A New Use for the Six Eyes

A new day, a fresh start. Toru arrived at the Ninja Academy to begin his second day of classes.

Toru didn't mind life at the Ninja Academy.

Though his classmates all seemed rather childish, making the daily routine feel a little silly, the Academy offered a platform for learning and training that held considerable appeal for him.

Toru hadn't arrived particularly early, since he'd gone to see Fugaku that morning.

By the time Toru reached the classroom, most of the students had already arrived.

And most of those students had turned their attention to Toru. There was no other reason than that he'd defeated both Gekko Hayate and Hatake Kakashi yesterday, putting on a truly dazzling display.

Today, Toru wore a black jacket bearing the Uchiha Clan crest, with a pure white shirt and pants underneath. Combined with his white hair and pale, cool-toned skin, it made him look even more fresh and strikingly aloof.

His clear blue eyes added a touch of mystery and charm to his presence.

Toru walked over to Kurenai and greeted her, then vaulted over the desk and dropped into his seat.

His stylish, fluid move once again caught the attention of the girls in class.

A few girls even came over to strike up a conversation, but Toru politely turned them down.

His actions drew sidelong glances from several other girls who remained in their seats, including Yuhi Kurenai and Nohara Rin.

Asuma and Obito thus found themselves united, shooting Toru hostile looks.

Fortunately, the teacher soon arrived, and the students settled down as the day's lessons officially began.

During class, Toru finished reading every word in the textbook while Yamashita Hiroshi continued droning on about the Will of Fire.

Toru felt that attending class was necessary, but being confined to his desk like this seemed like a waste of such precious time.

So he tried refining his Chakra during class.

Toru sat upright at his desk, his eyes unfocused as he devoted himself entirely to refining the Chakra inside his body.

Kurenai noticed Toru sitting motionless beside her. At first, she thought he was listening to the lesson with great concentration.

But after a while, she realized Toru wasn't listening at all. His eyes had been fixed straight ahead without even moving.

Kurenai gazed at Toru's unfocused blue eyes and couldn't help covering her mouth as she giggled. "So even geniuses zone out."

Kurenai then propped her chin on one hand, her chubby cheek resting in her palm, and tilted her head to watch Toru.

After a while, Toru came back to himself. When he turned his head, he found himself looking straight into Kurenai's eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing!" Kurenai blushed and quickly turned away.

Toru went back to "zoning out" as he trained.

Kurenai's behavior was fairly conspicuous in class, and a familiar snicker came from behind her and to the side.

Kurenai recognized Anko's voice at once and turned around to glare at her.

Beside them, Asuma clenched both fists, squeezing his book until it was crumpled.

Yamashita Hiroshi tapped the desk at the front of the class. "No fooling around during lessons."

But the bell had already rung. Yamashita Hiroshi's greatest virtue was that he never ran over, so he gathered his books and left.

The next class was ninjutsu, taught by a new teacher, a young man with a square face named Tanaka Hajime.

So Toru stopped refining Chakra.

Tanaka Hajime announced that it would be a practical lesson, and they would be practicing the Clone Technique.

Although both Gekko Hayate and Hatake Kakashi had used the Clone Technique and even the Shadow Clone Technique when they fought Toru, most of the students in class were still learning the basics.

Gekko Hayate might look sickly all the time, but he ranked among the top ten students in his year at the entire Ninja Academy. Before Toru defeated him, Kakashi had been the undisputed top student.

"I'll go over the steps for performing the technique once more..."

"All right, you can start practicing now. If you have any questions, come ask me. I'll choose a few of you to demonstrate at the front during the last ten minutes of class."

At Tanaka Hajime's instruction, the students began practicing on their own.

Toru practiced too. He now had just enough Chakra to use basic ninjutsu like the Clone Technique.

Unfortunately, he could only use it a few times. His Chakra was limited, and even practicing consumed it.

Just then, a thought struck Toru. His Six Eyes could manipulate Cursed Energy with extraordinary precision, reducing its consumption. At his peak in his previous life, his control of Cursed Energy had made his supply practically limitless.

So if he channeled Chakra into his Six Eyes, could he control Chakra just as precisely?

Toru immediately gave it a try. He gathered the Chakra inside his body and slowly channeled it along his pathways and into his eyes.

A searing heat flared in his eyes, and he instinctively shut them to ease the discomfort. A moment later, he opened them again and discovered that he could see the Chakra inside his own body with his naked eyes.

And his ability to see Cursed Energy hadn't disappeared either.

From Toru's perspective, a faint blue aura of Cursed Energy now surrounded his body, while a wisp of pale blue Chakra lay in his lower abdomen.

Toru was delighted. He hadn't expected his eyes to work in this world too.

Still, the Six Eyes' effects on Chakra weren't as great as he'd imagined.

Because the Six Eyes were a product of Cursed Energy rather than Chakra, empowering them with Chakra didn't let them control it nearly as well as they controlled Cursed Energy.

The difference was roughly this: for Cursed Energy, the Six Eyes were like a passive skill that gave him infinite mana. For Chakra, they were more like an active skill that gave him a blue buff.

Besides, Toru's current strength also limited what the Six Eyes could do.

Even the Six Eyes couldn't ignore the limits of his Cursed Energy and Chakra reserves.

In other words, the Six Eyes couldn't increase the total amount of Cursed Energy or Chakra he had.

If the Cursed Technique or ninjutsu Toru used cost more than his total supply, the Six Eyes wouldn't help.

Toru hadn't awakened his Cursed Technique yet, and using Cursed Energy only to strengthen his body didn't cost much. So this limitation wasn't obvious.

Ninjutsu was different. Powerful techniques often consumed a great deal of Chakra, putting them beyond what the Six Eyes could currently handle.

Of course, Toru was simply setting his sights too high. For a Ninja Academy student, his current Chakra combined with the Six Eyes was already more than enough—an absurdly powerful cheat.

Recalling the details Tanaka Hajime had taught, Toru began trying to practice the Clone Technique with the Chakra Six Eyes.

To an outsider, it seemed as though ninjutsu could be performed just by forming a few hand seals.

But in reality, hand seals were only the most visible part of the process.

At its core, ninjutsu transformed Chakra to produce all sorts of miraculous effects.

Hand seals were merely a tool to help gather and circulate Chakra.

For skilled ninja, simplifying hand seals was easy. Some could even perform ninjutsu with one hand or without any seals at all.

But none of that concerned Toru for now. Using the Chakra Six Eyes, he watched the flow of Chakra inside his body as he formed hand seals and attempted the Clone Technique.