Training Plan

Chapter Sixteen: Planning

First was fine Chakra control, but Ayato currently had no idea how to continue training it. He had completed both Tree Climbing and Water Walking very quickly before.

It should be said that from the start, Ayato's Chakra control had surpassed the requirements of those two exercises. What he needed was to train it into an instinct, without needing to devote extra attention to controlling it.

This was an accumulation of quantity. Ayato only needed to train it step by step from now on, but he truly had no idea how to further improve his control, so he could only set it aside for the time being.

Then there was Chakra Shape Transformation. Ayato was currently still at the stage of sensing a connection with condensed Chakra. Without the guidance of hand seals, directly condensing Chakra outside the body and controlling it was no easy task.

Fortunately, Ayato still had little Chakra, and the amount he extracted was also small, naturally lowering the difficulty of control. At present, Ayato had already sensed some connection and could exercise a little control over it.

However, he was still some distance away from being able to control the shape it formed.

Though both involved Chakra control, one was control within the body. To Ayato, Chakra inside his body was like an obedient child, letting him manipulate it into all manner of forms. The only reason he had not progressed further was that he lacked a teacher and did not know the path ahead.

The other, however, was control outside the body. Once it left his body, it was as though it became a wild child, even trying to escape his control. Ayato had barely regained some control over it, but making it as obedient as it was inside his body was clearly impossible for now.

What Ayato needed to do now was something else—the prerequisite for senjutsu.

Ayato naturally did not know how to absorb Natural Energy, but Naruto's training in the original story had taught him the prerequisites.

First, there had to be stillness of both body and mind. Only in that state was it possible to sense Natural Energy.

Of course, even if Ayato sensed Natural Energy, he absolutely would not absorb it. Without that toad's ruler keeping watch, turning himself to stone would be game over.

But there was no point in thinking about that for Ayato, because he could not even achieve stillness yet.

Physical stillness was barely manageable. Although it still felt as if countless ants were crawling over his body, he could endure it.

But mental stillness—what was a modern person like Ayato supposed to do? That kind of stillness was probably an exclusive buff for people with pure hearts.

As a modern person, Ayato's thoughts simply could not stop. Even when he tried to empty his mind, he would still think of things without realizing it.

There was only one possibility for Ayato to reach a state of stillness: he would have to fall completely asleep, and sleep soundly without dreaming!

The problem was that the stillness required for senjutsu was not a sleeping state.

Thus, Ayato found even the prerequisites for learning senjutsu difficult to fulfill, yet Sage Mode was something he absolutely had to master.

After all, those freaks later on had resistance to ordinary ninjutsu that was off the charts. Without Sage Mode, if he wanted sufficient damage, he could only train taijutsu.

Yet when it came to taijutsu, Ayato felt that even if he trained himself to death, he could never surpass Guy by that point. Taijutsu truly required bit-by-bit accumulation over time. Where was Ayato supposed to find that kind of time?

And even Guy could only throw that one kick, and his leg bones had broken afterward. What was Ayato, whose taijutsu was inferior to Guy's, supposed to do? Just sit there and wait to die?

Therefore, if he wanted to pack a punch, Sage Mode was a technique Ayato had to learn. But he had struggled for a long time without ever entering that state of stillness. Still, over time, Ayato had managed to figure out a few methods.

They could barely even be called methods.

He could not empty his thoughts normally, but when a man was in that, ahem... Saint Mode, or rather Sage Mode, he had far, far fewer random thoughts.

Of course, Ayato could not possibly do that. He was still so young. Setting aside whether he even had the capability, doing something like that at his age—could he even be called human anymore...?

More importantly, it would affect his physical development, and that was something Ayato could not accept.

Still, though he could not accept it, it gave Ayato some inspiration. When he trained himself to utter exhaustion, leaving himself without the energy to think about random things was also a method.

That was exactly what Ayato did. As for the results, it was naturally effective, but his mental energy instead became a side effect at such times. Even when his body was utterly exhausted, his thoughts remained highly active.

Still, it was much better than at the beginning, so Ayato kept at it. Several years had passed by now, yet Ayato still felt he was lacking something. He still could not completely empty his mind.

During the free time after extracurricular training, Ayato dragged his exhausted body and tried once more. Just as usual, it felt like he was not far away, yet he still could not break through that final step.

In other people's eyes, Ayato was simply sitting there asleep. In reality, even though he had not reached that state of stillness, his perception had improved qualitatively. Whenever someone tried to touch him, he could notice in advance and simply stare at them without saying a word, chilling them to the bone. They would not dare try again next time.

Thus, Ayato left others with the impression that he was rather lazy, much like Shikamaru—perhaps even lazier. After all, Shikamaru at least needed to lie down to sleep, while Ayato could fall asleep sitting there. He did not need to lie down or even put his head on a desk!

Naturally, Ayato did not care what others thought. Though he could not completely quiet himself, it was still very useful for calming his mind, and calming his mind was also a great help in later learning Chakra Shape Transformation.

After using up his remaining Chakra to practice Chakra Shape Transformation, the day's classes were more or less over.

At that point, Ayato would go home for dinner. After digesting for a while and recovering some Chakra, he would go spar with Rock Lee. The recovered Chakra was still enough to use the Three Body Technique.

Ayato's arrangements were linked together one after another. With such diligence and planning, it was only natural that he improved quickly.

However, others did not know about Ayato's plan. So when they saw him doing this, they thought he was slacking off. After several days, Iruka saw Ayato doing this repeatedly and finally could not sit still any longer. He went to find Ayato.

"Ayato, you can't keep being this lazy. Since you possess such exceptional talent, you should work even harder. Don't let that talent go to waste!" Iruka said painfully.

Iruka's words left Ayato somewhat bewildered. Him, slacking off? How did he not know he had ever slacked off!?

Ayato felt that at his current age, even if he was not the most hardworking person, he had definitely surpassed 99.9 percent of people his age!