Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Swordsmanship, Senjutsu, and Ninjutsu
In the training ground of the Anbu, Natsuro stood alone, holding his sword.
First was swordsmanship.
Natsuro thought for a moment, then picked up the sword he had custom-made from Tetsuya and began practicing.
If an accomplished swordsman were to see his current movements, they might initially dismiss them, as many of his actions were not entirely standard, and his swordsmanship appeared mediocre.
However, if they were present, they would soon realize that the moment Natsuro drew his sword to practice, the entire training ground was instantly filled with a faint yet deadly sense of danger, as if the sword could swing at any moment to take the observer's life.
Natsuro quickly furrowed his brows and stopped, realizing the situation with his swordsmanship.
It wasn't hard to understand, as all his sword techniques had been developed step by step, designed for the most efficient way to kill enemy ninjas. This resulted in a sword style that was uniquely his own. One could say it was based on White Fang's style, yet distinctly different!
Therefore, in the absence of actual enemies, practicing like this wasn't very effective. More importantly, his swordsmanship stirred up his killing intent, which had previously calmed down.
With this in mind, Natsuro sighed and decided to temporarily stop practicing swordsmanship.
Reflecting on his sword skills, he recalled that after acquiring Sakumo Hatake's techniques, his progress had been rapid. Even the Anbu Captain had asked Natsuro how he trained, noting that he seemed to have mastered Sakumo's style.
Natsuro had no intention of hiding anything and shared his understanding with the Captain, but the Captain didn't believe him, thinking that swordsmanship was less practical than ninjutsu.
This left Natsuro speechless at the time. "If you don't believe me, why ask?" he thought. But he also realized that not everyone was suited to this kind of swordsmanship. He only found it effective because it fit him perfectly.
Finally, Natsuro flicked the blade's edge, knowing that his old companion would have to rest for a while. It almost seemed as if the sword itself sensed this, as its gleaming edge seemed to lose its luster.
Natsuro stared blankly at this. If it really had some sort of spirit, then with all the people he had killed, could it be a cursed sword?
Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought. "Even if it is, so what? The one using it is still me. No need to blame the weapon."
As Natsuro was about to sheath the sword, he paused. Thinking for a moment, he infused chakra into his hand and used the Fire Element Sealing Technique to engrave two Japanese characters on the sword's guard.
'墨' (Ink).
Natsuro decided he wouldn't be using the codename 'Ink' anymore, so he gave it to the sword that had accompanied him for over a year.
He then sheathed the sword and sealed it within a scroll. "Sealing techniques are so convenient," he mused.
Next was senjutsu. Natsuro considered his chakra reserves, estimating he had around one card's worth. Learning senjutsu might still be challenging, but it shouldn't result in him being overwhelmed by natural energy. Besides, he always felt that the natural energy he sensed was quite 'gentle,' so it probably wouldn't consume him… right?
Still, he decided it would be best to wait until his killing intent had fully subsided before diving into it.
Thanks to the Void State, he could now maintain a meditative state in his normal form. But whether it was because this state helped suppress his killing intent or not, his sensory growth had stagnated.
More importantly, he had a premonition that once his killing intent fully dissipated, his Void State would undergo a qualitative transformation—one that continuous training alone couldn't achieve.
So there was no rush with senjutsu. His killing intent was subsiding at a reasonable pace. Plus, he scratched his cheek, noting that when he was most relaxed—particularly when he was with Ino—that calming process sped up.
In the meantime, he could focus on other things.
As for his ability to sense natural energy, he could already feel it in his normal state. He hadn't entered Sage Mode yet, so he couldn't see it, but perhaps once his Void State evolved, there would be a surprise in store.
Finally, there was the primary reason Natsuro had come today: ninjutsu.
Starting with lightning release, arcs of electricity flickered around him, but he frowned and shook his head.
The Lightning Release was now entirely ineffective. His previous idea had proven unrealistic. While he could resist most low-level lightning jutsu, higher-level ones were impossible to negate.
He had also once hoped that continuing to strengthen this technique might let him achieve the same level as the Third Raikage. Now, he realized that was wishful thinking.
The growth rate of his physical strength far outpaced his resistance. At this point, the Lightning Release only served to relieve fatigue, with barely any benefit to his body.
So, the Third Raikage's physique was likely the result of a special environment and secret medicines. It was impossible to reach that level under normal conditions.
Still, even a little benefit was better than nothing, and it helped alleviate fatigue, so he would keep using it.
As for the electromagnetic field, he could now maintain a certain intensity around himself, even using it for electromagnetic acceleration. But as for creating something as powerful as an electromagnetic cannon, he was still far off.
The real advantage of the electromagnetic field lay in its versatility. For example, it could make a Flying Thunder God kunai fly behind an enemy or pierce them directly.
But kunai weren't ideal for this. Natsuro had ordered some extremely sharp iron shards from Tetsuya, but most enemies didn't last long enough for him to need them.
He also used regular iron pellets for some basic defense.
In short, he was still far from his envisioned "super electromagnetic lightning kunai." But he could already use a simple lightning kunai, and it was fast—though not fast enough for him.
Natsuro wondered if, instead of focusing solely on increasing the strength of the electromagnetic field, he could work on expanding its range. Arcs of electricity flickered around him. While controlling them over a longer distance was difficult…
He nodded, recalling how Sasuke later developed Chidori Stream, which had a similar effect. Perhaps he could learn that technique and use it to increase his range.
If he could extend the range, Natsuro imagined countless Flying Thunder God kunai dancing freely within the magnetic field. Wouldn't that create a terrifying 'domain'?
As for Chidori, he rarely used it in its pure form, preferring Sasuke's later development, Chidori Katana, which was far more practical and lacked the drawbacks of Chidori.
That wrapped up his work with lightning release. His direction had been clear for a while; now it was just a matter of widening his scope.
However, he had some ideas for wind release.
With his current chakra reserves, a full-powered Wind Release: Rasenshuriken would be a bit taxing, but he could use a mini version. After all, using the full power version would waste too much energy.
Though Natsuro had this thought, he didn't stop there. He felt that the cutting power of the Rasenshuriken wasn't particularly exceptional.
From what he recalled, the Rasenshuriken was primarily effective because of its attack frequency and the number of hits, like a neurotoxin. But Natsuro thought all that was unnecessary—one clean cut was all it should take.
Right now, his favorite wind release techniques were Vacuum Wave and Wind Cutter Technique. To him, these seemed like what wind release cutting techniques should be. But since Vacuum Wave was already one of the top-tier wind jutsu, he found himself at a dead end.
If necessary, he would have to create his own jutsu, following the path of Vacuum Wave. What he needed was an ultimate single strike, a decisive wind jutsu that could cut through anything.
As for the Wind Cutter Technique, he had reached the point where he no longer needed hand signs to use it. He liked to infuse it into his sword, and sometimes it could even produce effects similar to sword energy, which was quite useful.
So, before developing his own techniques, he decided to follow the original method and learn the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Although he hadn't mastered Sage Mode yet, since he had the Flying Thunder God technique, he wasn't too worried about getting caught in its blast.
What Natsuro didn't realize, based on his memory, was that Naruto's Rasenshuriken couldn't be thrown initially because it was still a half-completed jutsu.
As for the Wind Release: Gale Palm, it was mostly useless to him at this point. However, he was pondering whether the principles behind it could be further developed into more advanced techniques, which could enhance its supportive effects.
But all of these techniques, no matter which, would take time to research. Natsuro felt a bit of a headache over it and thought maybe it wasn't worth rushing the study of Gale Palm. Even if he developed it further, by the time he improved his strength again, it might become obsolete anyway.
Natsuro looked at the invisible wind in his hand and realized that there was still so much to learn.
There were also a few other miscellaneous things, like sealing techniques. He had no intention of creating his own sealing techniques—just learning ninjutsu was already giving him enough trouble, let alone developing new sealing jutsu.
So, he planned to take things step by step. First, he'd focus on mastering the Eight Trigrams Seal and the Four Symbols Seal before moving on to anything else.
He wasn't in a hurry for this. With Naruto's sealing techniques as a reference, his research was progressing quite quickly. He could already use some seals but still required extensive preparation. There wasn't much he could do about that, as he hadn't dedicated much time to sealing techniques in the past year and a half.
And then there was… medical ninjutsu. That's right, he had learned medical ninjutsu. Initially, he only wanted to learn the basics to heal himself, but later he found he had quite a knack for it and thought it was relatively easy, so he ended up learning all the fundamentals.
Medical ninjutsu brought him the biggest surprise, although it also raised some unanswered questions...
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