Upon returning home, Gisei Shiraishi took out a shuriken and hung it on a tree.
Earlier, when Shuichi Takemoto mentioned the conductivity of lightning, Gisei had suddenly come up with a rather bold idea.
He wanted to use the conductivity of lightning to execute the Body Flicker Technique.
The speed of lightning went without saying. If he could truly combine it with the Body Flicker Technique... well, in the future, if anyone tried to play "Flying Thunder God" in front of him, he'd be able to smash their head in.
Perhaps this Lightning Body Flicker wouldn't be as convenient for teleportation as the Flying Thunder God, but in terms of pure, frontal speed, it absolutely wouldn't be weaker than anyone else's.
The idea was great, but how to actually do it?
Gisei looked at the steel wire pinched in his hand. He transformed his chakra into lightning, conducting it from the wire to the shuriken.
The shuriken lit up with electric light.
The Raikage in the canon plot also used a "Lightning Body Flicker." His version used Lightning Release to stimulate his body cells, granting him unparalleled physical speed. That technique was essentially nintaijutsu (ninja-taijutsu hybrid), requiring a monstrously strong body to handle the stress.
Gisei didn't have that kind of body. The Lightning Body Flicker he envisioned was more of a pure ninjutsu.
Ninjutsu...
Gisei thought for a moment and felt he should just give it a try.
Wrapping the steel wire around his finger, he began to use the standard Body Flicker Technique.
The Body Flicker was successful, but it had nothing to do with "Lightning Body Flicker."
He fell into deep thought again.
The Body Flicker Technique he just used utilized a burst of chakra for sudden acceleration. Technically, that was taijutsu-adjacent. Since his proposed Lightning Body Flicker relied on the conductivity of lightning, perhaps he needed to turn himself into lightning?
But how can a person turn into lightning?
Cover his whole body with Lightning Release chakra? He didn't have anywhere near enough chakra for that right now.
He remembered that the Flying Thunder God's space-time transfer required a special kunai marked with a formula. That counted as a space marker.
Could Lightning Body Flicker also use a marker? Maybe when the Lightning Release chakra conducted to the marker, the Body Flicker would activate?
Thinking about it, the difficulty level was way too high. At that point, it would be easier to just learn the Flying Thunder God directly.
Gisei sighed and simply closed his eyes, imagining the sensation of turning himself into lightning.
Lightning Release chakra forming a perfect cycle within the body...
Cycle...
Opening his eyes, he looked at the steel wire wrapped around his finger, a strange brilliance flashing in his gaze.
If he treated this steel wire as an extension of his own meridian system and let it form a continuous cycle with the chakra inside his body...
Maybe he needed two steel wires?
Thinking of it, he did it. Soon, he tied another steel wire to the shuriken.
Electric light lit up on his hand, and the shuriken simultaneously lit up with electricity.
Then, closing his eyes to sense the flow of chakra, he tried to connect his internal Lightning Release chakra with the chakra on the steel wire, circulating it back into his body.
The process wasn't smooth.
Gisei opened his eyes and began to form Lightning Release hand seals. Then he closed his eyes again to sense the flow.
There were still obstacles, so he continued forming seals.
Whenever he encountered a blockage, he would add a Lightning Release hand seal. By the time the chakra in his body and the steel wire formed a perfect cycle, he had already formed six hand seals.
Memorizing these six specific seals, Gisei began to add the standard seals for the Body Flicker Technique.
A flash of lightning flickered through the courtyard!
Success?
Gisei's face was a bit pale in mid-air. He couldn't stop his body.
What is this kinetic energy?!
BANG!
He crashed straight into a tree. As luck would have it, he hit his nose first, and fresh blood instantly flowed down his face.
"So painful... ah..."
Clutching his nose and rolling around on the ground for over ten minutes, Gisei finally managed to climb up.
After retreating to his room to patch himself up, he returned to the courtyard and stared blankly at the shuriken.
That attempt just now couldn't be considered a success. After he finished forming the Body Flicker seals, he had felt a violent pulling force, and his body had been dragged along by it.
He just didn't expect the speed to be that fast, which was why he completely lost control.
And what was with that pulling force? He clearly wanted to use conductivity for speed, so how did it turn into magnetic traction?
Chakra backflow?
Unable to figure it out, he ran back to his room, took out a pen and paper, and wrote down the Lightning Release hand seals he used, plus the standard Body Flicker seals.
A total of ten seals.
With the lesson learned just now, he didn't dare practice in the courtyard anymore.
He ran outside to find an open space, stuck a tree branch into the ground, and hung the shuriken on it.
He began to slowly form the seals.
The steel wire wrapped around his finger began to flash with electric light as he worked through the sequence.
"Lightning Release: Body Flicker Technique!"
Almost the instant the ninjutsu activated, a flash of electric light lit up next to the shuriken, and then he flew high into the sky...
Gisei was completely bewildered.
The technique was successful, but this powerful kinetic energy was completely different from the Lightning Body Flicker he had envisioned.
Since he was in mid-air, there was nothing around him to grab onto or borrow force from.
Perfect landing.
Gisei limped his way home.
He couldn't practice anymore today, or else he might lose his little life.
And the chakra consumption was too high. He used Body Flicker twice in total, and it had actually drained eighty or ninety percent of his chakra.
He was very sure that the general direction of this Body Flicker Technique was correct, but there were definitely some small details he hadn't noticed.
This could only be corrected through repeated practice.
Maybe he could ask that old man Takemoto to help him improve it?
If he could learn this kind of Body Flicker Technique before the graduation exam, even a Jonin might not necessarily be able to outplay him.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he got, and the smile on Gisei's face gradually became perverted.
Back in his room, after treating his injuries in front of the mirror, he winked at himself.
The person in the mirror also winked at him.
...
Is this person with the perverted smile me?
He stuck out his tongue.
The pervert in the mirror also stuck out his tongue.
Ah, it is indeed me.
The smile froze on his face.
The corners of Gisei's mouth twitched. It seemed facial expression management also needed to be prioritized immediately.
As a villain, how could he show this kind of smile? It was simply losing face for all villains everywhere.
Facing the mirror, he began to manipulate his face.
After a while, a sunny and handsome smile appeared.
Not bad, it had a bit of that Minato Namikaze flavor.
This smile gets eighty points.
After scoring himself, he extended his hand to the mirror.
"First time meeting, I am Gisei Shiraishi. Please take care of me from now on."
...
In the evening, Teacher Kawano arrived on time with his daughter, Mie.
After treating his injuries in the afternoon, Gisei had gone to the street to buy groceries and whipped up quite a sumptuous feast.
His cooking skills were pretty good; after all, he had a drunkard uncle who was often dead to the world. Self-reliance was particularly important in this household.
Eisawa had returned home while he was cooking and was now drinking with Kawano.
Mie sat to the side, appearing slightly reserved, barely saying a word.
When she was with Gisei before, she wasn't like this.
Gisei was thoughtful. Is this the class gap?
The Kawano family were commoners, while his family—although fallen—still bore the title of a "ninja clan."
Commoners always felt somewhat inferior when facing ninja clans, so it was no wonder Mie was acting reserved.
This was a bit difficult to handle.
Gisei complained inwardly. He was still thinking of bringing the two together to improve Eisawa's mental state. Judging by the current situation, it seemed like trying to fetch water with a bamboo basket—futile.
As for his graduation exam issue, Kawano told him the situation as soon as he entered the door.
The time was set for one month later, at the underground training ground.
Mie supported the already dead-drunk Kawano home, and Gisei stood up to see them off.
There weren't many people around their house. During the day it didn't look like much, but at night it was a bit creepy.
Even Gisei generally didn't go out at night. Walking too many night roads, one is bound to encounter ghosts, not to mention their clan was almost like a ghost clan itself.
If the Ninja Butterflies were summoned and turned into humans... just thinking about that image made one's scalp numb.
Gisei saw them off to the brightly lit main street.
After returning home, Eisawa had already finished clearing the dining table and was sitting on the steps waiting for him.
"Sent them back?"
"Yeah."
"That's good."
After two simple sentences, Eisawa got up to return to his room.
Gisei asked from behind him, "What do you think of Mi... Teacher Kawano as a person?"
He originally wanted to ask if his "good" uncle had any feelings for Mie, but he didn't dare be too direct. If he noticed something, he feared he would be hung on a tree and beaten.
"Pretty good."
Just that?
Gisei scratched his head.
...
Another new day.
Gisei got up yawning, then washed up and cooked breakfast.
When Eisawa got up, the two sat together to eat.
"Uncle, what if I don't pass this graduation exam?"
"Go back to the ninja academy and continue attending school."
Alright, looks like I must go all out.
When he was heading out, Eisawa stared at his back in a daze and suddenly asked, "Do you... feel anything wrong with your body?"
"No, why?"
"Nothing."
Gisei gave him a strange look, turned around, and left.
Eisawa sighed, his expression desolate.
He wanted to tell him about Mei, but he was afraid Gisei would become wary of the secret technique.
His father's instructions before leaving, the clansmen's generous acceptance of death on the battlefield, the determination of his brother and sister-in-law to cover his retreat...
Eisawa felt like he was going crazy. Even paralyzing himself with alcohol, the struggle and pain in his heart didn't diminish in the slightest.
The Third had been pressing him hard. Recently, two more small clans had been won over by the Third Hokage. Danzo was constantly making small moves behind the scenes, but he couldn't resist.
After all, he was now just a drunkard who didn't even have the status of a ninja.
If this went on, after he died, this clan would probably be completely finished.
At that time, the better Gisei's talent was, the faster he would die.
The hospital could at most be considered a delaying tactic. He knew very well that the ninja clans led by Takemoto wouldn't let Gisei live a leisurely life.
He also couldn't abandon these ninja clans. Without their protection, he and Gisei would soon disappear from Konoha.
Like a stone thrown into the water, perhaps there would be ripples, but it would soon return to calm.
This is politics.