Chapter 80: Group Water Line Technique
Ishiro sat on the ground, taking a long rest before finally recovering from the aching pain all over his body. He began reviewing the mistakes made during his previous attempt.
After feeling recovered, he once again performed the Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave. This time, the technique went smoothly, as Ishiro skillfully controlled the massive surge of water, covering the opposite side of the river.
Looking at the wreckage across the riverbank, Ishiro clenched his fist, deeply satisfied with the outcome. From this moment, he had added another trump card to his arsenal.
The B-level jutsu Exploding Water Shockwave required 27 hand seals and consumed about 25B of chakra.
Having successfully cast the jutsu, Ishiro didn't focus further on mastering it. Like the Purple Lightning, he didn't intend to use this technique in intense combat frequently, but rather as a powerful siege-breaker in certain specific scenarios. Therefore, perfecting it immediately wasn't a high priority.
Instead, Ishiro's attention shifted to perfecting his Water Line Technique.
With newfound insights from practicing the Exploding Water Shockwave, the process of upgrading the Water Line Technique went much smoother than expected. Adjusting the hand seals according to his design, Ishiro gradually created multiple water lines.
Unlike the usual water lines that shot from his mouth, these new water lines appeared directly in front of him, suspended in mid-air, and he successfully formed six lines at once.
Joy filled Ishiro's heart upon seeing this, but he kept his hands in the hand-seal position to maintain control.
Taking a deep breath, he then launched all six water lines forward simultaneously.
Pu pu pu pu pu pu!
After six consecutive popping sounds, Ishiro spotted several small holes formed in the distant ground.
He rushed forward to examine the damage carefully.
"Well..." The destructive power was slightly weaker, even weaker than a single water line. Probably due to insufficient proficiency, he figured practicing more would improve the power.
Excited by the imminent achievement of a new group-attack jutsu, Ishiro eagerly resumed practicing.
On his second try, the results improved significantly. He managed to create more than ten water lines at once, consciously controlling each line to fire sequentially.
It worked perfectly!
After another series of popping sounds, he inspected the damage again.
This time, Ishiro was extremely satisfied. The power of each water line now equaled that of an individual water line, and he could accurately control the direction of each shot. The Group Water Line Technique was essentially complete.
The jutsu required 13 hand seals and consumed 50C of chakra. The more lines produced, the greater the chakra drain. Additionally, maintaining hand seals was necessary to precisely control firing times.
Ishiro let out a long sigh of relief. However, the real payoff was yet to come. His ultimate goal wasn't to produce just ordinary water lines but to unleash large-scale water pressure lines.
Combining the devastating power of his Water Pressure Line with a group-attack capability was his original intent. If successful, Ishiro believed it could match the destructive power of the group Ice Release technique used by Haku of the Yuki Clan.
He immediately started trying to adapt his new method to the more demanding Water Pressure Line technique.
However, the precision required for the Water Pressure Line was much higher, making simultaneous group execution extremely challenging. After many attempts, Ishiro exhausted all his chakra but still couldn't achieve success.
Despite this failure, Ishiro was thrilled. He sensed clearly that his method was correct; what he lacked was just practice.
Once he adjusted to the complexity, success wouldn't be far away.
Since Team 7 had recently completed their mission, Ishiro had a few days of free time left. He decided to continue practicing tomorrow.
Returning home, Ishiro remembered he still had another scroll unopened.
Upon opening it, he saw that it detailed foundational swordsmanship techniques similar to the ones Purple Lightning had provided, yet more tailored to his own needs.
The previous version from Purple Lightning had been specifically intended for pure sword-specialists. Ishiro, not being a dedicated sword ninja, mainly used the basics for improving his physical fitness and chakra capacity, needing additional supplementary training to balance his overall body coordination.
However, this new scroll from Inoue perfectly suited Ishiro's hybrid training style, allowing him to save considerable time.
Reading through the scroll, Ishiro couldn't help but marvel at the advantage of clan heritage. Had he obtained this scroll earlier, he could have saved countless hours and perhaps advanced further in his ninjutsu.
Shaking his head, Ishiro began analyzing the new training manual. Although useful, he still needed to tailor it precisely to fit his own training needs. Additionally, Ishiro had to purchase some new training equipment.
Since most of his savings had been given to Yahiko, Ishiro felt heartache at the thought of spending more money on equipment, but he eventually decided it was necessary.
From tomorrow onward, he had to adjust his entire training routine once again—always a challenging task. He would have to adapt to new habits and a different daily schedule.
The next day, after testing out his revised physical training regimen, Ishiro returned to the practice grounds to continue developing the Group Water Pressure Line Technique.
It took him five more days to successfully perform a jutsu involving three simultaneous Water Pressure Lines.
Although just triple the original count, the chakra consumption skyrocketed dramatically, easily reaching B-level at 1.2B chakra. Ishiro anticipated the consumption would only increase further with more lines.
This created a dilemma. Due to avoiding B-level ninjutsu previously, Ishiro hadn't felt chakra shortages for a long time. Now, upgrading this jutsu dragged him back to harsh reality.
Ishiro's current chakra reserves stood at roughly 3.2A, expecting to stabilize around 6A in about a month. However, even just three Water Pressure Lines consumed 1.2B chakra. To achieve his dream of hundreds or thousands simultaneously was clearly unrealistic with his current chakra levels.
This was indeed frustrating. Chakra deficiency had no shortcut solutions. Among Jonin, Ishiro was already at the lower end regarding chakra quantity.
Sigh...
Realizing he couldn't instantly achieve his original ambitious goal, Ishiro decided to first master around a dozen simultaneous Water Pressure Lines before thinking bigger.
By the end of the day's practice, Ishiro managed to stabilize at thirteen simultaneous Water Pressure Lines, with a staggering chakra consumption of 11B and requiring twenty-one hand seals due to its complexity.
Clearly, this jutsu, much like Exploding Water Shockwave, could only be executed under special circumstances. Nonetheless, Ishiro felt deeply satisfied, finally fulfilling his long-standing goal.
The Water Pressure Line, despite its B-level chakra consumption, surpassed typical B-level techniques in sheer lethality. Unlike the Exploding Water Shockwave—powerful but limited in lethality against individuals—the Group Water Pressure Line Technique posed immense danger to multiple targets, with each individual attack approaching the power of ordinary single-target B-level techniques.
A jutsu with such devastating effects usually belonged to A-level classification. Ishiro immediately planned to submit it to the village's contribution office in exchange for valuable resources. However, with his chakra depleted, he postponed this decision.
The following day, Ishiro didn't have time to visit the contribution office because Team 7's break ended, and it was time to accept a new mission.
Emerging from Owl's office, Ishiro felt excited. Although he'd anticipated the village's support, he hadn't expected approval for his trade-route plan so quickly or to be assigned as the project leader.
The new task involved scouting and planning a trade route, obtaining data from Akatsuki about available ninja in the Land of Rain, and submitting a comprehensive proposal to the village.
On his own, this mission would have been overwhelming. But with the merchant team arranged by Inoue's family assisting, the task simplified considerably.
With Team 7, Ishiro met the merchant convoy led by an elderly man named Hirosho, carrying local goods from the Land of Earth. Their destination was the Land of Rain, to trade for local specialties.
Chatting with Hirosho en route, Ishiro listened carefully.
"Ordinarily, transporting common local goods isn't profitable for such long distances, even at good prices. We would lose money," Hirosho explained. "But since you've arranged duty-free trade, our costs are limited to labor and ninja escort fees, allowing us a modest profit. With free ninja protection in the future, profits will improve."
Although such trade still wasn't very lucrative, Hirosho revealed another crucial advantage: it didn't have to start deep inside the Land of Earth but could originate from border areas, dramatically cutting costs and travel time. Profits from border trade between neighboring regions could thus match more valuable commodities.
Ishiro's eyes sparkled with realization. Encouraging border trade would attract merchants naturally, without solely relying on village incentives, fostering widespread economic benefits for both nations.
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