Rise of the Dragon - Chapter 009 (Patreon)

[A/N: I have taken some time just now to search for a few pictures so that you might get an idea how imagine Ryuma and the Moha Clan members to look like, as some of you asked me for that. I will upload them later after looking them through and deciding which fit best, so stay tuned for that.

On a different topic, in this chapter I have gon more indepth about the innerworkings of the jutsu Ryuma learns and the techniques he uses.

I do that because I spend a lot of time while researching stuff for the story, thinking about how some techniques might work, to get even a little bit more logic into that whole thing.

I will do this throughout the whole story, as I personally love Training Arcs and find it interesting to explore the details and inner workings of such supernatural techniques.

I also think it adds much more depth to the story and really portrays how much time and effort Ryuma has to put into these technique to master them.

On that note, there will be some more plot coming up for this story, basically minor events, before the greater overarching plot starts, though there is still a lot I have to figure out about the direction of the whole story.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!]

Chapter 009 – Chakra Flow and Chakra Scalpel

[Year 69 – October – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

Sitting in the study later that night, Ryuma was writing down his current progress with his different techniques to formulate a plan, which would allow him to gain greater combat strength in a significantly shorter amount of time.

He sorted his learned techniques into different categories of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Bukijutsu, Fuinjutsu, Chakra Control Techniques and Nature Transformations.

The first two categories were realtively unimpressive as Ryuma only leared the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, Mytsical Palm Technique and some minor E-rank elemental Jutsu that would be useful for survival purposes.

He also did learn a few minor Genjutsu to deepen his understanding of Yin Release, but didn't dive too deep into this topic, as Ryuma knew that he could never reach the same proficiency with genjutsu like the members of the Uchiha Clan, so he did not want to waste his time with those too much.

There was one Genjutsu developed by his great-granduncle Tobirama Senju though, that Ryuma was very fascinated by and planned to learn in the near future, as its applications and effectiveness matched perfectly with his fighting style.

The other minor ones he learned were also still very useful to fool opponents, as it was easier to trick someone's senses with small-scale Genjutsu than large-scale ones and Ryuma favoured this approach very much.

His Transformtion Jutsu was already perfected and as he had recently made some very good progress in his Yin Release, it wouldn't be long before he could take this basic technique to greater heights by forming very durable chakra constructs.

Ryuma's mastery over the Mystical Palm Technique wasn't as advanced yet, as it was an A-rank technique which basically had no upper limit. This jutsu was the basis of most Medical Ninjutsu and could be developed into various directions.

Considering that he had only been practicing it for a few months, making use of his Shadow Clones, he had barely reached the necessary proficiency to cast it without hand seals. Though this had more something to do with his inborn talent for Yang Release, than true proficiency with the technique.

Ryuma knew that he still had a long way to go before he could heal large and near fatal injuries with that particular jutsu like his birthmother Tsunade could. He did plan on keeping up his studies of the jutsu though, as it could prove critical in the future when it came to saving those close to himself.

Healing his own wounds was not really a priority as Ryuma had other plans when it came to that.

Generally speaking, he did not want to invest much time into Ninjutsu at all, as while there were some very destructive large scale techniques that could be useful amongst the S-ranked ones in the library, most of them had dozens upon dozens of handseals and required great mastery over the respective Nature Transformation.

Learning those and mastering them would take greats amount of time, probably years even with Shadow Clones. Not to mention that he could not just randomly practice S-rank Jutsus inside the village as their power was far too great.

Basically Ninjutsu were only useful for large armies when it came to wave attacks and destroying formations. Against fewer and very skilled opponents though, generic Ninjutsu were not practical or efficient enough.

As for his Taijutsu and Bukijutsu, Ryuma was very satisfied with his progress there. He was currently still trying to master the Rapid Style and the twin tantos, which wasn't something that could be accomplished in a few years, especially since this style of his would change the stronger and faster he became.

It was a constant process of honing his skills and bodily control to perfection, while the Resistance Seal, which was currently alread at the seventh stage, forced his muscles, bones and organs to grow stronger and tougher.

This was mainly thanks to his innately great constituation as a Senju, which granted his bodily strength unachievable for normal men even at the tender age of four.

Ryuma did plan on accelerating his progress with the Resistance Seal further by using Medical Ninjutsu to revitalize his cells under great pressure, but his mastery over the Mystical Palm Technique was not there yet.

Rapid Strike was a comprehensible Taijutsu Style that involved many types of weapons and even bare-handed fighting, which were all focused on speed, so there was no problem in combining his Taijutsu and Bukijutsu.

And while Bukijutsu generally referred to the use of all types of Shinobi weaponry, Ryuma had no intention of learning other weapons, besides becoming somewhat proficient with shurikens and kunais for basic throwing purposes, as those were just a must for every Shinobi.

It was important sometimes to limit oneself to one specific area, as every weapon required months and years of mastery, and it was just not efficient and practical enough in Ryuma's opinion to branch out in so many directions with his Bukijutsu.

Focusing on Kenjutsu and truly mastering this type of weapon was more than enough to dispatch of opponents, as variety did not really equal skill.

Still, while Rapid Strike was a very advanced Taijutsu compared to the basic Academy Style Taijutsu, that alone was not enough to make it a style that could be used to battle Kage-level combatant later on.

It was the same with Might Guy's Strong Fist style which was a more direct and power-based Taijutus style. What made Guy's Taijutsu so powerful was the technique he used to enhance it with, namely the Eight Gates.

It was the very foundation on which his whole power was based on, while his proficiency with unarmed and armed combat was just the framework in which he expressed this strength of his.

Ryuma was not blind to this, which was also the reason he had his clones focus so much on Chakra Control Techniques and Nature Transformation. Enhancing and supplementing his basic Taijutsu style with different techniques that relied solely on those categories would achieve the most success.

An example of this was Chakra Enhanced Strength, which would allow his phyiscal strength to reach incredible heigths, making each blow incomparibly destructive.

Instead of normal chakra, Ryuma could also use Nature Transformation to turn his own chakra into, for example wind chakra, which would further raise the cutting power of his blades to near impossible levels.

Ryuma also had had the desire to combine Chakra Flow and Chakra Scalpels, which was not such a far-fetched idea.

Chakra Scalpel was created by forming micro-thin blades of chakra that would easily bypass the skin of the physical body and cut the flesh, muscles and bones beneath without damaging the skin, due to their low chakra density and incredibly thin size

It was a technique originally invented for battlefield treatment, where the risk of infection was too great to leave an open wound.

Once these blades entered the body one would then not only have to move the edges of the blades against each other to achieve the desired cutting effect, but also increase the chakra density in a localized manner, which required incredible chakra control and high focus.

Using such a technique offensively was basically impossible for most people, as they would not be able to concentrate enough during battle to control their chakra to such a fine degree, but Ryuma was different.

The great quantity of chakra Ryuma had been born with and years of training with Shadow Clones, which would probably add up to decades of training for a normal person had given him near peerless chakra control, so he could most certainly use Chakra Scalpel offensively in battle.

Chakra Flow on the other hand was a more common and less demanding, but nevertheless impressive combat technique that relied purely on chakra control. Like its name suggested, one merely had to let one's chakra 'flow' through a weapon or object consistently to enhance that weapons performance.

While this did not require such precise control of one's chakra like Chakra Scalpel, one had to be able to output a stable amount of chakra over the entire duration of a battle, which was something that would take most people long periods of training and great quantities of chakra.

Unsurprisingly Ryuma had been able to master this technique quite easily with his chakra control and inborn reserves.

But the charm of Chakra Flow was that, while the basic technique was a rather simple application of chakra, the advanced form of Chakra Flow had great uses when it came to Nature Transformation and it was there that one needed especially great chakra control to make any headway with the technique.

Different Nature Transformations would of course provide different enhancements or effects when using the Chakra Flow technique, such as an increase in sharpness through the wind transformation or a blazing and burning effect through the fire transformation.

Having tested his basic affinities some time ago, Ryuma knew from the Elder that he had, different from his mother, an affinity for the Wind Release and Lightning Release, which was somewhat surprising.

Most Senju Clan members born in the past either had the earth or water affinity or both, which was nothing unusual, nor was it rare for them to have a different secondary element, like Tsunade, who had been born with the talent for Earth Release, had a secondary affinity for lightning.

Not being born with either earth or water affinity was thus considered surprising, though having two affinities still proved Ryuma's exceptional inborn talent.

And while one's affinity for the Yin or Yang Release could not be tested, Elder Tomura had mentioned that due to the Senju's incredible vitality and general outstanding physical capabilities, it was widely acknowledged that they had a talent for Yang Release.

Considering how easily Ryuma managed to cast the Mystical Palm Technique without handsigns, which was a technique based on the Yang Release, he knew the Elder was probably right in his assumption.

His apparent talent for the Yin Release though may not be inborn, but may have been influenced by his reincarnation, as his mind, i.e. spiritual energy, was vastly superior to a normal child his age.

Either way the Chakra Scalpel technique was somewhat similar to the Wind Nature Transformation though much more controlled and precise, so it wasn't very hard for Ryuma to incorporate the Chakra Scalpel into the basic non-elemental Chakra Flow technique.

This gave his blades the power to bypass physical defenses and deal cuts to the inside of an opponent's body without having to actually cut him.

On the other hand it was not very feasible or even desireable to combine Chakra Scalpel with Advanced Chakra Flow, as that technique was most valued for its sheer offensive power brought by perfectly controlled high density chakra of different elements, which directly countered the Chakra Scalpel's inherent necessity for a variable chakra density and precise control.

When it came to pure chakra control Techniques, Ryuma had also learned the Rasengan though mostly for the purpose of helping him increase his chakra control when it came to shape transformation.

He also planned to recreate the Wind Rasenshuriken, as soon as his Wind Nature Transformation was up to par, because the ability to combine both shape and nature transformation was incredible rare and learning this tehcnique would definitely increase his proficiency in both those fields massively.

Not to mention the Wind Rasenshuriken was also an incredibly destructive technique worth learning and his own affinity aligned perfectly with it.