Do Ninjutsu Require Hand Seals?

"Hello, students. My name is Iruka Umino, and I'll be your homeroom teacher from now on."

As the class bell rang, a young man in a green vest walked into the classroom. He introduced himself to Izayoi and the others from the podium, then said with a smile, "Before class begins, let's introduce ourselves. We'll start with the student in the first row on the left."

"My name is..."

"Hello, everyone. My name is Ino Yamanaka. I look forward to getting along with you."

"My name is Shino Aburame."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Remember that name—I'm the man who will become Hokage!"

"..."

Everyone behaved differently, showing off their own personalities.

The most eye-catching among them was Naruto Uzumaki, whom Iruka Umino still disliked.

Since they had only just met, his arrogant self-introduction did not draw mockery from the entire class.

When it was Hinata's turn, she stammered softly, "I... I'm Hinata Hyuga. Please... please take care of me."

Her shy demeanor stood in sharp contrast to the lively and cheerful Ino Yamanaka.

Fortunately, this was not an ordinary world. Otherwise, such a shy young lady would likely have been easily isolated and bullied.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Izayoi."

Izayoi stood and stated his name, giving a very ordinary introduction.

However, his face, as cute as Sasuke Uchiha's, drew the attention of quite a few girls.

Although he had long known that girls in this world matured very early, Izayoi still clicked his tongue inwardly when he felt those burning gazes.

They began living independently at three, understood romance at five or six, went to war before they were even twelve during wartime, and became Saviors of the World at sixteen or seventeen... This world was just that absurd.

Precisely because of this, the title of genius carried an exceptionally high value in the world of Naruto.

Once the introductions were over, it quickly came to something Izayoi was familiar with.

Handing out textbooks!

But after receiving those books, Izayoi could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth.

Language arts and mathematics were normal enough.

But what were biology, medicine, and chemistry supposed to be?

Izayoi suddenly understood why children in this world knew about romance so early. It seemed that such precociousness was quite common.

Besides those books, Iruka Umino also handed every student a scroll.

The scroll contained the method for extracting chakra.

"Chakra is a special energy created by extracting physical and spiritual energy from the human body's one hundred and thirty trillion cells and combining them in proportion. It is also the key to becoming a ninja."

Iruka Umino explained, "The entrance exam was meant to select students whose spiritual and physical energy both met the standard, giving them a high chance of becoming ninjas."

"Both studying and physical training can increase these two types of energy. So students who do not yet have chakra must study hard. Otherwise, once the observation period ends, you will still be advised to withdraw."

At those words, some students from ordinary families who had yet to develop chakra immediately grew nervous.

For quite some time afterward, they would probably become the model students Iruka Umino liked.

Izayoi did not remind them that they were overthinking it.

Although the academy did not explicitly divide students into advanced and poor classes, aside from the children of ninja clans, every commoner who entered Class 1 of the first year had exceptional aptitude.

With a single glance, Izayoi saw that every classmate had at least a white Talent Perk, while quite a few even possessed green Chunin Aptitude Talent Perks.

This meant that even if they failed the Graduation Exam, they would still possess the strength of Genin in the future.

As long as those classmates with green Talent Perks did not die midway through, they would become Chunin in the future.

Ninja clan children such as Ino Yamanaka all possessed Jonin Aptitude (blue).

However, Sakura Haruno's Ninja Aptitude caught Izayoi's attention.

That was because her Ninja Aptitude was only green-level Chunin Aptitude.

Yet her Chakra Control Talent Perk had reached the purple level of Kekkei Genkai.

With such an advanced Chakra Control talent, her future achievements were limited to Chunin.

It was like Hinata's Byakugan Princess Talent Perk being red, while her aptitude was only that of a Jonin.

Without changing her fate against the heavens, Chunin would be Sakura Haruno's limit.

Once she succeeded in changing her fate against the heavens, she would become one of the Three Ninja of the new generation.

After handing out the textbooks and scrolls, Iruka Umino did not give Izayoi and the others any time to relax. He began class immediately.

The morning was for academic lessons, while the afternoon was for Physical Education Class.

Physical Education Class not only trained the body, but also handed out pebbles to teach the students throwing techniques.

Naturally, there was no instruction in things like the Three Body Technique, the Body Flicker Technique, Invisibility Technique, kunai, or shuriken.

They did not even teach Taijutsu Sparring.

Clearly, the first semester of the first year was focused on laying a solid foundation and improving knowledge and physical fitness.

Izayoi had participated at first, but after seeing that there would be no Taijutsu Sparring at this stage, he stopped having his Main Body attend the Ninja Academy.

Having obtained the Otsutsuki Bloodline at the age of three, Izayoi's current Chakra reserves were outrageous. Not only did Naruto Uzumaki, who could not yet extract Chakra, pale in comparison, even Kakashi Hatake, who in the original story could perform the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique in class at the age of five or six, was inferior to him.

Whether in duration or durability, his shadow clones far surpassed Itachi Uchiha's.

While his shadow clones attended school in his place, Izayoi's Main Body used the Transformation Technique to take on the appearance of a teenager and went to an abandoned Training Ground in the wilderness to practice ninjutsu.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

In the clearing, Izayoi made a show of forming Hand Seals, compressing wind converted from Chakra into his palm to form a vortex. Then he thrust his palm forward, releasing it as a violent gale that kicked up clouds of dust.

Yes, he was only pretending to form Hand Seals.

Because Izayoi could do the same thing without them.

More precisely, aside from support-type ninjutsu such as the Three Body Technique and the Shadow Clone Technique, Izayoi could perform all other Five Elements Release techniques without Hand Seals.

There was no doubt that even Red Perks had their differences.

And the Otsutsuki Bloodline Red Perk was an existence even more advanced than the Sage Body, Sage Eye, and Princess of the Byakugan.

Not only were its Chakra reserves astounding, its talent for ninjutsu was utterly monstrous. Like members of the Otsutsuki Clan before Indra invented Hand Seals, he could perform Five Elements Release without forming seals.

Even Hashirama Senju had to clap his hands together and call for whatever he wanted, yet Izayoi did not need to do even that.

This was not only an extraordinarily powerful talent for ninjutsu, but also a trump card.

When an enemy assumed Izayoi was about to form Hand Seals, if he suddenly unleashed a ninjutsu technique, he would definitely catch them completely off guard.