Chapter 4: Does Ninjutsu Need Hand Seals?

  "Hello, students. My name is Iruka Umino, and I'll be your homeroom teacher from now on."

  As the css bell rang, a young man wearing a green fk jacket entered the cssroom. Standing at the podium, he introduced himself to Izayoi and the others, then said with a smile, "Before we begin css, let's introduce ourselves to each other. Let's start with the student in the first row on the left."

  "My name is..."

  "Hi everyone, I'm Ino Yamanaka. Please look after me."

  "I am Shino Aburame."

  "Sasuke Uchiha."

  "The name's Naruto Uzumaki! Remember it! I'm the man who's gonna become Hokage!"

  "..."

  Each student's introduction was different, revealing their individual personalities. The most conspicuous was undoubtedly Naruto Uzumaki, who was still disliked by Iruka Umino at this point. Since they had just met, his arrogant self-introduction didn't draw ridicule from the entire css yet.

  When it was Hinata's turn, she spoke softly and stammered, "M-my name is Hinata Hyūga. Pl-please look after me."

  Her shy demeanor formed a stark contrast with the lively and cheerful Ino Yamanaka. Fortunately, this wasn't an ordinary world; otherwise, such a shy young dy from a prestigious family might easily face isotion and bullying.

  "Hello everyone, my name is Izayoi."

  Izayoi stood up and stated his name – a very ordinary self-introduction. However, his face, as cute as Sasuke Uchiha's, attracted the attention of quite a few girls. Although he already knew that girls in this world matured very early, Izayoi couldn't help but click his tongue inwardly upon feeling those fervent gazes.

  Starting independent life at three, understanding romance by five or six, heading to the battlefield before even turning twelve during wartime, becoming saviors of the world at sixteen or seventeen... this world was just that absurd. Precisely because of this, the title of 'genius' carried extremely high value in the world of Naruto.

  After the self-introductions, another familiar segment quickly arrived.

  Handing out textbooks!

  However, upon receiving the books, Izayoi couldn't help but feel his mouth twitch slightly.

  Language Arts and Mathematics – that was normal. But Biology, Medicine, and Chemistry? What on earth?

  Izayoi suddenly understood; no wonder the children in this world learned about love and romance so early. It seemed this kind of precocious intelligence was quite common.

  Besides these textbooks, Iruka Umino also distributed a scroll to each student. Recorded within the scroll was the method for extracting chakra.

  "Chakra is a special energy created by combining physical energy, extracted from the body's 130 trillion cells, and spiritual energy in the correct proportions. It is the key to becoming a ninja," Iruka expined. "The entrance exam screens for students whose spiritual and physical energy levels meet the standard, indicating a high probability of becoming ninjas."

  "Knowledge and physical exercise can both enhance these two types of energy. So, students who haven't awakened their chakra yet must study diligently. Otherwise, once the observation period ends, you might still be advised to withdraw."

  Hearing this, some students from ordinary families who hadn't yet awakened chakra immediately looked nervous. It was likely that for a long time to come, they would be the model "Three Good Students" that Iruka appreciated.

  Izayoi didn't bother reminding them they were overthinking it. Although the school didn't explicitly divide csses into honors and remedial, those admitted into First Year, Css 1, aside from the children of ninja cns, were all commoners with excellent aptitude.

  With just a gnce, Izayoi could see that every cssmate had at least a White-rank trait, and quite a few possessed the Green-rank *Chunin Aptitude*. This meant that even if they didn't pass the graduation exam, they would still likely possess Genin-level strength in the future. Students with Green-rank traits, as long as they didn't perish prematurely, were destined to become Chunin.

  Children from ninja cns, like Ino Yamanaka, all possessed *Jonin Aptitude (Blue)*.

  However, Sakura Haruno's ninja aptitude caught Izayoi's attention. Her aptitude was surprisingly only a Green-rank *Chunin Aptitude*. Yet, her *Chakra Control* talent trait reached the Purple rank, equivalent to a Kekkei Genkai level.

  Possessing such high-level chakra control talent, yet her future achievement was only Chunin. It was simir to how Hinata's *Princess of the Byakugan* was Red, but her aptitude trait was only Jonin-level initially.

  Without undergoing a 'heaven-defying change of fate,' Chunin was Sakura's limit. But if she succeeded in changing her fate, she would become one of the new generation's Sannin.

  After distributing the textbooks and scrolls, Iruka Umino didn't give Izayoi and the others any time to rex, immediately starting the lesson.

  The morning consisted of academic csses, while the afternoon was for physical education. Besides physical training, the PE css involved handing out pebbles and teaching throwing techniques.

  Techniques like the Three Basic Jutsu, Body Flicker Technique, Invisibility Technique, as well as kunai and shuriken practice, were naturally absent. Even Taijutsu sparring wasn't taught yet.

  Clearly, the first term of the first year focused on building a solid foundation, enhancing knowledge and physical fitness.

  Izayoi initially participated, but upon realizing there wouldn't be any Taijutsu sparring for the time being, he stopped sending his main body to the Ninja Academy.

  Having obtained the ōtsutsuki Bloodline at age three, Izayoi's current chakra reserves were extraordinarily rge. Forget Naruto, who couldn't even extract chakra properly yet; even Kakashi Hatake, who could use the *Multiple* Shadow Clone Technique in css at age five or six in the original story, couldn't compare to him. His Shadow Clones far surpassed even Itachi Uchiha's in terms of duration and durability.

  Letting a Shadow Clone attend school in his pce, Izayoi's main body used the Transformation Technique to appear as a teenager and went to a deserted training ground in the wilderness to practice ninjutsu.

  "Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

  In the clearing, Izayoi went through the motions of forming hand seals, compressing wind-natured chakra in his palm into a vortex, then thrusting it out, transforming it into a violent gale that kicked up rge amounts of dust.

  Yes, *going through the motions* of forming hand seals. Because Izayoi could do it without them.

  To be precise, currently, aside from auxiliary ninjutsu like the Three Basic Techniques and Shadow Clone Technique, Izayoi didn't need hand seals to perform any of the five basic elemental release techniques.

  Without a doubt, there were differences even among Red-rank traits. The *ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Red)* trait was a higher existence than *Sage Body (Red)*, *Sage Eyes (Red)*, and *Princess of the Byakugan (Red)*.

  Not only were his chakra reserves astonishing, but his ninjutsu talent was also exaggerated to the extreme. Just like the ōtsutsuki cn members before Indra invented hand seals, he could perform the five elemental release techniques without needing seals. Even Hashirama Senju needed to cp his hands together to manifest his techniques ("shouting jutsu names"), but Izayoi didn't need to.

  This was not only an incredibly powerful ninjutsu talent but also a trump card. When an enemy thought Izayoi was busy forming hand seals, he could suddenly unleash a ninjutsu, definitely catching them completely off guard.

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