After Uchiha Hikaru used the Transformation Jutsu, he led the girls in dancing to "Pure Land of Bliss."
Uchiha #1 and the others stared with their eyes wide, practically drooling.
However, Uchiha #2 shot them a fierce glare, and they instantly sobered up.
As for the vocals, they were naturally sung by Uchiha Hikaru using chakra to manipulate his vocal cords with a false voice.
Once Uchiha #2, Uchiha #3, and the others had calmed down, Hikaru gathered them together.
"Next, you'll practice harmonizing with my shadow clones."
He formed a hand seal and created four shadow clones, who began instructing the male and female teams on both sides.
Then he walked over to Uchiha Izumi.
"Izumi, come here. I'll teach you the song we're going to perform."
"Mm-hmm."
Izumi smiled and quickly followed Uchiha Hikaru to the other side.
When Hikaru felt they were far enough from the others, he stopped and took out a scroll of lyrics from his ninja pouch.
"Here, take this. It's the song we're going to learn. Get familiar with the lyrics first. I'll teach you line by line."
There was no other way. Even though musical instruments and music theory existed in the shinobi world, they were generally only pursued by geishas or civilians. Teaching these eleven Uchiha how to properly read music would probably take a year or more before seeing real progress.
It was better to teach them by imitation. While music theory wasn't something ninjas could pick up easily, singing was not difficult for shinobi who were adept at Transformation Jutsu and false voice techniques.
Even if singing well was a challenge, harmonizing wasn't.
He believed they could manage that much.
Only Izumi would have a harder time. After all, she was the other lead vocalist and had to meet a higher standard in a short amount of time.
Fortunately, Izumi was highly talented in this area. During the earlier auditions, the lines she sang with Uchiha Hikaru were not only beautiful, but her pitch was also always perfect.
She took the lyrics and began reading. The title at the top caught her eye.
"'Answer'? What answer?"
Bonk.
"Ah, ow! What was that for?!"
Izumi yelped in pain.
Hikaru had flicked her forehead with his finger.
"The song is called 'Answer.' What, does it remind you of academy days?"
Izumi's face turned slightly red with embarrassment. She lightly punched Hikaru's chest with her small fist before turning away, seemingly annoyed.
Her long black hair moved as she turned. It should've been a graceful moment—but unfortunately, the wind blew at the wrong time.
Whap.
Her hair slapped right into Hikaru's forehead.
Huh? What was that sound? Did my hair hit something?
Izumi turned back toward Hikaru, puzzled.
She saw his right cheek was slightly red.
"Hikaru, that's weird. Why is only one side of your face red?"
Hikaru's lips twitched. He grabbed the back of Izumi's shirt with one hand and lifted her slightly so their eyes were level.
Then he leaned in, their gazes locking.
Hikaru narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled.
"Izumi, did you feel your hair hit something just now? Look at my cheek. Guess what it was."
Izumi blushed as their faces drew closer. How did the deputy clan leader get even more handsome up close?
No, no, no! What are you thinking, Izumi?! You can't think like that! Not about the deputy clan leader!
"Could it be… I hit your face… with my hair…?"
She spoke shyly, and her timid expression made Hikaru chuckle.
He slowly raised his left hand and touched her forehead with two fingers.
"This is your reward."
Bonk!
"Ahh! That hurt!"
Izumi clutched her forehead where he'd flicked her again.
"Hikaru! You'll never get a wife if you keep doing this!"
She yelled in a mix of embarrassment and irritation.
Hikaru let her go, dropping her lightly to the ground.
"You don't need to worry about that. Get ready to learn the song."
Izumi stood up and patted the dust off her clothes.
"Hmph. Fine."
About two minutes later—
"Hikaru, I've finished reading. We can start now."
"Alright, listen closely. I'll teach you line by line."
Hikaru created another shadow clone—this one transformed to look exactly like Izumi.
Izumi blinked in confusion at the clone standing beside her.
"Why do you have to look like me?"
The clone answered, "Since I'm teaching you to sing, it'll be easier to match your voice and intonation if I look and sound like you."
Izumi tilted her head thoughtfully. That… actually made sense.
"Okay. Let's begin."
Hikaru stood off to the side as the clone began.
♪ "I have a simple question~" ♪
"What question?"
Izumi immediately interrupted.
Hikaru and his clone both gave her a "seriously?" kind of stare.
"Haha, just joking! Keep going, keep going!"
The clone paused, then lowered the hand it had already raised toward her forehead.
♪ "I have a simple question: What is love?" ♪
…
The full autumn moon slowly rose as the last rays of sunlight faded from the sky.
After a full day of training, Hikaru finally released his shadow clones.
The memories from all five clones flooded into his mind.
It was a sensory overload. The moment they returned, the sheer volume of ridiculousness he witnessed made his blood pressure skyrocket.
It was like they'd all made some sort of pact to drive him insane.
Uchiha Izumi kept pulling weird stunts, and the boys under Uchiha #1 were practically tone-deaf.
The girls from Uchiha #2 and Uchiha #3's groups had good voices, but they kept goofing around with the clones and slowing down progress.
Hikaru took deep, calming breaths. He had to stay composed.
These eleven were already the best the Uchiha Clan had to offer in this department. Replacing them would only lower the quality, and he had no time to train new ones from scratch.
He exhaled slowly. It was time to stop playing nice.
He couldn't afford delays anymore. If he wanted fast results, he had to transform into a devil instructor.
The plan was already forming in his mind.
If he couldn't whip them into shape within three days...
He might as well slam his head into a block of tofu and call it a day.
With that grim vow, Uchiha Hikaru steeled himself for the next round of brutal training.