Your Talent is Loose, but Your Chakra is Compact (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The Shadow Clone Technique has this one particular inconvenience.

Unlike the parasitic seeds of Earth Grudge Fear, which allow for real-time sensing of the host's condition, progress and experience gained by clones only flow back to the original at the moment of dispelling.

Toji decided to set a daily deadline of midnight, at which point he would dispel all clones to tally the day's gains.

After leaving two shadow clones at home, Toji arrived at Uchiha Chirori's house for her routine neurological check-up.

As he examined her, they began to chat.

"Uchiha Bin has already led a new investigation team to track down Uchiha Yan," Uchiha Chirori said, sitting on the tatami mat. "I hope there will be a good outcome this time."

"Are there leads already? The last time you mentioned it was half a year ago."

"Yes."

Uchiha Chirori nodded. "According to reports from the most recent investigation team..."

"Half a year ago, a wealthy merchant in the Land of Rice Fields was kidnapped, and the kidnappers demanded a ransom of one billion ryo. By the time the family gathered the money and arrived, both the kidnappers and the merchant had been killed."

"The investigation team happened to be nearby and took over the family's commission. After a meticulous survey, the combat traces at the scene appeared to bear the characteristics of the Uchiha clan. Among the clansmen currently abroad, only Uchiha Yan fits the criteria."

"For some reason, she has been hunting down groups of rogue ninja, sometimes even killing the hostages in the process. Over the past six months, several incidents matching this modus operandi have occurred."

"It is basically certain that Uchiha Yan is lurking in the Land of Rice Fields and has no intention of leaving."

Impressive.

Toji praised her silently in his heart.

The Uchiha are truly the strongest clan in the Ninja World to be able to investigate to this extent within another country's borders.

However...

My apologies, but Uchiha Yan is a very useful pawn in my hands; I cannot let them take her back just like that. Type Zero and Type One would relay this information to her.

"Chirori, are you free during this time?"

Toji suddenly asked.

The abrupt question caught Uchiha Chirori slightly off guard. "I don't have much to do after getting off work at the Ninja Academy. Why do you ask?"

Toji smiled faintly. "I've been wanting to practice Fire Release ninjutsu lately. Would you be able to guide me?"

Uchiha Chirori did not hesitate in the slightest and replied readily:

"Of course, no problem."

Her answer was extremely crisp.

Toji smiled and said, "That's wonderful. I thought you might be very busy. Being taught by someone as proficient in Fire Release as you, I'm sure I'll learn quickly."

Even though she was the one being asked for a favor, the slight upward curve of Chirori's lips betrayed her mood.

"But... why the sudden interest in practicing Fire Release?" Chirori asked curiously.

Toji's decision to learn ninjutsu now was not a whim.

After mastering Earth Grudge Parasitism and the Shadow Clone Technique, he suddenly had much more time on his hands, which he could use to learn and master more ninjutsu to ensure he had sufficient combat power when operating his parasites.

Even though his talent for ninjutsu was very low, he still had to learn.

First, he would learn Fire Release from Chirori, then the other four attributes; he wouldn't skip a single one.

"Consider it a way to relax."

Toji said casually.

This was the truth.

For him, learning these basic ninjutsu was not a burden, but rather a form of relaxation. There was no loss if he failed to learn them. If he succeeded, watching the gray-white skill tree light up one by one would even give him a faint sense of accomplishment.

Unlike secret arts and sealing techniques like Reanimation or the Yin Seal, which were extremely difficult to master and required rigorous practice to reach proficiency—where any lag in progress would make him feel restless—this was different.

That would be detrimental to the physical and mental health of a long-lived being.

"Relaxation... I understand." Chirori nodded in realization. "I will teach you with all my heart."

"Thank you, Chirori."

"Why don't we start now?" Chirori pondered for a moment before saying, "We'll start with the most basic Great Fireball Technique."

Toji's talent for ninjutsu was far from ideal.

Because he only had a small window of free time each day, Chirori adopted the stance of a "strict teacher" to instruct him.

It took three days for Toji to barely manage to puff out a weak spark; seven days passed before he could project the flame slightly further from his body; it wasn't until half a month later that he finally condensed a barely-formed, launchable small fireball.

At the Uchiha clan training ground.

Toji performed the hand seals rapidly: Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A condensed, scorching fireball erupted, the raging flames engulfing the wooden stake ahead as the firelight reflected in the depths of Toji's eyes.

After half a month of study, he had finally mastered this signature Uchiha jutsu.

In his memory, the Great Fireball Technique held a rather embarrassing record: it had never actually managed to kill an enemy throughout the main storyline. Every time it was used, it was either blocked in some fancy way, dodged, or absorbed.

But Toji did not subscribe to this stereotype.

The lethality of Fire Release was arguably the highest among the five basic elemental releases.

Once an ordinary ninja was hit head-on, their body would be instantly scorched and carbonized by the intense heat.

As for its lack of decent kill records in the plot, one had to consider who the opponents were.

Kakashi, the Pain Preta Path, Killer Bee, Sage Kabuto...

Every one of them was the elite of the elite.

The Great Fireball Technique itself was only a C-rank jutsu, so it naturally didn't amount to much in the eyes of the strong, but it was more than powerful enough to deal with ordinary ninja, especially the fodder and rogue ninja outside the Five Great Villages.

Uchiha Chirori stood to the side with her arms crossed, watching the fireball Toji shot out, a look of surprise appearing on her face: "Toji-kun, although your talent for ninjutsu is quite poor, the density of your Fire Release is unexpectedly high."

"Being so blunt is truly hurtful."

Chirori lowered her head slightly, her tone earnest: "My apologies, but I am not joking."

She felt the scorching heat rushing toward her: "The Fire Release used by an average chunin, given the same amount of chakra, does not have the same power as your Great Fireball."

"The quality of your Fire Release is at least at the jonin level."

"Your lackluster ninjutsu talent has been compensated for by your superior chakra quality. All things considered, Toji, you could even be called a genius at practicing Fire Release."

"..."

Receiving such an evaluation, Toji did not feel surprised.

After all, his ninjutsu talent was his own, but the chakra used to fuel the Fire Release originated from the heart he had taken from an Uchiha jonin. When his physical and spiritual energy flowed through that heart, it was directly refined into jonin-level Fire Release chakra.

A ninja's heart, after years of long-term training, naturally produced chakra of a correspondingly higher quality.

If you put a jonin and a genin together, even if they used the same amount of chakra to release the same jutsu, the jonin would always be the one to win. Of course, Konoha genin were an exception to this rule.

"Thanks for the compliment."