Chapter 215: Imagine Learning 5 Elements and Still Being Short

Chapter 215 - Imagine Learning 5 Elements and Still Being Short It didn't take long for Ren to reach home, especially not in the condition he was in. His body felt light, movements sharp, and every muscle was spring-loaded with energy. All the food, rest, and adrenaline from the past two days had synced up perfectly. As soon as he stepped into his house, he kicked the door shut behind him with the back of his heel and headed straight for the basement. Several clones were still scattered across the training space down there, some meditating to recover chakra, some practicing elemental jutsu, and others grinding away at techniques like machines. "Alright, work time's over," Ren muttered as he clapped his hands once. In a second, all the clones paused. One by one, they nodded to him and dispelled themselves in bursts of smoke, sending the backlog of memories surging into his head which the system turned into masteries. He let all of it settle in, then opened the system screen in his head. [NAME]: Ren Takahashi (Senju) [LEVEL]: 79 (76 >> 79) [ATTRIBUTES] Strength: 79 (76 >> 79) Agility: 81 (79 >> 81) Intelligence: 86 (81 >> 86) Vitality: 88 Chakra: 84 (82 >> 84) [Available Stat Points]: [Talents]: Improved Chakra Control, Enhanced Reflexes (Ex), Genjutsu Resistance (S+), Fuinjutsu (Ex Uzumaki), Space Release Talent (Ex) [MASTERY PANEL]: Chakra Control - 94% (Master) (Chakra Stability) Shadow Clone Mastery - 90% (Master) (Restoration) Fuinjutsu Mastery - 85% (75 >> 85) (Advanced) Yang Release Mastery - 89% (Advanced) Yin Release Mastery - 46% (41 >> 46) (Basic) Wind Style Mastery - 83% (79 >> 83) (Advanced) Earth Style Mastery - 89% (81 >> 89) (Advanced) Fire Release Mastery - 79% (69 >> 79) (Advanced) Lightning Release Mastery - 57% (40 >> 57) (Intermediate) Water Release Mastery - 45% (18 >> 45) (Basic) Space Release Mastery - 79% (76 >> 79) (Advanced) Iryojutsu Mastery- 76% (66 >> 76) (Advanced) Bukijutsu (Weaponry)- 92% (72 >> 92) (Master) (Calibration) [MASTERY POINTS]: 10 Intermediate Level Points 4 Advanced Level Points 2 Master Level Points [NINJA PANEL] Ninjutsu: 91/100 (77 >> 91) Taijutsu: 88/100 (84 >> 88) Genjutsu: 70/100 (66 >> 70) Fuinjutsu: 85/100 (75 >> 85) [SPECIAL STATS] CHARISMA : 86 (62 >> 86) PERCEPTION : 94 (93 >> 94) These two months saw many changes in Ren's stats, but the most significant improvement was undoubtedly in his elemental masteries, which had grown at an impressive pace. Of course, this wasn't without reason as he had access to nearly every elemental jutsu in the entire village, excluding the forbidden techniques. All his clones had to do was train non-stop, and with that constant grind, the masteries kept rising. His Earth Release mastery hadn't changed much, but that was only because it was already at 89%, just 1% away from master level. Wind Release had once again crossed into the 80s, now sitting at 83%, but this time, it was much stronger than before. That was thanks to the boost it had received when he created the Rasenshuriken ahead of its canonical time. Even though Wind was his main affinity, he wasn't using it as much now. Still, despite using it less, it had outpaced Earth Release in power and effectiveness. It made sense, though, as the Wind had received a proper power boost, while Earth had not. He wondered whether there might be a way to boost his other elemental affinities too, but for now, he set that thought aside. The most noticeable progress was in his Lightning and Water Release. That was largely because they had started at much lower levels, making them easier to develop quickly. He was especially satisfied with the progress of these two elements, since he still had the reward from defeating Ni, which gave him the potential to create Storm Release. It was good to see the grind was going in the right direction. His physical stats hadn't increased dramatically, but they had still improved. His Intelligence rose quickly, thanks to the after-effects of hitting 99 in that stat previously. His Agility had finally broken through the 80-point barrier after he used the points from completing the Roku mission. It had required a full 2 S-rank points to go from 79 to 80, which made sense, considering it was a qualitative change. From there, it had grown to 81 thanks to the physical training he'd been doing, especially as he was running to missions without using chakra, purely to develop agility. His Strength had reached 79 points, and he had no intention of pushing it past 80 anytime soon. He was deliberately avoiding this, since reaching Level 80 would result in A-rank missions giving reduced or no rewards. Currently, he was getting 1 jonin-level point for every 10 A-rank missions, and he could exchange 10 jonin-level points for 1 S-rank point. So even though it was slow, the method was steady, and it worked. Vitality hadn't changed, but his chakra reserves had continued to grow, partly because they were catching up to his vitality, and partly because his body was still maturing. Interestingly, he noticed that as his chakra pool expanded, the density of his chakra was also increasing drastically. He wasn't sure if this was a Senju trait or something that happened to all S-rank shinobi, but he could clearly tell: his chakra density was far higher than anyone else he had encountered at his level. This was the same reason he was able to make Danzo and others visibly tense just by flaring his chakra. It was a really cool technique. It was recorded in the scroll Yoru had given him, and Ren had immediately recognized it, it was the same aura-based intimidation technique used by Tobirama and Hashirama after being reanimated. Naturally, he'd started learning it, mainly because it looked badass. The technique wasn't too difficult either. Most shinobi already knew how to spike their chakra, but this one involved supplementing the chakra with a delicate infusion of Yang chakra, creating a much denser and more oppressive presence. It gave off a suffocating aura and could silence a room just by being felt. The experience made him appreciate how versatile Yang chakra was. Even on its own, it was useful in so many different ways. Which made him wonder, what about Yin chakra? Currently, his Yin chakra mastery was sitting at 46%, still far behind his Yang chakra, which was at 89%. He was waiting for it to hit 50%, and once it did, he planned to dump points into it and start properly exploring its applications. Once he was done reviewing the elemental masteries, Ren shifted his focus to the others. Among them, the most significant change was clearly in Bukijutsu, or Weapons Mastery, which had broken through the master level and reached 92%. This breakthrough granted him a new trait: Calibration. With this trait, his body would automatically adjust to any weapon he held instantly, even in mid-movement. That meant he could switch from wielding a kunai to a war hammer without feeling even the slightest pause. It was a massive advantage in battle, allowing seamless transitions and uninterrupted momentum. But there was more. Ren soon discovered that the Calibration trait didn't just apply to physical weapons, it extended to chakra elements as well. Just like his body could automatically calibrate to different weapons, it could now automatically adjust to different chakra natures. This meant he could switch from Fire Style to Water Style without even a fraction of a pause. Before, he could achieve this level of smoothness due to his exceptional chakra control, but now it had become a passive, automatic feature, which was obviously an even greater improvement. His Space Release mastery had increased by just 3% over the two months, largely due to his clones constantly researching the Flying Thunder God (FTG) technique. Without that, it would have likely stagnated. However, he decided not to allocate any points to it for now. The clones were still focused on designing the Fuinjutsu seals compatible with FTG. He figured it would be more efficient to wait until that groundwork was finished before boosting the mastery further. On the other hand, his Fuinjutsu had grown extremely fast, and this was mainly due to his Fuinjutsu talent increasing to Ex-Uzumaki level, putting him on par with a handful of the greatest geniuses the Uzumaki clan had ever produced. The benefits were immediate and immense. Concepts that once required effort now came effortlessly to him. His Fuinjutsu mastery began rising rapidly, and most impressively, he could now use Fuinjutsu directly through chakra, without needing chakra ink or physical drawing at all. This method was explained in the third volume of "Fuinjutsu for Barbarians", which documented three different ways to perform this. First was the Ink Substitution Method. This involved using chakra or blood as a substitute for chakra ink. The medium (usually a brush) was also replaced, typically with the user's own body. While theoretically sound, this method wasn't very practical because it took a lot of time to form the seals manually, even with substitutes. The second was the Tenketsu Storage Method. This was far more effective and widely used. In this method, the user would carve pre-made seals into their own body like tattoos, storing them in one of the 361 tenketsu points in the human body. Each tattoo acted as a stencil, and when chakra was channeled through it, the seal could be instantly activated. This allowed for true instantaneous Fuinjutsu deployment. The limitation however was clear, only 361 seals could be stored, one per tenketsu point. This was the method used by most Fuinjutsu masters across the world, including many Level 6 Fuinjutsu specialists. However, there was one more, very niche method. In this third method, instead of tattooing the entire pre-made seal on the body, the user carves individual Fuinjutsu symbols and stores them in the tenketsu points, allowing them to act as a modular stencil system. Unlike complete seals, Fuinjutsu symbols are small, so a single tenketsu point can store multiple symbols. But that's also where the challenge lies. While it's easier to carve individual symbols compared to full seals, it's much more difficult to store them inside the tenketsu points. This is because a complete seal includes stabilizing symbols, which give the entire structure internal coherence and chakra durability. A full seal, like an explosion tag seal can be tattooed on the arm and then "carried" through the chakra pathways to another part of the body, guided and reinforced by chakra. In contrast, a lone symbol is incredibly fragile. It is, in essence, just a hollow diagram and without any stabilization, a slight shift in internal chakra flow can completely destroy the symbol's structure. That's why, in standard practice, multiple stabilizing seals are used together to ensure that Fuinjutsu tattoos remain intact. However, when storing just a symbol, grouping isn't possible. To keep it usable as a modular part of a larger seal, the symbol must be stored alone, which makes it vulnerable. As a result, very few shinobi employ this technique, and only a handful of Level 6 Fuinjutsu masters in the world ever reach the level of proficiency needed to use it successfully. The upside was still massive though. By carving and storing dozens or even hundreds of symbols throughout the body, a user can construct complex Fuinjutsu arrays in real time, by simply channeling chakra through specific tenketsu points. With enough practice, it becomes as fast as using elemental jutsu with hand signs. That said, this method has incredibly steep requirements. It demands, delicate chakra control, extremely high memory retention and precise anatomical awareness It's no surprise that the vast majority of Fuinjutsu users avoid it, preferring the more stable tattoo method. But for Ren, it might as well have been tailor-made. His chakra stability ensured that the fragile symbols wouldn't be accidentally erased or damaged inside his chakra network. His perfected Hyperfocus allowed him to be hyper-aware of every symbol's placement and chakra flow. His extremely high intelligence gave him an almost photographic memory, allowing him to recall every symbol's location and use without error. Because of this, Ren decided he wouldn't rely on just one technique, he'd use all three methods as needed. The first would be for normal usage as needed. The second, for fast deployment of pre-constructed seals. And the third, for grand, dynamic Fuinjutsu arrays assembled in real-time. He had already carved and stored the more commonly used seals across his body and had also begun storing the symbols in his tenketsu points. However, the process was still slow-going. Carving seals or symbols into the body was extremely time-consuming, and the work had to be done carefully and precisely. So while he had made great progress, it would still take time to fully encode his entire seal library into his body. Once he was done reviewing his Fuinjutsu gains, he shifted to the ninja panel. The changes there were also significant. His Ninjutsu had jumped directly from Elite Jonin to Kage level, which was a huge leap. This was mainly due to two reasons. First, the sheer volume of jutsu he had mastered, he knew too many ninjutsu, and his grasp over them wasn't shallow. He intimately understood most of them except some of the very high level ones, which was already reflected in his elemental masteries. The second reason was his clone system acting as chakra batteries. It was basically the same as having near unlimited chakra. He could spam S-rank jutsu without worry, as clearly seen during his fight against Kisame so it wasn't surprising that his ninjutsu could be compared to a Kage-level shinobi. His Taijutsu was also at high S-rank level, thanks to the Eight Gates. That reminded him that he still had more research to do on that front. His Genjutsu was gradually progressing and would catch up slowly over time. After going over all of it, he exhaled lightly. The review made one thing very clear: while the system's Level was a decent way to estimate a shinobi's general strength, it wasn't very reliable for high-level fighters. Even for himself, despite being Level 79 he could go toe to toe with a high S-rank shinobi, and the same applied to others. He'd already seen it once with Roku, whose level was somewhere in the 70s, but who still fought like a semi S-ranker. That alone proved that system levels weren't the most accurate measure anymore. Still, the system had helped him a lot until now, so he couldn't really complain. But from this point forward, he'd rely less on system levels to judge enemies, and instead depend on Hyperfocus and Flow awareness to assess their true capabilities. With everything sorted... he finally shifted his focus to the rewards. ~~~~~ {I felt that a recap was needed for the stats as it had been a long time since the complete stat sheet was shown. Also, I just did a brief intro of the three instant Fuinjutsu carving method, if you guys want some more detailed stuff I can create a small mission where he's needed to rely primarily on his Fuinjutsu skills. Uzushio Treasure Hunt anyone?} {If you want, you can support me on pat-reon} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n } {You know what else} {280 Stones = Extra Chapter} {STONES!!!!}