Taijutsu Training, the Sharingan Cheat

"Why?" Chiba asked calmly.

He might already know, but he still had to keep up the act of a master.

"Because..." Alili knelt on the ground and gritted his teeth. "Please teach me magic. I want to... become a wizard!"

"I'm not a wizard," Chiba said calmly.

Well, he wasn't trying to sound mysterious. He really wasn't a damn wizard.

"But... that power..."

"You mean this power?" Chiba raised his slender hand, pale blue mist swirling around his fingers.

"Yes..."

"This isn't magic power, and I'm not a wizard." Chiba stepped forward with a mocking smile. "Besides... why should I teach you how to wield power? So you can use it to do evil?"

Alili gritted his teeth, unable to answer.

"Boss, please accept us as your underlings!" the dozen or so young men behind Alili said in unison.

Chiba felt a headache coming on. Were they trying to force his hand?

"Go on, give me a reason. Convince me and I'll... I'll..."

"You'll teach me?" Alili brightened.

"I'll think about it," Chiba said.

"..."

Chiba said calmly, "What meaning does pursuing power hold for you?"

He stood with his hands behind his back. If there had been a breeze, his robes would surely have fluttered, giving him the air of a master.

Oh man, this pose is too cool, this presence is too strong, and this whole act is too impressive. I can barely keep it up!

Though he screamed in his heart a thousand times over, he remained outwardly unmoved.

If someone gave him a long robe, he figured he could even float.

"I..." Alili was stunned.

"Is there anyone you cherish?" Chiba asked.

Alili shook his head.

"When you find the meaning of power's existence, come find me again. As you are now, you aren't qualified to seek power." Chiba walked lightly toward the edge of the village, looking every bit the master.

"The meaning of power..." Alili was bewildered.

His lackeys stared in awe, each muttering to himself, "That's our boss's boss for you. Our acts aren't even on the same level."

"Damn it, I finally managed to fool him."

After leaving the village, Chiba glanced behind him, his heart still racing. Only after making sure no one was following did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Teach him Ninjutsu? I've only just barely become a ninja myself, and there's still a whole pile of Ninjutsu waiting for me to learn. Where would I find time to teach anyone?

He hurried home, only to find the old man sleeping in a tree. Chiba leaped up into the tree, hung upside down, and patted the old fellow's face.

"Hmm... ow! Oh my god!"

Still groggy, the old man suddenly saw a person hanging upside down above him. He was so frightened that he fell straight out of the tree.

"Old man, when are you going to teach me Taijutsu?"

Hanging upside down from a treetop with his arms crossed, Chiba spoke.

Only then did the old man realize what had happened and burst into curses. "You little brat, you nearly scared me to death!"

Chiba narrowed his eyes into a dead-fish stare, utterly speechless.

You're one of the Ten Wizard Saints. If I could scare you to death, you might as well give up your title and let me have it.

The old man coughed twice, dusted off his backside, and got to his feet. "First, make sure you understand the book I gave you. Then I'll teach you."

"The book?"

Chiba pulled the thin book out of his clothes. It was titled "Training and Circulation of Magic Power." He glared at the old man. "I still have to train my magic power?"

"What else? How are you supposed to temper your body without magic power?" Hodrian glared back at him.

"Then can I skip learning it?" Chiba asked, jumping down from the tree.

Ever since learning how to condense Chakra, Chiba had spent the past three months training it like crazy whenever he wasn't doing his daily combat training. Although he had far more Chakra than when he had first transmigrated, he was still a long way from the goal he had set for himself.

Well... his goal was to build up as much Chakra as the Nine-Tails in his lifetime.

No, that was Chakra by the ton.

Where would he find time to train his magic power?

"You little brat, it's not like I'm asking you to train a lot of magic power! Taijutsu is mainly about the body! Magic power is only used to strengthen your cells!" The old man bristled and glared.

"You're sure I don't need much magic power?" Chiba asked suspiciously.

"I'm sure!" the old man said with certainty.

"All right!"

Chiba then sat down on the grass and began studying the book in his hands.

Time passed slowly, and before he knew it, evening had arrived. Chiba gave the money he had earned to Mira for safekeeping, and the girl made a special trip to the village to buy plenty of ingredients. That evening, she cooked a table full of dishes.

The old man shamelessly sat down at the table and began chatting on and off with Mira and Lisanna, making the two little girls giggle. Chiba no longer doubted that the old man had indeed been good at picking up girls in his youth.

Then came the sleeping arrangements for the night.

With another freeloader in the house, they were terribly short of rooms. Left with no choice, Chiba had to share a room with Elfman. Hodrian had a room to himself, while Mira continued to sleep in the same room as Lisanna.

Then Chiba discovered that this mild-mannered, burly kid's snoring at night was downright unbearable!

With no other choice, Chiba went outside to rest in the big tree.

Three days later.

"Old man, I've pretty much finished reading the book, and I've trained a little magic power too. We can start now, right?" Chiba asked, sitting in the big tree.

The old man glanced at him, then walked into the clearing and nodded. "We can."

As he spoke, he lowered his center of gravity slightly and spread his feet, looking rather like a Taijutsu grandmaster.

"I'll show you the moves first. Once you've more or less mastered the techniques for applying force, I'll teach you how to strengthen your body."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hodrian began to move, going faster and faster. The wind from his legs sent grass flying in all directions. Every kick and step flowed into the next with tremendous fluidity and agility.

"Bang!"

His foot came down, striking the ground. The earth shook violently and cracked.

"Damn, that's awesome." Chiba stared in amazement.

The old man drew back his fists and said proudly, "This is a Taijutsu style I created myself. It's called Shadow Flame Splits the Heavens, and the complete set has a hundred and eight forms. The first thirty-six are kicking techniques, and those are all I just showed you. But even those first thirty-six forms are more than enough to deal with wizards below A-rank."

"Shadow Flame Splits the Heavens..." Chiba mulled over the name. Hodrian seemed to have said that he didn't know fire magic, so why... did the name of his Taijutsu style have the word "flame" in it?

Could it be that the old guy has some special fixation on fire?

"Kid, run through it once," Hodrian said, putting his hands behind his back and gesturing to him.

"Sure!" Chiba nodded and took the same stance Hodrian had just used.

He looks the part...

Hodrian gave him an approving glance.

Chiba began!

Then Hodrian remained in a state of shock.

Because... Chiba's kicks were far too good!

Hodrian had only used the first thirty-six kicking forms, and yet this kid had learned every single one of them!

And damn it, his form was perfect too!

He had only seen Hodrian do it once!

"Old man, how was that?" Chiba lowered his leg and smiled at Hodrian.

His eyes were blood-red, the state they took when the Sharingan was activated.

The Sharingan was also known as the Copy Eye. The extent of what it could copy depended on its user's own learning ability, physical fitness, and Chakra nature. It couldn't copy special techniques such as secret techniques or Kekkei Genkai. Although Shadow Flame Splits the Heavens was a Ninjutsu based on magic power, Hodrian had only asked him to perform the moves, which couldn't have been simpler for Chiba with his Sharingan.