The next morning, in the courtyard of the Uchiha household.
Although Uchiha Aozora had officially become a genin, he wasn't immediately required to take on missions.
According to Konoha's tradition, during peaceful times, newly graduated genin would first be assigned to teams, where they would grow under the guidance of a jōnin until they were ready to stand on their own.
Since team assignments had to be approved by the Hokage, Aozora had a few days of free time before anything formal began.
But resting wasn't part of his plan. He intended to use these days to learn a few jutsu.
"Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig."
"Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig."
Aozora recited each word slowly, forming hand seals as he went, carefully reviewing the basic gestures.
Back when he first transmigrated, he had practiced this seriously. By the time he was five, he could form three seals per second.
After all, in the Naruto manga, casting ninjutsu required hand signs.
But once he learned how to refine chakra, he realized that wasn't the whole truth.
Hand seals weren't just finger movements—they were tied directly to the internal flow of chakra.
In essence, hand seals were symbolic. Each seal represented a specific chakra quality, flow, or transformation.
This was probably too complex for most children to grasp. That's why experienced shinobi had divided chakra control into twelve categories, assigning a unique seal to each.
By learning the corresponding gesture and associating it with a specific chakra change, children could internalize the process through repetition.
Once someone mastered the twelve base transformations, they could begin combining them to perform full jutsu.
Aozora recalled a humorous post from his previous life, one that mentioned the absurd number of hand seals required for the Water Dragon Bullet Technique. When Zabuza first used it, he performed forty-four seals. Yet later, when Tobirama Senju cast the same jutsu, he only used three.
The comments were full of jokes like "Tobirama didn't want to bother" or "Kishimoto got lazy."
But now that Aozora understood how seals worked, it all made sense. The existence of simplified seals, one-handed seals, or even seal-less techniques was perfectly logical.
After that realization, Aozora had stopped caring about speed or mastery of hand signs. He barely even practiced them anymore.
Because in the end, hand seals weren't about finger dexterity. They were about guiding chakra flow and transformation—and in that respect, the Guiding Breath (Dao yin) technique provided by the Heavenly Scripture was far more effective.
The reason he was practicing seals again today wasn't because he thought he had made a mistake. It was simply because the scrolls he had chosen didn't explain how chakra should be manipulated internally. Instead, they used hand seals as a shortcut to describe the flow.
So, to understand the jutsu, Aozora had no choice but to pick up this forgotten practice again.
Shisui, already dressed and ready for the day, walked into the courtyard after breakfast. Seeing his brother clumsily forming seals, he shook his head.
Arms crossed, Shisui watched Aozora silently from the side, growing increasingly disappointed.
"He thinks he can learn every jutsu in the ninja world like this?"
"Did I make a mistake handing over all those scrolls yesterday?"
Yet Aozora didn't let his brother's scrutiny distract him. As he practiced, he gradually found his rhythm.
His Guiding Breath training had sharpened his internal chakra control to a high degree. All he had to do was align that control with the hand signs.
Snake, Goat, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.
Aozora carefully completed each hand seal while syncing his chakra flow to the corresponding gesture.
Whoosh.
A sudden brightness lit his eyes. He had finally aligned the seals with the chakra transitions. A wide smile spread across his face. "Haha! I've got it!"
Shisui furrowed his brows further, now utterly disheartened.
Great Fireball Technique was a foundational fire-style jutsu for the Uchiha clan, but among C-rank techniques, it was known for its difficulty. And yet Aozora had barely finished forming the hand signs before declaring success?
Shisui had never expected much from his little brother in terms of talent. The scrolls were meant as encouragement, not because he believed Aozora would truly master them.
Now he was beginning to regret giving them away at all.
Just then, Aozora began his first attempt at actually casting the Great Fireball Technique.
Snake, Goat, Monkey.
Shisui didn't need to see the whole sequence to know what jutsu Aozora was attempting. His brow furrowed even tighter.
"Too soon. Trying to run before he's learned to walk."
"I should probably take those scrolls back. Hopefully he won't hold it against me."
He didn't expect Aozora to succeed, so he didn't interfere.
In his opinion, Aozora's hand seal speed was far too slow. The chakra wouldn't reach his throat in time. It would lose form and disperse before he could generate any real fire.
But inside Aozora's body, the chakra didn't scatter or lose coherence. Once it reached the designated point, it simply paused—waiting patiently for further instructions.
After a few moments, Aozora completed the final hand seal. His chakra, now refined into something almost like molten energy, surged toward his throat.
His face turned red. It felt like a thin stream of lava had lodged itself inside his esophagus, its searing heat threatening to burn through his flesh.
But even then, Aozora didn't panic. He calmly adjusted the last bit of chakra control, finalizing the technique.
A surge of chakra erupted from his abdomen, feeding directly into the heat in his throat. Aozora knew, this was it.
He opened his mouth.
Fwoosh!
A narrow red stream burst forth and ignited on contact with air. The flame caught the wind and rapidly expanded into a fireball half the size of a grown man.
After about three seconds, the stream died down. The fireball flickered, lost energy, and finally dispersed across the courtyard.
Aozora gasped for breath, clutching his throat, still a bit shaken.
Meanwhile, Shisui stood frozen, eyes wide with shock.
"He actually did it? He succeeded? How?!"
He had been too busy with missions to watch Aozora closely, but he was sure his brother wasn't especially talented. Otherwise, he wouldn't have graduated at the age of twelve.
He had even heard that Aozora had only begun refining chakra earlier that year. His taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu were all average. Only shuriken-throwing reflected the Uchiha's legacy.
And based on his clumsy seals just now, Shisui had assumed there was no chance he'd pull it off.
But the scorched grass in front of him, and the heat radiating from his brother, said otherwise.
His so-called "hopeless" little brother had just cast the Great Fireball Technique on his first try.
Not a weak puff of flame, an actual, full-sized fireball.
Even for Shisui, considered a genius, it had taken three attempts to get it right. It had taken two weeks of practice before he could form a fireball of this size.
His mind spinning, Shisui rushed over, grabbed Aozora by the shoulders, and asked, "Aozora! How did you do that? How did you manage to cast Great Fireball on your first try?"
Aozora brushed off Shisui's hands and looked at him with genuine confusion.
"I just followed the normal steps. Was it supposed to be hard?"
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Hey everyone! I'll be dropping an extra 1 chapter once we hit 200, 400 power stones! If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to spend some power stones. I'd really appreciate the support. Thanks a bunch!