Yugito's Admiration

After Chiba Shun had engineered White Fang's downfall, Yugito had wanted to find Chiba Shun, but her mother had stopped her.

Chiba Shun was clearly someone who dealt in schemes. Yugito's mother did not want Yugito to have any contact with him.

Moreover, Yugito was a Jinchūriki candidate. What if she was exploited by a schemer like Chiba Shun?

That was why Yugito had never entered the Ninja Academy. Today, she had sneaked into the Ninja Academy while her mother was away.

Besides, Chiba Shun was special in Yugito's eyes. He had gone to Konoha, and not long afterward, the White Fang of the Leaf had died.

Yugito had long investigated what kind of person the White Fang of the Leaf was. The villain who had killed her father was terrifyingly powerful.

Yugito could not understand the details of Chiba Shun's trip to Konoha, but that did not stop her from admiring him.

Chiba Shun looked around but did not spot any ANBU. He did not know whether no one was there or whether they were simply skilled at hiding.

After thinking for a moment, Chiba Shun said, "The village has plans for your future. I probably can't take you as my disciple."

"But I can guide your training. If you have any questions, you can come ask me."

"You can also join the Ninja Academy."

"Put away the Explosive Tag. I'm a Ninja Academy teacher. Guiding the village's younger generation and passing on the Will of Lightning is my responsibility!"

Yugito tilted her little head and thought for a while. She felt that joining the Ninja Academy would make it easier to find Chiba Shun, so she nodded.

After putting away the Explosive Tag, she asked, "How do I join the Ninja Academy?"

Chiba Shun said, "You don't need to go through any procedures. Just come to class. You live nearby anyway, and I'll notify the teachers at the academy."

Yugito nodded. She did not understand anything about procedures.

Just as Chiba Shun thought he had sent Yugito on her way, she actually began asking questions.

"Teacher Shun, I want to learn Fire Release, but Mom said I need to complete Fire-Nature Chakra Transformation first."

"What is Fire-Nature Chakra Transformation?"

Chiba Shun froze. Yugito was already learning ninjutsu?

He carefully sensed Yugito's aura.

Sure enough, Yugito already had quite a lot of chakra within her. At the very least, she had more than both Ayana and Shosuke, and far more than Hayata.

In terms of chakra volume alone, five-year-old Yugito had already reached the standard of a Genin!

But she had started training in ninjutsu this early?

After thinking it over, Chiba Shun decided to give her some guidance. "Sit down. Let's take this slowly."

As he spoke, Chiba Shun used Earth Release to make two small earthen stools.

Seeing that, Yugito immediately sat on one of them.

Chiba Shun sat down as well, then slowly said, "There are some things I haven't told the Ninja Academy students."

"But you're a genius, so you can hear them in advance."

Yugito immediately paid closer attention. She felt that what Chiba Shun was about to say might be important.

Sure enough, Chiba Shun said, "First, let's talk about what chakra is."

Yugito quickly answered, "I know, I know! Chakra is the product of physical energy and spiritual energy combined."

"My mother told me that!"

Chiba Shun nodded, then shook his head. "What you described is the method of extracting chakra. Through that method, you can obtain chakra."

"But what exactly is chakra? What does it do? What is its essence?"

Yugito shook her head blankly.

Chiba Shun smiled. "It's fine. You're still young. You have plenty of time to think about that question."

After a pause, Chiba Shun continued, "Chakra is extremely special. In a sense, chakra can do anything!"

"Chakra can be used to perform five-nature ninjutsu, Yin–Yang Release, and many non-elemental ninjutsu as well."

"Then why does each person's chakra function differently?"

Yugito did not understand either. No one had ever explained this to her.

Chiba Shun said, "I have an idea: chakra is inherently omnipotent. It inherently possesses every nature."

"What we call chakra nature transformation is actually bringing out one of chakra's abilities!"

"For example, the fire nature you're about to cultivate. Chakra itself already possesses the fire nature. What you need to do is not turn chakra into fire, but reveal the fire nature within it!"

Kumogakure did not have a theoretical framework for fire-nature transformation, so anyone wanting to cultivate Fire Release had to figure out this step on their own.

Chiba Shun's second nature was fire, but Kumogakure had no A-rank Fire Release techniques so far, so he had never spent time developing his fire nature.

His training had always been fully occupied, leaving him no spare time.

Still, he had thought about how to complete Fire-Nature Chakra Transformation.

Next, Chiba Shun planned to explain his own ideas.

But just then, Yugito suddenly stood up, formed more than a dozen hand seals, and, under Chiba Shun's stunned gaze, directly launched a small red fireball to one side.

Chiba Shun was dumbfounded. I haven't even gotten to the important part, and you already understood?

After performing the Fire Release, Yugito was overjoyed. Excitedly, she said, "Teacher Shun, you're amazing!"

"Mom found several Elite Jonin to guide me, but I couldn't understand any of them. You explained it once, and I understood!"

Chiba Shun: ...

Chiba Shun thought, What did I even say? I haven't explained the specific method yet!

But wasn't Yugito's Fire Release blue in the original story? Could it change in the future?

Shaking his head and putting those thoughts aside, Chiba Shun said, "All right, you've now learned the fire-nature transformation of chakra."

"I'm not done talking yet. Do you still want to listen?"

Yugito blinked. "You weren't finished?"

Chiba Shun nodded.

So Yugito sat back down and waited for Chiba Shun to continue.

Chiba Shun organized his thoughts. He had originally intended to explain his ideas about fire-nature transformation, but there was naturally no need for that now.

So Chiba Shun continued, "We've talked a lot about what chakra can do, but we haven't discussed its essence."

"In my view, the essence of chakra is the imprint of life!"

Yugito was confused. What imprint of life? She could not understand it.

Chiba Shun smiled. "It's all right if you don't understand now. You will later."

"Every person's life form is different, and that is reflected in their chakra."

"If you encounter a special life form in the future, don't be surprised. Its chakra may simply be different from ours."

Yugito nodded as if she understood, though not entirely.

Afterward, Chiba Shun took Yugito to join the Ninja Academy and told the teacher of her class to keep a closer eye on her.

Considering Yugito was a genius, Chiba Shun placed her in a class of students one year older than herself.

Starting the next day, Yugito began coming to the Ninja Academy for classes on her own.

From beginning to end, no one stepped forward to stop Chiba Shun.

When Yugito's mother heard that Chiba Shun had guided Yugito in completing Fire-Nature Chakra Transformation, she no longer stopped her from contacting Chiba Shun.

After seeing Yugito off, Chiba Shun returned to the previous training ground and stood there thinking for a moment.

Then, following the description of a ninjutsu in the scroll Danzo had given him, he formed seventeen hand seals and exhaled.

Fire Release—Great Fireball Technique!

His first attempt at Fire Release naturally failed. Fire was not Chiba Shun's primary nature, so successfully performing it would not be easy.

Chiba Shun was not discouraged and repeatedly tried again with the same hand seals.

A moment later...

Boom!

Chiba Shun unleashed a fireball roughly one meter in diameter.

Chiba Shun smiled in satisfaction.

He had not expected Yugito's influence to make his Fire-Nature Chakra Transformation succeed so easily!

Shaking his head, Chiba Shun still did not practice Fire Release. Instead, he continued training in Illusion Techniques and sensory ninjutsu.

No one disturbed Chiba Shun's training after that.

Although he had not mastered an A-rank Illusion Technique, training in B-rank and C-rank Illusion Techniques still produced results. Both the number of hand seals and his proficiency gradually improved.

However, his sensory ninjutsu showed little progress.

After all, it was only B-rank sensory ninjutsu. No matter how hard Chiba Shun worked, he could not change the fact that its rank was low.

And Chiba Shun's abilities were not enough to support him in developing more advanced sensory ninjutsu.

So Chiba Shun sought out Maki Uzumaki, who worked at the hospital.

Maki Uzumaki's talent in Medical Ninjutsu was indeed extremely high—or rather, her talent in Yang Release was extremely high.

She had barely mastered all of Kumogakure's Medical Ninjutsu.

However, her theoretical knowledge was still lacking, so her Medical Ninjutsu was not yet the strongest in the village.

But she was very popular at the hospital because her chakra reserves were enormous. Others would grow exhausted after saving several people in succession, while she could stay busy for an entire day!

Because her talent was so high, the hospital gave her special training.

When Chiba Shun found her, she had just completed a treatment.

Maki Uzumaki, showing no signs of fatigue, followed Chiba Shun out of the hospital.

She asked curiously, "Why did you come to me to learn sensory ninjutsu?"

"I've never studied sensory ninjutsu!"

Chiba Shun said, "Although you have not specifically studied sensory ninjutsu, your talent for it is extremely high."

Maki Uzumaki was even more puzzled. "How do you know that?"

Chiba Shun said seriously, "I noticed it on the way back from the Land of Grass last time!"

Maki Uzumaki thought about it but could not figure out when she had displayed a talent for sensing.

Chiba Shun did not let her dwell on it. Instead, he directly took out the sensory ninjutsu scroll he had exchanged for her.

That was right. Chiba Shun had spent another hundred thousand ryo to exchange for this sensory ninjutsu from the mission office. Of course, he clearly stated that he was exchanging it for Maki Uzumaki.

Maki Uzumaki tried it according to the method described in the scroll, then discovered in surprise that she was exceptionally suited for this ninjutsu.

Over the next few days, Maki Uzumaki easily mastered the ninjutsu. Moreover, while it could only sense three hundred to five hundred meters in Chiba Shun's hands, Maki Uzumaki could sense more than three thousand meters with it!

Chiba Shun guessed that this had already reached the level of A-rank sensory ninjutsu!

Maki Uzumaki had forcibly raised the effect of this sensory ninjutsu by an entire rank through sheer talent!

Once Maki Uzumaki had thoroughly mastered the sensory ninjutsu, Chiba Shun directly explained all the sensing-related problems he had encountered.

Fortunately, Maki Uzumaki was intelligent. She was not an idiot like Naruto. Although she could not answer every question precisely, she still roughly pointed him in the right direction.