After receiving Maruboshi Kosuke's secret Water Release techniques, Umino Yoru couldn't wait to activate the Akimichi Digestion Technique. Soon, nine shadow clones were summoned, each dedicated to mastering the newly acquired Water Release secrets.
Meanwhile, his main body continued practicing the Wind Breathing Method.
He had named it this not only because it fit perfectly but also because his newfound understanding of Water Release principles made him believe that developing a Water Breathing Method in the future was now a real possibility.
To avoid confusion later, he decided to call the current one Wind Breathing Method—or alternatively, the Falcon Breathing Method.
"Huh?"
As soon as he started training, he noticed something different—this time, the Wind Breathing Method flowed much more smoothly than before.
"Could it be—?"
After some experimentation, he confirmed his suspicion: the difference came from the ratio of meat to carbohydrates in his diet.
This time, Akimichi Torifu had brought two large buckets of rice, which tasted great, so he had eaten several extra bowls. Previously, his diet had been mostly fish with only a small portion of plain millet rice.
Human physiology wasn't the same as a summoning beast's.
You couldn't survive on just meat—you needed a balanced intake of vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and trace elements.
When he first started practicing the Akimichi Digestion Technique, he had already considered this issue. That's why he had bought 500 pounds of maltose syrup to supplement his carbs—while also seeing if he could develop the Water Release: Sticky Syrup Capture.
"Since human physiology differs from summoning beasts, I can't just copy Da Bai's breathing rhythm. I need to develop a frequency that suits me better."
Umino Yoru discovered that as he adjusted the Wind Breathing Method, his breathing rhythm and the digestion process in his intestines synchronized more naturally.
It even created a kind of resonance effect.
With each breath, his ability to absorb and assimilate the mysterious energy from the air improved significantly.
At the same time, the tingling side effects weakened.
This time, he trained for over half an hour before reaching his limit—proving that his adjustments had doubled his training duration without pushing him to exhaustion.
After finishing his Wind Breathing session, he stretched and grabbed some salted fish jerky to munch on. Once he had eaten a few pounds to curb his hunger, he unsealed a scroll and took out a large bowl of maltose syrup.
Then, he dipped some wild berries (gathered by his shadow clones) into the syrup and devoured them.
"Hmm… too sweet."
He frowned slightly.
As a food enthusiast, this crude combination was far from ideal. But given the circumstances, he had no choice—training took priority.
Still, having access to salted fish jerky and maltose syrup in this resource-scarce warzone was a luxury even most Konoha Jōnin couldn't enjoy.
After eating, he cycled through a few more rounds of Wind Breathing until his appetite vanished and his cells reached saturation point.
With Wind Breathing temporarily on hold, he shifted his focus to the Water Release secrets he had just acquired.
"Without these techniques, developing Sticky Syrup Capture would've taken me at least a year—maybe even longer just to grasp the basics."
The deeper he delved into the essence of Water Release, the more he realized how crude his previous understanding had been.
But he wasn't discouraged.
Back then, he had only known a few low-level Water Release techniques with no proper guidance. His knowledge had been too limited—even his Water Nature Transformation had been brute-forced through sheer chakra control.
Now, with Maruboshi Kosuke's teachings, he had finally filled those gaps.
"If chunin like Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu could develop Sticky Syrup Capture, there's no reason I can't."
His confidence surged, and he was eager to start.
However, before tackling Sticky Syrup Capture, he decided to begin with an easier variant—Water Release: Sticky Syrup Binding Rope.
Both were syrup-based techniques, but the Binding Rope was a single-target restraint with lower chakra consumption—making it simpler to develop.
More importantly, he only had 500 pounds of maltose syrup. If he tried to develop the large-scale Sticky Syrup Capture first, he'd burn through his supplies in days.
The Binding Rope was far more economical.
Umino Yoru swiftly formed hand seals—Ram → Ox → Tiger → Monkey → Dragon—in just one second.
"Water Release: Water Whip!"
A whip of condensed water materialized in his hand.
"Go!"
He lashed out, wrapping the whip around a wrist-thick sapling in the distance. With a sharp tug, he uprooted it effortlessly.
"Not bad. Let's test its limits."
This time, he targeted a thick tree trunk.
"Hah!"
He pulled with increasing force until, just before the whip snapped, he felt its maximum tensile strength.
"Incredible durability."
Though his physical strength was nowhere near Tsunade's monstrous power, it was still formidable—especially with chakra-enhanced control.
He was definitely stronger than Tsunade's two idiot lackeys (Jirobo and Kidomaru), though in pure muscle strength, he still fell short of the Fūma Clan's freakish might.
"A whip this tough, combined with hardening syrup, would make an incredibly powerful restraining technique."
Even before completing the Sticky Syrup Binding Rope, he could already envision its potential.
"Water Release: Water Whip!"
He formed the seals again, summoning another water whip.
This time, he dipped the whip into the bowl of maltose syrup while activating his Subsonic Radar Technique to analyze every minute detail of the chakra interaction between water and syrup.
At first, nothing happened.
But gradually, the syrup began seeping into the whip's tip, turning its translucent form into a deepening amber hue.
Finally—
Snap!
The whip broke apart, splattering syrup onto the sand.
Screeeech!
Da Bai, spotting the spilled syrup, immediately cried out and began pecking at the sticky mess. Fortunately, the syrup was thick enough not to sink into the sand completely, allowing Da Bai to gobble it up along with tiny pebbles.
Within moments, every drop was gone.
Flapping its wings happily, Da Bai chirped in delight—clearly enjoying the sweet treat.