Chapter 239: Konoha is So Far
Masahiko didn't know exactly how far the spatial jump was, but he knew that with this spatial ability, even if his offensive strength hadn't improved much, his ability to survive had increased significantly.
Even in the current ninja world, where few could threaten him, if an accident were to happen—say, the Sage of Six Paths went crazy or Kaguya Otsutsuki suddenly broke free—he could always run if he couldn't win.
"System products, all high quality," Masahiko sighed with emotion. He had originally thought having a space like Obito's would be good enough, but he didn't expect it to come with its own spatial jumping ability.
Recalling the dense clusters of nodes within the space, Masahiko almost laughed out loud. This time, he was truly free to go wherever he pleased.
Returning to reality, he finally began to survey the scene before him.
"Ice and snow... Iron Country, or perhaps the Land of Snow?" Muttering to himself, Masahiko prepared to fly up and investigate.
But in the next instant, he was back inside his space. Looking at the fat cat sleeping soundly, Masahiko looked bewildered.
"Is this space... too sensitive? I just summoned a little bit of chakra, and it teleported me back?"
He sensed the surrounding nodes. "This is good too; returning is faster. Just now I was over here, so this time I'll try over there..."
Masahiko jumped through space again, but the moment he emerged, he returned to the space. He had almost jumped into the ocean.
"Ocean, this side..."
"That side..."
"Here..."
...
After jumping n times consecutively, Masahiko wanted to cry but had no tears.
The surroundings were dense forests. Masahiko used his full perception but couldn't sense any chakra fluctuations. Not only that, but the results of all his jumps were the same.
"Are all the nodes in uninhabited places? This avoids the awkwardness of suddenly appearing in a crowd, but how am I supposed to determine my location?"
However, looking carefully at the surroundings, Masahiko had a clue. "This climate... it should be within the Land of Fire. Konoha should be in the southeast direction."
Masahiko walked a few steps, then suddenly sighed.
"Do I really have to walk there? If I don't figure out this spatial ability, I can't even use chakra. If I go and accidentally use chakra, I'll have to run back here again?"
This time, Masahiko voluntarily returned to the space, bringing a tree branch with him. He walked to the center of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) array and pointed the branch in a specific direction.
"It's time to use my trump card! Taking the center of the Bagua array as the origin, and the direction the branch points as the X-axis, I will establish an X, Y, Z three-dimensional coordinate system. Through the gamma equation... hmm, I'll test them one by one. At least I need to find which one lets me appear where I started." Masahiko didn't believe a spatial ability would have a rule that prevented you from exiting where you entered.
Half a day later...
Masahiko had finally tested about a quarter of the nodes and roughly memorized their locations. There were high mountains, oceans, and forests—all uninhabited places.
"The system is quite thoughtful. If a node connected to a women's bathhouse, where would I put my old face?" Masahiko muttered, though his face showed an expression of regret...
"Then let's continue. The dawn of victory is right before my eyes!" Masahiko looked at the branch, and his face instantly turned black.
"Fat Cat, I'm going to kill you!" The fat cat had woken up at some point and was pawing at the branch, playing with it.
Hearing Masahiko's voice, the fat cat ran over happily and rubbed against his foot, indicating it was hungry.
Masahiko sighed helplessly. "I'm raising an ancestor."
After a while, Masahiko replaced the branch with a whole large tree. This time, let alone the fat cat, even a tiger couldn't move it.
"Continue!"
This trial lasted for two days. Looking at the last remaining node, Masahiko was speechless.
"This luck... did it have to be the very last one that was correct?"
Chakra poured in, and in the next instant, Masahiko appeared in a desert.
"Desert?" Masahiko looked astonished. This wasn't where he started.
"So there really isn't a node to return to the original spot."
Masahiko knew that if he returned to the space and used the same node, he would appear here again, but that was useless.
"Then this space ninjutsu is purely for escaping. 'Runner Uzumaki'... this won't do."
Suddenly, a large number of chakra fluctuations came from the distance. Masahiko focused his perception; it seemed Chiyo was among them.
"The Sand Village troops. This direction... they are heading to the Land of Rain. Are they going to fight Konoha there? The Sand Village made a move after all." Masahiko frowned secretly, wanting to go take a look.
But in the next moment, he appeared inside his space again.
"Sigh..." He had used chakra again just now.
Without jumping through that node again, Masahiko began to ponder.
"It's impossible for a spatial ability to be this useless. My future self didn't seem to have these issues when using it. I must be doing something wrong."
Masahiko calmed down and carefully recalled every detail since obtaining the spatial ability.
"Every time I enter the space, it feels like I'm sucking myself in... This space feels like it's inside my body."
Masahiko focused his perception and finally detected something amiss within his body.
"This is... the Gate of Shock (Jingmen)?"
After a long while, Masahiko finally confirmed, with a mix of amusement and annoyance, that he had entered his own Gate of Shock (the seventh gate).
"In other words, Obito's space ninjutsu enters his own eye, while my space is in the Eight Gates, corresponding exactly to eight spaces?"
Masahiko injected chakra into the Gate of Shock. The next moment, he appeared in that desert.
Ignoring the bad news that he might never be able to open the Gate of Shock again (as a combat boost), Masahiko breathed a long sigh of relief.
As long as he could exit from where he entered, everything was fine.
The Sand Village troops had already left Masahiko's sensing range. He didn't chase after them. Since he couldn't use chakra (without teleporting), he might not be able to catch up, and catching up wouldn't be of much use anyway.
"I'd better familiarize myself with the usage of space ninjutsu first. At least I need to be able to use chakra at will."
After pondering for a while, Masahiko let out a long sigh.
"Take it slowly... System products are high quality, but improving too much too suddenly requires adaptation."
Previously, Masahiko had spent two full years polishing his five attributes to level eight. Even after maxing out carving, he spent a considerable amount of time refining it.
This suddenly acquired spatial ability was something Masahiko had never touched before, so he really couldn't use it flexibly right away.
He wasn't in a rush. Konoha was strong right now, and barring accidents, no one dared to provoke the Land of Whirlpools. Spending ten days or half a month on this was no problem.
As it turned out, the spatial ability was harder to master than he imagined. It took a full month before he tremblingly flew near Konoha.
Looking at the gates of Konoha from afar, Masahiko was almost moved to tears. "This is the first time I've realized that the distance from the Land of Whirlpools to Konoha is actually this far..."
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