NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: Chapter 7 : Training
In the early morning, Uchiha Shin woke up earlier than usual.
Although he had only refined chakra for two or three hours the previous night, his total chakra reserves had doubled.
"This refining speed is dozens of times faster than before!"
Feeling invigorated, he had a quick breakfast before heading to a weapons shop in Konoha to stock up on supplies.
With a space-sealing scroll strapped to his back, he formed a shadow clone midway through the journey. The clone transformed into the likeness of a wandering academy student who had conveniently "skipped" class, ensuring that if anyone checked, he was still within the village.
Meanwhile, the real Uchiha Shin made his way to the Uchiha district, leveraging the Konoha Police Department's authority to slip out of the village unnoticed. His destination was a dense forest nearby.
With graduation approaching, the Ninja Academy no longer held anything of value for him. The only reason to attend was the chance to sit next to Uchiha Mikoto in class. Then again, he could simply go home later and have her all to himself—which was far more appealing than wasting time in school.
For serious training, the seclusion of the forest was much better. He didn't want to reveal too much in the clan's training grounds.
Gathering chakra to his legs, Uchiha Shin bent his knees slightly before launching himself into the air, landing effortlessly on a thick tree branch over ten meters high.
From this vantage point, his keen eyes scanned the forest, quickly catching sight of a tiger prowling below.
This wasn't just any tiger—it was enormous, at least the size of three grown men, marking it as a low-level ninja beast.
Although it possessed chakra, it lacked the intelligence of a proper summoned creature.
Most ninjas ignored such beasts, though some captured them to use as disposable summons. Unlike true contract creatures, these beasts had no intelligence or ability to communicate, making them little more than living weapons.
For an ordinary Genin, taking down such a beast would be difficult.
Uchiha Shin, however, was no ordinary Genin.
From the sealing scroll on his back, he withdrew several kunai attached with explosive tags.
Dashing across the treetops, he positioned himself directly above the tiger.
"Roar, roar, roar~~"
Sensing an unusual presence, the tiger looked up sharply, baring its gleaming white fangs. A deep, guttural growl rumbled from its throat.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three kunai cut through the air, streaking toward the tiger.
"ROAR!!!"
The beast let out an earth-shaking bellow, unleashing a sudden gust of wind from its maw that deflected the incoming kunai.
"Magnetic Release!"
With a mere flex of his fingers, Uchiha Shin manipulated the kunai mid-air, redirecting them towards the tiger's vital points from three different angles.
The neck, the back, the waist.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The detonating tags erupted in a violent chain of explosions, shaking the surrounding trees.
When the smoke cleared, the tiger lay on the ground, its body charred and torn apart, the scent of burnt flesh thick in the air.
"The power of a single explosive tag is comparable to a hand grenade—enough to kill most ninjas who don't specialize in physical endurance."
Most shinobi had fragile bodies, and a well-placed explosive tag was more than enough to be fatal.
Just as he was about to approach the carcass, Uchiha Shin's eyes narrowed.
The scent of blood had attracted company.
From the shadows of the trees, a pack of seven or eight wolves emerged, their predatory eyes flicking between the fallen tiger and the lone shinobi.
They didn't hesitate.
With a chorus of snarls, the wolves lunged.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!"
Shin's hands blurred through seals at lightning speed, completing the jutsu in under two seconds before spewing out a rapid barrage of small fireballs.
Each flame missile was guided with precision by his Mangekyō Sharingan, ensuring every single shot hit its mark.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The wolves howled in agony as they were incinerated or blown back by the concussive force of the explosions.
Shin paid them no further mind, instead stepping toward the tiger's corpse and placing his palm on its still-warm flesh.
Time to test his right eye's ability—Soul Sacrifice.
"Sacrifice!"
The intricate eight-pointed design in his right eye spun rapidly, and a jet-black flame ignited in his palm, engulfing the tiger's corpse.
Within seconds, the flesh was consumed, and a thin wisp of energy was drawn into his eye before dispersing throughout his body.
He exhaled sharply as the vitality spread, reinforcing his muscles and slightly increasing his chakra reserves.
"If I had to put this into game terms… Chakra +10, Constitution +1."
A smirk played at the corner of his lips. The increase was small, but it was there. And unlike mere training, this was immediate.
Soul Sacrifice was unique in that it had minimal chakra cost when used on the dead. But against the living, the energy expenditure was far greater, making it impractical unless the target was immobilized.
His gaze shifted back to the still-breathing, but crippled, wolves.
He cracked his knuckles.
"Mystic Palm Technique."
Using the nearly perfect training dummies in front of him, Shin attempted to refine his medical ninjutsu. His initial attempts were clumsy, possibly due to his lack of formal medical knowledge.
No matter.
Those that he failed to heal properly… were promptly used as fuel for Soul Sacrifice.
After a long and bloody session, only one wolf survived intact, while the others had been sacrificed to nourish his growing strength.
"The wolves weren't as valuable as the tiger, but hey, scraps are still meat."
Satisfied with his progress, Shin formed a hand seal and created five shadow clones.
Two clones focused on refining his ninjutsu. Another two worked on developing Rasengan and Chidori. The last one went hunting for more "training materials."
As for Shin himself, he sat cross-legged on the surface of a stream, refining his chakra while contemplating his next step.
"I should develop a taijutsu style suited for me."
At the moment, he was proficient in ninjutsu, and his Mangekyō Sharingan made him near-immune to most genjutsu. However, his hand-to-hand combat still had room for improvement.
The standard Strong Fist style was too simple. It relied purely on brute force, with little finesse or adaptability. That wasn't enough.
He needed something versatile, something deadly.
His mind drifted to two potential inspirations: Lightning Chakra Armor, the One Piece World Rokushiki or also called as Navy Six Styles, and a refined, chakra-based martial art that could maximize his body control.
A smirk spread across his lips.
"Time to forge my own path."