True Great Fireball Technique! (Seeking Monthly Votes and Continued Reads)

"Hm?"

Just as Uchiha Ao's emotions flared, he suddenly sensed something and sniffed the air.

"Why do I smell something burning?"

Crackle!

As he pondered, Uchiha Ao's entire body suddenly convulsed, intense pain wracking him as if he'd put on a Pain Mask.

Seconds later, a wisp of black smoke slowly rose from him.

"Phew..."

He collapsed limply to the ground, only emerging from the spasms after a long while.

"Damn, got too excited and forgot I still had Lightning Release Chakra on me... No wonder there are so many Nigros over in the Land of Lightning—getting struck by lightning every day, it's hard not to turn black."

Uchiha Ao took a moment to recover, trying to exhale a mouthful of stale air, but what came out was a ring of black smoke.

Still, some of their women were really something.

Blonde hair, tall figures, and most importantly, big boobs!

On this mission, I could make a detour to the Land of Lightning.

Slap! Slap!

Uchiha Ao patted his face, clearing his thoughts.

Back to the main topic.

This Boob Release—ah, spit—Wood Release.

I must obtain it!

As for who currently masters this Ninjutsu, probably no one else knows except that one person.

With that thought, he turned his Line of Sight toward the Hokage Building.

"Since I have to earn this Hokage's attention and trust, then next month's assassination—I not only have to survive, but I have to do it beautifully! Win spectacularly!"

He was sure that the Hokage had an Anbu planted nearby, both to prevent him from escaping and to observe his potential and character.

As for character, he didn't need to fake it—just be himself.

So the most important thing was to show off strength and potential worth promoting!

Tap, tap...

That was the sound of Roof Tiles being stepped on.

"Who?"

Could it be that Anbu?

With that thought, Uchiha used a Body Flicker Technique, appearing on the street.

He saw a middle-aged man in the Uchiha Clan's signature High Collar Robe leaping toward the clan's square, with several other Clanmates nearby all rushing in the same direction.

"Hm?"

Uchiha Ao squinted at their backs: "Police Force Assembly... Looks like Cloud Village is making a move!"

But none of that had anything to do with him. With his current strength, neither the clan nor the village would consider him for the selection.

As long as he didn't stay in places easily spied on by Cloud Village, with the Second Generation Hokage in charge, the village was still pretty safe for now.

"Ao, what are you standing here for? Whoa, did you get struck by lightning?!"

Uchiha Ao's mouth twitched as he followed the voice.

It was the Original Owner's Bad Friend, Uchiha Qingyi Lang, also wearing a High Collar Robe, staring at him with a strange look.

"You're the one who got struck by lightning! I've become a noble Lede Black Son-in-law!"

"Lede... Black Son-in-law?"

Uchiha Qingyi Lang scratched his head: "What the hell is that?"

"You wouldn't get it even if I told you."

Uchiha Ao quickly changed the subject: "Why are you dressed like that? Don't tell me you're part of this operation too?"

He knew the guy's strength too well—on the front lines, he'd just be cannon fodder.

But if the guy died gloriously, with the emotional shock, could he awaken his Sharingan?

After all, this guy was his Close Friend of a few days! That's a bond!

Thinking that, he squeezed out a crocodile tear: "Go in peace. I'll take good care of your Sister."

"Screw you! Anyone can take care of her but you!"

A vein bulged on Uchiha Qingyi Lang's forehead as he snapped:

"Besides, who said I'm taking part in the operation? I'm the guard for this gathering. The real action's someone else's job."

Uchiha Ao suddenly caught on: "Oh... so you're stuck watching the gate again. I was wondering how the Clan Head could be blind enough to pick you."

"Get lost, get lost! And here I was, being nice enough to come check on you!"

Uchiha Qingyi Lang kicked him in anger and stormed off: "I'm out. You be careful too. I hear a bunch of Cloud Village ninja have gathered near the border."

Uchiha Ao rubbed his rear, grinning as he waved: "Thanks for the concern. I'll buy you a drink sometime."

"Yeah right, I'll be grateful if you don't treat me to bitter pills."

A voice full of resentment drifted back.

Watching his bad friend's retreating figure, Uchiha Ao's smile gradually faded, replaced by a worried expression.

"Could it be that the First Shinobi World War is happening early because of some Butterfly Effect from my arrival?!"

He stood there pondering for a moment, then vanished in a flicker. Back home, he washed up quickly, changed into casual clothes, and leaped toward the village.

"I have to get stronger, fast."

Afternoon, the sunset like blood.

"Hm?"

Not far away, Kakashi Takumi crouched in the shadows, staring at Uchiha Ao running upside-down through the village while doing push-ups, his face full of bewilderment.

"An Uchiha Clan ninja, skipping ninjutsu to train taijutsu?

What a freak..."

And so, after two days of relentless training, Uchiha Ao's Physical Quality finally reached the standard to open the First Gate of the Eight Inner Gates.

His Thunder Breathing progress had also hit ten points.

During this time, the feedback from his fate had deepened his understanding of Thunder Breathing, allowing his Physical Quality to keep improving until he met the threshold for opening the Gate.

"Next step, maybe I can start grinding the Eight Inner Gates' progress."

He wondered what kind of feedback that would give him.

Curious as he was, he still saved his remaining chakra and headed to a dense forest to finish the last two progress points for the Great Fireball Technique.

"Great Fireball Technique!"

The moment the words left his mouth, a five-meter-wide orange fireball burst from Uchiha Ao's mouth and landed on the lake.

Ssssh...

The fireball exploded instantly, water splashing everywhere as a massive cloud of steam rose and evaporated before him.

"Hah..."

Uchiha Ao wiped the sweat from his brow, his expression sour.

"This technique's chakra consumption is way too high. Just a while ago, it only needed a third of my chakra."

Over the past two days, ever since he pushed the progress to ninety-five points, each release of the technique had been visibly increasing in power.

And today? This single technique release took nearly most of his chakra!

If the fully trained Great Fireball Technique didn't change at all, wouldn't one use drain his entire chakra pool?

In the world of Naruto, chakra was directly tied to life force.

"Right now, I probably can't even match a tenth of Kakashi."

Uchiha Ao looked utterly speechless.

He suddenly realized he'd made the same mistake every transmigrator made.

He'd put himself in the protagonist's shoes.

Naruto and Sasuke in the original story were Sage Second Generations, blessed by their real dad, the Sage of Six Paths. They never had to worry about chakra consumption.

Tossing out a massive ninjutsu was as easy as eating a meal.

But he was different. His chakra was measured in grams—no comparison at all.

Still, inspired by a certain someone, he learned that if your power was weak, you looked for the reason within yourself...

"Since my chakra's low, I'll just pay to win!"

With that thought, Uchiha Ao pulled a Chicken Flavor Ration Pill from his pocket, tossed it into his mouth, and crunched it down.

Over the past two days, to keep his training on track, he'd used the silver taels Kagami Uchiha gave him to spend fifty thousand taels on five Ration Pills. Three for training, two for missions.

Whoosh...

A moment later, a surge of massive blue chakra flowed from his Dantian, instantly refilling his chakra to two-thirds capacity.

"This is power!"

Uchiha Ao stretched his arms wide, squinting in satisfaction.

After gradually drawing the Chakra back into his body, he strolled to the lakeside, assumed a stance, and while rapidly forming hand seals, bellowed:

"True Great Fireball Technique!"

Boom!

A house-sized ball of orange flame materialized out of thin air, distorting the surrounding air and rolling forth with waves of heat, slamming straight into the calm surface of the lake. Then a burst of white steam erupted, covering dozens of meters!

Under the impact of the massive fireball, the mere splash it kicked up reached over ten meters high!

Not far away, Might Duy, who was about to reach the lake, stared wide-eyed at the surging white steam.

"What... the hell happened here?!"