Hidetada watched Mikoto sit down against the base of a towering, moss-covered tree, her chest rising and falling in heavy, rhythmic heaves as she fought to regain her stamina. In stark contrast, he stood before her looking completely normal, his breathing even and his long robes undisturbed by the preceding bout.
With another sigh, he began to pace the perimeter of the small clearing, his sandals tapping rhythmically against the dirt-covered ground with his arms folded firmly across his chest. Finally, Hidetada started to speak, "Well, let's see. Out of everything that you have shown me, your Ninjutsu is probably the best, with your Taijutsu being the worst. I cannot say much for Genjutsu, but you could certainly improve there as well."
He turned on his heel and walked back toward her. Mikoto perked up, still breathing a little too harshly but focusing intently on his critique, her dark eyes following his every move. "You need to improve your stamina as well, though I will not be spending my time training you on that specific front. Your chakra pool is not that big either, so we will need to work on expanding that as well."
Humming to himself, Hidetada paused to stare at her questioningly, "What level of Nature Transformation are you on?" The Uchiha girl hesitated for a moment before answering nervously, "Uh, I have not begun it yet."
With a silent nod at her reply, he resumed his pacing around the same circular path. "So we will need to work on that as well, as it will make it much easier to teach you any advanced Jutsu. By the way, what chakra affinities do you have?"
Mikoto leaned back against the rough bark of the tree, her hands folded over her lap as she answered him, "Fire and Lightning. I have those two affinities." The question made her curious about his own capabilities. The obvious answer seemed to be Earth and Water because he needed them for his Wood Release, but she wanted to be sure. Curious, she asked him, "What affinities do you have, Hidetada?"
He paused at the question, a sharp smirk flickering across his handsome face before he answered simply, "I have them all." At her shocked expression, he decided to add more fuel to the fire, "And I have mastered all the Nature Transformations for each of the five."
The thought almost made her head hurt with the sheer impossibility of it. He was only supposed to be fifteen years old, barely a year older than her—considering she was going to turn fourteen this year—and yet he was already operating on a completely different level of existence.
While she was considered a genius by everyone in the Uchiha clan, Hidetada was built completely different.
Not waiting for her to fully regain her senses, he started pacing the clearing again, rubbing his chin in deep thought. "I cannot help you with Genjutsu; it is probably my weakest skill out of all of them. I am much better at breaking them than making them. So you will eventually need someone else to teach you that."
Pursing his lips in thought, he asked her another question, "Do you know Kenjutsu?"
Mikoto shook her head, causing several strands of her dark hair to fall in front of her eyes. Quickly brushing them back into place, she waited as Hidetada gave one final, decisive nod and stopped his pacing.
His eyes examined her form, weighing his options before his gaze finally locked onto her dark ones. "Alright, you have rested enough. We will begin with Ninjutsu."
Mikoto stood up immediately upon hearing that, wondering what kind of technique he was going to demonstrate. She immediately activated her Sharingan again, the two tomoe spinning slowly, as he turned sideways to make sure she was not in harm's way.
His hands started to form signs at a slow, deliberate pace to make it easier for her eyes to track. First was the Snake hand seal, followed by the Rat, the Tiger, and finally the Dog sign. He exhaled through his mouth, releasing a large volume of a dark, gas-like substance into the air. The thick cloud hung suspended in the center of the clearing, hovering like a predatory mist without touching any of the nearby foliage. It took Mikoto a moment to realize that it was a fine gunpowder suspended in the air.
Throwing her a sharp glance, his hand moved back to the Rat seal as he clicked his teeth together to create a localized ignition.
"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning Jutsu."
His calm voice was instantly overpowered by a violent, earth-shaking explosion as the fire spread through the gray cloud with predatory speed. The reaction was instantaneous; a massive, blinding dome of fire erupted where the ash had been, turning the clearing into a furnace. A huge gust of superheated wind and white light blew outward in all directions, forcing Mikoto to bring up a forearm to shield her eyes from the searing radiation. The shockwave rattled the surrounding trees, stripping leaves from branches and sending a cloud of dust and debris spiraling into the canopy. The roar of the expanding gases filled her ears, a deafening sound that seemed to vibrate through her very skeleton.
The wind that was kicked up slowly died down as Hidetada stopped fueling the Jutsu with his chakra. With his long brown hair flowing behind him in the subsiding draft, he took a step back to admire his handiwork.
Where the ash cloud had been, there was now a deep, jagged crater carved into the earth, the soil at the center turned into a glass-like slag from the sheer intensity of the heat. The air above the pit shimmered with thick heat-haze, and the scent of burnt ozone and scorched wood hung heavily in the clearing.
Finally, he turned toward the wide-eyed Mikoto, who was still staring at the sheer devastation the Jutsu had caused. His voice cracked sharply through the air, bringing her out of her stunned thoughts, "The Ash Pile Burning Jutsu is a B-rank technique. This technique requires keen senses to read the air currents, the insight to read the movements of the enemy, the tactical experience to not also enfold one's allies in the flames, and careful attention for the timing of the ignition. Though that might be hard for a normal person to keep up with, you are an Uchiha, nothing can escape your eyes."
Hidetada paused his explanation, rubbing his chin in thought. "You could also utilize it as a smoke screen, though be careful; anyone else can ignite it as well. Your eyes will, however, give you an advantage that most people won't have while inside the smoke."
Walking a few steps over, he sat against a tree, bringing one knee up as he rested his arm on it in a casual pose. "I hope you copied the Jutsu with your Sharingan." Hidetada waited for her to nod before continuing, "So, I need you to practice the hand seals until you can do them in an instant."
Mikoto could feel an intense need to prove herself as she began to cycle through the hand seals her Sharingan had perfectly memorized. She could not disappoint him.
Having nothing else to keep himself occupied, Hidetada simply observed her going through the motions.
After a moment he became bored and started speaking, "I don't know whether you would be interested in this or not, but I have nothing else to do, so you will have to listen." Mikoto's dark eyes looked into his confusedly as he continued. "The Snake hand sign is used at the start of the Jutsu because it is required to mold and spew the substance from the mouth, though it is often used mostly for Earth Style Jutsu. Then the Rat hand sign is used for channeling and concentrating the gunpowder-like chakra in the lungs. The Tiger hand sign is used to give the substance the heat required to keep the ash from falling flat, then Dog is used to control or contain its form. Finally, the Rat hand sign is used for ignition."
Hidetada finished with a yawn, not truly expecting Mikoto to pay attention to the technical theory. However, as he opened his eyes, he found her looking intently at him, processing every word. Once he caught her staring with a raised eyebrow, she blushed before returning to her hand seals. "Huh, I did not think you would be interested in that, because most people aren't. Do they teach the specific function of each hand seal in the Academy?" he asked her curiously.
The Uchiha did not pause her fingers from flickering from one seal to another as she spoke, "No, they do not. At most, the only thing they have taught us is that these signs are used to mold and expel chakra from specific Tenketsu." Mikoto quickly stored everything he had said about the Jutsu in her memory, maybe she might need it in the future.
"Hmm, I can understand why they don't, I suppose. Most shinobi are too focused on surviving another day than actually creating more Jutsu, as there are already quite a few available, and that is all that they will need for the rest of their lives anyways," Hidetada said as he fell back into his thoughts.
This Jutsu was particularly an interesting one because of the logic behind it. To master Ash Pile Burning, one must move away from the standard Uchiha method of direct combustion. Most Fire Release relies on converting chakra into heat and light immediately within the lungs. This technique is different because it requires the user to manipulate the physical composition of their own breath. They are essentially using their chakra to extract specific minerals from biological waste.
The human body naturally carries potassium nitrates and sulfur. By using the Snake seal, one can intercept these compounds before they are filtered out and divert them into the respiratory system. At the same time, the user must partially combust their chakra to create a fine carbon soot. When they mix these elements in the back of their throat, they are creating a concentrated, powdered fuel that is chemically identical to black powder.
The effectiveness of the Jutsu depends on the fluid dynamics of the exhale. If someone was to simply blow the ash out, it will clump and fall to the ground. The user has to use their chakra to keep the dust suspended in a colloidal cloud. This creates a fuel-air mixture where every particle of ash is surrounded by oxygen. This is the same principle that causes explosions in grain silos or coal mines.
He rubbed his forehead as his honey-colored eyes focused on the movement of Mikoto's fingers. She was now able to execute the signs surprisingly fast. As he watched her, he once again fell back to his thoughts.
The final step of the Jutsu is the ignition. Since the fuel is already in the air, the user only needs a small spark to trigger a thermobaric reaction. By clicking their teeth together with a tiny burst of fire chakra, they create a spark that travels through the cloud.
Because the fuel is so finely dispersed, the combustion happens almost
instantaneously. This creates a vacuum as the oxygen is consumed and generates a pressure wave strong enough to rupture the internal organs of anyone caught inside the radius.
He considered explaining all that to Mikoto before deciding against it. At the end of the day, she was still an Academy student, and half of the terms he was thinking of probably had not even been discovered in this world yet. The only thing that would accomplish is making her more confused.
"Stop." Hidetada stood up from his place against the tree, raising one hand to make Mikoto pause the sequence of the hand seals. Moving beside her, he flashed her a quick smile before explaining to her confused face, "Your hand signs are already efficient enough for now. It is time to try the actual Jutsu."
Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips as a sense of trepidation hit her. She did not want to make Hidetada disappointed in her. Though the copy ability of the Sharingan was perfect, Mikoto could still not help but feel a little nervous.
Patting her head, he moved a few steps back to avoid being in the range of the Jutsu. The Uchiha took a breath, her Sharingan spinning as it was activated. Flashing through the hand seals and molding her chakra perfectly, Mikoto exhaled.
A large gray cloud spread through the air, encasing the area in front of her. Settling on the Rat hand sign, she clicked her teeth, igniting the gunpowder in a series of sparks. The air in front of her exploded, causing a blast of hot air to rush back toward her.
Stepping back, Mikoto compared the damage done by both of their Jutsu. Turning her gaze toward the scorched and singed ground, she realized that her explosion was not even close to his in scale. A sigh escaped her, but the only thing it did was make her even more motivated to work harder.
She looked sideways to see that Hidetada was standing next to her, his hands already in the Snake sign. Effortlessly, he pulsed his chakra into the earth. The scorched earth began to ripple and churn, the blackened soil being pulled downward as fresh, nutrient-rich dirt was pushed to the surface. Within seconds, a carpet of vibrant green grass began to sprout from the center of both of their crater, weaving together to erase the scars of the explosions as if the fires had never touched the ground.
After that was done, he turned toward her to abuse her cheeks with a grin as both of his hands latched onto her. "That was impressive for your first try, my protege," Hidetada said, a little hint of pride in his voice. "You will only get better from here."
Her face became flushed with red as he continued to manhandle her cheeks, though she did not pull away from the touch.
"Man, you are too cute."
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Word Count: 2373.