Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!

Might Duy turned to look at Might Guy, who was still cheering and jumping for joy over Lin Ze's victory.

He grew even more certain. With Lin Ze leading the way, Might Guy will have another goal, another role model!

Despite Might Guy's thick skin, Might Duy had caught him secretly wiping away tears in his room more than once.

There was disappointment over failing to get into the Ninja Academy, as well as confusion and frustration over a bleak future, unable to practice ninjutsu and left with nothing but burying himself in taijutsu training.

Might Duy himself knew that although opening the Eight Gates Released Formation could briefly bring him to Kage Level, that was not his normal state. His actual strength was only at the level of a chunin.

Just as when Lin Ze had fought Ryota Uchiha earlier, without opening the Eight Gates Released Formation, he really had not been entirely confident that he could rush in and save Lin Ze at any moment.

And because he could not practice ninjutsu, he had never managed to advance to chunin, leaving him taking nothing but trivial D-Rank and E-Rank missions all these years.

But Lin Ze was different!

Without the Eight Gates Released Formation, he could already hold his own against an Uchiha chunin. Given a few more years to grow and train properly, he would be a Strong Fist Style jōnin! A jōnin who knew the Eight Gates Released Formation!

Someone like that would definitely give Might Guy tremendous confidence!

"Might Guy, Lin Ze can already exchange blows with a chunin. We can't admit defeat either!"

"We're adding another ten kilometers to this morning's training, then doing another set of combination exercises!"

"Yes, Father! I'll definitely catch up to Lin Ze!" Might Guy answered loudly.

At the training ground near the Orphanage.

Uchiha Onibi was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Seeing Lin Ze arrive, he said evenly, "First, you need to gather chakra in your throat..."

Hearing him launch straight into the explanation, Lin Ze hurriedly sat down beside him and listened carefully.

Time passed slowly, and half an hour went by in the blink of an eye.

"...Finally, the hand seals are Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. Got that?" Uchiha Onibi asked.

Lin Ze nodded and tried forming the sequence once.

To Uchiha Onibi's surprise, his hand seals were actually very precise.

"Not bad. Looks like you've put some work into this. But knowing the hand seals alone is useless. The key is how you control your chakra..."

For the next half hour, Uchiha Onibi patiently guided Lin Ze through his practice. Although Lin Ze's chakra reserves were indeed pitifully small, his control was surprisingly good.

"We'll stop here." Onibi glanced at the sky. It was nearly noon, and having just returned from a mission, he still needed to go home and make lunch for his younger brother, Ryōta.

"You have too little chakra. If you keep practicing, you'll damage your chakra pathways. From now on, just practice the Great Fireball Technique the way I taught you today."

Lin Ze wiped away his sweat. "Thank you for teaching me."

"Hmph, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just honoring the bet," Onibi said awkwardly.

With that, he turned and left.

After only a few steps, he stopped again. "By the way, Ryōta didn't ask me to come looking for you."

"Also, thank you for holding back during the assessment that day and not killing Ryōta."

This Uchiha Onibi had quite an interesting personality. Although he had double standards, protected his own, and doted on his younger brother, he did have some principles.

All one could say was that this was the Uchiha!

Take Uchiha Itachi from the original story. Between the village and his clansmen, he had actually chosen to slaughter his entire clan himself, including his own parents! Was that something a fucking normal person would do?!

There was a reason Second Hokage Tobirama Senju had called the Uchiha an evil clan.

They were too prone to emotion, too easily bound and manipulated by so-called "love," ultimately going to extremes.

Watching Uchiha Onibi's departing figure, Lin Ze considered his parting words.

So you mean everything today was just you, the older brother, deciding on your own to stand up for your little brother.

Hmph! Anyone else would've died during the assessment. There wouldn't even have been a today!

Because Lin Ze had an adult's soul, he had paid no mind to Ryota Uchiha's mockery at the Ninja Academy. Just as an adult would never truly get angry over some thoughtless criticism from a kindergarten child, their levels of understanding were worlds apart. There was really no need to fuss over such things.

But Ryota Uchiha had broken the rules by using the Great Fireball Technique and nearly killed Lin Ze. That was a different matter entirely!

Ryota Uchiha? You'd better never fall into my hands, or you'll be in for a world of suffering!

But how did he know I held back that day?

Lin Ze recalled the previous combat assessment. He really could be said to have held back then. If he had not restrained the power of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, Ryota Uchiha would definitely have spent ten days to half a month in bed.

But from Uchiha Onibi's perspective, Lin Ze could not possibly have improved so much in half a month, so he had simply guessed that Lin Ze had gone easy on Ryota Uchiha during the assessment.

Yet in that brief half month, Lin Ze's strength really had undergone a qualitative leap.

All one could say was that this was a perfect misunderstanding.

Lin Ze shook his head, slowly setting his various thoughts aside, and turned his attention to the Uchiha-style Great Fireball Technique he had just learned.

Thanks to the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, Lin Ze could be said to possess all five chakra natures. Unfortunately, because his talent for chakra was common knowledge, he could not casually display the fruit's innate abilities-flames, lightning, wind blades, and water vapor-in front of others.

That was why, from the moment he first saw Uchiha Onibi, Lin Ze had already worked out how to use his flame ability in Konoha in a way that made sense.

That was the Uchiha's Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!

On the surface, it would be Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique! In reality, it would be his fruit ability-Bolo Breath!

As for why he insisted on obtaining the Uchiha Clan's exclusive method, it was because Bolo Breath was far more powerful than ordinary Fire Release ninjutsu, making it a poor fit for Lin Ze. But with the Uchiha Clan's name attached, things were different.

My fake Great Fireball, real Bolo Breath ninjutsu is strong, huh? Take it up with the Uchiha. They taught me!

"And later, I can also come up with a reasonable way to reveal my lightning, wind blade, and water vapor abilities."

Lin Ze sat at the training ground, silently considering it.

Inside the Hokage Office on the top floor of the Hokage Building.

"Interesting..." With a pipe between his lips, Hiruzen Sarutobi leafed through the report the ANBU had just delivered. "Able to exchange blows with an Uchiha chunin at six years old?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent for a moment, then said to the assistant beside him, "Go fetch Nara Luhong."

Before long, Nara Luhong pushed the door open and entered.

He wore Konoha's jōnin uniform, with his signature upright ponytail and a languid expression on his face.

As the head of the Nara Clan and Shikaku Nara's father, he was not only Konoha's strategist but also one of Hiruzen Sarutobi's most trusted advisers.

"Lord Hokage, what did you need me for?" Nara Luhong yawned.

Hiruzen Sarutobi handed him the report and asked, "Luhong, what do you think?"

Nara Luhong took the report after entering. Having read it, he raised his brows slightly and said slowly:

"Able to exchange blows with an Uchiha chunin at six, and even break Sharingan Genjutsu..."

"This child is no ordinary boy. But that presence capable of crushing genjutsu outright doesn't seem like something ordinary taijutsu could achieve."