After enrolling in the Ninja Academy.
Kei's life became more regular as well.
Almost every day, he traveled between the same three places: the Ninja Academy, his home, and that patch of woodland. Day after day, as long as nothing unexpected happened, Kei maintained that rhythm. For an ordinary child, however precocious, such a monotonous life would have been unbearable. For Kei, however, it was a choice he had made himself-and one he had to grit his teeth and stick with!
The greater his talent, the less room he had to slack off.
Potential only meant something once it had been converted into combat strength he could use.
A genius who died young had no value at all.
Knowing full well how cruel and dark this world was, and knowing that another great war would break out in the Shinobi World in five years at most, Kei had to seize every minute and every second!
Indulging in a little ease now could very well cost him his life on a future battlefield.
Kei had no intention of dying young in both of his lives!
He was determined to keep a firm grip on his own destiny.
And amid that extremely regular routine, more than half a year flew by. In the blink of an eye, the depths of winter had arrived again.
It was the same familiar lake.
Kei stood on its surface.
He did not move an inch.
His eyes were tightly closed, his palms pressed together, and faint fluctuations of chakra slowly spread outward.
Then, in a single instant.
"Hah!"
Kei gave a sharp shout.
"Ice Release!"
A somewhat powerful fluctuation of chakra rippled outward.
Bzz!
White, luminous mist abruptly appeared!
In an instant.
The temperature plummeted.
From the spot where Kei stood, a mass of ice crystals rapidly spread.
Rumble!
Crash!
In less than a second, it surged upward, forming a dazzling spectacle in midair!
At the sight, a satisfied look appeared on Kei's face.
Looks like my chakra control is more stable now, and I've brought the chakra consumption down further too. I can start testing other aspects!
After briefly considering it to himself.
Next up is this jutsu!
He threw himself back into training in other areas.
Ice Release.
It was the foundation of the Yuki Clan's survival.
Since Kei had been born into this clan, Ice Release would naturally be the most important power he relied on to establish himself in the Shinobi World!
Moreover, his affinity for the power of ice surpassed almost everyone in the clan. Through his observations and tests over the past several years, Kei had been able to confirm that.
It was not a matter of a jutsu's power.
It was a matter of sensing wind and water, and fusing them!
Chakra had only seven basic natures: yin, yang, wind, fire, water, lightning, and earth!
Every kekkei genkai and kekkei tōta was founded on these seven types of chakra. The Yuki Clan's Ice Release bloodline ability was the result of a special fusion of wind and water chakra.
In this respect, Kei possessed talent far beyond that of all his clansmen!
To give a simple example, when someone exceptionally talented and someone mediocre used the same jutsu, the former would not only expend far less chakra and time than the latter, but also unleash far greater power!
That was the difference talent made!
And in Kei's case, the gap between him and his clansmen was even more pronounced!
Moreover, that was only one aspect. When it came to chakra, Kei possessed an exceptional natural advantage as well!
Although it was not as exaggerated or freakish as Naruto's or Hashirama's.
Kei's maximum chakra capacity still far exceeded that of an ordinary person!
And total chakra capacity was also the easiest and most direct indicator of a shinobi's strength!
If someone else could use an S-rank jutsu only once, while you could use it ten times, that was a sign of strength!
Of course, although a shinobi's maximum chakra capacity was fixed from the outset, that did not mean they immediately gained that maximum amount of chakra as soon as they could extract it!
Everything still had to start from zero. Chakra was a special power produced by the perfect fusion of a human's spiritual and physical energies!
Every human possessed spiritual and physical energies. Whether they could extract chakra depended on whether they could fuse the two perfectly, and the more energy they could extract, the higher their chakra limit was!
That upper limit was fixed!
The process of reaching it depended on the individual's effort!
Precisely because he understood this, Kei had always paid attention to training both his body and his spirit!
His aim was to extract as much chakra as possible!
This was a shinobi's most important foundation!
Thanks to this, Kei had been able to gradually increase his training time.
When it came to showing the results of his private efforts at the Ninja Academy, Kei naturally cut them roughly in half. As long as he ensured that he remained among the most outstanding students, he left all the remaining limelight to his two older clansmen and the three classmates from the Hozuki Clan and Kaguya clan.
At the Ninja Academy, Kei perfectly played the part of a modest honors student!
Nor did he go out of his way to approach anyone. Even with Mei Terumi, who had interested him most before, Kei maintained only the bare minimum of normal interaction.
He strictly followed the rules he had set for himself.
This left Mei Terumi, who had briefly thought Kei was interested in her, a little dejected. It was not that she had fallen for Kei. It was simply the most basic, primal pride of a girl-or rather, of a human being-that made her want to see others become "enamored" with her!
It could not be called universal, but most were like this. Perhaps it should even be called an instinct inherent to living creatures!
Still, Mei Terumi was Mei Terumi, after all.
Though she was still very young, she already possessed some of the bearing she had displayed when she appeared in the original story. With a firm goal in mind, she would not truly lose herself in such girlish feelings. After a brief bout of dejection, Mei Terumi likewise devoted herself to her studies and training.
This was Kirigakure, not Konoha, and the war had only recently ended. Never mind people like Kei and Mei Terumi-even the ordinary students knew very well where their attention needed to be.
Of course, there were still occasionally boys and girls so genuinely naive that they seemed a little foolish, unable to recognize their own position.
But whether it was Mei Terumi or Kei.
They always kept a respectful distance from such people!
This was the most important stage for laying their foundations. In the eyes of people like Kei and Mei Terumi, even the slightest distraction was an utterly unforgivable offense!