Chapter 4

Ninjas, although powerful, and the Hidden Villages are indeed the most important military force of a nation. But in terms of status, the status of most ninjas is far inferior to that of a country's nobility.

So generally, the nobles of ordinary countries would not spend time learning ninjutsu because they could simply pay the Hidden Villages to carry out tasks for them. Pursuing pleasures and enjoying life are what they are passionate about.

As the prince of the Fire Country, the leader of the Five Great Nations, Juan, although lacking actual power, holds a prestigious position. Tsuchigumo really couldn't understand why the other party wanted to become his disciple and learn ninjutsu.

"Abbot Tsuchigumo, what I said is not a joke. I'm genuinely interested in ninjutsu and want to become your disciple."

Juan nodded earnestly.

Seeing Juan's serious expression, Tsuchigumo's face showed a hint of embarrassment.

As the abbot of the Fire Temple, accepting disciples was naturally not a trivial matter. Although the other party was the noble prince of the Fire Country, his age was simply too old.

If he remembered correctly, the prince in front of him was already twenty years old this year. Starting to refine chakra and learn ninjutsu at the age of twenty was simply unrealistic in terms of achieving any significant progress.

It should be known that to become a qualified ninja, talent, effort, resources, and time are all indispensable.

However, since the prince had directly spoken, if he refused, it would obviously be disrespectful. This was not a good thing for the entire Fire Temple.

"Your Highness the Prince, learning ninjutsu is a very arduous task."

"Abbot Tsuchigumo, rest assured, I am not afraid of hardship. As long as Master accepts me as a disciple, I am willing to show a little sincerity. I am willing to donate five million ryo to the Fire Temple as an offering."

Juan smiled, adding another bargaining chip to the negotiation.

As a prince, if he insisted on being accepted as a disciple by Tsuchigumo, Tsuchigumo would certainly not refuse. But if he felt unhappy internally, didn't teach seriously, then he would be the one at a disadvantage.

So besides his own status, he could also use money as leverage.

Anyway, as a prince, with his worth, offering five million ryo was not a big deal.

"Since the prince is so sincere and determined, how can Tsuchigumo refuse?"

Tsuchigumo's eyes brightened when he heard the offer of five million ryo. He immediately changed his mind and agreed.

Actually, according to his personality, he wouldn't be so readily accepting just because of five million ryo.

However, the current situation of the Fire Temple is somewhat precarious, and this donation of five million ryo can alleviate the urgent need.

Although the Fire Temple is a ninja temple, unlike Konoha, it does not have various economic supports from the Fire Country, nor can it accept missions to earn lucrative rewards. Its main source of income comes from the offerings made by the people of the Fire Country when they come to pray.

The people of the Fire Country are affluent, and the Fire Temple's incense offerings were once flourishing, so it was not short of money.

But a few years ago, when the chakra inside Kū went berserk, not only did it injure many monks, but it also damaged the Fire Temple's strongest defensive sealing iron wall.

In recent years, in order to rebuild the sealing iron wall and treat the injured monks, almost all the savings accumulated over the years have been exhausted. As the abbot and the one who brought Kū back, Tsuchigumo cannot shirk his responsibility.

If he accepts the prince as his disciple now and receives a donation of five million ryo, it will greatly reduce the economic burden on the Fire Temple.

"Well, then, tomorrow I will come with the donation to formally become your disciple!"

Seeing Tsuchigumo's agreement, Juan didn't waste any time and immediately finalized the time.

This time in the small world, he only had three months, so he couldn't waste any time. The sooner he started practicing, the sooner he could master more ninjutsu.

...

Early the next morning, Juan arrived at the Fire Temple with five million ryo, and then a simple initiation ceremony was held before he officially began his training.

"Your Highness the Prince, let's begin now..."

In the training hall of the Fire Temple's backyard, Tsuchigumo took out scrolls and was about to start teaching, but Juan raised his hand to interrupt.

"Master, since I have already become your disciple, you don't need to call me 'Your Highness' anymore. Just call me Chuan."

The Fire Temple doesn't have any special requirements for Dharma names, and it's even okay if you don't have one. For convenience, Juan used the character "Chuan" as his Dharma name.

Tsuchigumo smiled at this and didn't insist:

"Very well, Chuan. Let me first explain the principles of refining chakra to you, and then I'll tell you about the differences between our Fire Temple's unique celestial clan talents and ordinary chakra."

"Thank you, Master!"

Juan straightened his body and assumed a posture of listening attentively.

Tsuchigumo began his explanation:

"Chakra is a prerequisite for us to use ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. It is the product of combining the energy and spiritual energy extracted from 130 trillion cells in the body. And our celestial clan's chakra…

"As for Celestial Chakra, it involves taking in a very small amount of external energy in addition to the existing foundation.

It's precisely because of this small amount of external power that our Celestial Chakra produces slightly better effects than ordinary Chakra. One of the effects is that it can nourish the body, making the effects of physical training more effective.

So most of the ninja monks in our Fire Temple are very skilled in physical arts..."

After Tsuchigumo's explanation, Juan finally understood why there was "celestial" in Celestial Chakra. After all, there seemed to be some connection between this Chakra and Sage Mode.

However, Sage Mode involves absorbing a large amount of natural energy during use, causing a leap-like increase in the power of ninjutsu, physical arts, and genjutsu.

On the other hand, Celestial Chakra involves taking in a very small amount of natural energy while extracting Chakra to harmonize with the body and spiritual energy, slowly improving the user's physical qualities.

"Do our Celestial Chakra abilities have any disadvantages?"

Juan was very clear that if Celestial Chakra really had advantages over ordinary Chakra, even if it only slightly improved physical qualities, it would have probably been coveted by various forces long ago, and the Fire Temple wouldn't have kept it to themselves all this time.

So there must be corresponding drawbacks.

Tsuchigumo hesitated for a moment when he heard the question, then replied somewhat awkwardly:

"Indeed, compared to ordinary Chakra, there's a disadvantage that's not quite a disadvantage. It's that because it's mixed with external energy, the speed of extracting Chakra will be somewhat reduced."

Seeing Tsuchigumo's expression, Juan immediately guessed that it wasn't just a slight reduction, otherwise the Fire Temple wouldn't have just Tsuchigumo as a Jonin all these years.

In the entire ninja world, most ninjas primarily focus on ninjutsu, and those who focus on physical arts are few.

Moreover, since physical abilities can be enhanced through training and unique ninjutsu, and because slightly improving physique at the cost of slowing down Chakra extraction isn't a trade-off that many ninjas would be willing to make.

It's only in places like the Fire Temple, where ninja monks don't usually go on missions or engage in frequent life-or-death battles, that they would consider Celestial Chakra better than ordinary Chakra.

However, after some thought, Juan still decided to learn the Fire Temple's Celestial Chakra extraction method instead of the ordinary one.

Because he felt that the Celestial Chakra extraction method might have certain benefits for Sage Mode and for Orochimaru's invention of the curse mark.