Inoichi had never taught his daughter before, but he had trained low-level ninja subordinates and knew that he couldn't let his daughter become complacent. Though he was excited internally, his tone remained light and casual.
After some thought, he said, "Hmm, not bad. You've barely met the prerequisites to practice the clan's secret techniques. Let's start training the Mind Body Switch Technique today."
Ino's expression was serious, her hands resting on her knees, sitting upright.
Inoichi raised a finger and explained, "The Mind Body Switch Technique is a secret ninja technique that uses the user's spiritual energy to seize and occupy the target's body. Once successful, the outcome is decided immediately. This clan technique has obvious advantages, but it also has drawbacks. First, it requires a special hand seal. Second, once you occupy the body, any harm done to it will also affect the user. Lastly, the attack range of this technique is quite limited."
Worried that his daughter might back out, he quickly added, "Of course, this is because the Mind Body Switch Technique is still in its early stages. Once you reach the Mind Disturbance Body stage, these issues will no longer exist."
Inoichi cleared his throat and continued, "Let's start by practicing the first stage of the Mind Body Switch Technique—focusing your attention."
It was clear that he had been preparing for this day for a long time. He unsealed a scroll he carried with him and took out five cards.
What are these?
The cards were covered in irregular lines. Ino glanced at them, and just that one look made her feel uneasy, as if something was about to burst out of her chest.
She knew very well that these were just random lines, nothing "indescribable." She looked at Inoichi, waiting for his explanation.
"The Ino-Shika-Cho alliance has existed for over two hundred years, but the Yamanaka clan's history dates back to the era of the Ninja Sect before the Warring States period." It was evident that Inoichi took great pride in his clan's history.
Konoha is impressive? The village is only sixty years old. The Senju and Uchiha were powerful, but they're gone now. The Yamanaka are still here! That's the advantage—those who survive till the end are the ones who have the last laugh.
Ino gave him a strange look, unsure what her cheap father was daydreaming about.
Inoichi laid out the five cards in order, and Ino immediately noticed the issue. The first card caused the least discomfort, while the last one was the most unsettling.
"Without specialized training, a ninja's spiritual energy is scattered and lacks force. To penetrate an enemy's mental defenses, our spiritual energy must have enough penetrating power. Look at these five cards in order. If you can clearly see the patterns and text at the center of the cards, you'll pass the trial."
Inoichi then handed Ino a bowl of a cool, ointment-like medicine. "Apply this to your temples, then remember the mantra I'm about to tell you: 'Nurture yourself internally, remain calm and empty. What was once hidden becomes clear, illuminating the form. Closing above is called existence, closing below is called non-existence. Non-existence serves the above, where the divine resides.'"
Ino applied the ointment to her temples, and within seconds, her mind felt invigorated, and most of her distracting thoughts dissipated. Inoichi's mantra was spoken softly, sounding unremarkable at first. But combined with the ointment and her heightened state of focus, it felt as if something beyond the physical was gathering within her mind.
Ino didn't understand the meaning of the mantra at all, and Inoichi didn't explain it either, but she still managed to grasp something indescribable from it.
She picked up the first card, and countless intricate yet extremely simple lines converged before her eyes.
At first glance, due to the optical illusion, she even felt that the lines on the card were rotating at an irregular speed.
When her mind was filled with distractions, looking at this would make her dizzy. But now, having temporarily forgotten about shifting blame, taking responsibility, and breaking someone's window, her mind was clear. Focusing her gaze on the center of the card, she quickly saw the answer.
She said with certainty, "It's the character 'enlightenment'.""
Inoichi nodded, signaling her to continue. The first four cards seemed relatively easy, but the fifth one appeared particularly difficult. Inoichi was quite nervous. Ino squinted her eyes, wishing she had a Byakugan or Sharingan or something. She stared intently at the center of the card, but the harder she tried to see clearly, the blurrier it became. Her mental energy was being consumed at an alarming rate.
In less than thirty seconds, she felt a dull pain in her temples, an external manifestation of overusing her mental energy.
Inoichi warned, "Don't focus on one point. When the image swirls, don't resist it, let it flow naturally."
After looking for a full five minutes, Ino continuously recited the mantra to keep her mind calm, suppressing the boiling sensation in her brain. Just as the effect of the medicine was wearing off and her mental energy was about to drop to a critical point, her body on the verge of collapsing, Ino finally completed the task.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she said, "I see it now, it's the character 'god'.""
Inoichi laughed heartily, very satisfied. His daughter's talent was even higher than he had anticipated. Back in his day, it took him a month and a half to pass this stage. Each failure required ten days of rest to recover the lost mental energy. He failed three times, and on the fourth attempt, he resorted to self-harm, cutting seven or eight wounds on his arms, desperately pushing himself, and only then did he barely manage to pass.
Ino seemed to struggle greatly with this stage, but in reality, the boiling and exhaustion were just her brain's self-protection mechanisms. She hadn't reached her limit. As an expert in mind control, Inoichi could see this clearly.
Ino also breathed a sigh of relief; she had almost given up just now.
She had been mistaken. She originally thought that the secret techniques of the Yamanaka clan were still ninja techniques, so she focused on improving her ninja skills. But in reality? This first stage had nothing to do with ninja techniques or the eight basic skills of a ninja. It was more like a test of mental strength and soul power.
Calming down, the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was off.
The Yamanaka clan gave her the impression of "you practice martial arts, I cultivate immortality," and the whole vibe was just strange. "Rest for ten minutes, then we'll continue with the second stage of training."
"Alright," Ino replied, her cheeks and neck drenched in sweat. Without bothering to wipe it off, she sat cross-legged, using meditation to recover her mental energy.
According to her guess, the next step would likely be to exploit her current mental exhaustion for intensive training. This trick wasn't new.
Ten minutes later, Inoichi brought Ino a stack of books over a meter tall, leaving her dumbfounded.
What was this for? She flipped through a few pages and found the content obscure and difficult to understand, with some characters she didn't even recognize.
"What is this?"
Inoichi didn't beat around the bush: "Read, read quietly, focus your attention. Don't rest tonight, finish reading these books."
Ino's eyes darted around as she roughly understood that the key at this stage wasn't the books themselves, but rather the ability to concentrate.
With an adult's mindset rather than a child's, she possessed sufficient self-control.
Ino sat at the desk, picked up the topmost book, and began reading from the first page.