[Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram]

  "Cp!"

  Walking home, Link couldn’t resist f seals and spping his hands together. That strange sensation arose again as tless energies flowed, and a voice grew louder, ing from a great distance.

  "Son, you’re back again~" His father’s familiar voice greeted him warmly.

  Link had added a bit more chakra this time, and the voice felt noticeably closer. He couldn’t help but think that if he kept increasing the chakra, he might actually summon his father to the living world.

  "Dad," Link thought, addressing him mentally. " you sense me reag out to you? What does it feel like? And what’s the Pure Land like? Have you seen Mom?"

  With limited time, Link fired off a series of questions.

  "Sense you? Isn’t it you reag out to me?" His father replied, surprised. "It’s like you called out over a radio. I reized your void responded instinctively."

  "As for the Pure Land, you meaerlife? Hmm… I wouldn’t know. I feel like I was unscious until just now, when you reached out. It’s like I just woke u—"

  "Zzzzt!"

  And just like that, the e cut off again.

  Link sighed inwardly, summarizing the characteristics of his altered summoning teique. Deg to serve his chakra for other jutsu practice, he refrained fr again.

  [Whether this summoning is incredible or not, I’ll master it ter. For now, focus on other ninjutsu.]

  Based oterns of his previous jutsu mutations, most of the scrolls he’d requested likely wouldn’t undergo dramatic ges.

  For instance, Earth Release: Underground Proje Fish, Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage, or Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide—these were straightforward teiques uo evolve into something signifitly more valuable.

  After all, every ninjutsu required chakra, and what suited Li were teiques with unique meisms, like the utility of Shadow e Jutsu or the versatility of the Transformation Jutsu.

  [Special effects would be acceptable, but minrades wouldn’t mean much given my limited chakra reserves. The results might just… fall short.]

  Bae, Liied his bag of ninjutsu scrolls onto the floor and began unrolling them one by one.

  As expected, most were Earth Release teiques, likely chosen because of his prior purchase of Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Teique, signaling a profi Earth Release.

  While Link had applied for teiques spanning Wind, Fire, Earth, and Lightning natures, the Hokage’s office had only approved Earth Release scrolls.

  [They probably assumed there’s no way a nine-year-old could master a sed chakra nature transformatio. Well… they’re n.]

  For most people, mastering the first chakra nature transformation could take years. Thanks to his strong chakra trol, Link had mao plete it in just over a year at the academy, reag near-jonin-level chakra trol.

  But the sed transformation required both talent and time—time he simply didn’t have.

  "Earth Release, Earth Release, Earth Release… Mediinjutsu?"

  Link pulled out a medical scroll and ope. It tained B-Rank: Delicate Illness Extra Teique. Judging by the name, he immediately set it aside, feeling it cked potential.

  "Earth Release, Earth Release, Earth Release… Summoning Teique: Rashomosu…"

  "The highest rank is only B-Rank?"

  He flipped through the scrolls, finding a chaotic assortment. None of the A-Rank teiques he’d applied for, such as Mystical Palm Teique or Sealing Teiques, were included. Unsurprisingly, such high-level jutsu weren’t easily grao a mere in.

  Even B-Rank jutsu correspoo jonin-level skills. A-Rank teiques were exceedingly difficult, often b on forbidden jutsu, and S-Rank jutsu were pletely out of reao matter how much trust the Third Hokage had in him, handing over such powerful teiques to a nine-year-old was unthinkable.

  "If I sold all these scrolls, they’d probably fetch a few million ryō…"

  "But selling them? Yeah, no."

  Laughing at his own foolish thought, Link dismissed the idea of risking his life by betraying the vilge.

  "Let’s start with the genjutsu then," he decided, curious whether genjutsu might mutate like his ninjutsu.

  …

  Training Ground Seven

  "Guess not. Genjutsu doesn’t mutate."

  Link shook his head. Like mediinjutsu, genjutsu required extremely precise chakra trol.

  The same went for breakisu—stronger chakra trol meant faster casting or dispelling.

  With his advanced trol, Link had no trouble learning D-Rank and k genjutsu like Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Teique, Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Teique, or Demonic Illusion: Fox Mind Disturbahey were excellent for dealing with weaker oppos, ing little chakra and proving easy to master.

  Unfortunately, they were entirely unaltered, just like the inals. Non-dōjutsu-based genjutsu was effectively useless against stronger oppos, who could break free ihan a sed. High-level oppos wouldn’t even be momentarily disoriented.

  "Alright, oh Release…"

  Refining his chakra, Link formed the seals and activated:

  "Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage."

  His body sank seamlessly into the ground, desding over teers as if swimming.

  "Blub-blub-blub." Air bubbles emerged from his nose and mouth, leaving muddy traces behind.

  [It feels like uer swimming. My movement speed isn’t signifitly affected, and I still observe the surface. The chakra cost is low, and the effect sts for a long time.]

  Link remained underground for five full minutes before the teique naturally ended, and he was ejected back to the surface.

  The jutsu was almost identical to the inal but surprisingly practical.

  [This could be a game-ger for reaissance—just o avoid running into other Earth Release users. If it’s just my head stig out, I ’t exactly outrun them…]

  Notig he still had ample energy, Link decided to test another Earth Release jutsu.

  "Earth Release: Underground Proje Fish."

  Pg his hands on the ground, he eled chakra into the earth. The soil within a five-meter radius turransparent, revealing shimmering red and pink fish swimming gracefully through the dirt.

  The sight was surreal—fish in the soil, moving as if they were uer. Startled by his presehe fish darted away, vanishing ohey left the jutsu's radius.

  Other fish soon swam in, their colors and types just as vibrant and varied.

  [What an odd effect…]

  Intrigued, Link used Subterranean Voyage to dive underground and examihe fish up close. Startling a few, he tried to cate but came up empty-handed.

  [So, they’re just projes? Guess I’ve discovered my first purely decorative jutsu.]

  Bleam