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Uchiha Yue was confident he could win the bet. It wasn't because Tsunade was bound to lose every wager, but because he had confidence in his ability to control chakra.
Setting aside the other students training at the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Yue had already completed both the tree-climbing and Water Walking exercises. At this stage, his chakra control had even surpassed that of ordinary Genin who had graduated from the Ninja Academy. Take Uzumaki Naruto in the original story, for example. When he first started learning the Rasengan, his chakra control was nowhere near as good as Uchiha Yue's.
When he'd just practiced with the balloon in front of Tsunade, Uchiha Yue had nearly mastered the first stage of Rasengan training. With just a little more effort, he'd be able to complete it. That was exactly why he was confident he could develop the Rasengan within two months and win his bet with Tsunade.
Of course, training in the Rasengan on his own was still very difficult for Uchiha Yue. After all, he was creating the technique entirely without anyone's guidance, relying only on his knowledge of the original story. Uzumaki Naruto's ability to master the Rasengan in such a short time was definitely thanks in no small part to Jiraiya's help.
There was a world of difference between training under the guidance of Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, and training alone with only one's knowledge of the original story.
So even though Uchiha Yue was confident he could finish the Rasengan within two months, when necessary, he would still have to set aside some of his other training and devote that time to developing the technique. After all, Uchiha Yue was just as competitive as anyone else. He didn't want to lose to the irritating Tsunade!
"Yue, you haven't been practicing your kunai throwing much lately. Have you switched to playing with balloons?"
That afternoon, Uchiha Obito had grown tired from training alongside Uchiha Yue, so he went over to see what he was doing. But when he saw Uchiha Yue playing with a balloon again, a puzzled look came over his face. Frowning, he asked,
"Obito, everyone trains differently. I'm just following the method that works best for me."
Uchiha Yue let the chakra inside the balloon dissipate, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and explained to Uchiha Obito, "I haven't given up on practicing my kunai throwing. I've just hit a bottleneck, and I can't make any more progress in a short time. I can only break through it by training hard every day. So I spend my other free time practicing chakra control. What I'm doing now is chakra control training."
"Huh? You need technique to use chakra?"
Clearly, Uchiha Obito, who was still training at the Ninja Academy, couldn't understand what Uchiha Yue was saying.
Just like Uzumaki Naruto and the others in the original story, before they met Hatake Kakashi, they relied entirely on what they'd learned at the Ninja Academy and overlooked chakra control training. That was why their strength improved so rapidly after they successfully completed the tree-climbing exercise.
In other words, chakra control training went far beyond what the Ninja Academy taught.
Only after graduating from the Ninja Academy and becoming Genin would a Genin instructor begin teaching them how to control chakra.
Seeing the bewildered look on Uchiha Obito's face, Uchiha Yue shook his head helplessly and slowly walked over to a tree. Then he gathered chakra in his feet and climbed the towering tree as easily as if he were walking on level ground. Uchiha Obito was already dumbfounded the moment Uchiha Yue started climbing. He'd never imagined the gap between them could be so huge.
"S-so amazing!"
Watching Uchiha Yue "walk" up to the top of the tree, Uchiha Obito stared in astonishment, his eyes gleaming with an indescribable light.
After spending so much time with Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Yue knew exactly what that expression meant.
At Uchiha Obito's urging, Uchiha Yue began teaching him how to climb trees. However, as he guided Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Yue only had him practice nearby while he continued staring at the balloon in his hands. In just three short days of training, Uchiha Yue had realized that he still hadn't completed the first stage of Rasengan training. Even he was surprised. How could he still have failed to finish the first stage, given his level of chakra control?
Looking back at how Jiraiya had taught Uzumaki Naruto the Rasengan in the original story, Uchiha Yue divided Rasengan training into four stages.
The first stage was to concentrate chakra in the palm. Uchiha Yue had already been able to do that after completing the tree-climbing and Water Walking exercises.
The second stage was to control the chakra so it rotated steadily and continuously, bursting the water balloon in his hand.
The third stage was to further increase the force of the chakra's rotation, bursting a rubber ball a hundred times tougher than a balloon.
After completing the first three stages, he only needed to maintain the training from the second and third stages at the same time to master the Rasengan.
However, while training in the second stage, Uchiha Yue noticed flaws in his chakra control. He realized that even with his tremendous mental energy, he still made mistakes when controlling the finer details of his chakra. For three whole days, he repeatedly practiced bursting the balloon in his hand. After he managed to burst it, he began filling it with water to train.
It was clear that Uchiha Yue had made progress over those three days. At first, he could only burst an empty balloon; now he could burst one filled with water. Even so, he still felt that his progress was slow. In his own view, with his powerful mental energy, he should have completed the second stage two days ago.
He had to admit that the gradual appearance of his training talent had made him impatient.
After all, Uchiha Yue's reputation at the Ninja Academy had already begun to surpass Hatake Kakashi's. No matter how mature he was, a little impatience now and then was understandable. So Uchiha Yue continued his monotonous training, using it to smooth the rough edges of his heart. He also felt that his emotions had been unsettled lately.
At last...
After training for a full three hours, a sharp POP! rang out as the water-filled balloon in Uchiha Yue's hand burst!
Although the water inside splashed all over Uchiha Yue, his expression didn't change in the slightest. He was simply delighted.
At the same time, Uchiha Yue saw that Uchiha Obito could now run up the towering tree and make it halfway to the top.
Seeing that both he and Uchiha Obito were making good progress, a smile appeared on Uchiha Yue's face.
"I didn't expect Obito to have such good talent, too."
"If I didn't have mental energy beyond that of ordinary people, there's no way I could have completed the tree-climbing exercise as quickly as Obito did."
"No wonder Uchiha Madara chose Obito as his successor in the original story."
"I bet Uchiha Madara had already spotted Obito's talent and deliberately set a trap in Konoha to lead him down the path of darkness!"
Silently reflecting on this, Uchiha Yue watched his friend sweat through his training and clenched his fists.
Now that he had come to the world of Naruto, Uchiha Yue would live the way he wanted. He'd let all that original-story plot go to hell!
After Uchiha Yue and Uchiha Obito finished training at the Ninja Academy, they each returned home to get ready for dinner. Uchiha Yue planned to continue training after the meal, of course. But since his father, Uchiha Nara, had completed a mission and was coming home to join the family, Uchiha Yue had made a point of returning home for dinner.
After dinner, Uchiha Yue finally had time to talk with his father, Uchiha Nara, and was ready to ask him about a few things.
After all, Uchiha Nara was an elite jonin of Konoha. Uchiha Yue believed that with his father's guidance, he could solve some of the problems he was having with his training.
However, just as Uchiha Yue opened his mouth to ask his father about his training, Uchiha Nara suddenly handed him a white sheet of paper.
As Uchiha Yue stared at the paper in surprise, Uchiha Nara smiled and asked, "Yue, are you interested in learning ninjutsu?"
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