Chapter 87: B-Rank Ninjutsu Is Too Chakra-Consuming
On the last day of his break, Ishiro was training alone at the Anbu training field.
Earth Release – Rock Fragment Technique. Ishiro first cast an Earth Flow Wall, then formed 19 hand seals, consuming 35C of chakra to activate the Rock Fragment Technique gifted to him by Nagato. The solid wall crumbled into sharp rock fragments and blasted forward in a concentrated spray.
Water Release – Water Bubble Technique. This time, Ishiro formed 20 hand seals and used 40C of chakra. A high-speed water bubble was expelled from his mouth, and as it shot forward, Ishiro could control its size. When it reached the target area, it impacted a large boulder with enough force to shake it, while smaller rocks scattered in every direction. This was another C-rank technique from Nagato—who, unsurprisingly, selected high-chakra-cost jutsu even at C-rank. If Ishiro had tried this back when he'd just become a chūnin, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off.
B-Rank Earth Release – Double Decapitation Technique. Ishiro used Earth Submersion to approach a target dummy from underground. He formed 27 hand seals beneath the earth, consuming 21B chakra, and activated the jutsu made famous by Kakashi when he bullied Sasuke.
B-Rank Earth Release – Camouflage Technique. Standing still, Ishiro formed 31 hand seals and used 12B chakra. Instantly, his body vanished from sight. A mirror placed nearby confirmed his invisibility. Ishiro smiled in satisfaction, then checked his chakra consumption—5C per second. Not bad. He could manage that.
B-Rank Earth Release – Hardening Technique. Returning from invisibility, Ishiro formed 24 seals and used 35B chakra. His arm visibly turned to stone, becoming dense and solid.
"Whew…" Ishiro let out a long breath. In just this short session, he had used nearly a fifth of his chakra.
B-Rank ninjutsu were expensive.
These past few days, Ishiro had returned to the days of chakra scarcity. Instead of counting training time by hours, it was now measured by how much chakra he had.
Thankfully, his chakra control was excellent, and his overall reserves were at least at jōnin level. That was how he barely managed to complete practice for five new techniques before his break ended.
As for the two C-rank jutsu from Nagato, Ishiro set those aside for now. The three B-rank jutsu he selected were carefully chosen to broaden his combat options.
The Double Decapitation Technique paired perfectly with Earth Submersion. Previously, Ishiro had used Earth Submersion in a very straightforward way—relying on a clone to draw the enemy's attention while he secretly approached underground and launched an attack from below. It was awkward. Earth Submersion didn't reach its full potential.
To close the distance on an enemy, Body Flicker Technique was usually the better option—sudden, fast, and direct.
But with Double Decapitation, Ishiro could strike lethally from underground.
The purpose behind choosing the Camouflage Technique was straightforward: to expand his stealth capabilities. With this, Ishiro had another method to sneak up on enemies besides Earth Submersion. Plus, while invisible, he could use taijutsu and kenjutsu—huge tactical advantages.
The Hardening Technique was selected to strengthen his defense. Until now, Ishiro had relied solely on Earth Flow Wall, but that jutsu was too one-dimensional. Everyone in the ninja world knew its limitations, and it was easily countered. Ishiro himself had used Water Pressure Line's high penetration to breach it before.
Among the techniques Nagato gave him, Rock Fragment Technique was especially compatible with Ishiro. Since he already knew Earth Flow Wall, this technique gave him an easy follow-up attack. And since it was a niche jutsu, it could be used for sneak attacks effectively.
Water Bubble Technique, while not powerful head-on, had one distinct feature—it could expand like a "blossom from within." If launched into the enemy's formation, it could explode outward and cause internal disruption.
In terms of expanding Ishiro's combat toolkit, both techniques had value.
But the problem was: these five newly learned jutsu were far from ready for real combat. And unfortunately, Ishiro didn't have much time left for training.
After depleting his chakra practicing, he spent the remaining time each day working on Fire Release nature transformation. With the help of the scroll Ōnoki had given him, Ishiro progressed rapidly—he could now use newly extracted chakra to ignite dry wood.
Next step: learning actual Fire Release jutsu. Ishiro had only two options: the Great Fireball Technique from the Konoha outpost, and the Fire Whip Technique given by Nagato. Since one of Nagato's jutsu was also the Great Fireball, Ishiro opted for that one.
However, the amount of fire-nature chakra being released from his internal balance was still too small. Casting the Great Fireball was barely feasible—it was at the level of young Obito: he could produce a tiny flame from his mouth, and that was it.
Even that required depleting all of his water-nature chakra first and extracting fresh chakra. If he used his regular reserves, which contained only a trace of fire-nature, he couldn't even spark a flame.
In addition, Ishiro had tested his fourth nature with chakra paper—it turned out to be Lightning.
He wasn't disappointed—Lightning Release had a strong presence in the original story. The unfortunate part was that Iwagakure wasn't known for Lightning techniques, and its Lightning jutsu archives were the sparsest among the five elements.
If it had been Wind, Ishiro could've learned from someone close to him. But he didn't even know a single Lightning Release user in the village.
After resting, Ishiro stopped his ninjutsu training. It wasn't something that could be mastered overnight. Tomorrow, he would set off for the border. He had to prepare.
As team leader, others could rotate in and out—but Ishiro himself likely wouldn't return to the village for at least half a year. So he had to be thoroughly prepared.
First was logistics. Ishiro was already familiar with procurement, but this time, he needed materials for barrier setups. As one of the village's top fūinjutsu experts, no other sealing master was assigned to assist him.
If his sealing skills were ranked, Ishiro would now be A-rank. With increased chakra reserves, he could independently use A-rank sealing jutsu. To build a secure supply station on the border, he collected many resources from the Barrier Unit and even got two A-rank techniques from Mizuhara that he hadn't learned yet.
The Barrier Unit had great respect for Ishiro. After all, it was largely thanks to him that they now held such a significant place in the village. So Mizuhara approved his requests without hesitation.
Leaving the Barrier Unit, Ishiro felt eager. With all these materials, he was confident the supply station could be built quickly.
Then he spent nearly all his mission earnings on daily supplies. Though the village would provide for the station's operations, Ishiro wanted to be extra cautious. After that, he visited the Logistics Department to receive official supplies for the station.
Only now did Ishiro learn that the village had such a department, separate from the Contribution Office. Judging by its size, it might be even larger.
The staff verified his identity, handed him a supply list, and led him through the warehouse to collect everything.
This was Ishiro's first time seeing so many military supplies. The village was richer than he thought. Boxes of kunai were stacked like hills. His first instinct was to calculate their value in ryo or contribution points—but he immediately shut down that line of thought. Terrifying. He'd never earn that much in his entire life.
Even though the supplies he received were only a fraction of the total inventory, the amount was staggering. It wasn't practical to store everything in scrolls—despite being a sealing master, Ishiro didn't have the time to make that many storage scrolls.
Most storage scrolls were one-use. Even the high-quality ones had usage limits. Using them for this was inefficient.
Ishiro couldn't carry all the supplies himself, but the Logistics Department was well-versed in this. Dozens of genin arrived under a chūnin's command, loaded the supplies onto carts, and departed through a designated route. Outside the village, they placed the supplies at a remote location.
Ishiro followed them to the drop-off point and immediately realized it wasn't temporary. This was a permanent staging area, heavily guarded. He saw at least three patrol teams on duty. His guess: all frontline materials were staged here for final inspection before being escorted by assigned ninja.
Ishiro's supply team this time consisted of 44 people heading to the frontlines, so there were no safety concerns. A staff member told Ishiro that tomorrow, a transport squad would deliver the supplies. The escort detail, however, was up to Ishiro.
He nodded in understanding.
The next morning, Ishiro arrived at the village gate. Several ninja teams were already waiting. Among them, he spotted his three subordinates—and Mokukaze. Shouhara and the others hadn't arrived yet.
His three subordinates greeted him with nods. They knew today, Ishiro had more important things to handle.
Ishiro approached Mokukaze and greeted him. The two chatted a bit about life since graduation—just general topics, as ninja were bound by confidentiality and couldn't talk about missions in public.
Though they were classmates, Ishiro and Mokukaze hadn't been especially close. Their relationship was good, but not as strong as that between teammates. So when Tatsuya and Fujino arrived, Ishiro naturally fell quiet as the three started their usual back-and-forth banter.
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 25 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that help the story a lot Thank you