Seven Hand Seals in One Second

(Chapter 28: Seven Hand Seals in One Second)

Mirai grinned when he heard this. I haven't even tested whether I can take off women's underwear without getting caught, and now I'm supposed to learn Level Two Sleight of Hand? Of course, he wasn't a pervert. He just wanted to know exactly how well it worked.

Just then, Mirai felt a surge of warmth pass between his hands. They seemed to have grown a little more nimble—or perhaps he was imagining it. He immediately began forming Hand Seals.

His hands moved so quickly they seemed like a blur. Mirai could feel a difference: he seemed to be forming the seals just a little faster, but the change wasn't obvious enough for him to be sure.

After thinking it over, Mirai decided to spend two more Points on Sleight of Hand.

[Ding—! You have learned Level Two Taijutsu: Sleight of Hand. Points consumed: 2. Friendly reminder: Level Three Sleight of Hand requires 4 Points!]

What a rip-off! Mirai couldn't help recalling the days when he used to play online games. The System Shop was just as infuriatingly exploitative.

Another warm current flowed through Mirai's arms. This time, the change was obvious: his hands really had become more nimble, and he could feel it clearly.

He'd have to test them to find out how much faster they were. His goal was to improve his Hand Seal speed, so that was what he used to check. He took out a stopwatch.

Mirai began forming Hand Seals as fast as he could. He ran through all twelve basic seals, then checked the time: four seconds. He froze. Twelve seals in four seconds meant he could now form five seals per second.

Mirai was stunned. Not long ago, he'd only just reached four seals per second, which was already incredibly fast. His ultimate goal had been a mere five seals per second—the average speed of most Jonin. Beyond that, it seemed that no one but Uchiha Itachi had bothered to train further.

At his peak, Uchiha Itachi had apparently been able to form six seals per second. No one was faster than him at performing ninjutsu. Once you passed five seals per second, even improving by 0.1 was incredibly difficult, because human reaction speed had its limits.

Reaching Itachi's level took both extraordinary talent and grueling training. Since further improvement seemed almost impossible, shinobi gave up on it. They were better off practicing the ninjutsu they excelled at, which was a faster and more effective way to improve.

A thought suddenly occurred to Mirai—one he suspected might be unrealistic. If it worked, though, he could become powerful as quickly as possible. He'd just have to test it.

Mirai continued by selecting Level Three Taijutsu: Sleight of Hand.

[Ding—! You have learned Level Three Taijutsu: Sleight of Hand. Points consumed: 4. Friendly reminder: Level Four Sleight of Hand requires 8 Points!]

Mirai let out a sigh of relief when he saw the message. Thankfully, Level Three wasn't the limit of this technique, which meant it could still be improved. But first, he needed to test what it could do.

He started the timer again. Mirai's hands moved like genuine phantoms as he formed the twelve seals. He finished in no time, his eyes fixed on the stopwatch. When he saw the result, he was truly stunned: two seconds. He'd formed all twelve seals in just two seconds. Had he reached six seals per second?

Mirai began forming the seals for the Great Fireball Technique. The sequence was Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.

In an instant, Mirai finished the seals for Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique. It had taken only one second. He stared, stunned, his heart pounding at the speed of his hands.

With trembling fingers, Mirai selected Level Four Sleight of Hand.

[Ding—! You have learned Level Four Taijutsu: Sleight of Hand. Points consumed: 8. Friendly reminder: Level Five Sleight of Hand requires 16 Points!]

Mirai practiced his Hand Seals again. If his hands had been blurs before, now they were actual phantoms. He formed all twelve seals in an instant, too fast to tell exactly how quickly he'd done it.

So Mirai started forming more seals. His hands flashed through them, and he formed five sets in total. Even a powerful A-rank ninjutsu usually required no more than that many seals. Mirai checked the time and saw a number that made his heart skip: five seconds.

He'd formed thirty-five seals in just five seconds. That meant he could do seven per second. Mirai's mind went blank. What did seven seals per second mean? To him, it meant just one thing: powerful. Incredibly powerful.

If Mirai fought Uchiha Itachi again now, he was sure he could defeat him with ease. Nothing—not even learning eight or ten A-rank ninjutsu—could compare to this.

And this didn't seem to be the limit. There was still Level Five Sleight of Hand, and Mirai didn't know if there were higher levels beyond that. He was out of Points for now, with only five left after spending fifteen. If there were higher levels, he guessed Level Six would require 32 Points, Level Seven 64, and Level Eight 128. The cost seemed to double each time.

No matter how much the cost increased, this was a way to grow stronger beyond the limits of human ability. Might Guy had opened the Gate of Death and surpassed the limits of Taijutsu. He'd nearly killed Uchiha Madara, who had become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

Mirai would surpass the limits of humanity with the fastest hands possible. If he kept going, he too could become one of the strongest in Naruto.

At that moment, Mirai wanted to shout at the top of his lungs and let out all his excitement. He'd been sitting on a mountain of treasure without realizing it. His cheat was right here, and he'd never noticed. As expected, being a transmigrator was awesome—no explanation needed. He didn't have Uchiha Itachi's uncanny throwing skills, but he could form Hand Seals faster than anyone.

Once his Sleight of Hand reached a higher level, someone else could still be forming the seals for one A-rank ninjutsu while he'd already thrown out two. Even if they didn't die, they'd be crippled. His future looked so bright that Mirai couldn't help laughing wickedly. The crows outside the window were so frightened that they all flew away.