Chapter 20: Expanding the Chakra Field
Yamanaka Shin was genuinely surprised by this rapid progress.
He repositioned the object seven meters away, and Kaito detected it just as quickly.
This greatly impressed Yamanaka Shin, who thought to himself:
This is quite remarkable. While the average Yamanaka clan member first perceives objects on the seventh day, it typically takes additional time to detect them after they're repositioned—usually by the eighth or ninth day. Some take even longer. This boy must be more naturally talented than I initially assessed.
Kaito's thoughts were:
Although it does take considerable time to achieve the initial detection, increasing the distance doesn't actually make sensing more difficult. The fundamental principle remains identical—as long as the object exists within my chakra field radius, it can be detected relatively quickly. I suspect the next phase of training will focus on expanding my chakra field's size.
He sighed slightly, thinking, I hope the next training phase isn't as tedious as this one has been.
After the session concluded, Yamanaka Shin said to Kaito:
"Good work. Your progress is significantly faster than I anticipated. For the next four days, you should practice independently at home so you can become more thoroughly familiar with sensing chakra signatures within your field. I'm being deployed on a mission outside the village, so I won't be available during this period. When I return, I'll begin training you to expand your chakra field's effective range."
After thanking him sincerely, Kaito departed.
The following months proceeded in a similar training pattern.
Training to expand one's chakra field required extended periods of focused meditation.
He had to concentrate intensely on a single directional point and attempt to gradually push his sensory range outward in that direction.
Kaito thought to himself:
This takes forever! During the holiday break, I should train diligently with my eyes open instead of blindfolded. That way, I can also continue this training discretely during class sessions. Otherwise, once the Academy reopens, there won't be any practical way to continue this type of development.
Throughout the holiday break, he maintained his physical conditioning routine, achieving excellent results with assistance from the Gravity Seal.
He also trained extensively in the Substitution Jutsu.
His goal was to reduce both the execution time and the number of hand seals required—ideally from three seals down to zero for instantaneous activation.
Although he made no progress in actually eliminating the hand seals entirely, he dramatically increased his execution speed, completing the full technique in less than one second.
Due to lacking precise timing equipment, he remained uncertain of the exact duration.
For the Clone Jutsu, he could now successfully create three simultaneous clones, which—if he remembered correctly—met the minimum requirement for the genin graduation examination.
The Transformation Jutsu also progressed smoothly. When he transformed and wandered Konoha's streets, no one noticed anything unusual about his disguised appearance.
However, he hadn't yet tested his transformations on people who knew him personally.
As for chakra control, he could already run freely across water surfaces without difficulty.
So he reduced dedicated practice time for this skill, training only twice weekly instead of daily.
Although he had several ideas for further refining his chakra control, he decided to experiment with those later so he could focus more attention on learning actual ninjutsu techniques.
Training in Wind Release nature transformation slowed considerably, as Kaito felt he'd developed sufficient proficiency. He reasoned:
Being able to cleanly cut through stone is probably equivalent to cutting a waterfall in terms of chakra control precision.
Now, even when practicing on metal surfaces, he could leave visible scratches and grooves.
As for Earth Release training, he purchased additional clay for shaping exercises and also brought home a small stone several centimeters in size to practice crushing whenever he grew bored with sensory perception training.
Regarding Sensor-type development, after Yamanaka Shin taught Kaito the methodology for expanding his chakra field radius, their training sessions reduced to just twice weekly.
By the end of the holiday break, Kaito could instantly detect chakra signatures the moment someone entered his sensory field—unless that person actively suppressed and concealed their chakra.
However, he had to consciously maintain concentration to achieve this detection.
If he didn't actively focus, he couldn't sense anyone's chakra presence at all.
On the other hand, he discovered he could passively sense chakra within approximately 0.6 meters around him without requiring any concentration whatsoever.
Yamanaka Shin explained that this was a natural ability every Sensor-type developed progressively over time with practice.
This passive detection was extremely valuable because it required no conscious focus, allowing Sensor-types to perform other tasks simultaneously while maintaining basic awareness.
Kaito's active chakra field radius had expanded to more than four times its original size, now reaching just over thirty meters.
Yamanaka Shin was genuinely impressed by his exceptional rate of improvement.
He also taught Kaito how to accurately gauge the chakra capacity levels of shinobi within his sensory field.
He explained the tactical utility of this ability in rapidly assessing threat levels during missions.
Simultaneously, he cautioned Kaito not to rely entirely on this measurement, as chakra quantities could also be deliberately masked or suppressed.
He personally demonstrated for Kaito how to reduce the amount of chakra others could perceive from him, or even hide it completely to appear as an ordinary civilian.
Yamanaka Shin also taught Kaito this same suppression technique.
Kaito achieved moderate success in completely masking his chakra presence, though the concealment wasn't yet perfect or consistent.
However, it proved extremely difficult to lower his apparent chakra level to give the false impression of reduced capacity, as his chakra naturally fluctuated quite noticeably.
Conversely, Kaito became capable of sensing chakra without blocking any physical senses, without forming hand seals, and even while moving.
However, without hand seals to focus the technique, his chakra field radius contracted to approximately twenty-five meters.
And while moving actively, it further decreased to only seventeen meters effective range.
This indicated he still required substantial additional training to refine these applications.
On the final day of holiday break, Yamanaka Shin said:
"You've made remarkable progress over these two months. With continued dedicated training, you'll easily develop into an excellent Sensor-type. Keep up the diligent work. We won't have any more scheduled training sessions, but if you need consultation or guidance on anything, you can always find me at the Intelligence Division."
Kaito thanked him sincerely for his instruction and guidance throughout the past two months, then took his leave.
He also returned the chakra-infused training objects he'd borrowed.
Kaito felt genuinely grateful to Yamanaka Shin.
Although Kaito's practical abilities as a Sensor-type remained relatively undeveloped, Shin had thoroughly instilled all the foundational knowledge and techniques of sensory perception in him over their training period.
Now he simply needed to invest consistent effort to develop into a competent Sensor-type shinobi.
The new Academy year finally commenced.
Genki remained their homeroom instructor once again.
Kaito suspected he would likely continue as their primary teacher until they graduated and became genin.
The new year began predictably with more indoctrination lectures about the Will of Fire.
Kaito didn't want to waste valuable time, so he employed a technique he'd perfected in his previous life—the art of appearing attentive while actually multitasking during class.
He shifted his conscious attention to his chakra field instead.
His plan was to focus on gradually expanding his sensory radius during these boring lectures.
After detecting the chakra signatures of everyone present, he decided to compare all his classmates' relative chakra capacities.
After systematically observing everyone's chakra levels, he concluded with satisfaction:
Wow, so my chakra reserves have grown this substantially! The intensive efforts over the past year and a half have definitely yielded impressive results. I'm pleased to finally see tangible outcomes from all that hard work.
As for his classmates, Kaito observed several patterns:
The average chakra levels of civilian students and those from the Nara, Yamanaka, Kato, Hatake, Sarutobi, and Kurama clans were noticeably lower than most others.
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