Chapter 118 — Stat Points: Truly Addictive
Nothing noteworthy happened overnight. After a full night of rest, Taichi headed out early the next morning to his private riverside training ground.
Winter nights were long. When Taichi arrived by the river, the sky was still dim. The rippling water reflected the moon as it slanted westward, and the constant rush of the stream only made the surroundings feel even quieter.
After finishing his usual taijutsu and blade training, Taichi sat cross-legged on a large bluestone by the river and began reviewing the gains from his recent mission.
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Name: Matsushita Taichi
Profession: Genin Lv.9 (584 / 1600)
Talents: Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent, Scholar, Enhanced Growth
Age: 8
Physique: 22 (1/3)
Strength: 22
Agility: 21
Spirit: 25
Chakra: 19,500 / 19,500
Attribute Points: 18
Skill Points: 19
Nature Transformations:
Fire Release Lv.9 (662 / 1600)
Wind Release Lv.8 (524 / 1400)
Water Release Lv.8 (286 / 1400)
Earth Release Lv.4 (103 / 600)
Lightning Release Lv.3 (308 / 400)
Yang Release Lv.7 (654 / 1200)
Yin Release Lv.5 (104 / 800)
Chakra Form Transformation: Lv.8 (629 / 1400)
Chakra Control: Lv.9 (316 / 1600)
Skills:
Advanced Taijutsu Lv.3 (1031 / 4000)
Advanced Meditation Lv.2 (1554 / 3000)
Advanced Swordsmanship Lv.3 (1225 / 4000)
Derived Skill:
Blade Momentum (Protection)
A blade that carries the will to protect strikes with greater force.
The intent of protection imbues each swing with unwavering strength, making its defense feel indestructible.
Monstrous Strength: Lv.6 (420 / 1000)
Evaluation:
Konoha's genin are the ones who truly create miracles.
You really shouldn't advance to chūnin yet~
---
The panel's long-lost vicious sarcasm was back.
Was it mocking him for ranking up too slowly? Unfortunately, this wasn't wartime—promotions required village exams. Even the most skilled cook couldn't work without ingredients.
Putting that aside, the mission's gains boiled down to two major points.
First, his profession level increased by one, granting +1 attribute point and +1 skill point.
Second—and far more important—was the biggest breakthrough of the entire mission.
During the operation, to avoid burning his feet on molten, glass-like ground, Taichi had acted on sudden inspiration and wrapped his feet directly in flames.
It had been pure instinct—no time to think, no time to calculate.
And it worked.
Not only did it protect him from burns, but the system immediately responded.
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[Inspiration Triggered — Chakra Control +200]
[Inspiration Triggered — Fire Nature Transformation +200]
[Inspiration Triggered — Cremation Technique Lv.0 (1 / 100)]
---
Yes.
The ninjutsu Taichi had obsessed over for so long—the Cremation Technique—had finally formed into a skill.
Although he had previously tried wrapping flames around his body, the feedback from the newly formed skill made it clear:
The difference was night and day.
Before, Taichi had merely relied on exceptional chakra control and a deep understanding of fire nature transformation to barely prevent his own flames from harming him.
Now, through a sudden flash of insight, he had officially entered the initial stage of becoming flame itself—
Immunity to high temperatures.
That was why the system finally acknowledged the technique.
It meant Taichi had at last stepped onto the correct path of developing this jutsu.
At first, he had been ecstatic.
With the skill formed, combined with his "Hard Work Makes Up for Talent" trait, completing the technique felt inevitable.
Just a matter of time.
But after several days of continuous experimentation—and now, calmly reflecting on the insights granted at the moment of skill formation—Taichi realized something grim.
It was a matter of time.
Just not a week.
Not a month.
Not even a year.
This was a ten-year minimum.
And that was with all his talents, system bonuses, and constant course correction.
Which only highlighted one thing—
The difficulty of this technique's development was absolutely insane.
The dragon slayer eventually became the dragon.
Taichi had originally insisted on steady, self-driven cultivation. But with the Third Shinobi World War drawing ever closer and the pressure mounting, he finally listened to his heart—and unleashed his ultimate trump card:
Stat allocation.
As the skill points were spent, the system immediately responded.
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[Consumed 1 Skill Point — Cremation Technique upgraded to Lv.1 (1/100). Related insights enhanced.]
[Fire Nature Transformation +1000]
[Fire Nature Transformation upgraded to Lv.10 (62 / 2000)]
---
An overwhelming torrent of memories and experience exploded into Taichi's mind—far more intense than any previous infusion. It was as if he had lived decades inside a world of fire.
In that world, Taichi began as a flame no larger than a fingertip—an orange spark. Slowly, he absorbed energy, devoured other flames, and grew, until he finally transformed into a towering giant of blue-white fire.
Throughout the process, he became flame itself, experiencing every possible state of fire—searing, gentle, violent, scorching.
When the memories fully merged into his body, even Taichi's gaze carried a fleeting sense of deep antiquity, as though he had truly lived through countless years.
Only now did he fully grasp the terrifying difficulty of this technique—and its equally terrifying potential.
To master this jutsu, the first prerequisite was an extremely high level of Fire Nature Transformation. By Taichi's estimation, Lv.10 was the absolute minimum.
That alone already represented the upper limit of jōnin-level mastery. Even Sarutobi Hiruzen himself might not possess Fire Nature Transformation at Lv.10. Being Kage-level did not automatically mean one's nature transformations reached that level—it simply meant Hiruzen's overall strength qualified as Kage-tier.
The second prerequisite was equally demanding:
Chakra Control Lv.10.
Taichi was still short of that, currently at Lv.9.
And even these two conditions only formed the foundation.
The true difficulty lay in comprehending the essence of fire itself, and on that basis, elevating Fire Release into its advanced form—
Blaze Release.
That was the real harvest of the decades he spent as living flame in those memories.
Blaze Release fire was not merely hotter. Its defining trait was this:
through combustion, it converted matter into a chakra state aligned with flame itself.
What followed was the most critical step—using supreme chakra control to employ this chakra state as a medium, allowing conversion back and forth between physical matter and Blaze Release fire.
Without the experience of becoming flame, this process alone would have taken Taichi years to unravel. That was the true power of skill points: once a skill prototype existed, allocating points allowed instant entry.
Following the memories in his mind, Taichi slowly formed seals, sensing the transformations of chakra within his body—
from ordinary chakra, to Fire chakra, and then into the higher-tier Blaze Release chakra.
Maintaining that transformation, he guided the Blaze chakra to his index finger.
A golden flame bloomed at his fingertip.
Though tiny, its temperature was terrifying. With a flick of his finger, Taichi sent the flame toward the ground nearby. Instantly, the surrounding area ignited, and the spot it touched began to melt.
Yet the flame itself remained remarkably stable. It did not grow stronger despite the spreading fire. Instead, as nearby combustibles were exhausted, it slowly shrank.
A fascinating phenomenon—but not the time to explore it.
With the first successful conversion complete, Taichi gathered Blaze flame directly at his fingertip again. This time came the true test of the Cremation Technique.
Because his chakra control was still lacking, Taichi did not dare to be reckless. His first test was limited to one finger.
As the Blaze flame descended and enveloped the fingertip, Taichi felt no pain at all.
Carefully controlling the conversion between body and flame, he found the process far smoother than expected. Initially, it required conscious regulation—but soon, it felt like pure instinct, as though the flame possessed its own will, shifting freely between flesh and fire in response to Taichi's intent.
Following his thoughts, the transformed area expanded—from finger to palm, then forearm, until the entire arm became living flame.
And that was the limit.
No matter how he pushed, the transformation would not expand further. At the same time, Taichi felt a faint but unmistakable loss of control.
He immediately understood—this was the limitation imposed by insufficient chakra control.
He canceled the transformation and tested other areas. Limbs and torso converted smoothly. But when he attempted to convert his brain, a surge of pure terror flooded his heart, and he aborted instantly.
Reviewing the memories, Taichi understood why.
This was still a chakra control issue. Without sufficient finesse, Blaze flame lacked a critical trace of spiritual responsiveness.
At a certain instant during brain conversion, human consciousness became completely unprotected. That missing trace of "responsiveness" was what should have carried the mind.
Without it, consciousness would gradually dissipate.
If Taichi repeatedly used the Cremation Technique like this, he would eventually become a vegetative state.
Even so, he was deeply satisfied.
Chakra control could be improved. If necessary, he could even brute-force it with stat points.
Now that the technique worked, what he truly wanted to confirm was whether his original idea was viable.
He drew a kunai and slashed his arm.
A gash more than ten centimeters long opened, blood pouring out.
With a thought, the wound transformed into golden flame. As the flame appeared and vanished, the wound disappeared completely.
Taichi smiled.
The core concept worked.
Without hesitation, he then drove the kunai clean through his palm.
As he activated the transformation, the entire hand turned into flame, and the kunai fell free—half-melted from the heat.
Moments later, the flame reverted to flesh. The hand was pristine.
Limbs. Torso. Even internal organs.
All tests succeeded.
For the foreseeable future, unless his head was destroyed or he was killed instantly, ambushes were effectively meaningless.
Of course, the technique had flaws.
The greatest was chakra consumption.
Using Blaze Release alone was manageable, even suitable for combat. But once bodily flame transformation was involved, consumption skyrocketed exponentially.
Just these tests alone had nearly drained his 20,000 chakra pool.
At present, this was a pure survival trump card.
With chakra exhausted, Taichi ended the session. There was still much to test, but today had reached its limit.
Before leaving, he glanced at the Blaze flame still burning on the ground—now reduced to a faint spark.
Clearly, Blaze flame possessed an unusual mode of existence. Otherwise, it should have extinguished long ago with so little chakra.
With a wave of his hand, Taichi extinguished the final trace and left the training ground.
This was a secret weapon. No one could know.
Back home, drained of chakra, Taichi stayed in. The Cremation Technique—originally a mid-term goal—had been achieved early through stat allocation.
Meanwhile, sealing techniques, his short-term goal, were still just one step away.
The more trump cards, the better. The stronger the survival tools, the safer he would be.
After a simple breakfast and cleaning up, Taichi buried himself in sealing research.
Later, once his chakra recovered, he resumed Blaze Release testing.
Blaze Release was the prerequisite for Cremation—a higher expression of Fire Release. It wasn't a kekkei genkai, just a uniquely advanced variant.
Stat allocation had taught him how to use it. Discovering what it could do was up to him.
Condensing Blaze flame in his hand, Taichi tried lowering its temperature. This was indoors—any mistake could burn the house down.
But reality defied expectation.
The moment temperature dropped below 2000°C, the golden Blaze flame abruptly turned bright yellow—no transition whatsoever.
And instantly, Taichi knew:
This was no longer Blaze Release.
There was an intangible connection between himself and Blaze flame—a bond that vanished the moment it degraded.
After repeated tests, Taichi confirmed:
2000°C was the minimum temperature for Blaze Release.
Anything lower reverted it to ordinary fire.
The mental link was real, though weak—for now.
He didn't yet know what it could do, but he was thrilled regardless.
Since Blaze flame couldn't be cooled further, Taichi reduced its size instead. At fingertip scale, even extreme heat had minimal impact.
This sparked a new thought—
He needed a bigger house.
The current one was too small. No proper training space. Any serious experiment required leaving home, which was inconvenient and unsafe.
Especially when training life-saving techniques.
After all, Konoha had a Hokage who liked spying with telescopes—and ROOT, with eyes everywhere. And its leader had never liked Taichi.
Returning to experimentation, Taichi summarized Blaze Release's traits:
1. Base temperature ~3000°C, minimum 2000°C, current maximum ~4000°C.
2. A mental link exists between Taichi and Blaze flame, currently weak but growing with skill and chakra control.
3. With sufficient fuel, Blaze flame maintains its form indefinitely without degrading.
4. Blaze flame has "vitality"—it can absorb ambient energy to sustain itself, though currently insufficient for permanence.
Each trait held immense potential.
Yet Taichi could only sigh—his foundations were still too weak to fully exploit them.
If Minato or Hizashi heard him complain about being "too weak," the eye-roll would be legendary.