After some thought, Kaiji chose to try out Ninjutsu while using the Seven Heavens Breathing Technique.
"Seven Heavens Breathing: First Activation!"
He quickly took a deep breath, with a clap of his hands, he entered the state at once.
A pale white mist surrounded him.
Veins bulged, muscles tensed, his eyes rolled back and turned completely white.
Even so, he could still see and sense.
These were just the changes that happened when he used this technique.
With his total strength and chakra once again increased, he thought about which Jutsu to try first.
He began with a simple D-rank Wind Clone Jutsu.
With one hand sign, his chakra flowed out of his body.
With a change of wind chakra, an exact clone appeared in front of him.
Seeing this, a smile of triumph came to his lips.
"Ninjutsu can indeed work in this state!" He said out loud, a sense of relief was in his voice.
This alone would greatly help him, in his training, and making him stronger.
With more chakra, he could learn and use higher-ranked Jutsu.
The Earth Wall Jutsu, which he wanted to learn, had been put on hold because of his Chakra Capacity.
But now that problem was temporarily solved.
With his chakra increase, he could learn and use Earth Wall Jutsu.
Now that he knew his chakra gets used to earth nature and had learned Low-rank Earth Jutsu, he could finally move to Earth Wall.
He looked at his Wind Clone, raising his eyebrows, confused.
His clone was in a physical form, but it was completely made of Wind nature chakra.
It was not in the technique's transformation.
"Maybe clones cannot share technique activation," he mused aloud.
Then he asked his clone, "How do you feel?"
"Stronger, much stronger than normal?" His clone replied.
His eyes widened slightly at the clone's quick answer.
"How so?" he asked, knowing well that just like a normal Clone Jutsu, a wind clone also only took a part of his chakra.
It could still disappear with a heavy blow or after giving a single strike.
"I can feel the chakra is a little thicker and denser, like more potent than normal," His clone replied.
Then it clenched its fist and punched Kaiji.
Kaiji easily blocked it, but he felt strength behind his clone's punch.
His clone smirked and said, "Do you understand now?"
Kaiji stayed stunned.
The strength behind his Wind Clone's punch was higher than normal, higher than any wind clone of his had ever shown.
Not to mention, a Wind Clone is weaker than other nature transformation clones because they are easier to disperse.
They are mostly used for distractions.
If they fight head-on, they would disappear after one or two hits to the opponent.
Even a Water Clone is a little tougher than a Wind Clone, which is why Water Clone is a C-rank and Wind Clone is a D-rank Jutsu.
And the strength his Wind Clone used was a limit beyond which it should have disappeared.
"But how did this happen? I never felt increased chakra power till now, while in the activation state," Kaiji questioned.
"I am not sure," His clone shrugged. "Maybe because I only have a portion of your total chakra, while you currently have double your normal chakra. That is why I can understand the difference much easily, but not you."
Kaiji nodded in understanding.
He deactivate the technique and made his clone disappear.
The sudden power-up was now back to normal.
"Chakra potency, huh?" He mused, "If I remember correctly, chakra usually become more potent when a ninja is in Sage Mode, where natural energy mixes with the ninja's chakra."
This was very confusing for him, because the Seven Heavens Breathing Technique was not like Senjutsu training, which needed natural energy to be added.
While all these, Sage Mode, Eight Inner Gates, and Seven Heavens Breathing Method, had the same results—
Making the user ninja stronger overall, increasing their physical attributes and such, but—
They all had different ways.
Sage Mode needed sensing and integrating natural energy with a ninja's physical and spiritual energy in equal ratio.
Eight Inner Gates needed opening chakra points inside the ninja's body.
The Seven Heavens Breathing Method needed a specific and intense breathing technique.
"Sage Mode can also take in natural energy from breathing, right?" Kaiji thought aloud.
"Then maybe this technique's breathing patterns unknowingly take in natural energy. But the amount is so small that it won't cause petrification."
Kaiji could not know the real reason.
This was just his guess, as he had done no training in Senjutsu.
His Wind Clone was also not sure if it was because of natural energy, as it also said the chakra felt denser.
As his Wind Clone said, Kaiji himself did not notice it even now because his own chakra flow was higher in capacity.
The huge amount of regular chakra rushing through him when the technique was active hid the small change in chakra potency.
His Wind Clone, having a smaller, set part of that chakra, could see the quality change more easily.
"Well, if my guess is right, then it's beneficial for me, I guess," Kaiji thought, before shrugging off his thoughts and continuing to train.
He later tried out all the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu he knew while in the 'First Activation' state.
Although he still did not feel any changes in his chakra while in the active state, but the Jutsu he used did feel more effective and stable than before.
Dust Cloud Jutsu became much thicker.
Wind Cutter Jutsu became sharper.
Even a few others became stronger, whether it was Gentle Breeze or Twister Shot.
He even tried out a few Genjutsu on his Wind Clones, which became a little harder for them to break.
While all of them had a little more power, upon use, he could feel that they were indeed better than when he used them normally.
"Maybe I can start learning Earth Wall Jutsu from tomorrow onwards," he said, with a bright smile on his face.
...
Later that day, he, Ren, and Ren's teammate Saito were walking toward Takeshi-sensei's house.
Hiroshi was already there with some other friends of Kohaku and her parents.
Today was her birthday.
While walking, Kaiji's mind was on his growing strength.
Kaiji felt he had improved a lot.
He thought, 'Now I just need to get those sealing technique scrolls. Gravity Seal, Explosion Seal, and that Storage Seal would be very useful...'
"What are you thinking?" Ren asked Kaiji.
Kaiji came out of his thoughts and said, "Nothing, just normal stuff."
"Oh, by the way, you know, the Chunin exams will start in about two months," Ren informed Kaiji, who was surprised.
"How do you know?" Kaiji asked.
"From Reeku-sensei, of course, he told us," Saito was the one to answered him.
"Hm, hm, and it would be better if you train hard and join that exam," Ren said.
"You will be able to leave the Genin Corps department if you were able to become a Chunin..."
"Okay, okay," Kaiji nodded, and scoffed inwardly, 'Chunin exams in two months? Not possible, since before that, the Third Ninja War will start.'
•••