"Looks like they're training pretty well."
Yagyū Souma smiled faintly.
Aburame Muta fell silent for a moment before saying,
"Souma-sama, you've handed out so many valuable techniques so freely… is that really alright?"
"Valuable?"
Souma shook his head. "A technique only becomes real strength and real wealth when it's spread and mastered. If it's locked away at home, it's nothing more than a sheet of paper—completely useless."
"But these techniques alone are enough to build an entire clan," Aburame Muta said quietly.
She deeply respected and admired Souma's character.
Still, she hoped—just a little—that he could be more selfish, instead of giving away ninjutsu so generously.
Unfortunately—
She didn't understand Souma's needs, nor his ambitions.
"And besides," Souma added with a chuckle,
"I can create new techniques whenever I want. They're not nearly as precious as you imagine. As for a clan… I'm completely alone. What clan could I possibly have?"
Aburame Muta's thinking was purely clan-oriented—clan first, village second.
But Souma was alone.
By the time he ever founded a so-called clan, it would probably be decades later.
Even if he possessed Hashirama Senju's vitality, he wouldn't be young by then.
And what would the point of a powerful clan be?
"The village is surrounded by danger, powerful enemies lurking on all sides. If the village falls, what use is a strong clan?"
"Your ideals are truly admirable!"
Aburame Muta bowed deeply.
What Souma was doing now mirrored the actions of the First Hokage back then.
Such character—
No wonder the First and Second Hokage held him in such high regard.
"I'm just doing what I want to do," Souma said calmly.
"I'll leave things here to you. Help Senior Gekkō Hayate train them properly."
"Yes!"
Aburame Muta nodded firmly.
After leaving the training grounds, Souma went to the Hokage Tower to give a general report on the situation.
The Third Hokage and Tsunade were both very satisfied.
Although Souma had clearly pulled in a lot of outside help—borderline outsourcing—the training materials he'd written were genuinely excellent.
However—
Just before Souma left, Tsunade casually added,
"Oh right, Souma, are you free tonight?"
"…?"
Souma was instantly wary.
Tsunade… don't tell me she's asking me to drink again?
To be honest, Tsunade wasn't terrible when drunk—but she definitely wasn't good either.
And she already had Shizune and Jiraiya to drink with.
Why keep dragging him, someone who couldn't even drink?
After some careful consideration, he glanced at the Third Hokage and sent a mental message.
Drinking again?
Serious business!
Tsunade replied sharply.
That evening—
She really did show up.
And she brought documents.
Souma glanced at them. They were files sent over from the daimyō—mostly previously agreed-upon investments, along with instructions on who he should coordinate with to receive the funds.
"So… why the visit?"
Souma asked cautiously. "Lady Tsunade, our Research Division doesn't exactly have surplus funds."
Tsunade's face darkened instantly.
Suppressing her anger, she said,
"Do I look like I'm here to borrow money?"
"…Not really."
More like here to rob it, Souma silently added.
…
Tsunade's mouth twitched.
She wasn't stupid—she could tell he wasn't being sincere.
She sat down and handed him another document.
"Your cooperation with the daimyō involves ninja deployments. The early-stage funding subsidies for that need to come from your side. Any problem?"
"If it's manpower-related, no problem at all," Souma nodded.
"The daimyō's payments are substantial. Even with generous subsidies for the ninja, it's a drop in the bucket overall."
"We'll prepare the personnel," Tsunade said.
"But the numbers won't be large—our ninja resources are tight right now."
"Coincidentally, the daimyō wants you to visit the capital in person to discuss matters."
She gestured for him to open the file.
Inside were the daimyō's latest demands, delivered to the Hokage Tower that very afternoon.
Souma skimmed through them.
"He wants us to provide personnel to train a batch of this kind of ninja?"
"Exactly. What do you think?" Tsunade rubbed her temples.
"And although I've heard you don't use nature transformation yourself, you always have ideas. Can you modify some techniques specifically for this?"
This was hard for her to say out loud.
Mastering nature transformation wasn't easy—let alone learning actual ninjutsu.
Under normal circumstances, the daimyō's request would be extremely difficult to fulfill.
Their only option was to simplify things and see if Souma could streamline certain techniques.
Souma thought it over.
This was something he'd essentially taken on himself anyway—and—
Earth Release wasn't difficult.
After some deliberation, he nodded.
"Any specific technique requirements?"
"What do you mean?"
"For construction purposes…" Souma mused,
"Swamp of the Underworld, Earth Shore Return, and Rending Earth Turning Palm. Swamp can be modified into a softening technique, paired with Rending Earth to break hardened rock…"
He launched into an enthusiastic explanation.
Tsunade tilted her head.
At first, her face showed shock.
Then it gradually became calm.
And finally—numb.
These things—
The first time was shocking.
The second time surprising.
By the third or fourth time… one just got used to it.
Just low-rank technique modifications, she told herself.
Nothing difficult.
After listening for quite a while, Tsunade waved her hand.
"Souma, just write it down."
"I don't use nature transformation, so these are only conceptual references," Souma said as he started writing.
"Have the Third Hokage review it."
His thinking was simple.
Since these were meant for construction work, Earth Release techniques didn't need to be advanced.
Just take low-rank ROOT-level techniques, trim and modify them.
The three techniques he mentioned—after modification—could handle clearing mountains, paving roads, and building bridges easily.
Tsunade glanced at what he'd written.
It was a ninjutsu creation mind map, densely filled with his thought process.
"I'll show this to the old man," she said seriously.
"If these techniques can really be modified, they won't just be useful for construction. All Earth Release users could benefit."
The techniques were simple—but their practical value was immense.
If used collectively…
They might be more effective than some high-level jutsu.
Souma had no objections whatsoever.
If Tsunade was willing to help spread them, he'd be thrilled.
However—
"What on earth is the Yamanaka clan doing? There's still no progress on Mind Disturbance!"
Souma's mental defense techniques had already produced feedback—
Genjutsu resistance was included in ANBU training, so he'd received reinforcement feedback related to mental defense.
As expected—it was another form of mental strengthening.
Now, only one piece was missing.
And yet—
The Yamanaka clan still hadn't made a move.
The next day, Souma went to check personally.
"Use chakra to contaminate the opponent's mental energy!"
"How is something this simple taking you so long to learn?!"
"Father, that's too vague," Ino said helplessly.
"How do we 'contaminate' it?"
Inoichi Yamanaka kept saying contamination, but no one understood what he meant.
The more he explained, the more confusing it became.
The fact that nothing had gone wrong despite weeks of blind practice was already a miracle.
Inoichi took a deep breath.
"Well, it's like—"
"Inoichi-sama, you can't teach like this," Souma said as he walked in, rubbing his forehead.
"This explanation is way too abstract."
Yin Release.
Mental contamination.
A simple technique—yet Inoichi had somehow made it incredibly complicated.
"But that's how I learned it!"
Inoichi retorted, dissatisfied.
"That's because you know the process," Souma replied calmly.
"They don't. And demonstrations alone often fail to convey the key points."
Now Souma understood.
It wasn't that the Yamanaka clan was slow.
It was that the teacher was terrible.
"Souma-kun, I didn't expect you to have time to visit our clan," Ino said, barely holding back a laugh.
"Want me to show you around?"
From below, she could clearly see the helplessness—and blatant disdain—on Souma's face.
Her self-important father finally had a day where someone found him unbearable.
Still—
She had to help him save face. Otherwise, she'd suffer later.
Souma shook his head.
"No. I heard you haven't grasped it yet, so I came specifically to take a look."
Inoichi's old face reddened.
"Why don't you try teaching, then?"
Among those present was Yamanaka Fū.
He was an elite even within the clan—otherwise Danzō would never have chosen him as his right-hand man.
But unlike Ino—
The moment Fū saw Souma, his heart jumped into his throat.
He understood what true geniuses were like.
In many fields, they were monstrous—completely different from ordinary people.
What seemed "simple" to them…
Was often anything but simple for others.
Letting Souma teach—
Might be even worse than Inoichi.
Fū felt deeply uneasy.
Souma gestured for Ino to come closer.
"This technique isn't hard," he said.
"The real difficulty lies in infiltrating without being detected, then using mental force to split the target's consciousness."
"After that, you use Yin Release chakra to contaminate and guide it."
"…So what you're saying is," Ino's eyes widened,
"This is actually three separate techniques?"
She immediately thought of Souma's step-by-step method.
Some goals couldn't be achieved in one move—you had to break them down.
This explanation fit that perfectly.
Souma nodded.
"Can you perform mental force splitting?"
"Yes."
"Then try it."
Souma had her pick a target.
Ino initially wanted to choose Souma—but after recalling his terrifying mental power, she abandoned that idea immediately.
Her gaze shifted to Yamanaka Fū.
…
"Senior Fū, please guide me."
"Alright."
Fū nodded and stood before her.
Then—
Ino formed seals and activated the technique.
Fū could sense it, but he didn't resist.
He wanted to see if this technique truly worked.
Then—
He felt Ino's mental force infiltrate his mind and instantly transform into a sharp blade.
Chi—!
A shrill ringing echoed in his head.
A chunk of his mental energy felt forcibly torn away.
Immediately after—
"Don't rush," Souma instructed calmly.
"You're still a beginner. Take it slow."
"Use your Yin Release chakra and mental energy to simulate the opponent's fluctuations. You learned this in Perception Synchronization."
"Yes!"
Ino condensed Yin Release chakra, guiding it with the principles of the Mind Body Switch, then transmitted it over.
Only moments later—
Fū felt his mind begin to change.
Whispers echoed in his head.
Mad, fragmented murmurs.
They sounded like his own voice—yet also didn't.
Then—
His facial muscles and senses began slipping out of control.
"Stop! Stop!"
Fū shouted loudly.
Ino panicked and immediately canceled the technique.
Fū staggered back, breathing heavily, coughing—
But his eyes shone with exhaustion and excitement as he looked at Souma.
"This technique… this technique is terrifying!"
"Practice it more," Souma said irritably.
"Once you grasp the trick, doing it step by step isn't difficult at all."
"Don't try to solve everything at once."
Inoichi stood off to the side, utterly ashamed.
Souma hadn't mentioned him even once—
Yet every word felt like it was aimed straight at his earlier teaching.
And worse—
Souma was doing this for the Yamanaka clan's sake.
The shame was unbearable.
He wanted to dig a hole and bury himself.
"How did it feel?"
Souma asked curiously, turning to Fū.
This technique had mostly existed as theory and deduction before.
This might have been the first true test on a person.
Fū had already recovered somewhat.
"Terrifying," he said honestly.
"At first, my mind was full of random self-talk. Then the voice gradually became more and more like me."
"My senses and facial muscles lost control. If it had continued…"
He swallowed.
"I feel like my body wouldn't have been mine anymore."
Fear flickered in his eyes.
Souma shook his head.
"That's because you didn't resist. If you had, it wouldn't be nearly that frightening."
"Maybe… but still…"
Fū recalled the mental synchronization technique Souma had taught earlier.
Combined—
The power was on an entirely different level.
No wonder Danzō lost.
Yagyū Souma's understanding of mental force had already surpassed even the Yamanaka clan.
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