Chapter 17: Chakra Control
Picking up the scroll on the ground, Seimei released the Transformation Technique, reverting from Ryoji 's appearance back to his own.
That's right—both the "Seimei" and "Ryoji " from before were fake.
To lower Furukawa's guard, the two had already swapped identities with the Transformation Technique before showing themselves.
Only then could they succeed in snatching the scroll from him.
However, what Seimei hadn't expected was that the Furukawa they'd been outwitting the whole time had also been a fake.
Just a single Shadow Clone had completely toyed with them.
This gave Seimei a much clearer understanding of what it meant to be a jōnin.
Clap, clap, clap—
At that moment, the sound of applause grew closer.
The three turned toward the sound and saw Furukawa strolling casually out from the forest.
"Furukawa-sensei!" ×2
Ryoji and Mizutani Shizuko, still recovering from the shock, quickly greeted him.
Furukawa gave them a nod, then turned to Seimei.
"You didn't hesitate at all when you attacked me earlier. Weren't you afraid you might actually hurt me?"
Seimei shook his head and replied calmly, "Furukawa-sensei is a jōnin. An attack like that couldn't really harm you. If we didn't go in with the intent to kill, we'd have no chance of taking the scroll from you."
"Very good."
Furukawa nodded in approval, then looked at the other two.
"You two did well, too."
"Then Sensei, did we pass the test?"
Ryoji asked, still anxious from earlier.
"Of course."
Furukawa smiled.
"Congratulations—you don't have to return to the academy for another year."
"Yes!"
Ryoji jumped and cheered in excitement.
Even Mizutani Shizuko couldn't hide her joy.
Only Seimei remained expressionless as ever.
After everyone had calmed down, Furukawa spoke again.
"To celebrate the formation of Team Seventeen, Sensei will treat you all to some grilled meat."
Hearing this, Ryoji grew even more excited.
Even Seimei allowed a small smile to curl at the corner of his lips.
The reason was simple—he was sick of eating military rations pills.
Though he occasionally improved his meals a bit, it was never as satisfying as grilled meat.
Before this, he had been too frugal to spend on such luxuries.
Now that he could enjoy it without guilt, he was genuinely pleased.
······
Afternoon.
Uchiha Clan District.
Seimei returned home, thinking back to the pained expression on Furukawa's face as he paid for their meal, and couldn't help but chuckle.
Still, that was a minor matter.
He had already "wasted" the morning.
It was time to focus on completing today's cultivation plan.
At this stage, with the Chakra Refining Technique still stuck at lv2, and his Physique and Spirit attributes stable, his maximum usable chakra per day was between 2400 to 2500 points.
Of this, he planned to devote 2000 points to training the Reflection Technique.
This way, the technique would gain ten proficiency points daily, and the Sharingan awakening progress would also increase by one point each day.
At that rate, in less than half a month, his Sharingan progress would reach (70/100).
As for what came after...
He would need to develop a new plan.
Because by then, the Reflection Technique would reach lv2.
At that level, the chakra cost per cast might change, as might its effect on Sharingan awakening.
Naturally, the training plan would need to adjust accordingly.
But—
"Meet at the front of the Hokage Building at 9 a.m. tomorrow. We'll officially begin taking missions."
Recalling what Furukawa had said before they parted, Seimei couldn't help but frown.
As he had suspected, the village wasn't planning to throw them onto the battlefield right away—but neither would it leave them idle.
For the foreseeable future, they'd probably be stuck with missions like finding cats, catching dogs, picking up trash, or babysitting—just like previous graduates.
The point was to familiarize them with the mission system and help them adapt to the life of a shinobi—but it was, without question, a waste of time.
If he wanted to maximize chakra usage, he would need more than ten hours of meditation each day to refine chakra.
Clearly, that conflicted with mission work.
Missions required time.
So did cultivation.
With only 24 hours in a day—after subtracting eating, resting, and other necessities—not much remained.
He had to find a way to resolve that conflict.
After thinking it through for a while, Seimei identified three possible approaches:
First: Enhance his natural chakra regeneration rate.
This would require improving his Physique and Spirit attributes—but short-term results were unlikely, so this option could be set aside for now.
Second: Increase the amount of chakra recovered per unit of time.
This would require leveling up the Chakra Refining Technique—but advancing from lv2 to lv3 required 500 proficiency points.
Currently, he had fewer than seventy.
Even if he meditated to refine chakra for twelve full hours a day, gaining twelve proficiency points daily, it would still take over a month.
In the short term, there was no hope in sight.
So this option had to be shelved for now.
That left only the third method...
······
The next day.
Afternoon.
Seimei and the others, led by Furukawa, each carried a bamboo basket on their backs as they picked up trash from a river at the village outskirts.
During the process, Ryoji occasionally grumbled a few complaints.
Seimei waded through the river water, moving forward cautiously while bending down to collect the trash.
If one looked closely, they'd notice his feet weren't actually touching the riverbed—he was walking directly atop the water.
A few minutes later:
Proficiency +1!
Chakra Control: lv0 (60/100) → lv0 (61/100)
That's right—this was the third method Seimei had thought of.
That was, improving his chakra control in order to reduce the amount of chakra needed to perform ninjutsu.
For a shinobi, the chakra required for each technique varies.
If one draws too much or too little chakra, it can result in a failed technique.
Even if it doesn't fail, it often leads to unnecessary waste of chakra.
Therefore, precise chakra control is a skill every ninja must master.
After years of exploration, the shinobi world developed an effective training method—tree climbing and water walking.
For ninjas, gathering chakra at the soles of their feet is the most difficult.
Both tree climbing and water walking require extremely delicate chakra control.
Even a slight imbalance will lead to failure.
Thus, if one masters these two exercises, they can essentially gain solid control over their chakra.
And that was exactly what Seimei was doing.
"Panel."
With a thought, Seimei summoned his proficiency panel.
The familiar pale-blue screen appeared, filling his vision:
[Name: Uchiha Seimei]
[Age: 10]
[Physique: 6]
[Spirit: 7]
[Chakra: 215 (862→910)]
[Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (57/100) → (58/100)]
[Skills:
Chakra Refining Technique: lv2 (69/500) → lv2 (81/500)
Clone Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Transformation Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Substitution Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Fire Release · Great Fireball Technique: lv1 (1/200)
Reflection Technique: lv1 (65/200) → lv1 (77/200)
Basic Taijutsu: lv2 (1/500)
Tool Throwing: lv2 (120/500)
*Chakra Control: lv0 (61/100)]
Training chakra control didn't consume much chakra.
It also didn't require allocating separate time from his schedule to train.
So Seimei quickly raised it to lv0 (61/100).
At this level, using the same ninjutsu now consumed roughly 3% less chakra.
That may seem minor, but accumulated over time, the savings would be significant.
Moreover, as he continued to train, his chakra control would level up further, enhancing the effects.
With the same amount of chakra, he'd be able to perform more techniques.
In a way, that effectively solved his time shortage problem.
The only thing that might be affected was the proficiency gain of the Chakra Refining Technique.
But that wasn't his focus right now.
A slower pace there was acceptable.
(End of Chapter)
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