“Let me see.” Uchiha Makoto walked over and squeezed Obito’s right hand.
It was indeed a bit harder.
Although it was still far from a true Tekkai, it was at least a start.
“Not bad.” Uchiha Makoto patted Obito’s shoulder.
“Keep practicing.”
“Yes!” Obito was full of motivation.
Guy’s side was about the same.
His Chakra flow was smoother than Obito’s, but it was always unstable when solidifying.
Hard for a moment, soft the next.
“Don’t rush,” Uchiha Makoto said.
“Take your time. Chakra control isn’t something you master in a day.”
Guy nodded and continued practicing.
Flowing Tekkai allowed for partial body hardening, which was much more flexible than regular Tekkai.
Furthermore, partial hardening consumed less Chakra and lasted longer.
The only difficulty was Chakra control.
Making Chakra flow precisely and solidify accurately within the body required extremely strong control.
Obito and Guy definitely couldn’t do it right now.
But it didn’t matter; they could practice slowly.
Once mastered, their combat power would increase by a huge margin.
If they couldn’t master it…
they could just consider it training their Chakra control.
Anyway, it wasn’t a loss.
“Brother Makoto,” Obito suddenly asked, “once this is mastered, will I be able to move while using Tekkai just like you?”
“Yes,” Uchiha Makoto said.
“But you can only move the unhardened parts. For example, if you harden your right hand, your right hand can’t move, but your left hand, legs, and head can all move.”
Guy was also thinking.
“Brother Makoto,” Guy asked, “if this is trained to the extreme, can the whole body be hardened while still being able to move?”
Uchiha Makoto glanced at him.
“Theoretically, yes,” he said.
“But it requires extremely high Chakra control. I estimate you’d need to reach the Jonin level to pull it off.”
“Jonin…” Guy clenched his fists.
“Then I must train until I reach the Jonin level!”
“Me too!” Obito said.
Uchiha Makoto smiled.
“Then start practicing.”
He walked aside, sat down, and watched Obito and Guy continue tossing about.
Obito was struggling with his own right hand.
Guy was struggling with his own left leg.
Both of them were covered in sweat, but their gazes were firm.
Uchiha Makoto looked at them with a hint of emotion in his heart.
These two dunderheads didn’t have great talent, but their perseverance was truly strong.
Obito had lost so many times, yet he had never given up.
Guy had been mocked for so many years, yet he had never given up either.
Now that they had a direction, they were practicing even more desperately.
“Perhaps…” Uchiha Makoto thought, “can they really pull it off?”
He didn’t know.
But he hoped they could.
Because in this world, strength was everything.
With strength, you could survive.
With strength, you could…
change some things.
For instance, the fate of the Uchiha.
Uchiha Makoto had been very annoyed lately.
Not just normally annoyed.
It was the kind of annoyance where “you are watched while walking, watched while eating, and even feel a pair of eyes behind your back when using the restroom.”
Anbu.
It was definitely the Anbu.
That group of guys dressed like crows hid in the shadows all day, staring at his every move.
Uchiha Makoto had tried to shake them off.
Taking detours, hiding, or even using the Transformation Technique.
It was useless.
Those people were like dog-skin plasters; he couldn’t shake them off no matter what.
“Dammit.” Uchiha Makoto hid in an alleyway, panting.
“If this keeps up, it’s not a solution.”
He needed to cultivate, farm benefits, and grow stronger.
But with the Anbu staring at him like this, he couldn’t do anything.
Every day, just dealing with the surveillance meant he didn’t dare materialize any Ninjutsu.
“No way.” Uchiha Makoto gritted his teeth.
“I have to think of a way.”
Think of what way?
Go head-on?
Stop joking.
He was just a six-year-old child right now, and his Chakra at best was only at the Genin level.
Going head-on with the Anbu was courting death.
Run away?
Run where?
Konoha was only so big; he could run, but he couldn’t hide.
Besides, as an Uchiha, where could he even run?
Uchiha Makoto squatted in the alley, his brain spinning rapidly.
Then, his eyes lit up.
“That’s right! I’m not alone.”
“I am an Uchiha, a genius of the Uchiha.”
“Geniuses have privileges.”
He stood up and patted the dust off his body.
“When in doubt, look for the elders.”
Uchiha Clan Land, assembly hall.
Today was the weekly regular meeting.
Uchiha Yashiro sat in the main seat, and below him were a group of elders, every single one of them wearing a stern face as if someone owed them money.
“Regarding the budget for the Military Police Force…” Yashiro had just started speaking.
The door was pushed open.
A small head peeked in.
“Um…” Uchiha Makoto blinked his eyes.
“I’m looking for the clan head.”
The conference room fell silent.
All the elders turned their heads in unison, staring at the doorway.
Uchiha Makoto felt a bit creeped out by the stares, but he still braced himself and said, “I’m looking for the clan head. It’s urgent.”
Yashiro frowned.
Uchiha Makoto, six years old, first year at the Ninja Academy.
His talent was not bad, and it was said his Taijutsu was very strong.
But no matter how good he was, he was still just a six-year-old kid.
A six-year-old barging into a high-level meeting—was that appropriate?
“Get out,” an elder said with a sunken face.
“This isn’t a place you should come to.”
“Indeed, utterly lacking in manners,” another elder chimed in.
Yashiro raised his hand, stopping them.
He looked at Uchiha Makoto.
“What is it?”
“I…” Uchiha Makoto brewed up his emotions, his eyes turning red.
“I’m being followed.”
The conference room grew even quieter.
“Followed?” Yashiro narrowed his eyes.
“By whom?”
“I don’t know,” Uchiha Makoto shook his head.
“But I can feel that someone has been watching me all along. When I’m eating, when I’m training, even when I’m sleeping, I feel like a pair of eyes are staring at me.”
The elders looked at each other in dismay.
Following an Uchiha genius?
Who had such audacity?
“It’s the Anbu,” an elder said coldly.
“Definitely,” another elder nodded.
“Aside from them, who else would dare?”
“Hokage-sama simply doesn’t trust us Uchiha.”
“Outrageous!”
The conference room exploded into an uproar.
The elders spoke one after another, each of them filled with righteous indignation.
Uchiha Makoto didn’t speak.
He lowered his head, but his eyes were secretly peeking.
Then, he saw someone.
A child.
Sitting quietly in the corner, neither noisy nor making a fuss.
Around five years old, with black hair and large eyes, looking quite delicate.
Uchiha Makoto’s pupils constricted.
Uchiha Shisui.
Why was he here?
Uchiha Makoto’s brain spun rapidly.
Shisui was a year younger than him and wouldn’t enter the Ninja Academy until next year.
Logically speaking, he shouldn’t appear on an occasion like this.
Unless…
“Unless he has already entered the sights of the upper echelons,” Uchiha Makoto muttered inwardly.
“At five years old, before even attending the Ninja Academy, he’s a super genius who can trounce Genin.”
“No wonder.”
No wonder he felt the Anbu had been watching him so loosely lately.
No wonder when Konoha’s higher-ups came out to monitor, they never came to find him.
Turns out there was an even more dazzling genius taking the heat upfront.
Far from being angry, Uchiha Makoto actually wanted to laugh a little.
“That’s great,” he thought.
“With Uchiha Shisui around, I’m just a second-tier genius, not worth key surveillance.”