It had already been some time since Itachi's departure.
As the days passed, the public's attention on the Uchiha had begun to cool down.
Natsuki, who had kept an eye on public opinion at first, was now quite busy.
That was because a new feature had appeared in his Faction System.
In the faction interface, the portraits of those who had high loyalty or intimacy with him would light up.
Clicking on them revealed a new button—Dream Training.
Currently, the available members included Fugaku, Takuya, Youhei, Itachi, Shisui, and several other Uchiha clansmen.
When Natsuki tapped Fugaku's portrait, the system displayed a list of combat categories.
He selected Taijutsu.
[Dream construction in progress… Dream construction complete. Uchiha Fugaku – Taijutsu]
Lying on his bed, Natsuki closed his eyes, and his consciousness immediately entered a training ground.
On the opposite side, Fugaku appeared, demonstrating his taijutsu techniques one by one.
Every move carried the signature Uchiha style—flashy, flamboyant, and elegant.
With the aid of the Sharingan, his body twisted and flipped with dazzling precision; it was hard to imagine a man of his build moving with such grace.
Once Fugaku's demonstration ended, he suddenly dashed forward.
Instinctively, Natsuki tried to use the Substitution Jutsu—but to his surprise, he couldn't mobilize his chakra.
With a bang, he exploded into smoke like a shadow clone.
Natsuki's eyes snapped open. He was back in his bedroom.
"Oh, so it's a virtual training room?"
Opening the faction panel again, he saw Fugaku's portrait had dimmed, with a countdown timer beside it.
It would take twenty-four hours before he could simulate with him again.
Natsuki then tapped on Itachi's taijutsu.
[Dream construction in progress… Dream construction complete. Uchiha Itachi – Taijutsu]
Closing his eyes once more, Natsuki returned to the training ground.
This time, his opponent was Uchiha Itachi, clad in ANBU uniform with a sword strapped to his back.
Just like Fugaku, Itachi demonstrated his taijutsu—but more than that, he focused heavily on kunai and shuriken usage.
He showed Natsuki how to control shuriken with steel wires, change the trajectory of kunai midair through collisions, and seamlessly combine high-speed movement with precise weapon throws.
Natsuki was awestruck—it was like watching art in motion.
As a transmigrator, he had already spent months struggling at the edge of life and death, honing his skills.
He thought himself qualified as a capable Uchiha jōnin.
But now he realized… the gap between ordinary shinobi and geniuses was still vast.
After finishing his demonstration, Itachi charged at Natsuki.
But unlike Fugaku, he hurled a flurry of kunai and shuriken mid-charge.
Prepared this time, Natsuki dodged carefully. With his Mangekyō's aid, he evaded every projectile with precision.
"Heh, I do have some talent after all," he thought smugly.
Clang! The sound of kunai clashing.
Tss! The faint pull of steel wire.
The kunai he had just avoided suddenly veered toward him, redirected by wires.
A shuriken looped in an arc, cutting off his escape route.
Barely dodging, Natsuki found himself immediately pressured again as more kunai came flying, colliding and changing paths to seal his movements.
While he tried to parry with his sword, the wires wrapped around him.
Itachi closed in and struck—Natsuki burst into smoke once again.
Opening his eyes, Natsuki sighed.
"Itachi's shurikenjutsu really is at an artistic level…"
Unwilling to accept defeat, he next selected the Fourth Elder, Youhei.
[Dream construction in progress… Dream construction complete. Uchiha Youhei – Taijutsu]
He closed his eyes again.
…After a long while, Natsuki opened them with a heavy sigh.
Inside the dream, Youhei had been in a decrepit, elderly state.
And yet, even like this, Natsuki had only managed to take him down by fighting to mutual destruction—not by truly winning.
As expected of veterans who had survived the battlefield—none were easy opponents.
Checking the system panel afterward, Youhei's Taijutsu option had vanished.
Scratching his head, Natsuki decided to try another.
[Dream construction in progress… Dream construction complete. Uchiha Youhei – Ninjutsu]
This time, upon entering the dream, Youhei patiently explained his ninjutsu.
Most were Fire Style techniques, with a few Earth Style.
Natsuki's original body specialized in ninjutsu too—but he only knew Fire Style.
He had no Earth affinity, so attempting Earth techniques was always inefficient.
Long ago, Natsuki had tested his chakra nature: Fire and Lightning, with Fire being dominant.
Following Youhei's guidance on hand seals and chakra flow, he successfully released Fire Style jutsu.
When he tried Earth Style, surprisingly, it worked perfectly within the dream, unaffected by his lack of affinity.
After completing the ninjutsu training, instead of a spar, the dream ended automatically.
Youhei still had one more category left—Genjutsu.
[Dream construction in progress… Dream construction complete. Uchiha Youhei – Genjutsu]
This session was mainly theory—casting and dispelling illusions.
Natsuki, whose genjutsu was terrible, struggled through the lessons, barely understanding.
But thanks to his overwhelming ocular power, whenever Youhei cast genjutsu on him, Natsuki broke free with brute force.
Still, when it came to actually casting illusions, his execution was clumsy and ineffective.
Eventually, he exited again.
By then, Youhei's panel showed all three categories—taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu—had disappeared, leaving only one button: Combat.
[Dream construction in progress… Dream construction complete. Uchiha Youhei – Combat]
This time, it was an unrestricted battle.
Moments later, Natsuki opened his eyes again, face dark.
Even in old age, Youhei's experience was vicious—he had crafted traps out of shuriken and explosive tags.
Caught off guard, Natsuki nearly lost.
In the end, he only won by relying on Susanoo.
His practical combat ability was far worse than he thought.
Still, unlike the other options, the Combat button remained—it only entered cooldown, meaning it could be challenged repeatedly.
With this in mind, Natsuki set his sights on the Third Elder, Takuya.
Once again, he stepped into the dream.
…
When dawn's light spilled into his room, Natsuki opened his weary eyes.
The dream's time had run in sync with reality—he hadn't slept a wink all night, and his spirit was utterly drained.
After an entire night's effort, the only real achievement was barely defeating old Youhei.
As for Takuya, Natsuki had lost—though to be fair, he hadn't used Susanoo.
Fugaku, Shisui, and Itachi didn't even have combat options; he had already lost to them at the taijutsu stage.
In ninjutsu practice, a wrong sequence in chakra flow often caused his body to explode into smoke.
As for genjutsu, his talent was abysmal—most of the theory went over his head.
He had no choice but to admit he was a genjutsu idiot.
The only saving grace was his strong ocular power, which let him break illusions quickly.
But in casting them, his skill was a mess.
At best, he could only dominate some of the lesser Uchiha with two or three tomoe Sharingan.
Among specialists:
Uchiha Yayoi had the best kenjutsu, his speed and ferocity hidden behind a normally goofy demeanor.
Itachi's shurikenjutsu was unrivaled, requiring extraordinary insight to replicate.
Shisui was the strongest in genjutsu—facing him, Natsuki often felt like a fool, trapped before he even realized it. If not for his Mangekyō's power, he wouldn't have even a chance to resist.
After enduring a night of brutal training, Natsuki was completely exhausted.
His faction panel showed almost everyone's dream training was now on cooldown.
Closing his eyes, this time, he fell into real sleep.
Upon waking, he dragged himself to the training field for physical drills, before returning to continue dream simulations.
Day after day, his routine became the same: sleep, train, dream battles.
To others, it looked like he only showed up briefly at the training grounds before leaving again.
But his taijutsu and ninjutsu growth stunned everyone.
This cycle of efficient training and dream sparring rapidly forged Natsuki into a battle-hardened warrior.
No longer was he a jōnin who flirted with death on every mission.
Still, he couldn't learn others' unique Mangekyō techniques, and his own Mangekyō abilities had yet to awaken.
But with the immense ocular power he carried—three Mangekyō worth of chakra infused into his eyes—his strength grew constantly, even when he did nothing.
And with nightly sparring against Fugaku, Shisui, and Itachi, his progress was inevitable.
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