Chapter 15: Terrifying Talent
Kihon Toichi's cold voice startled both Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon.
Yoruha looked at the two of them and shook his head. "Sensei, stop scaring them."
Standing on the water, Kihon Toichi looked at Yoruha and smiled. "What, aren't you going to give it a try?"
Kihon Toichi wanted to know whether Yoruha had learned it.
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon also looked over at Yoruha.
They both already knew Yoruha was a bit stronger than they were.
They were also eager to see whether Yoruha could learn this ninjutsu.
Yoruha froze for a moment.
In truth, he had completely understood it the moment Kihon Toichi finished explaining the principles.
He had even already calculated exactly how much Chakra was needed.
He just didn't know whether he could actually do it.
Yoruha was curious too whether he had really mastered it.
Kihon Toichi said, "Try it."
Yoruha nodded.
He walked to the water's edge and circulated the Chakra in his body.
In an instant, Chakra surged through the pathways inside him.
His gaze sharpened, and Yoruha stepped onto the water.
Splash—
The originally calm surface of the water sank under his foot.
Just as the other three thought Yoruha was about to fall in, the depression he had made in the water swelled back up.
It lifted Yoruha's body and held him there.
Then Yoruha placed both feet on the surface, showing no sign of falling in at all.
"No way, Yoruha, you learned this before, didn't you?"
Yamada Juki stared at Yoruha in shock.
Yoruha had succeeded on his very first try, making him suspect Yoruha had practiced it before.
Tanako Hon's eyes shone with an indescribable light.
Even Kihon Toichi was stunned. "You... you learned it?!"
Yoruha was a little surprised too.
He knew his physical condition had improved, and that his Chakra reserves had increased quite a lot.
But he hadn't expected to succeed on the first try.
At that moment, Yoruha finally understood just how terrifying the system's "excellent learning ability" really was.
You had to know, even a genius like Sasuke had spent a whole day learning Tree Climbing Practice, which was similar to Tree/Water Walking Practice.
And he had ended up covered in wounds.
Though surprised himself, Yoruha quickly regained his composure.
"I don't know how I suddenly learned it either."
Hearing Yoruha's words, and seeing that "innocent" expression on his face, the corners of the three others' mouths twitched. If the situation weren't inappropriate, all three of them probably would have wanted to beat him black and blue.
But what they didn't know was that Yoruha was telling the truth.
The instant Kihon Toichi finished explaining the principles, Yoruha's brain had already broken down every detail of the ninjutsu.
Every variable had been calculated clearly.
All that remained was to output the Chakra according to the results in his head.
And his Chakra control was terrifyingly precise.
So he had learned it in one go.
Kihon Toichi came back to his senses. Though deeply shocked, he still calmed himself down.
Inwardly, he thought that geniuses were simply beyond his understanding.
But if Kakashi knew what he was thinking, he would definitely say: no, this isn't genius, this is monstrous.
Back then, Kakashi had also spent an entire day learning Tree/Water Walking Practice.
Though he had only been six years old at the time.
But you had to remember, Kakashi was from the Hatake clan; he had family teachings from childhood and had begun training early.
Yoruha, on the other hand, had only just started training now.
Before this, the only thing Yoruha knew was the Academy Three Basic Techniques.
Yoruha's talent was beyond comprehension.
No matter how talented someone was, when practicing this kind of ninjutsu that required precise Chakra control, it was absolutely impossible to master it in one attempt.
Kihon Toichi said with a trembling voice, "You really hadn't learned this before?"
Yoruha shook his head. "Before this, I only learned the Academy Three Basic Techniques at school. Those are the only ninjutsu I've mastered."
"Then it looks like your time at the Ninja Academy actually held back your development."
Kihon Toichi said this with complete sincerity.
He truly felt that Yoruha's years at the Ninja Academy had delayed his growth.
"It's just that if you never showed any talent at the Ninja Academy, there was no way anyone could discover it."
Kihon Toichi gave a bitter smile.
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Yoruha was way too inconspicuous at school."
"If you had shown your talent there, Sasuke probably wouldn't even have been your match."
Yoruha waved a hand. "I don't want that kind of trouble. Didn't you see how many people Sasuke has to deal with every day?"
Hearing that, Kihon Toichi asked, "That's why you were unwilling to reveal your talent?"
Yoruha nodded. "Yeah. Why make trouble for yourself? I was going to spend six years at the Ninja Academy."
Of course, that was naturally a lie. The real reason was that Yoruha's talent had been ordinary before; he genuinely hadn't had much talent at all.
Still, even if he had been very talented before, he would have done exactly as he said and not revealed it at the Ninja Academy.
It wasn't because he was worried that the Third Hokage and Danzo would harm him.
He just didn't want trouble clinging to him.
That was also Yoruha's true feeling, so when he said it, he sounded especially sincere.
So sincere that even Kihon Toichi believed him.
It was just that he hadn't expected Yoruha's reason for hiding his talent at the Ninja Academy to be so simple.
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon both thought Yoruha was outrageous.
If either of them had Yoruha's talent, they would already have ruled the roost at the Ninja Academy.
Kids had a hard time resisting showing off how special they were in front of their classmates.
Kihon Toichi shook his head, smiling bitterly at how much he had guessed before, only to find that the real reason Yoruha had hidden his talent was this simple.
He truly believed it.
Because Yoruha had sounded too sincere.
Back when he was in Anbu, interrogation had been his responsibility.
He could tell that Yoruha wasn't lying.
After understanding Yoruha's way of thinking, Kihon Toichi finally let go of his wariness toward him.
He truly accepted him as his student.
"Alright. Since you've learned it, go try walking where the water is flowing."
Kihon Toichi wanted to know where Yoruha's limit was.
Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon also looked at Yoruha with eager expressions.
Though they themselves hadn't learned it, they were still happy to see Yoruha getting stronger. That way, when they went on missions in the future, they'd have someone reliable to lean on.
Yoruha nodded and slowly walked toward the flowing water.
The moment Yoruha approached the current, all kinds of data appeared in his mind.
They were all values his brain had instantly calculated for different positions.
At the same time, his body output the corresponding Chakra.
Standing on the bank, the three of them watched as Yoruha walked onto the flowing water and still stood there steadily atop the surface.
They were all dumbfounded.
Even Kihon Toichi's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Yoruha.
"This guy... this guy's a monster, isn't he?"
Although Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon didn't know exactly how outrageous Yoruha's performance was, they could still feel how terrifying he was.
"Sensei, is standing on moving water harder than standing on still water?"
The corner of Kihon Toichi's mouth twitched. "Obviously. Think about it—on moving water, the Chakra you need has to be dynamic."
"You could say that standing steadily on flowing water is ten times harder than on still water."
"Even for me, back then, it took around ten days before I could barely stand on running water."
"This guy is practically a monster."
Kihon Toichi's expression grew grave.
He felt that before long, he wouldn't be able to teach Yoruha anymore.
If Yoruha could master such a difficult ninjutsu so quickly, then learning other ninjutsu would only be easier.
Because Tree/Water Walking Practice required extremely precise Chakra control.
In fact, it was much harder than learning an ordinary C-rank ninjutsu.
That was enough to show how terrifying Yoruha was.