Returning to the empty mansion, Uchiha Aozora entered his room and prepared to cultivate [Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work].
Within [Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work], Aozora had only inherited the Breath Fire technique.
The Breath Fire was the true flame of Qi, a standard for those who successfully completed fire-attribute Qi cultivation during the Foundation Building stage.
Previously, after receiving the enlightenment from the Heavenly Book, he had been too preoccupied experiencing the effects of [Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work] to thoroughly examine its cultivation method.
Sitting cross-legged in deep concentration, he saw the four ancient characters "Samadhi True Fire" shimmer faintly in golden light at the center of the Heavenly Book within his mind.
As he focused on these four characters, sections of text emerged in his mind.
Aozora understood the method now—but far from feeling joyful, he felt disappointed.
The Heavenly Book provided two methods for cultivating this True Flame.
The first was the orthodox path. As long as one cultivated fire-element Qi and continuously purified and refined it until it became sufficiently pure, the Qi would spontaneously combust into true fire.
This path posed no danger and was simple to execute, though purification and refinement took considerable time—even a prodigy would require at least three or five years.
The second was the unconventional approach: seeking out strange celestial flames in the world and using them to refine one's Qi.
Opposite to the first, this method involved both great difficulty and danger—locating rare heavenly flames and then using them to refine Qi was extremely arduous. However, progress could be remarkably fast; one could condense true fire in as little as a month.
Fortunately, the two methods weren't mutually exclusive. Aozora could simultaneously refine his Qi while searching for special flames.
Looks like I won't be able to cultivate the Breath Fire anytime soon!
The Heavenly Book is excellent, but it can't create something from nothing. If there were other techniques to refine my mystical arts, that would be better.
Sighing, Aozora abandoned idle thoughts. Adjusting his mood, he resolved to try converting his chakra into fire-natured chakra first.
There were many ways to train chakra natures, and the most common was through Ninjutsu.
Slowly forming hand seals, Aozora directed all his focus toward sensing the changes in his chakra, attempting to determine how neutral chakra transformed into fire nature.
"Snake—"
He felt streams of chakra flowing outward from his Dantian.
"Sheep—"
Some currents merged into small rivers while others remained independent, flowing upward through different meridians.
"Monkey—Boar—"
The rivers of chakra passed through one acupoint after another before surging toward his chest.
"Horse—"
The larger streams of chakra began to boil and grow scalding hot.
"Tiger—"
The searing stream met another flow like dry vegetables hitting blazing fire.
Quickly opening the window, Uchiha Aozora spat out a powerful jet of flames—an enormous fireball soared into the sky.
After releasing the jutsu, Aozora carefully reflected and confirmed the Horse seal was key to changing chakra to the fire attribute.
That actually made perfect sense—the hand seals were based on the Twelve Earthly Branches, and both Snake and Horse fell under the fire element, making them ideal for igniting fire-natured chakra.
Though already pretty sure, Uchiha Aozora tested it a few more times before fully confirming that the Horse seal was indeed linked to fire-elemental chakra manipulation.
After finishing the experiment, it was already late.
Uchiha Aozora practiced [Dao Yin Lian Qi] for a while before falling into a deep sleep.
Immortal cultivation had its perks, but he was still just a kid who needed to grow up.
Before 6:30 AM the next morning, Uchiha Aozora had already woken up.
The plan for a year starts with spring; the plan for a day starts with morning!
He'd known this principle from his previous life, but back then work and personal life often clashed, disrupting his routine.
This time around, without bosses calling or phones tempting him, he'd successfully developed the habit of going to bed early and waking up early.
After getting up, Uchiha Aozora spent an hour doing morning exercises in the courtyard.
Once finished, he went to the bathroom to freshen up, secretly admiring his own stunning good looks and perfect physique.
Putting on a rough, dirt-resistant outfit and grabbing his ninja tools, Aozora headed out wearing his forehead protector.
Fate starts turning its gears today. This marks the start of Uchiha Aozora's great ninja journey.
He knows the path ahead is bright but tough. That's why he always faces challenges head-on.
Giving himself this narration, Uchiha Aozora gave himself a motivational pep talk.
To avoid resistance later on during missions, Aozora psych himself up in advance.
---
The Hokage Tower's first floor was packed with people bustling about.
After the Nine-Tails' attack, Konoha ninjas were scarce—there were many missions but too few hands.
However, Konoha couldn't afford to give up too many assignments.
Because the ninja world didn't revolve solely around Konoha, if Konoha gave up too many missions, they might permanently lose these clients.
Therefore, nowadays, even female Konoha ninjas worked like men, and men worked like beasts of burden.
Uchiha Aozora arrived first, followed soon after by Hayate Gekko and Inuzuka Aya.
It wasn't until nearly 7:50 that Shibi Aburame entered the Hokage Tower.
Nodding at the three students, Shibi led them toward the mission hall.
The mission hall occupied nearly half of the Hokage Tower's first floor. Inside, there were numerous ninjas, as well as plenty of civilians dressed in various styles.
Shibi glanced at the lines for receiving missions, joining the end of the longest queue.
Inuzuka Aya watched the snail-paced line and fidgeted impatiently like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. Pointing at another, much shorter line nearby, she asked her two companions, "Why are we queuing in such a long line? There isn't even one person waiting over there!"
Hearing that, Uchiha Aozora rolled his eyes without thinking. Not knowing such a basic thing, yet having the nerve to proudly call herself the dead-last?
Hayate, ever patient, explained to her, "That line gives out A-rank missions. Our squad doesn't qualify to accept those."
"A-rank?" Inuzuka Aya questioned.
"You're kidding me. You actually don't know that? Unreal!"
Snapping his tongue in disbelief, Uchiha Aozora said to Aya, "Slacker, listen carefully."
Sniffing slightly, Aya obediently moved aside to listen.
"In the ninja world, missions are categorized into five levels—S, A, B, C, and D. The different lines in this hall correspond to these mission classes."
Inuzuka Aya looked at the four queues and still didn't understand. She kept asking, "There are five ranks, so why are there only four lines?"
"Because S-rank missions aren't distributed in this hall," Uchiha Aozora replied. "S-ranked missions are the highest difficulty tasks, involving top-class secrets of a country. They're too confidential and dangerous—they're usually directly assigned by the Hokage."
Aya nodded, but soon had another question. "D-rank missions are the lowest ranked tasks. We're way too strong for this—let's go for an A-rank mission!"
Uchiha Aozora didn't respond this time. He just let out a dismissive "Hmph."
Though Inuzuka Aya didn't get the meaning of that "Hmph," she could clearly see the disdain in Uchiha Aozora's eyes.
Just as she was about to get angry, Hayate Gekko timely explained, "We're just freshly graduated Genin. According to the rules, we're only allowed to take D-rank ones. To take B or C-rank missions, we need to finish a bunch of D-ranks with solid performance."
"As for A-rank missions, only Jonin have the qualification to take them."
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