Twelve Basic Hand Seals

After the lunch break, the students gradually returned to the classroom, and Sanada Tomohisa arrived on time as well.

"Alright, everyone, look over here. This afternoon, I'll begin teaching you the twelve basic hand seals used to perform ninjutsu. Forming hand seals is the foundation of using Chakra to activate ninjutsu. Over the next few years, you'll need to practice them repeatedly every day."

The Elite Class classroom was completely different in size from an ordinary class's. Teacher Sanada Shiku now walked down from the podium and among the desks.

There was plenty of space in this classroom for the teacher to demonstrate ninjutsu to the students at close range. Ordinary classes did not receive such treatment.

"These twelve hand seals are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar." As Teacher Sanada Shiku spoke slowly, he formed the seals with his hands.

"Starting now, raise your hands in front of your chest. I'll explain the details of each hand gesture one by one. You can follow along while I introduce them."

"We'll begin with the Rat seal. When forming this seal, your thumbs must overlap, with the right thumb on top..."

The students below copied his movements one by one, practicing the hand seals. Whenever the lesson involved ninjutsu, the students' enthusiasm always ran high.

Shuichi listened with utmost attention as well. Even though he already remembered how to form most of the seals, he still carefully checked for anything he might have missed.

"You must commit these twelve seals to memory. I've decided to make them part of the final exam. You don't want to go home and face your parents with terrible grades, do you? So practice diligently over the next few months." After teaching the basic hand seals, Sanada Shiku reminded the students of their importance with a somewhat stern expression.

"Teacher, is there any trick to learning them faster?" Having just started school and already heard what would be on the final exam, some students began to panic and could not help asking.

"There is, and this trick is closely related to the final exam. The secret to learning faster is to imitate the hand seal movements while loudly calling out the seal you're forming, then practicing over and over again."

"There's no harm in telling you part of the final exam in advance. Within a set period of time, I'll call out the names of different seals in succession. Your task will be to form the corresponding seal as quickly as possible when I call it out. I won't tell you the exact speed required beforehand. In any case, you should find every way possible to form them quickly and accurately."

Because Shuichi had already added one point to his third skill, together with the effects of his earlier special training, his reaction speed and thinking speed were probably nearly twice that of an ordinary child.

This kind of test was extremely easy for him. He only needed to practice a little over the next few days to deepen his impression, and this part of the exam would already be in the bag.

For the next dozen minutes or so, Teacher Sanada had the students practice on their own while he drew the twelve hand seals on the blackboard. Before long, the entire class began practicing while shouting along with the teacher.

"Kurenai, your hand seals look pretty practiced. Did you train them before enrolling? How does your family usually handle foundational training? If it's confidential, then never mind." Shuichi was genuinely curious about how Ninja Clans trained their children. He wondered whether their methods had something in common with the bouncing-ball training he had come up with himself.

"There's nothing confidential about that. Most families in Konoha begin teaching us basic ninja knowledge once we become aware. It isn't very different from what the Ninja Academy teaches."

"At home, my father also gave me some basic genjutsu training. He told me to keep that secret, since it's a family secret technique. Sorry, Shuichi. Other families with their own secret techniques and inherited ninjutsu should probably be the same." What Yūhi Kurenai said was more or less what Shuichi had guessed.

Although these foundational lessons were not complicated, children from Ninja Families received systematic instruction from outstanding predecessors of their clan.

It was not just the content, but guidance in their way of thinking as well. That was why Konoha's backbone had always primarily consisted of clan ninjas. A civilian genius on the level of Namikaze Minato probably appeared only once every decade or so, while the other ninja villages likely would not produce even one by the end of the original Hokage story.

Since the war had ended only recently, Konoha Ninja Academy still maintained its wartime teaching model. There was indeed quite a lot of coursework in a single day, which placed enormous pressure on children under six years old.

After the final class that day, Shuichi could not resist asking Sanada Tomohisa about hand seal speed.

"Teacher Tomohisa, I do have some doubts about hand seal speed. Genin and Chunin shouldn't know many ninjutsu, right? They only have a few techniques that they can practice over and over in large quantities. Logically speaking, shouldn't everyone be able to activate ninjutsu very quickly? Why is there such a huge gap compared with Jonin?"

"That's right. If activating ninjutsu through hand seals were merely about moving your hands quickly, then repeated practice would leave little room for difference. Hand seals are meant to coordinate the Chakra flow required for the corresponding ninjutsu.

"The more difficult the ninjutsu you use, the more complex and difficult the Chakra mobilization becomes. So hand seals merely assist in releasing ninjutsu. Moving your hands quickly alone will only cause the technique to fail.

"How to coordinate them with Chakra flow is material for later. When I begin teaching you the Three Basic Ninjutsu Techniques next year, I'll explain it in detail."

He understood. It really was just as Shuichi had thought. In Hokage, those who could form seals at lightning speed or even with one hand were all people with quick minds and extraordinarily powerful Chakra control.

Though he wanted to learn ninjutsu badly, the Academy rules stated that it would not be taught until next year, so there was nothing Shuichi could do. Fortunately, there were no student combat drills this year. Otherwise, he would be at a disadvantage against children from ninja families who already knew ninjutsu.

Within a few days, Shuichi had adapted to the teacher's pace. Because he had clear memories of the original story, whenever he encountered more complicated theoretical knowledge, he could easily find corresponding examples in his memories.

This was also one area where the other civilian students were at a disadvantage. Since they had yet to develop Chakra, they could only predict how ninjas operated through their teacher's words and their own shallow imaginations.

During his first semester at the Ninja Academy, every day was fulfilling. The teachers covered a great deal in class, and some civilian students were already groaning under the strain, but Shuichi had no difficulty understanding it.

A week after school began, he realized that his abilities made handling the current coursework extremely easy, so he opened the system and added a point to his first skill, Physical Talent.

The system changed:

First Skill, Level 2 (Physical Enhancement): For every point the host adds, Body Energy (including Yang Release) increases by 100 [currently increased by 200; the effect of the increase is determined entirely by the host's original body without the system; maximum of 5 points]

After that, the school's afternoon physical training was basically just a warm-up for him. Most of the time after school, he continued training in the small woods until it was nearly dark before returning home.

At school, after learning everything the teachers taught, he often went to the library to look for material from later courses.

He guessed that someone like Kakashi, who could graduate next year at the age of five, was probably doing the same thing at home. Although Shuichi had no intention of graduating early, if he could finish learning everything from the Ninja Academy in advance, he would have far more free time over the next few years.