Chapter 97: The Difficulty of Mastering an A-Rank Ninjutsu
With a clear direction in mind, Ishiro wasted no time and began training the Light-Weight Boulder Technique early the next morning.
One of the key reasons he had chosen this A-rank technique was because it consumed very little chakra. Given Ishiro's exceptional chakra control, the only thing limiting his progress with advanced techniques was his chakra pool, which—at 13A—was still below average for a jōnin.
Other offensive A-rank ninjutsu were simply too taxing for him.
For instance, Ishiro had seen in the archive the Water Dragon Bullet Technique, used by Kakashi and Zabuza in the original story. The chakra cost was a staggering 18A. Ishiro was so horrified he quickly turned the page without looking further.
By contrast, Light-Weight Boulder Technique only consumed 12B chakra. Its maintenance cost was just 3C per second. In other words, once he mastered it, Ishiro could float in the sky all day long.
Only 12B for an A-rank jutsu? At first, Ishiro found it strange—until he started practicing.
That's when he realized: the difficulty of learning this jutsu was incredibly high.
Following the scroll's instructions, Ishiro couldn't even get started. Calling it "entry-level" training was a compliment—it was more like complete cluelessness.
After some careful analysis, Ishiro understood why. Most ninjutsu, no matter how advanced, focused on chakra application. But the Light-Weight Boulder Technique involved a trace of "rule-level power".
Techniques involving rules or laws were notoriously difficult—spatial-time ninjutsu was a perfect example. Although Ishiro assumed spatial-time techniques were still harder, the complexity here was close.
After wasting an entire morning with zero progress, Ishiro nearly fell into depression. Gritting his teeth, he headed for the Tsuchikage's office.
His goal? Ask Ōnoki for help. Ishiro didn't know if anyone else in Iwagakure could use this technique—but he knew Ōnoki could. Who better to ask?
Ōnoki had never intended to take disciples. In the original story, he only trained Deidara after Iwa's talent pool dried up. While Deidara's combat abilities improved, his personality made him a wild card, difficult to control.
But today's Iwagakure was in a much better place. Several surviving Uzumaki orphans had strong potential, like Yumi Uzumaki, who was progressing rapidly. Though reaching Kage-level was unlikely, elite jōnin was within reach.
Meanwhile, both Ikura and Ishiro were growing quickly, leaving Ōnoki quite satisfied. He was already quietly nurturing them.
Currently, the elders were grooming Ishiro as a future advisor, focusing on strategic talent. His handling of the Rain Country was part of that. Creating a new department for his jōnin trial had also been a test of leadership.
Ōnoki, however, still hoped Ikura would become the next Tsuchikage and had prioritized training his combat abilities.
Ishiro had already guessed this.
But Ishiro's end goal was simply to become stronger—not necessarily to become Tsuchikage. Whether they trained him as a future commander or strategist, he could use the resources to grow.
Even so, he wasn't sure if Ōnoki would help him directly. He wouldn't have asked if the technique wasn't so incomprehensible.
Inside the Tsuchikage's office, Ishiro directly explained his request.
Ōnoki wasn't surprised—just curious. He hadn't expected Ishiro's first A-rank technique to be Light-Weight Boulder Technique. Though useful, it wasn't an offensive jutsu.
Most jōnin chose attack techniques for their first high-level ninjutsu. For example, Shiden's A-rank ninjutsu was an area-of-effect technique. Ishiro's first B-rank technique had also been the Violent Water Wave.
Still, Ōnoki didn't press the issue. He trusted Ishiro's judgment. The young man was mature, methodical, and capable of making his own decisions.
After a moment, Ōnoki said, "Starting tomorrow, I'll give you thirty minutes of instruction every evening for seven days."
Ishiro was thrilled—this exceeded his expectations. At best, he had hoped Ōnoki might spare a short session and maybe show him how to fly. Anything more would've seemed too much to ask of the village leader.
He really does value me more than I thought, Ishiro thought as he left the Tsuchikage's office.
—
The next evening, Ishiro finished dinner early and arrived at the designated training ground. He had made no progress during the day.
He reviewed the scroll again—still no new insight—so he waited quietly for Ōnoki to arrive.
Right on time, the elderly Kage floated into the training ground. His shadow guards instinctively dispersed to secure the perimeter.
Ōnoki wasted no time. Without a word, he walked up to Ishiro and immediately cast Light-Weight Boulder Technique on him.
Instantly, Ishiro felt himself go weightless. His body lost all sense of gravity, yet he didn't fall. It felt like he was drifting in zero-G, like an astronaut.
Before he could fully adapt to the sensation, Ōnoki's voice came: "Focus on the chakra I've inserted into you. Feel its characteristics carefully."
Right, focus! Ishiro scolded himself and activated sensory ninjutsu, analyzing the chakra inside his body.
His expression changed. After a pause, he said, "Tsuchikage-sama, this chakra... it doesn't feel like normal Earth-nature chakra."
Ōnoki nodded. "Good observation. This isn't regular Earth chakra—it's been infused with a special insight, making it a variant chakra."
Ishiro hesitated. "Is it like a kekkei genkai?"
Ōnoki nodded again, then shook his head. "Not exactly. It's lower than a kekkei genkai in hierarchy. Though mutated, it's not necessarily stronger—just different. But its difficulty rivals that of mastering a kekkei genkai."
Ishiro paled. If he couldn't master it, then the 160,000+ contribution points he'd spent would be wasted. Not to mention the A-rank archive, which would become useless too. Would all of his two years of effort go down the drain?
Ōnoki, seeing his distress, said calmly, "Your strong spiritual power allowed you to sense the difference right away—that means you're naturally suited to this jutsu."
"This chakra variation was developed by the Second Tsuchikage—my teacher. He perceived it directly from the earth through powerful sensory ability."
Ōnoki then began to explain the origins and theory behind Light-Weight Boulder Technique. Some of this was written in the scroll—but much of it wasn't.
Even if it had been, reading alone wouldn't help. But by combining hands-on demonstration with live explanation, Ōnoki gave Ishiro a real chance to grasp the meaning behind the technique.
To demonstrate, Ōnoki used the jutsu on a stone, continuously adjusting its gravitational force.
Ishiro observed with fascination. He hadn't expected his first A-rank technique to involve altering natural laws.
As expected, his exceptional sensory talent made a big difference. Though he wasn't proficient yet, Ishiro successfully reached entry level with the jutsu during their first session.
Ōnoki warned him, "Don't try this on yourself just yet. Start with inanimate objects. If you misuse this technique, the consequences can be severe."
Ishiro nodded solemnly.
After Ōnoki left, Ishiro trained for a long while—not just out of diligence, but because the sensation of manipulating natural law was addictively exhilarating.
With Ōnoki's guidance, Ishiro had touched the threshold of altering gravity. But problems remained: he couldn't yet control the degree of change precisely, and his control wasn't evenly distributed.
As for reaching the level where he could use this technique in battle while flying, like Ōnoki—it was still far away.
—
Over the next seven days, Ishiro trained with Ōnoki every evening.
Ōnoki would let him experience flight, correct his control mistakes, and casually point out flaws in his broader training.
If Ōnoki were ever to take a disciple, he'd make an excellent teacher. His Kage-level vision and explanations helped Ishiro enormously.
By the end of the week, Ishiro felt his understanding of Earth-nature chakra had improved drastically.
If I could extend this for another ten days, he thought, I might finally be ready to begin chakra fusion training.
While that was still wishful thinking, Ishiro's gains were very real. With his improved chakra insight, his training speed also increased.
By the end of day seven, he could make a boulder as large as himself float.
However, he still had trouble evenly adjusting the gravity across its surface. So he couldn't yet make himself fly.
Ōnoki, however, was satisfied. Few in Iwagakure had mastered the Second Tsuchikage's legacy techniques. Ishiro inheriting this one was a great success for the village.
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