The training process for Jujutsu was actually quite straightforward.
After all, Ash had formally studied it in his previous life.
Although, strictly speaking, he couldn't be considered a true master, grandmaster, or martial arts legend.
At the very least, however, he had long since progressed beyond the level of a beginner.
He had trained for years.
He possessed genuine combat experience.
In his previous life, he had reached the point where facing several ordinary opponents at once wasn't a problem.
School bullies and street thugs had ceased to be threats to him long ago.
So the question was:
Now that he had arrived in the Pokémon world—a supernatural world where Pokémon dominated combat—why was he still training Jujutsu and Laijutsu?
More importantly—
Why did he describe himself as a beginner who needed to learn Jujutsu again?
Wouldn't it make more sense to say he was reviewing it?
Reinforcing it?
Improving it?
The answer was actually very simple.
Ash had transmigrated through his soul.
Martial arts, however, were practiced through the body.
Or more accurately—
The results of martial arts training were primarily stored within the body.
When Ash arrived in this world, he received an entirely new body.
As a result, most of the physical accomplishments he had gained through years of Jujutsu and Laijutsu training were effectively reset.
Certainly, he still possessed all of the knowledge.
All of the experience.
All of the theory.
But the body itself was no longer the same.
And that detail was crucial.
He knew how to perform every movement.
Every technique.
Every sequence.
But this body had never practiced them before.
The muscle memory was gone.
Imagine asking a machine to execute a program it had never run before.
Even if it managed to perform the task, the movements would feel awkward.
Stiff.
Unnatural.
And in martial arts, stiffness was a fatal flaw.
Rigid movements created openings.
Awkward transitions weakened techniques.
And techniques that couldn't be executed naturally rarely performed well in actual combat.
Therefore, when Ash said he needed to learn Jujutsu again, he wasn't referring to memorizing knowledge.
His mind already remembered everything.
What needed training was his body.
He needed this new body to learn the movements.
To remember the forms.
To internalize the techniques through repetition.
To the point where every action became instinctive.
Only then could he freely utilize them in battle.
At the same time, continuous martial training would reshape his body.
Strengthen it.
Refine it.
Gradually transform it into a physique perfectly suited for Jujutsu and Laijutsu.
But even that wasn't Ash's true objective.
His real goal lay elsewhere.
Aura.
Because from the very beginning, his purpose had never been simply learning martial arts.
His objective was to develop the combat applications of Aura Power.
Jujutsu and Laijutsu were merely tools.
Methods.
Combat systems.
At their core, martial arts were simply collections of offensive, defensive, evasive, and movement techniques.
They were frameworks that allowed a fighter to maximize their advantages in combat.
Fundamentally, they were nothing more than highly refined movements.
But once Aura entered the equation—
Everything changed.
Jujutsu ceased being merely martial arts.
It became something greater.
Something closer to martial cultivation.
Because Aura Power itself functioned much like the internal energy systems described in martial arts novels from Ash's previous world.
A cultivation method.
A source of supernatural power.
And the difference between martial techniques with internal power and martial techniques without it was enormous.
The same Jujutsu.
The same Laijutsu.
One practitioner might simply be an ordinary fighter.
Another might be a master empowered by supernatural energy.
The two weren't remotely comparable.
The first would merely execute techniques.
The second could unleash attacks capable of splitting mountains and shattering rivers.
One used ordinary Jujutsu.
The other used Aura Jujutsu.
One used ordinary Laijutsu.
The other might unleash something akin to Splitting Aura Blade Arts.
In short—
A martial art empowered by Aura was fundamentally different from one that relied solely on physical strength.
And that was exactly what Ash intended to create.
Learning Jujutsu was only the first stage.
The visible stage.
His true objective was fusing Jujutsu with Aura Power.
Transforming martial arts into something greater.
Creating a combat style uniquely his own.
A style where Aura became the source of power behind every strike.
A close-combat counterpart to Aura Sphere.
Just as Aura Sphere would become his ranged attack—
Jujutsu would become his close-range weapon.
...
Once he understood exactly what he needed to accomplish, Ash felt no confusion whatsoever.
The path ahead was crystal clear.
At the estuary, Gyarados and Milotic continued their intense training.
On the nearby beach, Bulbasaur diligently practiced its exercises.
Meanwhile, Ash removed his jacket and draped it over a weathered tree stump.
Then he stepped onto the sand.
And began.
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
The sharp sounds of controlled breathing echoed across the shoreline.
As mentioned before, despite its name, Jujutsu wasn't simply a collection of punches.
It was a complete martial system.
Even within the unarmed disciplines alone, numerous combat styles existed.
Various striking methods.
Body techniques.
Combat principles.
Beyond that, the broader system also included weapon arts.
Laijutsu.
Long spear techniques.
Staff techniques.
Sword techniques.
And many others.
Even within the Jujutsu style Ash was currently practicing, there was far more than punching.
The system included footwork.
Kicking techniques.
Body positioning.
Weight transfer.
Power generation.
The amount he needed to relearn was enormous.
Yet that complexity also brought advantages.
The more techniques available, the more combinations became possible.
Simple martial arts were often easy to predict.
Easy to counter.
Jujutsu was different.
Its depth created endless variations.
And that made it far more difficult to decipher in battle.
Furthermore, Jujutsu was fundamentally an aggressive combat style.
A martial art designed to attack.
To overwhelm.
To defeat opponents.
Every movement reflected that philosophy.
The hand techniques were fierce and direct.
The leg techniques were equally sharp and explosive.
Individually, these techniques formed small combat actions.
Combined together, they became powerful offensive sequences.
And from those sequences emerged true finishing techniques.
Ultimate moves.
In his previous life, Ash had learned them all the same way.
One movement at a time.
One technique at a time.
Then one combination.
Then another.
Until eventually the entire system came together.
Now, however, things were different.
Thanks to his previous experience, Ash didn't need to start from absolute zero.
Of course, he still had to relearn every movement.
Still had to retrain every stance.
Still had to rebuild his body's memory.
But unlike a true beginner, he already understood the destination.
He knew the correct paths.
The correct principles.
The correct feeling.
As a result, he only needed a few repetitions before this body could begin adapting.
Then he could move on to the next technique.
And the next.
And the next.
Technically speaking, Ash was starting over from scratch.
But his efficiency was on an entirely different level from that of a genuine novice.
The foundation already existed.
All he had to do was rebuild upon it.
And as the morning sun slowly rose higher above the sea, Ash's first true session of Aura-enhanced Jujutsu training officially began.