In the dim, expansive underground training arena, Shinji performed a series of peculiar movements, as if stretching his body or loosening his joints.
Crack, crack, crack.
With each motion, his body emitted a series of strange sounds.
The sharper sounds came from his bones and joints, while the deeper ones originated from his muscles and organs. Accompanying these noises was an increase in his body's flexibility.
As a shinobi, he could already perform extreme movements, but not with the smooth fluidity he now exhibited!
After rolling his neck, he thought to himself, "Fusing the twelve forms into one has truly transformed my body…"
With the aid of Izanami no Mikoto, he had completed the final, most challenging step.
As expected, mastering the optimized Breathing Technique: Twelve Forms had caused a qualitative change in his body.
After finishing his warm-up, Shinji glanced at the training arena's wooden dummies. Twenty ironwood dummies were scattered across the space.
Whoosh.
In an instant, Shinji moved!
Almost simultaneously with the gust he stirred, a series of booming explosions echoed through the dim arena.
Accompanying the blasts were the bursting dummies and flying wood chips!
Swish.
In a flash, Shinji returned to his starting point, breathing lightly.
"Seven breaths."
He silently calculated the time, a smile creeping onto his face.
In just seven breaths, he had used pure taijutsu to obliterate all twenty ironwood dummies scattered across the arena!
This feat was unimaginable before he mastered the Breathing Technique: Twelve Forms.
Back then, even using Water Breathing at full power, he could barely destroy twenty ironwood dummies with just his fists and feet, without weapons.
But now, he had done it!
Strolling to a nearby device, Shinji checked his body's vitals, confirming all values were within normal range. The last trace of doubt in his heart vanished.
"My optimization of the Breathing Technique is a success!"
He clenched his fist, his mood elated.
His mastery of the Breathing Technique: Twelve Forms was only at an introductory level. Though, as its creator, his understanding was profound, his organs still required long-term, rigorous training to achieve the perfect coordination demanded by the technique.
Even so, at this introductory stage, the technique had comprehensively enhanced his taijutsu.
The most notable improvements were in strength, speed, and resilience—far surpassing his state when training with Water Breathing.
In his mind, he compared his Breathing Technique: Twelve Forms to Tsunade's Strange Strength Fist and the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
He felt his Twelve Forms matched Tsunade's Strange Strength Fist in explosive power while bypassing the need for charging. In terms of speed, it wasn't far behind the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
"My optimized Breathing Technique enhances the body more comprehensively and doesn't cause harm!" Shinji concluded after the comparison. His Breathing Technique: Twelve Forms was more well-rounded than the Strange Strength Fist and safer than the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
With a shift in thought, he mused, "Since my optimized technique has abandoned the original method of using breathing to drive the organs, calling it a 'Breathing Technique' doesn't feel quite right anymore. I should give it a new name!"
Thinking this, Shinji returned to his study.
Looking at the stacks of analysis and deduction notes on his desk regarding the optimization of the Breathing Technique, his gaze settled on one particular sheet.
It was the first draft.
In that draft, he had outlined the idea of matching dozens of Breathing Techniques to specific organs, extracting their essence, and condensing them into the final twelve forms.
"Heart, brain, lungs, spleen, liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, bones, muscles, blood, skin."
These twelve organs or structures made up the human body.
The Breathing Technique: Twelve Forms aimed to unify these twelve components, allowing every move and form to draw support from all of them, rather than just a subset, as older techniques did.
As the creator, Shinji knew each of these twelve components was critical, like palaces he had to meticulously construct.
Training this optimized, condensed technique was like carefully building twelve grand palaces within the body. Thus, he decided, "Let's call it the Twelve Palaces!"
Unlike the Fourth Hokage's flamboyant naming style, Shinji preferred simplicity and precision. The name Twelve Palaces perfectly captured the essence of his optimized Breathing Technique, making it fitting.
After naming it, Shinji began organizing his notes, transcribing the cultivation methods and precautions for the Twelve Palaces onto a sealed scroll.
Holding the scroll containing the Twelve Palaces, Shinji smiled. "If I can master the Twelve Palaces to its pinnacle, it might not be inferior to the Eight Gates Released Formation!"
With the Twelve Palaces, Shinji no longer planned to train in the Eight Gates Released Formation.
Taijutsu secrets weren't about mastering as many as possible. All taijutsu secrets boiled down to developing and utilizing the body. No matter how many one trained in, in practice, a shinobi would rely on the one they were most comfortable with.
Only less comprehensive taijutsu secrets could complement others effectively.
A truly comprehensive, self-contained taijutsu secret like the Twelve Palaces had little overlap or synergy with others.
Holding the sealed scroll, Shinji pondered who to teach the Twelve Palaces to.
Though the Twelve Palaces was newly created, thanks to Izanami no Mikoto, Shinji had tested it hundreds or thousands of times.
However, the few minutes of fate-branch peering provided by Izanami no Mikoto had its limits. Shinji couldn't guarantee the Twelve Palaces was free of hidden flaws or fully perfected. Thus, he decided to first teach it to Ryuzetsu and Chino, who had been injected with Blue Spider Lily No. 1, to test its effects.