I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 528 Some people would rather memorize a one-time answer than memorize knowledge that can be reused.

"Teacher, is there really a country in there?"

In front of a waterfall, Shisui covered his ears with both hands and shouted with all his might. The cascading waterfall crashed onto the water's surface without making any sound that water would normally make.

It sounded like a building collapsing, with a stone wall crashing to the ground. A damp hurricane was sweeping around, and Shisui's clothes, though clearly soaked, looked like thin gauze swaying in the wind.

After standing there for only a short while, Shisui felt tightness in his chest and dizziness. His heartbeat, which he usually paid no attention to, sounded like a thunderous drum, echoing the sound of the waterfall.

Standing next to him, Tatsuma's appearance wasn't much better, though he was much calmer. In the strong wind, his hair didn't blow back into a slicked-back style; instead, it looked more like a bird's nest that was about to be toppled, fragile yet stable.

Looking at the waterfall before him, Tatsuma was quite awestruck by the sight, as this was his first time visiting the Land of Waterfalls. It was the power of nature, and even with his talent for "Overturning the Sea," Tatsuma didn't think he could achieve this with his Water Release techniques.

Tatsuma rubbed his ear, which was starting to itch from the vibrations, and shouted, "This should be it! Are you confident you can get through?"

Although he hadn't expected the actual waterfall to be so large, Tatsuma knew beforehand that the entrance to the Land of Waterfalls was a waterfall, so he suggested that Shisui use his own method to enter the Land of Waterfalls via the waterfall.

This can be considered a test for Shisui, but now it seems that the test is quite difficult. Forcing Shisui to cross the water on his own feels like deliberately making things difficult for him.

Therefore, Tatsuma planned to bring Shisui there himself. Although the waterfall was large, it wasn't a big problem for him.

Shisui hesitated for a moment, then looked at the waterfall again. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said loudly, "Teacher, I still want to try."

"OK."

Tatsuma didn't discourage Shisui's enthusiasm. He let Shisui try first, and if it really didn't work, he, as the teacher, would come to the rescue. It wasn't a big problem.

Shisui took a deep breath, silently muttering to himself as if he were hypnotizing and encouraging himself. Then, he tightened his backpack, which was bigger than him, and resolutely walked toward the side of the waterfall.

Slow-moving water will flow down the cliff face when it encounters a near right-angle bend, but rapid water will make an arc similar to projectile motion, moving slightly away from the cliff face.

The waterfall in front of us, at its innermost part, is still some distance from the cliff face. It is wide enough to accommodate one or two people, but due to years of erosion, the cliff face is extremely smooth, and in some places, moss grows, making it even more slippery.

Tatsuma stood nearby, observing Shisui searching for a suitable place to climb. The cliff face was thousands of meters high, making it difficult to find the entrance to the Land of Waterfalls. Only by climbing up to at least halfway would one be able to see it.

Therefore, choosing a suitable route, a route that allows for both advancement and retreat, is extremely important.

Shisui also tried to cover his feet or hands with chakra, but the cliff was more difficult to control than flowing water, and Shisui, whose chakra control was not yet up to par, could not climb in this way at all.

Therefore, he could only choose the "primitive" option of rock climbing. Fortunately, this was Zhishui's first field mission, and he brought almost all of his equipment with him.

From kunai and shuriken commonly used by ninjas to less frequently used grappling hooks and grappling hooks, these items, when arranged and combined, allowed Shisui to climb a considerable distance in the narrow space.

Further up, these ninja tools become less useful, because away from the water, although the cliff face is still smooth, it is no longer slippery, and one can climb it even with bare hands.

After climbing six or seven hundred meters, Shisui lay down on a small platform to rest for a while. Then, he remembered to wave to Tatsuma below and shouted loudly:

"Teacher! This looks like the entrance!"

The distance was too great, and with the roar of the waterfall, even Tatsuma couldn't hear what Shisui was saying. But that didn't stop him from understanding what Shisui meant, and he waved his hand to indicate that he understood.

Then, he formed the Xu seal with both hands and leaped directly into the waterfall. Instead of being splashed on the water's surface by the falling waterfall, Chenma went upstream at an extremely fast speed, covering a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

This natural water flow is indeed very powerful, but because there is no interference from other chakra, it is extremely easy for Tatsuma, the "Water Release Master," to control.

Shisui looked at the distance that he had struggled to crawl across with all his might, which Tatsuma had crossed so easily, and his face showed envy and a little admiration.

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have the talent for Water Release and couldn't learn his teacher's Water Release technique. This was the most renowned of his teacher's Five Elements Release techniques.

"What are you thinking about?"

Tatsuma burst out of the waterfall and landed on the platform. He reached out and rubbed Shisui's head. Shisui said, "No, I was just a little distracted."

As they were talking, Shisui noticed that his soaked clothes had dried up again, and Tatsuma, who had come out of the waterfall, also seemed to be very dry.

Although it wasn't the first time he'd witnessed it, Shisui's admiration and respect only grew stronger with each encounter. When would he be able to command his chakra and techniques as if he were directing his own body, just like his teacher?

Tatsuma didn't pay much attention to Shisui's emotions. Instead, he looked into the cave deep inside the platform, his nostrils twitching slightly. He said, "The air smells different. It seems this is indeed a passage."

Upon hearing Tatsuma confirm his guess, Shisui's face lit up with joy. In fact, he had been somewhat uncertain, but he had stopped here because he was exhausted and there was no other possible entrance in sight.

Just as Shisui was about to walk forward, Tatsuma shook his head and said, "Hidden places are often also traps. Don't rush. You should develop the habit of constantly observing and perceiving your surroundings."

Use wind-style chakra to spread it out through the Tatsu no Seal, and then capture your scattered chakra. The dynamic changes in chakra will reflect whether there is chakra interference in the surrounding area.

Once you've mastered it enough, you can tell whether it's a person, a technique, or something else that possesses chakra, like this.

Tatsuma formed the Tatsu no Seal, and his chakra spread rapidly. Shisui followed suit, but he couldn't sense anything because he couldn't "grasp" the dissipating chakra at all.

Seeing Shisui's disappointment, Tatsuma comforted him, "Don't think too much about it. I was almost ten years old when I first mastered these skills. You still have a full five years, which is equivalent to..."

You have your entire life ahead of you to study and delve into your studies; there's no need to rush.

Although Shisui nodded, he was already thinking about how to improve his chakra control. Both the rock climbing he had just done and his current perception revealed his serious lack of chakra control.

However, even these simple techniques derived from chakra control stumped him, let alone the medical ninjutsu that his teacher was good at, or the Rasengan with its ultimate chakra nature transformation, which are techniques that require chakra control beyond that of others to master.

As a student of a teacher, you can't be someone who is bad at everything your teacher is good at, right?

"There are several sealing barriers ahead, based on very basic principles. This passage is shaped like a lowercase 'b'. The sealing barriers will mislead you back to where you started. Come on, I'll take you there to take a look."

Tatsuma led Shisui to a cliff face. He ran his hand across the cliff and said, "Try it and see how it feels."

Shisui mimicked Tatsuma's movements, then paused to think for a moment before saying, "The texture is wrong, and the level of moisture is different too."

"Yes, this is the mountain wall that the barrier mimics; it's easiest to spot from the boundary."

As he spoke, Tatsuma used chakra to outline the mountain wall, and after finishing, he said, "This is the structure of the sealing technique. You see these dots, which actually form the molecular structure of the nearby rocks."

The lower layer of the waterfall rock formation is generally shale, and the upper layer is generally dolomite, which is sedimentary carbonate rock. If there is time in the future, I will take you to learn more about their structure.

You just noticed something was wrong. The chakra mimicry wasn't refined enough. It didn't take into account that the surrounding dolomite wasn't pure and contained impurities, so there were obvious flaws in its feel and absorbency.

Furthermore, it leaks air; I don't know if you can feel it, but this proves that the caster of the barrier wasn't particularly proficient in basic techniques like chakra manipulation.

As Chenma explained, he drew a few more strokes on the sealing formula. Chakra attached and connected to it, and the sealing formula was deformed under the pull of the chakra. The place that originally looked no different from the mountain wall was slightly distorted.

"Let's go."

After breaking the barrier, Tatsuma, with Shisui still looking completely bewildered, "passed through" the mountain wall and continued forward. This knowledge was still too complicated for Shisui at this stage. Without sufficient knowledge as a foundation, it would be difficult for him to understand Tatsuma's "problem-solving" approach.

Most techniques in the ninja world have accompanying solution manuals, but Tatsuma abandons these manuals and directly breaks down techniques using knowledge, sets up formulas, and answers them. The advantage of this is that he can easily understand and solve even techniques he has never seen before.

The downside is that it requires accumulating a great deal of knowledge. It was the dedicated teaching of Mito Uzumaki and Orochimaru, as well as the notes left by Tobirama Senju, that gave birth to Tatsuma, an "outlier"—conditions that others did not possess.

After walking for a while, Zhishui suddenly realized that the view in front of him was open and bright. A city seemed to be embedded in a cave under the winding river, and the hollowed-out mountain surface did not affect the lighting.

"Is this the Land of Waterfalls?"

Shisui asked a question, and Tatsuma nodded. He then untied the strap of Shisui's backpack and said, "A few ninjas are coming. Go and try to negotiate. If you can't, you're in charge."

As he spoke, Chenma's gaze fell upon the strange rocks, rising and falling repeatedly. He looked at the several figures approaching from this direction, his face showing no worry but rather encouragement.

Shisui's gaze swept across the group, and he quickly spotted the people Tatsuma had pointed to. After a moment's assessment, Shisui nodded and said, "Alright, teacher, leave it to me!"

(End of this chapter)