Chapter 57: An Unexpected Talent
Chapter 57: An Unexpected Talent
"Even though I don't completely understand, I will work hard," Sakura said firmly, undeterred by the difficulty of the subject.
"Having determination is good, but if you don't understand something, ask me. Just blindly pushing forward isn't the most efficient way to learn." Mizuki himself had suffered from this mistake—researching alone without guidance, relying only on discussions with Tsubaki. Reaching his current level was already a remarkable feat under such circumstances.
"I understand. Thank you, sensei."
"Good. Tomorrow we'll start practical lessons. But before the day ends, let me test your perception skills." Mizuki glanced at the time, realizing there wasn't enough to teach much else. "This shop has a barrier set up. Instead of using your eyes, try sensing with your chakra and mental focus. Find all the symbols and structural nodes within the formation and map them out. Let's see how long it takes you to locate them all."
---
As night fell, Mizuki walked the streets of Konoha, exhausted from the day's teaching. He felt like he had spoken more in one day than in the past month combined. His throat was dry, and his head was heavy.
Konoha at night was just as lively as during the day. Street lamps illuminated the town, making it resemble the bustling small cities from his previous life. But the contrast between this lively scene and the chaos and destruction that would arrive in just a month was stark.
"Mizuki, is something bothering you?" Tsubaki, walking beside him, asked with concern.
"Hmm? Why do you ask?"
"You seem preoccupied. Lately, you often space out, as if you're lost in thought."
"Do I?" Mizuki chuckled. His fiancée knew him too well.
"You never tell me anything. Is there something you can't share with me?" Tsubaki asked, her tone slightly hurt.
"Don't overthink it. I'm just worried about the village's situation."
Seeing Mizuki unwilling to elaborate, Tsubaki didn't press further. When they returned home, she quietly shut all the doors and windows before calling Mizuki over.
"What is it?" Mizuki asked, sensing her secrecy.
"Look at this," Tsubaki said, bringing her hands together and channeling her chakra. Slowly, she pulled them apart, creating a glowing ball of energy between her palms.
Sparks crackled and flickered in the sphere.
Mizuki's eyes widened. "Is this…? Have you mastered the nature transformation of Lightning chakra?"
Tsubaki shook her head. "Look closer."
Mizuki scrutinized the energy more carefully.
"This is… Wind chakra?" He was shocked. "Wait—have you mastered both Wind and Lightning nature transformations?"
He had always known that Tsubaki was intelligent and gifted, but he hadn't expected such a feat.
"How did you do it?" Mizuki asked in disbelief.
"You explained before how natural lightning forms through friction in the air. Your remote sniping technique with the barrier worked on similar principles, didn't it?" Tsubaki replied.
"But that was just guiding natural energy—you're mimicking the process using chakra! That's completely different!"
"I simply achieved the Wind and Lightning nature transformations first. They wouldn't normally combine, but I remembered you saying that intense friction and high energy could produce electricity. So, I used Wind-nature chakra to move rapidly and create this effect."
"You can do that?" Mizuki was astounded by her delicate chakra control. "Then, why don't you try rubbing Water and Wind nature chakra together to see if you can create Ice Release?" He mused, recalling how rapid water movement can lead to evaporation and cooling—but whether it would generate ice or something else, he wasn't sure.
"I haven't mastered Water nature transformation yet."
"Oh, right. I'm getting ahead of myself."
Among the five basic chakra natures, Earth and Water transformations were generally the easiest to learn, while Wind and Fire transformations were moderately difficult. Lightning transformation was considered one of the hardest. It made sense that Tsubaki had first succeeded with Wind and Lightning, but the way she merged them was beyond anything Mizuki had ever seen.
Tsubaki carefully manipulated her chakra, forming a sphere of bluish-violet electricity. The ball spun rapidly, filled with countless minuscule lightning strands, crackling violently.
Mizuki threw a kunai into the sphere to test its power.
The moment the kunai made contact, its tip instantly disintegrated into red-hot iron dust before completely breaking apart.
"This… is terrifying." Mizuki stared at the result. "Combining two aggressive chakra natures—Wind and Lightning—creates something this destructive?"
He turned back to Tsubaki with concern. "Has this affected your body? Does it drain too much chakra? Is there any risk?"
"It's quite chakra-intensive and takes a lot of focus to control. But aside from making me feel more aware and sharp, I haven't noticed anything strange."
"Alright, then you should stop for now." A technique this powerful was too dangerous to practice recklessly.
After a few moments, Tsubaki deactivated the jutsu, taking a deep breath to recover. "At least I can be of help to you now, right?"
"More than that. You're far ahead of me in chakra control." Mizuki grinned. "I've never seen anything like this before. If you ever use it in battle, just call it an advanced Lightning jutsu. Don't let others suspect it's something entirely new."
Any unknown ability would attract greedy eyes. Mizuki and Tsubaki didn't have the status or strength to withstand that kind of attention.
"Here, drip a bit of your blood onto this." Mizuki handed her a small scroll. He had kept a previous sample of her blood for comparison. If her chakra transformation had truly altered her genetic makeup, it might mean she had unintentionally created a new Kekkei Genkai.
Tsubaki pricked her finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the paper.
Mizuki then handed her another scroll. "Take this, too."
"What is it?" Tsubaki asked.
"A special chakra sample. I need you to help me separate it into its components. There should be two or three different kinds of energy in there. Try to break them apart."
Inside the scroll was chakra Mizuki had collected from Sasuke Uchiha during one of his Cursed Seal transformations. He had been attempting to extract pure Natural Energy from it but had so far failed. Since Tsubaki was clearly more skilled in chakra manipulation than he was, it was worth seeing if she could do it.
Tsubaki examined the scroll and narrowed her eyes. "This chakra… it's similar to what leaked out when I sealed the Cursed Seal on your arm, isn't it?"
"Exactly. But this is from Sasuke. He's another of Orochimaru's pawns."
Tsubaki shivered at the mention of Orochimaru. The man had nearly deceived Mizuki into following him. "I'll do my best."
"If you can separate this energy, I might finally have a way to remove the Cursed Seal completely."
Tsubaki nodded. "Leave it to me."
---
Read up to 20 chapter ahead of time on patreon.com/Legendryweeb
{please give this novel 5 Star review and power stone}
*Thank you*