"Yoichi, you were wronged this time. If there's anything you don't understand about ninjutsu training, feel free to come ask me. My chakra nature just happens to be Lightning."
After leaving Uchiha Fugaku's house, Uchiha Mabayashi spoke to comfort him.
Although the clan had provided compensation in the form of ninjutsu and money, the former was of little use to Uchiha Yoichi, while the latter was simply what he deserved. Both of Yoichi's parents had been ninjas, and there was no shortage of ninjutsu scrolls left behind at home. Most of the commonly used Uchiha Fire Release techniques were already available to him.
As for money, it was something he was entitled to in the first place. A C-rank mission that effectively turned into an A-rank mission—given the importance of the intelligence he brought back, even five hundred thousand ryō would not have been excessive.
This time, however, Uchiha Yoichi had been made to yield for the sake of the clan.
Not only did the clan fail to fight for the credit he rightfully deserved, they were also unable to publicly clear him of the suspicion that he "might have intentionally failed to save his teammate."
It was no wonder that Uchiha Yoichi felt anger in his heart.
He had clearly done nothing wrong, yet a label was placed on him—and the clan had not given him the support he expected.
Now that the village was no longer assigning him to any mission teams, it was essentially tacit approval of the rumors circulating about him:"teammate jinx,""intentionally refusing to provide support,"and similar accusations.
On top of that, he could no longer accept B-rank missions. Although Chunin were qualified to take B-rank missions, Yoichi couldn't form a team and therefore didn't meet the requirements. From now on, he could only accept some C-rank or even D-rank missions on his own.
"There's nothing I need right now, Mabayashi-senpai. If there's nothing else, I'll head back first."
Uchiha Yoichi spoke calmly, but what he really wanted was to return immediately. His disappointment with the clan was part of it—but more than that, he was worried that that damned X-ray ability might activate again at random.
Staring at naked men was how you ended up growing styes.
"Alright, go on back then, Yoichi-kun. If you need any help, just come find me at the Police Force."
After saying that, Uchiha Mabayashi parted ways with Uchiha Yoichi.
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On the other side, after finishing the meal preparations, Uchiha Mikoto went to the quiet room.
"Fugaku-kun, lunch is ready."
Before long, the door opened and Uchiha Fugaku stepped out.
"Mikoto, if you're tired, you can rest first. There's no need to push yourself so hard."
Mikoto quickly replied, "I'm fine, Fugaku. What happened earlier was just… a momentary lapse."
Seeing that she insisted, Fugaku didn't press the issue further. He followed Mikoto to the dining room, and the two began eating lunch.
While eating, Mikoto couldn't help but ask, "Fugaku, that Yoichi-kun who came earlier—what was he here for?"
"Because of some illogical rumors, Yoichi-kun had to take a step back. It was done so the Uchiha clan could move forward more smoothly within the village. Still, it ended up wronging him, a man who had clearly rendered meritorious service. That's why I intended to compensate him earlier."
Uchiha Fugaku still trusted the Third Hokage in his heart. He believed that under the Third's leadership, the Uchiha clan might finally shed its long-standing awkward position and truly integrate into Konoha.
"So that's how it is…" Mikoto nodded lightly, then hesitated before asking tentatively,"Fugaku… does the Sharingan have the ability to see through things?"
She suspected something might be wrong with her eyes. After all, being able to see only Uchiha Yoichi's naked body—and no one else—felt far too strange. Since no one else could see it, the problem could only lie with her.
"See through things?" Fugaku put down his soup bowl and explained,"The Sharingan can perceive chakra. By observing chakra flow, it can see vague outlines of people behind objects—but that's the extent of it. When it comes to actual penetration vision, the Sharingan indeed falls short of the Byakugan. However, in terms of overall ability, the Sharingan is far superior."
He didn't forget to emphasize the Sharingan's superiority at the end.
"Then is it possible that the Sharingan has abilities similar to the Byakugan—"
Before Mikoto could finish, Fugaku interrupted her.
"Don't believe such illogical rumors. There were once claims that the Sharingan originated from the Byakugan, but those were fabricated by people who admired the Byakugan. The Sharingan is far stronger."
"I see… I understand, Fugaku."
Mikoto nodded and lowered her head to continue eating, though she still couldn't understand why she alone could see Uchiha Yoichi's naked body.
Why only her?
————————————
"Cell activation through Lightning Release is basically complete. The next step is increasing the flow of Lightning chakra to achieve the Lightning Armor effect—but that's a matter of long-term refinement."
Uchiha Yoichi thought to himself with satisfaction.
With the help of a voltage transformer generator, he spent one week mastering Lightning nature transformation, then another week or so activating his cells while simultaneously manifesting a Lightning Release armor.
The next step was continuous reinforcement—using Lightning chakra to strengthen his body so that his meridians, cells, muscles, and bones could withstand increasingly intense Lightning Release chakra.
As his body adapted, it would grow stronger and stronger. His speed and neural reaction time would continue to rise.
The Fourth Raikage's speed was nearly the fastest in the entire ninja world—second only to blatantly overpowered space-time ninjutsu. That terrifying speed was achieved precisely by continuously raising the body's upper limits through Lightning Release chakra.
To train this ninjutsu-taijutsu technique—and also to avoid triggering the [X-ray Vision] ability—Uchiha Yoichi had barely left the clan compound during this period.
"After cell activation, my speed has already doubled. If I push the Lightning chakra flow to its limit, my speed could increase threefold. From here on, my focus can shift more toward taijutsu."
Yoichi's ninjutsu wasn't particularly outstanding. His hand seals weren't fast enough—at best, he could manage three seals per second. That was enough to gain the upper hand against ordinary Chunin, but it fell short when facing Jonin.
Especially Jonin who specialized in ninjutsu—performing five hand seals per second was completely normal for them.
Once taijutsu reached a high level, it posed a serious threat to ninjutsu-oriented fighters. The Hyuga clan had made a name for itself in the ninja world precisely through the combination of the Byakugan and Gentle Fist taijutsu.
Yoichi also vaguely remembered a renegade ninja from a minor branch of the Hyuga clan who, relying on powerful taijutsu alone, had nearly defeated the future Shunshin no Shisui. That alone was enough to prove the advantage taijutsu held in life-and-death combat.
"My strength has improved. Next comes familiarity and control. A ninja can only truly grow stronger through battle."
Uchiha Yoichi found himself wanting to take on missions outside the village again. He even suspected that the village's higher-ups were preventing him from forming teams precisely to stop him from accepting B-rank missions or above.
Logically speaking, there was no reason for the higher-ups to focus on a mere Chunin like him, and relations between the Uchiha clan and the village hadn't deteriorated to that extent.
But using nothing but rumors as justification to discourage him from forming mission teams—there was no way that didn't involve subjective targeting.
"I can take a long-term out-of-village mission, then stop by the underground exchange… but strictly within the borders of the Land of Fire."
His strength had never been weak to begin with. Now that he had mastered Lightning Release Chakra Mode's cell activation, his overall combat power placed him among the elite even within the Chunin rank.
If he could further refine Lightning Release Chakra Mode to manifest full Lightning Armor, then combined with the Sharingan, he could contend with a Special Jonin in taijutsu alone.
And if the roulette happened to refresh a truly outrageous ability…
Even against an elite Jonin, Uchiha Yoichi was confident he could kill them.