Therefore, she was not very dedicated to her training.
But now, forced by the illusion of Li Anshi's killing intent, she had awakened her Sharingan, and her confidence was soaring.
To have power and not show it off was too much to ask of her.
She was, after all, just a twelve-year-old girl, and she also wanted to receive everyone's praise.
And what could be more satisfying than surpassing her two teammates in the next special training session?
It was for this reason that she was so looking forward to the next stage of training.
"The three of you have all made considerable breakthroughs, but you have not yet achieved complete control over your own power. And after your strength has increased, you will surely have training you need to do."
"For example, Mikoto. Before, you hadn't awakened your Sharingan, so you didn't understand the Uchiha clan's fighting style."
"How about this? I'll give you three days off first."
"During these three days, you will return to the Uchiha clan and have your elders teach you how to use the Sharingan and the Uchiha's way of fighting."
"As for Nawaki, I suggest you go back and look for Lady Tsunade's notes on 'Monstrous Strength'."
"At the critical moment, you didn't use ninjutsu, but taijutsu to attack me. So in your subconscious, you trust your own body more than you trust ninjutsu. Learning the Monstrous Strength technique will give you more options in battle."
"As for Rin—"
Li Anshi looked down and stroked her hair. "For the next three days, I will teach you the training method for the second stage of the Little Li's Flying Dagger."
"For these three days, I will personally guide you in your training. However, Rin, you should also know that the secret art of the flying dagger is something I summarized from my own training."
"Therefore, I cannot be certain that you will be able to successfully master the second stage."
"If you choose to return to the Hyuga clan to learn their secret techniques, it's not impossible that after three days, your strength will have improved even more than if you had learned from me."
"So, what do you say, Rin?"
"Do you want to continue learning the second stage of the flying dagger with me, or do you want to go and learn the secret techniques of the Hyuga clan?"
"Sensei, I choose to learn the second stage of the Little Li's Flying Dagger with you."
To Li Anshi's surprise, after he had presented her with the two choices, she had not hesitated in the slightest and had directly told him her decision.
"Oh?"
His eyebrow twitched. "Rin, are you sure you heard me clearly?"
"If you cannot master the second stage, your strength may not improve at all after three days."
"In fact, you might even find that the second stage's training method conflicts slightly with the first, causing the power of your daggers to decrease, and your strength to suffer a great loss."
"But if you choose to learn the Hyuga's secret techniques, whether it's the more advanced Eight Trigrams Palms or the absolute defense of the Revolving Heaven, your strength will be greatly enhanced."
"I have already thought it through, Sensei."
Rin looked up, her gaze serious.
"Although learning the Hyuga's secret techniques can greatly increase my strength in a short amount of time."
"However, the upper limit of those techniques is only that of an elite jonin. And not everyone can reach that level."
"At the very least, as far as I know, in the entire Hyuga clan right now, only the clan head possesses the strength of an elite jonin."
"Even if I were to learn the clan's secret techniques, not to mention whether I have the potential to become an elite jonin, even if I did, it would take at least twenty years to reach the clan head's level."
"But even the clan head is still trapped within the family, not free."
"Only by surpassing him is there a glimmer of hope to escape the Hyuga's curse, to break free from the shackles."
"I don't have twenty years, nor do I have the confidence to surpass the clan head with just the Hyuga's secret techniques alone."
"If nothing unexpected happens, in three years, I will be married to Hiashi Hyuga, and after that, I will not be able to leave the Hyuga clan's compound for the rest of my life."
"But, Sensei Li's flying dagger has given me the possibility to break through the cage of fate."
"As long as I learn your flying dagger, even if it's just the second stage, it will be enough for me to break free from the shackles the Hyuga have bound me with."
"So, Sensei Li, I want to learn the second stage of the secret art of the Little Li's Flying Dagger. Please, teach me!"
At this, Rin bowed deeply to him.
The Little Li's Flying Dagger was her only hope now to escape the Hyuga clan and pursue her freedom.
Since he was willing to teach her the second stage, she felt that even a second of hesitation would be a disrespect to the technique itself.
"Alright. Since you have decided, then for these three days, you will follow me."
Li Anshi nodded, giving her his answer.
"As for the two of you, Nawaki and Mikoto..."
Glancing at them, he held up the index and middle fingers of his left hand in front of his chest.
"I will send you to the woodcarving shop. For these three days, you will practice the Sharingan and the Monstrous Strength as I have said."
With that, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, sending them away instantly.
"Rin, your dream and my attitude towards life are somewhat similar. We both love freedom and do not wish to be restrained."
"The difference is that I, with my own strength, have broken free from the restrictions this world has placed on me."
"In fact, in order not to lose my 'humanity,' I have even found someone to hold the string of my kite."
"But you are different."
"Your life has been bound by something called 'fate.' If you cannot sever these things with absolute strength, then your future can only follow the path that others have arranged for you."
"We are similar, and yet different..."
"Rin, before you begin to learn the second stage of the secret art, I want you to remember this feeling of powerlessness you have now."
"Because the training for the second stage is not about the technique of throwing the dagger."
"Instead, it is about using your spirit to perceive the dagger's perception, and thus find and sever the 'space' between yourself and the target!"
"Therefore, the second stage of the secret art is also what I call 'Dagger Perception'."
"Now, Rin, take out your dagger. And then, with your spirit, perceive everything about it!"
…
In a river in the Forest of Death, Rin sat cross-legged in the center, having to both maintain her chakra to float on the water's surface and use her mind to perceive the dagger placed on her knees.
According to the second-stage training method that Li Anshi had organized, it was "Dagger Perception."
If the first stage was the limit of "skill," then the second stage had already begun to touch upon the "intent."
In the ninja world, "intent" was the so-called chakra nature transformation.
Cutting was the intent of wind.
Paralysis was the intent of lightning.
Explosion was the intent of fire.
Shattering was the intent of earth.
Change was the intent of water.
In fact, the intents of the various elements were not limited to these.
However, in the five great villages, the systematic training methods for intent were almost all related to these aspects, and therefore these aspects of chakra nature transformation were widely known.
In the great villages, to be promoted to jonin, one had to have at least two types of chakra nature transformation.
This was because a single type was very easily countered and targeted.
The five chakra natures were in a relationship of mutual counters.
Water counters fire, fire counters wind, wind counters lightning, lightning counters earth, and earth counters water!
Between two mutually countering chakra natures, under the same chakra strength, the countered side would be at a great disadvantage.
Even if one was stronger than the opponent, if their element was countered, it was not impossible to be defeated.
Only ninjas who had completed the training of two or more chakra nature transformations were qualified to be promoted to jonin.
After all, jonin were a village's high-end combat power. They might not have any particularly outstanding areas, but they could not have obvious, easily targeted weaknesses.
Those ninjas who had only completed one type of chakra nature transformation might be comparable to a jonin in some aspects, but because they had obvious weaknesses, they could not be nominated as "jonin" by the village.
However, to group them with "chunin" also didn't fully reflect their value.
Therefore, between chunin and jonin, the village had added another half-rank—Special Jonin!
The second stage of Li Anshi's training was to cultivate the "intent" of the dagger.
However, unlike the chakra nature transformations that already had a complete training system, the "intent" of his dagger primarily relied on one's own "enlightenment."
Li Xunhuan's intent was "chivalry."
His own was "freedom."
Rin, in his opinion, was someone who had a bit of an understanding of the "freedom" intent.
It was for this reason that he was willing to teach her.
He also wanted to see if a native ninja of this world could truly grasp the spirit of the "Little Li's Flying Dagger."
If they couldn't, what was the reason?
If they could, what was the difference between the "intent" they grasped and his own?
And what were the similarities and differences in their performance in battle?
All of this depended on Rin.
Before, when he had told her to remember her current feeling, he was not deceiving her.
Freedom, what was freedom?
There were rules and regulations, but there was always a way to break through. That was freedom.
To make her remember her arranged fate was to let her know that she was still trapped by the Hyuga, that she had to live her life according to the arrangements of the clan elders—a caged bird.
Only after her heart had broken through all the restraints the Hyuga had placed on her could she break free from the shackles of that cage and grasp the intent of "freedom."
He himself felt that she, and the future Neji Hyuga, were probably the ninjas in this world with the most hope of grasping the "freedom" intent.
Of course, even so, he did not think she could grasp it within these three days.
Back then, even with the guidance of Li Xunhuan's "chivalrous" spirit, it had still taken him nearly three years to fully grasp his own "freedom" intent.
She was just a ten-year-old girl who hadn't even begun to touch upon her own elemental chakra nature transformation. To want to complete the training of the "freedom" intent all at once was a difficulty that could not be put into words.
Under these circumstances, her own experience became a "catalyst"!
These three days were the time he was using to let her confirm her own heart's desire.
Whether it was letting her choose the Hyuga's secret techniques before, or letting her remember all her current feelings now, these were all catalysts he was using to stimulate her.
If her will to break free from the cage was strong enough, then these three days would be enough for her to, with the flying dagger as her core, preliminarily grasp her own "freedom" intent.
The time that followed would require her to practice her own "ninja way."
According to his speculation, the day she broke away from the Hyuga clan might be the day she fully grasped the Little Li's Flying Dagger.
At that time, even a Kage-level powerhouse would not be able to dodge her dagger.
Before that, her preliminary understanding of the "freedom" intent, or rather, her "ninja way," would be enough to support her in the second stage of training.
However, if she failed to grasp her "ninja way" within these three days, then her strength would indeed be a great deal weaker compared to if she had learned the secret techniques of the Hyuga main family.
…
"Bang!"
In the tent, Danzo Shimura slammed his hand on the table, glaring at Tsunade. "Tsunade, don't you go too far!"
"Me, going too far?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Lord Danzo, isn't this the very truth that your Root organization abides by?"
"The roots, buried deep in the earth, unseen, for the sake of letting the leaves of Konoha flourish, are willing to remain in the darkness and sacrifice everything."
"What's this? When you were preparing to sacrifice us, I didn't hear a single word from anyone in the village about us nameless nobodies."
"I am merely having you carry out the mission that you had prepared for us to complete. How is it that when it comes from your mouth, it has become me going too far?"
"Could it be that your philosophy is just an excuse you spout to deceive your subordinates and send them to their deaths? And when it's your turn to sacrifice for Konoha, it becomes a different story?"