Elemental Infusion

The battles came to an end, and Ryo had emerged as the top performer in the academy tests. For him, the tests had been more challenging, but still manageable. What pleased him the most were the duels he had engaged in. Even though they were in a controlled setting, Ryo had already noticed the difference between his strength and that of the other students who were also focused on becoming genins.

The day of the test had ended, and all the students were beginning to leave the premises. Ryo was among them, and as he walked, he saw a young man coming toward him with a dog on his head.

"Hey Ryo! Where are you off to so soon? You caught me by surprise today, but next time I won't let my guard down!" Yuuto said with a laugh, slinging his arm over Ryo's shoulder and pointing ahead. "Let's go eat together! At Yakiniku Q! Asuma-sensei said it's a good restaurant!" Ryo was tired and wanted to go home, but upon hearing the name of the place, his energy returned.

"Yakiniku Q? I can spare some time for that, sure," he said with a slight hint of reluctance, but deep down, he really wanted to go. In the past few months, he hadn't even stopped to eat at Ichiraku.

It was already night, and he sat at a table with various beautiful cuts of meat in front of him. But Ryo had a puzzled look on his face as he looked around. He wasn't alone with Yuuto; there were also Takeo, Haruka, Denji, and even Senju Kazan. Everyone was talking loudly about the tests, discussing the answers they had given and how they thought they had performed.

Ryo, on the other hand, ate in silence, enjoying the dinner he thought would be calm. However, on the way here, Yuuto had invited every classmate they encountered, and those who were here now were the ones who had accepted.

Takeo looked at Ryo and spoke to him. "So, Ryo, as you already know Shadow Clone, it's a B-rank jutsu!" He asked this while everyone else fell silent, looking at Ryo, waiting for his response. Ryo sighed as he spoke.

"It was Hokage-sama who taught me," he said, grabbing another piece of meat to eat. The others around him were shocked for a few seconds; it wasn't so common anymore for Hiruzen to teach others. Then Denji spoke, slamming both hands on the table.

"Wait, wait, the old man taught you a B-rank jutsu? And here my parents were saying they couldn't teach me anything above C-rank!"

Denji complained, and soon the calm atmosphere at the table returned to normal, with everyone chatting normally again. In the end, nobody wanted to delve into why Ryo had been taught by the Hokage. And so, dinner went on, everyone laughing and having fun, although Ryo's manner was more restrained.

The next day in the training forest:

Ryo had just been struck by a sword blow and thrown high into the air. With a grunt, he managed to land on the side of a tree, his hand trembling from the impact. "Come on, Ryo-kun, if you keep taking hits, your kunai will break."

In his hand was a kunai already showing signs of cracks spreading through the metal. Ryo was training with Kentou, aiming to use Kentou's art more effectively, but it was a training that demanded a lot of Ryo's chakra.

On the other side of the area, another Ryo was seen sitting and reading some books; it was his clone, created with 40% of his chakra, and it would last for a few more minutes. Kentou's training with Ryo had been like this. Ryo would make a clone to study for him on theoretical class days while the real one trained with Kentou.

"You're improving, but it's still complicated to infuse chakra into the kunai, isn't it?" Ryo nodded. "Yes, pure chakra is something I lose a lot when I try to do it." Kentou rubbed his chin, scratching his beard, and then spoke.

"Repeat what you said." Ryo looked confused. "Pure chakra is something I lose a lot when I infuse it into the kunai?" Kentou looked at Ryo with a slight smile, and the next second, his wooden sword began to emanate a more intense chakra, not because it had more chakra, but because there was an element in the chakra.

"When we infuse elemental chakra into something, especially when we have an affinity for it, it's much easier, of course, it still depends on the element, but whether it's wind, earth, or lightning, it's easier to flow into metal."

Ryo paused for a second as he jumped to the ground. He stared at the kunai in his hand, and after a few seconds, a darker chakra aura began to appear, with small earth pebbles swirling around the kunai.

"Why didn't I think of this before?! Of course, using an element that has an advantage with dealing with metals would help with this!" He thought as he looked at the kunai that had been infused with earth elemental chakra.

In recent times, Ryo had thought a lot about how to use everything he had learned with the golden coins, and he had lost sight of the bigger picture. He was a user of Jiton, and he had high affinity with both earth and wind, and he didn't necessarily have to rely on golden metal for everything.

Kentou raised an eyebrow. "I was going to explain the whole theory behind elemental chakra and how to use it to coat your weapon, but I think there's no need." As he said this, the clone disappeared as Ryo put his hand to his head, receiving all the information.

"It's been all this time then? Alright, Ryo-kun, let's stop here for today. Train the chakra control in the weapon, and we'll talk tomorrow. Today, I have to finish the class early as I was called for something."

He had a more serious tone than usual, and then he flickered away, leaving Ryo alone again. Ryo sighed, sitting on the ground. He looked at the kunai, the same one that began to be bathed in gold, slowly flowing out like water from Ryo's glove.

Some time later, in the Hokage's office:

Asuma, Kentou, and several elite ninjas were in front of the Hokage. Hiruzen had a serious expression as he spoke. "We have something urgent on our hands; numerous Konoha ninjas have disappeared on a mission in the Land of Rivers. There are also reports of children and young people going missing. It is believed that there is a high-level nukenin in the region responsible for this."

He then opened a large book, the bingo book, which contained all known ninjas written there, or at least most of them. After a few seconds, he opened a page with the image of a man. He had one eye missing and was a renegade ninja from Kirigakure, specializing in lightning and earth release.

"Your mission will be to locate and neutralize Denrai. This is an S-rank mission, so your group consists solely of jounin-level ninjas. You depart tomorrow at noon. I expect good news from you."

With that, the group of ninjas took an envelope containing further descriptions of the incidents, as well as the missions that the Konoha ninja groups who had disappeared had undertaken. Everyone there was very serious, especially Kentou, who had been forcibly brought back into action.

[ Hi author here!.

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Next extra chapter in 60 Power Stone! ]