Luna made her decision.
This decision was not a momentary impulse, but the result of careful weighing over several days.
Ever since seeing those four corpses, a heavy stone had been weighing on her heart.
War was approaching; Iwagakure and Sunagakure were already battling on the soil of the Land of Rain, and Konoha could join at any moment.
Although they were temporarily safe now, this safety was fragile, like a piece of paper soaked through by rain that would shatter with a gentle poke.
They needed power.
Not just the power of one person, but the power of all four of them together.
Luna sat alone in the clearing behind the shrine, the Chakra in her body slowly flowing through her meridians.
After practicing for this period, she was already able to skillfully condense Chakra into any part of her body; she had tried concentrating Chakra on the soles of her feet, allowing her to jump higher and farther, and concentrating it on her arms, significantly increasing her strength.
This was the most basic usage of Chakra: strengthening the body.
If an ordinary adult could use Chakra to this extent, they would be at the Genin level of Taijutsu.
Luna’s current amount of Chakra far exceeded that of her peers, but her body was too small, and her base stats for strength and speed were too low; even with Chakra reinforcement, she could not beat an adult Genin.
But at least she was no longer an ordinary child completely incapable of resisting.
As for Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato, they were still just ordinary children.
Luna closed her eyes and repeatedly deduced various possibilities in her mind.
If she did not teach them, they might get injured in some future conflict or even die.
But if she taught them, would history change because of it?
When Jiraiya met them, would they still be those same three war orphans?
Once the butterfly effect was triggered, the plot she knew might no longer be reliable.
Luna opened her eyes and looked at the gray sky.
Then she stood up, patted the fallen leaves off her backside, and walked back to the shrine.
She had figured it out.
Whatever the plot, fuck it.
The first thing she needed to consider was letting these three people survive.
…
“This is something I picked up near those hills last time.”
Luna placed a thin booklet wrapped in a rag in front of the three of them.
To call it a booklet, it was actually just a few pages of paper roughly strung together with thin vines, their corners wrinkled by rain-soaking, truly looking like an old item picked up from somewhere.
This was a prop Luna had made herself with half a night’s effort.
To increase credibility, she purposely made those pages look aged, soaking them in muddy water and roasting them by the fire, making them look like old items abandoned for a long time.
Yahiko picked up the booklet, flipped through it, and frowned: “What is this?”
“…Chakra refining technique,” Luna said.
The three people’s movements stopped simultaneously.
“Chakra…
refining technique?” Konan repeated the word, a hint of confusion in her purple eyes, “You mean, that kind of power belonging to Ninja?”
“Mhm,” Luna nodded.
“I have tried it, and it really works. According to the method written above, you can refine an energy called Chakra from the body. Once you have Chakra, you can use it to strengthen your body, run faster, jump higher, have greater strength… and even practice Ninjutsu.”
The cave was silent for a few seconds.
Yahiko stared at the booklet, his gaze flickering: “You… have already mastered it?”
Luna did not answer, instead reaching out to take a Kunai placed nearby.
She condensed Chakra at her fingertips and squeezed hard, leaving a shallow fingerprint on the metal blade of the Kunai.
All three of them saw it.
Yahiko widened his eyes, his mouth slightly agape, unable to close it for a long time.
“You…” He pointed at Luna, then pointed at the Kunai, his voice changing pitch, “When did you learn this?! Why did you not say so earlier?!”
“I started practicing after picking up this booklet, probably… a dozen days ago.”
Luna skirted around the issue, “I did not tell you because I was not sure myself if it was actually useful. Now that it is confirmed, I dared to bring it out and tell you.”
Yahiko wanted to say something, but opened his mouth and closed it again.
He looked down at the crude booklet, then looked at Luna, took a deep breath, and his tone turned serious:
“This… can we learn it?”
What Luna was waiting for was this exact sentence.
“Yes,” she said.
“I will teach you.”
…
That evening, Yahiko was the first to start trying.
Following the method dictated by Luna, he sat cross-legged by the campfire, closed his eyes, and tried to perceive the energy within his body.
Luna sat across from him, correcting his breathing rhythm while observing his progress.
Konan and Nagato sat nearby, watching quietly.
After about ten-odd minutes, Yahiko suddenly opened his eyes with an incredulous excitement on his face:
“I felt it! There is that… that warm feeling, right in my belly!”
Luna was even more surprised than him.
So fast?
When she first tried it, it took her nearly two minutes to perceive the energy, and she still had system assistance.
Yet Yahiko touched the threshold in just over ten minutes?
Was this…
talent?
Luna recalled Yahiko’s setting in the original work: although he did not have any special Bloodline Limit, his battle talent was extremely high, and his Taijutsu foundation was solid.
During the three years Jiraiya taught the trio, Yahiko was the fastest learner.
It seemed this talent had started since childhood.
“Continue,” Luna suppressed the surprise in her heart, trying to make her voice sound calm, “Do not rush to be happy, steady that feeling, and try to guide it to flow through your body.”
Yahiko nodded and closed his eyes again.
Konan watched from the side and asked softly: “Luna, that Chakra you mentioned… can all of us practice it?”
“Yes,” Luna turned her head to look at her.
“As long as you follow the method, everyone can refine Chakra.”
Konan lowered her head, looking at her own hands, as if imagining what that energy she called Chakra looked like flowing inside her body.
Nagato did not ask questions, but his gaze looking at the booklet was more focused than when looking at anything else usually.
Looking at the three of them, a complex feeling suddenly surged in Luna’s heart.
She was changing history.
In the trajectory of the original work, these three children were supposed to start coming into contact with Chakra only after meeting Jiraiya.
But now, because of her appearance, they were ahead by at least a year.
She did not know what kind of chain reaction this would bring.
But she felt.
This was a good thing.
Yahiko would become stronger because of this and would not die so easily.
Nagato would learn to control the Rinnegan earlier and would not be swallowed up by power so easily.
Konan would find her own Ninja path earlier.
Luna leaned against the pillar, watching the three earnest figures trying by the campfire, the corners of her mouth curling up unconsciously.
Alright.
From now on, she was no longer the only one groping in the dark.
They had Chakra.
And thus, they possessed hope.