Learning the three basic techniques

He pushed open his front door and locked it behind him.

No one was home. His parents had died long ago, leaving him alone.

That was fine. Peace and quiet.

Uchiha Makoto walked over to the mirror and took a deep breath.

Then he stirred his chakra and sent it surging toward his eyes.

Hum!

The world before him changed.

Colors grew more vivid, details sharper. He could even clearly see the dust drifting through the air.

So this was the Sharingan?

Uchiha Makoto blinked.

In the mirror, his eyes were still black, but a tiny tomoe had appeared around each pupil.

One tomoe.

The One-Tomoe Sharingan.

He tried moving his eyes, and his field of vision shifted with them.

He tried focusing, and the texture of the distant wall instantly zoomed into view.

A fly buzzed past.

Uchiha Makoto instinctively looked at it.

Then he froze.

Through his eyes, that fly moved... incredibly slowly.

It wasn't actually slow. His eyes could make out every movement it made.

How its wings beat, how its legs moved-he could even predict its flight path.

Uchiha Makoto reached out and casually grabbed it.

The fly was caught between his fingers.

"..." Uchiha Makoto stared silently at the fly in his hand.

Before, catching flies had been a matter of luck.

Now, a casual grab was all it took.

"So this is motion perception?" He opened his hand, and the fly buzzed away. "Interesting."

But immediately afterward, he noticed something wrong.

His chakra was being consumed.

Not much, but it was definitely being consumed.

It was like turning on a faucet. Even if it was barely open, water kept flowing.

Uchiha Makoto quickly deactivated his Sharingan. The world returned to normal, and the chakra drain stopped.

"No wonder Kakashi's always out of mana." Uchiha Makoto suddenly understood. "If he can't turn this thing off, of course it's going to keep leaking."

He recalled Kakashi from the original story.

The Copy Ninja. The man who could go fifty-fifty with anyone. The unit of measurement for chakra.

Kakashi's actually pretty talented, Uchiha Makoto thought. A Jonin at twelve, created Chidori himself, and he's smart, too. If the Sharingan weren't dragging him down, he wouldn't look drained dry all day.

Then again, without the Sharingan, Kakashi couldn't have become the Copy Ninja.

There were pros and cons.

But then his thoughts returned to his own situation.

"The Uchiha Clan..." Uchiha Makoto murmured. "Konoha..."

He knew just how delicate the relationship between the two sides was.

They were cordial on the surface, but wary of each other behind the scenes.

The Uchiha thought Konoha was ostracizing them.

Konoha thought the Uchiha wanted to rebel.

And in the middle stood Danzo, spending every day plotting how to wipe out the Uchiha.

"I need to be careful." Uchiha Makoto closed the window. "Awakening my eyes at six is still too conspicuous."

He walked over to his bed, sat down, and began molding chakra.

Awakening the Sharingan was a good thing, but it also meant trouble.

What he needed most now was still to change.

To become stronger than anyone else.

On the Ninja Academy's training grounds, a group of six-year-olds stood in rows, their eyes wide as saucers.

Today, they would learn the three basic techniques.

"Transformation Technique! Clone Technique! Substitution Technique!"

Teacher Nakamura bellowed at the front, spraying spit everywhere.

"These three techniques are the foundation of being a ninja! If you can't use them, you won't even graduate from the Ninja Academy! Understood?"

"Understood!" the students shouted at the top of their lungs.

Nearby, Obito and Guy were whispering to each other.

"Guy, do you think the Transformation Technique can turn us into Lord Hokage?" Obito asked quietly.

"Probably." Guy rubbed his chin. "But I think turning into youth would be cooler!"

"How do you turn into youth?"

"It's... you know, that burning feeling!"

Listening to these two geniuses, Uchiha Makoto nearly burst out laughing.

Turning into youth, my ass. Why not just turn into a ball of fire?

"All right, start practicing!" Teacher Nakamura clapped his hands. "Pair up and keep an eye on each other!"

The students scattered to find partners.

Naturally, Obito and Guy teamed up.

Uchiha Makoto glanced around, then walked over to them.

"Makoto!" Obito's eyes lit up. "Are you going to practice with us?"

"Yeah." Uchiha Makoto nodded. "We're supposed to keep an eye on each other, right?"

Really, he wanted to observe these two goofballs up close.

And figure out how to milk them for more benefits while he was at it.

The three basic techniques sounded simple.

For the Transformation Technique, form a hand seal and turn into someone else.

For the Clone Technique, form a hand seal and create a clone.

For the Substitution Technique, form a hand seal and replace yourself with a log.

But Uchiha Makoto knew these three techniques had absurdly high ceilings.

Naruto could use the Transformation Technique to turn into a Fūma Shuriken and coordinate with Sasuke.

He could even turn into a beautiful woman and leave Kaguya stunned.

The Clone Technique needed no explanation, and the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was even a forbidden technique.

The Substitution Technique was more ridiculous still.

You could whip out a log in the middle of a fight and instantly swap positions.

The reason Uchiha Makoto hadn't rushed to manifest Shave was that the Naruto world already had the Substitution Technique and the Body Flicker Technique.

They had similar effects, and he wouldn't need to explain them.

But just knowing them isn't enough, Uchiha Makoto thought as he formed hand seals and practiced the Transformation Technique. I need to get creative with them.

He transformed into Obito.

Obito paused, then laughed.

"Makoto, you look just like me!"

"Obviously. You're the one I copied."

"But something feels... different." Obito scratched his head. "I can't explain it."

Something stirred in Uchiha Makoto's mind.

There really was a difference.

His Transformation Technique was far more refined than an ordinary student's.

The texture of the skin, the sheen of the hair, even that goofy look in Obito's eyes-he had recreated everything perfectly.

That was the difference talent made.

With a genius template as his foundation, Uchiha Makoto learned everything quickly.

For something as fundamental as the three basic techniques, a few days of practice let him catch up to people who had trained for months.

But that still wasn't enough.

He wanted to push these three techniques beyond human limits.

Lately, however, he kept feeling eyes on him.

It wasn't his imagination. Someone really was watching him.

Most likely, it was Danzo's Root.

Those rats in the gutters got everywhere. Even his plan to manifest Moonwalk had been postponed.

If Uchiha Makoto demonstrated walking through the air in front of Obito and Guy now, Root ninja would come knocking the next day.

I need to find a way, he pondered as he practiced the Clone Technique. One that lets me milk them without getting caught.

In truth, Uchiha Makoto was already pretty strong.

Every day, he would tell either Obito or Guy, "My chakra cultivation speed is very fast."

Each week, he used the system to manifest one point of chakra from Obito and another from Guy.

One point of chakra was roughly enough for one Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.

Or two ordinary shadow clones.

That didn't sound like much.

But an ordinary Genin only had enough chakra for three or four Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu a day.

After using it all, they would collapse from exhaustion and need to lie down for half a day.

How much did Uchiha Makoto have now?

Ten points.

Ten uses of Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.

And he could still milk another point each from Obito and Guy every week.

As for the remaining days of the week...

From Obito, he milked "Uchiha Shurikenjutsu proficiency" and "Uchiha Style Taijutsu."

From Guy, he milked "Taijutsu talent" and "physical strength."

What he did on the last day depended on his mood.

Sometimes, he went to see Kurenai Yuhi and raised her affection for him.

Sometimes, he milked a little physical fitness.

Sometimes, he milked proficiency in other Ninjutsu.

After two months, Uchiha Makoto was already strong enough to crush any Genin.