Nature transformation, a massive leap in strength

Qingyun stared blankly at the river. "That power was probably on par with an A-rank Ninjutsu! I never imagined that incorporating Nature Transformation into Martial Arts could boost their power this much. What astonishing changes would combining all five attributes produce? Could it rival Kekkei Mōra?"

At that thought, excitement surged through Qingyun. He looked forward to mastering the Nature Transformation and shape transformations of all five attributes and combining them with his various martial arts. Would their power be enough to destroy heaven and earth then?

Only after a long while did Qingyun calm down. He sat cross-legged on the ground, restoring his Internal Force while considering the changes that had occurred when he circulated it through his body and converted it to Fire Nature.

Earlier, Qingyun had been too excited by the power of the Six Meridian Divine Sword infused with Fire Nature Transformation to think it through. Now that he had calmed down, he finally noticed the technique's shortcomings.

The biggest drawback was its sluggishness. Converting his internal force to Fire Nature, then gathering and compressing it until it underwent a qualitative change, took far too long to be practical in combat.

Qingyun repeatedly recalled how Ninja performed Ninjutsu in battle.

Ninja using elemental ninjutsu never ran into his problem. They used hand seals to guide chakra along specific pathways, then unleashed it through their mouths.

Alternatively, techniques such as the Rasengan and Chidori, which Minato Namikaze and Kakashi would later create and which required no hand seals, involved continuously gathering elemental Chakra on the surface of the body, keeping it stable, and then releasing it.

After restoring his Internal Force, Qingyun remained seated, frowning and propping up his head as he searched for a solution.

Since Ninjutsu guides Chakra along circulation pathways to produce different techniques, could I skip the attribute-conversion step by distributing my Internal Force among the Meridians corresponding to each attribute?

Once the idea struck him, Qingyun acted without hesitation. He immediately circulated his Nine Yang Internal Force, distributing Chakra through the Meridians representing the five attributes and letting it flow quietly.

As time passed, the five streams of Internal Force gradually took on different colors. This meant that, after being nurtured within the Meridians, each stream had developed its own attribute.

Seeing this, Qingyun immediately circulated his Fire Nature Internal Force, steadily compressing and gathering it before concentrating it in the Right Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian.

A sharp burst of energy mixed with scorching heat shot from Qingyun's right thumb.

Boom!

The explosion froze Minato Namikaze, Kushina, and Nawaki, who had come looking for Qingyun, in their tracks. They stared in horror at Qingyun, shrouded in white mist, their mouths forming perfect O's.

Splash!

A shower of scalding water drenched Qingyun, but he seemed not to notice. He gazed at the results of his attack with delighted surprise.

Its power had not diminished in the slightest compared with before. In fact, it was even stronger, and its speed had increased more than tenfold.

This time, Qingyun had not maintained a connection with the Lesser Shang Sword through his Internal Force after it left his body, so he had only expended a small amount. Without hesitation, he repeatedly gathered and compressed his Fire Nature Internal Force, unleashing the Six Meridian Divine Sword.

Boom, boom, boom!

Explosion after explosion left the surroundings in shambles, blasting countless fish to death.

Only after he had depleted more than half his Internal Force and his Nine Yang Internal Force began churning did Qingyun stop.

The Nine Yang Divine Skill had a drawback: before reaching full mastery, using too much Internal Force could cause it to run out of control. If that happened without an expert guarding him and calming the Internal Force within his body, his Meridians could be ruptured at best. At worst, he would die on the spot.

Qingyun knew the drawback of the Nine Yang Divine Skill well, so he always stopped after using half of his Internal Force.

Feeling the Nine Yang Internal Force roiling within him, Qingyun dared not take any chances. He immediately sat cross-legged and began soothing it while absorbing Spiritual Energy from heaven and earth to replenish his Internal Force.

After a long while, Minato Namikaze, Kushina, and Nawaki finally regained their senses. Looking at Qingyun's figure, seated cross-legged with his eyes closed and barely visible through the white mist, Nawaki stammered, "M-Minato, i-is that B-Big Bro?"

"I-it should be! Kushina, what do you think?"

Minato Namikaze swallowed, staring at Qingyun in shock.

"Uh... could Qingyun have been possessed by some ancient monster...?"

Kushina turned stiffly toward Minato Namikaze as she asked.

"What are you three standing around here for?"

After replenishing his Internal Force, Qingyun saw the three of them frozen in place with vacant eyes, so he spoke up to snap them out of it.

"Whoa, Big Bro, is that really you? Kushina said some ancient monster possessed you! Quick, tell us where we first met!"

Startled back to his senses, Nawaki rushed over to Qingyun, yelling.

Qingyun's face darkened at Nawaki's words. You're the one possessed by an ancient monster! Your whole family's possessed! Bah! All I did was develop a powerful Ninja-Martial Art. Is it really that shocking?

"If an ancient monster had possessed me, you'd be the first person I'd kill to silence."

Qingyun fixed Nawaki with a dark, icy stare.

Nawaki froze at his words. Then, seeing Qingyun's ominous gaze, he shrieked in fright, immediately scurrying away to hide behind Kushina.

Qingyun looked at the fool helplessly. Same old Nawaki. He seemed to be missing a few screws, so clueless that he could give Naruto a run for his money.

"All right, I just created a Ninjutsu and used the Six Meridian Divine Sword to perform it. Even I didn't expect it to be so powerful.

"Minato, have you started working on Wind Nature Transformation yet?"

Setting aside his teasing, Qingyun turned to Minato Namikaze and asked.

Minato Namikaze shook his head. "No. I have to wait for Master Jiraiya to return before he can teach me, though I'm studying it on my own right now."

"During our first spar, when you fought me, you'd already grasped a trace of Wind Nature Transformation. Otherwise, you couldn't have moved so fast that even I couldn't react. Think back carefully to that fight. It'll help you train your Wind Nature Transformation."

Qingyun shook his head at Minato Namikaze's answer. Who knew when Jiraiya would return? Waiting until then to train Wind Nature Transformation would slow his progress far too much.

"Got it, Big Bro."

Minato Namikaze nodded obediently. He knew Qingyun would never harm him.

"The same goes for you, Nawaki. I haven't worked with the water attribute yet, so you'll have to explore it yourself. You've already got a solid grasp of all the basics. What you need now is to improve your footwork and taijutsu, as well as your powers of observation. Don't charge blindly at everything you come across and end up dying without even knowing what killed you."

Qingyun looked at Nawaki seriously as he cautioned him.

After a pause, Qingyun, still uneasy, added, "Especially once you're on the battlefield. Whether you find the bodies of allies or enemies, don't approach them recklessly. Enemies love tampering with corpses.

"In situations like that, observe carefully. Only approach to recover the body once you've confirmed there's no danger. Do you hear me?"

Over their time together, Nawaki's goofy personality had brought Qingyun plenty of joy. Naturally, Qingyun could not stand by and watch him meet the same death he had suffered in the Original Story.

Nawaki was two school years ahead of him and Minato Namikaze. Qingyun couldn't selfishly ask Nawaki to repeat grades and wait to graduate with them, so all he could do was keep reminding him.

For their upcoming training, Qingyun planned to have them practice combat whenever they had time. With no one around to disturb them in the Forest of Death, Qingyun could simulate a real battlefield there, setting up all sorts of Trap to train everyone's reactions.

Seeing Qingyun's serious expression, Nawaki nodded a little fearfully and committed Qingyun's words firmly to memory.

"What about me? What about me? Qingyun, how should I train?"

After hearing Qingyun finish advising Nawaki, Kushina looked at Qingyun expectantly.

Looking at Kushina's adorable expression, Qingyun smiled slightly. "As for you, just focus on practicing sealing jutsu with Grandma Mito. Whenever you have spare time, familiarize yourself with the Lingbo Micro-Step. Once you learn the Body Flicker Technique, you can try incorporating it into the Lingbo Micro-Step."

Kushina was destined to become a jinchūriki. If she was not proficient in sealing jutsu by then, she would struggle to suppress the Nine-Tails at first and would inevitably face its constant harassment.

Though Kushina looked displeased at Qingyun's advice, she knew he was right. Sealing jutsu was her foundation. Only after mastering it could she turn her attention to other things.