Watching the Shadow Clone charge towards him, Uchiha Kazuhiko felt little panic.
He drew the Xuantie katana he had purchased that morning, unleashed power equivalent to an Elite Chunin, and swung the blade at the Shadow Clone's head.
Seeing Uchiha Kazuhiko use a weapon, the Shadow Clone also pulled a kunai from its tool pouch to block the sharp katana.
Clang!
The sound of the katana clashing against the kunai rang out. Immediately, the Shadow Clone's expression changed drastically.
A violent force, far exceeding its expectations, transmitted through the kunai, forcing its arm down. The katana continued its path towards its head.
In this critical moment, the Shadow Clone had no choice but to use the Substitution Technique to evade Uchiha Kazuhiko's attack.
Crack!
The substitute object was cleanly sliced in two by the Xuantie katana.
Uchiha Kazuhiko felt a pang of regret, knowing he had missed the perfect opportunity presented by the Shadow Clone's underestimation.
He immediately shifted into a defensive stance, preparing for the Shadow Clone's counterattack.
"Not bad. Among this year's graduates, your strength is probably the strongest,"
the Shadow Clone said, not attacking immediately but instead looking at Uchiha Kazuhiko with appreciation, completely surprised by the display.
"Thank you for the praise, but my strength is still too weak," Uchiha Kazuhiko replied.
He didn't become complacent from the compliment.
Instead, he became even more acutely aware of the gap between himself and veteran ninjas, strengthening his desire to grow stronger.
"Alright, let's continue. I hope you can last a bit longer." After speaking, the Shadow Clone began forming hand seals again and shouted,
"Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!"
(T/N: The original text said 黄泉沼 (Yomi Numa, Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing or Swamp of the Underworld) but the described effect of the clone disappearing and attacking from below more closely aligns with the Hiding Like a Mole technique or a similar subterranean movement. so I changed to fit described action.)
Feeling the ground beneath his feet soften, Uchiha Kazuhiko's expression changed. He hurriedly leaped sideways, attempting to jump out of the affected area.
The Shadow Clone had clearly anticipated this reaction. It stomped its right foot hard on the ground, shooting towards Uchiha Kazuhiko like a cannonball while he was still mid-air.
Unable to change direction in mid-air, Uchiha Kazuhiko had no room to maneuver.
He could only twist his body as much as possible and hold the flat of his blade horizontally, barely managing to block the fist the Shadow Clone slammed towards him.
Thud!
A tremendous force struck him. Uchiha Kazuhiko was sent flying. Upon landing, he immediately used the Substitution Technique without a second word, dodging the kunai attack that followed closely behind.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Having neutralized the immediate danger, Uchiha Kazuhiko unleashed his most proficient ninjutsu against the Shadow Clone.
A C-rank ninjutsu performed at his level posed no real threat to the Shadow Clone, but it could cause some obstruction.
While the Shadow Clone dealt with the Great Fireball's interference, Uchiha Kazuhiko, bursting with raw energy, closed the distance with speed far exceeding that of a typical Chunin.
"Rasengan!"
This seal-less ninjutsu, developed by the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, over three years and famously mastered by his protagonist son, Uzumaki Naruto, was now reproduced in Uchiha Kazuhiko's hand.
"What?!"
The Shadow Clone's eyes widened in recognition of the technique Uchiha Kazuhiko was using.
It wanted to dodge but it was already too late. Having already used the Substitution Technique earlier, it could only watch helplessly as the spinning Rasengan slammed into its back, dispersing it into a puff of smoke.
Clap, clap, clap.
"A truly brilliant fight. I never expected you to defeat my Shadow Clone. It seems I can take it a bit easier on our future missions."
Captain Tōma's real body appeared in the training ground. He glanced appreciatively at Uchiha Kazuhiko, then freed Ikemoto Kaori, who was buried in the ground, and had her wake the still unconscious Inuzuka Yū.
Once Inuzuka Yū was awake, Captain Tōma cleared his throat to get their attention and said with a smile,
"Congratulations on passing the practical test. Team Tōma is officially formed."
"Yay! Awesome!"
Inuzuka Yū and Ikemoto Kaori cheered loudly.
Although Uchiha Kazuhiko wasn't overly excited internally, he smiled along with them.
After they quieted down, Captain Tōma announced another piece of good news: "Well, to celebrate the formation of Team Tōma, I'll treat you all to yakiniku at Yakiniku Q at six tonight."
"Long live the Captain!"
This time, even Uchiha Kazuhiko's eyes lit up. He looked forward to the evening feast, planning to eat his fill and reward his stomach, which had endured a week on packaged food during the mission in the time-space.
After chatting about various topics for a while, Captain Tōma announced the team was dismissed and returned to the Hokage's office for debriefing.
Uchiha Kazuhiko politely declined his teammates' invitation to go shopping and returned to the Uchiha clan district.
He planned to visit the clan's Ninjutsu Library to use the opportunity granted to him upon becoming a Genin to choose one ninjutsu.
As one of Konoha's two great noble clans, and possessing the cheat-like Sharingan, the Uchiha clan possessed a vast collection of ninjutsu far exceeding other families.
Ninjutsu below A-rank were placed in the library as benefits, allowing ordinary clan members to learn them.
Of course, to encourage members to focus more energy on developing their Sharingan, there were restrictions on the number of techniques one could learn. Members were only granted a selection opportunity upon promotion in ninja rank.
However, while those were the rules, enforcement wasn't overly strict. The clan tended to turn a blind eye to ninjas privately passing techniques to close relatives, rarely punishing such acts.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Kazuhiko's parents died young, leaving behind only a few technique scrolls. Besides this family-provided opportunity, his only ways to acquire new techniques were through instruction from Captain Tōma or by seizing them as spoils of war the two conventional methods.
The Ninjutsu Library was a two-story building located in the central area of the Uchiha clan compound. As it only contained lower-rank techniques, it was guarded by merely two Jonin and four Chunin.
"Hello, I'm Uchiha Kazuhiko, recently graduated as a Genin. I'm here to select a ninjutsu."
Upon entering the Ninjutsu Library, Uchiha Kazuhiko showed his ninja identification card to an ordinary clansman responsible for reception.
After confirming Uchiha Kazuhiko's identity, the administrator permitted him to enter the area where the technique scrolls were stored.
"As a Genin, you are only permitted to learn C-rank ninjutsu and some B-rank ninjutsu from the library's first floor,"
the administrator explained, outlining Uchiha Kazuhiko's privileges. He then kindly added,
"The scrolls inside contain descriptions of the techniques. Once you have chosen a ninjutsu, you can come to me to receive a copy with the specific training methods."
"Understood. Thank you." Uchiha Kazuhiko expressed his gratitude and entered the library interior.
The name 'Ninjutsu Library'was a general term; it didn't contain only ninjutsu.
In reality, it housed various types of techniques and skills: ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, sword styles, kenjutsu, and more.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work... Water Release: Water Shark Bomb Technique... Lightning Release: Lightning Needles... Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique... Sword Technique: Whirling Wind..."
Uchiha Kazuhiko's original chakra affinities were Fire and Lightning.
After the system transformed his energy into the chaos-attribute raw energy, his affinity naturally became all attributes.
Therefore, he wasn't limited to Fire Release ninjutsu anymore and examined all the scrolls.
"This is...!!!"
Suddenly, Uchiha Kazuhiko's eyes widened. He rubbed them hard, hardly daring to believe what he saw on the scroll in his hand.