Year 28
Since graduating from the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Shinichi had completed two D-rank missions; one with fellow clansmen, and another with Hatake Sakumo. Both were uneventful: one involved locating a noble's missing pet, the other assisting an elderly villager for a day.
To Shinichi, these missions offered little value. He found them tedious, lacking challenge or depth. So he turned inward, training alone, refining his techniques, and most importantly, helping his younger brother Kaito, who would enter the Academy next year.
Every night, Shinichi scanned Kaito's body using his chakra and Sharingan, recording his biological data and storing it in scrolls. He approached Kaito's development with surgical precision, slowly stimulating his Yin and Yang chakra secretory organs.
Perhaps due to Fukashi and Minami's shinobi training and awakened Sharingans, Kaito's Yin chakra organ was active – though not as prominent as Shinichi's. His Yang chakra organ, however, remained dormant.
Shinichi took no risks.
He stimulated the organ gradually over two months, allowing it to awaken step by step. Each time, he created a backup scroll of Kaito's biological data, ensuring he could reverse any adverse effects.
He refused to force a Sharingan awakening. Without a reliable database to trigger it safely, he chose restraint over ambition.
Eventually, his efforts bore fruit.
Kaito's Yang chakra organ was no longer dormant.
Beyond chakra physiology, Shinichi taught Kaito techniques usable without the Sharingan such as shurikenjutsu and taijutsu.
Uchiha taijutsu was divided into two core styles:
1. Defensive Disarmament Style – focused on neutralizing and unarming opponents.
2. Interception and Countering Style – the clan's signature style, reliant on Sharingan to read and counter enemy movements with precision.
The first style was taught to all Uchiha, emphasizing defense and control. Their naturally sharp eyesight gave them an edge, even without dojutsu. This defensive foundation balanced their aggressive ninjutsu, genjutsu, and shurikenjutsu.
Historically, the Uchiha had always clashed with the physically dominant Senju clan. Their taijutsu evolved accordingly, built on resilience, counters, and precision rather than brute force or direct confrontation.
As for the chakra control, Shinichi and Fukashi chose to delay formal training until Kaito entered the Academy. Fukashi had unlocked Kaito's chakra at age five, just as he had with Shinichi, but they focused on physical conditioning first.
Minami and Fukashi knew Shinichi's case was an anomaly that required early physical training. Nonetheless, they chose to follow Shinichi's training and nurture Kaito's body first before delving into spiritual refinement.
***
Summer passed swiftly.
Autumn arrived, painting Konoha in shades of red, gold, and amber.
With the new ranking system in place, shinobi were now assigned missions according to their rank. Jonin took on high-risk operations. Chunin handled the bulk of C and B-rank missions. A and S-rank missions remained confidential, their numbers never publicly disclosed.
D-rank missions, however, flooded in – mostly from wealthy nobles with little understanding of ninja work, or from large landowners who found it cheaper to hire few genin than countless civilian labors.
To qualify for C-rank missions, genin had to complete five D-rank tasks.
Though reluctant, Shinichi completed three more missions with Sakumo to meet the requirement.
Shinichi and Sakumo continued to train together, just as they had during their Academy years.
Sakumo had now mastered both lightning and wind chakra transformations. He could alternate between the two, coating his sword with elemental chakra to enhanced its performance. Lightning chakra gave him speed and momentum while Wind chakra sharpened the blade to extreme and provided cutting edge against defensive jutsus.
His tanto(single-edged sword) was forged form rare chakra-conducting metal. The blade was ivory-white, with a simple light purple tsuba and grey handle. He wore it in a brown leather holster across his back, allowing easy access with either hand.
When he practiced, a white streak followed his strikes – a signature of his blade's swift precision.
Shinichi also carried a sword – a longer tsurugi(Double-edged sword), modeled after the weapon he wielded in his past life.
He had considered replicating KuroiKiba, but chose instead to retain only its length and balance. His current blade gleamed with a pale metallic sheen. The handle and scabbard were matte black, adorned only with a small Uchiha crest at the pommel and midpoint.
It lacked a handguard, causing some to mistake it for a cane or staff in its sheathed state.
But in Shinichi's hands, it was anything but ordinary.
Shinichi had begun experimenting with elemental chakra infusion, adapting it into his sword style. Some of its notable characteristics were:
Fire release sword style: He left fire chakra seeds in his slashes, triggering delayed incendiary explosions on contact.
Lightning release sword style: He used the lighting's speed and penetrative abilities for piercing stabs to paralyze keiketsu and tenketsu points, followed by swift finishing blows.
Wind release sword style: He created silent, razor-sharp strikes for covert operations.
Water release sword style: He formed adhesive surfaces along the blade to manipulate enemy weapons and redirect the momentums for both offense and defense. Suitable for close quarters combat.
Earth Release sword style: He used it defensively to harden the bland and absorb the impact. He rarely used this style.
Combined with his Sharingan, Shinichi's swordsmanship was unmatched among his generation.
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At the end of each training day, Shinichi and Sakumo sparred.
Though Sakumo couldn't match Shinichi's speed or precision, the sessions were invaluable. Shinichi offered guidance, corrected form, and helped Sakumo refine his elemental transitions mid-combat.
Their bond deepened – not just as comrades, but as equals in pursuit of mastery.