Three days later.
Early morning.
Qīng Míng stepped out of his tent and wandered through the camp. As he watched the bustling crowd, he couldn't shake a growing sense of unease, as if a storm was brewing.
Qīng Míng knew exactly where this feeling came from—someone like Orochimaru wouldn't take a hit without striking back. The ambush in the canyon was one incident, and the sneak attack three days ago was another. After suffering two consecutive losses, there was no way Orochimaru wouldn't retaliate.
He had every reason to believe that Orochimaru was preparing something big.
However, as Qīng Míng glanced at the charred remains scattered around, he knew that even if Orochimaru was planning revenge, it wouldn't happen right away.
Three days ago, a joint surprise attack by Sand and Stone Ninjas was repelled by Konoha, but half of their supplies were burned down.
Until new supplies arrived, it was unlikely that Orochimaru would make any significant moves. Based on the speed it took to arrive at the Rain Country's battlefield a month ago, it would take at least twenty days to transport supplies from Konoha to here.
And that doesn't account for the time needed to gather the supplies. If someone were to disrupt the transport along the way, it could take even longer.
Qīng Míng estimated that it would take no less than a month to sort everything out.
In other words, there probably wouldn't be any large-scale battles in the coming month.
This thought allowed him to relax, at least a little.
Leaving the camp and passing through several defense lines, Qīng Míng arrived at a dense forest northwest of the camp.
As he approached, he heard the sounds of shouting and the rhythmic pounding of wooden posts, with the occasional clang of weapons clashing in the distance.
Qīng Míng wasn't surprised. This area had been designated by the camp for ninja training. Even during wartime, ninja couldn't perform missions non-stop, so they would get a few days off every ten days or so.
With the pressure of the battlefield looming, many chose to spend their break training to increase their strength. The camp, for better management, set aside this specific area for such purposes.
In the month that Qīng Míng had been on the battlefield, he would come here to train whenever he had time. In the last three days especially, he had visited daily.
He quickly made his way to a secluded corner and drew a short sword.
This short sword, which he had taken from Bai Shícāng Dòu, was about half a meter long with a silver-white blade. It was made of fine iron mixed with chakra-conducting metal, making it not only durable but also efficient at transmitting energy.
Unfortunately, Qīng Míng's fire release ninjutsu level wasn't high. His understanding of fire-style chakra was shallow, and he hadn't mastered the shape and nature transformation needed to unleash the full power of the blade.
If he had, a single move like Blazing Blade would not only inflict physical damage but also burn his enemies with intense heat.
Shaking his head to dispel these thoughts, Qīng Míng began practicing Konoha-ryu Kenjutsu (Leaf Style Swordsmanship).
That's right—Qīng Míng had successfully learned the Leaf Style Swordsmanship without any issues.
As he trained, Qīng Míng discovered that his mastery of Basic Taijutsu was providing a bonus to his swordsmanship.
In less than three days, he had not only entered the beginner stage of the Leaf Style Swordsmanship but had reached level 1 (60/200).
Qīng Míng estimated that the difficulty of learning Leaf Style Swordsmanship should be at C-rank, which meant it usually took at least three days to get started, even if it didn't consume too much chakra during practice.
Comparing his progress, it was clear that his advancement was unusually fast.
The reason?
Qīng Míng had figured it out: many of the techniques in Basic Taijutsu overlapped with those in Leaf Style Swordsmanship.
Because of this, his mastery of Basic Taijutsu allowed him to quickly grasp portions of Leaf Style Swordsmanship.
However, Qīng Míng also guessed that this boost was limited and wouldn't continue indefinitely.
After all, Basic Taijutsu only covered so much material, and once that was exhausted, it would lose its usefulness.
Two days later.
In the morning, after completing another round of Leaf Style Swordsmanship training, Qīng Míng noticed his proficiency had only increased by one point.
At the same time, on his skill panel, Basic Taijutsu flickered briefly before disappearing altogether.
At first, Qīng Míng was concerned, but after confirming that the knowledge remained in his mind, he relaxed.
Clearly, Basic Taijutsu had been fully absorbed into Leaf Style Swordsmanship.
At this point, his Leaf Style Swordsmanship was at level 1 (181/200).
Seeing that he was close to leveling up, Qīng Míng didn't waste any time. After a brief rest, he began a new round of training.
Without the buff from Basic Taijutsu, the training speed inevitably slowed down.
It wasn't until mid-afternoon that Qīng Míng finally leveled up Leaf Style Swordsmanship to level 2 (1/500).
Though he wasn't yet a swordsmanship expert, he now wielded the short sword with noticeable skill.
After practicing for a bit, Qīng Míng put the blade down and reflected on the past few days of grinding through Leaf Style Swordsmanship.
It was clear that his fast progression was closely tied to the mastery of Basic Taijutsu he had achieved.
This led Qīng Míng to recall his experience learning the Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
Back then, it was thanks to him leveling Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu to level 1 early on that he could quickly learn the Phoenix Flower technique.
Later, when learning Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu, he found that having already mastered the Great Fireball and Phoenix Flower techniques allowed him to accumulate proficiency faster.
At that time, Qīng Míng noticed a pattern: ninjutsu of the same attribute could enhance each other to some extent.
However, once all three techniques reached level 1, this effect became less noticeable or almost negligible.
So, he stopped investigating further.
Now, Qīng Míng realized his mistake.
He shouldn't have tried to level up all three fire release techniques at the same time.
Because they were all C-rank techniques with similar levels of proficiency, there wasn't much room for them to borrow from one another.
Thus, the proficiency could only increase bit by bit.
The correct approach should have been to first raise one jutsu's level to a higher point, which would grant a deeper understanding of that chakra nature. Only then should he have tackled other related techniques.
This would be like a senior student solving a lower-level problem set—naturally, the process would be much easier.
Reflecting this on his panel, his proficiency would increase rapidly.
Not only would this save time, but it would also save chakra.
Qīng Míng couldn't help but feel a little regret for not realizing this earlier.
Fortunately, it wasn't too late.
After reviewing his skill panel, Qīng Míng decided to prioritize raising the level of Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu among the three fire release techniques.
The reason was simple: it was the most practical.
As for the other skills, he would continue to improve them step by step.
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