Sasuke: How Could Takasaki Possibly Use the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique?

Ino looked down at her body as the water from the showerhead washed over it.

Her chest had started to swell, but it was still only the beginnings of a budding flower.

As a little girl, she couldn't compare with Teacher Kurenai when it came to physical development.

Was there another way?

An idea suddenly struck Ino. "I've read in stories that boys usually give girls flowers when they're courting them. But actually, boys would love to receive flowers from girls too. It's just that very few girls do that."

Her family owned a flower shop, so they had all kinds of flowers.

She could pick out a potted plant in a little while and give it to Takasaki.

After making up her mind, Ino felt a little more at ease. But just as she finished her bath and began drying her hair, another thought suddenly occurred to her. "But if I give Takasaki flowers of my own accord, it'll look like I'm pursuing him."

"How could I possibly pursue Takasaki? He's such a dead-last student. Without my cheat sheet, he might not even have passed the written portion of the Graduation Exam."

"Forget it. If anyone sees, they can misunderstand all they want. I'll just explain it clearly. Anyway, there's no way I'll ever like Takasaki—not now, and not in the future either."

A lake on the outskirts of Konoha.

Sasuke, dressed in the Uchiha Clan's attire, stood beside the lake with his hands braced on his knees, panting heavily.

Ripples spread across the lake before him. Steam hissed as the intense heat evaporated the water.

"Still not enough. My Great Fireball Technique is still a little weaker than that man's."

The man he meant was, of course, Itachi.

Whenever Sasuke remembered the scene of Itachi slaughtering the clan, hatred filled his eyes.

For the past few years, he had worked hard to get revenge.

So even though he always ranked first on every exam at the Ninja Academy, he wasn't satisfied.

After school, he never forgot to train hard.

He focused especially on the Fire Style techniques the Uchiha Clan excelled at, all so he could surpass Itachi Uchiha.

That was because Itachi had once used the Great Fireball Technique right in front of him.

The fireball he spat out had a diameter of seven meters.

Sasuke's Great Fireball Technique, by comparison, produced a fireball only six and a half meters across.

In the eyes of the teachers at the Ninja Academy, that was already impressive. Not only would students at the Academy struggle to match Sasuke, even some Genin who specialized in Fire Style could only just reach his level.

But Sasuke wasn't satisfied.

He had only one goal in life: surpass Itachi, kill Itachi, and get his revenge!

After resting for a short while, Sasuke swiftly formed hand seals again and took a deep breath. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge fireball burst from his mouth, instantly illuminating the darkness along the lakeshore.

The intense heat made the water beside the fireball boil.

When the technique ended and the flames died away, Sasuke was so exhausted that he could barely stand. His breathing grew even heavier.

At the same time, he realized that he seemed to have made progress!

The fireball he had just produced looked to be 6.6 meters across, an increase of 0.1 meters.

A hair's breadth can decide the outcome. In a real fight, that 0.1 meters could be the difference between life and death.

So even though Sasuke was exhausted enough to collapse onto the ground, he was in a good mood.

He gazed up at the bright full moon and thought of his father, Fugaku.

Ever since the clan was massacred, he had trained the Great Fireball Technique whenever he had the chance.

He had gone from only being able to use the technique once with all his chakra to being able to use it twice. He had made a lot of progress.

If his father were still alive and could see him, he would surely be proud.

Suddenly,

Sasuke heard the soft rustle of approaching footsteps.

"Someone's coming this way!"

Sasuke instinctively went on alert. He immediately got up and darted to a large tree more than ten meters away, pressing his back against its trunk as he warily scrutinized the newcomer.

It wasn't that he was overly cautious. It was simply a lingering consequence of the massacre.

He had used the Great Fireball Technique twice, and his chakra and stamina were almost completely spent. He was at his weakest. Even if Sakura Haruno tried to attack him now, he might not be able to fight her off.

So until he knew who was coming, he wouldn't show himself.

Before long, Sasuke saw a boy about his height come to the lakeshore.

"Of all people, it's Takasaki?"

Sasuke recognized him.

He was the dead-last student in Sasuke's class, and that morning, Sakura Haruno had reported him for cheating several times during the exam.

Honestly, Sasuke looked down on Sakura Haruno for reporting Takasaki's cheating of her own accord.

At the same time, he didn't believe Takasaki hadn't cheated.

He had just cheated well enough to avoid being caught by Teacher Kurenai.

Recognizing Takasaki, Sasuke relaxed.

Not for any particular reason, but simply because Takasaki was a dead-last student.

Even in his current weakened state, he could beat Takasaki with one hand.

The lakeshore was so quiet that Sasuke could clearly hear Takasaki muttering, "This place is pretty open. I'll train my ninjutsu here."

So Takasaki had come to train ninjutsu?

What technique was he training?

Sasuke didn't need to think about it. It could only be the Three Body Technique taught at school.

With Takasaki's dead-last grades, there was no way he could have mastered any other ninjutsu.

The written portion of today's Graduation Exam was over, and the next ninjutsu test was ten days away. In class, Takasaki had never once managed to use the Three Body Technique successfully. He had always failed.

So was Takasaki trying to cram at the last minute, training the Three Body Technique as hard as he could during these ten days?

"Dead-last is dead-last. He never worked hard before, and now that the final exam is almost here, he's trying to start. It's too late."

"He couldn't learn the Three Body Technique in six years at the Ninja Academy. There's no way he'll learn it with only ten days left, no matter how much he trains."

Sasuke had no intention of walking over to greet Takasaki.

There was nothing he could learn from a dead-last student like him, nothing that would help him grow, so Sasuke had no desire to talk to him.

At that moment,

Takasaki had no idea that Sasuke was secretly watching him.

He was concentrating on forming hand seals.

Like the Three Body Technique, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique was a ninjutsu the system had rewarded him with. It had been forcibly implanted in his mind.

Knowing the technique was one thing.

The first time he tried it, his movements were bound to be a little rusty.

The Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique required six hand seals.

He interlaced his fingers and began with the first, the Snake Seal.

It was the starting seal for most ninjutsu, and it also let him begin gathering some Fire Style chakra.

Next, Takasaki separated his interlaced fingers and touched the tips of his fingers together, with his left hand above his right, like a flickering flame. He formed the Ram Seal.

Sasuke sat on the ground with his back against the tree trunk, planning to rest a little before leaving. But when he saw Takasaki's hand seals, something seemed strange.

"The Clone Technique, the Substitution Technique, and the Transformation Technique each only require one seal. But Takasaki has already formed two."

Sasuke shook his head in disappointment. "It looks like he hasn't even learned how to form the seals for the Three Body Technique."

There was even less chance he'd pass the ninjutsu test in ten days.

Takasaki continued forming hand seals. He held his hands facing each other, with his thumbs tucked between his little fingers, and formed the Monkey Seal.

Then he held his palms facing down in a half-fist, forming the fourth seal, the Boar Seal.

Then came the Horse Seal.

A curious feeling suddenly stirred in Sasuke's heart. The seals Takasaki was forming seemed familiar.

"Something's off. Takasaki doesn't seem to be training the Three Body Technique."

Sasuke seemed to realize something. He fixed his gaze on Takasaki, his expression turning serious. "Those five seals are exactly the same as the starting seals for the Great Fireball Technique. Could it be..."