That night.
Inside the room.
Haruki once again finished refining his chakra, his tired eyes opening slowly.
Despite the fatigue, he forced himself to summon the recently restored chakra and performed one of the Three Basic Techniques—the Clone Technique.
Unlike before, his movements were noticeably smoother now. He could complete the hand seals within five seconds—the academy's passing standard.
But that didn't mean he had truly mastered the technique.
Because simply finishing the seals quickly wasn't enough.
The core of using ninjutsu was not the hand seals themselves, but the ability to simultaneously gather and transform chakra during the process.
The hand seals were just a guide to assist this transformation.
Skilled ninja could simplify this sequence, reducing the number of seals or even performing them with one hand.
Of course, none of that mattered to Haruki yet.
He hadn't even properly entered the Clone Technique stage.
No point thinking about running before learning to walk.
Bang!
A puff of chakra smoke dispersed, revealing a distorted figure beside him—a shadowy clone that looked somewhat like Haruki.
Expressionless, Haruki glanced at it briefly and then dispelled the clone.
He closed his eyes to think for a moment, gathered chakra again, and began the hand seals once more.
Five seconds later, another chakra smoke formed, and the twisted shadow resembling Haruki appeared again.
This process repeated five times, draining all the chakra in his body before he finally stopped practicing.
Taking a deep breath, Haruki summoned his system panel.
[Name: Uchiha HarukiAge: 10Body: 5Mind: 7Chakra: 11 (131)Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)Skills:Chakra Refinement: Lv0 (8/100)Clone Technique: Lv0 (46/100)Basic Taijutsu: Lv0 (35/100)]
That night, he refined chakra for four hours straight, raising his chakra limit by 4 points—from 127 to 131.
During that time, he recovered a total of 200 chakra points.
Each Clone Technique use consumed about 20 chakra points.
He practiced the technique ten times in total.
Thanks to the memories and experience left by the original owner, he gained 2 to 3 proficiency points with each use.
Tonight, he earned 27 proficiency points.
Added to the previous 19 points, that made 46—more than halfway to basic mastery.
Besides that, his Chakra Refinement skill also improved beyond expectations, gaining 6 points total instead of the predicted 4.
If he kept training four hours daily, he could reach beginner level within about two weeks.
At that point, the effects would improve, and his chakra shortage problem would ease.
From there, all his skill upgrades would speed up.
It was easy to imagine that over time, his strength would grow faster and faster.
For now?
Slow and steady wins the race.
Maybe he could push his body, train extra hours daily, and reach Chakra Refinement beginner level sooner to speed up progress.
But what's the point?
If his guess was right, graduation was coming soon.
How much could he realistically improve in such a short time?
Genin? Chunin? Surely not Jonin!
Even for a Jonin, what difference could he make in a war engulfing the entire shinobi world?
Why put in so much effort for so little reward?
Besides, he was an outsider—raising his power too fast would only put a spotlight on him, risking exposure.
Better to just stick to the plan.
Shaking his head, Haruki stopped overthinking, left the room, returned to his bedroom, lay on his bed, and stared at the bright moon outside before quickly falling into a deep sleep.
The next day.
Afternoon.
Back on the training field.
But today, Itou Sugi didn't have them fight each other.
Instead, they practiced throwing kunai and shuriken.
Like hand-to-hand combat, these two skills were the primary weapons for genin.
Together with the Three Basic Techniques, they formed a competent battlefield cannon fodder.
What about other ninjutsu?
Forget it.
Take Haruki as an example—his aptitude was average, especially compared to ninja clan-born classmates.
Among civilians, though, his talent was quite good.
Without his transmigration, the original Haruki would have graduated with just enough chakra for a few Clone Techniques.
If that was him, civilians were even worse off.
So learning other ninjutsu was a waste of time.
It wasn't that the school refused to teach more—it was simply unnecessary.
Promising students usually had clan heritage and didn't need school lessons.
Those without heritage but potential were assigned to skilled jonin for training.
Therefore, the school didn't have to teach extra skills.
Besides, this class would likely graduate early, weaker than previous years, so no need for more advanced lessons.
Thud!
A kunai shot through the air, sticking firmly into a target five meters away.
Haruki breathed out a long sigh of relief.
If he missed again, he really wouldn't know what to do.
Since he began training, Itou Sugi had been watching him closely—just like when he fought Mori Tetsu yesterday.
Haruki knew his recent performance was far worse than before and had already thought of excuses.
But surprisingly, Itou Sugi never asked a single question, as if Haruki wasn't even on his radar.
Haruki didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
"Panel!"
With a thought, Haruki opened the proficiency panel.
[Name: Uchiha HarukiAge: 10Body: 5Mind: 7Chakra: 44 (131)Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)Skills:Chakra Refinement: Lv0 (8/100)Clone Technique: Lv0 (46/100)Basic Taijutsu: Lv0 (35/100)Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv0 (1/100)]
No surprises here—after that kunai hit the target, a new skill appeared: Ninja Tool Throwing Lv0 (1/100)!
Encouraged by the feel of that throw, Haruki tossed another kunai.
Thud! It just barely hit the target.
The panel showed Ninja Tool Throwing proficiency rising to Lv0 (2/100)!
Seeing the new progress, Haruki's eyes lit up.
If he wasn't mistaken, this skill might be the first he truly mastered.
The reason was simple—training Ninja Tool Throwing didn't consume chakra.
As long as he didn't match the original owner's level, he could quickly accumulate proficiency and reach beginner status.
Glancing nervously at Itou Sugi in the distance, Haruki wondered, "Would he notice something odd?"
Thinking that, he picked up the kunai and shuriken he had thrown, walked to the ten-meter target, and practiced seriously.
Despite his experience, he still missed multiple times.
That slowed down his proficiency gain, but it was worth it.
After all, when the original owner practiced the ten-meter target, misses were common.
Though Haruki missed more, it wasn't as obvious as with the five-meter target.
With a little time, he would build his proficiency and no longer risk exposure.