Chapter 177: Sasuke's Upgrade Path
Konoha. The long-unseen Training Ground 9.
This was also the training ground that Team 7 had once used the most.
"Hn, this place brings back memories!" Haruno Sakura said with a sigh of emotion, patting the training post at the edge of the field.
Ever since Team 7 had disbanded and she had entered the Anbu, Sakura had rarely come here to train.
This training ground was too small. When Team 7 was first formed, their strength was not yet strong, and a small field like this was more than enough. However, after the Chunin Exams, as their respective strengths had skyrocketed, this training ground had begun to make them feel constrained—how could you spar in a small square where a single charge would send you running out of bounds?
The Anbu had its own exclusive training grounds. Even if she didn't go there, Sakura would find her own spot in the wild to practice her ninjutsu.
She kicked the grass in front of the training post. This patch of ground, which should have become a barren patch of sand from being stood on all year round, was now overgrown with weeds, almost indistinguishable from the grass next to it.
"Alright, Sakura, stop being sentimental," Sasuke interrupted the pink-haired girl's melancholy. "Let's start training. This is that move of mine from before—"
"Lightning Style - Chidori Sharp Spear!"
He used the ninjutsu he had brought out when they were fighting over the meatball.
"Like I said just now, this is a new ninjutsu that adds lightning shape transformation to the foundation of the Chidori," he said, waving the sword-like lightning that extended from the blue light in his hand, looking quite proud of himself.
By adding shape transformation to the foundation of the Chidori, the lightning chakra was sharpened into the form of a sword or other weapon, which could be used for close-range taijutsu combat. The lightning longsword condensed in this way was a cut above an ordinary, standard-issue steel kunai in terms of toughness, and when used for thrusting, it was even sharper and harder to block than the Chidori.
Lightning-natured chakra itself was an extremely restless and difficult-to-tame chakra. Just gathering a large amount of it, like with the Chidori, was already a huge hurdle. For someone like Sasuke to add shape transformation, giving the lightning chakra, which originally had no substantial form, a stable shape, was even more difficult than climbing to the heavens.
As a person with the highest level of chakra control skills, Haruno Sakura naturally knew how rare this move of Sasuke's was.
At the very least, Kakashi-sensei couldn't do this yet.
"Amazing!" Sakura walked a circle around his hand, observing Sasuke's new jutsu from different angles. "This isn't something you could have secretly practiced in just the few days you were in the hospital, is it?"
"Hmph!" Beads of sweat appeared on Sasuke's forehead. The Chidori short-sword in his hand—it couldn't be called a Chidori Sharp Spear yet because its length was insufficient—dispersed after less than ten seconds. He had only just begun to grasp this jutsu and couldn't yet maintain it stably.
"I started practicing shape transformation and nature transformation at the same time, so strictly speaking, although the idea came to me when I was in the hospital, I had already started practicing this jutsu several months ago. But the shape transformation of lightning is too difficult to master, much more difficult than nature transformation!"
Sasuke explained, letting out a long breath.
He calmed his breathing. The chakra in his hand erupted, and he once again condensed the Chidori short-sword.
"Hah! Lightning Style - Chidori Sharp Spear!"
The blue short-sword, formed from an extremely high concentration of extremely pure lightning-natured chakra, reappeared in their vision.
This time, Sasuke's control was a bit better: the length of the short-sword now exceeded that of a chopstick, about the length of a forearm. The dazzling arcs of light that had been constantly jumping on the sword's body had also stabilized a lot and no longer looked like they were about to go berserk at any moment.
Sakura summoned an ice clone that could feed back experience. "Let's test the strength of this move first!"
First was the toughness and sharpness of the Chidori short-sword itself.
When Sasuke had created this move, what he had in mind was the hope that it could replace standard steel kunai and longswords as his weapon in close combat. In the battle with Kimimaro, his weapon had been cut and broken by the bone sword, to the point where he was almost instantly killed by the latter. This scene had left a deep impression on him.
However, this idea had been severely criticized by Haruno Sakura.
"The idea is certainly good, but with your current chakra amount, you're not yet worthy of using the Chidori Sharp Spear as a conventional weapon!" She had mercilessly struck Sasuke's sore spot. This guy's chakra amount was not on the abundant, tailed-beast level. "Unless you have Naruto's kind of stamina, this move can only be used for a short, strong attack!"
She had held up her index and middle fingers and said, "That is to say, between the jutsu's stability and duration, and the jutsu's strength and sharpness, you should abandon the former and specialize in the latter."
"Strive to fully bring out the killing power of the Chidori Sharp Spear in a relatively short period of time. Using it as a conventional weapon for a long time is still unrealistic for your current chakra amount!"
As she spoke, the ice clone directly condensed a kunai and clashed it against Sasuke's Chidori short-sword. As expected, the unreinforced kunai was directly shattered.
This level of Ice Style was the strength of the ice kunai that Sakura had given to Shino and Yūgao that day. It was about the same as an ordinary standard-issue steel kunai, perhaps even a little stronger in hardness and sharpness, yet it could not withstand a single blow from the Chidori short-sword.
The Chidori short-sword still appeared very stable, the collision not even stirring up a ripple.
"Then, try this again." This time, the ice clone infused the kunai in its hand with Ice Style chakra, which made its strength soar several times over.
This time, the Chidori short-sword did not cut the ice kunai so easily, but after all, the ice-natured chakra infused in the latter was not much, and the ice kunai didn't last long before it shattered.
Seeing this scene, Sakura was thoughtful.
After so many battles and so much research, Haruno Sakura already had a relatively deep understanding of the strength of the weapons and ninjutsu of this world.
If a ranking had to be given, a rough summary of the strength of ninja, ninjutsu, and weapons in battle would be something like this:
An ordinary person's physical strength < A ninja's physical strength (without chakra enhancement) < Various steel weapons (kunai, shuriken) < Weapons made from a Kekkei Genkai (Haruno Sakura's ice sword, Kimimaro's bone blade, etc.) < A ninja's physical strength (with chakra enhancement) < Various steel weapons (infused with chakra) < Weapons infused with Kekkei Genkai chakra (including bone blades, ice swords, etc.) < Ninjutsu with chakra nature or shape transformation < Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu.
Of course, this ranking refers to a comparison under the same conditions.
Generally speaking, a Kekkei Genkai is stronger than an ordinary ninjutsu. This is beyond doubt. But there is a premise, and that is that the rank of the ninjutsu is equivalent, and the chakra used is about the same.
As a counterexample, the S-rank ninjutsu in Sakura's hands, the Water Style: Wind Blade Raging Stream, although it was a lower-level ninjutsu than Ice Style, could still casually dominate her own Ice Style: Absolute Defense. This kind of power, which was a "jutsu architecture crush," was enough to make this one move shatter the unwritten rule that Kekkei Genkai was stronger than ordinary ninjutsu.
Similarly, the amount of chakra condensed in a ninjutsu is also a key to measuring its strength.
The ice kunai that Sakura had just condensed using ice shape transformation should, in theory, be stronger than the lightning short-sword. However, the truth was that the Chidori short-sword had condensed a huge amount and an extremely pure amount of lightning-natured chakra, so in all aspects, it had completely crushed her ice kunai.
Of course, if she could find a way to condense such a huge amount of Ice Style chakra into a short-sword, then if the two collided, it would probably still be the Ice Style that would win completely. However, Ice Style did not seem to be as easy to condense as lightning chakra...
As a Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu, Ice Style was theoretically higher than Lightning Style, but in terms of specific characteristics, the two ninjutsu just had their own merits.
Lightning-natured chakra was easy to condense and could be continuously superimposed in a small area, forming a high-speed, high-attack ninjutsu like the Chidori. On the Ice Style side, it was very difficult to condense such a huge amount of chakra onto a single point.
Conversely, it was very easy for ice-natured chakra to complete shape transformation. Its medium was ice, which was already a condensed solid form. But the medium of lightning was an electrical current. To complete shape transformation on it, to mold the restless electrical current into a fixed form, was extremely difficult.
After a few more tests, the Chidori short-sword in Sasuke's hand could no longer be maintained and dispersed into countless electrical arcs in the air.
"This level of strength should be able to contend with Kimimaro's bone blade," Sasuke said, shaking his hand.
Sakura shook her head. "No, it should have surpassed it. The ice kunai just now also contained Kekkei Genkai chakra and wouldn't have been much different from Kimimaro's bones."
Next, they tested the piercing power of the Chidori Sharp Spear: as an advanced version of the Chidori's shape transformation, its piercing power would naturally not be lower than the original version's.
After the experiment, Sakura pondered for a while and commented.
"The hardness and strength of this ninjutsu should be able to meet your requirements. After this, continue to work on shape transformation. The current length of the Chidori Sharp Spear is still too short; at most, it can only be called a Chidori Short-Sword... To bring out the characteristic of 'one inch longer, one inch stronger' in close-quarters combat, it should at least have the length of a sword!"
"And then, strengthen its sharpness. As for the duration, you don't need to spend too much effort on it. Being able to maintain it for one or two minutes without dissipating is already enough. Any longer than that and your stamina won't be able to keep up."
"...Indeed, after just a few tests, I'm already starting to feel a little out of breath. If only my chakra amount was as much as Naruto's!" Sasuke sighed, and then his spirits immediately lifted again. "But as long as I continue to train, my chakra amount will always increase. At that time, this Chidori Sharp Spear will no longer be a trump card that can only be used at critical moments, but a conventional means that I can use at will!"
He paused for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and continued.
"And the next step, just as Shikamaru said, is to use the lightning shape transformation to weave a Chidori battle-suit, constructing a ninjutsu that is both offensive and defensive. At this step, I can completely ignore ordinary physical attacks and ninjutsu attacks. In your words, Sakura, it would be close to complete... uh, what was it?"
"Physical immunity and magic immunity," Sakura picked up the thread.
Hn... hearing it this way, it sounds quite feasible.
I can't believe that even someone as down-to-earth as Sasuke can imagine such a ninjutsu!
"So, is there more after that?"
"Of course..." Sasuke nodded. "Finally, I can also integrate the nature transformation of lightning into the battle suit. Then it would be equivalent to my entire body releasing the Raikiri Raging Stream."
Sakura imagined for a moment, Sasuke, his whole body shrouded in lightning.
He'd look very cool.
And by the looks of it, in that state, as long as one makes contact with Sasuke, whether it's active or passive contact, the opponent will be attacked by the Raikiri Raging Stream, their body instantly paralyzed, leaving them at his mercy.
Very good, and very powerful.
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