"Clan Head."
"Mm. Go ahead. If anything goes wrong, I'll repair it."
"Yes!"
Yamanaka Sanzen formed seals. His eyes opened, locking onto Yamanaka Fū.
Mind Disruption Technique!
Yamanaka Fū's consciousness instantly fell into chaos—but almost immediately, he began to counterattack and recover with his own mental strength. After barely a second, his expression cleared.
"I broke free," Yamanaka Fū said.
Yamanaka Inoichi had kept his sensory technique active the entire time. Though he couldn't perceive everything as perfectly as Yagyū Souma, he could clearly tell what had just happened—
The moment Fū sensed the mental intrusion through mental defense, he actively mobilized his spiritual energy to resist it. That one or two seconds in between were essentially spent locating the invaded area and expelling it.
The countermeasure had worked.
"Souma-kun really is a genius," Yamanaka Fū sighed.
"He even thought through the solution in advance."
"Wouldn't this kind of defensive technique be a fatal blow to our Yamanaka clan as well?"
Someone muttered quietly.
Inoichi's expression turned strange.
"Don't overthink it. Souma's technique was primarily designed to defend against genjutsu. Its effectiveness against our clan's secret arts is just a side effect."
Creating a technique specifically to counter the Yamanaka clan?
Inoichi felt that if Souma had really done that, his head must have been broken. There was no way someone would waste time on something so narrow. The original intent was clearly anti-genjutsu.
As for the Yamanaka clan?
Inoichi had a very clear sense of reality.
With Souma's level of talent, before creating that technique, he probably hadn't even thought about them at all. Thinking otherwise was giving the Yamanaka clan far too much credit.
He waved his hand, somewhat speechless.
"That's enough. Now that the improved version is complete, don't crowd around here anymore. Yamanaka Fū, go write a report. I'll submit it to the Third Hokage later."
After a brief pause, he added,
"Focus mainly on identification and countermeasures."
"Understood."
"Do you… really understand it now?"
"I—I think so? Maybe I should read it one more time…"
Mitarashi Anko spoke without confidence. She picked up her notes again, read them carefully several times—
Then immediately overturned her own statement.
She still didn't understand it.
Souma was speechless.
"Go stand off to the side and focus on mastering Overlimit State first. If you can't do that, thinking about training the second version is meaningless."
Even if she mastered Overlimit State, it wouldn't be perfect.
Souma's second version relied on Extreme State, controlling full-body musculature in coordination with chakra reinforcement to create comprehensive defense. Overlimit alone would inevitably leave defensive gaps.
Still—
It was better than nothing.
As for going further…
Among Seven-Day Breathing, Eight Gates, and Sage Mode, one would need to master at least one to truly advance further.
As it happened, Souma already possessed Sage Mode.
But—
He still had personal ideas that needed refinement.
For example—
Completely merging the effects of a chakra barrier into Chakra Armor, fusing the two techniques into one.
That kind of integration would take time.
After sending Anko back to training, Souma continued thinking on his own.
Then—
Just as he reached a breakthrough, a violent pain suddenly tore through his head.
A powerful surge of energy was born in his brain, violently stimulating his mind and spirit. His vision tinged red.
Souma knew instantly—
The long-awaited pattern had finally formed.
The feedback from Mind Disruption Technique.
He endured the intense pain, clutching his head as he retreated indoors, sliding down the wall to sit. His fingers dug into his hair, using the pressure to barely suppress the agony.
After more than ten seconds, his consciousness gradually stabilized.
Sitting cross-legged like an old monk, he entered a meditative state, guiding his spiritual energy from his brain into the Yin Seal at his forehead.
Though it could only divert part of it, it was far better than doing nothing.
After about a minute, the pain completely vanished.
Then—
A strange sensation welled up inside him.
His perception had grown stronger.
No—
More precisely, it had grown finer.
He could manipulate his spirit with far greater precision, extracting exactly the information he needed.
Not only that—
Souma faintly sensed subtle changes within his spiritual energy itself, though he hadn't yet discovered how to use them.
Like Kakashi's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Souma tested it carefully.
Aside from heightened perception and increased total spiritual power, all forms of mental-domain manipulation had improved.
This was a comprehensive evolution.
And then—
When he visualized the Bodhi Seed again and observed it carefully, the ancient patterns upon it seemed dimmer than before, almost impossible to notice at a glance.
But upon closer inspection—
"…This is?"
A tiny, tender sprout had emerged from the Bodhi Seed.
It had sprouted.
Souma stared at the manifested seed for a long time, utterly speechless.
This transformation far exceeded his expectations.
He had thought it would merely be a straightforward increase in spiritual power. He hadn't expected the Bodhi Seed itself to undergo such a dramatic change.
Would it eventually grow into a tree?
"…Forget it. Let's first see what enhancement I actually gained."
"If it's spiritual reinforcement…"
"Could it be telekinesis?"
He tried—
And quickly realized it wasn't that simple. He couldn't just move objects with a thought like true telekinesis.
However—
It could be developed in that direction.
If his spiritual power became strong enough, it should be able to influence physical objects. Perhaps the issue was insufficient focus…
A few minutes later, he managed to lift a sheet of paper using mental force.
The direction was right.
"In the short term, it's still a very crude application."
"And it might not just be telekinesis—there could be other manifestations. Further development is needed."
Souma thought quietly.
This wasn't the real world. In the ninja world, the true strength of spiritual energy lay in the mental domain, not in brute-force interference with matter.
This was merely the most superficial use.
Perhaps—
He could try analyzing and dismantling an opponent's ninjutsu structure, even converting their chakra into his own.
That would require extremely deep understanding of ninjutsu and chakra nature transformations.
Which happened to be something he possessed.
Souma narrowed his eyes.
It seemed he needed to spar with Kakashi-sensei next.
Once he adapted to most nature transformations, he wouldn't need to fear ordinary ninjutsu anymore.
He might even—
Use spiritual force to capture chakra altered by nature transformation, then convert it through chakra absorption into his own.
After that, he stood up and carefully assessed his own condition, pushing his self-awareness to the limit.
His spiritual power was too strong.
Souma's body wasn't weak—after multiple enhancements, he estimated that while it hadn't reached a true Sage Body, it at least counted as half of one. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to contain natural energy.
In strength and vitality, he couldn't compare to Senju Hashirama—but among ordinary people, he was at the absolute peak.
But—
After this qualitative leap in spiritual power, his body and consciousness were slightly out of sync.
Commands sent to his body showed a half-second delay.
Souma couldn't tell whether his reactions had become too fast, or his body had become too slow—but the lag and stutter were deeply uncomfortable.
Fortunately—
He had prepared for this.
He opened the door and looked at Anko.
She was still training.
She learned quickly—Overlimit State, Breathing Activation, and Chakra Armor were already mastered. What remained was familiarity and integration.
Once Anko fully incorporated these three techniques into her own combat system, her strength would rise another level.
She still couldn't compare to Kakashi.
But—
Against the old Asuma, she could probably fight on even terms.
As for now?
Forget it.
The current Asuma—even with only ten-plus seconds of Sage Mode—was not someone Anko could hope to touch.
"Anko-senpai."
"Yes, Souma-sama."
Anko immediately stopped moving.
"Has the ANBU fully mastered Breathing Activation Technique yet?"
"As far as I know, no. About half the combat squads have mastered it. Other squads have even fewer."
Anko replied.
She wasn't ANBU herself, but with recent tasks from the Third Hokage and Tsunade, she had gained access to some ANBU-related information.
Souma didn't hesitate.
"Make sure ANBU shinobi must master Breathing Activation. Especially combat squads—everyone must learn it. Ideally, they should reach the first three stages."
"Yes."
Anko nodded, then vanished in a flash.
Souma pondered briefly, then headed for the Akimichi clan.
The Akimichi had several major projects going on—
The Calorie Conversion Secret Technique, Seven-Day Breathing—Fourth Layer, and now Chakra Armor.
But—
There were too many techniques.
Souma was worried the Akimichi clan couldn't digest them all.
Reality proved him right.
Compared to before, the Akimichi clan had changed drastically. Most members were noticeably slimmer—especially Akimichi Chōza, who had gone from a massive, burly胖子 to a solidly built strongman.
He looked leaner, sharper—his looks had skyrocketed.
But for the Akimichi clan?
It was suffering.
As for Chōji—
He was fine. He'd apparently eaten plenty these past couple of months, and was even rounder than before.
"Chōza-senpai, what happened to you…?"
"Sigh."
Chōza let out a long sigh.
"This is all for researching calorie conversion. Those of us with deep foundations naturally had to charge ahead. And the result is…"
"Mm…"
Souma didn't know what to say.
They were brute-forcing experimentation.
What kind of results could that produce?
After some thought, he decided—
Forget it. Calorie techniques weren't the priority right now.
"What about Fourth Activation?"
"Half-success."
Chōza explained their clan's progress.
The Akimichi hadn't been slacking. They had experimented seriously and achieved results—but—
Their Fourth Activation could only be used in conjunction with Partial Expansion, and the duration was extremely short—only a few seconds.
Souma relaxed slightly.
The Akimichi were still reliable.
Though only a prototype, it was already very close to completion. With some refinement, it would be usable.
"Show me."
"All right."
Akimichi Chōza demonstrated.
Without hesitation, Souma immediately improved Fourth Activation on the spot.
Fourth Activation required massive air intake—meaning it was inherently short-lived.
That was why Chōza had labeled it "half-finished."
Souma approached it from two directions.
First—external support.
Compressed air canisters.
Second—
Accelerate entry into the activated state, making full use of those few seconds to end the battle.
After giving his suggestions, he didn't leave Chakra Armor with them.
For now, the Akimichi clan's focus remained Seven-Day Breathing and calorie techniques.
Chakra Armor could wait.
Next—
The Inuzuka clan.
As a frontline, taijutsu-oriented clan, they were the ones who needed this technique most—and it suited them perfectly.
A few minutes later, Souma left the Inuzuka compound under Inuzuka Hana's anxious, uneasy gaze.
The Inuzuka clan had gained far too much.
"Sis, he treats our clan way too well. Don't tell me he's interested in you?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Hana glared at him fiercely.
Then she fell silent for a few seconds before letting out an irritated sigh.
"If that were the case, I wouldn't even be afraid. I'm more worried he isn't interested in me—"
"And instead wants our clan to raise ninja beasts for him for the rest of our lives."
"…What do you mean?"
Inuzuka Kiba raised an eyebrow.
Hana looked like she wanted to smack him.
"Use your brain once in a while. How are you going to be clan head otherwise? Think about his earlier requests—renting, purchasing ninja dogs."
"…Oh."
Kiba nodded.
"So you mean he wants us to release more ninja beasts, and have our clan handle ninja beasts for Konoha and the daimyo forever?"
"I don't know. Souma-sama doesn't look like he's asking for anything. But we're not relatives—can we really accept all this?"
Hana overthought it until her head hurt, then gave up entirely.
"Forget it. I'm going to dump this headache on Mother."
In the courtyard, Kiba hugged Akamaru and pondered deeply.
"Akamaru… the world of adults is terrifying. And that guy's only a year older than me—how does he know so much?"
"Looks like my Hokage dream might have to wait until the Seventh generation."
Akamaru looked up and whimpered softly.
"What?! You're saying even the Seventh is impossible?! How can that be!"
In truth, Souma wasn't thinking that far.
He gave the Inuzuka clan that technique simply because it suited them best right now. He even made minor improvements, enhancing its synergy with Needle Jizō.
Of course—
If the Inuzuka were willing to release more ninja dogs and focus on raising ninja beasts, Souma would be more than happy.
Whether ninja beasts or companion animals, they were pure benefits to Konoha.
The only concern was whether the Inuzuka clan would stubbornly refuse.
Judging by events two or three days later—
That clearly wasn't the case.
The Inuzuka clan delivered a batch of ninja dogs directly to ANBU.
For the next stretch of time, Souma could often be seen training around Konoha—morning and evening without fail—always alongside Might Guy.
After half a month of training and oversight, Souma finally—
Received the feedback from Seven-Day Breathing.
Just as he expected.
The feedback was physical reinforcement.
Once his body strengthened, the delay between mind and body nearly vanished. In Sage Mode, there were essentially no negative effects at all—his condition was even better than before.
His perception became razor-sharp.
In combat—
This level of insight was even stronger than a three-tomoe Sharingan.
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