Heaven Rewards the Diligent, Add Points!

With 22 Attribute Points remaining, he first added 11 points to his Agility, raising it to 50.64.

With the remaining 10 Attribute Points, he put them all into Intelligence.

He refreshed his status panel.

Constitution: 60.8

Agility: 50.64

Intelligence: 72

Charm: 52

"My average across the four stats has already surpassed 50!"

"According to the limited data I gathered before, 50 in Constitution and Agility is already the absolute Jōnin standard."

Feeling a faint numbness spread through his brain, muscles, and cells, Asuma beamed with joy.

Once his physical transformation was complete, he immediately tried forming Hand Seals.

Swish, swish, swish!

Six seals in one second.

He was faster again!

Asuma's eyes burned brightly. He remembered reading in his previous life that Uchiha Itachi could form six seals in one second, faster than Kakashi.

He had even been called the fastest man in the Hokage world at forming Hand Seals.

Of course, fast Hand Seals did not necessarily mean great combat strength.

After all, many people had mastered techniques such as simplified Hand Seals and one-handed Hand Seals.

The First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and others were examples.

But such people were few, after all.

Most ninja still had to honestly form Hand Seals, just like Zabuza and Kisame.

And faster Hand Seals meant releasing ninjutsu first and seizing the initiative. Their importance went without saying.

"Besides, the most important benefit of my greatly increased Agility isn't faster Hand Seals, but a massive improvement in Neural Reaction speed and bodily coordination."

"And both of those have enormous significance for taijutsu training and improving perception!"

Asuma silently felt the changes in his body.

His mind had never been so clear or sharp, and his thoughts moved far faster than before.

I really want to find someone and have a good fight right now!

Asuma was incredibly excited.

After calming down again, he opened his skill panel.

Level 6 Substitution Technique (11.03%)

Level 6 Clone Technique (5.69%)

Level 6 Transformation Technique (23.89%)

Level 5 Shadow Clone Technique (12.45%)

Level 5 Chakra Control (Extraction, Manipulation / 45%)

Level 4 Chakra Nature Transformation (Level 4 Fire Style 33%, Level 3 Wind Style 45%, Level 2 Earth Style 16%, Level 2 Yin Release 78%, Level 1 Water Style 18%, Level 1 Lightning Style 8%)

Level 4 Fire Style - Fire Bullet 26%

Level 4 Wind Style - Great Breakthrough 12%

Level 3 Genjutsu - Narakumi 52%

Level 4 Taijutsu (Unarmed) 42%

Level 4 Basic Swordsmanship - Konoha Style 87%

Level 4 Ninja Tool Throwing 7%

Level 3 Body Flicker Technique

It was a long skill panel, the result of Asuma's four years of effort.

Unfortunately, the Three Basic Ninjutsu and the Shadow Clone Technique had not even improved by 1% this year.

Since the start of the year, Level 5 Chakra Control had also increased by less than 5%.

All of them had hit major bottlenecks.

Even with guidance from someone like Sarutobi Hiruzen, the improvements had become negligible.

Of course, reaching Level 5 already meant Jōnin-level mastery. It was not weak.

Without the system and its progress bars, even if Asuma had worked as hard as he normally did, he might not have achieved such results.

Naturally, the continuous rise in his Intelligence Stat, along with the constant growth of his comprehension and Learning Ability, had also been crucial.

To others, Asuma's ability to raise his Intelligence Stat simply by learning knowledge was downright absurd.

As for mastering six out of the seven Chakra Nature Transformations, it looked impressive, but it was actually nothing special.

Asuma had done it entirely to farm Experience Points, spreading himself broadly without mastering any of them.

For that, Sarutobi Hiruzen had even reprimanded him, something that rarely happened.

But for the sake of Experience Points, Asuma still went his own way.

As for ninjutsu, he had followed his plan of learning one each year.

Taijutsu, Basic Swordsmanship, and Ninja Tool Throwing had likewise reached bottlenecks. Even though regular training still provided Experience Points, actual progress had become extremely slow.

Asuma guessed that these combat-oriented skills probably required genuine life-and-death battles before they could continue advancing by leaps and bounds.

Or perhaps he really could only rely on adding points.

Of course, now that his Intelligence Stat had greatly increased, he felt capable again and thought he could give it another try.

"The power of ninjutsu is fundamentally affected by Chakra Control and one's mastery of Chakra Nature Transformation."

Asuma pondered silently.

The power of a ninjutsu was affected by several aspects.

Chakra Control, Chakra Nature Transformation, and Chakra Amount.

Take Fire Style as an example.

Its destructive power was often determined by the temperature of the flames.

And the depth of one's mastery over Fire Style Chakra Nature Transformation was the decisive factor in determining flame temperature.

Chakra Amount was often the decisive factor in a ninjutsu's range.

As for Chakra Control, it affected both a ninjutsu's range and power.

Furthermore, the higher one's control, the more Chakra could be conserved, while also allowing many precise manipulations.

"So, the first things I need to add points to are Chakra Control and Chakra Nature Transformation."

"Because improving these two will definitely make it easier for me to raise the level and power of my ninjutsu."

Asuma looked at his skill panel.

Heaven rewards the diligent. Add points!

Level 5 Chakra Control +3 → Level 8 Chakra Control.

Fire Style Chakra Nature Transformation +4 → Level 8 Fire Style 33%.

Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation +5 → Level 8 Wind Style 45%.

After spending 12 Skill Points in one go, Asuma temporarily stopped to digest the knowledge implanted by the system.

Half an hour later.

Asuma had fully digested the knowledge imparted by the system. Then, with a flash, he arrived at the riverbank.

Facing the thundering waterfall, he took a deep breath and rapidly formed Hand Seals.

In less than a second, he opened his mouth and fired a massive Fire Bullet, which slammed into the waterfall with a boom.

A great amount of water vapor rose into the air.

Asuma glanced at his skill panel. The progress of Level 4 Fire Style - Fire Bullet had reached 30%, an increase of 4%.

"Sure enough, with powerful Chakra Control and profound Fire Style Chakra Nature Transformation, the power of my Fire Style is rising rapidly!"

Excited, Asuma immediately continued forming Hand Seals and casting Fire Style - Fire Bullet.

For a time, the progress bar raced forward.

His Experience Points were also steadily increasing.

In the blink of an eye, the sun had set.

By the riverbank, Asuma, drenched in sweat, formed Hand Seals once more. He squeezed every last bit of Chakra from his body and spat out a Fire Bullet.

This Fire Bullet was instead very small, only about the size of a basketball, but its color was no longer dark red. It was orange-red.

Its terrifying heat warped the air and light beyond recognition.

Boom!

The Fire Bullet collided with the waterfall and exploded. The falling water was blasted apart, leaving a gap three to four meters wide.

"Good! Hahaha!"

With his Chakra exhausted, Asuma dropped onto the ground, yet he could not stop laughing.

Because his Fire Style - Fire Bullet had risen to Level 6, 95%!

Just 5% more, and it would enter Level 7.

And Level 7 represented the Kage tier, a master level beyond proficiency.

"Besides, with Level 8 Chakra Control and Level 8 Fire Style Chakra Nature Transformation, my Fire Style ninjutsu training will be incredibly fast."

Asuma could feel it.

For Fire Style, Level 7 was not the limit.

Give him half a year—at most half a year—and he was confident he could raise Fire Style - Fire Bullet to Level 8.