Konoha: I Have a Gravity Training Room

She felt that if she had Ino's background and talent, and could learn her family's inherited ninjutsu, she might have possessed chunin-level strength right after graduation. She might even have had a good chance of becoming a second Tsunade.

Sure enough, was it because people only failed to cherish what they already had?

Just like how her family was wealthy, yet she did not know how to make good use of it.

Xia Mu patted Tenten's bun. "Don't overthink it. Just focus on training. Shino and I will check on things at school tomorrow. If something is wrong with Ino, we'll help think of a solution."

Only then did Tenten feel relieved and resume Water Walking.

Meanwhile, Ino was still sitting there in a daze, unchanged even by dinnertime.

Seeing this, her mother, Rino Yamanaka, looked worried but did not dare say anything. She waited until her husband, Inoichi Yamanaka, returned.

"Dear, Ino's been acting strange ever since she came home today. I didn't dare ask her about it. What do you think we should do? Maybe you should talk to her?"

"Me? I..."

Inoichi Yamanaka had a headache. Talking to his daughter was what he was worst at.

Still, seeing Ino truly sitting there blankly, he could not help but worry. So, he steeled himself and sat down across from her.

Just as he was about to speak, Ino suddenly said, "Dad, I want to train properly. I want to learn our family's inherited ninjutsu as soon as possible. Train me well!"

Inoichi Yamanaka was startled. "I-Ino, what's gotten into you?"

Ino said seriously, "Today, I met a girl who trains seriously. After talking to her, I remembered the dream I once had. I thought I wanted to become popular with everyone, make everyone like me, and find a handsome boyfriend. But now I remember that what I really wanted was to become a powerful person like Lady Tsunade and be admired by everyone!"

Inoichi Yamanaka was stunned. He had not expected his daughter to suddenly awaken like this. It was rather unbelievable.

He had no idea whom Ino had met to undergo such a change.

Still, this seemed to be a good thing.

Ino was his daughter, the heir of the Yamanaka Clan. The proper path was for her to grow quickly and inherit the clan's secret techniques.

So, with joy mixed with seriousness, he said, "Ino, training is very hard. Can you endure it?"

Ino's expression froze. She had always been pampered and was the family's precious little treasure, so naturally she disliked hardship. But Tenten's determined expression flashed through her mind, and she gritted her teeth.

"I can keep at it!"

"Good! Tomorrow, Dad will set up your training regimen. Prepare yourself!"

And so, Ino Yamanaka's miserable training life began.

The next day at school, Xia Mu and Shino deliberately kept an eye on Ino. They found the girl looking wilted and listless, though they had no idea what was wrong.

Xia Mu wrote a note and had Shino send it over with his insects.

Soon, a new note was brought back. It read: Thanks for your concern. I'm fine. I just asked my dad to train me when I got home yesterday. He woke me up early this morning to run, so I'm just tired.

Xia Mu and Shino immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that Ino had been influenced by Tenten and decided to train properly. That was a good thing!

But the two of them did not know that Ino was suffering inside and did not dare say it. She had her pride, after all.

Being dragged out of bed early to run was the easiest part. The training tasks her father assigned were the truly terrifying part. Just looking at the list made her scalp tingle.

She had been too careless. If she had known, she would not have talked so big.

Of course, there was something else troubling her even more. Ino seemed to have confirmed that Xia Mu's assessment of her had been correct.

In other words, she liked handsome guys; it was not that she absolutely had to have Sasuke. Now, she faced the problem of swallowing her pride and reconciling with Forehead Girl, but how was that possible?

Apologizing first would be so humiliating, but if she did not make up with her, she would lose this friendship. It was so agonizing!

Time flew by, and soon it was the first day of the month again.

Xia Mu had prepared his research project. As soon as seven o'clock arrived that evening, he flashed into the Special Laboratory and began his difficult path of research.

He did not actually want to do research.

But he had no choice.

Without inherited ninjutsu or secret techniques, and with no way to learn powerful ninjutsu, he could only conduct research himself before obtaining the Eight Gates and Hatake Kenjutsu, striving to create some practical techniques.

His first project: convert the Shadow Clone Jutsu into the Four Demon Technique!

Xia Mu began adding and removing hand seals, processing them like lines of code. The next second, with a bang, a head appeared behind him.

"Tch! I wanted to create arms, not a head! No, that's not right. I want to be able to create whatever limbs I want whenever I want!"

Xia Mu was a little annoyed. He canceled the technique and continued his research.

Bang! A foot appeared on his abdomen.

Release!

Bang! A pair of ears appeared on his ankle.

Relea... huh? This seemed worth researching separately. If he could create ears somewhere away from his body, would that not let him eavesdrop?

But he did not need that right now, so he released it again.

Water Style: Boiling Torrent

After more than an hour of effort, Xia Mu finally found the right direction.

He took a deep breath and slowly formed several hand seals. "Four Demon Technique!"

Bang! A pair of arms suddenly appeared on his shoulder blades. Under the control of his mind, they could flexibly perform all sorts of movements, and their fingers could form hand seals smoothly as well.

Bang! A pair of tiny hands appeared at his lower back, so small that anyone who saw them would think they were mere decorations.

Yet those tiny hands were still extremely nimble. They could also form hand seals with ease and let Xia Mu cast ninjutsu successfully.

"Whew! I finally succeeded!"

Xia Mu let out a sigh of relief. This modification had truly been taxing on the brain.

The Shadow Clone Jutsu had only a few hand seals, but precisely because there were so few, changing it was even more difficult. Especially since Xia Mu had many requirements: not only did he want to create arms, he wanted to create any organs he wished at will, and he wanted to freely control their size too.

He had set the difficulty level himself. Of course it was mentally exhausting.

Still, the results were quite gratifying.

In future battles, he could create a pair of small hands on his back beforehand and have them secretly form hand seals. This would make enemies think he could cast ninjutsu without hand seals. They would not be able to tell when he was going to use a technique or what kind of technique he would use.

With so many unknowns, enemies would naturally be wary, giving him the advantage.

"Shino will definitely like this. His trust in me hasn't been wasted."

Xia Mu silently canceled the technique, then began working on One-Handed Seals. This was something he had to do every time he learned or developed a new ninjutsu. He had to master both two-handed seals and one-handed seals.

Another hour passed, and Xia Mu successfully became proficient in the one-handed-seal version of the Four Demon Technique.

Next came the main event: Chakra's water-nature Nature Transformation!

He raised a hand and formed a Rasengan, recalling the properties of water. It was not merely wet; it also possessed the twisting current and shredding force within a vortex. Yet the Rasengan showed no reaction for a long time.

Fortunately, he was patient. He knew this sort of thing could not be rushed. It would be perfectly normal even if he achieved nothing today.

Moreover, in the Special Laboratory State, his Chakra, physical strength, and mental energy were inexhaustible. Thus, he never stopped maintaining the Rasengan, nor did he stop focusing on infusing it with the concept of water nature.

He did not know how much time passed. Xia Mu had already lost track of it.

Then, the Rasengan finally began to change. A large amount of water appeared within the rapidly spinning Chakra, driven by the Chakra into dense, chaotic vortexes. A powerful twisting force emerged.

Seeing this, Xia Mu immediately pulled out a Kunai and tossed it into the sphere.

The next second, the Kunai was ground into powder by the twisting spiral vortex.

"Hiss! That's terrifying!"

Even Xia Mu could not help sucking in a cold breath. Then he was overcome with joy, because he had successfully fused Chakra Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation, creating his own Rasengan technique!

But it was not over yet, because Xia Mu felt the sphere beginning to radiate terrifying heat, becoming incomparably scalding.

"What's going on? Right, water spinning and twisting at ultra-high speed causes water molecules to rub against one another, generating heat and making the water inside the sphere boil. Water's boiling point is only one hundred degrees, but as the molecules keep rubbing, the heat will continue rising, and that heat is also tightly trapped inside the sphere..."

Just as Xia Mu thought this, he felt smoke rising from his palm. A wave of heat burst from the sphere, nearly cooking him into a little lobster.

He did not dare hesitate. With a thought, he created a small mountain in front of himself, then hurled the sphere at it.

Boom! Freed from its restraints, the sphere erupted on the spot.

A gigantic spherical vortex spread across a hundred meters, directly enveloping the entire mountain. The mountain vanished in an instant, and the ground was even gouged into a crater more than ten meters deep.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

The violent heat was released, while scalding steam formed a storm that swept across several hundred meters.

Xia Mu was standing very close and was directly swallowed by the steam. Although he would not be injured in the Special Laboratory State, he could still feel the pain of being steamed alive, along with the sensation of nearly being twisted into a pretzel—or even shredded into minced meat—by the vortex's twisting force.

"My god! This is way too terrifying! If an enemy got hit by this, I don't know whether they'd be torn apart or boiled alive, but they definitely wouldn't survive. The key is that I wouldn't survive either. The area damage is too massive. I have to throw the sphere out, but this kind of sphere is unstable and explodes the moment it leaves my hand. What am I supposed to do?"

Xia Mu stared at the huge crater before him as waves of heat continued to spread. For a moment, he was troubled by the problem.

Naruto seemed to have only been able to throw the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken after learning Sage Mode. He had not dared use it when he first developed it, and Xia Mu's current situation was similar.

Did that mean he also needed to learn Sage Mode?

"No, no. Naruto improved the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken after learning Sage Mode. I have the Special Laboratory assisting me, so I can improve it without Sage Mode!"

Still, Sage Mode... perhaps he could try it too.

After all, he could not be harmed in the Special Laboratory State. If he tried absorbing natural energy, he should not turn to stone either.

It seemed he would not need to frequently develop those minor techniques in the future. He could directly try absorbing natural energy and slowly adjust the ratio. Eventually, he would be able to balance natural energy, physical energy, and mental energy into the Golden Dragon Fish state—one to one to one. At that time, both his offense and defense would be greatly enhanced.

What more could he ask for?

The key problem was how to absorb natural energy. That required investigation and study.

"Hmm, I'll put that project aside for now. The current problem is improving this technique. If its power is too great, I can lower it a little, and it should be usable at close range. The sphere can't be thrown because it's unstable, so I just need to stabilize it."

Xia Mu did not dare delay after reaching that conclusion and began all sorts of attempts.

In the end, until the Special Laboratory State ended, he still failed to improve it. At most, he gave the technique a name:

Water Style: Boiling Torrent!

Its name alone revealed the technique's characteristics. However, Xia Mu did not have the habit of shouting technique names when attacking, so he was not worried about enemies learning it. Naming it was merely convenient for research.

Oh, right. He would need a cool name to brag about it in front of Tenten and Shino in the future. This name was passable, more or less.

But it was far better than Minato Namikaze's bizarre naming sense.

Xia Mu left the laboratory, washed up and ate with dark circles under his eyes, then arrived at the classroom early in the morning. To his surprise, Shino was already there, sitting motionlessly at his desk.

"Shino, you came so early?" Xia Mu asked with a yawn.

"Yeah. I know you stay up every month on the first, then come to class on the morning of the second to sleep. It isn't safe for you to sleep alone, so I came to keep watch for you."

Emotional Progress

Shino stated it as if it were only natural, but Xia Mu was deeply moved.

Now this was a true companion worth entrusting his life to!

No one had asked him to do this, and Xia Mu had never asked for his help, yet Shino remembered it in his heart. He felt that Xia Mu would be unsafe sleeping face-down on his desk without any defenses, so he had deliberately arrived early to wait.

He was really... Xia Mu was moved to tears!

Xia Mu reached out and patted Shino's shoulder, his tone solemn. "Shino, I was right about you. You truly are a powerful and trustworthy companion. It is my honor to become friends with you!"

Shino's expression shifted slightly beneath his sunglasses, though his tone remained as calm as ever. "Xia Mu, you are also powerful and trustworthy. I am truly happy to be your deskmate, friend, and even companion. Thank you for trusting me. I will trust you as well!"

Xia Mu said no more. He merely nodded, then fell asleep under Shino's protection.

After school that afternoon, at Tenten's family training ground.

Tenten looked suspiciously at Xia Mu and Shino before finally asking, "You two don't happen to have some special feelings for each other, do you?"

Oh no! Tenten's snarky side had taken over!

Shino rarely argued back. "Tenten, how can you think that? Xia Mu and I are friends who trust each other, companions. It is only natural for us to be close. Besides, the person Xia Mu likes is clearly..."

He did not finish, but Tenten understood, and her face immediately reddened.

Xia Mu was startled too. Fortunately, Shino had not finished, or there would be no surprise left when he confessed to Tenten in the future.

He hurriedly changed the subject. "Ahem! Today, I wanted to show you another result of my research: the Four Demon Technique! Afterward, I'll teach it to Shino. Tenten, you can learn it too if you want."