Rasengan

As the Explosive Tag detonated, the fireball was scattered by Li Yi's own explosive. At that moment, Li Yi shot a glare toward the burly man. Upon meeting Li Yi's gaze, the man felt an instant of disorientation; Li Yi had unleashed the Shackles of the Heart Technique, a minor Uchiha Clan genjutsu capable of briefly controlling a person's mind.

Of course, if such a genjutsu were used in conjunction with the Sharingan, the effect would be self-evident—even a Jonin would have to be wary of falling for it. However, since Li Yi lacked the Sharingan, he had to rely entirely on his own formidable spiritual energy to trigger it.

While the man was still dazed, Li Yi had already flung three shuriken, aiming straight for the man's face, heart, and throat.

At the critical moment, the man broke free from Li Yi's genjutsu. Seeing the incoming shuriken, he had no choice but to block with his arms. As the three shuriken pierced his flesh, the man let out a miserable shriek.

Li Yi leaped into the air and shouted, "Dance of the Crescent Moon!"

In an instant, Li Yi split into three figures, attacking the man from different directions. Having never seen such a maneuver, the man could only attempt to defend with his kunai, but he clearly chose the wrong target; Li Yi's Ryujin Jakka had already sliced across his throat.

Clutching his neck, the man tumbled from the rooftop and fell to his death.

Li Yi noticed a thin, transparent thread—slightly thicker than the others—being absorbed by Ryujin Jakka. He fell into deep thought; it seemed that if he wanted to activate Ryujin Jakka, he would indeed need to kill.

The rest were merely ordinary people, and Li Yi harvested them with ease. Strangely enough, he had expected to feel some discomfort at taking lives, but he felt absolutely nothing. This led Li Yi to silently mock himself, wondering if he was a natural-born executioner.

Just then, Uchiha Kagami flickered into existence before him. He looked at Li Yi, nodded, and said, "Clean up. We're heading back to the village."

Li Yi was initially confused, but he quickly understood and began searching the mountain stronghold. To his surprise, he found quite a bit of money. Meanwhile, Uchiha Kagami helped him drag all the corpses together into a pile.

Giving Li Yi a look, Li Yi clasped his hands together and chanted, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

As the sea of flames erupted, everything returned to dust and ashes.

After returning to Konoha with Uchiha Kagami, the latter remarked, "A ninja must support themselves by taking on missions. Of course, sometimes the Hokage will assign them directly. I accompanied you this time, but next time, you will have to leave the village to execute missions on your own."

Li Yi understood that his situation was unique—he was a late bloomer, and having Uchiha Kagami guide him already put him ahead of many others.

In reality, ninjas graduating from the Ninja Academy were assigned to teams, but since Li Yi had never attended the academy, he naturally had no teammates.

"By the way, the border is currently very unstable. You must prioritize strengthening your own abilities, do you understand?" Uchiha Kagami said, lowering his voice after a moment of thought.

Li Yi was stunned. Why tell him this? He quickly realized what Uchiha Kagami meant: he should focus on increasing his strength as quickly as possible and not waste his training time on missions. He only needed to take enough missions to cover his daily expenses; the priority was growth.

Because once war broke out, all ninjas might be sent to the front lines. At that point, every bit of extra strength would be a capital for survival.

"Teacher, I understand!" Li Yi replied quickly.

Uchiha Kagami nodded slightly, patted Li Yi on the shoulder, and departed.

Li Yi returned to Kosuke's home. There was no helping it; he didn't have the money to buy a house yet and had to crash at Kosuke's place.

Seeing Li Yi return, Kosuke asked, "Did it go smoothly?"

After all, this was Li Yi's first mission. Even though he had returned alive, no one knew if it was only because he had an elite Jonin like Uchiha Kagami as his teacher, so Kosuke wanted to gauge his progress.

Li Yi nodded and briefly described the mission; after all, there was no need for secrecy regarding such a task.

Kosuke nodded slightly. As long as Li Yi could get into the right mindset, that was what mattered. The profession of a ninja was, after all, very much about one's mental state.

Following this, Li Yi resumed his training, focusing on his Rasengan. Finally, after a month, he was able to stabilize the technique. Looking at the pale blue sphere of light in his hand, Li Yi wore a knowing smile; this was, after all, his own little trump card.

As for adding chakra nature transformation, heh, Li Yi wasn't suicidal enough to try that yet. Without a certain level of strength, this Rasengan was sufficient.

"Is this a ninjutsu you created yourself?" Uchiha Kagami appeared before Li Yi and asked.

Li Yi nodded. In truth, Uchiha Kagami had visited several times over the month to teach him about the application of Fire Style, and Li Yi hadn't hidden his research on the Rasengan from him. After all, he hoped to use this to earn some rewards.

"Chakra shape transformation... I never imagined you had reached this level. Very impressive." Uchiha Kagami saw the essence of the Rasengan at a glance.

Li Yi hummed in agreement and said, "Teacher, I would like to offer this technique to the village."

Uchiha Kagami was slightly taken aback by Li Yi's words. He tilted his head and said, "This is a ninjutsu you developed yourself; the village will not force you to hand it over."

The implication was that he didn't have to give it up and could keep it as his own hidden ace.

Li Yi shook his head. He didn't need a hidden ace right now—or rather, his true aces were the Mera Mera no Mi and Ryujin Jakka, though his development of them was currently lackluster.

If he could trade the Rasengan for some benefits, that would be for the best. Even if the village gave him nothing, he would leave a good impression on the higher-ups. He would be seen as a natural successor to the Will of Fire, which would save him from trouble with the Third Hokage or the Hokage's advisors later on.

It would also minimize the chances of him being used as cannon fodder. If he was such a good successor to the Will of Fire, they surely wouldn't send him to his death, right?

Uchiha Kagami clearly didn't understand Li Yi's ulterior motives, but he was very gratified. He himself was a successor to the Will of Fire; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so highly regarded and praised by the Second and Third Hokage as one of the few people not bound by narrow-minded clan-centrism.

"In that case, come with me!" Uchiha Kagami said, leading Li Yi toward the Hokage's office. Li Yi followed behind him; there was no other way—for someone like him, seeing the Hokage wasn't exactly easy.