Chapter Eighteen: Insights into Ninjutsu

On a silent night, in the southeast corner of the Hidden Leaf Village, within the territory of the Kato clan, Kato Yufeng lay in his bedroom. With his hands behind his head, he turned to gaze absently through the window set in the wooden wall, his eyes wandering over the night’s scenery in the courtyard. Completely relaxed, Yufeng pondered the images he had just absorbed from a fragment of memory belonging to an unknown Jonin from the Hidden Rain, which he had encountered in the world of souls.

There are things that, once experienced enough, become easier to handle. Over the past half month, whenever he found a moment of leisure, Yufeng would use the Soul Nurturing Technique’s split-soul effect to deal with the aftereffects caused by the previous memory fragment's sudden impact. He had grown much more adept and at ease with processing the fragments of other people’s memories within his own soul.

This particular memory shard, though short, was relatively complete; most importantly, it lacked the resistance of its original owner’s soul consciousness, and after absorbing it, Yufeng gained valuable intelligence and information.

The last scene in the memory featured a leader from the Hidden Rain, wearing a green metal gas mask whose voice rasped with the sound of metal scraping, his features obscured. As Yufeng expected, this figure was most likely Hanzo of the Salamander, the man who, in the original manga, appeared during the Second Great Ninja War and bestowed the title of “Legendary Sannin” upon Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

In this ninja world where Yufeng now lived, he had already heard several times about the deeds of Hanzo, the current leader of the Hidden Rain. From Hanzo’s reputation alone, his strength was evident.

Who is the demigod of the ninja world? The god is the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, founder of the Leaf Village; the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is known as the “Professor.” The demigod’s power is clear—if anyone took the current Hanzo for the weakened version seen in the Fourth Great Ninja War, summoned by the Impure World Reincarnation with his ninja resolve shattered, they would be gravely mistaken.

Hanzo’s present strength absolutely rivals the Third Hokage and the other village leaders—possibly even surpassing them in certain aspects. Were it not for the Rain Country’s unique geography and central location—straddling the borders of Fire, Earth, and Wind—its persistent status as a battleground, and the endless rainfall caused by the meeting of warm and cold air currents at its borders, Hanzo might well have become the sixth Kage of the ninja world.

Rumor had it Hanzo was a master of deadly poisons, and the memory confirmed this. In the scene, Hanzo interrogated and punished a subordinate for failure; without any visible movement, the Rain ninja kneeling before him collapsed, lifeless. The final trembling images and that deep, powerless terror still lingered within Yufeng.

Beyond providing a glimpse into the terrifying power of the Rain’s leader—the ninja world’s demigod—this memory also contained valuable insight into a jutsu: Rain—Thousand Needles Technique. This was a signature Hidden Rain technique, transforming falling raindrops into countless senbon to strike down enemies.

Yufeng guessed this was a jutsu the deceased Jonin specialized in. The technique had practical value for enhancing his own strength.

More importantly, it represented an important channel for gathering new jutsu. When an enemy’s soul was shattered by the Soul Nurturing Technique, there was a chance their soul fragment would contain not only pure soul force but also safe memory fragments—sometimes including the victim’s expertise in certain jutsu.

To illustrate, it was reminiscent of the online games Yufeng played in his previous life: killing monsters to obtain loot. The difference was that in those games, equipment and skill books were pre-coded into the server, so anything might drop; here, the soul fragment would only contain jutsu the slain enemy actually mastered—no physical items, and no “legendary gear” unless the foe truly possessed them.

As far as Yufeng knew, the Kato clan’s secret Spirit Transformation Technique had never exhibited such effects, nor was there any record of soul fragments from slain enemies in the clan's scrolls documenting the cultivation of the secret art. This was unique to the Soul Nurturing Technique. Its only flaw was the probability of extracting the desired jutsu—a matter he would need to experiment with further.

A ninja, especially one at the top of the ninja world, knows many jutsu but specializes in fewer. Who could say which jutsu, if any, would be contained in a soul fragment? The odds were not high.

Exclusive secret arts from a single ninja were virtually impossible to obtain this way—only someone blessed by the goddess of luck might achieve such a feat. More common, widely-used jutsu, especially clan secrets, could be acquired by increasing the number of attempts; the more enemies slain, the greater the chance.

The inheritance of jutsu among villages and clans was their foundation for standing in the ninja world, guarded with utmost secrecy—sometimes passed orally from master to apprentice with no written record. Outsiders faced immense difficulty in obtaining these legacies.

Despite its uncertainty, absorbing soul fragments was an excellent way to acquire new jutsu.

Yufeng’s bedroom was still and quiet. Alone on his bed, his mind occupied with thoughts of cultivation, he nonetheless felt a touch of loneliness. Ninjas were not machines driven only by slaughter and training; one could not always focus on cultivation. Most memories of his past life had faded, but in this life, he occasionally recalled his departed parents and childhood. More often, his thoughts drifted to Tsunade.

He realized it had been a long time since he last saw her. Fortunately, after taking leave at the Hokage's residence earlier that day, he had stopped by his friend Jin Kubi’s place and learned that Tsunade and her companions would likely return to the village tomorrow.

Yufeng planned to welcome Orochimaru and the others back, intending to invite Orochimaru and Jiraiya for drinks and hot springs—not, absolutely not, because he missed Tsunade.

Having made his plans for tomorrow, Yufeng closed his eyes and went to sleep.

PS: New author humbly begs for support, recommendations, and favorites.