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By Konoha Year 42, Sayo had been at the Academy for over a year. To his instructors and peers, he remained the "Dead Last"—a sickly child with the physical presence of a shadow and shuriken skills that were more dangerous to his own toes than any target. However, beneath that frail exterior, his mind had become a high-speed processor, refining the Wind and Earth Release scrolls his father had provided into a complex library of mental simulations.
He had spent thousands of hours in "armchair training," visualizing the exact meridian pathways for chakra circulation. His control was no longer just "good"; it was microscopic. He treated his single, meager wisp of chakra not as a blunt weapon, but as a surgical laser.
One mild afternoon, while alone in his family's small courtyard, the boundary between theory and practice finally blurred. Sayo looked at the dry, sun-baked earth and decided to attempt his first true Ninjutsu: the D-rank Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu.
"Theoretically," Sayo mused, "this technique doesn't require a high volume of energy. It's a matter of altering the soil's density and friction through precise frequency. If I operate at minimum power, I should be able to submerge."
He took a deep breath. His hands blurred into the seals—Ram → Snake → Tiger. Each sign was a textbook masterpiece of form. Simultaneously, he mobilized his tiny reservoir of chakra, guiding it with agonizing precision toward the soles of his feet.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
He slammed his intent into the ground. A weak but incredibly high-frequency pulse of chakra radiated into the earth. The soil beneath him instantly lost its structural integrity, turning into a localized patch of quicksand. Sayo felt the exhilarating sensation of the earth "swallowing" him.
Success! He sank rapidly. But as the dirt reached his shoulders and he prepared to create an underground pocket for movement, the "engine" of his body stalled.
Zero fuel.
The wisp of chakra was gone. The first phase—the "softening"—was complete, but he lacked the reserves for the second phase: "displacement." The moment the chakra dissipated, the physics of the desert took over. The liquefied earth, no longer under his influence, packed itself tight around his small frame.
Sayo froze. He tried to struggle, but the ground had solidified with the speed of setting concrete. He was buried up to his chin, his small head sprouting from the flat courtyard like a misplaced radish.
"Calculation error," Sayo muttered to the empty air, his expression remaining one of calm, detached analysis. "Underestimated the continuous consumption rate of the mantle-displacement phase. Overestimated the efficiency of my current battery. I need to re-model the power-to-weight ratio..."
He spent the next hour stuck in the dirt, completely unbothered by his predicament as he ran the numbers in his head. The sun dipped low, casting a long, lonely shadow from his head across the courtyard.
The gate creaked open. Sharyu, weary from a day of logistics and heavy lifting, stepped inside. He stopped dead. In the middle of his courtyard, his son's head was gazing at him with an expression of intense intellectual focus.
"...Sayo?" Sharyu rubbed his eyes, wondering if the desert heat had finally broken his mind. "What... what exactly are you doing?"
"Father," Sayo said calmly. "I successfully activated the Headhunter Jutsu. However, I reached a critical energy depletion state during the submerged phase. Could you please assist with my extraction?"
Sharyu stared for a long, silent beat. Then, his shoulders began to heave. The tension of the war-weary years seemed to crack. He let out a booming, genuine laugh that echoed off the sandstone walls.
"Hahahaha! Headhunter Jutsu? You certainly managed to 'sever' the head, Sayo! You're the first ninja I've ever seen defeat themselves with their own technique!" Sharyu laughed as he knelt and began to dig his son out with a trowel.
Sayo watched his father with a look of mild embarrassment. "It was a successful proof of concept, Father. The execution was flawed, but the logic was sound."
Soon, Sayo was free, looking like a mud-caked doll. Sharyu patted the dust off his son's shoulders, his eyes sparkling with a rare, lighthearted warmth. "You rascal... your seals were perfect. I saw the residual chakra patterns. But your volume... sigh." He ruffled Sayo's hair. "Next time, wait for me. It's dangerous to be a radish in a sandstorm."
Sayo nodded obediently. The experiment had taught him more than any scroll. He knew now that his "hardware"—his body and its energy reserves—was the ultimate bottleneck. But he also knew his "software"—his control—was ready for something far more advanced than D-rank jutsu.
The path to Magnet Release was still long, but the direction was clear: he didn't need more chakra; he needed to build a machine that could amplify the little he had.
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