"Very good, your talents are indeed quite impressive," Asahi complimented when Yahiko successfully grasped the tree-climbing technique. However, his praise had an unintended consequence.
Yahiko, hanging upside down from a branch, began to laugh heartily, forgetting that he had been left behind by his two comrades a moment ago.
He laughed so heartily that he lost his grip and fell again, which left Asahi rather exasperated.
Rubbing his rear end in embarrassment, Yahiko chuckled awkwardly as he stood on the ground. Asahi quickly intervened, saying, "Alright, no more fooling around. This is just the beginning."
Seeing Asahi's stern expression, all three students immediately became serious. Yahiko ceased clowning, and Konan and Nagato stopped their suppressed laughter.
"Now, let's raise the difficulty a bit. Your next challenge is to run steadily on the surface of the water."
Asahi paused, then announced their next training goal. Having experienced tree climbing, the three students didn't question Asahi's instructions and patiently awaited his next words.
"Similar to tree climbing, you'll gather chakra under your feet. However, water is constantly changing, so you'll need to adjust the chakra concentration under your shoes constantly. Understand?"
"Yes, understood!" The three students nodded seriously.
"Good, then go ahead."
Asahi created a shadow clone to accompany the students to the riverbank. For teaching these fundamental exercises, one shadow clone was sufficient.
Meanwhile, Asahi himself entered a state of meditation. With his recent rapid progress on his strength, he had been sensing the bottleneck of his breakthrough approaching.
By the river, under the watchful eye of the shadow clone, the three students began their water-walking training. Unlike tree climbing, this task was more challenging, and all three fell into the water multiple times.
Even Nagato, with his exceptional talent, took a while to find stability on the water's surface. Yahiko, on the other hand, had a particularly tough time and ended up drenched.
What seemed like a simple exercise turned into a two-day ordeal for the three students. Achieving the ability to walk freely on the water took even longer, a half-day of continuous practice to get used to the ever-changing surface.
Of course, there was a reason for Yahiko falling behind, so by the time the three students completed the water-walking training task, three days had passed.
During these three days, the only noteworthy event was Asahi's successful breakthrough to the Jonin level. His sudden surge in natural energy was even noticeable to the three students.
Achieving this breakthrough to Jonin was a source of great satisfaction for Asahi.
After all, it was the result of relentless training for over two months, entirely different from any rewards provided by the system. Although the next breakthrough was still a long way off, Asahi now had some confidence.
In this era, where Jonin-level Shinobi weren't as numerous as they once were, being a Jonin was considered high-end combat capability. Moreover, Asahi was considerably stronger than the average Shinobi of the same rank.
"Very good, now the next phase of your chakra control training begins."
With the joy of his successful breakthrough still fresh, Asahi's sternness towards the three students had lessened somewhat.
"Do you all know about the Sand Village?"
Instead of revealing the details of their next training phase, Asahi asked the three students a question.
Although they didn't understand the purpose of this question, the three students answered honestly, "Yes, we know. The Sand Village is a Shinobi Village in the Wind Country, one of the Five Great Nations, and one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages."
Asahi nodded, "Correct. Since you know about the Sand Village, you must be aware of a particular type of Shinobi unique to the Sand Village – Puppeteers."
Hearing the word "Puppeteer," the three students furrowed their brows as they recalled certain information. Suddenly, Konan clapped her hands and said, "Oh, I remember now. I've heard adults talk about it before. They said that Sand Village Puppeteers could single-handedly rival several Shinobi."
Yahiko and Nagato also remembered. During their wanderings, they had indeed overheard some people discussing Shinobi from various nations.
One individual had particularly admired Sand Village Puppeteers, claiming that a single one could replace an entire team.
Asahi nodded again, "That's correct. While it's true that Puppeteers are formidable and can control multiple puppets simultaneously, they often have significant weaknesses. Many puppets they control lack strong offensive capabilities and primarily rely on poison. However, if an antidote is available against their poisons, they become significantly less effective. Additionally, most Puppeteers have very weak close-combat abilities. Once an enemy gets close, they are essentially helpless on the battlefield."
Asahi explained, instantly dispelling the mystery surrounding the profession of Puppeteers for the three students.
"However, for now, this doesn't concern you. What you need to do is learn the control techniques of Puppeteers."
"You see, every Puppeteer possesses exceptional chakra control skills."
With that, Asahi suddenly produced a pile of kunai without blades and handed them to the three students, saying:
"Now, mimic Puppeteers and use my chakra to form a thin thread, controlling and using these kunai."
"When you can comfortably control more than ten kunai at once, you'll have completed this phase."
Accepting the kunai, the three students found that, apart from the absence of blades, these kunai were no different from the ones they usually used.
It's worth noting that kunai without blades are much harder to come by than bladed ones.
Asahi had specially arranged for these kunai to be made at a weapon shop.
"Don't worry, Master. We won't keep you waiting long," Yahiko said with a confident smile, and even Konan and Nagato displayed a hint of confidence.
After all, they had completed the previous two phases in just a few days. Even if this phase was a bit more challenging, it shouldn't take too long.
Seeing their confident expressions, Asahi shook his head in resignation. "Don't underestimate this task. It's quite different from tree climbing and water walking. You'll understand when you give it a try."
The training of tree climbing and water walking could be described as a single-minded endeavor. However, controlling kunai with chakra threads was far from simple.
You see, even with regular steel wires, controlling kunai required prolonged practice, let alone using chakra threads.
Maintaining chakra threads required intense focus, and when combined with the difficulty of controlling kunai, it was akin to multitasking.
If they were to control multiple kunai, they would need to create more chakra threads, making it even more challenging. This was beyond multitasking; it was multitasking to the extreme.
Under these circumstances, it was impossible to achieve the training goals without enduring extensive practice.
However, once accomplished, the three students' chakra control abilities would reach an exceptionally high level.
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