Dylan quickly returned home after leaving the gym. He could feel his body was still undergoing changes and he needed a safer, more private environment to better explore his transformation.
To tell the truth, Dylan didn't really have much to do, of course, that was before.
After his mother's death two years ago, he dropped out of high school and never felt like going back. After moving into his current apartment, paying almost a year's rent in advance, and then never missing a payment, it was relatively easy for a 16-year-old to live alone without attracting attention in this big city.
His mother's inheritance had been enough for him to live relatively well until he turned 18. But two years of not-so-controlled spending and no income coming in meant there wasn't much left, even less after sending his father to Brazil.
That's why when he turned 18, he started doing some odd jobs here and there. But nothing too serious or that demanded much commitment from him.
The good thing was that he had plenty of time to practice and train. The bad thing was that this raised another very important point if Dylan wanted to develop well and quickly.
'I need money. A lot of money.'
With bad thoughts in mind, he quickly returned to his apartment. And after another triple-reinforced meal—his appetite seemed to have improved greatly as well—it was time to start "studying" the shinobi arts.
At this moment, Dylan was at the level of an academy student, and the "teacher" in his consciousness would instruct him accordingly.
Shirtless and sitting in the lotus position on the living room floor, Dylan slowly regulated his breathing and calmed his mind. His body was still in the middle of the transformation process, but the most intense part had passed, and now a slower, more gradual awakening was coming.
Meanwhile, he would study a little. With a calm mind, he finally turned his attention to the "academy curriculum."
Module 1: Shinobi Academy
The starting point for every aspiring ninja. The focus is on building a solid foundation of theoretical knowledge and essential practical skills.
Academy Curriculum:
• Chakra Control: The fundamental concept of molding and manipulating internal energy. Initial exercises include using leaves to practice focus and chakra adherence.
• Basic Taijutsu: Teaching combat stances, fundamental strikes (punches, kicks), blocks, and evasions. The goal is to create muscle memory and physical conditioning.
• Fundamental Ninjutsu: Learning the three basic techniques that form the backbone of a ninja's repertoire.
• Tool Usage: Training in handling and throwing kunai and shuriken, both at static and moving targets.
• Theory and Strategy: Lessons on survival tactics, teamwork, and the importance of stealth.
Graduation Techniques (Rank E):
• Transformation Technique - Ninjutsu: Allows the user to assume the appearance of another person, animal, or object.
• Clone Technique - Ninjutsu: Creates illusory copies of the user to confuse the enemy. Clones have no physical substance.
• Substitution Technique - Ninjutsu: Allows the user to instantly swap places with an object (usually a log).
Dylan once again felt that the ninja world was simply insane. As a common human being until now in two lives, he already found these few techniques quite powerful, but they were taught to children! Anyway, normally only by graduating from the "Shinobi Academy" could he access the Genin level, but perhaps they had pity on him because the knowledge related to the Genin level was already available to him.
That said, he would only be able to make full use of it after graduating from the Shinobi Academy. It seemed he couldn't skip levels or put the cart before the horse.
As for the Genin module, out of curiosity, it was basically:
Genin Training Focus:
• Applied Taijutsu: The Genin begins to develop a more defined fighting style, such as Strong Fist (focus on external damage and brute force) or Gentle Fist (focus on internal damage to the opponent's chakra system, if possessing the Hyuga bloodline).
• Advanced Chakra Control: Training evolves into more complex exercises, such as the Water Walking Practice, which requires a constant and precise emission of chakra from the feet.
• Elemental Ninjutsu: Discovery of primary elemental affinity (Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, or Water) through the use of chakra paper. Learning Rank D and C jutsus related to this affinity.
• Basic Genjutsu: Focus on identifying low-level illusions and practicing the release technique (Kai).
• Shadow Clone Technique, Rank B* - Ninjutsu: Creates physical clones that can fight and accumulate experience. (Normally Rank B, but taught to protagonists with large chakra reserves).
• Basic Elemental Jutsus, Rank C - Ninjutsu: Examples: Great Fireball Technique (Fire), Water Bullet (Water), etc.
• Genjutsu Release (Kai), Rank C - Genjutsu: A technique to dispel or break the influence of a genjutsu.
• Hiding in Mist Technique, Rank D - Ninjutsu: Creates a dense mist to obstruct the enemy's vision.
Of course, there was more, but that was generally it.
Having picked some leaves from some plants that were in the apartment at some point, Dylan began to learn chakra control!
Chakra is the energy of life itself. It is the combination of two distinct energies within the body:
Physical Energy (Body): Collected from each of the body's cells.
Spiritual Energy (Mind): Gained through training and experience.
By mixing these two energies within your body, you create chakra. It flows through a network of channels, similar to your circulatory system, called the chakra circulation system. Without chakra, you cannot perform any ninja techniques (ninjutsu or genjutsu), only basic taijutsu. The amount of chakra one possesses varies from person to person, but true skill lies in how efficiently you use it.
And in this, as he already expected, Dylan proved to be a true genius. Not only did he already possess a large chakra reserve as an academy student, but he also had a great facility for generating and accumulating chakra. Furthermore, his sensitivity and control seemed to progressively grow stronger.
Possessing chakra is one thing, but controlling it is another. Chakra control, or chakra manipulation, is the key to being an efficient ninja. A ninja who uses too much chakra for a simple jutsu quickly wastes their energy. A ninja with refined control can perform powerful techniques with minimal chakra.
'Let's start with the two fundamental exercises that every shinobi must master. They will help me train to direct my chakra exactly where it is needed and in the right amount.'
But before starting these two specific exercises, Dylan took one of the leaves and placed it on his forehead, then concentrated and removed his hand.
Surprisingly, the leaf did not fall and remained on his forehead even after more than a minute!
It was a rudimentary and basic way to train precision and mental focus. Too much chakra and the leaf is pushed forward. Too little and it falls.
After a few more minutes, Dylan upped the ante and began placing leaves on different parts of his body. As expected, even after five more minutes, none of them fell! Genius, absolute genius!
Of course, this was mostly Dylan bragging. But he knew the difficulty of what he had just done, especially since it was the first time he had dealt with chakra. The level of concentration and control he needed to have went beyond simply refined control. Each leaf required particular attention since the amount of chakra to keep the leaves stable on his body was different for each one, and the emission had to be constant without fluctuations, not even for a second!
Here Dylan knew he owed much of this control not only to the Otsutsuki bloodline, but in this case, mainly to the fact that he was a reborn soul. His mental energy was at least 5 times superior to other ordinary people, and after recovering his memories and integrating the Otsutsuki blood, it became even more powerful, perhaps more than 20 times that of an ordinary person!
Coupled with his superior chakra reserves compared to others at the same level, it was natural that such a basic exercise would be so easy for him.
Passing the first test with mastery, Dylan decided to proceed with the two other fundamental exercises: tree and water walking!
It was a Genin-level exercise, but he was confident in completing it because of his superior mental power and chakra.
This wasn't considered skipping levels, especially since applying the exercise was a basic foundation of the academy and of every ninja.
Of course, he didn't have trees in the apartment, but he shouldn't have problems substituting trees for walls, right? As for water, his bathtub should suffice.
With a bit of arrogance and overconfidence, Dylan positioned himself in front of the wall. Then first his right foot and then his left, and soon he was horizontal.
"Hahaha! This is awesome-" Thud!
Feeling a little dizzy from the direct impact of hitting the back of his head on the floor, Dylan looked up at the wall, "Idiot..."
At that moment, both feet were still stuck to the wall even though he had lost concentration. Another proof of how chakra control was already innate to him.
The problem was that he forgot some basic principles of physics, and after managing to steady himself on the wall with his feet, he relaxed the rest of his body, which inevitably toppled backward.
After detaching himself from the wall and recovering quickly, he soon set about trying again. This time, paying attention to his body control, Dylan was soon running back and forth across the apartment wall.
Looking up for a moment, he smiled and with a 'whoosh!' jumped off the wall and with an acrobatic spin of his body, stuck his feet to the ceiling! After a few more rounds of inverted running, he relaxed his body and dropped back to the floor, this time with grace.
Looking at the thin layer of sweat forming, he decided to practice on the water at once. It was somewhat noteworthy that if it had been before, he would have been drenched in sweat after more than an hour of running, but now only a light film of sweat was beginning to form.
In the bathtub, filled to the brim and completely naked, Dylan was walking back and forth across the water. Unfortunately, it wasn't large enough for him to run.
The sensation of chakra flowing and circulating through his body and concentrating on the soles of his feet was truly unique.
After a few more laps, he decided to let himself sink. With a thought, his feet sank a few centimeters and stopped. Then after a few more seconds, they sank a little more and then stopped again. And so on until they touched the bottom of the tub.
Satisfied with the results, Dylan, while submerged, began to visualize and learn the three basic ninjutsus!