D-rank. Defensive. Water Release.
Suiton — Suijinheki.
On paper, it sounded underwhelming. In reality, I was extremely satisfied.
The anime made ninjutsu look cheap. Flashy techniques flying everywhere, everyone throwing S-rank moves like they cost nothing. The actual math was different. A standard Chunin who'd put in years of work could realistically master one or two B-ranks. Jonin with an A-rank jutsu were genuinely respected for it.
Kakashi — the guy literally called the Copy Ninja, famous across the whole continent for having over a thousand techniques — was most well-known for a jutsu he made himself.
A single D-rank scroll from the Hokage, given to a civilian Academy student, was not nothing.
"System — simplify."
[Simplification in progress: Suiton — Simplified — Drinking Water.]
I stared at the result.
"...Drinking water."
I thought about that for a moment.
It meant what it sounded like. Keep water in my body. Drink regularly. The Suiton affinity builds passively. I didn't need to sit in a river or perform some elaborate ritual — just stay hydrated like a normal person.
I looked at my status.
[Simplified Nature Transformation: Suiton (LV 1)]
A new category on the panel entirely. Nature Transformation. That was significant — it meant the system recognized elemental chakra as its own progression track, separate from everything else.
I also noticed the Genjutsu stat had moved.
[Genjutsu: 7]
The spiritual energy cultivation was already paying out. Still low, but it hadn't been zero before yesterday.
One water bottle. Carry it everywhere. Done.
The next morning, between classes, I walked up to Iruka-sensei's desk.
He looked up with the expression of a man already prepared to help.
"Something wrong with the ninjutsu training?"
"No, it's going well." I shook my head. "I wanted to ask about access to the Konoha Library."
He blinked.
"The library?"
"My knowledge base is too narrow." I kept my expression straightforward, serious. "The more I understand about how the ninja world actually works — history, theory, strategy — the better I can apply everything I'm learning in practice. I don't want to just get stronger physically. I want to understand things properly."
Iruka looked at me for a long moment.
The expression he landed on was the one adults get when a twelve-year-old says something they didn't expect.
What a hardworking kid, it said, clearly.
"Leave it to me."
By the end of the school day, I had unrestricted access to the Konoha Library.
Iruka's goodwill: consistently the most efficient resource I have.
The library was bigger than I'd pictured.
High shelves. Quiet. A few jonin and chunin scattered around, reading or taking notes. Nobody paid me much attention — one Academy student in a corner wasn't exactly a disruption.
I found a section and pulled out the first book.
[Detected: Host is reading. Simplification available. Proceed?]
I paused.
Even this?
"Yes."
[Simplification in progress: Reading — Simplified — Flipping Pages.]
I stood there for a second, processing what that meant.
Then I looked up at the rows and rows of shelves stretching toward the back wall.
Flip through a book. Know its contents.
I was going to read every single thing in this building.
The routine settled in after that.
School. Library. Home. Train. Sleep. Repeat.
It wasn't glamorous. There was nothing flashy about it. But the stats moved, and the stats were the point.
Then, over the following weeks, three notifications hit back to back.
[Taijutsu has reached LV 50 — Derived Skill Unlocked: Combat Intuition.]
[Shuriken Throwing Technique has reached LV 50 — Derived Skill Unlocked: Extreme Speed.]
[Hand Seals has reached LV 50 — Derived Skill Unlocked: One-Handed Hand Seals.]
I sat with those for a minute.
Combat Intuition — read the enemy's movements before they happen. Superhuman reaction in live combat.
Extreme Speed — double the force and velocity on thrown weapons. Shurikens that hit like they were fired, not thrown.
One-Handed Hand Seals — exactly what it sounds like. Full seal sequences, one hand.
That last one is going to make people deeply uncomfortable when they see it for the first time.
I pulled up the full status.
[Ninjutsu: 58 | Taijutsu: 47 | Genjutsu: 23]
All three stats were sitting in Chunin territory now. Ninjutsu was almost knocking on Jonin's door.
[Skills: Chakra Burst Jutsu | Combat Intuition | Extreme Speed | One-Handed Hand Seals]
Four skills. From zero.
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling of my apartment.
Months ago I had been sitting cross-legged in this same spot with a scroll I'd just gotten from a tsundere Uchiha and a stat sheet that had a zero in the Genjutsu column.
Now I had a library card, a water bottle I carried everywhere, an elemental affinity unlocked, and four derived skills with actual combat applications.
Not bad.
Keep going.