Rasengan

The next day, the butler told Aotian what his father had in mind. Aotian gladly accepted his father's decision to hire him a private tutor.

Although Aotian didn't understand why he was supposed to host a banquet for Lihuo, he could make a rough guess about his father's attitude toward the matter.

"Father gave me this task for two reasons. First, Lihuo and I are on familiar terms. Second, it shows that this isn't a big deal. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left it to me."

"You're right, young master."

"Please tell Father that I'll invite Lihuo, but only after I defeat him! I believe that day is getting closer and closer!"

With that, Aotian headed off to school without looking back.

In class, Teacher Oshima addressed the students.

"Everyone, let's welcome a new classmate today. Thanks to his exceptional talent and hard work, he's earned a place at the Ninja Academy. Let's welcome Might Guy!"

A figure dressed in green walked into the classroom.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Might Guy. I'm glad to meet you all, and I hope my youth will clash with yours!"

"Never give up! Keep working hard! Charge ahead through hardship and setbacks—that's what youth is all about!"

"I hope we'll all get along in the days ahead. I'll work even harder and let my youth shine!"

...(200 characters omitted here)

By the time Lu Miao, wearing earplugs, had already taken a nap, Teacher Oshima had "invited" Guy down from the podium.

Seeing that every seat beside Lihuo was taken, Guy sat next to Kakashi instead.

When Guy tried to say something to Kakashi, Kakashi raised his dead-fish eyes and said,

"Idiot of youth, pay attention."

Guy fell silent.

Obito, who had seen the whole thing, slapped his thigh wildly, struggling to hold back his laughter.

"Did you see that, Lihuo? There's always someone who can keep the bad guys in check! Kakashi acts so high and mighty, but the new guy, Guy, has him completely under control! Hahaha!"

His laughter was so loud that even Teacher Oshima kept glancing over from the podium.

"Yeah, I saw it, Captain Loudmouth. But you can slap your thigh all you like—why are you slapping mine instead of your own?"

With that, Lihuo flicked Obito on the forehead.

"Pay attention in class and train properly. Look at the state of your grades!"

At this, Obito lowered his head, though he still looked unconcerned.

"I'm just biding my time. Once I awaken my Sharingan, I'll catch up with all of you in a flash."

Seeing that Obito was still refusing to learn, Lihuo couldn't be bothered to say more. Meanwhile, Aotian, sitting beside Obito, was as attentive as ever.

And so, a month passed.

During that month, Lihuo never stopped training. Instead, he and Kakashi trained with Guy even harder.

Kakashi once demonstrated the Hatake Clan Body Tempering Method that Sakumo had taught him, but Lihuo and Guy soon realized that its training style clashed with the Strong Fist.

In other words, only Kakashi could get twice the results with half the effort from the training. For Lihuo and Guy, it was twice the effort for half the results.

Still, they didn't lose heart. As their physical strength improved, they increased their training loads and piled on more and more weights.

That month, Lihuo became a regular at the Uchiha Ninja Tool Shop, often buying training gear.

The results, however, were gratifying. Lihuo could clearly feel that his body had grown much stronger, and his chakra reserves had increased several times over.

What pleased Lihuo most were the extra rewards from the system. That month, he had coaxed, threatened, and bribed his way into patting most of his classmates on the head.

Most of them only yielded "10,000–50,000 yen." The small amounts added up, and Lihuo used the fortune for training and daily expenses, storing the rest in the system space in case of emergencies.

Some of the better-known students, however, yielded a good haul.

He patted Ebisu on the head and obtained "Basic Knowledge Mastery."

He patted Shiranui Genma on the head and obtained "Senbon Throwing Technique."

He patted Sarutobi Asuma on the head and obtained "Minor Physical Enhancement."

He patted Yamanaka Iwen on the head and obtained "Yamanaka Secret Technique: Perception."

Lihuo had dared to choose the Yamanaka secret technique because it was extremely powerful and wouldn't draw anyone's attention when used.

"Perception" worked like this: close your eyes and release chakra to sense an enemy's location, numbers, and characteristics. With enough practice, you could even accurately discern their speed.

Lihuo was overjoyed when he saw the technique.

"This is a rare Sensory Ninjutsu. It's not as good as the Uzumaki Clan's Mind's Eye of the Kagura, but it's more than enough for sensing enemies."

"On top of that, using it won't reveal the user's identity, so there's no need to worry about anyone tracking them down." So Lihuo chose "Perception" without hesitation.

"System, open my status panel."

"Host": Uchiha Lihuo

"Ninjutsu": Three Body Technique, Great Fireball Technique, Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, Great Waterfall Technique, Double Suicide Decapitation Technique, Earth Style Wall, Shadow Clone Technique, Telescope Technique, Shuriken Shadow Clone, Water Wall, Perception (There are too many techniques to list. To save space, some will be replaced with ellipses from now on.)

"Taijutsu": Konoha Strong Fist, Senbon Throwing Technique

"Genjutsu": None

"Chakra": 1% of an elite Jonin Hatake Kakashi's chakra reserves. Though you can't unleash ninjutsu to your heart's content, using five or six techniques won't leave you exhausted.

"Strength": Elite Genin

There were also many other abilities, such as "Physical Enhancement" and "Kage Level Hand Seal Speed." They didn't appear on the status panel, but had genuinely become part of Lihuo's strength.

Looking at what he'd accomplished over the past month, Lihuo couldn't deny that he was pleased. Yet for some reason, he'd recently felt a faint sense of danger, as if someone were watching him from the shadows, waiting for an opportunity.

Then there was Uchiha Aotian. He wasn't just watching from the shadows anymore. Over the past month, Lihuo had been able to sense Aotian's steady improvement, and the battle intent in his eyes had grown stronger and stronger.

To increase his strength and prepare for the coming danger, Lihuo was ready to begin a plan he'd long been looking forward to—training in the Rasengan!

There were three reasons. First, the matter of credit. At this point, Minato should still be a Jonin, training in the Flying Thunder God.

Minato had developed the Rasengan to increase his offensive power after mastering the Flying Thunder God. If Lihuo trained in it now, he might even develop it before Minato did.

Second, the difficulty. Though the Rasengan was an A-rank technique, Jiraiya had fully explained the training method in the anime, greatly reducing the difficulty.

Third, its practicality. As a hand-seal-free technique, the Rasengan was quick to use and highly destructive. What's more, it could be infused with Wind Style chakra nature transformation to form the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken. It also had tremendous room for growth.

All things considered, the Rasengan was the perfect choice for Lihuo.

According to Jiraiya's method, training in the Rasengan took three steps.

First, master rotation by using chakra to spin and burst a water balloon.

Second, increase its power by using chakra to spin and burst a rubber ball.

Third, maintain its shape by combining the first two steps and forming a membrane around the chakra. Only then would you have mastered the Rasengan.

Anyone who'd watched Naruto would be familiar with this training method. Naruto had trained day and night for a month before finally mastering the trick of using Shadow Clones to help him form the Rasengan.

With his "Kage Level Chakra Control," Lihuo could manipulate chakra's shape much more easily. That meant he could unleash a true instant Rasengan—starting with zero frames of delay!

To give himself more time to train, Lihuo even created two Shadow Clones. One went to the morning class, while the other trained in the Rasengan with him.

Soon, half a month passed.

Looking at the light-blue chakra sphere spinning rapidly in his hand, Lihuo's eyes filled with satisfaction.

He gently pushed it against a tree trunk.

The bark immediately cracked, then the trunk snapped under the force of the powerful rotation!

With a bang, the trunk crashed to the ground, kicking up a little dust.

"I did it!"

Hearing the loud noise, Guy and Kakashi hurried over.

"Lihuo, did you finally succeed?"

"Yeah! I'll show you."

Lihuo held out his right hand, and a light-blue sphere formed in an instant. It spun rapidly, radiating a dangerous aura.

"I've never seen this technique before. What's it called?"

"I call it the Rasengan."

"Huh? Even Kakashi's never seen it! Did you invent this technique yourself, Lihuo?"

"That's right! Want to learn it? I can teach you." And so, Lihuo taught them both how to train in the Rasengan. After all, they'd both become elite Jonin one day, and would have plenty of chances to learn A-rank techniques, so it made no difference whether he taught them now or later.

Just as Lihuo was explaining how to train in the Rasengan, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out, filling him with excitement.

"Ding! The host has independently mastered an A-rank ninjutsu. Strength advanced to Chunin. The beginner period has ended. Issuing the graduation gift now!"