Ino continued to allocate points, moving her points to the "Nin" area. Her idea was simple and clear: focus on one attribute, raise it to 10, then switch to another.
"Hmm?" Just before investing the points, the information feedback from the panel surprised her a little.
One point was not enough to raise "Nin" from 7 to 8; it seemed to require 2 points. From 8 to 9, it needed 3 points. She didn't see the information for 9 to 10, but she guessed it would likely require 4 points, and possibly some other conditions.
This was troublesome now.
Ino hesitated.
The sudden change made her not rashly add points; she decided to plan it out carefully again.
Reading and resting, the second day of not going to school passed quickly.
By late night on the second day, the Village was quiet. Except for the patrolling Ninja, most villagers had fallen asleep.
The Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique was rather eerie; it wasn't practiced during the day, but at night.
Ino had no objections to this; night it was.
The father and daughter stood in the open space of the backyard. Inoichi first meticulously explained the hand seal sequence for the Mind Body Switch Technique, then brought over a large rock and said, "Use your spiritual power to sense this rock, then form the Mind Body Switch hand seal."
In the past, Ino would have secretly grumbled, "What's there to sense about a broken rock?"
Today, her heart was very calm. With her eyes slightly closed, she located the rock in her perception, then formed a special hand seal that wasn't among the Ninja's Twelve Hand Seals.
With her arms straight, the thumbs of both hands touching, index and middle fingers overlapping, and ring and pinky fingers raised, forming a "heart" shape, Ino mixed her own spiritual energy and physical energy in a nine-to-one ratio to create Chakra, then projected it towards the rock in her perception.
The rock was empty inside, containing nothing, and it couldn't accommodate her Chakra. After circling once, guided by the innate pull within her body, this portion of Chakra, carrying her personal consciousness, successfully returned.
Roughly guessing Inoichi's purpose for this training, Ino suppressed the restless spiritual energy in her brain. She took several deep breaths, and the discomfort in her body subsided by seventy to eighty percent before she opened her eyes.
Inoichi asked, "What did you see during this process?"
"Hmm?" Ino thought seriously for a moment, then said from an objective perspective, "Energy, energy that is everywhere in nature."
She was somewhat surprised that the Yamanaka Clan had known about the existence of Natural Energy for so long. However, according to her observations, this Natural Energy was not as good as described in the anime; it was incredibly chaotic.
To put it in a more fantastical way, perhaps it was because of the endless slaughter in this world, which filled the Natural Energy with negative emotions. If there wasn't some method to purify it, anyone who absorbed it would surely go mad.
Inoichi didn't make a subjective comment but continued to ask, "How did you feel about that energy?"
This time, Ino answered quickly: "Mixed, and, well, it felt very dangerous to me?"
Inoichi nodded, "Yes, nature is filled with all kinds of energy. These energies are very dangerous. When using Mind Body Switch, remember to always pay attention to the distance and perceive it in advance, avoiding these chaotic energies."
Ino took these words seriously to heart. What she was practicing today was the Mind Body Switch Technique, not Sage Mode.
At this stage, she was as weak as a chicken. To carelessly come into contact with Natural Energy would truly be playing with fire.
One must be strong oneself to forge iron. If physical energy and spiritual energy are not strong enough, one cannot control Natural Energy. She didn't know about Shikkotsu Forest and Ryūchi Cave, but Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode had a clear threshold: Chakra must be abundant enough. Ino estimated that she would have to raise her "Essence" attribute to 10 to even qualify for Sage Mode.
For now, she still needed to diligently practice her family's Secret Technique.
Ino wrestled with the large rock in front of her throughout the first half of the night.
The Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique, from beginning to end, embodied the word "danger."
Entering it was dangerous, projecting spiritual energy was dangerous, and successfully retrieving spiritual energy back into the body was also very dangerous.
Fortunately, apart from the initial entry stage, the later content was inseparable from Ninjutsu. Chakra was omnipotent! Her own "Nin" was as high as 7 points, a solid Jonin level. The difficult points in the Secret Technique had been thoroughly explained by her predecessors, so Ino found it relatively smooth to learn.
All preliminary training was completed, and the final step began in the latter half of the night.
"Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Ino aimed her hands at a deer that Inoichi had brought from the Nara Clan.
Deer are the most spiritual and also the most docile animals.
Ino's spiritual energy entered the deer's inner world in the manner of the Mind Body Switch. Her vision turned blood red, and her brain began to feel like it was boiling again. The panic was only momentary; she had read her predecessors' notes and knew this was a normal phenomenon.
The Secret Technique was like an awl, directly piercing into the target's inner world.
In just a moment, Ino replaced the deer's soul, completing the entire process of taking over the nest.
She moved around a bit. Coming from her original body to the animal's body, she felt the deer's body was unusually stiff, and this body was consuming the Chakra that carried her personal consciousness every second.
If she couldn't return to her body in time, and her Chakra ran out, her personal consciousness might gradually be worn down and assimilated by the deer.
Ino persisted for half a minute. When more than half of her Chakra was consumed, she released the Mind Body Switch Technique and, following the innate pull of her body, returned to her own body.
"Drink quickly."
Her adoptive mother, Yamanaka Rino, brought her a large bowl of what looked like very bitter medicine.
Knowing this was for restoring spiritual energy after the first use of the Secret Technique, Ino didn't need to be urged by either of them. She pinched her nose and forcibly gulped it down.
About two minutes later, the discomfort disappeared, and she stood up again.
The secret medicine, incantations, predecessors' notes, and the guidance of an experienced elder—outsiders indeed had no way to secretly learn the Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique. Even if Ino were captured now and the hand seal method was known, without these external aids, someone else would not be able to master the Secret Technique.
There were countless people coveting the Byakugan and Sharingan, but almost no one coveted their Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique. From the Warring States Period until now, the Senju and Uchiha were all gone, but small clans like Yamanaka and Nara survived until the end. It must be said that there was a lot of survival wisdom in this.
The 'tool person' Yamanaka Rino quickly left the courtyard with the medicine bowl, and Ino continued to listen to her adoptive father explain the key points of the Mind Body Switch Technique.
"Um... Dad, I've entered the initial stage of the Mind Body Switch Technique, right?"
"Yes, you're right. Your training speed is even faster than I expected."
"Then when can I start the second stage, the Mind Body Disturbance Technique training?" Ino was not satisfied with achievements that seemed strong, like forcibly controlling Obito for two seconds, but actually didn't significantly impact the battle. She wanted more.