Chapter 4: Do You Need Hand Seals to Use Ninjutsu?
"Hello, students. I'm Iruka Umino, and from now on, I'll be your homeroom teacher."
As the school bell rang, a young man in a green vest entered the classroom and introduced himself to Sixteen Nights (Shiliuye) and the rest of the class. Then he smiled and said, "Before we start class, let's get to know each other. We'll begin with the first student in the front row on the left."
"I'm..."
"Hi everyone, my name is Ino Yamanaka. Pleased to meet you all."
"I'm Shino Aburame."
"Sasuke Uchiha."
"I'm the great Uzumaki Naruto! Remember that name — I'm going to be Hokage one day!"
"…"
Everyone introduced themselves differently, showing their personalities. The most eye-catching was undoubtedly Uzumaki Naruto, who was still disliked by Iruka Umino at this stage. Since everyone had just met, his arrogant self-introduction didn't draw laughter from the whole class.
When it was Hinata's turn, she shyly and stammeringly said, "I... I'm Hinata Hyuga. P-please take care of me."
Her timid demeanor stood in stark contrast to the cheerful and outgoing Ino Yamanaka.
Luckily, this wasn't an ordinary world. Otherwise, a shy heiress like her might easily be isolated or bullied.
"Hello everyone, my name is Sixteen Nights."
Sixteen Nights stood up and gave a very ordinary self-introduction. But, just like Sasuke's cute face, his own adorable features still caught the attention of many girls in class.
Even though he already knew the girls in this world matured early, Sixteen Nights still couldn't help but click his tongue inwardly at those burning gazes.
Children lived independently at three, understood romance by five or six, went to war at twelve if they hadn't died yet, and saved the world at sixteen or seventeen... This world was just that absurd.
That's why the title of "genius" held a lot of weight in the Naruto world.
After the self-introductions, it was time for a familiar routine — textbook distribution.
But upon receiving the books, Sixteen Nights couldn't help but twitch his lips.
Language and Math? Normal enough.
But Biology, Medical Science, and Chemistry? What the hell?
Now he understood — no wonder kids in this world matured so fast. This kind of accelerated education was clearly the norm.
Besides these books, Iruka also handed each student a scroll, which detailed the method of chakra extraction.
"Chakra is a special form of energy created by combining physical energy from the body's 130 trillion cells with mental energy in a specific ratio. It's also the key to becoming a ninja," Iruka explained.
"The entrance exam was designed to filter out students whose mental and physical energy levels were up to standard — those who had a high probability of becoming ninjas."
"Academic learning and physical training can both enhance these energies. So, for those of you who haven't extracted chakra yet, make sure to study hard. Otherwise, you may be advised to leave after the observation period."
Upon hearing this, several students from ordinary families who hadn't extracted chakra yet became visibly nervous. For the foreseeable future, they would likely become Iruka's favorite honor students.
But Sixteen Nights didn't bother correcting them — they were overthinking it.
Although the school didn't officially divide students into honors and remedial classes, everyone in Class 1-A either came from ninja clans or was a civilian with outstanding potential.
Just a quick glance told Sixteen Nights that every student had at least a white (common) talent tag, and many had green (chūnin-level) aptitude tags.
This meant even if some students failed the graduation exam, they'd still likely reach genin-level strength in the future.
Those with green tags were practically guaranteed to become chūnin, as long as they didn't die prematurely.
Clan kids like Ino Yamanaka all had blue (jōnin-level) aptitude tags.
But what truly caught Sixteen Nights' attention was Sakura Haruno's ninja aptitude.
Because her ninja aptitude was only green-level (chūnin).
And yet — her chakra control talent tag was purple, at the kekkei genkai (bloodline limit) level.
Despite possessing such a high-level chakra control ability, her future achievement without intervention would still only be chūnin. It was like Hinata, whose [Byakugan Princess] tag was red, but her aptitude only reached jōnin.
If Sakura didn't defy her fate, chūnin would be her limit.
But if she succeeded in doing so, she could become one of the new generation's Legendary Three Ninjas.
After distributing the textbooks and scrolls, Iruka didn't allow the students to relax and immediately started class.
Morning classes were academic, while afternoon classes were physical training.
In the physical training sessions, aside from building strength, they also handed out pebbles to teach students how to throw projectiles accurately.
Techniques like the Three Basic Jutsu (Clone, Transformation, and Substitution), Shunshin (Body Flicker), Invisibility, or even kunai and shuriken combat, were not taught at this stage.
Not even basic taijutsu sparring was included.
Clearly, the first semester of first grade was entirely focused on building foundations — both academic and physical.
Sixteen Nights participated at first, but after confirming that there would be no combat or taijutsu training yet, he stopped attending school in person.
Having inherited the Ōtsutsuki bloodline at age three, his chakra reserves were now absurd. Forget Naruto, who hadn't even begun extracting chakra — even Kakashi, who could use Shadow Clones as a child, wasn't comparable.
His Shadow Clones could last longer and take more hits than Itachi's.
So he left a Shadow Clone to attend school in his place, while his real body used Transformation Jutsu to appear as a teen and trained in ninjutsu at an abandoned field outside the village.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
In an open field, Sixteen Nights pretended to form hand seals, gathered his chakra into a compressed wind vortex in his palm, then struck outward. A violent gust of wind surged out, kicking up clouds of dust and sand.
Yes — he only pretended to form hand seals.
Because Sixteen Nights doesn't need to use hand seals — and can still perform ninjutsu.
More precisely, aside from supportive techniques like the Three Basic Jutsu and the Shadow Clone Technique, Sixteen Nights can cast all elemental ninjutsu without forming hand seals.
There's no doubt — even within red-tier talent tags, there are different levels of power.
And the Ōtsutsuki bloodline's red tag is of a higher grade than even the Body of the Sage, Eyes of the Sage, or Byakugan Princess red-tier tags.
Not only is his chakra reserve astonishing, but his ninjutsu talent is also ridiculously powerful. Like members of the ancient Ōtsutsuki clan before Indra invented hand seals, he can perform all five elemental styles without using any hand signs.
Even Hashirama Senju had to clap his hands and shout the name of a jutsu to cast it — Sixteen Nights doesn't need to do even that.
This isn't just an absurdly powerful talent — it's also a deadly ace up his sleeve.
When an enemy thinks Sixteen Nights is still weaving hand signs, but he suddenly launches a jutsu — they'll be completely caught off guard.
(End of Chapter)