After his early-morning taijutsu clone session, Ryusei spent the rest of the day recovering chakra until the afternoon.
He downed a couple of chakra pills he still had left, knowing they would lose their usefulness once his reserves pushed into what would make him a higher end of the jōnin spectrum.
Even so, he didn't overdo it, sticking to the recommended limits and leaving some in storage for future missions.
His ordinary baseline chakra recovery ability was also his strong point, thanks to the Senju DNA again.
Money wasn't a problem anyway; two B-rank missions and his inheritance kept him comfortable for now.
The results of shadow clone–assisted taijutsu training were better than he expected.
Clones were actually most efficient for things that didn't guzzle chakra like spamming ninjutsu, due to obvious reasons; things like control drills, shape transformation, technical routines, and even just processing information.
He had used them before to sift through his parents' notes and records, and that was when he first realized he could push the technique further, summoning more than he thought possible.
Still, taijutsu wasn't some chakra-free, "pure body" discipline, no matter what people in his past life had believed about Guy and Lee.
Even their most basic routines, without opening any gates, still used chakra. Who said chakra only counted if expelled?
Chakra running inside the body was still chakra use, and that was the essence of taijutsu: enhancement rather than release.
Front Lotus, for example, worked because of that internal boost.
Ninjutsu and genjutsu relied on pushing chakra outward, ninjutsu as a raw projection of force, genjutsu as a stealthy disruption of the opponent's mind, sneakily through their most important brain chakra point.
Taijutsu, on the other hand, was about turning that energy inward to raise the body's specs without expelling it at all.
Guy and Lee's so-called "defect" was only in external release, likely a weakness in whatever part of the brain region that governed external chakra output transformation, things like hand seals coordination, and 'programming' of chakra.
Inside, their chakra circulation was first-rate, even superior to most shinobi, because their extreme training had toughened both bodies and coils.
That training likely made their coils denser, more elastic, and able to handle greater amounts of chakra flowing inside.
Add their overwhelming willpower and strong bodies, and their overall chakra stamina was far from small; they just couldn't use it to push it outward like others could.
For Lee, it was almost impossible. For Guy, it was technically possible, especially later in his career, but his poor talent there made him avoid focusing on it.
Instead, all that energy and training created the perfect base for chakra enhancement and, eventually, opening the gates.
Ryusei dressed for the day and set out toward his destination: Konoha's Library.
The Academy was never meant to be the end of a shinobi's education. If anything, it was only the entry point.
The village constantly emphasized that learning should never stop, and for most genin, the library became the main resource to continue growing, whether in theory or in practical combat skills.
Membership was free, as long as you were Konoha's shinobi of any rank.
Some resources were open to all, others were leased on a monthly basis, and in rare cases, you could even buy an outright copy, though at a steep price. Nearly everything, even the free texts, worked on a lending system.
The library carried introductory material on disciplines the Academy only brushed over, fūinjutsu basics, jutsu shiki, medical ninjutsu, sensory training, taijutsu manuals, weapon-handling guides, and many other things.
Many of these texts were compiled during the village's founding by Tobirama himself or his assistants.
Later, academics during Hiruzen's reign expanded the collection further.
But the most valuable works came from retired shinobi, often jōnin or even elite jōnin, who wrote down their lifetime of field experience.
Some sold their knowledge to the village outright for a lump sum; others opted for royalties as long as their manuals were circulated.
These works were popular precisely because they cut through theory with practical shortcuts, battle-tested lessons no classroom could offer.
For many retired shinobi, it was also a way to support their descendants or supplement modest pensions.
Konoha actively encouraged this flow of knowledge between generations.
Still, no one would willingly place their hard-earned personal techniques there instead of passing them to their own descendants.
That's why you won't find many examples above E or D rank recorded in it anywhere directly.
As for clan techniques or those entrusted by the Hokage, passing them to outsiders was strictly forbidden. In the Hokage's case, not even direct descendants are allowed.
In Ryusei's eyes, the library was one of the village's greatest strengths, a quiet mechanism that kept its shinobi sharper than most of the outside world realized.
He soon reached the building. Shinobi of all ranks came and went through the entrance, from flak-jacketed chūnin to casually-robed genin and the occasional jōnin in plain attire.
Despite its importance, the building itself was modest, large enough to serve its purpose, but unadorned.
Only a simple wooden sign marked it as the library, as if Konoha preferred not to advertise just how much power was stockpiled inside.
Today, Ryusei was focused on only one thing: the introductory texts on fūinjutsu and jutsu-shiki.
The original owner had been so hopeless in the field that he hadn't even learned the basics.
It wasn't surprising, though.
The Senju were never particularly famous for sealing techniques, and most of the clan's true heritage had been stripped away long ago.
What Ryusei inherited came only from his direct bloodline, not the broader clan legacy.
Fūinjutsu itself relied heavily on chakra control, coordination between the brain and chakra pathways, sharp pattern recognition, and Yin Release, all areas the Uchiha were naturally stronger in.
The Uzumaki, closest relatives of the Senju, were the strange exception.
Ryusei doubted it was just a matter of skill.
He suspected their sealing talent came from the unique quality of their chakra itself.
It was denser than normal, even compared to Senju, which allowed it to endure longer and hold its form.
That trait made it ideal for seals, barriers, and constructs like chakra chains, all techniques that demanded stability and longevity.
It also explained why, despite sharing the baseline traits of the Senju, Yang dominance, vitality, stamina, and sensing ability, the Uzumaki were distinguished by their extraordinarily long lifespans.
As for the Senju, Ryusei speculated their edge lay elsewhere.
From how they had historically leaned on elemental ninjutsu, it seemed likely that their chakra coils were unusually flexible and adaptable, even compared to the Uzumaki's.
Anyway, Ryusei entered the library, tracked down the introductory fuinjutsu and jutsu-shiki volumes he wanted after reading some introductory pages in the library sampling sitting area, about dozens of books, to narrow down, and paid to purchase full copies, he decided upon, outright.
Lending them would only slow him down; he needed these resources in hand at all times.
With the books secured, he headed for the exit, having spent a few hours there, but not before asking around about where to get proper practice materials.
It didn't take long before he learned of a lesser-known shop tucked away in the village.
The place was said to stock everything from basic supplies, sealing paper, ink, brushes, scrolls, to the more practical products like storage scrolls and explosive tags.
More importantly, the word was that its owner wasn't just some merchant.
He was rumored to be one of the best fuinjutsu masters in Konoha, though his entire lineage had always been business-focused, never joining the shinobi forces or fighting on the front lines.
That suited Ryusei just fine. He could stop by right away, pick up what he needed, and in the long term, perhaps even cultivate a relationship with the man.
Whether through money or by slowly earning trust, it might open the way to advanced insights or shortcuts that weren't written down in any public resource.
So, with his newly bought books in hand, Ryusei turned his steps toward the shop while thinking about various things regarding today's trip and what he got from that short read.
Fuinjutsu, and the broader field of jutsu-shiki, worked on the same principle as every other jutsu. Chakra in this world was a programmable force.
Humans, with their evolved brains, had developed a kind of extra sense that let them shape it. Hand seals were simply the most convenient way to do this in battle.
At the Academy, shinobi trained their minds to connect each seal with basic meanings, elemental changes, increases, decreases, distance, closeness, and then combined them into creations.
Two hands guided the mind, but some systems even used one hand, or toes, if trained differently.
Fuinjutsu and jutsu-shiki were different. They used far more complex formulas, too complicated to form in the heat of combat.
They had to be usually prepared beforehand, written with entire sets of symbols.
It was like learning a new language.
In theory, anyone could invent their own system of signs if they trained their brain to attach meaning to them, but it was far faster to build on the accumulated systems of past generations, systems already tested to be stable and efficient.
That was why true fuinjutsu study began with learning these "languages." Jutsu-shiki required even rarer, broader ones.
Only after that foundation could someone create new seals, new formulas, or even invent new symbols for original techniques.
Ryusei had only taken a glance at the materials in the library's sitting area, but even that glimpse had shocked him.
He hadn't expected it to be that hard.
His knowledge of math and programming from his past life would help, along with his higher spiritual energy perks, most important among them being the boosts his brain would have received from two souls fused.
Even so, he knew he could accomplish nothing major in this field without at least a decade of learning on his own, and by then, it would already be too late, unless he found some guidance to shorten the learning curve.
The problem was, guidance wasn't easy to come by. Minato had the entire Uzumaki heritage through Kushina, plus the backing of the entire Hokage faction's resources of those kinds.
Ryusei had nothing of that sort. That was why he felt the urgent need to find help and resources before he wasted years chasing in circles. That shop owner was the closest one.