Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Uchiha Mikoto left, her face flushed red as she departed.

Watching her voluptuous figure retreat, Uchiha Taiga smacked his lips. Thinking about his current age, he couldn't help but sigh.

'I'm still too young. Even if I actually did something right now, I wouldn't feel immersed in it at all.'

Taiga quickly tossed the matter of Mikoto's visit to the back of his mind. He had more important things to do right now.

After changing his clothes and tidying up, he headed out.

His destination was a training ground on the outskirts of the village.

The training ground was hidden deep within a dense forest. Rarely visited by anyone, it had actually been abandoned for a long time—making it perfect for his current needs.

Having been a ninjutsu idiot for so long, he was finally attempting to practice ninjutsu. Though Taiga appeared calm on the surface, he was quite excited on the inside.

'If I remember correctly, the Body Flicker Technique involves gathering chakra in the legs and feet to increase speed.'

The Three Basic Jutsu were the most fundamental ninjutsu, and among such basics, the Body Flicker Technique served as the foundation for jutsu achieving high-speed movement or instantaneous displacement.

Using it as a source and supplementing it with various chakra natures, one could develop all kinds of Body Flicker variations.

Shisui of the Body Flicker's genjutsu variation, the Land of Lightning's Lightning Release Body Flicker, and the Land of Water's Water Release Body Flicker were all prime examples.

Taiga naturally understood the principles of the Body Flicker Technique. He had a scroll for it at home, which he had read and memorized in the past.

Testing it out now, he quickly grasped the trick to it.

For him, it was incredibly simple.

*Swish!*

Taiga crossed over thirty meters with a single step. The entire process appeared effortless, barely even stirring the wind.

This was only his first attempt, yet the result was already on par with veteran Chunin who specialized in the technique.

This movement was different from his past physical feats. He didn't crack the ground beneath his feet, nor did he create a loud sonic boom. He simply gathered chakra into the meridian pathways of his legs and feet, and his speed naturally increased.

'Not a bad jutsu. It's worth digging deeper into.'

Giving it a satisfactory evaluation, Taiga's figure flashed as he increased his speed once more.

Looking at him now, he resembled a wisp of smoke, shifting from one spot to another in the blink of an eye. His speed continued to climb, while the disturbance he caused grew smaller and smaller.

His technique was improving, and his mastery over the Body Flicker Technique was deepening.

Practicing such a low-level ninjutsu now felt effortless, as if he were mastering it from a much higher vantage point. This was the advantage of possessing exceptional chakra control.

Taiga's movements naturally attracted the attention of others. After all, given what had happened to the village last night, all of Konoha was currently in a tense, high-pressure state. Even the slightest rustle of grass would be noticed.

However, he had no intention of hiding. He simply swaggered right past the eyes of those ninja.

"T-That is!?"

"It's that kid from the Uchiha clan."

"Yeah, the one who fought the Nine-Tails last night. That strength... it reminded me of Lady Tsunade."

"Now that you mention it, you're completely right..."

The crowd naturally recognized Taiga's identity, so there was nothing to be nervous about. After all, countless people in the village had witnessed his actions last night with their own eyes.

Put simply.

The Uchiha were despised by the villagers, but that resentment no longer included Uchiha Taiga.

It might have been hard to say in the past, but after last night, many people had a change of heart regarding this particular Uchiha.

Especially since Taiga was so young, yet capable of fighting head-on against a terrifying existence like the Nine-Tails. It had left an unknown number of people completely astounded.

This was respect for the strong, a principle that ninja agreed with above all else.

Taiga's gaze swept across the area. There were many damaged streets in the village; some places had been leveled to the ground, while others were littered with collapsed and ruined houses.

Villagers could be seen weeping in front of their destroyed homes, while others were actively throwing themselves into the reconstruction efforts. In short, everyone reacted differently.

Taiga didn't care about any of this. Whether it was reconstruction or suffering, none of it had anything to do with him. Right now, he only wanted to master his ninjutsu.

Soon, he arrived at the eastern edge of the village.

The abandoned training ground wasn't large, covering only about half an acre. Weeds had overgrown the ground, and the targets that were originally set up had long since broken, with some even rotting away.

Taiga paid no mind to this; he wasn't here to practice taijutsu anyway.

Taking a scroll from his shirt, he began to read it carefully.

The words Great Fireball were written on the scroll, making it obvious that he had brought out the Great Fireball Technique.

This was a C-rank ninjutsu, falling into the category of intermediate techniques. It was also one of the most representative of all Fire Release jutsu.

As an Uchiha, even if he didn't particularly like his origins, Taiga felt there was nothing wrong with practicing the Great Fireball Technique first.

This was what they called heritage.

'Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger...'

Having roughly memorized the contents and understood how to mobilize his chakra, he completed the nature and shape transformations of his chakra almost instantly.

Taking a deep breath, he fixed his gaze on the abandoned targets ahead.

He could already feel a warm sensation in his throat. This feeling quickly spread throughout his entire mouth, giving him an urge to spit it out.

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!'

The next moment, a burst of orange-red flames spewed from his mouth.

It started as a line of fire, but the front end rapidly expanded and gathered, turning into a massive sphere in the blink of an eye.

The sphere was composed of pure flames. It wasn't a perfect circle, but it burned fiercely, radiating an astonishing amount of heat.

The chakra nature transformation provided the jutsu with its blazing flames, while the shape transformation gave it its physical form.

With that, the Great Fireball took shape.

*Whoosh!*

Flames surged as a fireball a full two meters in diameter blasted forward, crashing toward the abandoned targets ahead.

*Boom!*

A deafening roar echoed, followed by splattering flames and billowing smoke.

Under the intense blaze, the abandoned targets were reduced to ashes in an instant, and those ashes were subsequently blown away by the powerful shockwave.

This jutsu was jokingly known as a merciful technique, but that moniker also highlighted some of its flaws.

For instance, its casting speed wasn't particularly fast, and its destructive power was concentrated only within a specific area.

However, the Great Fireball Technique that Taiga unleashed in this life far exceeded the scope of an ordinary C-rank Fire Release ninjutsu.

When the smoke cleared, a large crater had appeared on the ground ahead. It was half a meter deep, with churned-up soil and scorched black marks.

As for the weeds and abandoned targets, they had long since vanished without a trace.

'I applied a bit too much nature transformation, making the fireball's temperature too high. Plus, I subconsciously compressed the chakra... With this kind of power, its destructive force is probably on par with a B-rank ninjutsu.'

Observing the aftermath, Taiga was quite satisfied that his very first attempt was a success and packed such a punch.

Now, he had a general understanding of his current capabilities.

He might know very few ninjutsu, but his foundation was incredibly solid. His nature and shape transformations for various chakra elements were excellent, allowing him to master ninjutsu at a speed far beyond ordinary people.

With that, he had officially mastered the Great Fireball Technique. All that was left was to practice more, increase his hand sign speed, and then simplify the signs until he reached the point where he could just clap his hands together and unleash whatever jutsu he wanted.

'If Senju Hashirama could do it, why can't I, Uchiha Taiga?'

'Impossible.'

He had absolute confidence in himself.

'Right, what was the principle behind Namikaze Minato's jutsu again? Using advanced chakra shape transformation to mold it into a sphere like a Tailed Beast Bomb, thereby creating a signless ninjutsu.'

Piqued with interest, Taiga decided to give it a try.

Extending his hand, he mobilized his chakra, and soon, chakra began to gather in his palm.

As the Rasengan was an essential skill for any transmigrator in the ninja world, Taiga naturally wasn't going to pass it up.

Soon, a small chakra cyclone formed in his palm.

'Not enough volume.'

The chakra cyclone quickly turned into a tornado-like vortex in his palm.

'Now it's too much.'

The vortex shrank.

'Next is changing the direction. The chakra can't just spin in one direction.'

'Right, and then compression.'

'Exactly. It also requires precise control to prevent it from losing its shape.'

'The speed needs to be a bit faster.'

'The shape is fine now. Just compress it a little more...'

More than ten minutes later, a pale blue chakra sphere appeared in Taiga's palm. It was about the size of half his hand, spinning rapidly and dragging the surrounding air along with it to form a miniature whirlwind.

'It's done.'

Rasengan: Checked off.