Chapter 4: Research
"Ah! Ryūya-san, what's wrong with you?!"
On the second day, when Akimichi Kyōko pushed open the door and walked over to Ryūya, she immediately cried out in alarm.
Seeing Ryūya lying on the bed, looking pale and sickly, Kyōko's mouth fell open in disbelief.
She clearly remembered that when she came by yesterday, Ryūya's condition had obviously improved. How could it have worsened after just one night of rest?
"Ryūya-san, wait here! I'll go get a medic!"
A flash of anxiety crossed her face as Kyōko turned around and ran out.
On the bed, the weak Ryūya raised his hand slightly, but before he could even speak, Kyōko had already disappeared from the room.
Ryūya gave a bitter smile and could only helplessly give up.
Last night, after learning that the chip cheat had transmigrated along with him, Ryūya had been overwhelmed with excitement.
After recording the data for the Transformation Technique, he ignored the intense exhaustion welling up in his body and rummaged through the house again, pulling out a Clone Technique scroll to record as well.
The result—disaster.
By the time the Clone Technique was only halfway recorded, Ryūya felt like he could barely hold on.
Both his mental energy and physical strength felt as though they were about to be completely drained.
By the time he clenched his teeth and finished recording the Clone Technique, he was already on the verge of collapse.
Only after a full night's rest did Ryūya manage to muster even a sliver of energy.
More than ten minutes later, Kyōko returned with a medical ninja wearing a Konoha forehead protector.
"Hayakawa-sama, please hurry and take a look at Ryūya-kun!"
At the bedside, Kyōko pointed at the weakened Ryūya and urged anxiously.
"Don't worry. Let me take a look first."
Hayakawa Shun was a chūnin from Konoha's medical corps. He gently reassured Kyōko, then sat by the bed and began examining Ryūya.
After a short while, Hayakawa Shun looked up at Ryūya and asked, "Ryūya-kun, this is a case of excessive chakra depletion. Were you practicing ninjutsu while still injured?"
"Excessive chakra depletion? Hayakawa-sama, are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Hearing this, Kyōko was momentarily stunned and couldn't help but ask.
She had grown up with Ryūya since childhood and knew his personality very well. How could he possibly be someone who trained so desperately?
"These are clearly the symptoms of excessive chakra consumption. There's no way I'm mistaken about this," Hayakawa Shun replied, a trace of displeasure appearing on his face.
"Hayakawa-sama is right. Last night, I wasn't careful while practicing the Transformation Technique and ended up overusing my chakra," Ryūya quickly spoke up to stop Kyōko, saying somewhat embarrassedly.
"Practicing the Transformation Technique and overusing your chakra…?"
Hayakawa Shun's mouth twitched slightly, his expression utterly strange.
He was completely stunned by Ryūya's answer.
The Transformation Technique was a basic ninjutsu taught at the Ninja Academy, and one of the graduation assessment techniques for Konoha ninja.
Yet a dignified Konoha genin had actually drained all his chakra just by practicing the Transformation Technique!
How terrible did his aptitude have to be for something like this to happen?
Hayakawa Shun simply couldn't comprehend it.
"Excessive chakra consumption has a serious impact on the body. Your injuries haven't fully recovered yet, so you must be careful when practicing ninjutsu in the future."
However, in order not to damage the self-esteem of a young junior, Hayakawa Shun held back. After giving Ryūya a few instructions, he hurriedly left.
After Hayakawa Shun departed, Kyōko remained alone in the room, her head lowered, shoulders trembling continuously.
Ryūya rolled his eyes and could only passively accept Kyōko's silent mockery.
He felt utterly helpless about it.
Who would have thought that a piece of black technology like a biological chip would also "adapt to local customs" and actually use chakra as its energy source?
In the blink of an eye, a month and a half passed.
After this period of recuperation, Ryūya's body had finally recovered almost completely.
Huff—
Inside the room, Ryūya stepped down from the bed and stood in the center of the room. After letting out a light breath, he formed hand seals with both hands.
Puff!
White smoke rose in the room, and an identical figure appeared beside Ryūya.
The Clone Technique—successful!
Looking at the clone beside him, a smile appeared on Ryūya's face.
After a whole morning of practice, he had finally mastered both the Clone Technique and the Transformation Technique perfectly.
Although the Clone Technique and Transformation Technique were basic ninjutsu taught at the Ninja Academy, some ninja still failed to master them even by graduation.
The former Akimichi Ryūya had been one of those people.
If not for the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War, Ryūya might still be an overaged student at the Ninja Academy even now.
Thus, as soon as his body recovered, Ryūya eagerly began testing things out.
Just as he had guessed, after being recorded and stored by the biological chip, his understanding of the execution methods and usage techniques of the Clone and Transformation Techniques deepened significantly.
Their principles and techniques were engraved into his mind as if carved with a blade; the only thing lacking was physical familiarity.
As long as he practiced more, Ryūya would be able to use them flawlessly.
With the biological chip's cheating function, Ryūya's ninjutsu-learning talent would far surpass that of the vast majority of ninja.
No matter what kind of ninjutsu it was, as long as he possessed the learning scroll, Ryūya could learn it rapidly.
However, the chakra consumption required when the biological chip first recorded ninjutsu data was extremely high. With Ryūya's current chakra reserves, some more advanced ninjutsu still couldn't be recorded for now.
Ryūya didn't want to end up bedridden for another half month due to excessive chakra depletion.
If he wanted to learn more advanced ninjutsu, he first had to increase his chakra capacity.
Having sorted this out, Ryūya rested briefly. Once his chakra had recovered, he began practicing the Chakra Extraction Technique for the first time since arriving in this world.
Chakra was the product of evenly mixing a ninja's spiritual energy and physical energy.
In the ninja world, chakra was the foundation of all a ninja's power. Whether ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu, all required chakra to unleash their full potential.
The theory behind chakra extraction was simple, but the actual results varied greatly from person to person.
At the Ninja Academy, teachers had already taught all students the Chakra Extraction Technique. However, Ryūya's aptitude was poor, and his understanding and insight into the technique were shallow—he had yet to master it fully.
Following the memories in his mind, Ryūya began circulating the Chakra Extraction Technique.
"Unknown ninjutsu detected. Would you like to record the data?"
As soon as he completed one cycle of the technique, the pleasant female voice rang out in his mind.
"Record."
Without any hesitation, Ryūya chose to record it.
He hadn't expected that the biological chip could even record ninjutsu he already knew.
"Chakra Extraction Technique recording complete. Defects detected. Would you like to optimize it?"
"Optimize."
Seeing the optimization option appear in his mind, Ryūya excitedly selected it at once.
"Optimizing Chakra Extraction Technique. Estimated time required: nine days. During optimization, the chip will continuously consume the host's chakra. Please refrain from excessive chakra usage. During the optimization period, the biological chip will be unable to record other data."
Along with the sweet female voice, Ryūya keenly sensed that the chakra within his body had begun to be steadily consumed.