Chapter 30: The Choice, Considered
In the end, Ryū settled on Soru and Tekkai.
There was reasoning behind it. Geppo was essentially Soru applied in the air — the mechanics were almost identical. If he one-shot Soru to Beginner level through the Group and then worked through Whitebeard's training guide, he'd pick up Geppo at dramatically accelerated speed. Eighty percent of the learning curve, gone.
With that kind of head start, failing to learn Geppo off the back of Soru would frankly be embarrassing.
Tekkai followed the same logic relative to Shigan. The principle behind Tekkai — circulating blood rapidly to achieve steel-like density — and the principle behind Shigan shared meaningful overlap. Not as tight a connection as Soru and Geppo, but Ryū estimated at least fifty percent. Learn Tekkai first, and Shigan's learning curve would be half the usual effort.
"These are all just guesses, of course. But if I don't try, I'll never know whether I'm right. And even if I'm wrong — it's not a disaster. Six techniques at Beginner level is honestly not that expensive."
He ran the math. At sixty Points per day — a conservative Sign-In estimate — twelve days of check-ins would yield 720. Add the 502 he already had, and that was 1,222. Six techniques at Beginner level cost 1,200 total. Borderline comfortable, even assuming his luck stayed merely decent.
His luck had been better than decent. Among all current Group members, no one was outperforming him at Sign-In — his daily yield had consistently been above eighty Points. Twelve days at worst.
"At most I'm out twelve days. Worth trying."
Decision made. He spent 200 Points on Soru, then spent another 200 on Tekkai.
His balance dropped from 502 to 102 in an eyeblink.
And then —
Everything about Soru and Tekkai flooded into him at once.
Not a headache. Not disorientation. The opposite — a strange, clarifying brightness in his mind, like a room suddenly lit up.
Passages in Whitebeard's guide that had been opaque a moment ago became immediately transparent. Sections of Whitebeard's personal notes that he hadn't been able to parse clicked into place.
New information, new understanding, new experience, new memory — all of it simply present now, as though he'd spent years in Marine training that he'd somehow always had.
The basic, fumbling execution of Soru and Tekkai — both now accessible.
The sensation was the same as when he'd spent 1,000 Points to enhance his Decompose-Decompose Fruit proficiency. He recognized the feeling this time.
He let out a slow breath and felt something sharp flicker in his eyes.
He could use them. Both of them. Not well, not fluently — but he could use them.
His first instinct: find somewhere to try.
Which immediately ruled out his house. The two-storey building was not large enough for him to test anything meaningful, and if he went at it with Soru he'd take half the structure apart. Besides, the house sat on a street. Any significant noise would draw attention. That ran directly counter to his preferred development philosophy — quiet, steady, below the radar.
The goal was to grow without anyone noticing, right up until he was strong enough that it didn't matter if they did.
"If not at home, then outside. Which also gives me a chance to test my Devil Fruit control — see what level I'm actually at now."
It was close to noon. He threw together a quick lunch.
He ate an impressive number of bowls of rice.
At one o'clock, he pocketed his house key and walked out the door.
He needed somewhere secluded within the village.
Konoha was not heavily populated right now. One or two months ago, the shinobi world had still been at war — the Hidden Leaf had taken casualties in numbers that defied easy counting, among both ninja and civilians. The village had been quiet since then, and likely would remain so. There were plenty of spots where you could go an entire afternoon without seeing anyone.
Finding privacy was not going to be a problem.
As for whether he'd be tailed — he was, as far as Konoha was concerned, an ordinary civilian. Most people in this village had no idea who he was. In those circumstances, who would waste the effort tracking a nobody? Even Danzō, with all his conspiring and scheming, wouldn't bother.
He found it near the base of Hokage Rock — a small, overgrown copse of trees tucked out of sight. Within a hundred to two hundred meters in every direction: no one.
As secluded as secluded got.
The dirt path leading in was half-buried in weeds, barely distinguishable from the surrounding undergrowth. Nobody came here. The evidence was right underfoot.
"Looks clear. Let's try Soru first."