“The core principle behind sensory ninjutsu isn’t actually that complex.” Deep in the mountain forest, having eaten and drunk their fill, Eagle began explaining her personal understanding of sensory techniques.
It was glaringly obvious that she thoroughly enjoyed playing the role of an instructor.
She even strutted back and forth in front of Ayane with her hands clasped smugly behind her back.
The only issue was Eagle’s height—she stood at a mere 1.55 meters.
Far from establishing any sort of authoritative, imposing teacher persona, her posture gave off a slightly ridiculous ‘child trying to look like a grown-up’ vibe.
Ayane choked back a laugh, though her mouth remained completely cooperative.
“And what exactly is that principle?” Eagle giggled.
“To sum it up simply: you locate a suitable medium within your surroundings, and then utilize that medium to broadcast your chakra far and wide.” She didn’t gatekeep at all, laying it out directly: “There are plenty of mediums you can choose from.
It can be inanimate environmental elements like dirt and raindrops, or living organisms like animals and insects.
The specific choice depends heavily on the requirements of the jutsu formula and your own chakra nature transformation…” In the original series, true sensory ninjutsu wasn’t overly common.
Nagato’s Rain Tiger at Will Technique was one.
Karin’s Mind’s Eye of the Kagura was another.
Beyond those, you had Gaara’s Eye of Sand, the Yamanaka clan’s secret spiritual manipulation, the Aburame clan’s insect tracking, and so on…
And with the sole exception of the Uzumaki clan’s Mind’s Eye of the Kagura, almost all of these sensory techniques relied on glaringly obvious, tangible mediums.
“And here in Amegakure, our sensory ninjutsu almost exclusively utilizes the water element saturated within the environment.” Eagle brought her palms together with a sharp slap, her fingers instantly blurring through seven or eight rapid hand seals before slamming her hand firmly against the dirt!
Credit where credit was due.
Though she was short, the sheer kinetic flair of her execution looked undeniably cool.
It caused Ayane to view her in a slightly more appreciative light.
“Because of the perpetual downpours, the soil of our Land of Rain is naturally overflowing with an immense density of water,” Eagle explained.
“We can hijack the moisture within the earth as a physical conductor, using it to project and extend our chakra network to perceive everything around us…” Drawing a logical parallel, Ayane countered, “If that’s the case, why not directly tap into the earth element instead?
It’s far more abundant in the ground.” Eagle blinked, completely stumped by the question.
“Uh, well…
that…” To be perfectly honest, she had never questioned it for a single second.
Whatever was written on the ninja scroll, she just practiced it verbatim.
“It is likely because the earth element is inherently too dense and rigid.
It lacks the natural fluid mobility of water,” Woodpecker chimed in.
Having quietly observed the lesson, the seasoned veteran offered a deduction based on his years of combat experience: “While tracking through earth would provide a tighter, more acute sensory map, the raw chakra consumption required to force your energy through solid rock would be massive.
The returns likely wouldn’t justify the cost.” Ayane nodded, showing she understood.
For a regular shinobi, excessive chakra consumption was a fatal obstacle.
But to her?
It wasn’t even a minor inconvenience.
I have more chakra than I know what to do with!
she thought.
Her innate Purple-tier Trait, [Thin Uzumaki Bloodline], granted her a chakra reserve dozens of times greater than any average ninja her age.
And as her physical body continued to mature, that monstrous reserve was expanding daily.
While she didn’t know exactly how many “Kakashis” of chakra she possessed right now, she had never once lost sleep over her mana bar running dry.
If an opportunity arose in the future, she could absolutely try to modify and optimize this technique.
Seeing that Eagle looked a bit embarrassed about losing face after being questioned, the short girl hurriedly clapped her hands to move things along.
“Alright, alright!
Enough theory, let’s move on to the practical application!” She grabbed Ayane’s left hand, forcefully pinning her palm against the muddy ground.
“Come on!
Channel your chakra exactly according to the formula I just showed you!” Ayane stared at her with a look of utter deadpan exasperation, as if looking at a deeply troubled child.
“You’re physically anchoring my hand.
How am I supposed to form the hand seals?” “Ah…” Eagle let out a sheepish laugh, instantly preparing to release her grip.
But before she could even move her fingers, she watched as Ayane raised her free right hand.
With casual, rhythmic precision, her fingers twisted through the sequence: Ox – Dog – Horse – Rat – Dog – Boar – Snake.
“One-handed seals?!” Eagle’s eyes widened into dinner plates behind her mask.
She let out a tragic, indignant cry: “Curse you, Swan!
You…
you’re showing off again!” Though Woodpecker remained silent, the internal shock waves rippling through his chest were no less violent than Eagle’s.
Reflecting on Ayane’s literal age, a storm of disbelief brewed in his mind.
‘This level of monstrous talent…
it’s like she was personally blessed by the Sage of Six Paths.
It’s truly terrifying…’ He subconsciously adjusted his mask, his mood incredibly complex.
Faced with their sheer awe, Ayane remained entirely unfazed.
One-handed seals are just the baseline, she thought.
In the future, there will be freaks who form seals using their literal toes or strands of hair!
Focusing her intent, she pushed her chakra out from her palm, letting it bleed quietly into the deep subterranean layers.
Suddenly, as if a third eye had violently cracked open across her forehead, the mental imagery in her mind transformed entirely.
The earth beneath her feet, extending outward in a ten-meter radius, was mapped out within her consciousness with the absolute clarity of an X-ray scan.
She could perceive the shifting density of the damp mud, the jagged contours of buried rocks…
she could even clearly sense the rhythmic wriggling of earthworms twisting through the dirt.
‘No wonder the Sage of Six Paths originally intended for chakra to bridge the spiritual gap between souls, allowing humanity to achieve absolute mutual understanding,’ she mused.
‘This level of sensory feedback…
if I were in one of those cultivation novels from my past life, this would basically be a budget version of Divine Sense, wouldn’t it?’ Seeing that Ayane had remained completely frozen and silent after casting the jutsu, Eagle leaned in close, their masks practically touching as she whispered curiously, “Well?
Did it work?
Did you manage to sense anything?” Ayane’s nose twitched slightly.
She murmured in a hushed tone, “Yeah…
I think I’ve detected something pretty extraordinary.” “Extraordinary?!
What is it?!” “Hmm…” Ayane paused for a dramatic moment before continuing smoothly, “Your palms are incredibly soft, and your skin smells amazing.
It’s like a sweet lemon blossom fragrance…” Eagle froze instantly.
A fraction of a second later, the skin beneath her mask burned bright red.
She ripped her hand away as if she had been electrocuted, letting out a series of high-pitched, incredibly flustered squeaks: “What the hell?!
Be serious, you absolute pervert!” Ayane didn’t relent.
She spun around, locking her gaze onto her.
“Confess right now!
Did you sneak off and find a place to take a proper shower behind my back?!” Having been a southerner in her past life and a beautiful girl in this one, the habit of daily bathing was practically hardcoded into her genetic makeup.
But bathing was strictly forbidden under standard Anbu field protocols to prevent tracking.
Ayane had been practically dying of hygiene deprivation over the past few days!
Eagle crossed her arms in a firm ‘X’ gesture.
“Stop right there!
Sensory ninjutsu is an elite military asset, not a tool for you to scan for weird things!” “Hmph…
you think you can hide it from me—” Ayane’s playful tone vanished instantly.
She snapped her head toward the dark foliage behind them, her voice dropping into a freezing command: “Who’s there?!
Show yourself!” The sudden shift from comedic bickering to lethal gravity happened without a single millisecond of transition.
Yet, Woodpecker acted purely on instinct, drawing his weapon and locking his gaze onto the designated sector before she had even finished speaking.
Though Eagle’s combat reflexes were a fraction of a second slower, she utilized the cover of Ayane’s sudden movement to slam her hands together, instantly reinforcing her sensory map.
“Swan!
Twelve o’clock high…
about ten meters back,” Eagle whispered frantically, leaning against her shoulder.
“There’s a tiny shadow clinging to his heels…” Ayane’s breathing steadied.
She cast a seemingly casual glance toward the brush, but the deep, overlapping shadows of the forest revealed absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
Reaching behind her back to form a swift one-handed seal, she took a deliberate step forward to draw the focus.
“What unit do you belong to?
How many Leaf ninja have breached the river?
Who is commanding their vanguard?” As she spoke, she casually lowered the tip of Arashikiri until it lightly brushed against the forest floor.
The unparalleled benefits of a high-grade chakra-conductive metal were displayed flawlessly.
The energy she molded surged down the blade, bleeding into the earth and expanding her newly acquired sensory grid without a single ripple.
Sure enough, she locked onto a microscopic, slithering chakra signature resting exactly where Eagle had directed.
Even though her eyes could see nothing but darkness…
with the absolute tracking telemetry of her sensory grid and the passive tracking of her Green-tier [Precise Shurikenjutsu] Trait, this information was more than enough.
“Lord Anbu, I am Kawai of Reconnaissance Company 1, Squad 4,” the panicked Rain scout gasped out, entirely oblivious to the undercurrents.
“We haven’t identified the Leaf’s supreme commander yet, but their vanguard numbers roughly eight hundred elite shinobi!
They have already—” Before he could even finish his sentence, Ayane’s wrist flicked with blinding velocity.
Swish!
Two kunai tore through the air like twin gale-force winds.
Thwack!
Thwack!
The sharp, clean ring of steel biting into dense wood echoed through the clearing.
Behind her, Eagle let out a long, sweeping exhale of relief.
“Target neutralized.” Woodpecker blurred across the clearing instantly.
He knelt down at the base of the distant tree trunk, retrieving the pinned target before speaking in a low, grim voice: “It’s a small, snow-white snake.” Eagle frowned beneath her mask, her tone filled with confusion.
“A snake possessing a distinct chakra signature?
Is it a Summoning beast?
But it’s so tiny…
what could an enemy possibly gain from using something like that?” A snake…
Hearing those words, Ayane’s heart sank like a stone into an abyss.
The others might have been completely in the dark, but how could she possibly fail to recognize this signature?
The person trailing them…
was Orochimaru!
No, to be entirely accurate…
the terrifying trinity that was the Legendary Sannin had officially crossed the border.
The original version of Team 7 had arrived on their doorstep!