“Chakra paper is so expensive.”
Kuroda Ren held a single piece of chakra-testing paper and couldn’t help complaining.
As the orphan of a fallen Konoha shinobi, Kuroda Ren received a monthly living allowance from Konoha that would continue until he reached adulthood.
But the allowance wasn’t particularly generous.
He received only a few thousand ryo a month—barely enough to cover his living expenses.
And yet, a tiny piece of chakra paper like this cost a full 5,000 ryo, accounting for more than half of his monthly allowance.
Fortunately, Kuroda Ren had been mature and frugal since childhood.
Aside from his everyday expenses, he saved whatever money remained instead of spending it recklessly.
His savings weren’t particularly large, but he had managed to put something aside.
Buying a piece of chakra paper would hurt a little, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t afford.
“Let’s see what my nature affinities are.”
Kuroda Ren infused the test paper with chakra.
Visible to the naked eye, the paper split cleanly down the middle.
One half burst into flames.
The other half became wet.
“Wind, Fire, and Water?”
“Or Water and Fire?”
Kuroda Ren wasn’t completely sure.
He glanced at the time.
It was almost time for afternoon classes.
He immediately hurried toward the teachers’ office.
“Teacher.”
Kuroda Ren found Imai Nobuyuki and showed him the chakra paper in his hand.
“I tested my chakra nature.
Does this mean I have two affinities or three?”
“Oh?
Chakra nature?”
Imai Nobuyuki was somewhat surprised.
For a first-year student, it was quite early to be experimenting with this sort of thing.
But when he recalled Kuroda Ren’s performance in practical combat, he didn’t say anything about it.
Instead, he looked carefully at the chakra paper in Ren’s hand.
“It split down the middle, and one half burned while the other became wet.”
Imai Nobuyuki nodded.
“You have three chakra natures: Wind, Fire, and Water.”
“That’s very rare.”
“Three affinities?”
Kuroda Ren was also quite pleased.
It wasn’t the legendary five-nature affinity, but possessing three different natures meant his starting point was already considerably higher than that of ordinary shinobi.
To become a Jōnin, one generally needed to master at least two chakra nature transformations.
Although he would still need to train to develop his chakra natures, learning additional natures from scratch was considerably more difficult than developing affinities he already possessed.
Moreover, different chakra natures had different characteristics.
Even from a tactical perspective, mastering ninjutsu of multiple natures offered a much higher ceiling than specializing in a single nature.
“I remember that your chakra reserves are enormous.”
Imai Nobuyuki stroked his chin.
This student, Kuroda Ren, had left a deep impression on him.
His physical abilities were astonishing.
His chakra reserves were also enormous.
Of course, all of this was judged by the standards of a six-year-old child.
For a civilian-born child, such qualities were already extremely rare.
Imai Nobuyuki developed an appreciation for the boy’s talent.
“How about this?”
“If you can take first place in the next monthly examination, I’ll teach you a ninjutsu.”
As he spoke, a proud expression appeared on Imai Nobuyuki’s face.
“Don’t look down on me just because I’m only a Chūnin.”
“I’ve actually participated in S-rank missions before!”
“I only left the ranks of combat shinobi and came to teach at the Ninja Academy because I was injured during the previous war, which caused my combat ability to decline.”
Kuroda Ren’s eyes immediately lit up.
Imai Nobuyuki was also a civilian shinobi, so the ninjutsu he knew probably wasn’t particularly powerful.
But for Kuroda Ren right now, did he really have the luxury of being picky?
Someone was willing to teach him.
Of course he was willing to learn.
He immediately asked:
“Thank you, Teacher!
Can I know which ninjutsu it is?”
“You’re still very young.
Something too complicated wouldn’t be suitable for you.”
Imai Nobuyuki smiled.
“If you take first place in the next monthly examination, I’ll teach you a C-rank ninjutsu.”
“Water Release: Wild Water Wave.”
“I relied on this very technique to kill three Rain shinobi on the battlefield back then!”
“If I hadn’t been unable to master a second nature transformation, perhaps I would have become a Jōnin long ago.”
Kuroda Ren had some impression of this technique.
Several shinobi in the original story had used it.
Even shinobi from different villages had employed it.
It was a relatively common basic ninjutsu, much like Great Fireball Technique and Earth-Style Wall.
But basic didn’t mean weak.
After all, the rank of a ninjutsu only represented the difficulty of learning it.
Once proficiency increased, simply increasing the amount of chakra poured into a technique could allow even a low-rank ninjutsu to unleash tremendous power.
Kuroda Ren quickly expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you, Teacher!”
“I’ll do everything I can to take first place in the next monthly examination!”
At present, the students had only been enrolled for a short time.
They hadn’t been taught very much, so the examinations were naturally simple.
Kuroda Ren’s advantage in physical attributes could still be maintained.
At least when it came to the practical examination, he was highly confident that he could take first place.
As long as he didn’t fall behind in the theoretical subjects, taking first place overall wouldn’t be particularly difficult for him.
Of course, that only applied to the current situation.
Later on, once the Academy gradually relaxed the rule that students could only use techniques they had already been taught during practical examinations, maintaining first place would become much more difficult.
The students from shinobi clans possessed an enormous advantage in this regard.
They had access to far more techniques and a much wider variety of methods.
However, if he could learn ninjutsu from Imai Nobuyuki—and even find ways to establish connections with more powerful shinobi and learn additional techniques—Kuroda Ren was confident that he could leave the other geniuses far behind.
With the Ryze Emperor Template, even if the ninjutsu he mastered could only unleash a fraction of his absurd “stats,” he would still be able to effortlessly crush the so-called geniuses of this era.
And if he could completely realize his potential, even Six Paths-level beings—and perhaps even the Ōtsutsuki scattered throughout the universe—would be opponents he would dare to challenge.
…
That afternoon’s practical combat class was still focused on Konoha-Style Taijutsu.
The Ninja Academy’s curriculum progressed very slowly.
During the first semester of first grade, they only taught Konoha-Style Taijutsu.
It wasn’t until the second semester that they would begin teaching shuriken throwing.
As for the Three Basic Jutsu, those belonged to the second-year curriculum.
From that point until graduation, the practical combat curriculum wouldn’t receive any further major additions.
Over the course of six entire years, aside from the greater amount of material covered in theoretical classes, the only practical skills taught by the Academy were:
Konoha-Style Taijutsu, shuriken throwing, and the Three Basic Jutsu.
Everything else had to be obtained either through family inheritance, after graduation, through taking a master, or by exchanging merits with the village.
Even though the Ninja Academy taught very little, and the ultimate potential of Konoha-Style Taijutsu was limited, Kuroda Ren still practiced it seriously.
Until he possessed sufficient strength, he would never abandon any opportunity to improve himself.
Moreover, he needed to ensure that he could take first place in the upcoming monthly examination and learn Water Release: Wild Water Wave from Imai Nobuyuki.
That would allow him to further increase his strength.
Therefore, he had to maintain his advantage in the practical examination.
He couldn’t give Hatake Kakashi or Might Guy any opportunity to catch up.
The others weren’t much of a concern.
As long as they were only competing in Konoha-Style Taijutsu, Kuroda Ren could still crush them through his superior physical attributes.
But Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy were different.
The gap between their physical attributes and Kuroda Ren’s wasn’t particularly large.
On top of that, both had considerably greater proficiency in taijutsu.
Kuroda Ren wasn’t confident that he could maintain his advantage all the way until the examination a month later.
◇ Bonus Chapter Goals ◇