Chapter 58: Team 18's Internal Training
After the break ended, Ishiro returned to Team 18 expecting to jump right into another mission. Surprisingly, Captain Shiden announced that for the next month, they'd be conducting internal training instead.
The reason was straightforward—everyone had recently benefited significantly from the rewards of the S-rank mission, acquiring skills and gear they couldn't previously afford. They needed time to integrate these new capabilities and turn them into genuine combat strength, hence the intensive training period.
For Ishiro, this was good news. It provided him with an opportunity to organize everything he'd recently learned and to master the ninjutsu he still hadn't started practicing.
Ishiro's smooth mastery of Yin Release techniques had begun shifting his original focus. Perhaps specializing in Yin Release, rather than his previous plans of Water and Earth Release, would be wiser.
However, he hesitated. Iwa lacked sufficient Yin Release techniques, meaning he'd have to blaze a trail himself. Moreover, such a pivot would render much of his previous effort, especially his carefully developed Water Pressure Line Jutsu—meant to be his foundational technique akin to Naruto's Rasengan or Sasuke's Chidori—somewhat wasted. He didn't want to give that up easily.
Mastering both paths simultaneously felt unrealistic, especially since he had to develop them independently. Eventually, Ishiro decided to delay choosing and instead focused on learning the ninjutsu he currently possessed.
Currently, Ishiro had mastered basic techniques like the Three Basic Ninjutsu, Water Line Jutsu, Water Pressure Line Jutsu, Earth Wall, Earth Spike, Sensory Ninjutsu, and the Mind Disturbance Technique. Most had already reached short-term plateaus, particularly his Water Pressure Line Jutsu development.
Additionally, he had learned the Body Flicker Technique and Underground Submarine Voyage. While both were usable, neither had reached full mastery, particularly Body Flicker, which he had refined down to two hand seals. These two jutsu required substantial practice.
Still left untouched were four more techniques: Body Binding Illusion, Earth Clone, Chakra Sensing Disruption Technique, and basic swordsmanship.
Aside from ninjutsu, Ishiro also had numerous sealing techniques, his most extensive skillset.
Facing so many choices, Ishiro sought advice from Owl, the experienced elite Jonin and Captain of Anbu's second team. Owl was somewhat resigned to Ishiro's habit of frequently approaching him for advice, but still patiently analyzed Ishiro's situation.
First, Owl advised Ishiro to prioritize learning the Body Binding Illusion due to his exceptional spiritual strength, anticipating Ishiro would quickly excel similarly to how he had with Mind Disturbance.
Second, Owl strongly recommended improving the Body Flicker and mastering Earth Clone. Body Flicker provided critical survival capabilities, and Earth Clone greatly diversified combat tactics, especially with Ishiro's significantly increased chakra reserves after mastering Yin Release.
Third, Owl suggested Ishiro practice swordsmanship to address his close-range weakness. Although specialization was vital, some weaknesses were too critical to ignore, especially in Anbu.
Lastly, Owl placed Underground Submarine Voyage and Chakra Sensing Disruption lowest, considering their relatively narrow applicability in battle, advising Ishiro to postpone mastering these.
Listening to Owl's analysis, Ishiro realized his early decision to learn Underground Submarine Voyage had been a misjudgment based on his previous life's knowledge—cool to see, but less practical than anticipated.
Having clear priorities, Ishiro immediately commissioned another B-rank mission at the Mission Center for help learning Body Binding Illusion. Seeing his savings drop significantly again, he sighed inwardly. The S-rank mission payout had seemed generous, but split among the team, it barely covered a single B-rank training session.
As expected, Ishiro quickly mastered the Body Binding Illusion, taking just three days. Unfortunately, his instructor this time was only a Chunin and could offer little beyond basic guidance. Thus, Ishiro had to explore deeper mastery on his own.
Returning to Team 18's training grounds, Ishiro noticed Captain Shiden was absent—busy training a powerful A-rank ninjutsu she'd acquired to compensate for her limited offensive strength as a Taijutsu specialist.
Shironeko and Little Stone weren't yet at Shiden's level, their training aimed primarily at enhancing their strengths. Little Stone had exchanged his contribution points for a chakra-conductive katana and was practicing with it. Shironeko had obtained a ninjutsu similar to the Inuzuka Clan's Beast Mimicry Technique from Ishiro's memories, diligently practicing with her partner, Dango.
When Ishiro appeared, Shironeko only spared him a brief glance, uninterested, while Little Stone immediately approached him excitedly. Ishiro knew Little Stone needed a favor.
"Ishiro, come on, use your ninjutsu against me! I need to test this sword!" Little Stone called out eagerly.
Curious about the sword's capabilities, Ishiro obliged without hesitation, quickly forming hand seals and firing a Water Line Jutsu. Little Stone's chakra-coated katana effortlessly sliced through it without the slightest resistance.
Both Ishiro and Shironeko inhaled sharply in astonishment. Although Water Line Jutsu ranked low among C-class techniques, it was still a ninjutsu, and it had been dispersed so casually.
Little Stone himself was shocked, thoroughly satisfied with his purchase. "Again!" he urged eagerly.
Ishiro smiled and retreated slightly, gesturing Little Stone forward. Immediately, he unleashed a flurry of techniques—Water Line Jutsu, easily sliced apart; Earth Spike was slightly disruptive, but the katana's sharpness not only shattered emerging spikes but disrupted underground chakra, neutralizing them completely.
Surprised again, Ishiro altered tactics, using his newly mastered Mind Disturbance Technique. Little Stone, caught completely off-guard, stumbled briefly, disoriented.
"What happened just now? Felt like someone hit my head—I got dizzy!" Little Stone exclaimed.
Grinning, Ishiro replied, "It's a new technique I mastered recently—Yin Release: Mind Disturbance."
Shironeko interrupted, startled, "Wait—recently mastered? Yet you're already using it with just one hand seal?!"
Ishiro laughed awkwardly, "Hehe, I recently realized I seem especially talented at Yin Release."
Next, he performed Body Binding Illusion slowly, taking five or six seconds due to unfamiliarity. Little Stone deliberately chose not to evade. He suddenly saw a stone pillar rise from beneath, followed by four stone spikes pinning his limbs, immobilizing him.
"What—" Little Stone quickly realized, "Is this Genjutsu? Body Binding Illusion? You learned Genjutsu too?"
"Yes, just learned it," Ishiro confirmed, smiling.
Unable to physically escape, Little Stone tried disrupting his chakra flow—the standard method to break genjutsu. Momentarily, the illusion weakened, but Ishiro, sensing his genjutsu about to fail, instinctively increased his chakra output drastically—from a standard 1C per second to nearly 10C per second.
Surprisingly, despite the massive chakra expenditure, Ishiro noticed Little Stone remained trapped.
"You still can't break free?" Ishiro asked eagerly.
Little Stone angrily shouted, "Of course not!" After struggling a bit more futilely, he finally surrendered, signaling defeat.
Relieved, Ishiro immediately canceled the genjutsu, nearly drained of chakra but thoroughly exhilarated. His powerful spiritual energy greatly enhanced the effectiveness of his illusions.
Though real combat scenarios would differ, Ishiro felt certain prioritizing genjutsu training had been the correct decision. Clearly, he needed to further deepen his mastery.
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