The next day, in the Uchiha household courtyard.
Although Uchiha Aozora had officially become a Genin, he didn't have to go on missions immediately.
According to Konoha tradition, Genin were assigned to squads before being sent on missions. Under the guidance of their instructors, they would grow into fully capable ninja.
Genin squad assignments required the Hokage's approval, so for a few days, Aozora could stay home and rest.
But he had no intention of resting. Instead, he planned to spend the next couple of days learning two new jutsu.
"Ne, u, tora, u, tatsu, mi, uma, hitsuji, saru, tori, inu, i!"
"Ne, u, tora, u, tatsu, mi, uma, hitsuji, saru, tori, inu, i!"
Uchiha Aozora repeated the names carefully, forming hand seals with precision, gradually refreshing his memory of each gesture.
In fact, when he first arrived in this world, he had practiced hand seals diligently. By age five, he could form three seals per second.
After all, in the Naruto world, ninjutsu required hand seals.
However, after learning chakra refinement, he realized it wasn't just about hand movements. Hand seals alone were not enough—they required the coordinated flow of chakra within the body.
The hand seals were really just cues. Each seal corresponded to a particular chakra flow, magnitude, or transformation.
Adults might understand this, but for a young child, it was too complex. Thus, powerful ninja simplified chakra control into twelve categories, each corresponding to a hand seal.
Children would first learn the twelve seals. Each seal corresponded to a type of chakra flow. By mastering them, they could combine all twelve to perform jutsu.
Aozora remembered a post from his previous life about hand seals in the Water Dragon Jutsu. When the infamous Zabuza first appeared, he formed forty-four hand seals. Later, when Tobirama Senju performed it, he only needed three. Replies joked, "The Second Hokage is too OP" or "Kishimoto was lazy to draw all the seals."
After understanding the underlying principles, Aozora could easily comprehend why simplified seals, single-hand seals, and even no-seal jutsu existed.
From then on, he rarely practiced hand seals, because speed was not about finger dexterity but chakra control. The Heavenly Book's "Guided Qigong" method was far more effective for this.
Today, he revisited hand seals not because he wanted to practice them for speed, but because the scrolls he was studying didn't explain chakra flow—only the hand seals were provided. To understand the jutsu, he had to pick up the seals he had neglected.
After breakfast, Uchiha Shisui dressed and walked into the courtyard. Seeing his brother's clumsy hand seals, he shook his head.
Arms crossed, he watched as Aozora practiced. The more he watched, the more disappointed he became.
And this kid wants to learn every ninjutsu in the ninja world?
Giving him all those scrolls yesterday… was that a mistake?
Despite Shisui's scrutiny, Aozora focused, gradually finding his rhythm.
His mastery of "Guided Qigong" allowed his chakra to circulate quickly. Once he matched the hand seals with the corresponding chakra flows, it would work.
"Mi, hitsuji, saru, i, uma, tora."
Aozora slowly formed the seals, coordinating his chakra according to each pattern.
Hoo!
His eyes lit up. He had finally linked the hand seals with the proper chakra flow. A wide grin spread across his face.
"Haha! I finally got it!"
Shisui frowned, feeling only disappointment.
The Great Fireball Technique was a basic fire-style jutsu for the Uchiha, but even among C-rank jutsu, it ranked among the more difficult. Yet Aozora had barely formed the seals and already claimed mastery.
Shisui had never expected much from his brother's talent. The scrolls were meant to encourage him, not because he was confident. Now he regretted giving him so many.
Meanwhile, Aozora began his first attempt at casting the Great Fireball Technique.
"Mi—hitsuji—saru—"
Even before he finished the seals, Shisui recognized the jutsu Aozora intended to perform. His frown deepened.
Too forced… he's trying to run before he can walk.
Maybe I should've taken the scrolls back. I hope he won't resent me later.
Shisui did not expect his brother to succeed, nor did he intervene.
From Shisui's perspective, with the current hand seal speed, Aozora's chakra would disperse before reaching the throat, and the jutsu would fail.
But inside Aozora, the chakra, once reaching the correct spot, didn't scatter. It remained, awaiting the next command.
After a moment, Aozora completed the seals. His chakra flowed through several transformations, forming an intense heat in his throat.
His face flushed. He felt a thin, molten-like stream in his throat, the extreme heat threatening to burn through him.
Yet he remained calm, carefully completing the final transformation.
A surge of chakra from his abdomen propelled the fiery stream toward his throat. He knew he had to open his mouth.
Hoo—
A narrow red stream shot from his mouth. The wind ignited it instantly, and it expanded into a massive, waist-high fireball.
Three seconds later, the red stream vanished, and the fireball dissipated harmlessly in the courtyard.
Aozora panted, rubbing his throat, exhilarated.
Shisui's eyes widened in shock. "He actually did it… how? How did he succeed?"
Despite his busy missions and lack of attention to his brother, Shisui knew Aozora's talent was average. Otherwise, he wouldn't have graduated from the academy at twelve.
He also knew that Aozora had only learned to refine chakra earlier that year and had no mastery of ninja techniques or illusions, though he had preserved the Uchiha's family tradition in shuriken.
Judging by his clumsy hand seals, success should have been impossible.
Yet the scorched lawn and the lingering heat proved otherwise.
His "useless" brother had performed the Great Fireball Technique on the first try—truly, not just sparks, but a giant fireball.
Even a so-called genius, Shisui recalled, had taken three attempts and over two weeks of practice to achieve this.
Perplexed, Shisui grabbed Aozora. "Aozora! How did you just perform the Great Fireball Technique? Why did you succeed the first time?"
Aozora pushed his brother's hand away, puzzled.
"I just did it normally… Is this really that hard?"