Around 8 AM.
The warm light flickered through his visage, and the blowing fresh winds of the ricefields felt like cooling his body with the verdant and hot summer, the overall sensation swayed his earrings from the excitement of the adventure through the lands.
"First and foremost, lemme take a look at the book!"
[Name:Murakami Yōichi]
[Talents:(Trance),(Battle Instinct),(Against all Odds), (Last Stand), (Calm Mind)]
[Profession:(Martial Artist)(Teacher)
[Kekkai Genkai: (N/A)]
[Innate Ability: (Universal Swap),(Phantom Delay),(Lazy Accumulation)]
[Rebirths: 1220]
Unfortunately, his [Training Domain] cannot be able to extend those who are far away from him. His wives and the students must be so itchy for good advancements in the ability to control and knowledge.
Using Universal Swap was efficient and convenient but worries and concerns of his loved ones must be one of the obstacles they're gonna be facing
Life's about just going with the flow, sometimes a person will eventually leave and another person will greet you right in front of the individual.
And being disturbed while adventuring the lands seemed to be counterproductive. Example: every time the person's gonna work, are the person gonna be worried and anxious about the problems of the common people? The bills, wife, son's tuition, and outrageous amounts of work continually troubling his mind must be exhausting.
Sometimes, they develop a coping mechanism and throw all of their problems at the back of their head. Focus and a calm mind were the key.
"Hmmm... I am near my apparent breakthrough!" Yoichi summoned his [Training Domain] and slept with his [Lazy Accumulation].
Before his slumber, he managed to summon 25 clones to practice all the ninjutsu that needed to be modified and alterations for other splendid ninjutsu techniques.
The constant absorption of energies felt great with each purified energy, slowly brimming with comfortable force and nourishing his soul to the point of absolute bliss.
"One more... One more day of [Training Domain]!"
After 7 days of snoring, Yoichi woke up and was thrown outside the domain. The progress was significantly more than about 5% of the refining process, the breakthrough was incoming for him.
If there's a system guide, his gain was 95% and a little bit more would push him to another step.
"I will travel around these parts first before going to other new terrains... The towns and cities of Pre-Land of Fire must be so rich and fertile. 6 months estimation of total exploration was sufficient for now..."
Walking through the designated road for carriage and transport horses, Yoichi was skipping and humming with each step, very happy with his life.
"Hehehe... Brat! Give us all your valuable—!"
"Phantom Dispersion Technique!"
Until three groups of bandits came and blocked his way to his destination.
"I don't have any time for this foolish issue."
A cold and indifferent tone rang, and Yoichi broke their necks into a 180° effectively killing them without even finishing the sentence.
These bandits didn't feel the frigid sensation of losing blood or torture, a quick and painless death as all of the bodies plopped down to the ground.
'Trivial matter.'
Without glancing, Yoichi went on his way to his journey with happiness in mind.
3 days of nonstop walking, he managed to find the town called Kurikara Town. A place northwest of Suzaku Town and considered a garrison fortress for the mountain bandits up through the west, a mountainous region with a harsh climate.
The town was raining as always has been due to the imperfections of the geography here. Yoichi assumed the land was the Pre-Land of Rain due to the moist settings and endless rain of the land.
Yoichi's five senses perked up with the rumors of a mountain god in these mountain ranges, as they said: their land was cursed by the mountain god ever since they killed the subjects of the said god.
He jotted the whole matter down in his book, a marking period whenever he wanted to go there.
As a garrison town, there's a pack of thatched samurai constantly walking and patrolling the town with arrogance and pride deeply etched in their bones. A common sign of the veteran warriors swiftly killing through the vermins of the mountains.
As for others, Yoichi wrote down all the geographics, politics, and livelihood of the people inside the town. For the elite clans and other merchants, they are reclusive but he managed to look and hear their names until he left.
After staying for 1 day, Yoichi went towards the east where there was a bunch of Divine Tree Cultists popping out of the north. Managing the lands was quite easy due to the flat and luscious lands of the Pre-Land of Fire. Forest and flat lands could be seen with some occasional rains along the summer, a neat way to cool down in summer.
After 2 days of venturing the east, Yozakura Town came with a scenery of wilted cherry blossom trees on the road. These gorgeous trees were the notable scene in the town but Yoichi only glimpsed the wilted cherry blossoms on the ground. The blazing summer was in the middle of 1st quarter and 2 quarters of the year, a good reminder to mark the calendar as Late March or Middle April.
The land here in this domain was so fertile and rich in resources for a group of crops to grow, that he assumed the land was the Pre-Land of Grass due to the unending grass fields in the distance.
Afterward, a bunch of people inside the town gathered in white dress. Yoichi heard some crowd murmurs and wrote down the pieces of information. These white-dressed guys were the Divine Tree Religion and advocating for the people to join them in their theocracy.
A bit more of blahblahblah, classic examples of religious practices, and boom, people were curious.
These cultists are tame than usual but the talk of the town must not be ignored.
In the night, Yoichi cautiously scanned the town and these cultists were kidnapping children and elderly people as sacrifices to the Divine Tree. With his brimming anger, Yoichi ruthlessly killed them all and displayed their body in the middle of the town, a glaring example of fuck around and find out.
A bunch of people were terrified but some of them were glad for a mysterious man to help them with these parasites in their town. All of the saved people called him "Phantom" due to his cringe entrance of saying his nickname along with his enigmatic leave making him like a "Phantom.
Yoichi didn't know but his actions will create a "Phantom Cult" in the far future. Yoichi left after solving the case without any attachments.
He noticed the previous towns Yoichi visited were quite similar to the other buffer zones of the Land of Fire. Maybe the infamous Kannabi Bridge was one of the roads on his way to the northeastern.
Within 3 months of a grueling but exciting adventure, Yoichi took the next stage in his martial arts and felt the soul sublimation in his body. He was excited about the prospects of his Spirit Child Stage and began testing the brand-new level.
The first thing he noticed was the glaring advantage of letting the Spirit Child make the hand seals in his mind, automatically unleashing devastating ninjutsu without moving the hands of the main body. His body could deliver a surprise ninjutsu attack without any potential drawbacks which was shocking to Yoichi firsthand.
The 2nd advantage was modifying the techniques with ease during the experimental stage. There are different ninjutsu that were solely based on the spiritual essence of the user and Yoichi felt it was a pretty significant disadvantage for the ordinary people who wanted to be like Namikaze Minato, Jiraiya, or Orochimaru. Maybe, the plot armor diff.
The 3rd and last advantage was the ability to puncture the soul and disrupt the chakra channeling inside the victim's body. It is not unusual for a person to disrupt another person's chakra system but his soul stage made him terrifying to injure the soul in an eerie way.
After his breakthrough, the 3 months of refining energy felt brand new but the next stage of his Martial Arts template was still blurry in his eyes.
Yoichi then decided to stop collecting and began practicing and modifying some of the techniques as his time or a hobby in the domain.
Walking through these lands was quite fast and simple due to the land's similarities with outstanding sceneries and frontiers. The geography, politics, locals, ambitious clans, and architecture were relatively different and unique to each other's nearby towns.
The notable sights of the lands were Hanako Town's huge waterfall, Shinju Town's divine tree, the rumors of the miraculous blessings of the unknown individual, and the hot springs of Sentomaru Town, his current location.
His direction of the adventure was in a clockwise position or a whirlpool, bringing him into the heart of the lands, Land of Fire's current capital.
After countless forest sleepovers, Yoichi felt the need to bathe in a hot spring with sake to savor the feeling and enjoy his time remaining on the mind-boggling adventure.
Yoichi wailed in pain and grumbled in frustration, he couldn't hold any kind of money which was a huge bummer. The coins he needed for a good time in a hot spring were not even there.
Money makes the world go round, as they said.
"I could help you with that..." Yoichi took the familiar figure's loads of goods from her frail body.
Of course, Yoichi was intentionally helping the lady since he was completely sure of the information about the woman.
Medium-length brown hair with bangs styled to cover the right side of her forehead, orange eyes, thin eyebrows, and long eyelashes. She was certainly Nobara Kugisaki from Jujutsu Kaisen.
Well, her counterpart. At least.
"Ooohh! Thank you very much! Sorry for disturbing your time!" The lady bowed politely and looked at her savior from the overwhelming valuable goods in her arms.
"Hahaha, no problem... It's just that I can't ignore such a beautiful lady who endured such strenuous activity. My name is Yoichi Murakami. What about this lady's name?" Yoichi carried the significant items with ease and gently smiled at him.
"M—me? Hehehe... You are merely joking! My name is Kugisaki Nobara from the Onmyouji Clan. Nice to meet you, Yoichi-san." the brown-haired woman named Nobara felt bashful in his formalities, chuckling at his gentlemanly display.
'It still doesn't matter if I came here or not... All of them will be a natural energy once the main show arrives on the timeline... But it is interesting, no?'
"Ooohh... Nobara-san, may I call you with that?" Yoichi glanced at her, completely sure about his theory in mind.
"Mhmm, gladly! Thank you once again for helping me carry this stuff, it's hard for me to get these things..." Nobara grumbled in frustration, pouting.
"It's not a problem... I can help you with moving these goods forward, Nobara-san!" Yoichi's eyes flickered in excitement, a way to get through her heart.
"Yada, yada! I can't waste your time carrying these items and besides... You have some things to do in your life, right?" Nobara panicked, the waving of her hands felt comedic in the eyes of Yoichi.
"As I said, I can help you. My time doesn't have anything to do right now and I could talk with you for some time..." Yoichi's gentle eyes pierced through the heart of Nobara.
"Yoichi-san... Thank you so much! I am so glad you are here. I will help you with anything whenever you need!" Nobara leaned from Yoichi's face with joy and enthusiasm.
"Then, please. Guide me well, Nobara-san!"
"Yes! Yoichi-san!"
Looking at her face, Yoichi smiled at her and walked with her alongside the goods in his arms.
'Yosh! The last piece of Exodia was been completed! Well... Not really.'