Naruto: The King Behind the Curtain

"Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation—as the names imply—involving altering the shape and nature of a technique to make it far more powerful!"

"In fact, every release technique inherently contains both Shape and Nature Transformation. Take for example the Great Fireball Technique; its Nature Transformation is fire, while its Shape Transformation takes the form of a sphere."

Seiki murmured thoughtfully. In his understanding, Nature Transformation equated to chemical changes, while Shape Transformation corresponded to physical changes.

Yamanaka Inoichi paused briefly before continuing, "Since all techniques inherently possess both Nature and Shape Transformation, do you know what distinguishes basic ninja techniques from advanced ones?"

Seiki answered softly, "It's characteristics, right?"

Inoichi looked mildly surprised. "You know about this?"

Seiki gave a slight nod. "I've read a bit about it in books."

"That's exactly right—it is characteristics!" Inoichi nodded approvingly. "For example, sharpness, rotation, hardness, and penetration pertain to Shape Transformation; while high temperature, numbness, nourishment, and life-giving properties belong to Nature Transformation."

"Take the C-rank Fire Dragon Technique—it sounds impressive, but what practical benefit is there in taking the form of a dragon? It seems mostly intimidating. However, a spear-shaped technique like [Blazing Spear] is completely different..."

Kurenai, who had little knowledge of elemental release techniques, interrupted, "Teacher Yamanaka, isn't flame intangible? Even if shaped into a spear, it wouldn't be as solid as an actual one, would it?"

"Therefore, compressing chakra is a crucial step in advanced Shape Transformation," Asuma interjected. "You've probably seen Seiki's Rasengan too—it achieves a tangible effect through intense compression."

"Asuma is absolutely correct," Inoichi agreed. "Take The Third Raikage of Cloud Village for instance. His Lightning Release Armor doesn't merely enhance his body—it provides truly supreme defense by surrounding him with densely concentrated lightning chakra like armor!"

Seeing Kurenai nodding with somewhat confused comprehension, Inoichi continued, "As for Nature Transformation, let's take Fire Release as an example. High temperature, combustion, explosion, and brightness are all its characteristics. Advanced release techniques usually combine multiple characteristics or greatly intensify a single one. For instance, the flames produced by the Great Fireball Technique only reach normal temperatures, whereas the [Dust Concealment] technique Asuma used during his fight could instantly achieve extreme heat!"

"Of course, not every situation follows that pattern. Sometimes combining ninja tools with release techniques, or even fusing two distinct release techniques together, can also produce high-level effects."

Then Inoichi asked curiously, "By the way, Seiki, have you ever determined your chakra nature?"

Seiki nodded. "My natures are Earth, Water, and Wind!"

"Three natures? That's already quite good!" Inoichi smiled. "Given your talent, perhaps someday you might even master compound techniques like Hokage-sama does."

"Speaking of combined techniques..." Seiki smoothly shifted gears. "I heard from Lady Tsunade that when two chakra natures are combined, they can create entirely new techniques."

"Lady Tsunade, huh?"

Inoichi Yamanaka briefly lost his composure, then smiled. "Tsunade-sama probably wants to discuss Wood Release with you. After all, Tsunade's grandfather was the First Hokage, who pacified the Warring States era with Wood Release."

When Inoichi mentioned the legendary First Hokage, Asuma and Kurenai visibly perked up. "How exactly does one fuse Wood Release? Can we learn it too?"

Seeing their excitement, Inoichi couldn't help but chuckle. "Wood Release is the result of combining water-natured chakra with earth-natured chakra. Among you, only Seiki meets the requirements. However, don't get your hopes up—developing a kekkei genkai isn't something that can be achieved simply by possessing the right chakra natures. Otherwise, the Hokage would've developed more than just one kekkei genkai already."

Kurenai asked curiously, "Then has anyone successfully created one?"

Inoichi paused for a moment. "In recent decades, I haven't heard of any new kekkei genkai emerging. But if we look further back in history, there actually was one case of kekkei tota appearing."

Kurenai tilted her head questioningly. "Kekkei Tota? What exactly is that?"

A serious expression appeared on Inoichi's face. "That is an ultimate elemental technique surpassing even the kekkei genkai, formed by merging three different chakra natures. Dust Release, which The Third Tsuchikage used to awe the shinobi world, is an example of kekkei tota!"

"The Third Tsuchikage actually developed a triple-natured kekkei tota!" Asuma exclaimed in shock, before scoffing, "That old man serving as the Third Hokage really isn't very impressive, failing to develop even a dual-natured kekkei genkai."

"That particular kekkei tota was actually developed by The Second Tsuchikage. The Third merely inherited it from him," Inoichi quickly clarified, almost breaking into a cold sweat.

Even if the Hokage had a broad mind, it wouldn't be easy to overlook such remarks!

Worried Asuma might say something equally shocking again, he hurriedly changed the subject. "Ahem! Let's get back to discussing Wood Release!"

"Do you know where Wood Release's true power lies?"

"Umm, no idea."

"Wood Release doesn't have Water Release's fluidity or Earth Release's sheer weight, but it does have one unique strength that no other technique can match—it absorbs chakra!"

"What do you mean by absorption?" Kurenai asked in confusion.

"It absorbs chakra!"

Both Kurenai and Asuma were astonished. "It can actually absorb chakra? This technique sounds incredibly powerful!"

Just imagining it made them realize how terrifying a technique capable of draining an opponent's chakra during battle must be.

Smiling, Inoichi continued, "Although Wood Release itself is mighty, the real marvel is the First Hokage himself. If someone else wields it, even possessing Wood Release doesn't guarantee effective chakra absorption. At best, they might only be able to drain a regular Genin or Chunin's chakra reserves, which would be practically meaningless on the battlefield!"

Seiki nodded inwardly while listening. "Though both possess Wood Release, the difference between the First Hokage and Yamato makes them seem like completely different techniques!"

One could absorb chakra at will, while the other could barely draw any—only capable of disrupting enemy chakra flow for minor suppression.

"From a past-life perspective," Seiki mused, "one is like the Beiming Divine Absorption [Beiming Shen Gong – the legendary vacuum-like chakra siphoning technique], whereas the other barely qualifies as a basic chakra disruption technique."

"What's the difference here? Is it because of Sage Mode, or Yang Release, or maybe Yamato simply doesn't have enough chakra to drain enemies effectively?"

Asuma and Kurenai also recovered from their initial shock. After all, no matter how powerful a jutsu might be, if it's used by someone with less skill, it just doesn't carry much threat.

"Do you understand now?" Inoichi smiled. "Just like the high-level techniques you used earlier—truthfully, they weren't even half as dangerous as a standard Jonin's [Grand Fireball Jutsu]."

Asuma nodded thoughtfully, then muttered quietly, "I get the feeling that you, Sensei Inoichi, seem to look down on the Grand Fireball Jutsu quite a bit!"

"Haha, really?" Inoichi chuckled, brushing it aside. "Alright, that's all for today. Starting tomorrow, we'll begin preparing to take missions!"

PS: In episode 608 of the anime, Hashirama tells Madara that this Wood Dragon can absorb your chakra. In episode 582, Might Guy says that the wooden construct was absorbing the Nine-Tails' chakra.

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