[Name: Higashino Shinichi]
[Profession: Chūnin / Sword Master]
[Talents: Taijutsu Specialization (Blue), Fighting Spirit (White)....]
[Draws Remaining: 1 (Blue)]
...
Konoha Year 45, the chill in the air was growing heavier.
Several months had passed since the Chūnin Exams concluded. Konohagakure had returned to its usual rhythm, yet for Higashino Shinichi, change had never ceased.
Inside the quiet room, Shinichi slowly opened his eyes, his mind sinking into the personal panel visible only to himself.
Compared to several months ago, the information on the panel had undergone another new leap. The first was [Taijutsu Specialization (Blue)].
[Taijutsu Specialization (Blue): Your body has undergone a qualitative transformation in the learning and application of taijutsu. Any taijutsu before you is like a dismantled schematic; you can grasp its essence in an extremely short time and train it to full mastery. When you execute taijutsu, it flows as though formed by nature, without the slightest stagnation. In confrontation, you always strike in the most effortless and precise manner.]
This was the ripe fruit produced, after time had fermented it, by that peak duel on the final stage of the Chūnin Exams—where he and Might Duy clashed purely through taijutsu.
Through the word-of-mouth accounts of those who had watched the match, the outside world's understanding of his taijutsu attainments finally broke past a certain critical point.
The green Entry [Ninjutsu Proficiency] had accumulated enough and naturally evolved into blue.
Then there was a newly generated white Entry: [Fighting Spirit].
[Fighting Spirit (White): When encountering crises, combat, or sudden situations, your courage and fighting intent are more easily stimulated, thereby reducing stamina loss and increasing tolerance to pain.]
The generation of this white Entry came from the Clone Isshin. His flamboyant conduct in the Land of Iron shaped a strong external impression of being "battle-loving," "aggressive in advance," and "fearless."
Finally—and one of the most core changes—appeared in the Profession column.
The original [Swordsman] Entry had already disappeared, replaced by the further-advanced [Sword Master].
[Sword Master: Your swordsmanship has entered the hall and formed a unique style and insight of its own. You possess the qualification to transmit the Way and impart instruction. Your efficiency in comprehending and innovating sword techniques has significantly improved. The tempering of your physical qualities yields twice the result with half the effort. When guiding others in training related to swordsman aptitude, their training efficiency receives a slight increase. In addition, your profound understanding of the "principles of armed combat" allows your training and mastery of other weapons to far surpass that of ordinary people.]
Although the recognition effect gained by the Clone was only fifty percent, through that grand recognition ceremony personally presided over by the city lord and the president of the swordsmanship association—an event watched by the entire city—as well as the deliberate promotion by Takeda Nobutsuna's forces throughout the southeastern region of the Land of Iron, the name "Ashina-ryū Isshin" and his status as a "Sword Master" had already been established and disseminated across a considerable range.
This torrent of cognition, after a month of continuous convergence and transformation, finally blasted open the threshold for an advanced profession.
"Sword Master…"
Shinichi murmured the new title under his breath, his gaze falling on the description.
Improving the efficiency of tempering physical qualities and swordsmanship training, and… the principles of armed combat!
So that was it!
Shinichi felt a sudden clarity in his mind.
Before, he had only known that "Swordsman" was an ancient profession from before chakra became widespread, belonging to a supernatural system, but he did not understand the specifics.
Now, he more or less understood.
Ancient swordsmen, put plainly, were a group of people who relied on ruthless physical training and grinding away at sword techniques to go head-on against all kinds of monsters and supernatural creatures.
Their core was to squeeze out the body's potential and push the sword to the absolute extreme.
But then a problem arose: those monsters came in all shapes and forms, with abilities in endless variety—some had thick hides, some were fast, some could fly, some could burrow underground.
Relying on a single sword, no matter how fiercely one trained, there would always be times when you could not handle it, times when you would be countered.
So for a true swordsman, once they had trained their body and sword to a certain height, the path changed.
They no longer fixated only on the sword, but began to ponder other weapons—how a spear could punch through armor, how a kusarigama could deal with agile opponents, how arrows could shoot down those that flew, how heavy weapons could smash open defenses… What they studied was the fundamental principle of "what tool is most effective for what situation"—this was the principle of armed combat.
This was not a matter of casually learning a couple of moves. It was, based on absolute control over one's own body, to harness the characteristics of different weapons and form a practical toolbox for dealing with all kinds of situations.
It was the most down-to-earth survival wisdom, distilled by those ancient swordsmen amid life-and-death slaughter.
In other words, the core of the swordsman system was "physical energy," using it to command the arts of all weapons with the sword as the primary one.
"Then what is the core of the shrine maiden system and the monk system?"
"In what form did they exist before chakra became widespread, exactly?"
Shinichi fell into contemplation. Relying on memories of his previous life and his observations of this world, he began to break things down one by one.
First was the shrine maiden.
In the current shinobi world, every country, every village, and even every clan might have its own shrine.
But if you spoke of one that truly had a name and a surname and clearly held an ancient inheritance, then it was definitely the Land of Demons as the representative— that country where theocracy and political power were united.
The shrine maidens of the Land of Demons were passed down from generation to generation. They possessed powerful fūinjutsu, and also an ability that could be called bug-level: foretelling the future.
The chakra that the last shrine maiden, Shion, unleashed could even make the demon Mōryō—no less than a tailed beast—feel fear.
But the contradictory point was that Shion's own physical body was fragile, no different from an ordinary person's. Even traveling required Naruto and Sakura and the others to carry her on their backs.
This was very abnormal.
Generally, chakra is a product refined by fusing physical energy and spiritual energy. Someone with an immense amount of chakra—an amount of chakra that could make a tailed-beast-class demon afraid—
No matter what, her body could not possibly be as fragile as an ordinary person's; her physical energy certainly would not be low.
Unless… the composition of her chakra itself was unusual.
Not the usual product of an even fusion—fifty percent physical energy and fifty percent spiritual energy.
"Right—spiritual energy!" A flash of realization passed through Shinichi's eyes. "The chakra of the shrine maidens of the Land of Demons is very likely a special chakra formed with spiritual energy occupying an absolute dominance—fused in an overwhelming proportion!"
Then, following this line of reasoning:
The shrine maiden system—or, more broadly, the priest system—before chakra became widespread, was very likely an ancient supernatural inheritance centered on tempering and utilizing spiritual energy. Through powerful will, they interfered with reality, and thus were especially adept at using fūinjutsu and talismans—forms of power that highly depend on precise spiritual control.
They did not possess the formidable physiques and refined armed-combat skills of swordsmen, nor did they pursue comprehensive and balanced energy as later shinobi did.
Their core advantage lay in spiritual power that, after being tempered through special inheritance, was exceptionally strong, pure, and endowed with certain qualities. On that foundation, they developed a distinctive path of the shrine maiden.
Then what about monks?
Information regarding monks flashed through Shinichi's mind—those suspected of sage arts or of being able to manipulate natural energy, talents of the so-called sage lineage such as Chiriku, and the fact that the Sage of Six Paths had once been an ascetic monk before founding Ninshū, later creating his own Six Paths Sage Mode, and so on.
"So…" Shinichi slowly exhaled, a clear inference taking shape in his mind. "The core of the monk system is neither the body nor the spirit, but… natural energy?"
Before the chakra system was born, perhaps there had already been a group of pioneers. Through special methods of meditation and disciplined practice, they vaguely sensed the vast energy permeating nature, and attempted to use their own body and mind as a medium to guide, borrow, or even fuse with that power.
This may have been the earliest, unsystematized prototype of "sage arts," and also the root of the monk's ancient supernatural inheritance.
What they pursued was not the extreme strengthening of individual power, but a certain harmony and resonance with heaven and earth.
The secret transmissions of the Fire Temple may well be the branches that remained after this ancient inheritance adapted and transformed in the age of chakra.
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