Ryu watched Arata leave. The boy walked with the same half-awake dryness he seemed to carry into everything.
After that, the room fell into a brief working silence.
His mind immediately settled on three unresolved problems: the upcoming hearing, refining the [InstinctGPT] update architecture, and his own training.
He raised both hands, drawing fine carbon dust from hidden pockets and seals until it gathered in the air before his palms like black smoke. One cluster formed above the left hand and another above the right. The movement was smooth now. Months ago, controlling carbon at this level had required concentration sharp enough to give him headaches. Now the dust obeyed him with ease.
He tightened the lattice structure, using the Hamura-style chakra control to keep the pressure constant and balanced. Yin and Yang meshed seamlessly inside the process rather than clashing, allowing him to add the final push through chakra impulse of the Senju-style taijutsu/chakra control.
The carbon flickered under the final impulse; the dark dust compressing into two flawless diamonds rested heavily in his palms. He closed his fingers around them, set them aside, and let a new canvas unfold in his [Mind Palace] as he shut his eyes.
- [Temporary Enhance] running on [Fast Thinking] and [Parallel Thinking]
- [Overclocking] enabled
In the space of a breath, Ryu was already standing inside a constructed hall of layered seals, formula chains, and floating fuinjutsu models.
Ryu picked multiple fuinjutsu to study: wide-area formations like the [Perimeter Paralysis Seal Arrays] and trigger-response seal logic, the [Chakra Storage Seal], and the [Contract Seal] used for signing blood contracts for summoning.
He moved through them one by one, identifying parts valuable to him without slowing, passing out of one seal into the next as the seal logic rearranged around him on a blank canvas.
InstinctGPT itself was not the problem; the real issue was that every meaningful update still had to pass through Ryu whenever new training data was added. That method was useful but slow, and it made future expansion completely dependent on him. The number of users kept increasing, and Ryu was a busy man; he needed to eliminate that bottleneck.
"The seal-based platform will be the access point..."
As his thoughts sharpened, the model fractured in the air, rearranging itself into three distinct layers: a receiver lattice, an authentication ring, and a control spine.
"Users already inside the framework can receive updates on the go. The receiver has to be recognised first by the platform, and the receiver's body must allow foreign chakra to enter it and allow the update process, unless Ryu always wants to keep refilling the chakra to this platform himself and defeat the purpose of his less involvement and automatic updates. A blood contract will do so that even Grandpa will be able to refill it. Right now, Grandpa does not have access to anyone's [InstinctGPT] seal. Through a blood contract, there will be no problem accessing it."
He pulled the [summoning contract] logic used in summoning into the model and the [Chakra Storage Seal] for feeding power to this new platform and watched the two systems overlap.
Building outward from there, he mapped out the required infrastructure: a platform seal with a wide area range of influence and invading capacity for the update architecture. The [Perimeter Paralysis Seal Arrays] were suitable for this job without the actual paralysis part; they just needed to bond the multiple InstinctGPTs together, and the rest would be handled by InstinctGPT itself.
Line by line, he drafted this new update-platform seal.
The digital model in his mind was complete; now all that was left was writing it on a physical platform. That would come later.
Ryu then continued with his diamond release training; after almost half an hour more, Ryu heard footsteps and voices finally return from outside.
Naruto came in first, sweaty, breathing harder. "Physical training is hard. I hate it."
Arata stepped in after him and sat down with a tired face that somehow still looked bored. "I agree with Taruto."
Naruto swung toward him. "It's Naruto!"
Kohinata entered behind them and Kaori followed last. Ryu had enough juice for one more push of overclocking his mind.
Ryu looked at Naruto and Arata and said, "We are starting your chakra control training. I will explain to you the training method in a minute. You will repeat this training for months. Take the first step seriously. But first sit down and calm your breathing."
"I really need a break and a cup of ramen," Naruto said.
Ryu turned to Kaori and said, "Let's scan your brain."
- [Temporary Enhance] running on [Improved Eyesight] and [Infrared Vision]
- [Electromagnetic Vision] enabled
- [Temporary Enhance] running on [Fast Thinking] and [Parallel Thinking]
- [Overclocking] enabled
The layered seals spread across his forearms. The [Magnetic Seal], a version of the [Chakra Fusion Seal] imitating [Magnet Release - Kekkei Genkai], settled into place.
"Ms Secretary," he said. "Close your eyes and when I say, clap your hands."
She gave a short nod.
Ryu brought his hands together once around her head and started scanning. First he scanned without any sensory inputs. Then, after it was done, he said, "Clap."
The clap cracked through the room, ringing as a simple sound to everyone else, but to Ryu's chained method, it instantly translated into data. Neurones firing through Kaori's brain that were silent before now actively lit in a pattern and then spread in a specific region.
"Again," he said.
She clapped once more. Ryu scanned again and again until a few good scans were recorded.
Then he changed the parameters of the test. "Sense my chakra."
Ryu released his chakra moderately. Kaori focused. A different neural network responded this time.
There it was – clear, distinct, and without any functional overlap. Sound processing and chakra sensing operated through entirely different neurological structures and pathways.
"Good..."
The contrast locked into place inside his mind. The separation was wide enough to be useful, which was exactly what he had been hoping to confirm. If abnormal cross-sensory conversion could be studied in one case and chakra sensing mapped in another, then someday those routes might be bridged by design rather than accident.
He was looking at the biological foundation for weaponised cross-sensory perception – a shinobi equivalent to observation haki built through engineered sensory overlap through chakra, not haki.
Ryu did a few more scans for more data.
Kaori sensed him moving around her and asked, "Did you find what you wanted?"
"Yes," Ryu said.
He shifted to Kohinata, who sat still and let him work. "If you don't want to be left out, you can also give a scan."
Ryu joked, "Don't worry; I will not read your mind. Your secrets are safe."
Kohinata understood the joke and nodded. He had accepted that Ryu would keep his secret of Hyuga lineage safe.
Ryu ran a shorter scan. The dormant Byakugan revealed itself in pieces rather than a complete answer. The optic channels were denser than normal, the retinal spread wider than it should have been, and the surrounding tissue showed a degree of flexibility no ordinary lens should possess, perhaps allowing the field to become even wider when activated.
"When it activates, the lens likely changes shape for a wider and more powerful range."
His gaze sharpened inside the model.
"And the eyes – they must act like their own light source. Not visible light but chakra-wave emission. It must be penetrating to look inside and through things and people."
The theory was promising though incomplete, so he filed the observation away for future testing. He would have future opportunities to study it in more detail.
Ryu let the scan method relax, deactivated the overclocking, and turned back to the children. He did not have every scan he wanted yet, but he had enough to start working on a new InstinctGPT variation with this much. A proper non-ninja baseline could wait, or he can call someone from his company.
"Now," he said. "The basic exercise."
Naruto opened one eye immediately. Arata opened both.
Ryu held up a leaf and demonstrated. "You channel chakra in a stable flow, focus chakra on your forehead, move it to the leaf and make the leaf stick to your forehead. Too little and it falls. Too much and it destabilises. This is not about force. It is about consistency."
He handed them each a leaf to try. Naruto's first attempt held the leaf for three seconds before it slid down his forehead. The second lasted four. The third spun sideways and dropped into his lap.
Arata stared at his leaf. It did not move. He gave it the same look he gave most problems – flat and slightly suspicious.
"Brother Ryu..." he said. "I do not even know how to make this chakra move."
Ryu held out a hand. "I will help."
Arata leaned slightly closer, and Ryu placed two fingers against him, guiding a thread of chakra into the boy's system.
The response was immediate, and although Arata's chakra did not shift cleanly or perfectly, it moved.
"Can you feel the warmth moving?" Ryu asked.
Arata blinked once. "Yes."
"Hold that flow. Do not chase it. Maintain it."
Arata focused, and in the background InstinctGPT did what it was designed to do, recording the assisted pattern and the sensation that would be helpful later.
The leaf lifted, pressed flat against his skin, and held its position for several seconds, drawing a twitch from Naruto's eye as Arata stared at the result with the mild suspicion of someone unconvinced by his own success.
Arata said, "That was easy."
Naruto pointed at Arata. "That's not fair... help me too..."
Arata glanced toward the table. "I saw some adhesive there, Taruto. If you need it."
"It's Naruto!"
Ryu did not comment on that.
Then he remembered the last time he had interfered directly with Naruto's chakra. That particular experiment had almost ended everything. He did not expect a being as old as the Nine-Tails to break a promise given directly and in his own domain, but Ryu was not the kind of person who confused trust with the absence of precaution.
"Do not measure yourself by someone else's pace," Ryu said.
Naruto frowned but kept listening.
"A rabbit runs fast and tires fast," Ryu continued. "Just be better than you were yesterday. That is enough. Besides, you are the youngest one here. Take it easy. Enjoy the training. Enjoy spending time with family."
The word "family" hit exactly where he expected it to.
Naruto's frustration loosened so quickly it was almost visible. His shoulders dropped. The protest drained out of his expression entirely.
"...Okay," he muttered.
*
"My god, he is such a good teacher and good brother," Kushina said.
Minato nodded. "I want to know how he scanned a brain."
Kushina said, "Maybe it is new medical ninjutsu. We cannot exactly ask him from the seal."
Minato replied, "Right. We will know sooner or later, though, Naruto."
*
Naruto and Arata, who had done that first chakra-control training, felt happy to be included. And this time Naruto did not turn it into a disaster.
Ryu looked at the new kids and thought, "This pace is enough for Naruto. He need not lose his childhood just because he is stubborn about getting strong, and with my help, he will be just fine. I just need to think about how much I should pace it so I do not interfere with some important events."
A/N:
Thank you,
Zarassa van Cresh, Nova Gamer555, El Gordo, David Jenkins, Carlos Barker, Vernan Stapleton, MrDragneel, Some guy, Dalton Harris, Zelmanyr, Hugh Jass, Kenji Neyra, R3vo, Marco, Cash, Codesavage, Auzzo, McCallister Wilson, Timothy cordelle, Mason Erickson, Eymi Lopez, อวิรุธ อนุรัตน์, Vernan Stapleton, Monkey D. Murda
for supporting me on P@treon.
Please support me on P@treon. and leave a review on WN if you liked the story.
You can also support me via Gpay: pjpageturner@okaxis
Latest chapter on P@treon: Chapter 394 ~ First Daughter
A few free chapters are available for everyone to read on p@treon. com/PageTurnerPJ.
Your support is what gets this story going, so please like, share and review the story and add it to your library.