluctuations within a certain range.

This jutsu required a medium.

Under normal circumstances, the caster used the earth as the medium.

For example, Minato Namikaze had once touched the ground with a finger in the original story, using the earth as a medium to distinguish other chakra sources.

Of course, if this jutsu were developed to an advanced level, it should be possible to use the air directly as a medium.

Chiba Shun was still a beginner and did not aim too high. Following the method written on the scroll, he formed twenty-three hand seals, pressed one finger against the ground, and used his soul perception to sense the chakra fluctuations reaching his finger from all directions.

This sensory jutsu had two difficulties.

The first difficulty was also the first and most crucial step of this sensory jutsu: how to draw upon one's own soul.

If one could not draw upon the power of the soul, it meant one lacked the talent to cultivate sensory jutsu.

Following the scroll's instructions, Chiba Shun closed his eyes. The free hand maintained a hand seal, while he emptied his mind as much as possible and focused all his attention on the finger pressed against the ground.

At first, Chiba Shun did not sense anything, and for a time, he thought he lacked talent for sensory jutsu.

No talent was no talent, but it meant he had wasted an opportunity to learn a B-rank Jutsu.

There were already few B-rank Jutsu in Kumogakure that suited him. Now there was one fewer, and Chiba Shun found that regrettable.

Still, unwilling to give up on the slightest possibility, Chiba Shun maintained that state for quite a long time.

Finally, Chiba Shun's body swayed as if someone had pushed him.

He opened his eyes and looked around.

But there was no one around. He was the only person in the entire training ground.

After blanking out for a moment, Chiba Shun finally realized what had happened. No one had pushed him; he had sensed chakra fluctuations spreading toward him from a certain direction.

Success!

Chiba Shun was a little excited. This proved that he had talent for sensory jutsu!

After taking several deep breaths, he formed the hand seals again, closed his eyes, pressed the fingers of his left hand against the ground, maintained the seal with his right hand, and tried his best to sense the point where his finger touched the earth.

This time, it did not take long before Chiba Shun once again felt as if someone were pushing him.

However, Chiba Shun did not move or cancel the sensory jutsu. He carefully distinguished the direction, then murmured, "Front left."

The chakra source at his front left was continuously transmitting chakra fluctuations toward Chiba Shun's palm.

Chiba Shun controlled himself and tried not to focus on that chakra fluctuation. Instead, he carefully distinguished the other directions.

Very soon, he sensed a second source, then a third.

"There's someone to the right as well, and someone behind me to the left. No, there are two people in that direction."

Chiba Shun opened his eyes, withdrew his hands, and got up to inspect the three directions he had sensed one by one.

The person at his front left was the closest, and he found him quickly. It was a Chunin instructor from the Ninja Academy, teaching a group of children who had not yet extracted chakra how to practice taijutsu.

Chiba Shun only glanced over from afar before heading to the next location.

To the right was the Ninja Academy principal's office. If nothing unexpected had happened, the person there should have been Aoki Yuyi.

Chiba Shun did not disturb Aoki Yuyi.

The two people behind him to the left were two Ninja Academy students engaged in sparring practice.

Chiba Shun returned to his original spot, recalled the intensity of the three chakra sources and their distances from him, then began practicing again.

After casting it several times, Chiba Shun completed the first step and could sense the directions of chakra sources.

What Chiba Shun did not know was that some Kumogakure ninja had also learned this B-rank Jutsu.

However, most of them had only mastered the first step. They could sense the direction of chakra sources but could not determine their distance.

The first step mainly depended on talent. Those with talent could naturally accomplish it.

But the second step was difficult. It required further determining how near or far the chakra source was.

Fortunately, the scroll also contained detailed instructions for this step.

Chiba Shun closed his eyes again. After forming hand seals with both hands, he pressed a finger from his left hand against the ground while keeping his right hand in its seal.

This time, however, Chiba Shun directly sent some chakra from his left hand into the ground.

That chakra did not spread too far from Chiba Shun. Instead, it formed a circle around him with a diameter of roughly one meter.

This was not too difficult for Chiba Shun. His chakra control was barely sufficient for this.

The crucial part came next. Chiba Shun began sensing the chakra fluctuations received by his circle of chakra.

Before long, Chiba Shun sensed the chakra fluctuations of that Chunin instructor.

This time, however, Chiba Shun began distinguishing the different times at which the other person's chakra fluctuations touched various points on his circle.

It was difficult at first. Chiba Shun spent more than half a day before he could distinguish them.

By then, the Chunin instructor had already left, so Chiba Shun practiced using Aoki Yuyi's chakra fluctuations.

Aoki Yuyi was processing Ninja Academy documents. He would not be leaving his office anytime soon.

As though time had slowed, Chiba Shun "watched" Aoki Yuyi's chakra fluctuations slowly touch his circle from the right, then gradually spread inward.

When Aoki Yuyi's chakra fluctuations reached the center of the circle, Chiba Shun suddenly called out in his heart, Stop.

Of course, Aoki Yuyi's chakra fluctuations did not actually stop.

Chiba Shun had merely memorized their position at that moment.

He opened his eyes and drew a circle centered on himself. First, he made a mark in the initial direction—the right—to indicate Aoki Yuyi's location.

Then he made two more marks in two other places.

Together with the center where he stood, those two points formed three points in total.

In Chiba Shun's perception just now, those three points had detected Aoki Yuyi's chakra fluctuations at the same time.

In other words, barring any surprises, the other person should have been at the center of the circle defined by those three points.

Chiba Shun was extremely glad that he had studied mathematics in his previous life. Such knowledge was profound to most ninja in this world, but it was not difficult for him.

Using the positions of those three points, he estimated the location of the circle's center, then compared it with the actual location of Aoki Yuyi's office.

At last, Chiba Shun smiled. Good, it was very precise!

Only at this point could Chiba Shun claim that he had finally learned this B-rank Sensory Jutsu.

However, he had only just begun. His proficiency was still far too lacking.

Next, he needed repeated practice to master quickly judging a target's direction and distance, as well as determining the locations of multiple chakra sources at once.

He also needed to determine this jutsu's sensory limits: how many chakra sources he could distinguish at once, and how far away he could sense.

But today's training ended here.

Chakra Sensing did not consume much chakra. At the very least, its consumption did not seem worthy of B-rank; it merely used somewhat more chakra than the C-rank Earth-Style Wall.

The reason it was B-rank was probably because it was so difficult to learn.

However, this jutsu consumed an enormous amount of Chiba Shun's mental energy.

Chiba Shun felt exhausted now, the kind of exhaustion that demanded a proper night's sleep.

"So sensory jutsu really is related to Yin Release!" With that thought, Chiba Shun hastily ate something and went to sleep.

If a Root ninja had come to ambush him at that moment, Chiba Shun definitely would not have been able to avoid assassination!

Fortunately, Root ninja did not know Chiba Shun's condition, and the Ninja Academy was much safer now than before.

Besides Aoki Yuyi, at least four Jonin had moved their homes nearby.

Over the following days, Chiba Shun added another item to his daily training. Besides Earth-Style Wall and swordsmanship, he also trained Chakra Sensing.

Naturally, he would not repeat the mistake he had made on the first day.

Chakra Sensing could not be trained too excessively. He did not have the constitution of Naruto from the original story, so he limited the number of practice sessions each day.

About half a month later, Chiba Shun finally figured out the limits of his sensory jutsu.

He had tested it. In battle, when chakra fluctuations were complex, he could sense at most twelve or thirteen chakra sources. Any more than that became too confusing.

That included their directions and distances.

His sensing range limit was between three hundred and five hundred meters.

The farther away they were, the less distinct they became.

If a Genin was fighting at full strength, Chiba Shun could not sense him beyond three hundred meters.

If it was a Jonin, whose chakra fluctuations were stronger, Chiba Shun could sense him from five hundred meters away.

If the other person was not fighting, or concealed their chakra fluctuations as much as possible,

then unfortunately, he could not sense anything at all.

After all, it was only a B-rank Jutsu, not the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.

And so, several more peaceful months passed.

One day, a major event occurred at the Ninja Academy. More accurately, the event had not actually occurred at the Ninja Academy.

An Elite Jonin whom Aoki Yuyi had invited to live near the Ninja Academy had died in battle while carrying out a mission.

In peacetime, the death of an Elite Jonin during a mission was indeed a major matter worthy of discussion.

Especially since he had died at the hands of the famous White Fang of the Leaf.

Today, Chiba Shun was representing the Ninja Academy in offering condolences to the Elite Jonin's family.

After all, the man had been protecting the Ninja Academy, even though he had only moved here recently.

The Elite Jonin's family was not entirely helpless either. His widow was also a Special Jonin, and her status was even above that of a Chunin like Chiba Shun.

His wife was one of Kumogakure's rare ninja skilled in Sealing Technique, so she had earned the title of Special Jonin despite possessing only Chunin-level strength.

Besides his wife, he also had a three-year-old daughter.

It was a typical newly established ninja family, with a simple household structure.

Chiba Shun and Sakai Yushi's former family had been like this as well.