Chapter 25: Mission Posting
Aside from creating scrolls that sealed ninjutsu, Ishiro also engraved seals on his body to store various weapons. For instance, on his left wrist he had a seal labeled "刀" ("Blade") that stored a long sword, and on his right wrist a seal labeled "替" ("Substitute") that contained a wooden log for use with the Substitution Technique.
He had also etched seals onto both ankles, each containing a supply of items commonly needed by traveling ninjas. Ishiro's belt pouch held his usual gear for everyday practice, while the ankle seals held backups. These seals were inscribed with special ink that matched his skin color, making them nearly invisible if you didn't look closely.
Ishiro then spent a large amount of ryo at a ninja tool shop, particularly on shuriken, kunai, and explosive tags – all consumables. Since the Academy gave them only wooden training tools, Ishiro wanted to familiarize himself with the weight and power of real weapons before officially becoming a ninja.
He also replaced his training practice blade with a standard shinobi long sword. Although Ishiro planned to focus on ninjutsu, his chakra reserves were still limited, so he had to rely on taijutsu for now. Hence, he spared no expense picking a high-quality blade. Testing it, he found it far sharper and sturdier than a typical kunai.
But that still wasn't enough preparation. Because his progress with Water Thread had stalled, Ishiro began looking at Earth Release: Earth Spear Gun ("土隆枪," hereafter "Earth Spear Gun") as well.
He was surprised to find it consumed a lot more chakra than Water Thread or Earth-Style Wall – about 2.5C. Ishiro's own total had recently climbed to about 2.9C, yet he was startled by how heavily Earth Spear Gun taxed him. He almost gave up on learning it.
However, Earth Spear Gun was the strongest attack he could realistically hope to manage now. His goal was simple: be able to cast it at all, not necessarily master it. Even if it took a ton of time and slow hand seals – akin to how Zabuza used the Water Prison – that was fine. Maybe under some special circumstance, he'd get the chance to set it up.
No matter how many constraints it had, a strong offensive jutsu was better than none. Look at the Third Hokage: without the Reaper Death Seal, he wouldn't have been able to force Orochimaru into a stalemate. That technique had plenty of drawbacks, but with the right setup, it still inflicted a heavy blow.
So, once Ishiro realized Water Thread wouldn't be improving anytime soon, Earth Spear Gun became his top priority.
He already had a head start in ninjutsu: his chakra control had greatly improved, and he'd learned two C-rank jutsu, building plenty of experience. Moreover, Earth-Style Wall was also Earth-based, his specialty. Ishiro refused to believe it would take him more than half a year to simply cast Earth Spear Gun.
When he learned Earth-Style Wall, medicinal meals had let him practice three to four hundred times over nine days, and that had been enough to master the technique for survival. Now, aiming only to use Earth Spear Gun (not fully master it), with an even stronger background in chakra control, he was sure a hundred tries or so would be enough to succeed.
But time and chakra were precious, so Ishiro decided on a quicker route: he spent one million ryo to post a B-rank mission seeking a Chūnin who excelled at Earth Spear Gun to guide him. That million was the last of Ishiro's savings after his big shopping spree, leaving him penniless.
Spending 1 million ryo on a B-rank mission put him at the very bottom of that rank's pay scale. The mission was also somewhat complicated: seven consecutive days of daily guidance on Earth Spear Gun. The mission desk felt it was too cumbersome for a C-rank, so they bumped it to B-rank, hoping to attract a qualified Chūnin.
It took around five or six days before someone took the job. That very day, the hired Chūnin – named Hanlei – found Ishiro. Overjoyed, Ishiro eagerly brought him to a random open area to demonstrate. Hanlei initially wanted a more formal training ground, especially since Earth Spear Gun was an offensive jutsu, and a careless attempt could hurt bystanders.
But once Ishiro performed it, pressing his palm to the ground after forming seals…nothing happened. Or, to be exact, there was no "spear" at all – only a slight tremor in the earth a few meters away. Hanlei was dumbfounded; how exactly was he supposed to "fine-tune" this kid's technique?
Ishiro's posted mission had indeed been vague. Seeing Hanlei's baffled expression, Ishiro felt awkward and cautiously explained, "All I need today, senpai, is for you to figure out why my Earth Spear Gun can't break through the surface. I can cast Earth-Style Wall just fine…"
Hanlei, though feeling scammed, remembered Ishiro was still a kid in his own village and swallowed his frustration. He gave Ishiro a thorough explanation of how controlling Earth Spear Gun differs from Earth-Style Wall. Then he left without a backward glance.
Ishiro, however, felt like a veil had been lifted. Earth Spear Gun might look like Earth-Style Wall, raising stone pillars from the ground, but it required the chakra to form a "spear shape" underground first, then erupt in an instant to strike. By comparison, Earth-Style Wall channeled chakra to gradually build up an earthen barrier from the ground up.
Hence, using the same method for Earth-Style Wall wouldn't produce Earth Spear Gun.
Energized by this knowledge, Ishiro felt confident he could learn Earth Spear Gun before long.
Day Two: When Hanlei returned, Ishiro modified his approach. He formed seals again and pressed his palm to the ground. This time, the earth rose in about a dozen small humps – not an actual spear, but a big leap from yesterday's zero effect.
Hanlei was quite surprised and no longer underestimated Ishiro. After all, that was just one day after his first piece of advice. Ishiro had only had enough chakra for a single attempt. Improving so much in just one try indeed demonstrated serious talent, which Hanlei respected. He now shelved his impatience and further explained how to direct Earth Spear Gun to rise precisely where you want, then left. He wanted to see if Ishiro would make another leap the following day.
Day Three: Ishiro arrived with about twenty circles drawn on the ground. Under Hanlei's watch, he formed seals, trying to raise earthen spikes from precisely those circles. The result? Ishiro managed sixteen humps of stone, with only the first five hitting the circles exactly. The rest got progressively misaligned, and the last few were random again.
Hanlei inhaled sharply. If only I'd learned so fast back when my teammate needed me…maybe he wouldn't have died. Shaking off that grim memory, he explained Ishiro's mistakes once more.
Day Four: Ten humps emerged near the intended circles, while the rest weren't far off. None of yesterday's chaos repeated. Hanlei then began teaching Ishiro how to make the spear tips sharper. Ishiro listened intently, yet was slightly puzzled – the original mission just asked him to pinpoint Ishiro's errors each day, but now Hanlei was proactively teaching him the next step. That went beyond the official job. It almost resembled a teacher instructing a student.
Still, he didn't complain. He absorbed everything.
Day Five: Ishiro managed to produce two lumps that almost looked like actual spears, though nowhere near sharp. Because he was focusing on forming the spear shape, he lost some accuracy – only the first five lumps targeted the circles precisely.
Hanlei gave him a few final tips before announcing, "I've taught you everything I can. Now you just need repeated practice. My contract is done."
Ishiro nodded in gratitude. They'd agreed on seven days, but he'd learned more than enough in five. He guessed that paying 1 million ryo saved him at least three months of self-study time.
He couldn't help recalling how protagonists like Naruto achieved success – with strong mentors like Jiraiya guiding them for years. Even a random Chūnin had given Ishiro such substantial help for Earth Spear Gun. Imagine what a legendary Sannin's personal tutelage for three years could do.
Regrettably, while Ishiro often met Onoki, there'd been no sign the Tsuchikage wanted him as a pupil. No use fretting over it now.
After giving Hanlei a signed statement completing the mission, Ishiro was upbeat. In just ten days, Earth Spear Gun had gone from nothing to a clear work-in-progress. He understood the key points, so with more practice, success was assured.
Hence his schedule resumed: practicing Earth Spear Gun daily and pondering how to fund the Sensory Ninjutsu he wanted. It cost 10,000 points, but he only had around 8,000 – and that total was slowly decreasing as his training went on.
Doing missions was out of the question – he still hadn't officially graduated, and the world beyond the village was dangerous. Besides, a newly minted genin could only take D-rank missions, which offered trivial contribution points. He needed to do something big that added real value to the village.
He reasoned it would have to come from sealing techniques. Everything else about him fell short of the village's top-tier ninjas, but in sealing arts, he was definitely near the top. If he could produce something else like the Five-Elements Seal…
He put the idea into action, heading back to the Barrier Division and unlocking access to the B-rank seals that he technically could study. He'd purposely skipped them before because they demanded more chakra than he had, or they duplicated concepts he'd already learned. But if he wanted to refine new ideas – or glean new inspiration – he'd need a broad knowledge base.
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