Revolution in the Ninja World

The second day, at a place called "Hidden Stream Path," more than ten kilometers away from Konoha.

This area, of course, also belonged to Konoha. There were scattered settlements nearby, but this particular location was rarely visited. The surroundings were mostly occupied by various large training grounds used by Konoha for different purposes.

Hidden Stream Path was a fissure more than three kilometers long, with an average depth of two hundred meters and a narrowest point of only five meters. Because it was narrow, lacked sunlight, had a stream running through the bottom, and a waterfall at its source, it was exceptionally cool and damp.

At this moment, Habara was at a certain spot at the bottom of the valley. In front of him was a pile of burning firewood, and to his right was a pile of luggage.

Although Habara was eager to improve his strength, this didn't mean he would be rash and impatient. On the contrary, he was extremely aware of the importance of "fundamentals." So, the first thing he needed to do was to learn to control his chakra in a more thorough and fluid manner.

His specific training method was to climb the sheer cliff in front of him with his bare hands.

The cliffs on both sides of the fissure were wet, slippery, and nearly vertical. But the greater difficulty lay in the fact that the degree of slipperiness varied at different locations. Therefore, if one were to climb in this place, almost every step required adjusting the chakra output.

A ninja's physical constitution was different from that of an ordinary person, so Habara set a rather ambitious target time… 30 seconds. If he could climb to the top within 30 seconds, it meant he had completed this training.

After washing his face with the cold stream water, Habara decided to begin his training.

According to his original idea, if he didn't pursue speed and climbed slowly, reaching the top of the cliff shouldn't be difficult. But things weren't as simple as he had imagined… The rock face, covered with various types of moss, was truly difficult to grip.

If he used an excessive amount of chakra to enhance his grip, the training wouldn't be as difficult. But that would be abandoning the original purpose of the training… Outputting the appropriate amount of chakra in the appropriate situation – that was the goal of the training.

Habara climbed up more than ten meters like a gecko. Then, suddenly, he lost his grip and fell into the stream below… Okay, that description was a bit too flattering.

His performance was far inferior to a gecko's.

The ice-cold stream water soaked Habara completely. He shivered violently and started muttering, "I understand why I had to build a fire here."

He took off his soaked outer clothing and placed it near the fire to dry. He wrung out the water from his inner clothes, and then… the training continued.

Frankly, this training felt terrible, because every time he moved, he had to touch slimy, sticky stuff.

After most of the day, Habara's chakra was about seventy to eighty percent depleted. So, he had to stop and rest. He first ate something to replenish his energy, then took out the Ninja Academy elementary school textbooks and began to study diligently… This could also be considered an alternative way to balance work and rest.

Incidentally, Habara hadn't bought these textbooks from the ninja tool shop – they didn't sell such things. He had borrowed the books from Izayo, since Izayo was a legitimate Konoha ninja who had graduated from the Ninja Academy.

At the same time, Habara's current training location was also something he had learned about from Izayo.

It turned out that the elementary school textbooks were useful. After reading them, Habara could at least memorize the "hand seals."

Thus, climbing, reading, and resting alternated. By the end of the first day, Habara had barely reached a height of a little over thirty meters. When night fell, he didn't return to Konoha. Instead, after a simple cleanup, he slept directly at the bottom of the valley.

When dawn broke, Habara's training method changed slightly. He switched to climbing with equipment. He had already received the "ninja tools" he had ordered the previous day… This wasn't weighted training to further increase the difficulty, but to prevent him from falling to his death if he climbed too high.

For Habara, carrying half a ton of metal was "as light as a feather."

The principle was very simple. He just magnetized these two pieces of equipment and adjusted their magnetic poles to repel the Earth's magnetic field, naturally lifting them… Okay, actually, Habara didn't really understand the principle. In short, what he could do, he could do.

Time passed day by day. Finally, a week later, Habara reached the top of the cliff for the first time. Although he nearly fell to his death several times during this period, fortunately, he used his abilities to avert the crises on several occasions, so it was a close call but ultimately safe.

Since he could already accomplish this, the remaining issue was simply one of efficiency. Naturally, Habara's training shifted from a "challenge of difficulty" to a "challenge of speed."

At the same time, he began to develop his own ninjutsu… He had no choice; no one was teaching him ninjutsu, so he had to develop and innovate on his own.

In fact, he already had some ideas, otherwise, he wouldn't have specifically ordered those two ninja tools.

Under normal circumstances, at the current stage of ninja combat strength, Magnet Release was definitely a very powerful weapon. Otherwise, the Third Kazekage wouldn't have been called the strongest Kazekage.

Specifically in Habara's case, first, very unfortunately, limited by his own chakra level, he couldn't pull off those overwhelming, large-scale attacks. Second, in terms of detail, he could do far more than what was generally understood about Magnet Release.

Based on these two points, the basic development approach for his jutsu was also clear: small and exquisite, and as insidious as possible.

Habara sat beside the fire that had been burning for a long time. He spread out his right hand, and a ball of mercury floated above it. The mercury pulsed little by little, like the (mercury) BZ reaction he had seen in his previous life. [Note: Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, a classic example of a chemical oscillator, often demonstrated with mercury.]

It had to be said that Habara had considerable confidence in his ability to control metal. Otherwise, with long-term contact, the naturally vaporizing mercury would have poisoned him to death.

As Habara's right-hand fingers gradually clenched, the mercury pulsed more and more violently. Then… Habara directly swung his arm, throwing the mercury out.

Then, the mercury splatted onto the ground with a thud.

"The conversion speed of chakra strength and nature, and the instantaneous explosive power seem to be insufficient…"

Unsurprisingly, Habara had failed. He waved his hand, and the mercury floated back.

Compared to the hindered development of this jutsu, the development of another jutsu was proceeding very smoothly, because it wasn't a jutsu.

Habara made the "sword box" behind him dissolve silently. Then, the black steel slowly flowed like liquid, covering his arm, chest, and part of his back.

This layer of steel looked very thin, but it possessed considerable hardness and toughness. Although its effectiveness in defending against blunt impacts was debatable, its effectiveness in defending against stabbing attacks was near perfect.

"Absolute defense," who wouldn't want it? As someone who feared death, Habara naturally prioritized putting a turtle shell on himself.