Brainwashing the Three Little Ones

The three of them were deeply moved and wanted to do Chiba Shun proud, but they had all failed.

Now, they were terrified that Chiba Shun would be disappointed in them.

Sure enough, what they feared came to pass. Chiba Shun said, "I'm very disappointed in you."

The three lowered their heads even further, tears already welling in their eyes.

Chiba Shun continued, "From now on, your training intensity must increase!"

"Ayana, can you make Sealing Scrolls now?"

Ayana nodded.

Chiba Shun asked again, "How much can one of your Sealing Scrolls hold at once? Hmm, let's measure it in kunai."

Ayana thought for a moment before saying softly, "Two or three hundred, probably."

Chiba Shun said, "Then do this. Practice sealing kunai from now on. Fill the scroll completely every time, then take them out one by one and put them back in one by one. Keep repeating that."

"Raise your speed as much as possible. I won't set a standard for you; handle that yourself. In short, the faster, the better, and the more you can seal, the better. Can you do it?"

Ayana said, "But, Teacher Shun, Sealing Scrolls will be ruined after only a few uses."

Chiba Shun said, "That doesn't matter. Just make another batch. You can make them yourself now anyway."

"I'll provide all the materials needed to make the scrolls."

"Mm, you can also figure out how to increase the number of times a Sealing Scroll can be used!"

If he did not use the funding Aoki Yuyi had given him now, then when would he use it?

Ayana nodded and said, "Yes."

Chiba Shun continued, "Ayana, there are very few powerful female ninja. In the entire ninja world, aside from Konoha's Tsunade, only Suna Shinobi's Chiyo can be considered a Kage Level powerhouse."

"Tsunade has powerful blood because her grandfather was Konoha's First Hokage. Chiyo, on the other hand, only reached Kage Level combat power because of her mastery over puppets."

"Many female ninja choose clerical work. Do you remember that female Chunin we saw at the mission office last time?"

"Many female ninja end up doing that kind of work."

"So under normal circumstances, people do not choose female ninja as disciples."

"But... you were the first one I took a liking to!"

"I don't want to say much else. Don't ever make me regret my judgment!"

Ayana's body trembled before she nodded firmly.

Although she still did not raise her head, Chiba Shun already knew her mindset had changed.

Chiba Shun then looked at Hayata. "Hayata, your chakra control scored full marks this time. I originally wanted to recommend you for the elite class, but the other Jonin all objected."

"Their reason was that your chakra reserves are too low."

"I remember telling you to eat more energy-rich food and improve your physique."

"Judging by your chakra reserves, it seems you have not done that."

"Can you tell me why?"

Hayata was panicking inside. Trembling, he said, "Teacher Shun, I... those foods are too expensive."

Chiba Shun said, "The last time we left the village, we completed an A-Rank Mission."

"The village gave us three hundred thousand ryo. I only took one hundred and fifty thousand; you three split the remaining one hundred and fifty thousand, fifty thousand each."

"Do you think your contribution in that mission was worth fifty thousand ryo?"

Hayata shuddered, then shook his head.

Chiba Shun said, "Then you should know what I gave you that fifty thousand ryo for, right?"

Hayata nodded.

Chiba Shun sighed before saying, "I know what you're thinking. You're worried that you might not become a ninja, so you don't want to spend the money."

"But when it comes to training, you can't be so stingy."

"I have high expectations for you. Low chakra reserves can actually be overcome, but that requires your chakra control to continue improving!"

Hayata raised his head in disbelief and secretly glanced at Chiba Shun.

Chiba Shun ignored him and continued, "Remember, your talent is extremely rare, but your weakness is also fatal."

"It will be difficult to overcome that weakness, but once you do, your future will be beyond measure."

"I believe you can endure the hardest stage at the beginning. I hope you can believe in yourself too."

Hayata finally raised his head. His mouth opened, but he did not know what to say.

Chiba Shun rubbed his head and said, "Train properly after you return. Once your chakra reserves are enough to cast a C-rank Jutsu, I'll teach you ninjutsu!"

Hayata nodded, his eyes filled with determination.

Lastly, Chiba Shun looked at Shosuke. To be honest, Shosuke was utterly ordinary in every respect. Aside from his personality, even Chiba Shun had not taken a liking to him.

Chiba Shun's thought was that Ayana and Hayata might achieve great things in the future, while Shosuke, as their teammate, could easily go to extremes if his personality had flaws.

That was why Chiba Shun had taken a liking to Shosuke's contented nature. He hoped that this child, who was destined not to receive much of his attention, would not harbor resentment.

Naturally, he could not possibly say such things to Shosuke.

Chiba Shun said, "Shosuke, your situation is different from theirs. You do not have any one area where you are particularly outstanding."

"So I will not develop any particular specialty of yours."

"But you are not especially poor in any area either. You are well-balanced."

"Moreover, your willpower is the strongest among all of you. I don't think a single failure will knock you down so easily."

"I don't think I need to say much to you. You should be able to overcome your own cowardice!"

Upon hearing that, Shosuke abruptly raised his head and looked into Chiba Shun's eyes, seemingly trying to determine whether Chiba Shun was merely comforting him.

But Chiba Shun's gaze was sincere, showing that everything he had said was true.

After confirming that Chiba Shun had not deceived him, he lowered his head again. Yet Chiba Shun could sense that his entire bearing had changed.

Smiling faintly, Chiba Shun said, "All right, go train. If you need anything, come find me directly."

The three answered in unison, then hurried away to train.

Only after the three had gone far away did Chiba Shun stretch lazily.

Brainwashing little brats was pretty tiring.

The Ninja Academy had already gotten on track. From now on, Chiba Shun only needed to promote the Will of Lightning every day.

In truth, the newly recruited geniuses had little to do with Chiba Shun.

Many ninja had their eyes on them, so there was no chance for Chiba Shun to take them as disciples.

Only someone like Ayana, whom no one thought highly of, could be slowly brainwashed by Chiba Shun.

That meant he could use his spare time to train Yin Release.

Chiba Shun did not know how many methods Konoha possessed for improving Yin Release, but one thing was obvious: the training method Danzo had provided was certainly not the best.

It might even carry unknown risks or side effects.

But for Kumogakure, which was completely ignorant in this field, it was still a top-tier treasure.

Danzo had someone send Kumogakure a special scroll. When opened, it revealed a painting—or rather, calling it a painting was not quite right, because it was completely black.

After analysis, it was determined that the scroll sealed some special existence, most likely a soul.

The training method Danzo had given them was to sense the soul within the painting.

Chiba Shun felt that if he did so, his own soul might be devoured by the soul in the painting.

Still, he intended to try it.

There was no helping it. Among all of Kumogakure, he was the most desperate to improve his Yin Release.

In a room beside the mission office, Chiba Shun began training under the supervision of an Elite Jonin.

Along with the scroll, Danzo had also provided a method for sending one's soul into it. The seal on the scroll could allow a person's soul to enter it while carried by chakra.

Chiba Shun understood the method. It was somewhat similar to the Nara Clan's Shadow Imitation Technique.

But rather than directly using Danzo's method, he closed his eyes and pressed one finger against the scroll, using the same approach he used when performing sensory ninjutsu.

After a while, Chiba Shun seemed to sense something within the scroll, yet also seemed to sense nothing at all.

The sensation felt familiar. After thinking about it, Chiba Shun realized why.

Sometimes, someone was within his sensory range and very close to him, but they were not using chakra. In those moments, his sensory feedback felt exactly like this—there seemed to be someone there, yet there also seemed to be no one.

Put another way, the soul in the scroll should have been near his fingertip, but it was not moving, so he could not sense it.

Chiba Shun waited for quite some time without discovering it, and began to hesitate. Should he give up and use Danzo's method instead?

But Danzo was not trustworthy! What if there was something dangerous in the scroll?

Chiba Shun maintained his sensory ninjutsu for a long time. Just as he began to feel exhausted and wanted to end this attempt, an enormous shadow suddenly appeared before him.

It pounced like a tiger and swallowed Chiba Shun whole.

Chiba Shun cried out and reflexively withdrew his finger.

Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, accompanied by harsh, heavy breathing.

He looked around and saw that he was still in the same room. Realizing that what he had sensed just now had likely only been an illusion, he let out a long breath.

Fortunately, he had not truly used Danzo's method to send his soul into the scroll. Otherwise, he might have been injured this time.

The Elite Jonin beside him asked, "What happened?"

Chiba Shun glanced at him, thought for a moment, then said with lingering fear, "This training method is dangerous. It can't be used directly."

The Elite Jonin nodded. He saw Chiba Shun's hesitation in his eyes, thought for a moment, and said, "If you can figure out the correct method, please tell the village."

After a pause, he added, "If your method works, I can make the decision to pay you the reward for an A-Rank Mission."

Chiba Shun's eyes lit up. He stared at the other man in disbelief. Did he really have that much authority?

The Elite Jonin smiled but did not explain.

Of course he had that authority. Without a suitable method, no one would train with it, and the scroll could not be used to make money.

Trading the reward for one A-Rank Mission in exchange for countless purchases at the level of B-rank Jutsu was worth it!

Today's expenditure had been a little too great, so Chiba Shun ended his training.

After recovering for a night, Chiba Shun returned to the training room.

He still used the same method as yesterday.

Although the existence within the scroll had startled him yesterday, he had not actually been injured.

That was because he had not put his soul into the scroll. He had only been sensing through chakra.

It was like Naruto being startled by the Nine-Tails while standing outside the Eight Trigrams Seal.

This method could not improve Yin Release, but at least it was safe, making it perfect for probing.