"Just perform it normally. Is that really so hard?"
Seeing the confused look in Uchiha Aozora's eyes, Shisui felt both annoyed and unsettled.
As far as he could remember, hadn't he himself said those exact words multiple times before—when learning the Great Fireball Technique, when practicing the Shifting Body Technique...
The way of heaven favors karmic retribution—what goes around truly does come around. He never expected to hear someone say those words to him one day.
Despite his emotional reflections, Uchiha Shisui quickly refocused.
His eyes turned red, three tomoe patterns swirling within the irises.
Meeting Aozora's gaze directly, he solemnly asked, "Aozora, would you mind performing the Great Fireball Technique again?"
Being stared at by a fully matured Sharingan made Uchiha Aozora feel uneasy, sensing an ominous bloodlust radiating from it.
That sensation vanished instantly, but Aozora knew it wasn't just his imagination.
The Sharingan awakened from profound loss and intense emotional turmoil. Therefore, behind every pair of Sharingan lay a tragic story. It was an eye reflecting one's soul, yet also an omen of calamity. This was precisely why Aozora, despite being born into the Uchiha clan, had never actively sought to awaken his own Sharingan.
Though numerous thoughts flashed through Aozora's mind, none showed on his outward expression.
He touched his throat and said, "It feels burned. Let me take a break first."
After returning indoors to drink some cold water and resting several minutes, Uchiha Aozora formed hand seals once more.
Snake – Ram – Monkey – Boar – Horse – Tiger!
[Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!]
During this second attempt, Aozora moved much faster through the seals.
Yet according to Shisui's experience, such rapid sealing should cause chakra flow errors, preventing successful execution of the Great Fireball Technique.
Through his Sharingan, however, Shisui observed how Aozora's hand movements became slow-motion sequences—one hand moving while the other paused.
Within Aozora's body, his chakra resembled a light blue-colored pond. As he formed seals, portions of this chakra branched off, following the normal circulation path required for the Great Fireball Technique.
To Shisui's amazement, even when temporarily unguided, the chakra didn't spiral out of control. It simply paused—waiting for the next hand seal to tell it where to go.
Still pondering this strange phenomenon, Shisui watched as Aozora expelled another fireball from his mouth.
Compared to the first attempt, this fireball shrank somewhat in size, yet Shisui felt no disappointment.
This was not a failure, nor was it weaker—quite the opposite. Aozora now controlled the Great Fireball Technique perfectly, deliberately limiting its output within his physical endurance threshold.
Five seconds later, when most fire-natured chakra had exited through his throat, Aozora voluntarily released the hand seal.
"Phew—"
First he exhaled deeply, then inhaled forcefully, using this breathwork to guide residual fire chakra from his throat cavity back into his body.
After circulating and regulating his chakra twice through major meridians, the fire-natured energy transformed back into neutral chakra, returning to his dantian.
Witnessing Aozora's control over the Great Fireball Technique, Uchiha Shisui found himself astonished beyond words.
His purpose in activating the Sharingan was to uncover how his younger brother had managed to master the Great Fireball Technique in an instant.
Unfortunately, he was not successful.
Although the Sharingan did have the ability to detect chakra, it was ultimately not the Byakugan and could not provide penetrative vision.
He could only see the general direction of chakra flow, but couldn't accurately determine the subtle fluctuations occurring within the body.
In fact, even with the Byakugan, one could only roughly observe the size and flow direction of chakra within the body; discerning its minute fluctuations remained impossible.
Of course, Shisui Uchiha was not without gain from this observation.
From what he just witnessed, he noticed that his own younger brother was actually capable of keeping his chakra completely still during the gaps between hand seals.
Was this due to exceptional chakra control skills, or something else? He felt puzzled.
"Is there something wrong?"
Seeing his older brother look puzzled, Aozora Uchiha quickly asked.
"Hmm?" Shisui snapped back to attention. "No problem. Your Great Fireball Technique was pretty good!"
Aozora smiled. "That's exactly what I thought."
Although his elder brother had only said "good," who exactly was Shisui Uchiha?
He was currently the strongest ninja of the Uchiha clan that was publicly known. Even accounting for those hidden in shadows, he would still rank at least in the top three.
What he considered "good" would already be deemed excellent by other ninja standards.
Truthfully, he hadn't expected to perform the Great Fireball Technique so easily.
He remembered that in the original canon, Sasuke Uchiha, the protagonist, also needed extensive practice before successfully executing it. The first time, he had barely managed to produce a few weak sparks—far inferior to his own performance.
But wait, wasn't Sasuke only six or seven years old back then?
Thinking about this, Aozora's expression lost its smugness.
Shisui watched his younger brother's proud demeanor with amusement, then suddenly noticed his younger brother's expression worsening, which struck him as somewhat strange.
However, instead of guessing Aozora's thoughts, he generously shared all his insights regarding the Great Fireball Technique with him.
As the sun rose higher, Shisui Uchiha patted his younger brother on the shoulder and said, "Aozora, I'm truly glad to see you growing up and gradually acquiring the ability to protect yourself."
"I've got another mission again, sorry I can't spend more days with you!"
"This time I'm heading to the border of the Land of Clouds for reinforcement duty. It might last as short as a month, or as long as half a year, but I will definitely come back."
"I hope when I return, you'll already be an outstanding ninja capable of standing on your own."
After saying these words, he lightly leapt onto the roof, hopping left and right, soon disappearing from Aozora's sight.
Staring at the spot where his older brother vanished, Aozora kept watching for quite some time before finally withdrawing his gaze.
"Oh foolish brother of mine, Shisui!"
"When you devote yourself to serving this village, would you ever expect betrayal from behind? The current Konoha has become corrupt and is absolutely not worth dying for!"
He felt the deeply unfair treatment on behalf of his older brother.
Throughout his life, Shisui was selfless and dedicated himself wholeheartedly to Konoha, even betraying his own family for the sake of the village.
Yet despite all that, he never gained full trust from the village, and was even sabotaged by his superior officer. No one defended him, and no one held anyone accountable for his death.
"In this lifetime, I will not allow history to repeat itself!"
Feeling a rush of motivation, Uchiha Aozora got back to practicing the Great Fireball Technique.
First, he adjusted his chakra output and the speed of hand seals to control the technique's power and range.
Next, he began simplifying the hand seals or even removing them entirely, attempting to perform the Great Fireball Technique purely through internal chakra manipulation. After two tries, Uchiha Aozora succeeded.
He let out a short laugh of joy, then went right back to training. He knew it wasn't due to his innate talent—it was all thanks to the Dao Yin Lian Qi method.
From ages five to twelve—seven full years—he had continuously circulated chakra through his body. When it came to internal chakra control, he confidently believed few in the ninja world could rival him.
The reason he didn't claim "nobody in the ninja world could surpass him" was out of consideration for the Otsutsuki clan—the group of cheating prodigies who didn't even need hand seals.
As Aozora kept training, he suddenly realized his chakra had grown much hotter.
Before he could think further, the page within his mind suddenly glowed, followed by the familiar sensation of absorption.
The searing chakra was instantly sucked away.
Unfazed, Aozora actually felt unusually excited. He went back inside, sat cross-legged, and waited eagerly.
Within minutes, the scorching chakra flowed out from the Heavenly Book.
At that moment, four faint golden ancient characters appeared on the Heavenly Book—[Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work].
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