Scrap Gauntlet

At dusk in the Chuanhe residence, Hui had barely stepped through the door when he was pinned by Amber's intense stare.

"Stare~, meow, it really is Hui. How are you going to compensate me for my fish? This time it was a special batch, and I've been waiting for such a long time."

Feeling as though he were being grilled by Amber's gaze, Hui broke into a cold sweat, raised his hands in surrender, and promptly fled the scene.

Sasuke's face darkened with black lines; of the two bento boxes mentioned, one of them was actually cat food?

"Phew, finally managed to bluff my way through. Better to stick to practicing ninjutsu. Sasuke, which scroll do you want to see?"

"Obviously, the [Shadow Clone Technique]."

"Here."

After memorizing the entire scroll, Sasuke took his leave. He planned to head back and practice first, intending to ask Chuanhe-senpai about anything he didn't understand tomorrow. After all, this was his brother's arrangement.

He didn't want to reach a point where he couldn't even catch a glimpse of Hui's back.

After seeing Sasuke off, Hui sat on a chair in the living room, quietly observing his own hands. Today's lessons at the Ninja Academy were rather dull; they were all things he had learned long ago.

His father had already taught him the essence of chakra, so he could not let his father's expectations go to waste.

Long ago, he had discovered that his chakra reserves were extraordinary compared to others. Could it be related to that thing on his back?

Hui was certainly not a fool. He had his own suspicions regarding his father's unusual behavior yesterday.

However, his own situation did not match the records of Jinchuriki. The tailed beasts described in the documents were all increasingly malevolent; they didn't seem like the type to actively share the burden of damage for their hosts.

Since his father said it was a good thing, he would stop dwelling on it. One day, the truth would come to light. He closed his eyes, carefully sensing his chakra.

Matter and energy—understanding these two things was far more difficult than chakra itself. If he couldn't convert them into combat power, learning them was all for nothing. Even if his father didn't say it, Hui couldn't forgive himself.

"Mass, kinetic energy, inertia," Hui muttered to himself. He began to gather chakra in his hand, coating his entire palm with it.

Energy exists by attaching itself to matter. To obtain greater destructive power, one must imbue matter with more powerful energy.

"Kinetic energy, velocity."

"Angular momentum, angular velocity!"

The pale blue chakra glowing in his hand slowly formed a vacuum gap away from his skin. It then began to rotate around his hand, forming a high-speed spinning gauntlet.

Hui opened his eyes to observe this technique he had newly developed. Attribute-less chakra, high-speed rotation. This feeling of familiarity—wasn't this the Rasengan his father had introduced before?

Hui felt a surge of excitement, as if he had discovered an incredible secret.

What if this "gauntlet" were larger? Wouldn't that be the Hyuga clan's Rotation?

Hui attempted to expand the scale of the technique. The gauntlet on his hand began to swell, but he quickly lost control. It was a failure.

He dispersed the chakra in his hand and tried to condense it again using both hands, following the description of the Rasengan. He failed again. After all, the Rasengan was an A-rank ninjutsu; it was unrealistic to complete it so easily.

Compression? Hui thought of the Flame Explosion Technique and its unscientific degree of compression. If he could extract that part alone...

Hui suppressed his restless heart; if he didn't control it well and it exploded in the house, that would be bad. At the thought, he shuddered.

Reflecting on his two failures, Hui quickly identified the problem. He only knew the phenomenon of the ninjutsu, but he was completely ignorant of the implementation process.

Take this Rasengan, for example: Hui only knew it required high-speed rotation and chakra compression. How high-speed? To what degree of compression? How does one compress chakra to that level? These were all questions he couldn't answer.

Using cooking as an analogy, Hui's current behavior was like trying to recreate a dish just by looking at a picture. His father's scroll was like a recipe, precise down to every step. It clearly stated what to do at every second and to what extent.

A true master chef wouldn't rely on a recipe every single day.

Sasuke was right; his father's scroll was a cheat. Even though the [Earth Clone Technique] was only C-rank, Hui had succeeded on his first try while looking at the scroll. He was too impatient. Could this really be considered learning ninjutsu?

Hui realized his shortcomings; his foundation as a ninja was too weak.

Following this line of thought, Hui discovered that the only thing he could call a strength was this chakra that clearly didn't belong to him.

Hui fell into confusion. His father had once said, "A ninja is not powerful because of the power of their techniques."

He had foolishly believed that as long as he learned his father's techniques, he could become a ninja like his father. He had been too arrogant.

He reformed the azure "gauntlet" on his hand. Seeing this, the first technique he had truly developed himself, Hui felt no joy. No one would be happy with a crude, shoddy imitation obtained after so much effort.

He would call it the Scrap Gauntlet. Hui intended to use this shameful name to bid farewell to his past.

"What's wrong? You've developed a new technique; you should be happy," his father's voice drifted over.

"Father, teach me the basic training of a ninja. I've realized that what I know is like a castle in the air—it looks flashy and powerful, but in a real fight, I couldn't even defeat a qualified Genin."

"I don't know taijutsu, I don't know genjutsu, and even my ninjutsu was taught to me by you through spoon-feeding. You were the one who taught me that haste makes waste. You should take this key back; I am not yet worthy of possessing it."

Looking at his own hands, Hui said with a touch of self-mockery, "I have named this technique the Scrap Gauntlet. I want to use this shameful name to keep myself alert."

Chuanhe fell silent. For a long time, his mindset had always been: faster, faster still. Ninja basics? What were those? As long as one possessed powerful chakra, there were plenty of shortcuts to becoming strong.

The strong? Chuanhe subconsciously thought of Uchiha Madara. This was a ninja who could be called invincible.

Following Hui's logic, Chuanhe imagined it. A Madara with a weakness in taijutsu? A Madara with a weakness in genjutsu? If he had even a single weakness, he wouldn't have possessed such overwhelming presence.

Five-element ninjutsu, Yin-Yang release, taijutsu, genjutsu, sealing techniques, cursed seals, ocular techniques, and even sage arts—Uchiha Madara stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world.

Chuanhe re-examined himself. His modern way of thinking was a heresy in this world. Facing problems, he had lost his drive. Just like when he educated Hui, wasn't he also just running away?

To avoid war, he had discarded his dignity, all while comforting himself with the thought: "Dignity is worthless when one is lowly."

He had avoided emotions; if not for Xing's persistence, Hui would never have been born, and he would still be fantasizing about someone else saving the world. I've already lived a second life, so why should I work hard to cultivate? No matter how much I train, I'll never be able to beat those cheaters anyway.

Hui, this is the second time you have illuminated my life.

Indeed, what is there for me to fear now? At worst, I die. Living this life once more has been enough, and besides, the contingencies I have set in place are sufficient for me to leave my own mark upon this illusory world.

"A good name. Hui, I will commit this technique firmly to memory," Chuanhe said after a long, long silence.

"Let us go to the river tomorrow; this time, I will teach you from the very beginning."

"Keep the key; you are better suited to hold it now."