Daichi's eyes narrowed as the overwhelming wind gust surged toward him. This was no ordinary Great Breakthrough Jutsu, it had the power of an A-level technique.
With little time to react, Daichi anchored his feet with chakra and swiftly made a hand seal before slapping the ground. 'Earth Release: Earth Wall!'
A thick wall of stone erupted from the ground, shielding Daichi, Shisui, and Tenga from the raging winds. The earth wall trembled when it made contact, with cracks appearing along the stone surface as the wind storm slammed into it.
"Sensei, do something! The earth wall is crumbling!" Tenga shouted, surprised by the strength of Ryou's ninjutsu.
However, Ryou stopped releasing his chakra just as the stone wall began to break apart. When the wind gust finally died down, Daichi stood behind the crumbling Earth Wall, visibly impressed.
'What a powerful ninjutsu! Even a Jonin with advanced mastery over Wind Release wouldn't be much better than this,' Ryou's unexpected display of strength made Daichi look thoughtful.
"Incredible," Shisui muttered under his breath, looking at the destroyed surroundings.
"You've certainly taken that jutsu to another level, Ryou. It seems like your chakra reserves have improved recently," Daichi remarked.
Ryou's expression remained casual as he replied, "I've been training, Sensei. And yeah, my chakra reserves suddenly increased not long ago."
Daichi nodded, not entirely surprised by Ryou's words. He had seen similar situations before, though what caught his attention was Ryou's age. Such a significant spike in chakra at this stage of development was rare, but not entirely unheard of.
"You..." Tenga stared at Ryou, speechless. His eyes still widened in disbelief as he tried to process. The shock of seeing Ryou, someone who trained alongside him, suddenly display such overwhelming strength left him reeling.
"How did you get this strong so fast?" He muttered, his voice filled with a mix of awe and frustration.
"Hahaha. Don't overthink it, Tenga. Ryou's situation is rare. It's possible he may have awakened a hidden bloodline in his body which may have spiked his chakra reserve. Things like this happen sometimes, especially in major ninja clans." Daichi chuckled.
"For example, take the Uchiha," Daichi continued, glancing at Shisui. "Their chakra increases significantly when their Sharingan reaches the three-tomoe stage. It's a natural part of their bloodline progression."
Shisui nodded in agreement. "It's true."
Tenga sighed, then chuckled. "Why do I get the feeling I've suddenly become the normal one in the group?"
Shisui shook his head. "You're not normal, Tenga. You've got your own strength with high talent in Water Release and your chakra reserve isn't normal either."
Daichi reassured him. "Exactly. Everyone has their own path. Don't underestimate yourself."
Tenga laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I better train harder and improve myself if I want to keep up with you guys."
"Ryou, you've been asking me about the Shadow Clone Jutsu for a while now," Daichi said, "I think it's time I teach you. The reason I didn't teach you before was because this jutsu requires dividing your chakra. Without a certain amount of chakra, rapid depletion of their reserves can be dangerous."
Hearing this, Ryou's eyes brightened.
Seeing his reaction, Daichi chuckled. "Alright, watch carefully." His hands moved deliberately, forming the seals unhurriedly so that others could follow.
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu splits your chakra evenly between you and the clone. It's different from regular clone jutsu since the shadow clones are solid and can fight, think on their own, and even perform jutsu.
Whatever they experience gets transferred back to you when they disperse. So it's mostly used in intelligence gathering.
As Daichi continued, a clone appeared beside him with a puff of smoke. "This is why you need a decent chakra reserve to handle the strain of creating and maintaining multiple clones."
He gestured to Ryou, Shisui, and Tenga. "You guys can try it now!"
Ryou had been waiting for this. After performing the seals as mentioned by Daichi, he whispered, 'Shadow Clone Jutsu!' Two solid clones of himself appeared beside him.
It wasn't particularly difficult, but without Daichi's guidance, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off just by following the seals.
Daichi gave a nod of approval. "Good. As expected of you, Ryou."
Next, Shisui tried. With a few hand signs, he summoned a single shadow clone that looked similar to him. Tenga followed suit, but his clone dissipated almost immediately. "It looks like I need practice."
"Alright, that's enough training for today. We'll focus on completing a few more D-level missions before taking another C-level mission," Daichi said.
As young ninjas' they need time, not just for physical growth or skill improvement, but for their minds to adjust, especially after their recent experience of taking a life. It wasn't something one could easily forget or accept, and he wanted to give them room to process it.
--
Evening,
After finishing his D-level mission, Ryou headed to the training ground for some practice. Using the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he materialized two clones, making three of him in total.
He assigned tasks to his clones: one focused on chakra control, and the other on Genjutsu practice. Meanwhile, as the main body, he concentrated on his Nature Breathing Style for an hour to improve his physique proficiency.
Afterward, Ryou decided to try something new.
He started circulating his chakra to all parts of his body, mimicking the principles of Total Concentration Breathing. With the sword in his hand, he channeled chakra into the blade.
With slight concentration, the chakra nature of the blade turned into the wind.
With his blade infused with wind-natured chakra, he executed a slash. A powerful wind blade shot from his sword visible to the naked eye. A sharp, whistling sound echoed as the blade of wind cut through the air while the surrounding trees were slashed apart by it creating devastation in its wake.
Unbeknownst to Ryou, a figure had been watching everything from the treetops nearby. Hidden from view, Minato Namikaze, observed quietly. His blue eyes gleamed with interest as he watched Ryou train.
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