Mrs. Yamanaka spoke cryptically, even wrinkling her nose on purpose. Inoichi Yamanaka, catching her drift, hurriedly confessed: "Nothing much happened today, so I finished work early. I just went to an Izakaya for a quick drink with Shikaku and Chōza... I really didn't drink much."
Mrs. Yamanaka smiled gracefully and said, "What's the rush? I didn't even ask you!" In truth, she was quite satisfied with Inoichi Yamanaka's "sensibility."
Later, after dinner, Inoichi Yamanaka teased Ino: "Ino, do you still remember the Seal of Rat I taught you?"
Inoichi Yamanaka was just teasing Ino; he didn't actually intend to test her.
After all, the child was only three years old; it was too early to be learning hand seals.
To his surprise, the little girl gave him a shock—
"Rat!"
Ino formed a sword finger with the index and middle fingers of her left hand, curling her pinky and ring fingers, then gripped the sword finger with her right hand, overlapping her thumbs.
"Hahaha... Ino, how about Daddy teaches you another hand seal?" Inoichi Yamanaka felt an itch in his heart and couldn't help but test Ino's thoughts. As long as Ino said "yes," he would immediately teach her the "Ox" seal... Facing such a talented daughter, even though he told himself to "exercise restraint," the desire to teach was truly uncontrollable.
"No!"
Ino turned her head away, giving Inoichi Yamanaka the back of her head.
Inoichi Yamanaka asked, "Why?"
If it were any other child, they would be jumping for joy at such a "good thing." Not only would they want to learn, but they'd also wish they could learn all twelve hand seals at once!
But Ino was different; she flat-out gave him the back of her head and said "No"... Inoichi Yamanaka looked at his wife with a constipated expression.
His wife suppressed a laugh, casually peeling an orange. She meticulously removed every white strand from the segments, then peeled off the translucent membrane of a segment and fed the pulp to Ino. Tossing the membrane aside, she also asked Ino, "Yes, why? Other children would love it! If it were Choji, he would definitely be very happy."
Ino said, "But, I don't quite understand yet. And I'm still so small, why should I be in a hurry?"
"It's just a hand seal. Didn't you do it perfectly just now? What is there to not understand?"
Inoichi Yamanaka was puzzled, and his wife was equally confused.
Ino asked, "If it's just a useless, ordinary hand seal, then why should I learn it?"
Inoichi Yamanaka and Mrs. Yamanaka looked at each other. Inoichi blinked and said to his wife, "Our daughter's words make so much sense that I'm actually speechless."
Mrs. Yamanaka said, "Ino, that's not right. Hand seals are a very important skill that every Ninja must learn—they help us channel the Chakra within our bodies to perform powerful Ninjutsu."
Mrs. Yamanaka slowly formed three seals: "Ram," "Snake," and "Tiger." As she formed them, she chanted:
"Ram—Snake—Tiger—Clone Jutsu!"
An identical Mrs. Yamanaka appeared beside her.
Seeing two mothers at once, Ino couldn't help but gape.
"Two mommies!"
This wasn't Ino playing dumb; she was truly shocked—knowing that miraculous Ninjutsu existed in this world and knowing about the Three Basic Jutsu like Clone Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, and Substitution Jutsu was one thing, but seeing it with her own eyes was another. The shock was real!
"So cool..."
Mrs. Yamanaka said softly, "All Ninjutsu require the assistance of hand seals, so they really are very important..."
"Then... then... shouldn't I understand it better before learning the next one? I really do have things I don't understand!"
Well... back to square one.
Mrs. Yamanaka asked, "What exactly do you not understand? Tell Mommy and Daddy. Thinking about it alone certainly isn't as easy as asking us, right?"
Ino said, "Um... it's just that when I form the 'Rat' seal very seriously, a strange flow appears in my body. The more serious I am, the clearer that flow becomes. When I don't form the 'Rat' seal, that flow disappears..."
"Cha... Cha... Chakra?" Inoichi Yamanaka was in utter disbelief. "Is that true? Ino, can you perform it once for Daddy?"
Inoichi Yamanaka solemnly formed a seal, closed his eyes, and began to perform a Sensing Ninjutsu.
Mrs. Yamanaka nodded encouragingly at Ino.
Ino took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and very seriously and slowly formed the seal. During the process of forming the Seal of Rat, a faint ripple vibrated out from the gallbladder meridian of foot-shaoyang, spreading into a mist... Then, as Ino released the hand seal, it vanished in an instant. After finishing, Ino asked expectantly, "Mommy, Daddy, how was it?"
"Inoichi?" Mrs. Yamanaka also looked at Inoichi Yamanaka.
Inoichi Yamanaka said, "It's very faint, a very faint amount of Chakra. It is indeed formed by the combination of Spiritual Energy and Physical Energy—"
Even after "witnessing" it himself with Sensing Ninjutsu, it was still hard to believe. Ino's situation was simply too incredible.
One of the "incredible" parts was that at this age, Ino had refined Chakra through a single hand seal.
Under normal circumstances, refining Chakra is a "natural" process. It usually comes after physical training—long-term training where the will can be concentrated—combined with long-term practice and familiarity with hand seals to build a correspondence where "Seal," "Incantation," and "Mind" become one. Only then can Chakra be born.
"Seal" is the body; "Incantation" is the mouth; "Mind" is the visualization.
Even—
Among Ninjas, except for a very few who have researched theory, the rest of the Ninjas don't know these theories at all.
They just follow their teachers or instructor Ninjas every day, running, jumping, playing Ninja games, and learning hand seals... and then Chakra is naturally born.
They don't know how it's born.
But that doesn't stop it from being born and used by them.
The second "incredible" part was the sharpness of Ino's perception—she actually felt such weak Chakra... "Chakra?"
Ino was equally shocked... Heavens, this is Chakra? The source of all Ninjutsu and Bloodline Limits that can "create the impossible," the source of all turmoil... Chakra?
Inoichi Yamanaka's attitude became increasingly gentle: "Yes, that's right, Chakra. This is a miraculous energy, a power born from the combination of our Spiritual Energy and Physical Energy. It allows us to have faster speed, greater strength, and can also release all kinds of miraculous Ninjutsu—like our family's inherited Ninjutsu..."
"But..." Ino tilted her head, "It seems like that power, that Chakra, isn't a combination!"
"Huh?"
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