Chapter 489: The Baby-Faced Giant
Ryo looked down in confusion, tugging at his clothes only to realize they were tightly constricting him.
"Does dumping stat points into attributes actually interfere with natural growth?" Ryo's expression turned incredibly bewildered. He had barely directed his focus toward the attribute panel when the consecutive sharp cries of two girls instantly rippled through the clearing.
Snapping his head around, Ryo waved his hand to abruptly halt the chaotic fleet of moving wooden pillars circling Hinata and Hanabi. He had painstakingly designed this labyrinth of moving training stumps based on the legendary 'Wooden Dummy Alley', making it exceptionally optimized for the youths of the Hyuga clan to practice their Taijutsu parameters. To prevent the stumps from being shattered too easily, he had heavily reinforced them with his own chakra—which meant they inflicted a monumental amount of raw physical pain...
Ordinarily, Ryo kept his absolute focus locked onto their training, but his split-second distraction with the stat allocation had left the two girls vulnerable, and they had been struck heavily multiple times. Appraising the way they were currently squatting on the dirt while cradling their heads, they had clearly sustained a non-negligible battering.
"Are you hurt anywhere? My apologies, the Great Ancestor suffered a momentary lapse of focus just now. But look at you two, you've been practicing in this setup for well over a year, how on earth did you still manage to get struck?"
The Hyuga sisters slowly lowered their hands, casting completely innocent glances straight toward Ryo.
Pfft! Hahahahaha... Hanabi suddenly erupted into a violent fit of laughter. "Oh my god, I can't breathe, haha..." If the ground weren't completely caked in dirt, she would undoubtedly have begun rolling around frantically on the floor.
Ryo wore a face full of absolute, blank bewilderment: "Disaster. How did a single battering manage to turn one into a complete lunatic? A master detective Great Ancestor genuinely lacks the medical expertise to cure psychiatric alignment... What a pitiful child."
Hinata covered her mouth with her hands, her shoulders shaking violently in a desperate attempt to suppress her reactions: "Cough! Great Ancestor, exactly why have you grown so plump?"
Ryo blinked his dual eyes: "Plump?"
An incredibly ominous, apocalyptic premonition instantly gripped his heart. Waving his hand to project a pristine mirror of solid ice, Ryo stared at the reflection before him in absolute, deadpan silence.
"Exactly who constitutes this individual? Ryo the Plump?"
His clothes being too small wasn't necessarily driven by a rapid surge in his vertical parameters—it could similarly be triggered by horizontal expansion. Every single physiological segment of Ryo's body had expanded by well over two full layers compared to his previous baseline...
Hanabi had completely bifurcated her sides from laughing. Structurally differing from her older sister, she was a thoroughly unhinged, wild girl who completely discarded her graceful lady persona whenever she stood before close acquaintances. The absolute grudge of her Shredded-Pants Rotation from over a year ago had finally been vindically avenged today!
Ryo possessed zero luxury of time to deal with her antics. Carefully parsing out the monumental sensation of expansion vibrating within his vessel, he locked his sight straight onto the attribute panel.
Ninjutsu: 60,000
Taijutsu: 36,874
Chakra: 4,200,000 (Toggleable)
"A single zero, a second zero... five zeros in total, 42 hundred thousands... Four million two hundred thousand?!"
Ryo stood entirely dumbfounded. Prior to allocating the stat points, his repository equated to a baseline of four individual Nine-Tails. Now, it had violently transformed into a staggering forty-two Nine-Tails! How on earth had it exponentially multiplied tenfold in a single fraction of a second?!
Meticulously scanning the internal parameters of his vessel, a bitter smile squeezed across Ryo's face. With his chakra repository spiking to this astronomical tier, his physical body simply lacked the capacity to cleanly accommodate the volume, naturally bloating and stretching his physiology outward.
Ryo was definitively the very first individual across the historical annals of the shinobi world whose physical vessel lacked the capacity to accommodate his own chakra. It was entirely a testament to his supreme physical constitution; otherwise, he would have violently detonated like an absolute firework...
"Phew... I hadn't anticipated that opening every single pocket space within the first seven gates would seamlessly interconnect them, triggering a cataclysmic explosion in raw chakra volume. What do I do now? Am I genuinely forced to operate as a plump giant for two years, waiting until my natural physical development catches up to accommodate the chakra parameters?" Ryo pursed his lips. "Should I perhaps dump stat points straight into my age parameters? Reflecting on the details, this baseline isn't actually terrible. The Great Ancestor holds zero discrimination toward plump individuals; commanding a fraction of flesh makes a person look exceptionally adorable."
"But with Hanabi cackling to this absolute extent, won't Kushina literally die from laughing?!"
Before Ryo's position, Hanabi—under the frantic shaking administered by her older sister—steadily hiccuped to a halt. Hinata continuously bowed her body to present apologies to Ryo, but her highly arched, twitching lips explicitly proved she desperately desired to burst into a booming laugh as well...
"Haha... Great Ancestor, do you actively intend to formally enlist into the Akimichi clan?"
Ryo shot a fierce glare toward Hanabi. Even though he had indeed expanded by two full layers, he was still miles away from matching the sheer volumetric mass of an established Akimichi member, alright?
"Eh? The Akimichi clan?" Ryo revealed a subtle trace of realization. "Exactly as you can perceive, a highly specific anomaly has struck today. Training is officially suspended for the day. You may practice independently or head back home as you see fit; the Great Ancestor shall depart first."
With those words delivered, Ryo cleanly flashed out of the clearing. The two sisters exchanged a look, and Hinata immediately covered her mouth as her shoulders shook in a frantic rhythm—the Great Ancestor's plump form was simply too monumentally comical...
"Sister, if you desire to laugh, comfortably let it out! Hahahahahahaha..."
The Akimichi Clan Compound.
Choji's family of three was currently concentrating their absolute focus on consuming the second meal of their daily six-meal routine, when Ryo's figure suddenly flashed into existence out of thin air.
The trio frozen on the spot for a brief duration, before staring at one another in complete, blank bewilderment. After a long silence, Choza spoke up tentatively: "Senior Ryo?"
"It appears to resemble the Great Ancestor," Choji murmured softly under his breath.
Ryo gave a firm nod: "It is I. Having a meal, are you? The aroma is exceptionally pleasant; the women of the Akimichi clan truly command a premier mastery over culinary execution."
Choji's mother commanded a volumetric mass that was a fraction superior to both Choji and Choza combined. Hearing Ryo's compliment, the flesh lining her face trembled dynamically as she smiled: "Oh my, the Great Ancestor truly possesses a premier eye. I hadn't anticipated your physique would be this magnificent... though you are still slightly on the slender side. Let me dish out a bowl of rice for you, join us to eat!"
The corner of Ryo's mouth twitched violently. Physique is magnificent? Slender?
"It genuinely is the Great Ancestor!" Choji nearly choked to death on his food, frantically scrambling to his feet as he muttered in a low whisper: "Having failed to see him for two days, exactly how did he manage to turn this plump?"
"Senior, you are...?" Choza similarly rose to his feet.
Ryo scratched his hair: "I am experiencing a fraction of expansion today, so I have traveled over to request the cultivation methods of your Multi-Size Technique (Baika no Jutsu)."
The family of three exchanged a completely blank look. Choji and his mother systematically shifted their gaze to lock onto Choza; after all, he was the official Patriarch of the Akimichi clan.
Choza hesitated for a brief moment: "Granting it to you is naturally zero issue, but I hope you will refrain from widely transmitting the cultivation mechanics down to too many individuals..."
"Rest your mind easy, I am strictly mastering it for my very own self. This time around, consider it that the Great Ancestor owes your lineage a premier personal favor!"
"You are mastering it?" Choza's expression turned monumentally eccentric. He waved his hand to signal Choji to quickly retrieve the official scroll containing the Multi-Size Technique's cultivation parameters. "Senior, our expansion of adipose tissue and fat is explicitly to smoothly execute the Multi-Size Technique because our native chakra pool is insufficient. You possess zero practical necessity to deliberately gorge yourself to eat..."
Ryo massaged his temples. He hadn't eaten his way to this size. Phrasing the unadorned truth out loud would likely scare them to absolute dust—the Great Ancestor's chakra repository was so monumentally cataclysmic that his physical vessel lacked the clearance to contain it!
Choji swiftly returned holding the secret technique scroll. Ryo accepted it and swept his dual eyes across the text for a few brief moments, instantly parsing and mastering this specific 'minor technical manipulation'. Just as he was preparing to actively unleash the technique to test its parameters, he applied a sharp brake to his movement.
"Exactly how do you manage to execute the Multi-Size Technique without having your apparel completely shredded to pieces?"
Choza smiled gently: "Our clothes are woven utilizing a highly specialized chakra thread. The raw materials are exceptionally high-tier and expensive; every single clan member who ascends to become a shinobi is formally issued a custom set. Choji and I command two separate sets; mind if I comfortably fetch one of mine for you to utilize? It has been freshly laundered and is perfectly clean!"
Ryo appraised his current outfit parameters: "How about assisting the Great Ancestor in weaving a custom set identical to the white robes I am currently sporting? There is zero immediate rush; make sure it belongs to that exceptionally reinforced, unbreakable tier."
As he spoke, Ryo pulled a massive stack of currency bills from his apparel, extending his hand to pass them straight to Choza—it totaled well over ten million ryo.
"Senior, there is zero necessity for this monumental amount, you..."
Ryo smiled and waved his hand to dismiss his words: "Accept it. I won't disrupt your meal further; the Great Ancestor shall depart first. In a few days, I will return to collect the custom robes!"
With those words delivered, Ryo cleanly flashed out of the residence, setting his coordinates straight toward the premier tailor shop situated at the absolute eastern end of Konoha Village.
Half an hour later, Ryo strolled with lingering steps back inside Kushina's house.
"Great-grandfather, you've returned this early? Those two children..." Kushina advanced to welcome him, but the remaining segment of her prose instantly choked inside her jaw as she stood frozen, staring up at Ryo in absolute, jaw-dropped bewilderment.
Ryo let out a helpless sigh, massaging his temples. A vertical parameter of 190 cm paired with a fourteen-year-old tender, juvenile face... could it possibly look exceptionally handsome?
"Hahahahahahahahaha..." Kushina erupted into a torrent of wild, uncontained laughter.
Ryo maintained absolute silence. It seemed it didn't look handsome.
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