Facts have proven that Higashino Jiro's small test for his son was meaningless.
After dinner, Higashino Makoto took the key and didn't rummage around the house at all. Instead, he went straight to the study and walked over to the pillar beside the bookshelf.
He moved a stool over, stood on it, tapped his finger up and down the pillar, and then lifted a piece of the decorative wood paneling on the wall, revealing an old-fashioned non-digital storage box inside.
After opening it with the key in his hand, he saw that besides some documents and money, there were quite a few scrolls inside.
Higashino Makoto turned back to look at his father standing behind him.
Higashino Jiro was a bit surprised. "How did you know it was here? Did you peek at some point?"
"No, Father. I don't have the secret hobby of peeking at anyone."
"Then how did you find it? I designed this myself when I was renovating the house. Your mom and I weren't even married then, and you weren't born yet."
"I've paid attention to the residential building our home is in. This load-bearing pillar between the kitchen and the study is superfluous."
"Is it that simple?"
"I've been to Uncle Kuroda's general store on the first floor. In the same location, there is no load-bearing pillar."
"Ahahaha, was the flaw that obvious? I thought the design was perfect." Higashino Jiro awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "My sense of accomplishment... ruined once again."
Higashino Makoto: "..."
It's not perfect at all, okay? Having a load-bearing pillar here is obviously wrong. Do you have any basic architectural knowledge?
Higashino Jiro reached out and took the smallest scroll. "This is the one. Put this back the way it was, and let's go to your room."
"Okay, Father." Higashino Makoto didn't ask about the other scrolls. He knew those should be the ninjutsu accumulated by the Higashino family over several generations.
For those large ninja clans, these might just be insignificant things, but for a commoner family wanting to grow and strengthen, these were the most important and precious inheritances.
Because of power dynamics, the Hokage faction of Konoha naturally suppresses large ninja clans and supports commoner ninjas. However, wouldn't commoner ninjas also want to develop their own families into ninja clans?
In the end, commoners are dissatisfied with yet envious of ninja clans.
This point is the same in all ninja villages, or rather, the same in the entire world.
Higashino Makoto's key was not taken back by his father, which meant that he had the right to use this place in the future. After all, if his parents didn't have any more children, he would be the sole heir of the Higashino family.
In the bedroom, Higashino Jiro handed the scroll to Higashino Makoto. "Read it yourself first. Ask me if there's anything you don't understand."
"Okay, Father."
He opened the scroll and read it seriously, while Higashino Jiro waited patiently on the side.
The Chakra extraction technique wasn't complicated. The scroll contained more precautions and some small tips to help beginners.
Thanks to his adult soul and extensive reading over the past two years, Higashino Makoto's reading speed and comprehension ability were top-notch, and he finished reading it very quickly.
"Is there anything you don't understand?"
"No."
"Good, then give it a try. Do you remember what I told you before? After every physical exercise, you must focus your mind to sense the subtle changes in your body."
"I remember!"
"That's good. Do not be impatient. Focus your mind; don't let it wander. This will take some time—maybe a few hours, maybe a few days. I believe you will succeed."
Higashino Makoto recalled the subtle body changes he had sensed after every previous exercise. He sat cross-legged on the bed, formed the Ram seal with his hands, followed the method in the extraction technique, closed his eyes, and cleared his mind.
He gathered his spirit, maintained focus, discarded all worries about failure, and felt a tangible mental energy descend from inside his skull, enveloping his whole body, using spiritual energy to sense the physical energy within his cells.
With a year of sensing experience, combined with the description of physical energy in the Chakra extraction technique, Higashino Makoto quickly discovered something. He immediately tried to mobilize it with his spiritual power.
According to the method in the Chakra extraction technique, he vaguely estimated the abundance of this physical energy, then took an equal amount of spiritual energy to mix with it.
Energy exists within the body; it is invisible and unquantifiable, relying solely on spiritual sensing to attempt manipulation.
The first mixture failed.
Higashino Makoto calmly felt the reaction after failure. The muscles at the point where the two energies mixed seemed to tremble slightly.
The precautions in the scroll stated that this was a sign of excessive physical energy, meaning the two sides couldn't achieve balance.
He appropriately increased the spiritual energy a bit. The second mixture failed, but he could hardly feel any movement in the flesh at the mixing point.
He appropriately increased the spiritual energy a little bit more. This time, the two energies acted like they had found a compatible partner, quickly embracing each other, intertwining and merging into one.
With the appearance of this mixed energy, it quickly traveled through the Chakra meridians and finally gathered at the vortex meridian in the lower abdomen.
That place was not the Dantian mentioned in novels or traditional Chinese medicine theory from his previous life. The human body structure in the Ninja World is different from his previous life; it uses a Chakra network, and there is no concept of a Dantian.
Higashino Jiro watched his son sitting cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, a slight smile on the corner of his mouth, thinking, "This is the crucial first step to becoming a ninja. Let's see if you have enough patience."
After waiting for a few seconds, he quietly backed out of the room.
However, before he reached the door, he heard a voice from behind.
"Father, I think I should have successfully extracted Chakra."
Higashino Jiro turned around abruptly, eyes wide. "What? So fast? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure!"
"Don't stop, continue extracting. The first time is very important. Keep going until you feel physical fatigue."
Hearing this, Higashino Makoto stopped talking and continued extracting Chakra according to the method just now. Waves of physical energy mobilized from all over his body mixed with spiritual energy. Immediately, a steady stream of energy flowed into his lower abdomen.
Soon, Higashino Makoto felt a slight sense of fatigue from his whole body, so he immediately released the Ram seal and ended the extraction.
According to the Chakra theory he read in books, continuing further would not be called extraction, but squeezing. Unless in a life-or-death combat situation, it is not recommended to do so.
Excessive squeezing shortens lifespan. Squeezing to the extreme causes cell failure throughout the body and immediate death.
Seeing Higashino Makoto end the hand seal, Higashino Jiro rushed in front of his son with a single step, placing his hand on his lower abdomen and connecting with his own Chakra.
Soon, he laughed happily. "To succeed in extraction so quickly on the first try, and the Chakra amount is also quite good. Indeed a genius. My son has the potential of a Hokage!"
"I feel like you're cursing me!"
Higashino Jiro didn't understand this "Great Emperor" meme and immediately denied it. "How is that possible? I'm telling the truth."
Higashino Makoto didn't want his father to continue raising death flags, so he curiously changed the topic. "Father, how long did your first extraction take?"
"Well, that's not important!" A look of embarrassment flashed across Higashino Jiro's face, and he turned to yell out the door, "Megumi, are you done cleaning up? Bring a Chakra induction paper over."
"Success so quickly?" Higashino Megumi, who came in, was also surprised. She had hoped to see a rare impatient emotion on her son's usually expressionless, precocious face.
Ideally, he would be impatient for three to five days, and then she could teach him with the experienced look of someone who had been there, letting him know that his mom was still his mom.
As a result, her expectations ended before they even began.
Higashino Jiro didn't answer her. He took the paper and handed it to Higashino Makoto. "Mobilize your Chakra and input it."
Taking the paper, Higashino Makoto injected Chakra into it. Soon, the small paper split in two from the middle. One half remained in his hand but was wet, while the other half shattered into small pieces, falling onto the bedsheet like snowflakes.
"Megumi, did you see that? Born with three attributes."
"Oh my, it's actually a collection of your Wind and Earth, and my Water attribute. As expected of our child, gathering our advantages."
Most ninjas are born with only one attribute. If they want other attributes to manifest, they have to spend a long time cultivating, which isn't easy and takes years.
If it were simple, there wouldn't be so few all-attribute ninjas in the Ninja World.
Starting with three attributes undoubtedly saves a lot of growth time.
Of course, it doesn't mean that having more attributes makes one stronger. A ninja's strength is comprehensively constituted by factors such as Chakra amount, tactical means, and combat talent.
However, being born with multiple attributes gives a ninja more tactical choices and makes them less easily countered by others' ninjutsu.
So generally, single-attribute ninjas will develop their other attributes when they have time.
Except for the cheater who spams Rasengan.
"Today is really a happy day. Come, Megumi, have a few drinks with me." Higashino Jiro pulled his wife to go out, then seemed to remember he had a son. He turned back and said, "Makoto, you should know the follow-up to Chakra extraction, right?"
"I know, Father."
"Good, then continue working hard! Remember not to overdo it. Rest early; a healthy and strong body is the foundation of everything."