The Ninjutsu Chamber

"Ninja?" The two little girls seemed to be hearing the term for the first time.

But Chiba clearly didn't want to dwell on the question. He pointed at the burly man and said, "Did you borrow money from this guy to buy medicine and treat my injuries?"

Mira froze for a moment, then nodded.

"Uh... anyway, thank you both. I'll find a way to pay that guy back, or I'll just cause you more trouble!" Chiba said, scratching his head.

Find a way... that was all he could do. He didn't even know why he had appeared here or why he had the Sharingan. Where was he supposed to get the money?

They had saved his life, and they had gone so far into debt treating his injuries. They weren't even related to him, so he really felt bad about troubling the girls any further.

Mira blinked, then stared at Chiba's face and suddenly burst out laughing.

"You seem to have forgotten a lot of things. Why don't you stay here for now, until you remember everything?" Mira said with a smile.

"Uh..."

Chiba thought for a moment, then said awkwardly, "Then... thanks."

"Big sis! Big sis!"

Suddenly, a boy's anxious cries came from outside. A moment later, a white-haired boy a little taller than Lisanna ran in through the door. But when he saw a six-foot-tall, burly man lying in his house, he froze.

"He... Alili, why is this guy lying on the floor?" the boy asked, looking dazed.

He had rushed back in such a panic because he'd heard that the village thug was coming to his house to collect a debt. To keep the guy from hurting his sister and Lisanna, he had to hurry back and protect them.

As the only man in the family.

Lisanna explained what had happened to the boy, her voice full of admiration.

"Thank you for saving my sister and Lisanna. My name's Elfman. Nice to meet you!" The boy seemed a little excited as he held out his hand.

Chiba reached out and shook it. "I'm Chiba Uchiha. Nice to meet you too."

He remembered that people in the world of Fairy Tail put their family names after their given names, so he had introduced himself as Chiba Uchiha rather than Uchiha Chiba.

"Chiba Uchiha..." Elfman murmured, apparently finding the name a little awkward to pronounce. But then he said excitedly, "Nice to meet you!"

"Grrr..."

Chiba's and Elfman's stomachs growled at the same time.

The two looked at each other and smiled sheepishly.

Mira smiled. "Elfman, take Mr. Alili home while he's unconscious. Lisanna and I will make dinner."

"Okay, sis!"

Elfman nodded emphatically, then hoisted the six-foot-tall man onto his shoulder by himself. As Chiba watched, dumbstruck, he carried Alili out at a brisk pace.

Damn, he really is a future strength-type mage. How can someone so small be that strong?

"Chiba, I'll call you that!" Mira tilted her head and smiled. "Lisanna and I will go make dinner. You rest here for a while. You just woke up, so you'd better not move around."

It sounded like concern, but Chiba couldn't help feeling it was a little strange. Don't move around... hadn't he just knocked someone out?

Hmm... he hadn't moved...

Mira and Lisanna went to the kitchen to cook, leaving Chiba alone in the room.

"Sharingan..."

Chiba murmured the word, then carefully thought back to how he had activated the Sharingan.

"Sharingan!"

He called out in a low voice, and then... nothing happened.

"Sharingan!" (Chinese version)

Still nothing happened...

"Sharingan!" (Chinese-Japanese mix)

Hmm... it doesn't look like a pronunciation problem.

Think back, think back!

Chiba closed his eyes and carefully sensed the power that had suddenly erupted inside him.

All of a sudden, with his eyes closed, Chiba felt as though he could see a cluster of faint blue points of light.

Then the pale blue lights grew more numerous and brighter.

Chakra!

The word suddenly sprang to mind!

These blue lights were chakra!

Chakra was different from magic power; they were two different kinds of energy. But chakra clearly existed in this world called Earth-land as well.

Chakra could be understood as an energy produced by the perfect fusion of the energies of the various components of the human body.

And the prerequisite for becoming a ninja was... being able to gather chakra.

Heaven had clearly been fairly kind to him, giving him chakra right from the start and saving him the trouble of learning to refine it.

And he had started out with the Sharingan, one eye with one tomoe and the other with two.

As Chiba tried to see the chakra more clearly, a great door suddenly appeared before him.

Only then did he realize that his body had somehow appeared in this strange place!

Where the hell am I?

He looked around. Everything was pitch-black, making the lone door particularly conspicuous.

Four large characters were written on the door: Ninjutsu Chamber!

"Creak... creak..."

Chiba gently pushed the door open. There seemed to be light inside, so he walked straight in.

It was something like a library.

Dim candle flames flickered along both walls, giving off specks of warmth and light and bringing a little illumination to the dark place.

Ninjutsu scrolls were arranged neatly on the dust-covered bookshelves.

And the whole room was full of Ninjutsu!

He picked up a Ninjutsu scroll at random, brushed off the dust, and opened it.

[Substitution Technique]: An E-rank Ninjutsu that instantly swaps the user's body with an animal or plant.

It was the most basic Ninjutsu. In the original story, just about everyone who graduated from the Ninja Academy knew the Substitution Technique.

Still, basic as it was, the Substitution Technique worked very well in actual combat. When Chiba had watched the anime, it had given him quite a few heart-stopping moments.

But... can I take all the Ninjutsu here?

He carefully pulled it out.

And then... nothing happened in the Ninjutsu Chamber.

Chiba was overjoyed. He had been worrying about how he would learn Ninjutsu after coming to the world of Fairy Tail, and now he had found it without even trying!

His fingers moved again. He pulled out another Ninjutsu scroll at random and opened it.

[Body Flicker Technique]: A D-Class Ninjutsu that gathers chakra in the feet to achieve high-speed movement. The speed is too fast for the naked eye to follow, and the distance traveled depends on the amount of chakra.

The Body Flicker Technique was a level harder to master than basic Ninjutsu. It was a technique a Genin could learn, and it was likewise remarkably effective in combat.

Chiba took the Body Flicker Technique without hesitation. He wouldn't look down on these techniques just because they were low-rank Ninjutsu. After all, he was only a ninja who had just acquired chakra.

He kept looking, then pulled out two scrolls.

[Wind Release: Gale Palm]: A C-Class Ninjutsu that changes the nature of chakra to produce wind, then uses a clap of the hands to compress the wind and turn it into a violent gale. This technique is more effective when used with Kunai and Shuriken.

[Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique]: A C-Class Ninjutsu that gathers chakra in the throat, then expels flames in a single breath.

Two C-Class Ninjutsu!

And unlike the Substitution Technique and Body Flicker Technique, which were more like support Ninjutsu, both of these C-Class techniques were offensive Ninjutsu!

The Great Fireball Technique needed no introduction. It was the Ninjutsu the Uchiha Clan was best at, as well as the most widely used. Back then, Uchiha Itachi had learned it after seeing Uchiha Fugaku use it just once. Presumably, the Great Fireball wasn't very difficult for an Uchiha to learn.