Chapter 14

"You've been fiddling with these odd things lately. Haven't you been slacking off in your cultivation recently?"

Surveying the room, Liuli's tone seemed dissatisfied.

In her view, Baise's dabbling in these peculiar studies was merely a waste of time.

"It's just a personal interest. I actually prefer doing research over cultivation."

As he spoke, Baise picked up a small bag from the table and tossed it to Liuli.

Liuli caught it and frowned.

"What's in here?"

"Good stuff, it's my specially made soldier pills. They're more efficient at restoring chakra and stamina than those on the market, and they're easy to digest, not putting a strain on the digestive system."

Soldier pills, which have the effect of restoring stamina and chakra, are often consumed by ninjas when they are on missions.

However, due to their bitter and unpleasant taste, many people are reluctant to eat soldier pills to solve issues of stamina and chakra depletion unless absolutely necessary.

Additionally, their difficulty in digestion means that eating too many can lead to digestive problems.

"Boasting."

Liuli huffed but still put the bag of specially made soldier pills into the shinobi tool pouch tied to her leg.

"Why did you think of making soldier pills?"

"Because you're eager to graduate from the ninja academy, right? You'll find them useful."

Baise said with a look that seemed to see through everything.

Liuli glanced at Baise but said nothing.

Baise paused and then continued, "By the way, when do you plan to graduate?"

Liuli replied, "Although your guess is reasonable, I'm afraid you're wrong this time."

"Wrong?"

Liuli's face broke into a faint smile. "Yes, personally, I would be very willing to graduate early from the school, but the elders of my clan are not in favor of it. Graduating at this time means heading to the front lines, and for a newly graduated genin, the mortality rate is very high."

Baise understood and nodded. "I see. To protect the prodigies, it makes sense to graduate naturally without rushing. It's a reasonable decision."

Once you graduate from the school, it means saying goodbye to a comfortable life.

A normal graduation requires six years of study at the ninja academy.

Baise and Liuli are currently third-year students, still a few years away from normal graduation, with time to solidify their growth.

There are prodigies in the ninja academy who graduate early and are sent to the front lines, but Baise believes that the Konoha leadership has set a rule that children under ten are not allowed to graduate early during wartime...

But thinking about it, Baise realized he was being naive.

During the Warring States period, it was common for four- or five-year-old children to go to the battlefield.

Although the current ninja world is a bit better, it's still not uncommon for children under ten to be sent to the battlefield.

Once they graduate from the ninja academy, they are already qualified ninjas and should not be treated as children.

However, this can lead to issues with their values, making them more prone to extremism.

"Liuli, do the elders of your clan want you to graduate with the strength of a jōnin?"

Baise suddenly realized something.

Liuli, who is already eight, has the strength of a chūnin. With a few more years of hard work, she might even reach the strength of a jōnin.

Of course, she might lack combat experience, but her ninjutsu and basic abilities are certainly not lacking.

Liuli has received elite training from the Uchiha clan since childhood.

From the start, she has been far ahead of civilian ninjas.

After graduation, experience can be accumulated gradually, but the lower limit of strength is very important for newly graduated ninjas.

The more strength you have on the battlefield, the higher your chances of survival.

Hearing Baise say this, Liuli rolled her eyes.

Does this guy think jōnin are as common as cabbages on the street?

The gap between jōnin and chūnin is even greater than that between chūnin and genin.

Jōnin are ninjas who excel in one or several fields.

Even though Liuli is proud and ambitious, she doesn't dare to say that she can reach the level of a jōnin in a few years.

The jōnin selection process is far more difficult than the chūnin selection process.

After chatting at Baise's house for a while, the two went to Ichiraku Ramen at six in the evening to have dinner and then parted ways.

◎

"Sorry, I had something come up and I'm a bit late."

It was already dark in the dense forest behind the school.

The person Baise had agreed to meet here was Ayane.

Two years had passed, and she had gone from a first-year student to a third-year student, growing a bit taller.

Hearing the voice behind her, Ayane, with her hands clasped behind her back, slowly turned around.

She wore a white outfit with the Hyūga clan emblem, dark blue pants, and black straight hair that reached her waist. Her pure white eyes were free of impurities, and her smile gave off a bright and innocent feeling.

"It's fine, I just got here myself. But Baise-kun was probably delayed because of Liuli, right? Sometimes I really envy her."

Although the Uchiha clan, who control the Konoha security force, are known for their decisive and forceful style, which can come across as arrogant and domineering, and their excessive emphasis on power has offended many clans and civilians, at least this clan is not as cold and ruthless as the Hyūga clan, who treat their own clan members like slaves.

For this reason, Ayane, who also comes from a noble family, envies Liuli's free and easy personality and lifestyle.

If she had been born into the Uchiha clan, it would have been better.

"Yeah, she lectured me again."

Baise scratched his head in slight distress.

"Don't say that. I think it's a sign of your good relationship."

Ayane smiled. Although she and Baise had no overt contact since that incident, she knew everything about him in secret.

For example, his hidden strength had already reached the level of a chūnin.

He had become very close to the Uchiha prodigy, Liuli.

He was secretly conducting some experiments with unknown purposes.

His sense of belonging to the village was almost zero, and he had plans to leave the village in the near future and become a rogue ninja.

As their relationship deepened, Baise did not hide these things from Ayane.

Baise believed that as comrades, they should be honest with each other.

At least, he should reveal part of his plans and goals to Ayane to make her feel at ease.

"Right." Baise felt that their secret meetings were limited in time and couldn't dwell on such matters. He got straight to the point. "Is everything okay on your end?"

"No, after all, I'm just a minor member of the branch family. The main family won't waste too much energy on someone like me."

What was originally a self-deprecating remark came out very calmly from Ayane.

Over the past two years, she had learned to control her anger more naturally.

Despite this, a hint of sadness and sigh still lingered in her pure white eyes.

As she spoke, Ayane took out a small wrapped package from her shinobi tool pouch, tied with a cloth, and placed it in Baise's hand.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Baise took the package and said softly.

"It's my duty, but just studying blood might not be enough, right?"

Ayane asked.

As the experiments became more formal, Baise had started working on more significant projects.

Studying blood was an important part of this.

The blood was Ayane's own and that of other branch family members of the Hyūga clan.

All of it was carefully collected by Ayane, a precious material.

Both Ayane and Baise understood that to leave Konoha in the future, they needed to break the Caged Bird Seal and restore Ayane's freedom.

Otherwise, once Ayane was confirmed as a rogue ninja, the main family would use the curse seal to kill her on the spot.

Baise intended to conduct experiments related to this.

Breaking the Caged Bird Seal used by the Hyūga clan to control the branch family and restoring Ayane's freedom.

Thinking about it, it seemed like a pipe dream with Baise's current abilities.

Seemingly sensing Ayane's concerns, as this was a matter of life and death for her, Baise understood her nervous and anxious state.

"Blood is just one of the conditions for starting, but it's not a necessity. The answer to breaking the Caged Bird Seal is not found in the blood."

Baise planned to use the blood Ayane collected to conduct comparisons and obtain more precise data, finding a small entry point.

If just studying blood could reveal the secrets of the Hyūga clan, it would be an insult to a bloodline clan with a long history.

"Besides, we can't get more materials with our current resources. We can only wait and see."

Hearing Baise's words, Ayane felt reassured.

Collecting this blood had already been a great effort for her. As for complete human materials, it was clear that attempting to obtain them would result in failure and capture.

"It's about time. Let's part ways here. Staying any longer might draw attention."

Baise was worried that their secret meetings would be exposed, which would lead to a thorough investigation of both Ayane and himself.

If that happened, it would be very troublesome.