Chapter 5: Chakra Extraction Technique
Night gradually fell, and hazy moonlight spread across the land as Ryūya and Kyōko walked side by side along the streets of Konoha.
After being confined at home for nearly two months, this was the first time Ryūya had stepped outside since coming to this world.
His injuries had actually healed half a month earlier, but once the chip in his mind began optimizing the Chakra Extraction Technique, he had been forced to stay in for another ten days.
There was no helping it.
Ryūya's chakra reserves were simply far too small.
With the chip constantly draining chakra at all times, Ryūya had no choice but to spend most of his days extracting chakra, aside from eating and sleeping.
Today was the final day—only two hours remained before the optimization of the Chakra Extraction Technique would be complete. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Ryūya finally stepped out of the house.
To thank Kyōko for taking care of him all this time, Ryūya planned to treat her to a late-night snack.
Along both sides of the street, most shops had already closed for the night, with only a handful still lit.
Compared to the scenes in his memories, Konoha's night market was clearly much more desolate.
At this moment, the Third Great Ninja War had not yet fully ended, and the entire village was shrouded in an atmosphere of sorrow and tension.
Through what he saw, Ryūya could clearly feel the scars the ninja war had left on Konoha.
Even Konoha—the foremost of the Five Great Ninja Villages—was like this. One could easily imagine the fate of the smaller countries and villages being ravaged by the flames of war.
He raised his head to gaze at the starry sky, vaguely sensing a layer of dark clouds hanging over the entire village.
"Ryūya-san, is something on your mind?"
Kyōko's concerned voice came from beside him.
"It's nothing. It just feels like the village has become a lot quieter," Ryūya replied with a small smile, shaking his head and pushing aside the stray thoughts in his mind.
At present, he was nothing more than a small figure at the very bottom of the ninja world, completely powerless to influence its course.
"Yes… war really is too cruel," Kyōko sighed softly, her expression tinged with sadness.
"Haha! Let's not think about that. My injuries have finally healed—let's eat our fill tonight and celebrate properly!"
Seeing her mood, Ryūya laughed lightly and changed the subject.
"Mm-hmm! Thank you for treating me, Ryūya-san!" Kyōko nodded enthusiastically, her eyes narrowing into happy crescents.
For a foodie, nothing was more delightful than good food.
Choosing a barbecue restaurant not far from the clan compound, Ryūya and Kyōko quickly began to feast heartily.
When it came time to pay, Ryūya felt a pang of heartache as he looked at his deflated wallet.
"Ryūya-san…" Kyōko stood to the side with her head lowered, her face flushed in embarrassment.
Just moments ago, the two of them had polished off more than sixty plates of grilled meat—Kyōko had eaten even more than Ryūya.
Only then did Ryūya gain a truly intuitive understanding of the Akimichi clan's reputation as universal big eaters.
Looking at the blushing Kyōko, Ryūya smiled warmly at her.
Having been stuck at home for over two months with nothing else to do, Ryūya had already taken stock of his finances. While he wasn't wealthy, he could still afford a single barbecue meal.
What truly worried him was his future expenses. With such an astonishing appetite, even just feeding himself would be a considerable cost.
If he wanted to research other forms of black technology as well, relying solely on the clan's and the village's subsidies would definitely not be enough.
It seemed that if he wanted to gain a foothold in the ninja world, he would have to find ways to earn more money.
Moreover, eating like this, Ryūya couldn't help worrying that he might one day grow into a "colossal mass" himself.
The ninja world might not care about looks, but Ryūya still didn't want to end up too unsightly.
"Chakra Extraction Technique optimization complete. Data is being uploaded."
Not long after returning to the clan grounds and parting ways with Kyōko, the chip's notification sounded in Ryūya's mind.
Immediately afterward, a stream of unfamiliar information poured into his consciousness.
Compared to the Chakra Extraction Technique taught at the Ninja Academy, the optimized version was clearly far more effective at refining chakra.
Overjoyed, Ryūya immediately threw himself into cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, several days passed.
After this period of intense training, the effects of the optimized Chakra Extraction Technique began to show.
At its core, chakra extraction involved continuously drawing out a ninja's spiritual energy and life energy, then fusing them together in a fixed ratio to form chakra.
The key factor affecting the speed of chakra extraction was maintaining a stable extraction of both energies. This was a skill that depended heavily on practice, and there were significant differences between individuals.
The Chakra Extraction Technique taught at the Ninja Academy emphasized safety and universality. Students with high compatibility could quickly get started and master it with ease.
Those with low compatibility, however, found their efforts yielding only half the results for twice the work.
This was the gap in ninja talent.
Ryūya belonged firmly to the category with extremely poor talent.
Now, however, the optimized Chakra Extraction Technique had been tailored by the biological chip specifically to Ryūya's physical condition, making it highly targeted.
After a few days of practice, Ryūya felt that his chakra extraction speed had increased by roughly three times.
This alone was enough to make up for the gap between him and high-talent trainees.
At his current rate, Ryūya estimated that in another two to three months, his chakra reserves would reach the peak level of a genin.
Having tasted success, Ryūya's motivation to train only grew stronger.
At the same time, he began to ponder whether there might be an even faster shortcut.
With a cheat like the biological chip at his disposal, he couldn't bring himself not to make full use of it.
He wondered whether the Chakra Extraction Technique could be further optimized. If its speed could be increased by another one or two times, that would be incredible!
"Insufficient data in database. Unable to establish further optimization task for Chakra Extraction Technique."
As soon as he thought this, the chip's pleasant notification sounded in his mind.
Uh…
Ryūya froze for a moment, then stroked his chin thoughtfully.
From the chip's response, Ryūya gleaned two useful pieces of information.
The first was that even the optimized Chakra Extraction Technique still had room for further improvement.
At present, the limitation was simply that Ryūya possessed too little information. Based on his physical condition and the limited data available, the biological chip could only optimize it to its current level.
If enough information were collected, the chakra extraction speed could be improved even further.
The second piece of information was that Ryūya could issue targeted tasks to the biological chip.
This was extremely important to him.
With this function, Ryūya would be able to make planned use of the biological chip in the future to improve his strength according to his needs, rather than passively waiting for the chip to trigger on its own.
With his "god's-eye view" of the future, Ryūya knew very well what the pinnacle of power in the ninja world would look like.
He also had several potential growth paths mapped out in his mind that could lead him to the summit.
With clear goals in sight, Ryūya believed that the road ahead would be far more steady and secure.