Fire Style! Great Fireball Point-Blank Technique!

On the Hokage Rock, at the training ground.

"That's Kakashi's technique!"

Jiraiya was puzzled. What was with this kid?

"Why are you always fixating on other people's techniques?"

He was quite unhappy. Did Qing Xuan really think so little of him and Liu Yun? Was he going to keep leeching off Minato and his students?

Qing Xuan was helpless too. As a ten-year veteran reader of spin-off fanfiction, he was sorely lacking in knowledge about developing new techniques.

"How am I supposed to guess that?"

Jiraiya had wanted to keep him in suspense, but he was afraid Tsunade would find a chance to beat him up, so he decided to come clean.

"It's a hand-seal-less technique, you idiot!"

Rustle, rustle...

Leaves spun as the wind carried them down. Qing Xuan's eyes suddenly lit up.

"A hand-seal-less technique?"

He pointed at himself in disbelief.

"You're willing to teach me?"

"Hmph!"

Jiraiya gave an arrogant snort. What was so surprising about that? What else would he be here for if not to teach him?

He told Qing Xuan to activate his Sharingan and demonstrated. "A single tomoe can't copy techniques yet, but your powers of observation are still very sharp."

"Watch closely!"

Jiraiya gave a thunderous shout. After a moment's preparation, he suddenly brought his hands together and clapped them in front of his chest.

"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"

Rumble.

The ground trembled lightly. Fresh soil churned up from the grass, gathered and hardened, then slowly rose into a thick earthen wall.

Qing Xuan stared intently at the scene, not missing a single detail.

Sure enough, there were no hand seals!

But wasn't this technique one that didn't require hand seals? In the story, hadn't plenty of people just shouted and clapped their hands before a wall of earth appeared?

He was puzzled, but the Sharingan's keen powers of observation still let him notice something.

Jiraiya's tips and techniques for making hand seals with his toes, insights on modifying Chakra flow, tactical toe-sealing techniques... Value assessment in progress—spend 1,017 Soul Points to copy and reproduce?

Well, would you look at that! Qing Xuan was stunned.

So they really did make hand seals with their toes?

Come to think of it, did their shinobi sandals leave their toes exposed for the sake of making hand seals?

But it wasn't cool at all!

Qing Xuan glanced at Haku beside him. The girl had already looked serious, and now she was watching Jiraiya with rapt attention. She wasn't picky. As long as something was useful, she was willing to learn it.

Jiraiya was still happily rambling away.

"Come to think of it, I was the first one to come up with this idea! Hand seals are so cumbersome in battle, so I wondered if we could use some movements of the feet to replace certain seals and provide support."

"But Liu Yun suggested that since we all have ten digits, why not use our toes in place of our fingers to make hand seals? He always insists on taking everything to the extreme. That's one of the things I really admire about him."

"So, after two or three years of development, it's still not quite perfect, but we finally managed to create it..."

Jiraiya lifted his face proudly. Sunlight fell over him, promising a bright future.

He looked at Qing Xuan, as though he could see that future in him, too.

"Now, are you ready to take up your father's unfinished path and keep moving forward?"

Jiraiya truly deserved his reputation as the man who gave him "a gift from his father." This time, Qing Xuan finally got to experience Naruto's treatment.

He glanced at Haku again, then casually asked, "You've developed toe hand seals. Can you do one-handed hand seals too?"

Jiraiya looked surprised. "Of course I can. What, are you interested in that too?"

"Interested isn't quite the word. I just think one-handed hand seals look cooler."

Afternoon.

The setting sun shone over the little lake, its surface glittering as it reflected the two figures standing on the small pier.

It was a spring afternoon, and a gentle breeze brought a hint of coolness. But suddenly, the air began to grow hotter.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A blazing burst of light shot toward the sky. Heat shimmered over the lake, like another fire cloud rising from its waters. The waves of heat swept in and scattered the breeze, filling the air above the lake.

Like mist above a glowing-hot iron plate, the steam rapidly rose. In an instant, a thin fog shrouded the entire lake.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Only then did the wind suddenly pick up. It scattered the mist and whipped the hem of Fugaku Uchiha's clothes into a wild dance!

"This is one of the Uchiha Clan's basic techniques..."

The remaining flames drifted gently by Fugaku's lips. He calmly lowered his right hand. The fireball he had just unleashed hadn't even caught the corner of his eye; his Three Tomoe gaze was fixed only on the nephew beside him.

"Only after mastering this technique can you be considered a Uchiha capable of standing on your own."

"The one who wields the fan that commands flames. That is the meaning of the Uchiha Clan crest. And the Uchiha Clan must have at least one or two Fire Style techniques worth showing off."

As he spoke, the anticipation in his eyes grew stronger.

Qing Xuan had been learning techniques from other clans lately, and it had already upset many of the clan members, even though those people were sons of the Third Hokage or one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya.

How could the Young Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan not know Fire Style? Even the most conservative members had reminded Fugaku more than once.

Elder Shana had even pounded the table and declared that if the clan head refused to take responsibility for nurturing the next generation, they would overstep and teach Qing Xuan themselves.

So Fugaku had brought Qing Xuan to the place where he had taught Itachi. He was also curious to see just how much more talented Qing Xuan was than Liu Yun.

"I've already explained the hand seals. First, create Chakra inside your body and gather it temporarily between your mouth and chest. Then force it all out in one go."

He watched Qing Xuan, then stepped aside.

"Come on! Let's see how much you've mastered."

A top-tier Great Fireball Technique—assessing value—349 Soul Points.

It cost about as much as Itachi's throwing experience.

But Qing Xuan was still unsure. He wondered whether it was worth paying such a steep price to learn the Great Fireball Technique, which supposedly had a zero-kill record.

He looked silently at the lake, still shrouded in mist, then decided to see if he could learn it on his own first.

Between the mouth and the chest? Wasn't that just the windpipe?

He memorized all the hand seals, then went over them in his mind several times. When he finally opened his eyes, a glint flashed in his pupils. But instead of demonstrating the technique right away, he drew a kunai and held it horizontally in front of him.

"Uncle, it's boring to just fire at the lake. Why don't we put it to the test in a real fight?"

Fugaku didn't oppose the idea. He eyed Qing Xuan, who had taken up a full-on offensive stance, stepped back half a pace, and beckoned for him to make the first move.

A smile crept across Qing Xuan's face. His black hair whipped about as he darted forward without hesitation. The kunai traced a curve in his hand, its blade reversed, then shot straight toward Fugaku's face.

"Clack."

A large hand appeared right in the kunai's path and firmly seized Qing Xuan's right hand.

Three tomoe slowly revolved in the Scarlet Eyes. Fugaku held Qing Xuan aloft, calmly waiting for his next move.

And yet.

Si — Wei — Shen — Hai — Wu — Yin

His free left hand swiftly formed the seals in midair.

Amid a flurry of afterimages, the wind surged. As the heat rose furiously, a gigantic fireball came straight at him.

"Fire Style! Great Fireball Point-Blank Technique!"