Analyze it or not?
What did "analyze" mean? Break it down? Study it? Translate it into something he could understand?
After some thought, he figured it was just a "yes" button anyway. Clicking it couldn't hurt. At worst, nothing would change.
He raised his hand and tapped the [Yes] option in midair.
[Command confirmed. Beginning analysis: Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere.]
A second later, a progress bar suddenly appeared at the very bottom of the pale blue screen.
[Analysis progress: 1%]
[Analysis progress: 3%]
The progress bar crept forward at its own leisurely pace, one tick after another, with an almost impressively stubborn slowness.
At first, Uzumaki Hayashi hugged his knees and watched intently. After staring for a while, his eyelids began to droop.
He took the last piece of senbei from inside his shirt, popped it into his mouth, and crunched away. The brittle cracking sounded especially crisp in the quiet night.
As he chewed, he counted the stars overhead. After he'd lost track of how many he'd counted, the progress bar that had been floating before him for who knew how long finally crawled to [99%], as though it had crossed a thousand mountains and rivers to get there.
Then it stopped.
One second. Two seconds. An eternity.
Uzumaki Hayashi stared at that 99%, a vein twitching on his forehead.
"Hey."
He reached out to slap the screen and hurry it along, but his hand passed straight through, hitting nothing.
"Does this system run on an abacus? Did the beads get stuck halfway through?"
The system ignored him.
A good while later, just as he was about to give up-
[Ding-] [Analysis complete.]
The screen flashed. The progress bar at the bottom vanished, replaced by a new line of small text on the panel:
[Ninjutsu: Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere (Beginner)]
Uzumaki Hayashi stared at the little line for two seconds.
For once, he didn't complain about the system's shortcomings and instead asked directly:
"Go on, then. What exactly does this analysis do?"
[After the host obtains a scroll, this system can read it first and generate a preliminary usable version of the ninjutsu for the host.] [The current version has reduced power. As the host continues practicing and proficiency increases, its power will continue to rise.]
After listening, Uzumaki Hayashi fell silent for two seconds.
"Isn't that just skill proficiency in a pay-to-win MMO?"
"You give me a watered-down version first, then I keep practicing, and-hey, max level?"
The system stopped responding again.
"..."
Fine. It wasn't like he'd only met it yesterday.
Uzumaki Hayashi stared at the now-silent screen, then suddenly remembered something else.
"Hey, listen."
"There's another system called Deep Blue. Its host just shouts, 'Deep Blue, add points,' and his strength shoots right up. Now that's satisfying."
"Why can't you learn from it and just add points for me?"
The screen remained perfectly still. Not even a punctuation mark appeared.
"All you ever do is play dead."
Uzumaki Hayashi curled his lip.
Comparing products made you want to throw the inferior one away. Comparing systems clearly made you want to die of frustration.
He spread the scroll open again, intending to give it another look.
That look left him stunned.
It was still the same densely packed text, still the same few chakra circulation diagrams, but this time, the contents seemed to have sprouted legs and run straight into his brain.
How to convert and compress, how to control his breath, how to keep firing in succession-everything was clear from start to finish, flowing as smoothly as if he'd practiced it countless times.
Yet just moments earlier, he'd been reading and guessing his way through this scroll, understanding thirty percent of it at most.
He flexed his fingers and rose from the grass.
He was already here. It would be a waste not to try it.
Uzumaki Hayashi set the scroll aside and formed the hand seals shown on it, one after another.
His chakra stirred in response, drawing out from every part of his body and flowing through his chakra pathways toward his chest-
Halfway there, Chakra inexplicably dispersed.
The mass of chakra wobbled in his chest, then deflated with a little puff, making him choke and cough twice.
"..."
Fine. First attempt. He hadn't gotten the hang of it yet.
He formed the hand seals again, slowing down this time instead of rushing for results.
Seal by seal, chakra gathered in his chest once more, condensing into a mass and finally forming several scorching cores that throbbed inside him.
Now.
He took a deep breath, his chest abruptly expanding, then opened his mouth-and spat.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The first air bullet shot out. The pale green sphere was only the size of a fist, but the instant it left his mouth, it tore a shrill whistle from the surrounding air.
The second and third followed close behind, almost simultaneously. Three pale green streaks raced side by side just above the grass, their air currents flattening the blades in their path and carving three straight, shallow furrows.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three muffled impacts nearly merged into one. Dirt and shredded grass exploded into the air, as though something underground had suddenly punched upward. Broken clods pattered down within a few paces.
Several washbasin-sized craters now marred the lawn. Their walls were smooth and compact, as though something had brutally gouged chunks out of the ground.
The night breeze swept past, slowly dispersing the dust.
Uzumaki Hayashi stood where he was, looking down at the craters, then at his hands. For a long time, he said nothing.
The scroll described firing more than a dozen bullets in succession.
He'd only managed three, and a watered-down version at that. His mouth was now numb and dry, as though he'd been chewing a handful of Sichuan peppercorns.
But even watered down, this thing was considerably stronger than ordinary ninjutsu!
Uzumaki Hayashi clenched his fists, his eyes gradually lighting up.
Come to think of it, he'd seen this technique in the original story in his previous life.
A certain king of blame had used this very move while beating down Uchiha Sasuke of the Uchiha Clan, spitting out a whole string of bullets like a machine gun.
Well, damn. The king of blame's signature move was his now.
Once he maxed it out, wouldn't he be a walking machine gun whenever he stepped into a crowd?
He cleared his numb throat, picked up the scroll, brushed off the dirt, and tucked it inside his shirt before turning toward the little Western-style house.
Time to go home and sleep.
He still had to report to the Ninja Academy tomorrow.
The Ninja Academy...
As Uzumaki Hayashi walked along the empty street, something suddenly occurred to him.
What kind of look would Naruto have on his face when he saw him in the classroom tomorrow?
Would he freeze on the spot, or let out a yell?
And that idiot from the Uchiha Clan had only just apologized to him tonight. When he looked up tomorrow and found him sitting there as a classmate, would he turn his head away again?
The more he thought about it, the more amusing it seemed. He even began seriously considering-
Maybe he shouldn't give anything away just yet?
He could see how long it took Naruto to catch on.
Teasing him didn't cost anything, after all.
Still plotting all the way back to the little Western-style house, he pushed open the door. The pink lace bed canopy practically glowed in the moonlight.
Uzumaki Hayashi: "..."
Forget it. Sleep first.
Even if the sky fell, it could wait until he saw the Third Hokage tomorrow.
Before you continue