[Name: Shinichi Higashino]
[Class: Chunin / Sword Master]
[Talents: Taijutsu Specialist (Blue), Fighting Spirit (White)...]
[Draws Available: 1× (Blue)]
Konoha Year 45. The cold was settling in deeper.
Several months had passed since the Chunin Exams ended. The village had returned to its usual rhythm, but for Shinichi Higashino, change had never stopped.
Inside a quiet training room, Shinichi slowly opened his eyes and sank his mind into the personal interface only he could see.
Compared to a few months ago, the panel had taken another leap forward. The most noticeable change was [Taijutsu Specialist (Blue)].
[Taijutsu Specialist (Blue): Your body has undergone a qualitative transformation in its learning and application of taijutsu. Any taijutsu technique appears before you like a disassembled blueprint. You can grasp its essence in an extremely short time and train it to perfection. Your taijutsu flows naturally and without the slightest stiffness. In combat, you can always strike in the most efficient and precise way possible.]
This was the rich fruit born from the pinnacle pure-taijutsu clash in the Chunin Exam finals against Might Duy, after enough time had passed for the event to ferment in the public consciousness.
Through word-of-mouth from the spectators, the outside world's recognition of his taijutsu prowess had finally broken through a critical threshold.
The previous green-tier [Taijutsu Adept] had naturally evolved into blue.
Then there was a newly generated white-tier trait: [Fighting Spirit (White)].
[Fighting Spirit (White): In moments of crisis, battle, or sudden emergencies, you more easily ignite courage and fighting will, reducing stamina loss and increasing pain tolerance.]
This white trait came from his clone Isshin. The flamboyant, fearless way Isshin had been conducting himself in the Land of Iron had created a powerful public impression of him as "battle-hungry," "aggressive," and "utterly fearless."
Finally, one of the most important changes appeared in the Class column.
The original [Swordsman] entry had disappeared, replaced by the further-advanced [Sword Master].
[Sword Master: Your swordsmanship has reached a high level. You have formed your own unique style and insights, and you now possess the qualifications to teach others. Your efficiency in comprehending and innovating sword techniques is significantly improved. Tempering your body through sword training yields twice the results with half the effort. When instructing others in swordsman-related talents, their training efficiency receives a minor boost. Furthermore, your profound understanding of the "Principle of Weaponry" allows you to master and utilize other weapons far beyond the average person.]
Although the cognitive effect Isshin received was only fifty percent, thanks to the grand recognition ceremony hosted personally by the City Lord and the Swordsmanship Association President in front of the entire city, and the subsequent deliberate publicity by Takeda Nobutsuna's faction across the southeastern region of the Land of Iron, the name "Ashina Style Isshin" and his status as a "Sword Master" had been firmly established and spread across a considerable area.
After a full month of continuous accumulation and conversion, this wave of perception had finally pushed the class forward.
"Sword Master…"
Shinichi softly repeated the new title, his gaze lingering on the description.
Improved efficiency in body tempering and sword training… and the Principle of Weaponry!
So that's how it is!
Shinichi's eyes lit up with sudden understanding.
He had always known that "Swordsman" was an ancient profession from before the widespread use of chakra, part of a pre-existing supernatural system. But he hadn't been entirely clear on the details.
Now it made sense.
The ancient swordsmen were essentially a group of people who trained their bodies to the extreme and honed their sword skills to the limit in order to fight monsters and supernatural creatures head-on.
Their core was pushing the human body to its absolute potential and mastering the blade.
But here was the problem: those monsters came in all shapes and sizes with all kinds of bizarre abilities. Some had thick hides, some were lightning-fast, some could fly, some could burrow underground.
No matter how insanely you trained with a sword, there would always be situations and creatures it couldn't handle, opponents it would be countered by.
So, once true swordsmen reached a certain height in body and blade, their path changed.
They stopped fixating solely on the sword and began studying other weapons. How to use a spear to pierce armor, a sickle-chain to handle agile foes, a bow to shoot down flying enemies, heavy weapons to smash through defenses… They researched the fundamental principle of "which tool is most effective against which situation." That was the Principle of Weaponry.
It wasn't about casually learning a few moves. It was about achieving absolute mastery over one's own body and then using that foundation to wield different weapons according to their strengths, creating a practical combat toolbox for every possible scenario.
It was the most pragmatic survival wisdom those ancient swordsmen had distilled from life-and-death battles.
In other words, the core of the Swordsman system was "bodily energy," using the sword as the primary tool while mastering the art of all weapons.
"Then what about the Priestess (Shrine Maiden) system and the Monk system? What were their cores before chakra became widespread?"
Shinichi fell into deep thought. Drawing on his memories from his previous life and everything he had observed in this world, he began breaking it down one by one.
First, the Priestesses.
In the current shinobi world, almost every country, village, and clan had its own shrines.
But when it came to the ones with real fame, clear ancient lineages, and genuine power, the most prominent was the Land of Demons—a nation where church and state were one.
The Priestesses of the Land of Demons passed down their power through generations. They wielded powerful sealing techniques and possessed an almost broken ability to foresee the future.
The final Priestess, Shion, had released a wave of chakra so terrifying that even the tailed-beast-level monster Mōryō had felt genuine fear.
But here was the contradiction: Shion's physical body was as fragile as an ordinary person's. She had to be carried by Naruto and Sakura during travel.
That was not normal.
Chakra was normally the fusion of physical and spiritual energy. Someone with such an enormous amount of chakra—one strong enough to make a tailed-beast-class monster tremble—should not have had such a weak body. Her physical energy could not possibly be that low.
Unless… the composition of her chakra was fundamentally different.
"It's the spiritual energy!" A flash of realization lit up Shinichi's eyes. "The chakra of the Land of Demons' Priestesses is overwhelmingly dominated by spiritual energy. It's a special type of chakra formed by an extreme imbalance in the fusion!"
Following this line of reasoning:
The Priestess system—or more broadly, the Shrine Maiden / Divine Official system—before the popularization of chakra was likely an ancient supernatural lineage centered on tempering and wielding spiritual energy. Through incredibly powerful will and intent, they interfered with reality, excelling especially at sealing techniques and talismans that required precise spiritual control.
They did not pursue the extreme physical strengthening or refined weapon mastery of swordsmen, nor the balanced, all-around energy development of later shinobi.
Their core advantage lay in the exceptionally powerful, pure, and specialized spiritual power cultivated through their unique inheritance, which became the foundation for their distinct path as Priestesses (Divine Officials).
And the Monks?
The suspected Senjutsu users or those capable of manipulating natural energy—like the monk-like figures in the Senju clan, the "Sage Mode" variants, and the fact that the Sage of Six Paths himself was originally an ascetic monk before founding Ninshū and creating his own Six Paths Sage Mode—all these pieces flashed through Shinichi's mind.
"So…" Shinichi slowly exhaled as a clear conclusion formed in his head. "The core of the Monk system is neither the body nor the spirit… but natural energy?"
Before the chakra system was created, there may have been a group of pioneers who, through special meditation and ascetic practices, vaguely sensed the vast energy permeating the natural world. They attempted to use their own body and mind as a medium to guide, borrow, and even fuse with that power.
This was likely the most primitive, unrefined prototype of "Sage Mode," and the origin of the ancient supernatural lineage known as Monks.
They did not seek the extreme strengthening of individual power. Instead, they pursued a kind of harmony and resonance with the natural world.
The secret teachings of the Fire Temple were probably the surviving branches of this ancient lineage that had adapted and transformed after the arrival of the chakra era.
...
That made four complete class systems.
The next clone would be a Monk-type body created using First Hokage cells.
The Thousand-Handed Great Buddha was only the beginning. There would also be a ninja-world version of the Law of Heaven and Earth, and the Palm of the Buddha.
The Rinnegan would come too—after all, the Six Paths of Reincarnation was one of the core concepts of Buddhism in his previous life.
Everyone, please look forward to it.