Ninjutsu Library

Kazuhiko Uchiha watched the Shadow Clone charge at him without much alarm. Drawing the Black Iron Katana he had bought that morning, he unleashed the strength of an elite chunin and swung at the clone's head.

Seeing Kazuhiko Uchiha draw a weapon, the Shadow Clone took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch to block the sharp Tachi.

Clang!

The Tachi clashed with the kunai, and Captain Tōma's Shadow Clone suddenly paled. A savage force far beyond his expectations surged through the kunai, forcing his weapon arm down as the blade continued toward his head.

With no time to spare, the Shadow Clone had no choice but to use the Substitution Technique to evade Kazuhiko Uchiha's attack.

With a crack, the Black Iron Katana sliced cleanly through the substitute, cutting it in two.

Kazuhiko Uchiha felt a pang of regret. Knowing he had missed the perfect opportunity created by the Shadow Clone's carelessness, he immediately shifted into a defensive stance and prepared for the counterattack.

"Not bad. You should be the strongest graduate in this year's class."

The Shadow Clone did not attack immediately. Instead, he looked at Kazuhiko Uchiha appreciatively, never having expected such a surprise from him.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I'm still far too weak."

Rather than growing smug at the praise, Kazuhiko Uchiha gained an even clearer understanding of the gap between himself and a veteran ninja. His desire to grow stronger intensified.

"All right, let's continue. I hope you can hold out a little longer." The Shadow Clone began forming hand seals again, then shouted, "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Feeling the ground soften beneath his feet, Kazuhiko Uchiha's expression changed. He immediately leaped away, trying to escape the swamp's range.

The Shadow Clone had clearly anticipated his reaction. Stamping his right foot hard against the ground, he shot toward the airborne Kazuhiko Uchiha like a cannonball.

With nothing to push off in midair, Kazuhiko Uchiha could not change direction and had no room to maneuver. He could only twist his body as best he could and turn the flat of his blade toward the Shadow Clone, struggling to block the fist hurtling straight at him.

Bam!

The tremendous force sent Kazuhiko Uchiha flying. The instant he landed, he used the Substitution Technique without a word, evading the Shadow Clone's follow-up kunai attack.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

After escaping the danger, Kazuhiko Uchiha unleashed his most practiced ninjutsu at the Shadow Clone.

At his level of strength, a C-rank ninjutsu could not possibly threaten the Shadow Clone, but it could at least hinder him somewhat. By the time the clone dealt with the great fireball, Kazuhiko Uchiha had unleashed his primal energy and rushed to his side at a speed far beyond that of a chunin.

"Rasengan!"

This ninjutsu required no hand seals. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had spent three years developing it, and his protagonist son, Naruto Uzumaki, had made it famous. Now it appeared once more in Kazuhiko Uchiha's hand.

"What?!"

The Shadow Clone's eyes widened as he recognized the ninjutsu Kazuhiko Uchiha was using. He wanted to dodge, but it was already too late, and he had just used the Substitution Technique. He could only watch helplessly as the spinning Rasengan slammed into his back and dispersed him into a cloud of smoke.

Clap, clap, clap. "What a splendid fight. I never expected you to defeat my Shadow Clone. Looks like I'll have a much easier time on our missions from now on."

Captain Tōma's real body appeared on the training ground. He gave Kazuhiko Uchiha an approving look, then released Kaori Ikemoto from the earth and had her wake the still-unconscious Yū Inuzuka.

Once Yū Inuzuka woke up, Tōma cleared his throat to draw the three students' attention and said with a smile, "Congratulations on passing the practical combat test. Tōma's Team is officially formed."

"Yeah! That's great!"

Yū Inuzuka and Kaori Ikemoto cheered loudly with delight. Although Kazuhiko Uchiha did not feel particularly excited, he smiled along with them.

Once they quieted down, Tōma announced another piece of good news. "To celebrate the formation of Tōma's Team, I'll treat you to barbecue at Yakiniku Q at six tonight."

"Long live the captain!"

This time, even Kazuhiko Uchiha's eyes lit up. He looked forward to the evening feast, ready to eat his fill and reward his stomach after spending a week living on packaged food in the previous mission's space-time.

After they chatted about anything and everything for a while, Captain Tōma dismissed them and returned to the Hokage's office to report.

Kazuhiko Uchiha politely declined his teammates' invitation to go shopping and returned to the Uchiha Clan compound. He planned to visit the clan's Ninjutsu Library and use the opportunity to choose a ninjutsu that the clan had granted him upon his promotion to genin.

As one of Konoha's two great clans, and with the Sharingan that was practically a cheat, the Uchiha Clan possessed far more ninjutsu than other clans. All ninjutsu below A-rank were placed in the library as a benefit, allowing ordinary clan members to learn them.

Of course, to encourage clan members to devote more of their energy to developing their Sharingan, the clan limited the number of techniques they could learn. They were only given an opportunity to choose one when their ninja rank advanced.

Those were the rules, but in practice, they were not enforced all that strictly. The clan turned a blind eye to ninja privately teaching ninjutsu to their relatives and did not punish them.

Unfortunately, Kazuhiko Uchiha's parents had died young, leaving him only a few ninjutsu scrolls. Aside from this opportunity provided by the clan, his only ways to acquire new ninjutsu were the two conventional methods: receiving instruction from Captain Tōma or taking them as spoils of battle.

The Ninjutsu Library was a two-story building in the central area of the Uchiha Clan compound. Since it contained only lower-rank ninjutsu, it was guarded by just two jonin and four chunin.

"Hello, I'm Kazuhiko Uchiha. I just graduated and became a genin, and I've come to choose a ninjutsu."

After entering the Ninjutsu Library, Kazuhiko Uchiha showed his ninja information card to the librarian at reception, an ordinary clan member.

After verifying Kazuhiko Uchiha's identity, the librarian allowed him into the section of the library where the ninjutsu were stored.

"As a genin, you're only permitted to learn the C-rank ninjutsu and certain B-rank ninjutsu on the library's first floor."

After explaining Kazuhiko Uchiha's access privileges, the librarian kindly added, "The scrolls inside only contain introductions to the techniques. Once you've chosen a ninjutsu, you can come to me for a copy of the detailed training instructions."

"All right, thank you." Kazuhiko Uchiha thanked the librarian and walked farther into the library.

Although it was called the Ninjutsu Library, that was only a general name. It did not mean the library contained only ninjutsu. In fact, it also held genjutsu, taijutsu, saber techniques, sword techniques, and various other arts and skills.

"Fire Release: Searing Migraine, Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique, Lightning Release: Lightning Needles, Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique, Kenjutsu: Wind Spiral..."

Kazuhiko Uchiha's original chakra affinities had been fire and lightning. After the system transformed his energy into primal energy with a chaos nature, he naturally gained every affinity. Thus, he was no longer limited to Fire Release Ninjutsu and examined every scroll.

"This is...!!!"

Suddenly, Kazuhiko Uchiha's eyes went wide. He rubbed them hard, unable to believe what he was seeing on the scroll in his hands.