"To learn the Strangling Line, we have to start with the principles behind chakra threads..."
Xue Ge sat on the riverbank with his crutch laid across his lap. Shisui hurried to sit beside him, listening intently to his explanation.
Xue Ge covered everything from the basic principles to practical execution, sharing his experience and describing situations where the technique could be used. Shisui learned remarkably fast. Within a few hours, he had already formed chakra threads with a little strength to them, though he still couldn't use them to manipulate objects.
After another failed attempt to lift a piece of gravel, Shisui took a deep breath and held his head in frustration.
"It's all right. It took me four or five weeks to learn it," Xue Ge said earnestly. Shisui was already well ahead of where he had been at this stage.
"Your chakra control really is enviable," Shisui joked. "Have you ever considered becoming a medical ninja?"
"A medical ninja?"
"Yeah. Medical ninjas need extremely precise chakra control. I think you could do it." Shisui smiled.
Xue Ge considered it for a moment, then shook his head. "Medical ninjas have to study medical ninjutsu specifically. I want to fight, not provide support."
"Uh..." Shisui thought of Princess Tsunade.
But on second thought, Tsunade did seem to be the only well-known medical ninja with real combat power.
"Fair enough." He let the subject drop, then said excitedly, "Speaking of which, Xue Ge, don't you think the Strangling Line has a lot of potential?"
"Hm?" Xue Ge turned to look at Shisui.
"Think about it. Why would a ninjutsu stop at shape transformation?" As he spoke, Shisui made a few hand signs to illustrate his point. "What if you added different chakra nature transformations to the Strangling Line? Add a fire nature transformation, for example, and you'd have a fire Strangling Line!"
"They'd not only counter wind-nature chakra, but also burn and generate intense heat, on top of the Strangling Line's own destructive power. And since the Strangling Line is a Ninjutsu that requires no hand signs, it's quick and discreet to activate. With your control, you could maneuver it with incredible flexibility, too!" "Just think about it. Doesn't that sound right?"
"Think about it. Am I right?"
"..."
Xue Ge's gaze shifted rapidly as several combinations immediately came to mind. He wasn't just thinking about strengthening the Strangling Line. He was also wondering... could the same approach work on the Rasengan?
That's right. The Strangling Line and the Rasengan are both just chakra shape transformations. The kind of chakra you put into them isn't fixed.
...The next time I see Minato, I have to tell him!
With that realization, everything suddenly clicked for Xue Ge. His voice was full of admiration as he said, "Shisui... you really are a genius."
It wasn't that he couldn't make modifications like these himself. It was just... sometimes, he lacked that one perspective and couldn't see the possibilities, while Shisui, who was just as young, could. In a way, that was the difference between a genius and an ordinary person.
Coming to see Shisui had indeed been a wise decision. That thought made Xue Ge look forward even more to his visit to Orochimaru.
"..." Shisui shrugged. Compared to Xue Ge, who had developed a ninjutsu that required no hand signs all on his own, he wasn't sure which of them was really the genius.
"I'd never heard the surname Waterbird River before. You must come from a civilian family, right? Compared to me, it can't have been easy for you to become this strong," Shisui said with a soft chuckle.
"...Coming from a genius born into a powerful clan, I'll take that as a compliment," Xue Ge replied expressionlessly.
But unexpectedly, his remark caused Shisui's expression to dim a little.
Xue Ge paused. Thinking of Shisui's exuberant personality and the somewhat oppressive atmosphere in the Uchiha Clan Compound, he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
After a moment's hesitation, he chose to stay silent.
Shisui noticed his reaction, however. He sighed, then lay down on the ground and looked up at the cloud-heavy sky.
"It's going to rain."
"Yeah."
"Xue Ge, what do you think of the Uchiha Clan?"
"..." Xue Ge shook his head. "I haven't had much contact with them. The Uchiha I know are Obito, Lan, and you."
"I see. So you really don't know much about the Uchiha Clan." Shisui plucked a blade of grass from behind him and twirled it between his fingers in front of his eyes. "People say Konoha's two great clans are the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan, but their situations are completely different."
Xue Ge quietly listened to Shisui's account.
"You know Konoha's history, right?" "I do. It's Year 41 of Konoha now." "Good. That makes this a little easier to explain."
Shisui lowered his hands and lay spread-eagled on the ground. "Originally, Konoha actually had three great clans: the Senju, the Uchiha, and the Hyuga. Konoha was founded jointly by the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan. The Hyuga didn't have the same standing as those two."
"When they were choosing the First Hokage, the only person who supported the Uchiha Clan's leader at the time-Madara Uchiha-was the Senju Clan's leader, Hashirama Senju. Every other major clan leader supported Hashirama Senju as leader."
"Even within the Uchiha Clan, quite a few people supported Hashirama Senju. Back then, the Uchiha Clan and Konoha weren't inseparably close, but they got along fairly well."
"But later, after our clan leader Madara Uchiha defected, the First Hokage died, and the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju took office, everything began to change."
"First, the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha deepened. Konoha's villagers were angry about the Uchiha Clan leader's betrayal, and they also blamed the Uchiha Clan for the First Hokage's death and the outbreak of the First Shinobi World War."
"Although the Uchiha Clan announced that it had severed all ties with Madara Uchiha, the seeds of prejudice had already been planted..."
"Later, the Uchiha Clan Compound was moved to the edge of the village. Members of the Uchiha Clan couldn't join the Anbu, and the clan wasn't trusted during the war... After Lord Second Hokage's student Kagami Uchiha, a predecessor of mine, died in battle... relations between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha hit rock bottom."
"Compared to the Hyuga, the Uchiha today can hardly be considered a powerful clan. At least, not the same kind of powerful clan." Shisui looked deeply troubled. "The Uchiha Clan was one of the great clans that founded this shinobi village. How did things end up like this?"
Some of what Shisui said was familiar to Xue Ge, while other parts were entirely new to him. He had learned about Madara Uchiha from Danzo long ago, but this was the first he had heard about Kagami Uchiha.
Shisui was actually Kagami Uchiha's junior? Uchiha
Kagami had been the Second Hokage's student-Danzo had never told Xue Ge that before, either.
Xue Ge couldn't readily answer Shisui's question. His instinct was to blame Madara Uchiha, but since he didn't know that period of history, he wasn't going to jump to a conclusion.
Clearly, though, Shisui hadn't expected an answer from Xue Ge. He had never dared speak to his fellow clan members about the Will of Fire that Kagami Uchiha had passed down to him, and few classmates his age could understand it. He was telling Xue Ge all this simply because he wanted to vent to someone his own age whom he could, for once, really talk to.
"Let's go." Shisui abruptly stood up. "Let's head back. It's really going to rain soon. It's a shame we didn't get to spar. We'll do it next time."