About two minutes later… Kirito's hands clumsily began to form hand seals.
"Bang!"
A thick plume of smoke rose from a broken piece of wood nearby. After the smoke dissipated, a person identical to Kirito appeared where the wood originally stood.
Neither his speech nor his expression showed any difference.
Then, a few more minutes passed.
Kirito formed hand seals again.
"Bang!"
This time, white smoke burst from Kirito himself, and he transformed into a withered tree standing silently in place.
After completing the two Ninjutsu, another "bang" sounded, and Kirito transformed back.
Feeling his own state, Kirito knew the reason he learned these two Ninjutsu so quickly wasn't because of extraordinary talent.
This body had already known these basic Ninjutsu.
After his transmigration, the information fusion in his mind likely caused temporary confusion, making him forget the exact methods.
Now, in less than ten minutes, he could easily relearn them.
He had firmly mastered Substitution Jutsu and Transformation Jutsu.
Kirito opened his panel to check his current status.
[Five Elements Dao Arts (Beginner)]
[Metal Release: 0.21%]
[Wood Release: 0.21%]
[Water Release: 0.21%]
[Fire Release: 0.21%]
[Earth Release: 0.21%]
The increase was small—only 0.20%.
But this proved an important fact: his idea was correct.
Even though the Five Elements Dao Arts originated from another world, Chakra in this world was still a special type of energy that could fuse with it.
By cultivating Ninjutsu or increasing his Chakra, his Five Elements Release Techniques would also grow.
Kirito decided to strike while the iron was hot.
He picked up the small booklet and looked at the last Ninjutsu.
[Lightning Release: Lightning Attraction]
This was a C-rank Ninjutsu, higher than Substitution and Transformation Jutsu.
It was also a technique Kirito had never learned before.
Lightning Release: Lightning Attraction allowed a shinobi to emit Lightning Chakra from their body, applying it to their hands or weapons like kunai and swords to dramatically increase their cutting power.
Because he had never learned it, Kirito studied the contents even more seriously this time.
He initially thought it would take an entire day to get started with this technique, but to his surprise, it took less than ten minutes.
Holding a kunai in both hands, Kirito drew out his Chakra through hand seals.
A visible bolt of lightning instantly appeared on the kunai, releasing a sizzling blue glow.
He casually slashed a treetop, and a huge gash was instantly carved into it.
A kunai enhanced with Lightning Release Chakra was clearly far more powerful than an ordinary one.
Kirito, still doubtful, tried it two more times.
Each time, the Lightning Release: Lightning Attraction Ninjutsu activated smoothly.
This meant he had indeed mastered the technique.
Kirito looked at his hands in disbelief.
He knew the limits of this body—it was born in Kumogakure without any special talent.
He couldn't be a prodigy like Uchiha Itachi, nor did he have cheat-like abilities like certain Konoha rookies.
He was an ordinary civilian shinobi. Otherwise, he wouldn't be a regular Genin from Kumogakure, sent to the frontlines as cannon fodder.
Under normal circumstances, even with hard training, learning a C-rank Ninjutsu should take several days.
Yet he learned it in minutes.
Kirito thought for a moment and understood why.
It was because of the Five Elements Release Techniques.
They didn't just strengthen his body—they enhanced his perception, made his thoughts quicker, and significantly improved his talent.
That was likely why he could master a C-rank Ninjutsu so effortlessly.
He opened his system panel again.
This time, his Five Elements Release Techniques had dramatically changed.
[Metal Release: 0.86%]
[Wood Release: 0.86%]
[Water Release: 0.86%]
[Fire Release: 0.86%]
[Earth Release: 1.37%]
Cultivating a C-rank Ninjutsu increased his progress much faster than a D-rank.
The first four increased evenly—but Earth Release's growth was shockingly higher.
It was strange, but ultimately a good thing.
Kirito originally wanted to learn more Ninjutsu.
However, Kumogakure was poor. It wasn't that they had no Ninjutsu—just that they were all village secrets.
Only nobles or Jōnin could access many techniques.
But Kirito was just a low-ranking Genin.
And during wartime, no one would waste time teaching a Genin more Ninjutsu.
So the only techniques Kirito could learn were the three basic ones in the booklet.
To increase his Five Elements Release progress further, there was only one method left:
Increase his Chakra reserves.
Every shinobi knew how to refine Chakra.
Kirito sat cross-legged, slowly gathering energy and activating all 120 trillion cells in his body.
He concentrated all the energy in his chest, refining Chakra and increasing his reserves.
This process was normally slow.
Even if an adult refined Chakra all day, they would only gain about 0.5%.
This was why average shinobi always had limited Chakra reserves unless they were geniuses.
But with the Five Elements Release Techniques, Kirito's Chakra refining speed became unbelievably fast.
He refined Chakra for less than two hours, but it felt like he had refined for more than an entire day.
It was about ten times faster.
"Is this another one of my cheats?"
Kirito rubbed his nose, continued refining Chakra, and didn't stop.
In the blink of an eye, an entire day passed… When he opened his eyes, his Five Elements Release Techniques changed again.
[Metal Release: 1.75%]
[Wood Release: 1.75%]
[Water Release: 1.68%]
[Fire Release: 1.79%]
[Earth Release: 3.94%]
With cultivation ten times faster, the growth in data was expected.
But the Earth Release growth was shockingly high—completely on a different level.
Kirito stood and stretched. He needed to test this Earth Release properly.
Forming hand seals, Earth Release activated, and Kirito instantly vanished.
In the next moment, he appeared ten meters away.
Seeing this, Kirito understood.
Earth Release enhanced his movement speed and mobility on the ground.
Taking out a paper slip, he mimicked the chakra-nature test Kakashi used in the original story.
The paper wrinkled sharply.
Kirito indeed possessed Lightning Release, as expected from a shinobi born in Kumogakure.
The Five Elements Dao Arts didn't include Lightning Release, but there was a saying:
Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood… and Earth anchors Lightning.
Lightning Release and Earth Release were closely connected.
Lightning represented destruction and speed.
The Fourth Raikage's speed, entirely from Lightning Armor, was only slightly slower than the Fourth Hokage, which showed how much Lightning Release boosted speed.
His Lightning-attribute Chakra increased rapidly, so it made sense that his Earth Release growth was also rising fast.
Understanding this, Kirito closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings.
Although the Five Great Nations continued fighting elsewhere, the battlefield flames had not reached this area yet.
Since nothing was disturbing him, Kirito calmly sat down again and continued refining Chakra…
End of the chapter