Chapter 9
Hyuga Aokawa opened the paper, and several large characters flashed before his eyes.
Medical Expense Breakdown Bill!
Below was a small note: Please settle the costs of this treatment before the next session.
Due to the unique nature of Ninjas, many were solitary individuals.
Therefore, the Hospitals here always treated patients first and settled the bill once they woke up.
The benefit of this was giving patients who were short on cash enough time to scrape together the treatment fees.
As for skipping out on the bill, it was relatively rare; after all, once in arrears, the Hospital could refuse treatment next time.
Aside from those in hopeless situations, average people wouldn't choose to skip the bill.
Below that were the surgery fees, disinfection fees, healing Ninjutsu usage fees... all sorts of specific cost breakdowns.
A long, dazzling list of items made his eyelids twitch.
He quickly moved his gaze directly to the total at the very bottom.
"Eigh—Eighty thousand Ryo?!!"
His eyes widened as if he had seen something more terrifying than a massive brute.
He had fought tooth and nail to take down three enemies, only to scavenge a total of about fifty thousand Ryo in spoils!
One medical visit and it was all gone, plus he'd have to fork out another thirty thousand.
He suddenly felt a bit dizzy.
His grandmother felt like her grandson was a bit unsteady on his feet and worriedly pressed the back of her hand against his forehead.
Finding it a bit cold and sweaty, she immediately asked with concern, "Little Aokawa, are you still feeling unwell?"
"No, I'm fine, Grandma," Hyuga Aokawa waved his hand.
"How do you feel? If you're uncomfortable, let's go back and have the doctor check you again."
The elderly woman spoke as she tried to pull her grandson back toward the ward.
Hyuga Aokawa was startled and hurriedly held his grandmother back.
"No need, Grandma. Let's just go home. I'm hungry."
Hearing that her grandson was hungry, his grandmother stopped fussing and smiled.
"Then let's go home. Look at you, you've gotten thinner from this trip. Grandma will make a whole table of your favorite dishes."
"Thank you, Grandma!"
As soon as they got home, his grandmother hurried into the kitchen and began busying herself with a clatter.
Even Hyuga Aokawa, who wanted to go in and help, was shooed out.
He felt a bit helpless, but since he happened to be free, he decided to organize his previous gains.
Before, he had only cared about staying alive; he hadn't had time to deal with the influx of knowledge and information in his mind.
He closed his eyes, and his consciousness entered his Sea of Consciousness.
A series of text boxes popped up one after another.
[Overcoming the strong as the weak, winning through wisdom, punishing evil—you have obtained Favor]
[energy crystal * 320]
[Water Release: Water Wall (Proficient) * 1]
[Throwing Technique Experience * 1]
[Your Ninja Tool Throwing Technique has been upgraded to Mastery level]
[Kunai Fighting Technique (Proficient) * 1]
He opened his personal status panel.
---
Racial Mark: Quincy (Common, current Fusion rate: 20.02%)
Talent Skill: Reishi Gathering
Racial Skill: Holy Arrow
Crest: Innate Full Spirit Power
Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan
Chakra Nature: Water, Lightning
energy crystal: 320 units
---
Quite a haul!
He got a Water Wall and an extra 320 energy crystals.
This time, he didn't try bit by bit; he dumped all 320 energy crystals into his Fusion rate at once.
Since he had decided to prioritize the Fusion rate first, he didn't hesitate.
As the "+" next to the Fusion rate was pressed repeatedly...
The 320 energy crystals brought Hyuga Aokawa 16% progress.
The Quincy Fusion rate increased to 36.02%.
In an instant, he felt his control over Quincy skills strengthen once again.
Well... to be precise, it felt like a restoration.
It was the feeling of originally having this power but being unable to use it due to certain factors, and now a part of it had returned.
Like his good buddy from his past life, who originally had an hour's worth of combat power.
Maybe one day he did squats, deadlifts... things like that.
His testosterone was used for muscle growth, so he might temporarily be in the same league as Tryndamere.
Of course, this was temporary!
He then shifted his attention to his Chakra control.
His Chakra control had also improved significantly.
He ran to the backyard with excitement to try out his newly acquired Ninjutsu.
His hands quickly formed hand seals according to the sequence in his memory.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
Water from the nearby vat was drawn out, and a curtain of water appeared on the ground, the water within it rotating at high speed.
He actually used it!
Across two lifetimes, whether in his previous life or this one, he had never experienced using Ninjutsu.
This made him extremely excited.
He performed it several more times like a child.
Just to save Chakra...
He controlled the output of his Chakra volume, keeping the water curtain at about knee height.
As he performed it more times, he vaguely felt something.
"It seems..."
"Some seals are unnecessary; he can use the Ninjutsu even without them."
The Quincy's almost instinctive sense of precise energy control...
Made every subtle change in the flow of Chakra within his body exceptionally clear to his perception.
The purpose of Ninjutsu hand seals is to guide the Chakra to flow along a fixed route, thereby releasing the corresponding Ninjutsu.
But hand seals themselves were just an auxiliary method developed by Indra for those who didn't know how to release Ninjutsu.
When Indra himself released Ninjutsu, he didn't use hand seals.
That meant Ninjutsu itself didn't require hand seals to be released.
"So, if I set aside the hand seal guidance and directly control the Chakra to flow, it should also work?"
Hyuga Aokawa tried it immediately.
Using the high Chakra control ability granted by being a Quincy, he directly guided the Chakra within his body to flow along the fixed route of the Ninjutsu.
For a Ninjutsu like Water Wall, the four seals represented four routes and four stages.
Guiding - Generating - Pressurizing - Releasing.
Under Hyuga Aokawa's control, water from the nearby vat was drawn out, slowly forming a wall of water on the ground.
When he tried to control it to rotate, the water wall collapsed.
"The logic is correct, but the control ability isn't enough yet!"
His control ability had improved, but it wasn't yet enough to support him in releasing Ninjutsu without seals.
Even if the latter two steps could be assisted with hand seals, reducing the original four seals to two...
It wouldn't have much practical significance in combat because the first two steps were too slow.
He suddenly had an epiphany.
Those Jonin with such strong Chakra control might not necessarily be unable to release seals without hand signs; at least for some low-level Ninjutsu, it should be fine.
But in actual combat, whether simplified or reduced, they would still use hand seals more or less.
This was because hand seals could greatly speed up the rate at which Chakra was guided and circulated.
Thinking about it in reverse, they formed seals quickly not because of hand speed, but because of their strong Chakra control.
Otherwise, with only hand speed, if the first stage of Chakra control wasn't complete...
While the hand seals were already assisting the next stage of Chakra flow, the Ninjutsu would definitely fail to release.
After figuring this out, Hyuga Aokawa gave up on B-rank Ninjutsu like Water Wall and switched to the two C-rank Ninjutsu he currently mastered.
He spent the whole afternoon trying.
The result of his attempts was that he could release C-rank Ninjutsu with a single seal, but the release speed would be very slow, making it not very effective in actual combat.
However, while he couldn't reduce the number of seals, he could use One-Handed Seals.
Although not as fast as two-handed seals, it had great practical significance in combat.
Especially for the Water Clone Technique.
Fighting with a Kunai in one hand and forming seals with the other—it was simply too practical...