"By the way, I still don't know what my chakra nature is. Could it be that I don't have the water attribute?"
Thinking back of this, Ryosuke immediately opened the desk drawer beside him. Inside was a small box containing chakra test paper and a few other items.
He took out the chakra test paper, held it in his hand, and channeled his chakra into it.
As Ryosuke's chakra flowed through, the test paper reacted.
The left side became wet, the right side burst into flames, and finally the paper split in two down the middle!
"Water, fire, and wind?"
Ryosuke thought to himself.
The water and wind attributes must have been something he was born with.
As for the fire attribute, it was most likely added after acquiring the Uchiha bloodline.
After all, most members of the Uchiha clan have an affinity toward Fire Release—it seemed that every Uchiha possessed Fire Release in their chakra.
"Three attributes... not bad."
Ryosuke muttered to himself.
Although he wasn't born with all five elemental chakra natures, he was only missing two.
Moreover, this was Konoha.
The most common techniques in Konoha were Fire Release, Wind Release, and Water Release.
In comparison, Earth Release and Lightning Release were relatively niche.
"Let's try practicing this Wild Water Wave and see how long it takes with my upgraded talent to master it."
Although the two-tomoe Sharingan could directly copy jutsu, Ryosuke didn't yet have a suitable opportunity to do so.
Most ninjas who trained at Konoha's training grounds were genin. They mainly practiced taijutsu and shuriken throwing.
True ninjutsu training could probably only be found in the higher-level training grounds—but not just anyone could enter those.
Ryosuke, a mere ninja academy student, clearly didn't have the qualifications.
Therefore, at this stage, Ryosuke didn't really have a good way to copy other people's ninjutsu. For now, he could only rely on his own talent to learn.
In the courtyard.
Ryosuke filled a large basin with water and placed it on the ground in front of him.
Let's begin!
He took a deep breath, then formed hand seals—his movements are somewhat clumsy as he produced the Wild Water Wave sequence.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
He shouted with full authority.
Unfortunately, it was useless.
The water in the basin didn't ripple at all.
It simply reflected Ryosuke's serious and earnest expression back at him.
"..."
Ryosuke, still holding his pose, suddenly felt extremely awkward.
A gentle night breeze blew past, chilling the back of his neck.
At that moment, Yagami Mizuki—who'd been standing not far away—couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Mom! Please don't disturb my training!"
Ryosuke shouted, his face flushed red.
This is so embarrassing!
Mom must have seen him shout out the jutsu name like some kid pretending to be cool.
Right then, Ryosuke wished he could dig out a three-bedroom apartment in the ground and bury himself in it.
"Okay, okay, I won't watch."
Yagami Mizuki smiled warmly at her son's adorable, flustered expression, then turned and walked back into the house with a soft chuckle.
"Phew!"
"That didn't count. It was definitely because I wasn't familiar with the hand seals yet. This time, I'll practice the seals until I've got them down!"
Ryosuke summarized his recent failure, then sat down cross-legged and began practicing the hand seals in the order shown on the ninjutsu scroll.
For the next half hour or so, Ryosuke practiced forming the seals quickly and steadily.
After more than half an hour of repetition, he felt ready.
He stood up again, expression serious, and quickly formed the hand seals.
Well... it wasn't that fast—about 2.5 seals per second.
It couldn't compare to the hand seal speed of jonin, but even within the ninja academy, this speed wasn't slow. It could probably rank in the top five.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
Ryosuke shouted.
This time, the water in the basin finally started to move.
It just wasn't very dramatic.
The water rippled a few times, creating small waves, and then it stopped.
There wasn't even any water overflowing outside the basin.
"Phew!"
"Again!"
Ryosuke didn't stop.
He tried again. And again. And again.
He was confident—after all, he had a considerable amount of chakra in his body.
Ryosuke practiced the ninjutsu over and over.
Finally, with most of his chakra depleted, Ryosuke successfully unleashed the complete Wild Water Wave.
WHOOOOSH!
A stream of water shot out of the basin, flying more than ten meters before—
SPLASH!
—crashing into the courtyard wall.
"Success!"
Ryosuke's eyes lit up.
He immediately ran over excitedly to check if the wall had been damaged.
As it turned out, Ryosuke was definitely overthinking it.
Although he'd successfully executed the Wild Water Wave ninjutsu, as a complete beginner, it didn't have much power.
And this was with a fivefold increase from his talent attributes.
Otherwise... it probably wouldn't be much better than him urinating on the wall himself.
"It's normal for the power to be weak since I just learned it."
Ryosuke comforted himself.
Besides, the first step had been taken. All that was left was consistent practice. He believed that with time, he'd be able to master this Wild Water Wave to a level no less than that of other Water Release ninjas.
Then, with the fivefold increase applied...
Its power would probably be comparable to an A-rank Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique, right?
A Wild Water Wave creating the effect of a Great Waterfall...
Just thinking about it was exciting!
"Ninjutsu training is done for today. Let's continue with tree-climbing practice."
"It's so difficult for me to master even a C-rank ninjutsu, partly because my chakra control is still terrible. If my chakra control were better, ninjutsu training would be much easier!"
With that thought in mind, Ryosuke walked back over to the large tree in the yard.
He resumed the tree-climbing training he'd done before dinner.
He continued practicing until 11 p.m.—until Yagami Mizuki came out and told him to rest.
Only then did Ryosuke leave the courtyard with a lingering sense of satisfaction.
By this point, he could already take four or five steps upward.
Not bad progress though.