Even if the analysis crawled along like a turtle, Lei Dou could afford to wait.
[Great Sage: The plan is viable. It is worth attempting.]
Even the system had given him the go-ahead. What was there to hesitate over? He just had to do it!
Lei Dou sensed the chakra inside his body and recalled his earlier experience of maintaining two nature transformations at once. The feeling was still fresh in his memory.
Now he was playing with fire again, and this time he was attempting the even more dangerous process of fusion. One wrong move, and he really might get himself killed.
I've already died once anyway. If I don't even have the guts to take this gamble, what kind of ninja am I? I might as well go home and farm.
Lei Dou steeled himself and said through gritted teeth:
"Fuck it! I'm going all in! Fortune favors the bold!"
Which raised the question: how exactly was he supposed to fuse these two types of chakra?
Lei Dou had absolutely no idea, but he wasn't entirely without clues.
Strictly speaking, the Transparent Release he had mastered earlier also fell under the category of kekkei genkai. He just still hadn't figured out which natures it fused.
I'll activate Transparent Release first and get a feel for it!
He carefully studied how the Transparent Release chakra flowed through his chakra pathways.
Lei Dou vaguely caught a spark of inspiration, but it was like looking at flowers through fog, hazy and indistinct.
[Analyzing Chakra Fusion Technique.] [Analysis in progress...]
"Holy shit? You can analyze this too?"
[Great Sage: Why wouldn't I be able to?]
Uh... fine. You win!
The thing had some rudimentary intelligence, but clearly no emotional intelligence to speak of.
You should've told me you had that function! I wasted all that time thinking!
[5%] [10%] [15%]
The progress bar was moving at a pleasantly brisk pace.
"So, once you've finished analyzing this fusion technique, does that mean I'll know how to fuse chakra?"
[Great Sage: In theory, yes.]
In theory?
Only in theory?
Will it work or not? Just give me a straight answer!
Lei Dou was a little speechless, but he couldn't be bothered to argue with an AI.
He would find out once the analysis finished. Practice was the real test.
He maintained Transparent Release, keeping the chakra inside his body fusing continuously at that special frequency.
The analysis progress bar climbed rapidly as well.
It gained roughly five percent per minute, a very respectable speed.
Twenty minutes later, a crisp ding rang out in his mind.
[Congratulations! The host has acquired a new skill: Chakra Fusion Technique.]
In an instant, a vast torrent of knowledge flooded his mind, as though someone had forcibly stuffed a textbook into it.
Before, he had used Transparent Release purely by instinct. He knew it worked, but not why.
Now Lei Dou finally understood how to take the first step toward fusing two streams of chakra.
First, he had to perform two different chakra nature transformations simultaneously in two separate parts of his body. That was the foundation.
Then he had to carefully guide those two streams of Chakra together while keeping them from rejecting or fighting each other.
He would try to trigger a qualitative change at their point of contact, allowing them to fuse.
It sounded like only a handful of steps, but actually putting them into practice was another matter.
Every tiny adjustment involved was hellishly difficult.
"System, can you keep analyzing water and fire fusion for me?"
[Great Sage: I can only analyze skills the host already possesses or is currently learning. I cannot analyze a skill the host has never encountered and for which there is no reference. The calculation module has not yet been fully repaired.]
"In other words, I'll have to grind through this myself this time, right?"
[Great Sage: Correct.]
Fine. Better to rely on himself than someone else. Since he had mastered the fusion technique, he wouldn't be completely in the dark when he tried combining water and fire.
At least he knew what to do for the first step.
Perform nature transformations in two different parts of his body.
After thinking it over, Lei Dou decided his left and right hands would be the easiest.
Water in his left hand, fire in his right.
He started both at once. On his first attempt, Lei Dou couldn't keep up at all. Chakra ran wild through his pathways, almost disrupting his breathing.
Time for a second try!
The result was hardly any different from the first. He was all thumbs.
Half an hour quietly slipped away amid one failure after another.
Fortunately, persistence paid off. Lei Dou finally managed to maintain both nature transformations for a meager two seconds.
But he could only sustain a tiny amount of weak chakra, nowhere near the quantity he needed for fusion.
Yet just as his chakra went out of control and dispersed again on this attempt...
A notification chimed in his ears like heavenly music.
[Congratulations! The host has mastered a new skill: Dual-Nature Chakra Transformation.]
Lei Dou froze on the spot!
"What... what does that mean?"
[Great Sage System: The system has recorded the new skill the host just comprehended.]
That works too?
Lei Dou hurriedly checked his skill list. Sure enough, Dual-Nature Chakra Transformation had appeared.
Since the system recognizes it as a skill, doesn't that mean... I can put it in a passive skill slot and get free proficiency?
Lei Dou's eyes instantly lit up with hungry excitement. Without another word, he removed one copy of Chakra Extraction Technique and equipped the new skill.
Twenty seconds after he slotted it in...
[Passive skill: Dual-Nature Chakra Transformation has completed one cycle.]
That familiar sensation returned. Fresh insights seemed to pour into his mind, and Lei Dou felt the formerly awkward process become noticeably smoother.
As long as he left it in a skill slot, its proficiency would automatically soar.
This cheat was downright unfair!
Now, even the tiniest bit of progress he made toward fusing water and fire chakra could be preserved by the system as a skill.
Then he could grind that technique to its maximum level passively, or even push it beyond its limits.
Once his foundation was solid, wouldn't the next step of fusion be a cinch?
"Amazing!"
"This is ridiculously broken!"
"Passive skill slots, you're the true gods!"
Having discovered this shortcut, Lei Dou wasted no time. He kept only one copy of Chakra Extraction Technique to maintain basic recovery.
He filled all his remaining slots with the new skill.
Even more absurdly, equipping two copies of the same skill let him use it without consuming any chakra.
Every twenty seconds, Lei Dou's dual-nature transformation technique improved a little.
He also kept manually updating the skill's state. With both methods working together, he grew increasingly comfortable controlling water and fire chakra simultaneously.
Lei Dou's technique improved at a visibly astonishing rate.
"At this rate, developing Boil Release tonight might not be a pipe dream!"
Lei Dou was so excited that his hands shook. It wasn't just about Boil Release. More importantly, this meant a path to limitless heights had opened before him.
As long as he repeated the same process, he could acquire all the other kekkei genkai in the future.
If you encounter ads asking "Are you a real person?", simply ignore and close them. Do not scan any QR codes or send text messages!
Mastering every nature is only a matter of time!
Of course, that was for later. His immediate priority was maxing out this dual-nature transformation, or at least bringing it up to the standard needed for stable fusion.
Two hours passed.
Like a tireless machine, Lei Dou updated the skill's state nearly fifty times, refreshing it almost every few minutes.
By now, he could maintain dual-nature transformation for an hour.
Although he couldn't store this Nature Transformation chakra, Lei Dou could keep extending how long it lasted.
"I can now keep both types of chakra stable for an hour without them dispersing. Time for step two-fusion!"
Lei Dou removed Dual-Nature Chakra Transformation and reequipped Chakra Extraction Technique to restore himself to full strength.
The second step, chakra fusion, was a life-threatening undertaking.
Two completely opposing types of chakra would clash inside his body. If they slipped even slightly out of control, he would become a human bomb.
"To be safe, I'll try it outside my body first!"
Lei Dou took a deep breath and pressed his hands together, letting water and fire chakra seep from his respective palms.
They had only just touched. Before any substantial fusion even began, the two energies erupted with terrifying fluctuations, as though each had met its father's murderer.
Boom!
A deafening blast sent waves of air rolling outward.
Lei Dou was blown clean off his feet like a ragged sack!
At the same time, countless scalding droplets shot in every direction like bullets, riddling the walls with holes. Scattered flames set the curtains alight.
Lei Dou slammed into the floor, clutching his aching chest. Without even checking his injuries, he scrambled over to put out the burning curtains.
He surveyed the wreckage strewn throughout the room. It looked as though bandits had ransacked the place.
Sitting amid the debris, Lei Dou gave a bitter smile. "Looks like... creating my own kekkei genkai really isn't as simple as I thought..."
But would that make him give up? Not a chance!
"Again!"
Still, for the sake of his life and his home, he couldn't stay here...
Under cover of night, Lei Dou slipped into the little grove Shimozuki Hayate had taken him to last time.
By then, darkness had fallen completely. The moon was dim and the wind strong.
Everything around him was quiet. Not even insects could be heard, only the rustle of leaves in the wind.
With nobody around to disturb him, it was practically the perfect training room.
"Let the show begin!"
As long as I'm willing to grind, a whole night should be enough to get somewhere!
Lei Dou encouraged himself inwardly, but once he actually got started, reality delivered a resounding slap to his face.
Training a kekkei genkai was simply inhuman.
Boom!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!!
Every ten minutes or so, a muffled explosion sounded from deep within the grove.
Lei Dou carefully controlled his output. Having learned his lesson after nearly demolishing his home, he only dared use the tiniest traces of chakra this time.
The water and fire chakra were each only the size of a fingernail.
Separately, they wouldn't have packed as much punch as a loud fart. But once he tried forcing them to fuse...
The destructive power they unleashed made Lei Dou's scalp crawl.
He set off dozens of explosions in succession. Although his precautions kept him from suffering serious injuries...
His hands had been blasted raw, covered in tiny, bleeding cuts.
His clothes had fared worst of all. The violent air currents had torn them to tatters, leaving him dressed like a beggar.
Even though Lei Dou reviewed each attempt and adjusted his approach...
The result stayed exactly the same.
"Still no good!"
"I haven't even made one percent of progress!"
The two blasted things exploded the moment they touched. Forget fusion-with tempers that volatile, they wouldn't even hold hands.
Lei Dou had completely run out of steam. He sprawled spread-eagled on the ground, panting heavily.
He gazed up at the cold, pale moon overhead.
"Where exactly am I going wrong? How do I get these two sworn enemies to coexist peacefully?"
After struggling from nightfall until late into the night, Lei Dou felt physically drained and mentally close to breaking.
He was still getting nowhere, and it made him question everything.
"Looks like mastering a kekkei genkai overnight was nothing but wishful thinking!"
Lei Dou felt a little embarrassed by his earlier blind confidence.
No wonder the major ninja villages regarded kekkei genkai as strategic weapons. Unless someone gained an ability like this through a genetic mutation or sheer heaven-sent luck...
Mastering it through training alone was harder than climbing to heaven.
Of course, shortcuts did exist. He could capture a tailed beast, seal it inside himself, and learn from it.
Hadn't that sand-user from Sunagakure picked up Magnet Release from Shukaku?
If he wanted to learn Boil Release, did he have to go to Iwagakure and capture Five-Tails Kokuō to serve as his private tutor?
"Wait, that doesn't make sense. If there's a technique to fusing chakra, it shouldn't be this hard!"
The fusion theory in Lei Dou's head told him he was on the right track. So where exactly was he getting stuck?
[Great Sage: Notice. The base strength of the host's water- and fire-nature chakra is insufficient.]
Insufficient strength?
What did that mean?
"I've already mastered nature transformation, and you're still saying it isn't powerful enough? Is it because I don't have enough chakra overall?"
[Great Sage: To illustrate, suppose water-nature chakra accounts for 10% and fire-nature chakra accounts for 20%. The two must maintain a dynamic equilibrium during fusion. The host currently cannot achieve the precise proportions required. Mastering nature transformation does not mean the energy level of elemental chakra is fixed.]
"That's how it works?"
Lei Dou abruptly sat up, a light bulb going on in his head.
Following that logic, mastering nature transformation was merely like getting a driver's license. How fast the car could go still depended on its engine.
His elemental power was too pathetic right now. No amount of fine control could bring it up to the minimum threshold for a fusion reaction.
That was why it kept blowing up in his face: the foundation itself was unstable.
"Looks like I'll have to level up my water- and fire-nature chakra first if I want to develop this successfully!"
Just like in the system's example, the 20% fire portion had to match the power of the 10% water portion to achieve equilibrium.
If both natures were equally weak to begin with, no combination would ever work.
So that's it! Now I get it!
With that one piece falling into place, everything else clicked. Thinking about other kekkei genkai, they seemed to follow the same principle.
Although it was called fusion, one component surely had to take the lead while the other played a supporting role. It couldn't be an absolute fifty-fifty split.
It was like a pound of cotton and a pound of iron. They weighed the same, but their volumes were worlds apart.
"So my job right now is... leveling up?"
[Great Sage: Most likely.]
Fair enough. "Most likely" was still better than stumbling around blindly.
"Then how do I make my nature transformation more powerful? Practice ninjutsu like crazy?"
[Great Sage: The host can directly place the conceptual skills 'Water Release' and 'Fire Release' into skill slots to strengthen them through passive idle training.]
Water Release?
Fire Release?
Lei Dou froze for a moment, then hurriedly opened his skill panel and searched.
They really were there!
"This..."
Seriously, even broad concepts like "Water Release" and "Fire Release" counted as individual skills? The system's criteria were way too broad!
At that sight, a sudden spark of inspiration flashed through Lei Dou's mind, and an incredibly bold idea emerged.