Inoichi had not taught his daughter, but he had taught his Genin subordinates, and he knew that at this moment he could not let his daughter become arrogant. Though excited, he still spoke in a lighthearted tone.
He thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, not bad. You barely meet the prerequisites for cultivating the clan's Secret Technique. We'll start practicing the Mind Body Switch Technique today."
Ino's expression was serious. Her hands were placed on her knees, and she sat with perfect posture.
Inoichi held up a finger: "The Mind Body Switch Technique is a Secret Ninjutsu that uses the caster's spiritual power to seize and occupy the target's body. Once successful, victory is immediately decided. This Secret Technique of our clan has obvious advantages, but also disadvantages. Firstly, it requires a special hand seal. Secondly, once the body is occupied, if the body is harmed, the caster themselves will also be harmed. Finally, the attack range of this technique is very limited."
Fearing his daughter might give up, he quickly rephrased: "Of course, this is because the Mind Body Switch Technique is still in its early stages. Once it reaches the Mind Disturbance stage, these problems will no longer exist."
Inoichi cleared his throat: "Let's first try to practice the first stage of Mind Body Switch, which is focusing your attention."
It was clear that he had been preparing for this day for a long time. At this moment, he unsealed a scroll he carried with him and took out five cards from it.
What is this?
The cards were covered with numerous irregular lines. Ino glanced at them, and just one look made her feel irritated, as if something was about to leap out of her chest.
She knew very well that these were just random lines, and there was no 'unnamable thing.' She looked at Inoichi, waiting for his explanation.
"The Ino–Shika–Chō alliance has existed for over two hundred years, but the Yamanaka Clan's history can be traced back to the Ninshu period before the Sengoku era." It was clear that Inoichi was very proud of his clan's history.
Konoha Village is impressive? The Village is only sixty years old. The Senju and Uchiha were amazing, but they are no longer here. The Yamanaka are still here! This is an advantage; only those who survive to the end can laugh last.
Ino gave him a strange look, not knowing what wonderful thoughts her cheap father was having.
Inoichi laid out the five cards in order. Ino immediately noticed the problem: the first card caused the least irritation, and the last one the most.
"Without specialized training, a Ninja's spiritual power is scattered and lacks intensity. To penetrate the enemy's inner defenses, our spiritual power must have sufficient penetrative power. Look at these five cards in order. If you can clearly see the graphic and text in the center of the card, you pass."
Inoichi then took out a bowl of paste-like medicine with a cool scent and handed it to Ino: "Apply it to your temples, then remember the incantation I'm about to say: 'Internally nourish oneself, tranquil and unburdened, originally hidden and clear, inwardly illuminate the form and drive out. When the upper is closed, it is called existence; when the lower is closed, it is called non-existence. Non-existence is offered to the upper, where the divine resides.'"
Ino applied the ointment to her left and right temples. Two seconds later, she felt a great surge of clarity, and many distracting thoughts in her mind dissipated by more than half. The incantation Inoichi spoke was very soft and seemed ordinary, but combined with the ointment and her current state of high concentration, in a trance, a seemingly non-material essence gathered in her brain.
She completely didn't understand the meaning of the incantation, and Inoichi didn't explain it, but Ino still gained something from it that she couldn't quite articulate.
She picked up the first card. Countless intricate yet extremely simple lines converged before her eyes.
At a glance, due to visual disparity, she even felt that the lines on this card were rotating at an irregular speed.
When her mind was cluttered, looking at this would make her dizzy. Now, having temporarily forgotten about shirking blame, taking blame, or breaking people's windows, her mind was clear. Her gaze focused on the center of the card, and she quickly saw the answer.
She stated with certainty: "It's the character for 'enlightenment' (Satoru)."
Inoichi nodded, signaling her to continue.
The first four cards seemed relatively easy, but the fifth one was particularly difficult. Inoichi was quite nervous. Ino squinted her eyes, wishing she had a Byakugan or Sharingan. She stared intently at the center of the card; the more she tried to see clearly, the blurrier it became, and her spiritual power was consumed at an extremely fast rate.
In less than thirty seconds, she felt a faint pain in her temples, an external sign of overusing her spiritual power.
Inoichi reminded her: "Don't stare at a single point. When the image rotates, don't resist; go with the flow."
After watching for a full five minutes, Ino continuously recited the incantation, keeping her mind calm and suppressing the boiling sensation in her brain. As the medicine's efficacy decreased, her spiritual power was about to drop to a critical point, and her body was on the verge of collapsing, Ino finally completed the task.
Wiping sweat from her forehead: "I saw it clearly. It's the character for 'spirit' (God)."
Inoichi laughed heartily. He was very satisfied; his daughter's talent was even higher than he had expected. It had taken him a month and a half to pass this stage back then. Each failure required ten days of rest to recover his depleted spiritual power. He failed three times, and on the fourth attempt, he resorted to self-harm, cutting seven or eight wounds on his arms, and pushed himself desperately to barely pass.
Ino looked like she was struggling when she passed this stage, but in reality, the boiling and fatigue were all self-protection mechanisms of the brain; she hadn't actually reached her limit. As an expert in mind control, Inoichi had that much discernment.
Ino also breathed a sigh of relief; she had almost given up just now.
She had thought wrong. She had originally believed that the Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique was, after all, Ninjutsu, so she had added points to Ninjutsu. But what happened? This first stage had nothing to do with Ninjutsu, nor with the eight Ninja attributes. It was more like testing mental strength and soul intensity.
Calming down, the more she thought about it, the more something felt off.
This Yamanaka Clan gave her a feeling of "you practice martial arts, I cultivate immortality"; the style was just weird.
"Rest for ten minutes, then we'll continue with the second step of training."
"Okay." Ino's cheeks and neck were covered in sweat. She didn't bother to wipe it off, sat cross-legged, and used meditation to restore her spiritual power.
According to her guess, the next step would most likely be high-pressure training, utilizing the current state of spiritual emptiness. This technique was not new.
Ten minutes later, Inoichi brought Ino a stack of books over a meter high. She was completely dumbfounded.
What is this for? She flipped through a few pages and found the content of the books obscure and difficult to understand; she didn't even recognize some of the characters.
"This is...?"
Inoichi didn't play coy: "Read the books, quietly read the books, concentrate. Don't rest tonight; finish these books."
Ino's eyes darted around twice. She roughly understood; the key to this stage wasn't actually the books, but rather concentrating.
After all, she had the mind of an adult, not a child; she had enough self-control.
Ino sat by the desk, picked up the top book, and began reading from the first page.