Chapter 97: New Ninjutsu: The Effect of Thought and Action Becoming One
"Master Tsunade has a ninjutsu called Body Pathway Derangement, which can convert chakra into electrons to attack the enemy's nervous system. The prototype of my new jutsu originates from this. By changing the attack on another's nervous system into an enhancement of my own, I can speed up the transmission of nerve signals and reduce reaction time. This is the ninjutsu I hope to develop."
Sakura said it lightly, but actually doing it was fraught with difficulties.
In the ninja world, using chakra to enhance muscles—making oneself stronger, faster, and have more endurance—is a kind of common sense, an instinct. Any person who could be called a ninja knew a little of it, even the just-graduated Naruto from the original story.
This was because it was an easy thing to do: basically, as long as you knew how to circulate chakra, you could successfully enhance your body with it. Even if you failed, it would only cause muscle fiber damage, which would be quickly repaired by the body's mechanisms through protein, and the muscle fibers would be thickened—equivalent to undergoing a high-intensity workout.
But using chakra to enhance the nerves, just by changing the target and a couple of words, the result was completely different. The number of ninja who could do this, as far as Sakura knew, could probably be counted on one hand.
The reason was obvious.
Compared to the muscles, which were visible, tangible, and large enough, the nervous system was too small and too profound. Not to mention those illiterate and semi-literate ninja, even Sakura herself, who had at least graduated from a good university in her previous life, had only a partial understanding of the nervous system. Enhancing muscles was of course simple. To enhance the nerves, you at least had to first know where those nerves, which were usually too thin to be seen with the naked eye, were located in the body.
This one point alone was enough to eliminate ninety-nine point nine percent of ninja.
In addition, even if there really was a ninja who had deeply studied medical ninjutsu and human anatomy and knew where the nerves were, he would probably not dare to act rashly. After all, the nervous system was delicate, fragile, and non-regenerative, unlike muscles, which were robust, durable, and could self-repair. If one were to experiment on themselves without full preparation, they would absolutely die a miserable death.
And this second point was enough to eliminate the remaining one-thousandth.
Sakura had read some materials. The Raikage had a nin-taijutsu called "Lightning Release Armor," which could activate the body with lightning-natured chakra, thereby greatly enhancing muscle and nerve reaction speed. By activating and enhancing the physical body as a whole with lightning-natured chakra, it could indeed effectively bypass the first requirement. And the Raikage's masterful control of Lightning Style could satisfy the second condition. This was originally one of the ninjutsu Sakura had considered developing.
Unfortunately, Miss Sakura had later considered it and given up. She probably didn't have the time to train her Lightning Style to that level just for one nin-taijutsu. Otherwise, she might have had the qualification to try walking the path of a brawny uncle...
And just thinking of herself with bulging muscles and a hulking frame, Sakura felt that the image was too much for her eyes, and she got goosebumps. Since there was another way to achieve a similar effect, it was better to respectfully decline!
"Nerve impulses are transmitted in the form of electrical pulses along nerve fibers. The original Body Pathway Derangement actually creates a weak electric field in the nervous system to obstruct the transmission of nerve signals. So conversely, in theory, it can also strengthen and speed up the conduction of electrical pulses, thereby shortening reaction time and increasing reaction speed," Sakura explained to her friend while casting the ice clone ninjutsu. "But, to what extent it can be done, we still have to test it first."
Her hand seals were formed rather slowly, almost one per second. This was because the high-fidelity ice clone was very complex. Even Sakura had to carefully control the circulation of her chakra to summon one.
Then, Hinata, with a familiar air, activated her Byakugan and checked it over, nodding. "Hn, it's ready."
The two of them then turned their gaze to the ice clone. The latter skillfully formed the hand seals: "Ninja Art - Body Pathway Derangement," then carefully controlled a fine stream of chakra and injected it into its own nervous system.
The girls stared at the clone without blinking. After the chakra of the Body Pathway Derangement was injected into the clone, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, sinking without a trace. The ice clone remained seated calmly, as if nothing had happened, still with an indifferent look.
For a moment, the two girls couldn't see what was happening.
After pondering for a moment, afraid that the sound of her voice would interfere with the clone, Sakura turned her head and whispered to Hinata, "At least the first step was a success."
The first step of the new ninjutsu was to inject the created chakra into the nervous system. This required controlling the amount of chakra entering the nerves with perfect precision, without damaging the fragile nerve cells due to excessive force. Naturally, for the ice clone, which had inherited the original's superb chakra control, this difficulty was still within an acceptable range.
Hinata watched for a while, then also leaned close to Sakura's ear and asked in a low voice, "So what's next?"
The warm, moist breath blew on Sakura's earlobe, as if she had been licked. Sakura shrank her neck sensitively, then turned her head back to continue whispering with Hinata. "I'm not sure either. Let's keep watching!"
But there was still no change. The Body Pathway Derangement jutsu acted inside the human body. From the outside, one couldn't tell what was happening just by looking. It was also difficult for Sakura to judge what effect the ninjutsu had produced.
The ice clone was now sitting on the table thoughtfully, looking down at its own palm, constantly clenching and unclenching its hand, and nimbly moving its ten fingers.
Is it adapting to the changes the ninjutsu has brought to its nervous system? Sakura thought.
According to her expectations, the chakra should already be taking effect in the nervous system. If the experiment was successful, the clone's reaction speed should be greatly accelerated now, approaching the so-called realm of "eyes arrive, hands arrive" and "thought and action become one."
She didn't know how long the clone would need to adapt. Watching her hands, which were moving like fluttering butterflies and creating a series of afterimages, Miss Sakura's eyes rolled, and she mischievously condensed an ice kunai in her hand.
"Swish!" A cold light flashed through the air. Sakura shot the kunai out without any warning. Its trajectory was set to pass right in front of the unprepared clone.
Swish! In a flash of lightning, Sakura didn't even see clearly what had happened. The kunai was already in the clone's hand.
Hinata's eyesight was a bit better. She saw it clearly: when the ice clone on the table noticed the movement, it had just turned its head. The moment it saw the kunai coming, its left hand had already been raised, and in the instant the kunai flew past, it had deftly plucked the ice block out of the air.
As if it were just plucking a flower.
"She caught it?" Sakura blinked hard, trying to recall what had just happened. Almost the instant it saw the ice kunai, the clone had already raised its left hand and accurately caught the ice block.
Eyes arrive, hands arrive. Thought and action become one.
The moment the thought arose in the mind, the body had already reacted in sync.
Amazing, Sakura praised from the bottom of her heart.
The astonishing effect of the new ninjutsu made her heart surge.
According to her usual reaction speed, she should have seen the ice blade and then raised her hand—there would have been a lag of about a tenth of a second—and thus missed the opportunity to catch the ice block. Obviously, the new ninjutsu had发挥 its power. The clone's reaction speed had accelerated, and the lag was greatly reduced.
"This ninjutsu seems to have been successfully developed, doesn't it?" Sakura couldn't quite believe that the ninjutsu had been developed so smoothly. Suppressing the excitement in her heart, she turned her head and exchanged a look with Hinata. The latter was also a little excited and smiled and nodded at her.
Sakura didn't know if she was blushing from excitement. She pressed the back of her hand to her cheek and felt it heating up. She took a deep breath, wanting to say something—
But she heard the ice clone's flat, almost indifferent voice say, "Don't be in a hurry to celebrate, Original Body."
"Uh, what's wrong?" Sakura was stunned for a moment, her mind full of excitement as if doused by a basin of cold water. "Is there a problem?"
"Just now, the hand I intended to move was my right hand."
The ice clone explained faintly. Her tone was clear with a hint of ethereality, a completely different flavor from the original's voice.
She had wanted to move her right hand but had caught the kunai with her left. This was undoubtedly the most awkward part.
"Huh?" The smile instantly froze on her face. Her mind seemed to jam. It took Sakura a full two seconds to understand what the ice clone meant. She scratched her hair awkwardly. The fall from heaven in an instant left her with an indescribable sense of annoyance.
"In any case, you can experience it for yourself," the ice clone said to itself, directly dispelling the ninjutsu and returning the experience to the original body.
The remaining two girls looked at each other in dismay.
After a long while, Hinata finally asked, "So it was a failure?"
Sakura shook her head and sighed, dispelling the excess emotions. She carefully sorted through and reviewed the clone's memories. "No, it should be said that it was half successful... At least in terms of reaction speed, there was indeed an acceleration."
"So, what about the failed half?"
After pondering for a moment, Sakura's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She said, "The problem is that the chakra enhancement has caused chaos in the nervous system. Perhaps the clone's control was not precise enough..."
The reason could be very complex. A vague statement like "the ninjutsu was not controlled well" was actually the same as saying nothing and was of no help in solving the problem. Sakura was just forcing the words out because she didn't know how to explain it either.
After thinking hard for a while and still getting nowhere, Sakura touched her smooth chin and decisively stopped thinking in this direction. "Forget it, just this one example doesn't explain anything. Thinking too much is useless. Let's just try again."
Idle speculation was useless; it was better to practice a few more times. Hinata also nodded in agreement.
And so, a new round of experiments began. Sakura summoned an ice clone, and Hinata checked it with her Byakugan. The two were already familiar with this routine. Then came the clone's experiment with the new ninjutsu.
It still successfully increased the reaction speed, but the old problem was not solved, and this time, a new problem had very unceremoniously appeared.
"Hmph..." Retracting the ice clone, Sakura smiled wryly. "As expected, a new jutsu won't succeed that easily."
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