"Naruto, Sasuke… Sakura… got a question?" Ayato asked casually, peeling the wrapper off a lollipop and popping it into his mouth while mentally planning how to spend the pile of "tuition" he just harvested.
First order: high-class barbecue.
Second: find a few big-sister types to drink with.
Perfect.
Sakura raised her hand, her face full of curiosity.
"Ayato-sensei, earlier when Naruto's clones surrounded you… you used something like a Wind Release, right? But you didn't form any hand signs at all. How could you still use ninjutsu?"
She remembered clearly — Naruto's clones swarmed him, and Ayato hadn't used a single seal. Yet that invisible force blasted everything away like a gale.
In the academy, they learned: all ninjutsu requires hand seals.
So how?
"You mean this?"
Ayato lifted his hand and flicked his finger toward a large nearby tree.
BOOM!
A violent repulsive force shot out like a gust, ripping up the ground around him before blasting the entire tree away.
"So… so strong!"
Team Seven stared, dumbfounded at the giant tree flying off into the distance.
If that hit a person…
"And you can chain it too," Ayato added. He raised his finger again and casually fired off one burst after another toward a small forest patch.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—!
The trees were reduced to dust.
Ayato smiled lightly.
"Just a basic attack, but it's a lot more convenient than throwing kunai."
He wasn't bragging. Manipulating attraction and repulsion was just standard Rinnegan—no, Tenseigan—level "basic attacks." It did consume chakra, but Ayato's reserves were monstrous.
"Teach me! Teach me that technique, Ayato-sensei!"
Naruto's eyes sparkled like stars.
He snuck a glance at Sasuke, and his imagination exploded.
Sasuke getting beaten to the ground by an enemy…
Naruto arriving in a blaze of glory, flicking his finger a few times to obliterate the bad guys…
Sakura looking at him with admiration…
Naruto drooled a little, covering his mouth as he giggled.
Sakura punched him on the head before he drifted too far into his fantasies.
"Stop laughing like an idiot!"
Naruto rolled on the ground holding the bump.
"Sakura-channnn…"
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered.
Sakura hurriedly bowed. "Sorry, Ayato-sensei. Please continue."
"So," Ayato asked, looking at all three, "you want to learn?"
"Yes!"
All of Team Seven nodded eagerly — even Sasuke.
"No chance," Ayato said bluntly. "My ability is beyond bloodline limits and bloodline selection… it's a Bloodline Net—a fusion above them. To use that technique, you'd need the same eyes as me."
He tapped his sky-blue, silver-glinted pupils.
Sakura's mouth twitched.
"Then why did you show it off?"
"Because it looks cool."
Team Seven: "…"
Infuriating.
But they were helpless.
Naruto clenched his teeth.
"Damn it! Why is everyone around me so show-off-y? Especially Ayato-sensei! He keeps showing off and I keep falling for it!"
Sasuke ignored Naruto's whining.
"Earlier you said my hand-seal speed is too slow."
"Oh? The Uchiha prodigy finally listened," Ayato teased.
Sasuke crossed his arms.
"Even if your bloodline allows seal-less techniques… normal ninjutsu requires seals. I'll train my own speed."
Sakura sparkled at him like always.
"As expected of Sasuke… you're amazing!"
Naruto muttered, "What's so good about him…"
"You done?" Ayato asked. "Then listen carefully. I'm only explaining this once."
Team Seven straightened.
Ayato raised one finger. A thin stream of blue chakra coiled around it like a snake under perfect control.
"All ninjutsu requires hand seals — that's true. But if you can accurately control chakra, you can shorten seals… or even use ninjutsu without any."
Sasuke immediately rejected it.
"Impossible."
Even Itachi couldn't do that.
No living shinobi he knew could.
"Don't deny it so fast," Ayato said. "And watch closely. Extra demonstrations cost money."
He inhaled.
Though he hated using low-level techniques…
"For educational purposes, I'll stoop to using a Fireball."
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."
Ayato didn't use a single seal. He opened his mouth — and a massive torrent of flame shot out, forming a colossal red-hot sphere that filled the sky, swallowing the entire training field in its shadow.
The temperature warped the air.
The fire roared like a falling meteor.
Ayato shielded his eyes from the brightness.
"That's it? This is why low-tier techniques never impress."
Sasuke stared with his Sharingan, trembling.
He confirmed it — zero hand seals.
Impossible.
Ridiculous.
Then he looked up at the burning sky.
"That… that's supposed to be a C-rank Fireball?"
His own Great Fireball was pebble-sized by comparison.
Ayato's was a meteor that could level a battlefield.
There was only one word for this:
S-rank.
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