Night fell.

  Inside the room.

  Seimei had just finished another round of chakra refinement. When he opened his eyes, they were filled with exhaustion.

  Even so, he forced himself to stay alert and used his freshly recovered chakra to perform the Clone Jutsu—one of the three basic ninjutsu techniques.

  This time, it felt different. His movements were much more fluid, and he could now complete the hand seals in under five seconds.

  That was the academy’s benchmark.

  But it didn’t mean he had truly mastered the jutsu.

  Because mastering the hand seals was only one part of the process.

  The real challenge in using ninjutsu wasn’t just forming the seals—it was synchronizing the process of drawing in and transforming chakra while doing so.

  Hand seals merely helped guide that transformation.

  Once a ninja became proficient, they could simplify the process—reducing the number of seals needed or even using just one hand to form them.

  Of course, all of that was far beyond Seimei’s reach for now.

  At this stage, he hadn’t even gotten the Clone Jutsu down.

  You don’t start running before you’ve learned to walk.

  Poof—

  A puff of chakra smoke burst forth. A distorted, vaguely humanoid figure appeared beside him, bearing a crude resembnce to Seimei.

  Expressionless, Seimei gave the deformed clone a gnce, then promptly dispelled it.

  He closed his eyes and meditated for a moment before channeling his chakra again and starting a new set of hand seals.

  Five seconds ter, another puff of smoke, another warped version of himself appeared. Still a mess.

  Like that, he practiced the Clone Jutsu five more times, burning through the st of his chakra before stopping.

  Taking a deep breath, Seimei summoned his status screen.

  【Name: Uchiha SeimeiAge: 10Body: 5Mind: 7Chakra: 11 (131)Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)Skills:— Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv0 (8/100)— Clone Jutsu: Lv0 (46/100)— Basic Taijutsu: Lv0 (35/100)】

  Tonight, he’d spent four hours refining chakra. His chakra capacity had increased by 4 points, going from 127 to 131.

  During that time, he’d recovered roughly 200 chakra points.

  Each use of the Clone Jutsu consumed around 20 chakra, meaning he’d practiced the technique ten times in total.

  Thanks to the memories and experience left behind by the body’s original owner, each time he used the Clone Jutsu, he gained 2 to 3 points of proficiency.

  Just tonight, he’d earned 27 points.

  Adding that to the 19 he already had, he now had 46 proficiency points. He was already halfway to beginner level.

  On top of that, his “Chakra Refinement Technique” had also benefited from residual experience—gaining 6 proficiency points instead of the 4 he had estimated.

  At this rate, if he kept refining chakra four hours a day, he could grind it up to beginner level in about half a month.

  Once that happened, the efficiency of his refinement would increase, and his chakra shortage would start to ease.

  And from there, the rate of growth in all his other skills would start picking up too.

  It wasn’t hard to imagine: the longer he persisted, the faster his strength would snowball.

  But for now... best to take it slow.

  Sure, he could squeeze more hours of training out of his body, reach beginner level in chakra refinement faster, and speed up his progress.

  But what would be the point?

  If his guess was right, graduation wasn’t far off. And in such a short time, how much stronger could he really get?

  Genin? Maybe Chūnin if he pushed it? No way he’d reach Jōnin.

  And even if he did become a Jōnin, in a war that would engulf the entire shinobi world, what real impact could he have?

  He probably wouldn’t even be able to change the outcome of a single local skirmish.

  So why put himself through all that effort for so little gain?

  Worse yet, he wasn’t native to this world. If he suddenly showed massive improvements, all he’d do is paint a target on his back—someone was bound to notice something off.

  So why not just take things step by step?

  Shaking his head, Seimei pushed the thoughts aside, left the training room, returned to his bedroom, and y down on the bed. Gazing at the full moon outside his window, he soon drifted off to sleep.

  ······

  The next day.

  Afternoon.

  Same training field as before.

  But this time, Itō Sugi didn’t have them sparring. Instead, he had the css practice throwing kunai and shuriken.

  Like hand-to-hand combat, these were essential skills for genin in battle. Combined with the three basic jutsu, they were the building blocks of any decent battlefield cannon fodder.

  As for other ninjutsu?

  Forget about it.

  Take Uchiha Seimei, for instance. His aptitude was average—at least compared to other students from shinobi cns. Among commoners, he’d already count as pretty gifted.

  If he hadn’t transmigrated, the original Seimei probably wouldn’t have had much chakra even after graduating—barely enough to perform a few basic jutsu.

  And if he was like that, the situation for the rest of the civilian students was easy to imagine.

  Learning more advanced ninjutsu would be a complete waste of time.

  It wasn’t that the school didn’t want to teach them more—it simply didn’t need to.

  Students with potential usually came from families with their own techniques and training. Those without family but with potential would be pced under capable Jōnin who could guide them.

  That meant the academy didn’t have to cover everything.

  And considering their batch would probably be graduating early, and were weaker than previous years to begin with, there was even less reason to invest in them.

  Thud—

  A kunai flew out and struck the target five meters away, embedding itself into the bullseye.

  Seimei let out a long sigh of relief.

  If he’d missed again, he really wouldn’t have known what excuse to use.

  Ever since they started practice, Itō Sugi kept gncing his way—just like he had during Seimei’s spar with Mori Tetsu the day before.

  Seimei knew full well how different his performance these past two days had been compared to usual. He’d already prepared a whole list of vague, misleading expnations in case he got questioned.

  But strangely enough, Itō Sugi hadn’t said a word—as if he didn’t care about Seimei at all.

  Seimei didn’t know whether to feel relieved or insulted.

  “Status panel,” he murmured.

  【Name: Uchiha SeimeiAge: 10Body: 5Mind: 7Chakra: 44 (131)Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)Skills:— Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv0 (8/100)— Clone Jutsu: Lv0 (46/100)— Basic Taijutsu: Lv0 (35/100)— Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv0 (1/100)】

  As expected, after nding that kunai on target, a new skill had appeared: Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv0 (1/100).

  Relying on the sensation from earlier, Seimei threw another kunai.

  Thud! Another hit—barely.

  His proficiency ticked up: Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv0 (2/100).

  Seeing that new point appear made Seimei’s eyes light up.

  If his hunch was correct, this could be the first skill he actually got to beginner level.

  The reason was simple: practicing ninja tool throwing didn’t consume chakra. As long as he hadn’t reached the original Seimei’s skill level, he could rapidly accumute proficiency through raw repetition.

  However...

  Seimei gnced at Itō Sugi again and thought, Will he notice something strange?

  With that in mind, Seimei picked up the kunai and shuriken he’d thrown and moved over to the ten-meter target. He started practicing seriously.

  Even with the experience from earlier, he still missed the target several times.

  That definitely slowed down his proficiency gain—but it was worth it.

  Because the original Seimei also occasionally missed at ten meters. While Seimei was missing more often now, it wasn’t as obvious as it had been at five meters.

  Given a little time, he’d be able to grind his proficiency up—and then he wouldn’t have to worry about slipping up anymore.