Chapter 10 010: Married Women Are Great
After a good night's sleep, Uchiha Taiga opened his eyes in the morning feeling completely refreshed. It was as if a heavy burden had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders, leaving him with an indescribable sense of comfort.
He wondered if he was simply too carefree.
Despite everything that had happened last night, he acted as if nothing had occurred, completely unaffected.
He stretched, his joints popping and cracking... It felt amazing.
He got out of bed and stood up, but just as he was about to take a step, his body suddenly stiffened.
He drew a sharp breath. "Wait, something's wrong!"
Taiga stopped abruptly, his eyes widening. His emotions surged so intensely that his Sharingan activated on its own.
He looked down at his hands, then patted himself all over.
'The natural energy is gone?'
At this moment, Taiga was fully awake. He finally realized what was different about his body.
In the past, his body had been constantly absorbing natural energy from his surroundings to reconstruct his physique.
This process had been ongoing ever since he drew the Sage Body SS and had never stopped.
Furthermore, the natural energy's reconstruction of his body was a long-term process, deeply tied to his physical growth.
Taiga had originally estimated that this process wouldn't stop until he finished growing, but now...
With a thought, the system panel appeared.
Just as he suspected.
The word "Fusing" that used to follow his Sage Body SS had disappeared. Didn't this mean he could finally use ninjutsu?
At this thought, Taiga could no longer contain his excitement and immediately sat cross-legged on the floor.
He was going to extract chakra.
It wasn't a difficult task.
As everyone knew, chakra was an energy created by combining physical and spiritual energy. It was extracted and used on the spot, unlike the internal energy he knew of from his past life.
Under normal circumstances, it couldn't be stored. It was extracted right when it was needed, which naturally required a process.
Of course, sealing jutsu like the Yin Seal were exceptions.
Digressions aside.
Extracting chakra took time.
Beginners usually needed to calm their minds and focus to complete this step, while veterans had essentially simplified the process into pure instinct.
Because of his unique constitution, Taiga could extract chakra in an instant, but right now, he chose to take it seriously.
He was afraid he might have been mistaken.
This showed just how much importance he placed on chakra and ninjutsu.
After all, it had been over a decade. Taiga had more than enough of living without being able to use ninjutsu.
There were no surprises; he successfully completed the chakra extraction.
At first, it was just a tiny amount. He was afraid of causing another self-destruction, so he acted with extreme caution.
The appearance of chakra didn't trigger any accidents. Everything went smoothly.
Increasing his output, a layer of chakra flames soon flared up around his body.
After a long while, Taiga finally opened his eyes.
Feeling his current condition, he couldn't hold back his smile.
For over a decade, he had possessed a Sage Body and incredible elemental talents, yet he had been completely unable to master chakra or ninjutsu. It had been pure torture for him.
This was the ninja world, where chakra was practically a miraculous power. To say he wasn't tempted by it would be a lie.
Now, he had finally gotten his wish.
Taiga stood up, quickly walked to the corner of the room, and lifted the tatami mat to reveal a box underneath.
Opening the box, he found over forty scrolls of various sizes. These were the ninjutsu passed down through his family line.
"Great Fireball, Phoenix Sage Fire, Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson, Dragon Fire, Flame Bullet, Great Flame Bullet, Great Dragon Fire, Great Fire Annihilation, Great Fire Destruction..."
Taiga counted them one by one. Fire Style ninjutsu made up the majority, followed by the other four elemental natures. The rarest were sealing jutsu, of which there were only three.
"String Light Formation, Sealing Illusion Jutsu, and Eye-Snatching Transfer Seal. It's a pity they're all low-level sealing jutsu."
The other four elemental natures were the same, mostly consisting of C-rank jutsu.
Were there higher-level ninjutsu among those mastered by the Uchiha?
Definitely.
Unfortunately, they were either in the hands of the clan head or the clan elders.
To learn them, one had to first display sufficient talent and make enough contributions. Even though these requirements were lower than learning ninjutsu from the village, given Taiga's circumstances, they were still out of reach.
Who told him to be such a loner in the past?
But he didn't care. The ninjutsu in front of him were enough to keep him busy for a while.
One shouldn't underestimate his talent.
The system panel displayed Water Style A, Fire Style A+, Earth Style B, Lightning Style A, Wind Style B, Yin Style A+, and Yang Style S+. These represented his talent in each elemental nature.
No, to be precise, they represented his mastery over chakra nature and shape transformation, which could collectively be called his chakra control and manipulation.
Over the years, Taiga had also roughly figured out how the system's ranks compared to real-life ninjas.
Put simply, C-rank was roughly at the Genin level, B-rank was Chunin, A-rank was Jonin, A+ was Elite Jonin, and S-rank was naturally Kage level.
Beyond that was S+, representing the Super Kage level.
Even higher were SS and SSS, which corresponded to the Six Paths level and the Otsutsuki who controlled the Ten-Tails.
This was just a comparison Taiga made based on his own experience. There might be discrepancies, and it might not be entirely accurate, but he felt it was close enough.
And now, he was a warrior capable of wielding all seven natures, a true all-attribute ninja.
Even his weakest nature and shape transformations—Earth and Wind—were at the Chunin level.
Not to mention his Super Kage-level Yang Style and Elite Jonin-level Yin Style. The rest were at least at the Jonin level.
With his current talent, if he really went all out in his training, it wouldn't take him long to completely master these ninjutsu.
"You're the one."
Taiga took out one scroll and put the rest away. He planned to wash up first, eat breakfast, and then head out to the wilderness to train.
In short, he was full of energy right now, like a child who had just received a new toy, brimming with anticipation for ninjutsu.
In the bathroom, Taiga hummed a tune as he comfortably gave himself a full-body wash.
At that moment, the front door opened, and a gentle figure walked in, carrying a basket in her hands.
"Taiga-kun, are you not here?"
Taiga naturally heard the voice from inside the bathroom. Aside from him, there was only one other person who had a key to the courtyard.
Uchiha Mikoto.
Coincidentally, he had just finished washing up, so he casually threw on an outer robe and walked out.
He had developed very well in this life. Despite being only thirteen or fourteen years old, he was already over 1.7 meters tall, half a head taller than Mikoto.
"Hurry up and put your clothes on properly."
Mikoto placed the basket on the low table and averted her gaze.
Taiga, however, didn't care at all. He plopped down next to the low table, sprawling casually.
"When I was little, you bathed with me plenty of times. You've already seen everything there is to see."
Mikoto swatted him in exasperation, her cheeks flushing slightly as she scolded, "Don't talk nonsense. You were all alone back then, and I was just taking care of you on behalf of Sister Kumiko."
Taiga clicked his tongue.
"You even said you'd marry me when I grew up. But look at you now, you went and married someone else first. You broke your promise."
At this, Mikoto's face turned even redder.
"You child, don't say such things. You had just become an orphan back then, so of course I had to comfort you. Those words were just meant to soothe you."
As she spoke, she feigned nonchalance and began taking the items out of the basket, arranging them on the table.
"Besides, I'm already married to Fugaku-kun now. I'm a married woman. You should look at the girls your own age in the clan."
Taiga propped his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hands, and grinned playfully. "Married women are great. Married women know how to dote on people. I don't mind at all."