Ikeda Masato's New Beginning

After the demonstration, Lu Zeming swept his gaze over the crowd. He saw the fervor in the ninjas' eyes.

Lu Zeming smiled. "Want to learn?"

Everyone nodded furiously, shouting that they did!

One ninja raised a question. "Village chief, does such powerful Ninjutsu place any special demands on the user?"

Lu Zeming turned serious. "Neither technique requires a Kekkei Genkai, and neither is a secret Ninjutsu. Any ninja can learn them!"

The ninjas below nearly jumped for joy.

Lu Zeming raised a hand to calm them, then continued. "The Ninjutsu you learned before was like running water through a leaky pipe. Chakra left the Dantian, wound through twisting meridians, and still required complicated Hand Seals. You were lucky if four-tenths of the original water made it out. What I'm teaching you is how to lay new pipes, straighten the bends, patch the leaks, and simplify the Hand Seals!"

His words struck like thunder, leaving everyone's scalp tingling.

Weren't the Hand Seals for each Ninjutsu fixed? After all these years, they had never heard of anyone simplifying them!

A young ninja could not help asking in a trembling voice, "V-village chief, can we still channel Chakra with fewer Hand Seals?"

"Time is the only test of truth. Tell me the Ninjutsu you're best at!"

The young ninja answered timidly, "Water Release: Water Shockwave."

"Use it!"

The young ninja walked to the center of the grounds and began forming Hand Seals. Even with his fingers moving at top speed, the twenty-six seals took him nearly eight seconds to complete.

"Good. Now try these five seals: Yin, Chou, Wu, Zi, Chen."

Following Lu Zeming's instructions, the young ninja formed the seals again. This time, five seals took less than a second. He not only released Water Shockwave successfully, but it was slightly more