[The verification period started today. To keep the data stable, I'll only update two chapters a day, but I'll make up the missing chapters next month.]
Obito, that dead-last loser, could actually trade blows with Guy in taijutsu class now. He still lost in the end, but at least he could hold out for a dozen or so moves.
As for Guy, he had already been a taijutsu monster. Now he was a monster among monsters, able to kick a wooden post in the training ground to splinters.
If this kept up until the final battle, Uchiha Makoto believed Guy could open the Eight Gates and kick the story straight into its ending.
As for Shisui, Uchiha Makoto could tell that the kid's Body Flicker Technique was getting faster and faster.
His eyes were also growing brighter, and whenever he looked at Uchiha Makoto, the sentiment behind them-"This guy really is something"-grew stronger.
Uchiha Makoto was very pleased.
His little crops needed time to grow. Once they were nice and plump, harvesting them would be all the sweeter.
Uchiha Makoto hadn't neglected his taijutsu, either.
Moonwalk, Iron Body, Shave, Tempest Kick-he had repeatedly "evolved" these four signature skills.
Shave had evolved from "stamping the ground ten times in an instant" to "twenty times," then "thirty times," and finally to its current form: "adding a burst of chakra to each stamp, with minor adjustments to the movement trajectory."
In short, it was faster, more flexible, and could even turn corners.
Uchiha Makoto gave it a new name-Shave: Flash Step.
It sounded more advanced than the original already.
Iron Body had evolved from "tensing every muscle until the body is as hard as steel" to "adding a recoil effect while hardened."
When Uchiha Makoto used Iron Body now, he could form a "recoil layer" of chakra over his body. Anyone who struck him would take thirty percent of the force themselves.
Moonwalk had evolved from "moving by stepping on air" to "changing direction repeatedly in midair," "hovering briefly," and "combining with Shave and Tempest Kick for aerial attacks."
Uchiha Makoto could now trace a zigzag through the sky, stop abruptly in midair, then slash downward with a Tempest Kick.
He called it Moonwalk: Sky Dance.
Tempest Kick had changed the most.
It had evolved from "launching a vacuum slash with a kick" to "controlling the size of the slash," "launching multiple slashes in succession," and "adding changes in chakra nature to the slashes."
Uchiha Makoto had tried mixing a little Fire Release chakra into Tempest Kick. What flew out was no longer a vacuum slash, but a flaming slash.
It was a little like Sanji's demonic Tempest Kick.
For ninjutsu, Uchiha Makoto focused on Fire Release.
There was no particular reason beyond the fact that he was an Uchiha.
Besides, Fire Release was especially easy to make things up about with the "Lie-Into-Reality" system.
"I think Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu could be a little bigger."
"I think Phoenix Flower Fire could produce a few more fireballs."
"I think Majestic Destroyer Flame might not be all that hard, either?"
And so, over those six months, Uchiha Makoto's list of Fire Release techniques had grown frighteningly long.
C-rank: Great Fireball Technique, Phoenix Flower Jutsu-the basics of the basics, but he had mastered them to perfection. His Great Fireball could now reach five meters in diameter, with enough heat to melt stone. Phoenix Flower Fire could spit out more than thirty small fireballs in a single breath, covering half the training ground.
B-rank: Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson (Phoenix Flower Fire + shuriken), Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet (a compressed fireball with a large blast radius), Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique (summoning three fire dragons)-these techniques should have required a chunin or even a jonin to master, yet Uchiha Makoto could use them at seven.
And he hadn't just learned them. He had taken them to new heights.
Other people summoned three fire dragons with the Great Dragon Fire Technique. He could summon five.
Other people blasted a crater with Great Flame Bullet. He could blast out a swimming pool.
Having fun with ninjutsu meant burning through chakra.
Uchiha Makoto had done the math. One Majestic Destroyer Flame cost five fire units, and one Majestic Destroyer Flame Calamity cost eight. Add his daily training, taijutsu expenditure, and the chakra needed to maintain his Sharingan, and his meager reserves simply weren't enough.
So he had to increase his chakra.
Uchiha Makoto set himself a modest goal: manifest three points of chakra every week.
Obito, Guy, and Shisui would each contribute one point.
And so, over twenty-five weeks-half a year-Uchiha Makoto's chakra had increased by a full seventy-five points.
Add the scattered points he had manifested before, along with the growth from his own training with Life Return 7.0...
Uchiha Makoto opened the system panel, looked at the number, and smiled.
140 fire units.
What did that mean?
The unit he had defined for himself, "one fire unit," was the amount of chakra needed to cast one standard Great Fireball.
An ordinary genin had about five to ten fire units.
A chunin had twenty to thirty.
A special jōnin had forty to fifty.
A jonin-like Kakashi, that handy "unit of measurement"-had roughly seventy to eighty.
Kage level started at a hundred.
And Uchiha Makoto, at seven years old, had 140 fire units.
More than two Kakashis.
"Two Kakashis..." Uchiha Makoto rubbed his chin, grinning like a fox that had stolen a chicken. "I guess that makes me a 'chakra by the ton' candidate now?"
He still couldn't compare with those freaks in the later stages, of course.
Naruto could casually produce over a thousand shadow clones, while Hashirama Senju was "chakra by the ton" personified.
But Uchiha Makoto was already very satisfied.
Having 140 fire units of chakra at seven would scare a whole lot of people senseless if word got out, and this wasn't even the end.
Uchiha Makoto had already decided that chakra training would be his number-one priority from now on.
Because, as a certain hair-gel user who preferred to remain anonymous had once said, "A battle between ninja is a battle of chakra."
Uchiha Makoto wholeheartedly agreed.
No matter how refined your skills or how slick your tactics, once you ran out of mana, you were a sitting duck.
So he needed more chakra.
The more, the better.
Of course, Uchiha Makoto hadn't devoted all his energy to chakra and Fire Release.
He hadn't neglected genjutsu, either.
After all, his system was called "Lie-Into-Reality," and the essence of genjutsu was "deception." The two were practically a match made in heaven.
Still, half a year was too short. Uchiha Makoto had only "manifested" a few conventional genjutsu-Hell Viewing Technique, Fox in the Mist Technique, and Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique.
They were all C-rank or B-rank techniques. Nothing especially powerful, but they were enough.
Uchiha Makoto had also discovered that casting genjutsu through the Sharingan made it far more effective.
Speaking of the Sharingan...
Over those six months, Uchiha Makoto's Sharingan had evolved from one tomoe to two.
There hadn't been any special trigger. He had simply spent those six months frequently claiming that he now had a Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
Although the three thought Makoto was joking, each claim still earned ten to twenty points of trust. Even when they knew he was joking, they believed him a little anyway.
Those little gains had added up until he obtained a Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
The Two-Tomoe Sharingan gave him stronger dynamic vision and a substantial boost to his genjutsu abilities.
After half a year, his overall strength was solidly at jonin level.
A seven-year-old jonin-the very idea could scare people senseless.
But Uchiha Makoto remained calm. He knew his jonin-level strength came with some serious caveats.
His most fatal weakness was his lack of experience.
What true jonin hadn't fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood?
He hadn't even killed anyone yet. For now, he could only use his superior stats to crush weak opponents.
So Uchiha Makoto kept a clear head.
Right now, he was only a jonin "on paper."
Whether he could actually beat a veteran jonin in a real fight was another question entirely.
But that was fine. He was only seven. He still had time.
Before you continue