Chapter 10: Attempting Single-Hand Seals

Uchiha Kiyoshi was not particularly interested in the physical training methods of the samurai; what fascinated him was the reason behind their long lifespan.

"Well, it's a system that can achieve the level of an Anbu, after all. I never paid attention to the samurai system before. I can only say that the samurai have truly declined and have been replaced by the relatively fast-paced ninja system."

On the way home, Uchiha Kiyoshi was contemplating the gains he had made that day. Compared to when he arrived, he felt much lighter and more agile now.

Finally finding a breakthrough, Uchiha Kiyoshi naturally wouldn't let it go. He carefully pondered over where in the samurai system the body was nurtured, leading to an increase in lifespan.

"Samurai... I never paid attention before. What power do samurai rely on? Could it be this so-called 'ki'? It's possible, but what exactly is this 'ki'? It can't just appear out of thin air, can it?"

Uchiha Kiyoshi continued to contemplate, proposing the concept of "ki," but where does this "ki" come from?

Like how chakra is formed from the fusion of physical and spiritual energy, ki must also have its source. Could it be physical energy?

Huh? Physical energy!

"Physical energy, huh? That's right, samurai vigorously train their bodies to make progress, so it makes sense that it's physical energy."

At this point, Uchiha Kiyoshi had basically found his direction.

"I previously researched physical energy but neglected to study its effects on the body. It was my oversight."

Uchiha Kiyoshi sighed bitterly.

However, he immediately thought that physical energy couldn't actually be controlled. Even during his own research, he could only perceive it but couldn't completely control it.

Could it be that the only way was to cultivate ki through the samurai's methods? No, there must be other methods. I'll try them slowly, and I'll eventually succeed.

Uchiha Kiyoshi stopped thinking about it. He felt like he was becoming obsessed and decided to rest properly. He thought, "I'm getting a bit crazy now. I should take a good rest and continue researching tomorrow." With that in mind, Uchiha Kiyoshi stopped delaying and returned home, had dinner, practiced hand seals for two hours, applied ointment, and went to sleep.

...

The next day, Uchiha Kiyoshi woke up full of energy. Remembering yesterday's breakthrough, a smile appeared on his face.

"Ah! A wonderful day begins."

Perhaps the discovery from yesterday had finally untangled his thoughts, and Uchiha Kiyoshi's mood was very good today.

While going about his daily training, he also contemplated how to control the body's energy to nurture it.

However, when it was time to study hand seals, Uchiha Kiyoshi put aside those thoughts and focused on the research of hand seals.

"Now my research on hand seals has entered the right track. Although many things can be studied, it's difficult to understand the meaning behind each cycle without sufficient ninjutsu. So I'm not in a hurry; I'll just spend an hour each day researching."

As for single-hand seals, he could give them a try. After all, they could be used at any time.

Uchiha Kiyoshi reduced the time spent on hand seal research to one hour, allowing more time for his own training.

Since the special training ended, Uchiha Kiyoshi hadn't practiced kunai throwing for over half a month.

Now was the perfect time to dedicate part of his schedule to kunai throwing practice.

After three months of training, Uchiha Kiyoshi could already guarantee hitting the bullseye consistently, although it was only on stationary targets. For moving targets, he could hit them too.

But the foundation was already solid, and as long as he trained step by step, Uchiha Kiyoshi's throwing technique would improve rapidly.

However, due to the decision to shorten the hand seal research time today, he decided to skip kunai throwing training.

With the extra time, Uchiha Kiyoshi decided to try single-hand seals, seeing if he could deduce the corresponding hand seals.

Regarding single-hand seals, Uchiha Kiyoshi had his own research ideas.

Hand seals are essentially about manipulating chakra. As long as he could find a set of single-hand seals that could replace the chakra manipulation required by double-handed seals, he would be able to achieve preliminary single-hand seals.

The real challenge was summarizing and categorizing all the single-hand seals into a concise system.

However, Uchiha Kiyoshi didn't plan to do it that way.

Firstly, doing it this way is too troublesome and requires wasting a lot of time. The cost-effectiveness is not high.

Secondly, Uchiha Kiyoshi is only experimenting, so he only needs a few commonly used ninjutsu that can be performed with single-hand seals.

Moreover, what Uchiha Kiyoshi is more interested in is the unmarked ninjutsu.

Even without much research, Uchiha Kiyoshi can imagine that single-hand seals would undoubtedly be extremely troublesome and would require far more hand seals than the twelve seals used with both hands. Therefore, apart from situations where double-handed seals are inconvenient or when catching opponents off guard, Uchiha Kiyoshi does not need single-hand seals.

"The research on single-hand seals shouldn't be too intensive. It's just an experiment at this stage. After learning ninjutsu, I can figure out the corresponding single-hand seal methods for the most practical ones."

Uchiha Kiyoshi separated the twelve hand seals of the double-handed seals and performed them with a single hand, recording the corresponding chakra reactions.

In the end, adding an hour of research on double-handed seals, the time spent was not much different from before.

After completing the research, Uchiha Kiyoshi went to the library once again to continue searching for information.

Arriving at the entrance of the library, Uchiha Kiyoshi greeted the attendant with a bow and entered the library under the strange gaze of the attendant.

Uchiha Kiyoshi couldn't figure out the meaning behind the attendant's strange gaze, but it didn't matter. The most important thing was to search for information.

In the medical area, Uchiha Kiyoshi didn't search for any more information related to samurai.

Having already found a direction from the samurai system, what Uchiha Kiyoshi needed now was a method to control the body's energy, and the samurai system didn't offer much reference in that regard.

Based on what Uchiha Kiyoshi learned yesterday, the body training of samurai only inadvertently nurtured the body. They didn't realize how this process occurred or even when it started. So Uchiha Kiyoshi didn't waste time on the samurai system but shifted his focus to medical ninjutsu instead.

Although there were no actual scrolls on medical ninjutsu here, some related information could still be found.

Uchiha Kiyoshi vaguely remembered coming across a saying somewhere that extreme Yin Release is spiritual energy, while extreme Yang Release is physical energy.

It was probably from some fan fiction, and Uchiha Kiyoshi didn't know if it was correct. However, that didn't hinder him from searching for methods from medical ninjutsu.

Medical ninjutsu stimulates the body's cells at the site of the wound, allowing the wound to heal quickly. It can be seen as a way to tap into the potential of human cells to some extent. However, Uchiha Kiyoshi noticed something from it.

"Ninjutsu itself doesn't have a healing effect. Moreover, the corresponding healing effect that occurs after the cells are stimulated, how does that actually work?

It should be that the cells are stimulated, they start to divide, and then the wound heals. However, newly formed cells are very fragile, especially in the case of large wounds. After healing, they are all newly generated tissue, which falls far short in terms of strength compared to other parts of the body that have been trained by ninjas over the years. How is this problem solved? Is it really necessary for the ninja to retrain those areas?

Could it be body energy? Cells produce a large amount of body energy, and then the cells at the wound catch up with the original cells within a short period of time. At the very least, they should be stronger to some extent, so it doesn't solely rely on the ninja themselves to train back."

Uchiha Kiyoshi kept reasoning while simultaneously searching for relevant information on medical ninjutsu.

"Finally found it, 'Introduction to Medical Ninjutsu.' Huh? The author is from the Senju clan? What's going on?"

Uchiha Kiyoshi was surprised to see the name of the author of this book, but he quickly understood.

"It should be a war trophy from the Warring States period. As long-standing archenemies, the Uchiha and Senju clans have engaged in numerous conflicts, so it's only natural to obtain some basic scrolls from each other."

Then, Uchiha Kiyoshi stopped thinking about it and focused on studying this book.

While Uchiha Kiyoshi was studying "Introduction to Medical Ninjutsu," what he didn't know was that Uchiha Yū was also glancing back at him from the entrance. Particularly after noticing the book he was holding, Uchiha Yū seemed relieved and showed a pleased smile.

"It seems like yesterday he just happened to come across that book on samurai body training and got interested in it. Learning medical ninjutsu is definitely more useful than reading those samurai things. The Uchiha clan has never produced a truly powerful medical ninja. If this kid can achieve something in this field, it would be a compensation for one of the clan's weaknesses."