Konoha's Tatsuya

As winter arrived, the climate in Konoha noticeably cooled, and fallen leaves, swirling in the wind, blanketed the street corners.

Under the dim glow of the streetlights, Tatsuya, carrying a bag of late-night snacks, strolled leisurely towards the Akimichi clan's residential compound.

Over the past three months, as various teams completed more and more of the village's missions, the number of tasks suitable for a small team like Team 31 had dwindled. As a result, Tatsuya and his team spent significantly less time on missions.

Without the constraints of missions, the members of Team 31 devoted more time to training and practice. Tatsuya, in addition to his training, diligently fulfilled his duties as the library administrator.

Faced with the library's vast collection of books and scrolls, Tatsuya didn't hold back. Taking advantage of his time organizing the bookshelves, he constantly uploaded their contents into his bio-chip. Perhaps because Tatsuya's strength had increased, and because most of the materials were basic, the bio-chip's chakra consumption during data acquisition wasn't significant. He could upload more than ten documents each day.

Even so, completely uploading all the library's data was a massive undertaking. Tatsuya dedicated a considerable amount of time to this, spending three months and still only managing to upload less than half.

However, through organizing and analyzing this foundational information, the bio-chip's database had begun to establish a preliminary framework of the ninja world's theoretical knowledge. With this framework in place, Tatsuya's subsequent data acquisition was noticeably faster, and his chakra consumption was even lower.

As soon as he returned home, Tatsuya found a figure waiting outside his door.

Upon closer inspection, he saw it was Akimichi Kyoko.

It was nearly 10 PM, and Kyoko had fallen asleep leaning against his door, clutching a ninjutsu scroll tightly in her hand.

"Hey! Kyoko, what are you doing here so late?" Tatsuya quickly woke her up.

"Ah! Tatsuya-san, you're finally back!" Seeing Tatsuya, Kyoko's face lit up with joy, and she tried to stand up.

However, perhaps because her body had been stiff from sitting for so long, Kyoko almost stumbled and fell when she tried to get up.

Tatsuya quickly caught her, chiding her gently, "Kyoko, why are you waiting here so late in this cold weather? If you have something to tell me, couldn't it wait until we see each other during the day?"

"Here! This scroll contains several of our clan's secret techniques. I just got it from my father today. Take a look," Kyoko said with a smile, not answering his question directly, but instead handing him the scroll.

Tatsuya was momentarily taken aback.

"Alright! I'll take the scroll for now. I'll return it after I've read it. It's very late, you should go back inside and rest!" After a brief pause, Tatsuya took the scroll from Kyoko and waved her off.

Kyoko's actions deeply moved Tatsuya.

She was a truly sincere and lovely girl!

Perhaps because she had noticed Tatsuya's eagerness for various ninjutsu scrolls during their previous interactions, Kyoko had immediately thought of him when she obtained this one. Tatsuya firmly kept this kindness in his heart.

Back inside, after devouring the late-night snacks he had brought, Tatsuya eagerly opened the ninjutsu scroll Kyoko had given him.

The scroll contained two Akimichi clan ninjutsu: a Chakra Refining Technique and the Multi-Size Technique.

"Unidentified ninjutsu information detected. Begin upload?"

"Upload."

"Akimichi Clan Chakra Refining Technique upload complete. Defects detected and optimized."

It took the bio-chip just over ten minutes to upload and optimize the Chakra Refining Technique, consuming a large portion of Tatsuya's chakra reserves in the process. Perhaps because he had already optimized a Chakra Refining Technique before, this optimization process was relatively quick, and the chakra consumption was almost negligible.

Noticing his depleted chakra levels, Tatsuya didn't proceed to upload the Multi-Size Technique. There was no rush, since the scroll was already in his possession.

After uploading and optimizing the clan's unique Chakra Refining Technique, Tatsuya began to practice it.

As a secret technique passed down through generations of the Akimichi clan, their Chakra Refining Technique differed significantly from the one taught at the Ninja Academy. Tatsuya hadn't been aware of this before, but as soon as he started practicing, he immediately noticed the vast difference between the two.

Ordinary ninjas, when refining chakra, extract spiritual and physical energy in a 1:1 ratio. However, the Akimichi clan's Chakra Refining Technique did not follow this ratio. It extracted a greater portion of physical energy, storing it within the body's fat. This was the foundation for performing the Akimichi clan's secret techniques. This was also the primary reason why members of the Akimichi clan needed to consume large amounts of food and increase their body weight.

On one hand, eating large amounts of food and gaining weight provided more physical energy. On the other hand, more body fat could store more physical energy. Within the Akimichi clan, the stronger the ninja, the larger their physique tended to be.

A body filled with fat not only helped Akimichi clan ninjas store more physical energy, but it also allowed them to rapidly consume that fat during battle, converting it into a special type of chakra. Combined with the clan's secret Three Colored Pills, Akimichi clan ninjas who mastered their secret techniques could unleash astonishing combat power in a short period of time.

Tatsuya quickly realized that this chakra, containing a large amount of physical energy, must be the Yang-attribute chakra unique to the Akimichi clan.

This realization sparked further contemplation.

In the ninja world, besides the Akimichi clan's secret techniques, there were a few other clans that possessed Yang-attribute chakra, such as the Senju and Uzumaki clans. These two clans had once been renowned and powerful ninja clans. They were both descendants of Asura, inheriting a portion of the Sage of Six Paths' physical power. The strength of the Sage Body could be glimpsed from the abilities of Senju Hashirama and Nagato.

Tatsuya had some suspicions that the Akimichi clan might also be distant relatives of Asura, otherwise how could they possess such a unique Yang-attribute chakra and secret techniques?

The Kaguya clan of Kirigakure was very similar to the Akimichi clan in this regard. They also possibly were distant descendants of the Sage of Six Paths.

While Tatsuya had his suspicions, he couldn't be certain. After all, the official source material didn't provide a clear explanation. To verify this, Tatsuya estimated that he would need to carefully study the physical data of the Senju and Uzumaki clans.

"Continuously track and analyze the effects of the clan's Chakra Refining Technique on my body. Identify any unusual features," Tatsuya instructed the bio-chip in his mind, establishing a long-term task.

"Task established. Data collection in progress. Task completion time: undetermined."

A day earlier, Tatsuya had uploaded the information on the Multi-Size Technique into the bio-chip's database and returned the ninjutsu scroll to Kyoko.

The optimized Akimichi clan Chakra Refining Technique also increased the speed of chakra refinement by about three times. Considering the future need to perform the clan's secret techniques, Tatsuya switched to exclusively practicing the clan's Chakra Refining Technique.