Hardy watched the rapidly moving shadow clone, making a mental calculation.
His original speed was already considered quite good among chunin, a result of Kazekage Kazekaze Chiran's deliberate training of his Body Flicker Technique.
Clearly, he had successfully mastered the Wind Swift Technique.
However, this was only the first stage of the Wind Swift Technique.
According to Chiyo's explanation, she needed to maintain this speed while simultaneously controlling her puppets, which meant she had to sustain the Wind Swift Technique without hand seals.
This was originally an almost impossible task, but Chiyo was indeed a genius capable of turning the impossible into possible.
The Self-Reincarnation technique, which can even bring the dead back to life, is the best example.
Thanks to Chiyo's profound medical ninjutsu, her understanding of acupoints was far deeper than that of ordinary ninja. Ever since she witnessed a member of the Hyuga clan use the Rotation technique on the battlefield, Chiyo was inspired.
Rotation is also a seal-less ninjutsu. Its principle is to release a large amount of chakra from the body's acupoints, then spin the body 360 degrees. With the Byakugan's all-around vision and keen insight, it achieves complete defense.
The advanced Wind Swift Technique is similar: it requires releasing Wind Release chakra from several key acupoints, then using wind release's nature transformation and shape transformation to form an invisible membrane of wind around the body.
At the front, this wind membrane reduces air resistance; at the back, it compresses the air to generate thrust, greatly enhancing speed.
However, this is much harder than Rotation.
The Hyuga clan possesses the Byakugan, which allows them to directly see the flow of chakra within their bodies, making it easy to release chakra from every acupoint.
Chiyo, lacking the Byakugan, relied on her own sensory abilities and her understanding of the human body to achieve a similar effect, though she only selected a portion of the acupoints.
This was partly for safety, and partly to reduce the difficulty of the technique.
If one were to use almost all the body's acupoints and then integrate multiple wind release nature transformations, it might be possible to truly develop a Wind Release Chakra Mode unique to Sunagakure.
But that would require generations of strong ninja, like those in Kumogakure, to painstakingly research before succeeding.
Chiyo of Sunagakure had only taken the first step. Without suitable talent to carry it on, after Chiyo, the so-called development of Wind Release Chakra Mode would end just as it began.
"It's a pity. My understanding of human anatomy might just barely suffice, but my sensory abilities are far inferior,"
Hardy shook his head regretfully.
With the help of his wind abilities, he now had some mid-to-long-range sensory capability.
But when it came to something as precise as the inside of the human body, even after mastering the pulse-sensing technique Chiyo taught, he still couldn't match her.
There was no other reason—he simply wasn't as strong mentally as Chiyo.
She could perfectly control ten top-tier puppets, while Hardy was far behind in both the quality and quantity of puppets.
"If I could master a sensory ability similar to the Byakugan, and combine it with my wind manipulation, maybe I really could develop a Wind Release Chakra Mode. Looks like I should mention this to Captain Kazekaze and start learning wind release nature transformation early."
...
...
The next day.
"Oh? You're already eager to learn nature transformation?"
In the logistics department, Kazekaze Chiran asked in surprise.
"Well... After all, when we're out on missions, there's downtime. Without equipment, it's inconvenient to study puppetry, so I thought since I'll have to learn wind release nature transformation sooner or later, I might as well get a head start and use the time to think it over."
Hardy gave the explanation he'd prepared to Kazekaze Chiran.
"You..."
Baki covered his forehead.
You really are getting more and more competitive!
"What about you two?"
Kazekaze Chiran looked at Pakura and Baki.
"Of course. Once I master the nature transformation of two elements, it should be much easier to get promoted to jōnin."
"Right, I need to catch up quickly too. If I fall behind any further, I might end up dragging you down in battle."
Pakura and Baki answered in turn.
"All right, I'll let the patrol team know. Let's go to the same place as last time."
Kazekaze Chiran stood up from his chair, shook out his sleeves, and led the three of them away.
"This place looks a bit different from last time, doesn't it?"
Baki remarked, noticing the somewhat messy ground.
"Maybe someone else was just practicing ninjutsu here,"
Pakura glanced around but didn't pay it much mind.
Hardy touched his nose and said nothing, acting as if he hadn't noticed either.
"Come here."
Kazekaze Chiran patted a thick tree stump by the riverbank, about half a person tall, and called the others over.
"You should all know that chakra is essentially a one-to-one mixture of spiritual and physical energy. The process of performing ninjutsu is to have chakra simulate the five elements—wind, lightning, water, fire, earth—so that the jutsu achieves the desired effect.
You can also add Yin and Yang, but Yin Release and Yang Release are more advanced, and I don't know much about them myself.
The same chakra attribute can have many forms. A typical example is Water Release: a few ninja can turn water into oil, changing its form and giving it new properties. The oil, when combined with Fire Release, has unexpected power. Or Fire Release, like the Hidden Mist Jutsu, which transforms part of fire into smoke. These jutsu are among the most difficult conventional techniques, as they involve both nature transformation and shape transformation.
In theory, only by mastering both nature transformation and shape transformation to the extreme can you create your own kekkei genkai (bloodline limit)."
"Shape transformation, as your control over chakra improves..."
As one's abilities improve, so too does their mastery of chakra natures—these two aspects are closely linked. However, changes in chakra nature are often secret techniques passed down within each ninja village, and are a key reason why the major villages can continuously produce elite jonin.
In ordinary small villages, the available nature transformations might be limited to common ones like the high temperatures of Fire Release or the impact of Water Release. But the major villages possess a wider variety of nature transformations. For example, in Konoha, the Uchiha and Sarutobi clans have mastered the explosive properties of Fire Release, while the Tsuchikage's line in Iwagakure controls the gravity aspect of Earth Release. These advanced nature transformations are often derived from the basic ones.
That's why, when it comes to learning Wind Release nature transformation, you'll all start with the most fundamental—cutting.
Kazekage's aide Kazekaze Chiran took out several kunai and placed them before the three: Hardy, Baki, and Pakura.