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Chapter 118: The Junior Overthrowing the Senior!
🕑 Added 2025-08-08 14:09:53 +0000 UTCChapter 118: The Junior Overthrowing the Senior!
"Pay attention to your breathing frequency, completely empty your mind, your whole body is continuously sinking..."
What Nara Keisuke was teaching Yakushi Kabuto at this moment was the D-rank technique he had obtained at the Fire Temple, the [Sage Clan Guidance Technique].
As an entry-level breathing and meditation method of the Fire Temple, the value of the [Sage Clan Guidance Technique] could be said to be both high and low. On the high end, it was the prerequisite ability for "Sage Mode," allowing the practitioner to perceive the omnipresent natural energy in the world. On the low end, it was actually just a special breathing technique without any profound methods, which even a Genin could learn without hindrance.
It was just that for an ordinary person, they might need to practice this secret technique for ten, or even dozens of years to barely succeed. After obtaining the [Sage Clan Guidance Technique], Keisuke himself had to practice for nearly half a year before he could clearly perceive the existence of natural energy. And this was the result of him AFK-training 24/7 without interruption.
For an ordinary person, just getting started with the technique was one threshold. Regularly maintaining the breathing frequency was another. And to want to completely integrate it into one's life, maintaining it during daily activities such as sitting, standing, walking, and lying down, was yet another threshold.
Nara Keisuke quietly watched Kabuto's training process. He didn't know how long it took the ninja monks of the Fire Temple to successfully master the technique, but if possible, he hoped Kabuto could learn this breathing meditation method as soon as possible. After all, the faster Kabuto grew, the faster he would get a qualified tool-man.
As for Kabuto's age... In the ninja world, there was no shortage of super-precocious geniuses who "had the thinking of a Hokage at the age of seven." Age was not a problem for a ninja.
After a long while, Yakushi Kabuto slowly opened his eyes. A faint blankness flashed in them, as if he had just woken up.
"Kabuto, how did you feel cultivating the [Sage Clan Guidance Technique]?"
"Feel?" Kabuto lowered his head in some shame. "I think I fell asleep just now... I'm sorry, Big Brother Nara."
"It's alright. I noticed just now that your breathing frequency didn't fluctuate much." Keisuke raised his hand and patted Kabuto's head. "To enter a deep sleep—hmm, meditation—while maintaining the breathing frequency, that actually fits the cultivation philosophy of the [Sage Clan Guidance Technique]."
"R-Really?" Kabuto was unsure if Keisuke was comforting him or just tricking a child.
"Of course it's true." Keisuke smiled, narrowing his eyes. Kabuto's talent in this area had far exceeded his expectations. "That's how I cultivated it back then. However, Kabuto, regarding this technique, don't tell anyone other than Sister Nono'o, okay? A ninja needs to be mindful of keeping secrets at all times."
"I understand!" Kabuto adjusted his glasses and said with great solemnity, "I will definitely keep Big Brother Nara's secret!"
"It's your training secret," Keisuke corrected. "Also, don't think that just because you can cultivate it through deep meditation, you can ignore it at other times. The best way is to completely integrate its breathing frequency into your own rhythm of life and maintain it at all times. For the next few days, I will be supervising your training properly!"
The young Yakushi Kabuto had no idea of Keisuke's true intentions. He just smiled foolishly. "Thank you, Big Brother Nara!"
"Kabuto." Keisuke patted his head again. "You will definitely become a very outstanding ninja in the future."
At night.
The Kikyo Orphanage was silent.
Nara Keisuke released the passion he had accumulated during this period and fell into a certain kind of sage time that could only be understood intuitively.
"Keisuke, you have so much passion." Yakushi Nono'o lay on her side, a moon-like figure by the bedside, her fair wrists like congealed frost. "But, will there be any problem with you teaching your secret technique to Kabuto?"
"You said it yourself, it's my secret technique. What problem could there be?" Keisuke half-closed his eyes and turned over, trying to bury himself deeper into the darkness. "I know your concerns, Sister Nono'o. I won't give the family's inherited [Shadow Secret Techniques] to Kabuto. What I'm teaching him are all ninjutsu I've obtained through other means. Actually, I was originally planning to teach him a Water Release ninjutsu, the [Water Cutter], but I didn't expect him to say he wanted to become a ninja like me."
"It's best, not, to become a ninja, like you," Nono'o's tone was somewhat intermittent and unsteady.
"Because..." Keisuke said with a wicked smile, "I only know how to overthrow my seniors?"
...After a night of rest at the Kikyo Orphanage...
The next morning.
Nara Keisuke, refreshed and feeling transparent all over, pulled Yakushi Nono'o along for a round of morning cultivation before quietly leaving the orphanage.
At a secluded villa in Kikyo Castle.
Keisuke came to check on the condition of the Suna kunoichi captive he had been keeping for quite some time. Before leaving the village for his mission, he had specifically entrusted the clan head to have someone take care of Pakura, and also to prevent this extremely stressed female captive from running into any problems.
Now that he was back, Pakura's physical condition was well-maintained, but her mental state was not so good. Her originally bright and spirited amber eyes seemed to be covered with a thick layer of gray.
Seeing Keisuke's arrival, Pakura shot up from her position and rushed to him in two or three steps. During this time, she had been locked up in this villa. Besides her daily range of movement being restricted, and not being allowed to use chakra or contact the outside world, she had basically not been subjected to any other suppression. If she was "in prison" now, then there should be no "prison cell" in the entire ninja world as luxurious as this.
However... while her material treatment had not been reduced, her spirit had been under enormous pressure. Pakura knew clearly that Keisuke's disappearance was because he had left the village for a mission, but she didn't know the content of his mission. What if... what if he went to Sunagakure... What if, just like he said that day, he used her Scorch Release to deal with the ninja of her village... Pakura didn't dare to imagine the immense mental pressure she would suffer.
"You're back!" Like an orange cat, Pakura circled around him, not blocking his path, but just walking around him. "Is the mission over?"
Keisuke did not immediately respond to her question. He just walked to the living room and half-lay, half-sat on the soft sofa. Pakura immediately sat down beside him, her gaze fixed on his side profile.
Keisuke made no hand signs, yet one after another, [Shadow Doppelgangers] emerged from the shadow beneath him, spreading to various corners of the villa to continue his previous research plan.
"You asked a stupid question just now. Ask one that you really want to ask."
"Where did you go?" Pakura asked impatiently, the hot air from her small cherry mouth almost drilling into his ear. "Iwagakure? Kumogakure? Or... Sunagakure?"
"On this mission, I wiped out a small-scale ninja unit." Keisuke turned his head and raised her chin with his right hand. "A ninja unit you definitely know."
Keisuke clearly observed Pakura's pupils suddenly contract, and then go slack. He added with great malice, "The Iwagakure Explosion Corps."
These few words drilled into her ears as if they were some kind of switch, directly activating her. "You—"
"Miss Pakura." Keisuke's right hand squeezed slightly, pinching her small mouth into a pout, and at the same time, cutting off her words. "I think you should be very clear about your own situation. After successfully researching the [Scorch Release Chakra Forging Method], your actual value to me is already close to zero. What's more, on this mission, I also accidentally captured a new Kekkei Genkai user. Your [Scorch Release] is no longer the only one for me."
The angry emotions that had just welled up in Pakura's heart vanished without a trace under his word-by-word narrative. A familiar sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart, and she once again became docile. "So, what exactly do you want to do, Nara-kun?"
Keisuke's palm slid down from her chin and in turn, gently squeezed her neck. "Still don't understand?" Keisuke's palm squeezed slightly, and a faint rosy color spread from his palm, covering every inch of her fair neck. "A ninja with no value has no reason to live."
Pakura only felt her breathing becoming more and more rapid, but she still stared deeply at Keisuke, waiting for his next words. "You need to increase your value, Miss Pakura. Your value to me."
Keisuke released his hand and, no longer teasing her, said with some boredom, "Think carefully. Is there anything else about you that might interest me? If not..."
"What if there is?" Pakura did not care about the faint blue marks on her fair, delicate neck. She took the initiative to reach out her palm and, in turn, held Keisuke's hand, her fingertips gently scratching small circles in his palm.
"I'm sorry, Miss Pakura." Keisuke looked at her with a strange expression, but did not pull his hand back. He really hadn't expected her to proactively adopt such a fiery posture. As expected of Pakura of the Scorch Release...
"Some other day."
(End of Chapter)
