Konoha’s Five-Element Ninja

Chapter 55: Hayama's Wild Ideas

Since that night, Hayama had cast aside all distractions, focusing solely on his training. Aside from his daily visits to his mother, he devoted himself entirely to cultivation, earning him the teasing nickname training fanatic from Uchiha Fugaku.

However, as time passed, Hayama found that his progress was slowing. No matter how hard he trained, the results were becoming increasingly minimal, frustrating him to no end.

Hayama understood that in the world of ninjas, effort was never the ultimate deciding factor—talent and bloodline were. Without his occasional fortuitous encounters and Sakumo Hatake's teachings, his potential would have been capped at the level of a jōnin at best.

Yet, in the ninja world, while jōnin were not common, they were far from rare. Only those who reached Kage-level strength could stand at the peak and enjoy the view from the summit.

Hayama wished he could crack open his skull, pull out his brain, and demand, Where's my cheat system? It's been eighteen years! Isn't it time for my golden finger to activate? If it takes any longer, I'll be old!

Unfortunately, Hayama wasn't crazy enough to bash his own head in. Left with no other choice, he continued training diligently.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Konoha was growing increasingly tense, and rumors against Sakumo Hatake were spreading rapidly. Hayama considered warning him, but after recalling Sakumo's cold attitude, he ultimately decided against it.

That day, while trying to refine his chakra, Hayama made a depressing realization—no matter how long he meditated, the amount of chakra extracted from his cells remained minuscule. He knew then that his spiritual energy had reached its limit, meaning his strength had hit a bottleneck.

Hayama was unwilling to accept this. While his chakra reserves were greater than those of an ordinary jōnin, there was still a significant gap between him and someone like Jiraiya. While a ninja's strength depended on their jutsu's variety and power, the amount of chakra one possessed was still a critical factor.

Having more chakra didn't necessarily make someone a top-tier fighter, but every top-tier fighter possessed an immense chakra pool—this was an undeniable truth in the ninja world. In all of Jiraiya's battles, Hayama had never once seen him run out of chakra.

In reality, it seemed Hayama's ninja journey was destined to stop here. At best, he would be an elite jōnin without any Kekkei Genkai. Within Konoha's vast ninja population, an elite jōnin was considered strong, but it wasn't enough to reach the village's true inner circle.

Frustrated by his training bottleneck, Hayama decided to take a different approach. He requested permission from Uchiha Fugaku to access the clan's archives. As one of the most powerful ninja clans, the Uchiha had preserved vast amounts of knowledge dating back to the Warring States period. Hayama hoped to find a way to surpass his limits within these records.

Fugaku readily agreed, though the books he provided were limited to biographies and cultivation insights of ninjas who lacked bloodline abilities.

Hayama had no objections—he wasn't after the Uchiha's Sharingan, just their accumulated knowledge. He simply wanted to study past experiences to forge his own path.

For several months, Hayama practically lived in the Uchiha archives, consuming countless records and insights left by predecessors. However, despite all his efforts, he found no inspiration.

Frustrated, Hayama tossed the old tome in his hands onto the floor and slumped into a chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Without the inheritance of a Sacred Land, a civilian ninja's peak is elite jōnin.

Every book reinforced this painful truth. Even a clan as wealthy and powerful as the Uchiha lacked a Sacred Land inheritance—how could a mere civilian ninja like Hayama possibly obtain one?

Konoha had its own Sacred Land inheritors—legendary figures like the Three Sannin. But there was no chance they would share their knowledge with him.

With a long sigh, Hayama left the archives. After all his efforts, it seemed he had reached his limit.

As he stepped outside, he suddenly realized that autumn had arrived. Feeling the cool breeze against his skin, he found himself reminiscing about his past life—eating hotpot while singing songs.

Wait… my past life?

Hayama abruptly halted. A realization struck him—he was a transmigrator, someone truly unique in this world!

He could use his knowledge of human biology and cultivation theories from novels to experiment with new ways to enhance his strength!

Excitement surged through him. After all, chakra was merely a form of energy. If that was the case, could he try methods from cultivation novels?

Like a drowning man grasping at a lifeline, Hayama abandoned his hunger and thirst, immediately teleporting to the training grounds to test his idea.

For the next seven or eight days, he pushed himself to the limit, attempting various ways to manipulate chakra.

In the end, he sat on the ground, repeatedly pounding the earth in frustration. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled—his ideas had been completely rejected by the reality of chakra.

Unlike the gentle and malleable spiritual energy in cultivation novels, chakra was an extremely violent energy. It could not be compressed or refined in the same way. Sustained chakra release was an agonizing process, and he simply could not control it as he had envisioned.

Burying his face in his hands, Hayama groaned in frustration and rolled around on the ground. He felt like he had nearly worked himself to death for nothing.

A book slipped from his ninja pouch and landed nearby.

Covered in dirt, Hayama stopped rolling and picked up the book. It was The Refinement of Chakra.

Annoyed, he pulled out a kunai and stabbed through the book. He already knew everything about chakra refinement—he had only kept this book as a memento.

Soon, the book was shredded to pieces. Feeling slightly less frustrated, Hayama tossed it aside and prepared to go for another long run to vent.

Just then, a gust of autumn wind blew through, lifting the scattered pages into the air. One of them landed directly on his face.

Irritated, Hayama pulled it off and glanced at it before throwing it away.

But just as he was about to let go, his eyes widened.

"Chakra is extracted from the body's cells."

Hayama repeated the sentence, his eyes gradually brightening.

If chakra is drawn from the body's cells… could it be extracted from specific organs?

For example, from a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, the kidneys correspond to the water element. Would extracting chakra solely from kidney cells naturally produce water-natured chakra?

The thought stunned Hayama, but the more he considered it, the more excited he became.

He had never tried extracting chakra from a single group of cells before. This… this could work!

Without hesitation, Hayama sat cross-legged and formed the chakra extraction seal, sinking into deep concentration. He focused his mind inward, locating his kidneys. Then, using his mental energy, he enveloped them and attempted to stimulate the kidney cells to extract chakra.

A sharp pain shot through his left side, making his body involuntarily twitch. Soon after, a faint wisp of chakra was drawn out from his kidney cells.

But before Hayama could celebrate, the chakra was instantly absorbed into his overall chakra pool, making it impossible to distinguish its properties.

Instead of feeling discouraged, Hayama was thrilled—his theory was viable!

To confirm whether kidney-extracted chakra had inherent water attributes, he needed to use it for jutsu. But first, he had to solve the problem of storing it separately.

Fortunately, the solution was simple. Having fought alongside Minato Namikaze, Hayama knew of sealing techniques.

He had to find Uchiha Fugaku and see if he could obtain a sealing jutsu to store this unique chakra.

Excited, Hayama rushed home, changed into clean clothes, and headed straight for the Konoha Police Force to find Fugaku.

Lately, Fugaku had been in high spirits—thanks to Hayama's strategy, the Uchiha had successfully improved their reputation.

Upon hearing Hayama's request, Fugaku immediately took out a pile of scrolls on sealing jutsu and let Hayama pick one.

Without hesitation, Hayama chose Chakra Attribute Sealing, a B-rank jutsu designed to store and release chakra with specific properties.

From this moment forward, Hayama's ninja path was about to take a bizarre turn.

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