Was this the qualitative leap that came with a higher level of nature transformation?
Now Lei Dou even had a strange intuition that this sense of control applied not only to swordsmanship, but to ninjutsu as well.
Lei Dou closed his eyes and slowly slid Zangetsu back into its sheath.
The next second, his hands blurred as he rapidly formed hand seals.
Then he snapped his eyes open, his gaze blazing as he stared ahead. The chakra surging behind him instantly turned into towering torrents of water that swept outward.
In an instant, the raging torrent charged deep into the woods.
Boom, boom, boom!
The deafening roar of water erupted as a ten-meter wave surged up like a tsunami, crashing through the woods and snapping every tree in its path.
Hayate, who had been lamenting life's hardships nearby, suddenly looked up. The sight of what looked like a natural disaster left him completely dumbfounded.
Lei Dou!
Was he using some kind of forbidden technique?
Water Release?!
What kind of Water Release could have such terrifying force and power?
If he learned that Lei Dou had only used a C-rank technique, Water Release: Wild Water Wave-a low-level Water Release ninjutsu-his entire worldview might have shattered on the spot.
Once the overwhelming torrent slowly dissipated and seeped into the ground, Hayate opened his mouth, about to ask how Lei Dou had done it.
But Lei Dou seemed immersed in some kind of revelation, his expression utterly focused.
A rather vacant, foolish grin still hung on his lips.
What was wrong with him? Had his training driven him mad?
The reason Lei Dou was grinning like an idiot was simple: the power of his Water Release had increased more than tenfold!
With the same amount of chakra, his Water Release had received an astronomical boost in power.
Now Lei Dou finally understood why that man named Madara Uchiha had once forced the entire Allied Shinobi Forces to work together to resist a casually unleashed B-rank Fire Release technique.
That was the overwhelming advantage that mastering nature transformation to its limits gave a ninjutsu.
More importantly, he hadn't spat water from his mouth as traditional Water Release required. Instead, he had directly controlled his chakra to create waves out of thin air outside his body.
This was another new ability brought by his improved nature transformation-external manifestation.
Even somewhere without a water source, he could directly control his chakra and perform Nature Transformation outside his body to create water.
Although this slightly reduced the technique's power, it vastly improved its control and flexibility.
Conversely...
If he performed the nature transformation inside his body before spitting it out, the technique would reach its maximum power. In exchange, his control would weaken, and the windup would take longer.
Once nature transformation reached a certain level, he could freely choose to release ninjutsu outside his body instead of having to spit it out like a fountain. That was simply too inelegant.
Lei Dou still had his eyes closed, carefully savoring the lingering sensation of his improved Water Release Nature Transformation, when Hayate cautiously approached.
He reached out and patted Lei Dou's shoulder.
"Lei Dou, are you... are you okay? That look in your eyes just now was a little scary."
Roused from his contemplation, Lei Dou paused, then quickly shook his head. "I'm fine! Never felt better!"
Hayate couldn't tell whether Lei Dou really was fine or merely pretending. But looking at the devastated woods around them, he gave a helpless, wry smile.
"Lei Dou, it looks like you'll have to apply to use the Advanced Training Ground from now on!"
"Otherwise, if you keep this up every day, these woods will turn into a barren wasteland sooner or later!"
Huh?
The Advanced Training Ground?
Lei Dou froze for a moment. Konoha had somewhere that good?
"The Advanced Training Ground? What's that? How come I've never heard of it?"
Hayate slapped his forehead. "Oh, I forgot! You're not even a shinobi yet, so you're not eligible to go there!"
With a sigh, he nevertheless began patiently explaining to Lei Dou what the Advanced Training Ground was.
"Unlike Konoha's open-air public training grounds, the Advanced Training Ground is reserved for important people at chunin or even Jonin level!"
"After all, once you reach chunin or higher, a lot of powerful ninjutsu aren't something you can practice out in public. Everyone has their own trump cards and secrets, so the Advanced Training Ground gives those elite shinobi a private space to train!"
At that, Lei Dou's eyes instantly lit up, as though he'd discovered a whole new world...
So Konoha had a treasure trove like that.
Lei Dou's eyes gleamed with hungry excitement.
No wonder the training grounds outside only had a bunch of rookie genin. Ordinary genin training wasn't worth watching anyway.
The techniques they knew were mostly commonplace and hardly counted as secrets.
Shinobi with clan secret techniques had their own clan training grounds. They wouldn't deign to crowd together with ordinary shinobi and breathe in dust.
Chunin and Jonin, meanwhile, had their own advanced VIP training grounds.
That made things much easier!
Lei Dou turned to Shimozuki Hayate, gratitude filling his eyes.
"Let's go! It's getting late. With your current strength, you'll have absolutely no trouble passing the graduation exam!"
"Let's call it a day. I'm tired too!"
Hayate spoke through a yawn.
Lei Dou nodded in agreement.
Normally, Lei Dou would never have gone home to sleep so early. That would have been a complete waste of precious life.
But today was different.
As it happened, Great Sage was still continuously calculating the Body Flicker Technique in the background. All Lei Dou could do was refresh the skill status now and then.
But now!
Since he'd learned about such a wonderful place, he had something to do tonight.
He walked back with Hayate, and they parted ways when they were almost home.
Without saying anything more, Lei Dou headed straight back to his house.
As soon as he entered, Lei Dou deftly unfastened the ninja blade he wore and set it aside.
Then he changed into lighter, dark-colored clothes suited to moving around at night and found a black cloth to cover his face tightly.
His sneaky getup made him look exactly like someone about to get up to no good!
Lei Dou examined himself in the mirror. With only his eyes showing, it was practically impossible to tell who he was. There shouldn't be any problems.
"Thank goodness Hayate mentioned it. Otherwise, I'd never have known Konoha had such a treasure trove."
"I wonder if those Jonin find time for extra training at night!"
Heh heh!
Tonight, Lei Dou would put Transparent Release, which had rarely been of much use so far, through its paces.
Tonight, Lei Dou was going to take out the Transparent Escape technique, which had never been of much use to him, and give it a proper try.
With a godlike ability such as Transparent Release, something every man dreamed of, failing to make good use of it would be an insult to heaven's gift.
"Tonight, my goal is to... peep without shame!"
Night fell, and Lei Dou activated Transparent Release. Not only did he conceal his body perfectly in the darkness, he erased even his breathing and chakra signature.
He headed toward the exact location of Konoha's Advanced Training Ground, which he had established beforehand by indirectly questioning Hayate.
Like a ghost, Lei Dou swiftly darted among Konoha's maze of streets and rooftops.
Along the way, he also spotted quite a few masked ANBU shinobi.
Even in the middle of the night, so many ANBU were still working overtime, watching over the entire village from its various corners.
But this also gave Lei Dou his first firsthand experience of just how terrifying Transparent Release was.
These well-trained ANBU shinobi never noticed him passing right beside them. At his closest, Lei Dou boldly stood less than a meter behind one of them.
The shinobi remained completely unaware and even yawned.
Only after this practical test did Lei Dou finally feel reassured.
These ANBU shinobi were no pushovers. If even they couldn't detect his presence...
Then ordinary Jonin probably couldn't either. As long as he didn't court disaster by provoking a sensory-type elite Jonin, there should be no risk of getting caught.
Lei Dou made his way smoothly to Konoha's so-called Advanced Training Ground.
Even late at night, the place remained brightly lit.
Jonin had crushing workloads and rarely found long, uninterrupted stretches of time to train. They usually spent their time off in secluded training to consolidate their strength.
At night, unless they were too exhausted to get up, they would also spend some time at the training facility.
Even if they didn't grow stronger, they at least needed to keep their bodies ready for combat.
After all, being a Jonin was a high-risk profession. They could be sent on a deadly mission at any moment.
Lei Dou slipped silently into the facility, once again thrilled by Transparent Release's invisibility.
The guards at the entrance treated him as nothing but air.
The interior of the Advanced Training Ground was nothing like Konoha's shabby outdoor training grounds. It had been carefully divided into numerous enclosed areas, each a separate, small private training ground.
There were even spaces simulating environments for the five different attributes: water, fire, earth, wind, and lightning.
This made it much easier for Jonin and chunin to develop and practice ninjutsu of their particular attributes.
Compared with the training ground outside, which had nothing but wooden posts and bare dirt, this place was in another league entirely.
It was past nine at night, yet the lights were still on in seven rooms.
Seven Jonin were still putting in extra hours of hard training. Lei Dou nodded in satisfaction. Apparently, Konoha's rat race was pretty intense too!
Lei Dou fixed his gaze on one room. Through the gap in its door, he could see a pool inside. It was clearly a small training ground for Water Release.
He went straight around to the other side, climbed silently up the wall like a gecko, and carefully slipped through a ventilation window high above.
The room's layout was meticulously designed to simulate a rushing river.
A Jonin stood on a huge rock in the center, forming hand seals as he repeatedly practiced Water Release ninjutsu.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Boom!
A torrent instantly churned into motion, roaring upward around his body before gathering in midair into the shape of a fearsome water dragon.
Crash!
The water dragon roared as it slammed into a specially constructed wall in the distance with an enormous, muffled bang. Yet the violent impact failed to leave even the slightest mark.
Clearly, the wall's material had been reinforced somehow. Its impact resistance was superb.
But Lei Dou had no time to care about what the wall was made of. Like a creep, he crouched in a shadowy corner among the roof beams, his eyes wide as he excitedly watched the sweating Jonin below.
You're the one! My experience pack!
Don't let me down tonight. Show me a few more techniques I haven't seen!
Great Sage, get to work. Copy everything!
[Great Sage: Analyzing the target ninjutsu...] [15%] [58%] [99%]
The analysis was astonishingly fast!
Excellent!
[Great Sage: Because the host's mastery of Water Release Nature Transformation has surpassed that of ninety-nine percent of Water Release shinobi, analysis speed for ninjutsu of the same attribute receives a massive bonus.]
Better control over Water Release also speeds up analysis of Water Release ninjutsu. That makes perfect sense. No complaints!
[Analysis complete.] [Congratulations, host. New skill acquired: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.]
Acquiring this ninjutsu immediately sent the calculation progress bar for Lei Dou's Water Release: Body Flicker Technique leaping forward by a full 5%!
One B-rank Water Release ninjutsu could add five percent to the calculation progress.
That excited Lei Dou even more. This was better than finding money on the street! Now he could only hope this Jonin would keep up the good work and use a couple more different Water Release techniques.
Just then, a mechanism in the training ground seemed to activate. Several hidden compartments suddenly sprang open in the wall struck by the Water Dragon Bullet, firing a dense barrage of blunt training projectiles.
The Jonin reacted extremely quickly, immediately forming hand seals to defend himself.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A spinning wall of water instantly rose from the surface beneath his feet, blocking the projectiles' attacks from every direction like a shield.
"Water Release: Water Wave!"
Then he switched from defense to offense, spitting a high-pressure stream of water from his mouth. The compressed column, as thick as a soccer ball, shot into the distance with a piercing whistle.
Crash!
The water column struck with astonishing force, hitting the target and sending echoes reverberating throughout the room.
In terms of instantaneous force concentrated on a single point, it was considerably stronger than Lei Dou's wide-range Water Release: Water Wave.
[Congratulations, host. New skills acquired: Water Release: Water Formation Wall, Water Release: Water Wave.]
Two more practical Water Release ninjutsu were his.
In less than ten minutes, his calculation progress had increased by 10%, saving Lei Dou a full fifty hours of idle calculation time.
Tonight's peeping operation was nothing short of perfect.
The man was only an ordinary Jonin, and after those three Water Release techniques, he was thoroughly exhausted. He sat on the ground and rested for a long while.
Then he seemed ready to call it a day and go home. The lights in the other Jonin's rooms began going out one after another as well. Lei Dou knew when to quit while he was ahead and prepared to withdraw.
With three Water Release ninjutsu acquired, today's haul had far exceeded his expectations.
Tomorrow, he'd come back to stock up again!
[Congratulations, host. New skill acquired: Advanced Taijutsu.]
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