Sleight of Hand

(Chapter 27: Sleight of Hand)

From then on, Uchiha Itachi would head home early every day after school. The expressions on his face became much more varied, and he would occasionally even show a smile—something almost never seen during the half-year or so they had spent at the academy.

Mirai continued to increase his training load every day. From ninjutsu to taijutsu, he was making slow but steady progress. Mirai's current point total stood at 20. Aside from the few strength assessments he had participated in early on, the rest had been earned through Uchiha Itachi.

Mirai's favorability with Uchiha Itachi had now reached 70 points, netting him a total of 7 points. Deducting the points spent at the very beginning, 5 of his 20 points came from favorability, while the remaining 15 were earned during strength assessments. However, Mirai had stopped receiving system shop missions for subsequent assessments; clearly, the system had determined that those were not even worth an F-rank difficulty rating for him.

With so many points, he would only need another 70 to unlock the highest form of the ordinary Sharingan: the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Yet, even with the Three-Tomoe, the boost to his combat power would be quite limited at this stage.

The most prominent ability gained when upgrading from a Two-Tomoe Sharingan to a Three-Tomoe is perception. While the Two-Tomoe can see through eighty percent of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan can see through over ninety percent.

It might seem like a small improvement, but that ten percent is often the life-or-death margin that decides a real battle. However, seeing through an attack is useless if one lacks the corresponding ability to counter it. It is like seeing a car speeding toward you from ten meters away; no matter how much you want to dodge, if you aren't fast enough, you will still be hit. Thus, Mirai faced the awkward reality of his own insufficient strength.

At this moment, the only thing that could provide him with real help was the system shop. Kekkei Genkai were the fastest way to increase strength, but unfortunately, even the cheapest Kekkei Genkai were beyond Mirai's budget, leaving him to search through the Martial Arts Pavilion.

The Martial Arts Pavilion listed every ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu imaginable. Everything seen in the Naruto anime was here, along with things that had never even appeared, making for a massive collection of content.

Ranging from F-rank to SSS-rank, F-rank skills cost 1 point to learn, E-rank cost 2, D-rank 5, C-rank 10, B-rank 20, A-rank 50, S-rank 100, SS-rank 200, and SSS-rank 500 points.

Seeing this, Mirai deeply understood why those "whales" were so incredibly overpowered. While he struggled to earn points through missions, the rich could simply buy their way to the top. The road to world domination was still a long way off.

Mirai naturally started by looking at the B-rank skills. It was only human nature to assume that higher ranks meant more power. The ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu he saw were all quite impressive and powerful, but for him right now, they were merely "adding flowers to embroidery"—a nice luxury, but not what he needed. He needed "charcoal in the snow"—something that would provide critical support when he was in dire need.

Mirai began looking at C-rank skills, but in terms of raw power, they were inferior to B-rank. If the stronger ones were just luxuries, the weaker ones were even less useful. While he could learn more skills, quality was always better than quantity, especially for a ninja. Uchiha Itachi himself was a genius; his ninjutsu and genjutsu were top-tier, and even if his taijutsu was relatively weaker, that was only in comparison to someone like Might Guy. Uchiha Itachi's own taijutsu was not inferior to other jonin.

Uchiha Itachi was famous for his ninjutsu and genjutsu, but his true finishing move was actually his uncanny shurikenjutsu. Even Nagato, with his Rinnegan, treated it as a grave threat. In terms of pure throwing skill, no one was Uchiha Itachi's match.

Mirai went through all the skills from B-rank down to D-rank, even reviewing them multiple times for fear of missing something important, but none of them offered any real help. A sense of disappointment began to settle in his heart.

Mirai held no hope for E-rank skills, as they consisted of the basic ninjutsu taught at the academy, such as the Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, and Shuriken Shadow Clone. These were useful in ninja combat, and mastering them was what truly defined the strength of a jonin.

Without any expectations, Mirai clicked on the F-rank category. F-rank had no ninjutsu or genjutsu, only a few simple entries like "Taijutsu: Punch" or "Taijutsu: Kick." Seeing this, he felt disappointed and prepared to close the system shop.

However, just as he was about to close it, Mirai noticed a strange name and stopped. He took a look at the last taijutsu skill on the list.

"Taijutsu: Sleight of Hand. As the name suggests, this grants the user hands with speed faster than lightning. As the rank increases, the speed of the hands grows faster. At the top level, one could even steal undergarments from a woman walking toward them without her ever noticing. Often used by thieves and perverts."

Uh, this description was truly speechless. Was he that kind of person? Still, he could try it out later—purely to verify that the system shop didn't sell fake goods, of course. A person as upright as him would never do such a thing for his own selfish desires.

Naturally, what Mirai valued was not this function. He was not a man who would waste points on such trivial things; he was interested in something else.

If it granted hands with speed faster than lightning, that meant his hand speed would be incredibly fast, right? It is common knowledge that ninjutsu requires hand seals. The more powerful the ninjutsu, the more complex the seals. Most destructive ninjutsu above B-rank require around thirty seals.

What does thirty seals mean? Assuming a fast speed of five seals per second, it would take about six seconds to complete thirty seals. During those six seconds, there is almost no way to output damage. In ninja duels, especially between jonin, 0.1 seconds can decide life or death. Six seconds is practically suicide, which is why jonin battles are often simpler and more violent.

The F-rank skill only cost 1 point. Although points were hard to come by, losing just one wouldn't be too painful, so Mirai clicked to learn it.

[Ding--! Host has purchased F-rank Taijutsu: Sleight of Hand. Cost: 1 point! Friendly reminder: Purchasing Level 2 Sleight of Hand requires 2 points!]