THE UCHIHA ASCENSION

Training shouldn't be overly intense, so Uchiha Kiyo still had plenty of time left, dedicating an hour to practicing ninja tool throwing.

Previously, in his special training, the focus was on kunai throwing. However, Takashi Uchiha had also taught him how to throw shuriken and senbon, allowing Kiyo to adapt smoothly.

Based on his personal experience, Uchiha Kiyo preferred kunai due to their longer contact time, making them easier to handle. Shuriken were trickier, requiring precise angling, while senbon were stealthy and had a high firing speed. Though not his first choice, he didn't reject them entirely.

Still, there was something intriguing about senbon. If he could make them fly like Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors technique, it would be incredibly cool. That settled it—he would find time to see if he could develop a similar jutsu.

"Wait... does a jutsu like that already exist in the original story?"

"Forget it, if I can't recall, there's no point in dwelling on it."

Kiyo had noticed that, as time passed, his memory of the finer details in the original work became blurrier. However, the key plot points remained in his mind, which was what mattered most.

More importantly, this line of thought led him to another idea.

Would it be possible to create ninja tools purely from chakra? It should be feasible, right?

Even if he couldn't maintain them permanently, as long as he executed the jutsu quickly enough, he wouldn't need to carry physical tools at all.

That would save him a fortune.

Still, saving money wasn't the main concern—chakra expenditure was. At his current level, Kiyo's chakra reserves weren't sufficient to waste recklessly.

On his way home from the training ground, Uchiha Kiyo reflected on chakra control exercises.

Having read the original work, he understood that precise chakra control not only conserved chakra but also enhanced ninjutsu potency. Additionally, superior chakra control was a fundamental skill for medical ninjutsu.

Sealing techniques also seemed to require excellent chakra control.

In short, mastering chakra control was crucial, and Kiyo was determined to train in it.

With his exceptionally strong soul, his natural chakra control was already above average. However, it wasn't refined enough—not even to the level required for basic medical ninjutsu.

Tree climbing and water walking were effective training methods, but his current chakra reserves weren't stable enough for those exercises. He needed an alternative approach.

With extensive reading experience from his past life—no, just extensive knowledge—Kiyo was confident he could find a suitable training method.

Eventually, he devised an approach based on a concept from another high-martial arts novel: splitting and controlling energy.

In the shinobi world, Kiyo called it the "Chakra Splitting Method."

As the name implied, it involved continuously dividing and recombining chakra, pushing the boundaries of control. The goal was to gradually reduce the smallest chakra unit he could manipulate, improving his overall control.

Compared to tree climbing and water walking, which required a significant chakra investment, the chakra splitting method had minimal chakra consumption. The less chakra used, the better the effect, and the loss during the process was negligible.

Currently, the smallest chakra mass Kiyo could control was about one-twentieth the size of a sesame seed.

(A sesame seed-sized chakra unit is approximately 1 cal, meaning Kiyo's smallest controllable unit was about 0.05 cal.)

Having devised the concept, Kiyo immediately put it to the test.

Although controlling smaller chakra units yielded better results, training at the absolute minimum was too mentally exhausting. Sustaining high concentration for long periods would be draining.

For instance, if the smallest chakra unit someone could control was 0.1 cal, they wouldn't train exclusively at that level. Instead, they might start with 0.5 or even 1 cal, performing increasingly complex manipulations, like guiding multiple chakra spheres through intricate patterns. As the difficulty increased, so did their control.

Kiyo started by manipulating a 0.5-cal chakra sphere.

Although he could manage chakra as small as 0.05 cal, that was his absolute limit and only involved controlling its size—not its movement. Moving such a tiny unit was beyond him.

Even with 0.5 cal, guiding the chakra sphere was challenging. He gradually practiced making it rotate in circular motions, then adjusted its speed—accelerating, slowing down, stopping, and resuming.

By the end of the day, he could already feel an improvement in his control. However, he knew the initial gains would be the most noticeable. As he continued, progress would slow down. He mentally prepared for this.

A small, luminous blue chakra sphere floated in his palm, shifting between straight and circular motions, varying in speed.

As he trained, Kiyo contemplated refining the method further. He anticipated that as his control improved, future progress would become marginal. Eventually, he'd have to manipulate even smaller chakra units.

However, that posed a challenge. A 0.5-cal chakra sphere—half the size of a sesame seed—was already difficult to observe. Without chakra's faint blue glow, he wouldn't even be able to see it.

That would be frustrating.

In the future, when his chakra reserves were significantly larger, he could afford to train with minuscule chakra amounts. But for now, he needed another approach.

The minimum chakra unit one could control wasn't fixed—it fluctuated with chakra growth. If he didn't consistently train control, the proportion of chakra he could manipulate would gradually decrease.

For example, when his chakra reached 100 cal, his smallest controllable unit might increase to 1 cal. Without proper training, fine control would deteriorate.

At that stage, he would need to refine his control from 5 cal down to 0.5 cal, and later, when he possessed thousands of cal, from 10 cal to 1 cal.

Unfortunately, reality was harsh. Kiyo currently had around 3.6 cal of chakra, meaning he had to train with sub-1 cal amounts, with 0.5 cal being the most efficient.

After a full day of focusing on sesame-sized chakra spheres, he was exhausted.

Thus, he needed to refine the method temporarily.

This time, rather than drawing inspiration from other novels, Kiyo recalled various Naruto fan works he had read.

"In some fan stories, the protagonist controls a ball using chakra. The ball's weight increases control difficulty, acting as a form of resistance training. That should be effective, right? And I could increase the number of balls, too."

Kiyo muttered to himself, envisioning controlling multiple small metal spheres, smoothly guiding them between his fingers. It reminded him of how people played with walnuts or performed pen spinning tricks.

Not a bad idea. He needed to write it down.

A good memory was no substitute for thorough notes. With so many training ideas, it was better to document them than risk forgetting.

…

A few days later, Kiyo's training was progressing steadily.

At the Ninja Academy, First-Year Class One…

"Today, we will continue our lesson on chakra refinement.

As I explained before, chakra is formed by combining physical and spiritual energy. The first step is perceiving and balancing these energies…"

Instructor Naoki Uemura spoke methodically at the front of the classroom. However, about half of the students weren't paying attention—these were the clan kids who had already refined chakra through family training.

The remaining attentive students were mostly civilians. Some had already extracted chakra but still listened carefully, absorbing the instructor's expert insights.

Only five or six students had never been exposed to chakra refinement before joining the Academy. Without clan support, they had to rely entirely on school lessons. Still, as top students placed into Class One, their natural talent was apparent. They were already close to refining their chakra.

Meanwhile, Nawaki Senju fidgeted, frustrated that Kiyo wasn't paying attention to him.

Uchiha Kiyo, engrossed in his "Fundamentals of Sealing Techniques" book, subtly manipulated a small, soybean-sized metal ball beneath his desk.

The ball moved fluidly between his fingers—yet, upon closer inspection, it never actually touched his skin.

It was entirely controlled by chakra.