Konoha: Starting with the Tenseigan and Taking Over Team 7

Aogetsu Hyuga looked at Team 7. "Want to learn?"

"Yes!"

Every member of Team 7 nodded vigorously. Even Sasuke Uchiha looked forward to gaining a new power.

"No chance, no chance. My ability surpasses Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tōta. It's a Kekkei Mōra." Aogetsu Hyuga pointed to his gemlike, sky-blue eyes, which held a faint silver gleam.

Aogetsu Hyuga said, "To use that move, you'd need eyes like mine, at the very least."

Sakura Haruno stared at him. "Then what was the point of showing us?"

If they couldn't learn it, why had Aogetsu gone out of his way to demonstrate it? Had he just been showing off?

"Because it looked cool," Aogetsu Hyuga said as if the answer were obvious.

What was the point of having power if you couldn't show off with it?

"..."

The members of Team 7 stared at Aogetsu Hyuga, speechless and visibly annoyed.

It was infuriating.

But there was nothing they could do about it.

Naruto Uzumaki clenched his fists, so angry his teeth hurt. Damn it, everyone loves showing off! Especially Aogetsu with that smug grin. He keeps getting away with it!

He used to think nobody could show off more than that stuck-up Sasuke.

He had been wrong.

Aogetsu was even worse!

Aogetsu Hyuga turned to Sasuke. "Uchiha brat, I told you earlier. Your Hand Seals are too slow."

Sasuke Uchiha put his hands in his pockets and looked away. "Your Kekkei Mōra lets you use your abilities without Hand Seals, but ordinary Ninjutsu still requires them. I'll practice my speed myself."

"So cool! That's Sasuke for you. His Fire Release was amazing too." Sakura Haruno gazed at him adoringly, then shot Naruto a disdainful look. "Compared to him..."

Naruto Uzumaki was famously at the bottom of his class. He couldn't even use his Chakra freely.

Naruto Uzumaki pouted. "What's so great about Sasuke?"

"Idiot." Sasuke Uchiha shot Sakura Haruno a cold glare. "Ugly girl, stop comparing me to that dead last. Fireball Jutsu is an Uchiha Fire Release technique. How could an idiot like Naruto use it?"

Naruto Uzumaki grabbed Sasuke by the collar. "How dare you call Sakura ugly? She's adorable!"

"Besides, it's just Fireball Jutsu! I'm going to be Hokage. I wouldn't bother with such a low-level Ninjutsu!" Naruto Uzumaki looked thoroughly annoyed. What was so special about one lousy Fireball Jutsu?

"Let go, dead last." Sasuke Uchiha kept his hands in his pockets and stared at Naruto Uzumaki impassively.

Aogetsu Hyuga rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Give me a break. This is why kids are such a pain."

"I'll teach you something they couldn't cover at the Ninja Academy."

"I'm only saying this once," Aogetsu Hyuga said. "Listen carefully."

Everyone in Team 7 paused. "Something they couldn't cover at the Ninja Academy?"

Aogetsu Hyuga raised a finger. Pale blue Chakra appeared at its tip, rippling like a tiny snake under his precise control.

"Every Ninjutsu requires Hand Seals. Yes, even a pig knows that. But if you can control Chakra freely, you can reduce the number of seals you need—or even cast a technique without any."

"That's impossible!" Sasuke Uchiha objected at once.

He had never seen anyone use ordinary Ninjutsu without Hand Seals.

Not even the genius Ninja Uchiha Itachi could do it!

"Don't dismiss it so quickly. I'll show you once, but another demonstration will cost you." The corners of Aogetsu Hyuga's mouth lifted in a confident smile.

"I rarely use third-rate moves, but for the sake of teaching you brats, I suppose I'll make an exception and use Fireball Jutsu."

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!" Aogetsu Hyuga made no Hand Seals. He tilted his head back and breathed out scorching flames. Once airborne, they formed a dark red fireball that loomed over the whole of Training Ground Seven like a gigantic meteor.

Flames churned across the sky, their heat distorting the air. The fireball was dozens of times larger than Sasuke's!

At least thirty times larger!

Aogetsu Hyuga shaded his eyes with a hand and looked up at the enormous, blazing fireball. "Is that all? Third-rate moves really aren't much to look at."

"You really didn't make any Hand Seals!" Sasuke Uchiha stared at Aogetsu Hyuga in disbelief through his two-tomoe Sharingan. He had watched Aogetsu closely with it from beginning to end. Aogetsu truly hadn't made a single seal when he used Fireball Jutsu.

Unbelievable!

"Besides... is that really Fireball Jutsu?" Sasuke Uchiha looked up, stunned by the meteor-like mass of fire burning overhead.

You're telling me that's C-Rank Fireball Jutsu?

Who are you kidding?

I've practiced Fireball Jutsu since I was little. Why has mine never been that powerful?

Aogetsu turned a C-Rank Fireball Jutsu into a Fire Release technique that rivals S-Rank!

"What terrifying flames!" Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno also stared up at the raging fire in the sky, wide-eyed and speechless.

It was absurd!

Utterly absurd!

This was the first time anyone on Team 7 had seen a Fire Release technique so enormous and outrageous!

No wonder Aogetsu had barely lifted a finger during Team 7's test. A casual Fire Release technique from him could have burned them all to ash.

And was this really the power of a C-Rank Fire Release technique?

The heat had left Sakura Haruno's cheeks flushed. She swallowed and muttered, "If I remember right, Fireball Jutsu is C-Rank, isn't it? But the power of yours, Aogetsu... it could rival the legendary S-Rank."

She had never seen an S-Rank technique, but the fire overhead looked far more powerful than any B-Rank or A-Rank technique.

As the flames gradually faded, the members of Team 7 lowered their gazes.

"Damn it, you showed off again! But... that was so cool!" Naruto Uzumaki was beside himself with excitement, gesturing wildly with both hands. "If Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu is a pebble, Aogetsu's is a meteor!"

It sounded exaggerated, but it was true.

If the fireball Sasuke had produced was a pebble...

Then Aogetsu Hyuga's was a meteor capable of destruction!

The difference was that vast!

"Aogetsu, Aogetsu, can you teach me Fireball Jutsu? I want to use Fire Release that powerful too!" Naruto Uzumaki's face lit up as he imagined a thrilling scene.

Once he learned a technique like that, some enemy would effortlessly defeat Sasuke and put Sakura in danger.

Then he would make a heroic entrance and take out the enemy with a single Fireball Jutsu.

Perfect!

Just imagining it felt great!

Fireball Jutsu is low-level?

Bullshit!

Fireball Jutsu is awesome!

"..." Everyone was speechless. A moment ago, Naruto Uzumaki had mocked Fireball Jutsu as worthless, bottom-tier Fire Release.

But after seeing Aogetsu use it, he had reversed his opinion completely and couldn't wait to learn it.

Just look at him!

"Moron," Sasuke Uchiha muttered. He didn't need to guess what Naruto Uzumaki was thinking.

"Brat, you just called Fireball Jutsu garbage." Aogetsu Hyuga was speechless. This Nine-Tails brat changed his tune faster than anyone he knew.

He really was a little kid through and through.

"Aogetsu, you and Sasuke both used Fireball Jutsu. Why was yours so much stronger?" Sakura Haruno was baffled. Even as the top student in her class, she couldn't understand the difference.

They had used the same technique. Why had Aogetsu's been so much more powerful?

"Good question, flat-chested brat." After praising her, Aogetsu Hyuga gave Naruto and Sasuke a disdainful glance. "You're doing better than those two idiots."

"Tch." Sasuke Uchiha pouted.

Sakura Haruno blushed and protested, "Who are you calling flat-chested? I'll develop plenty when I'm older!"

"Really? I'll look forward to it." Aogetsu Hyuga studied Sakura Haruno's flat chest for two seconds, then sighed. "What a shame."

Sakura Haruno gritted her teeth and glared at Aogetsu, fists clenched in embarrassed fury.

I'll put up with it!

"Anyway," Aogetsu Hyuga explained, "a technique doesn't have a fixed power level. It depends entirely on the user—or, more precisely, on how much Chakra they have and how well they use it."

"Once you can control Chakra precisely, you can reduce your Hand Seals or even do away with them. Of course, casting ordinary Ninjutsu without seals is extremely difficult. Of all the Ninja alive today, I'm the only one who can do it."

Aogetsu Hyuga wasn't boasting. Of all the Ninja currently alive, he really was the only one capable of using every ordinary Ninjutsu without Hand Seals.

Kekkei Genkai were the exception.

"Controlling Chakra..." Sakura Haruno frowned. She had never heard the term at the Ninja Academy.

All they had taught her there was how to use Chakra.

"Any questions?" Aogetsu Hyuga asked.

Naruto Uzumaki sat properly on his knees like a model student and raised his hand excitedly. "Me, me! Can I learn Fire Release?"

"No chance, no chance." Aogetsu Hyuga waved a hand. "Your Chakra has a wind nature. Learning Fire Release wouldn't do you much good."

"Besides, there's no need to chase flashy tricks. Learn a technique that suits your nature and master it completely."

Sasuke Uchiha asked, "Aogetsu, what's your nature?"

"Good children respect their elders. Try adding 'teacher.' Or do you like being taught a painful lesson?" Aogetsu Hyuga looked calmly at Sasuke and slowly raised a hand, ready to slap him.

There was nothing wrong with showing off, but the boy could at least be polite.

Aogetsu Hyuga was, after all, a Ninja who respected his elders and cared for the young.

Sasuke Uchiha let out a long breath and forced down his anger. Through gritted teeth, he asked, "Teacher Aogetsu, please tell me what your Chakra nature is."

"My nature? I possess... no, I've fused all seven Chakra natures and every Nature Transformation." Aogetsu Hyuga smiled faintly, his confidence plain to see.

Possessing them and fusing them were two different things.

Fusing every Chakra Nature Transformation created an extraordinary power: a Kekkei Mōra!

Of course.

After awakening the Tenseigan, Aogetsu Hyuga had automatically gained the Nature Transformations of every Chakra nature.

"All of them? Aogetsu, you're amazing!" Sakura Haruno clasped her hands before her chest and gazed at him with admiration.

Aogetsu was flippant, arrogant, and fond of fooling around, but he had a handsome face, a great physique, and incredible strength.

He was the perfect boyfriend!

Sakura Haruno stole a glance at Sasuke. But Sasuke's handsome too. What should I do? It's so hard to choose.

"Is fusing every Nature Transformation really that impressive?" Naruto Uzumaki crossed his arms and frowned. Chakra natures, Chakra Nature Transformation, fusing all the transformations—he couldn't make sense of any of it.

It sounded impressive, but he had no idea what it meant.

"Ex-treme-ly impressive," Aogetsu Hyuga said, drawing out the words.

"For example, that old dog, the Third Hokage, is also proficient in every Chakra nature. But he can't fuse all their Nature Transformations."

"In other words," Aogetsu Hyuga said, "I can easily do what the Third Hokage can't. Simple enough for you?"

"You can easily do something Grandpa Third can't?" Naruto Uzumaki could hardly believe it. To him, the Third Hokage was the strongest and greatest Ninja in the village.

Could Aogetsu really be stronger than Grandpa Third?

No way!

Sasuke Uchiha asked coldly, "Is the Third Hokage supposed to be that strong?"

Meanwhile, he grumbled inwardly. Aogetsu just lectured me about respecting my elders and being polite.