“All right. I’ll begin explaining the Transformation Technique now. The Transformation Technique is ninjutsu, and ninjutsu generally requires hand seals to activate. The Transformation Technique only has one seal—the Ram seal.”
“Naruto, follow me.”
As Iruka formed the hand seal, he motioned for Naruto to imitate him.
Naruto glanced at his hands, then formed the Ram seal as well.
“Everyone, pay attention. Ninjutsu doesn’t activate the instant you complete the hand seal. You also need chakra.”
“For ordinary ninja, chakra is generally released through the hands, feet, or mouth. So while forming the seal, guide the chakra inside your body toward your throat. Then visualize what you want to transform into.”
“For example, I’ll imagine myself becoming Naruto, while Naruto will imagine himself becoming me.”
“Once everything is ready, activate the technique with your voice. Like this—”
“Transformation Technique!”
Poof!
A cloud of smoke burst outward, and Iruka transformed into Naruto.
“Whoa!”
The children immediately exclaimed in excitement.
“See? That’s all there is to activating the Transformation Technique. Once you become proficient enough, you won’t even need to say the name of the technique out loud.”
Iruka transformed back into himself, then looked at Naruto.
“Naruto, your turn. Try transforming into me.”
“Transformation Technique.”
Naruto spoke calmly.
Poof!
In an instant, he transformed perfectly into Iruka.
“Huh? You succeeded on your first try?”
Iruka stared at him in surprise.
“No way, he actually did it?”
“The Transformation Technique is that easy?”
The students widened their eyes.
None of them had expected Naruto to succeed so effortlessly.
“All right, I’m trying too!”
Immediately, another unlucky brat could no longer restrain himself.
He formed the Ram seal and shouted,
“Transformation Technique!”
Poof!
A crooked, distorted Iruka appeared before everyone, with oily nostrils and the whites of his eyes showing.
“Hahahaha! What kind of transformation is that? That looks awful!”
The entire class burst into laughter.
Laughing or not, the other children could no longer hold themselves back either.
“Me too! I’m trying!”
“Me too!”
Before long, the whole classroom was swept up in enthusiasm for practicing the Transformation Technique.
Unfortunately, every transformation came out warped in some way.
Not a single student managed to reproduce Iruka’s appearance as perfectly as Naruto had.
Naruto returned to his normal appearance, nodded to Iruka, and stepped down from the platform.
Iruka stared at the chaotic classroom.
One student after another had transformed into hideously distorted versions of him that looked offensive to both man and dog.
The pressure around Iruka seemed to rise visibly.
“Quiet!”
“What are those supposed to be?! You, you, and you—get up here! Do it again according to what I told you!”
Iruka immediately began correcting the students one by one.
Aside from Naruto and a handful of others among the future Konoha Twelve, nearly everyone was called to the front and thoroughly corrected.
Naruto had originally assumed that the Ninja Academy would at least teach the twelve basic hand seals.
But in reality, it did not.
Whatever ninjutsu you were learning, they simply taught you the seals needed for that specific technique.
The Clone Technique and Substitution Technique that followed were taught the same way.
And after learning the Clone Technique and Substitution Technique, their first academic year was essentially over.
Of course, instruction in the Three Basic Techniques was nowhere near as strict as the Chakra Refinement Technique.
When teaching chakra refinement, even if only one student had yet to succeed, the Academy would still reserve half of every day specifically for meditation and chakra-refinement practice.
The Three Basic Techniques were different.
After three days of instruction for each one, they were rarely explained in detail again.
Of course, Iruka, conscientious as ever, still tested everyone from time to time.
The rest of their class time, however, was spent almost entirely on academic and theoretical subjects.
And among those subjects, the Will of Fire occupied the greatest portion of the curriculum.
Clearly, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had long since mastered such indoctrination, intended to engrave the Will of Fire deeply into the minds of the Ninja Academy students during their very first year.
Without realizing it, the students’ way of thinking had already begun to change.
For example, after only one academic year, far more students were loudly proclaiming that they wanted to become Hokage.
Even though they were utterly ordinary, the Will of Fire convinced them that as long as they worked hard enough, they could achieve it.
If they failed, then clearly they simply had not worked hard enough!
And so, many of them dreamed of becoming Hokage so they could protect the village and protect their families.
As for Naruto, although he had drawn some attention by mastering the Transformation Technique on his first try, hardly anyone interacted with him apart from Shikamaru and a few others.
On top of that, everyone already knew that Naruto had refined chakra before entering the Academy.
So most of them simply assumed he had also learned the Transformation Technique before enrolling.
As for the Clone Technique and Substitution Technique, Naruto had never demonstrated either one in front of anyone.
Those techniques were considerably harder than the Transformation Technique.
Apart from the future Konoha Twelve, almost no one had mastered them yet.
And because Naruto had never used them publicly, everyone naturally assumed he had failed to learn them as well.
On top of that, Naruto ranked near the bottom of the class in academic theory.
That was because he answered multiple-choice questions using the old test-taking saying from his previous life:
If three choices are long and one is short, pick the short one.
If three are short and one is long, pick the long one.
If they’re all the same length, pick C.
Naturally, no one considered Naruto a genius.
But in reality, with Naruto’s current chakra control, his enormous chakra reserves—already vast enough to measure in units of Kakashi—his increasingly powerful body brought about by meditative absorption, his sharpened five senses, and his already completed Wind Release nature transformation…
He had long since surpassed the requirements for both the Clone Technique and Substitution Technique.
Furthermore, without the Nine-Tails’ chakra interfering with him, Naruto mastered both basic techniques the moment Iruka finished explaining them.
“Yo, Kurama. Hello. I’m back.”
During winter break, amid biting winds and a world blanketed in snow, Naruto once again entered the sewer-like sealed space.
“Hmph. Brat, what are you doing here again? I still haven’t decided to trust you,” the Nine-Tails snorted.
“Well, I’m being watched all the time, so I’ve never dared to make any big moves.”
Naruto smiled faintly.
“But I really want to master the Rasengan first.”
“Then it suddenly occurred to me how stupid I’d been.”
“Isn’t this sealed space the perfect secret training ground?”
“No matter how closely they monitor me outside, there’s no way they can see what happens in here.”
“Hmph! This isn’t your training ground, brat. Get out. I don’t want to see you,” the Nine-Tails threatened viciously.
“Hehe. Talk-no-Jutsu can’t kill anyone.”
Naruto remained completely calm.
“Come back and say that after you’re actually capable of getting out.”
“At the very least, wait until you can leak out a little more power.”
That was right.
At present, the amount of power the Nine-Tails could leak through the seal was still far too little to matter to Naruto.
“You arrogant little brat! Just wait until I get out. I’ll show you exactly how I deal with you!” the Nine-Tails growled viciously.
Naruto ignored it.
He focused entirely on practicing the Rasengan.
There were no water balloons here.
No rubber balls either.
Trying to learn the Rasengan purely through chakra control without the assistance of training tools was more than ten times harder than practicing it outside.
But under his current life of constant surveillance, there was one thing Naruto had more than enough of.
Time.
Furthermore, although he lacked training tools here, Naruto’s chakra control was vastly superior to that of his original counterpart before learning the Rasengan.
On top of that, Naruto knew from the very beginning that he could use both hands.
He also possessed the mental state of constant absorption.
And while there were no training tools inside the sealed space, they still existed outside.
As long as he did not create any noticeable disturbances, Naruto was confident he could use them without attracting the ANBU’s attention.
Then he could bring the sensation and experience he gained outside back into the sealed space, greatly increasing his efficiency.
Because of all that, Naruto did not believe he would take any longer to master the Rasengan than his counterpart in the original story.
And reality proved him correct.
By the time winter break ended and the Academy reopened—
Naruto had successfully mastered the Rasengan.