Chapter 6 - Ch.006 Training in the Woods

[~ 900 Words]

~ A few days before the Uchiha Massacre.

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Location: A secluded clearing at the edge of the Uchiha District, used long ago by Hazuki Uchiha for her own training. Haruki returns here with her scrolls in hand.

Among the belongings his mother left behind were:

~Detailed chakra theory notes and ninjutsu scrolls for Fire Style techniques from Genin to Jonin level, both usable with and without the Sharingan.

~Genjutsu manuals for deceptive combat, especially potent when combined with the Sharingan.

~Advanced taijutsu forms adapted for the Uchiha's speed and reflexes.

~A Summoning Contract Scroll for crows, signed with her blood and ready to be passed down.

~A weathered diary filled with personal notes, regrets, and insights into her shinobi career and her hopes for Haruki and Izumi.

Day One – Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)

The morning mist hadn't yet cleared when Haruki stood shirtless under the rising sun, sweat already forming from his warm-ups. The scroll lay unrolled before him, pinned down with kunai. His mother's elegant handwriting marked detailed chakra flow diagrams and commentary:

"Control your breath like you control your will. Fire isn't born from rage. It's born from intention."

Haruki knelt, forming the hand seals slowly.

"Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger..."

He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs, molding his chakra the way the scroll described. He felt the fire spark in his gut, swirling with the air, rising into his chest—

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)

A large burst of fire erupted from his mouth, but it sputtered midstream—wild and uneven. It scorched the trees, but not like the controlled inferno he had seen Izumi or other Uchiha produce.

He clenched his fists, breathing heavily.

"Again."

It wasn't until noon that the flames began to form a perfect, searing sphere, roaring forward with real force. Haruki collapsed onto one knee, coughing but smiling faintly.

"I'm not my mother. But maybe I'm not so useless after all."

Day Two – Morning: Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique)

Haruki stood beneath a tall tree, its bark marked with kunai and scorch marks from years of use. Today's scroll was more advanced—Ryūka required precise chakra control through a wire, meant to bind and burn simultaneously.

He tied ninja wire between his fingers and the trunk. His chakra had to travel through the wire to carry the flame.

He practiced the seals. Snake → Dragon → Rabbit → Tiger.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique)

A thin flame shot out—pathetic and weak. The wire fizzled instead of catching fire. He groaned.

"Too much chakra at the tip... I need it even."

He spent hours adjusting his flow, meditating between attempts. Remembering his father's words:

"Your basics are strong. Use them."

By noon, the wire gleamed red-hot, the fire coiling along its length like a serpent.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique)

This time, a long, concentrated stream of flame shot forth—controlled, lethal, searing into the tree and slicing a line into the bark like a branding iron. Smoke curled upward. Haruki wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Now that felt like a dragon."

Day Two – Evening: Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire with Shuriken)

The third scroll was thinner—less chakra intensive, but far more precise. A jutsu Hazuki noted was her favorite for deceptive movement in combat.

"You don't win battles with brute force alone. Sometimes, fire needs fangs."

Haruki studied the scroll: a rapid-fire technique involving multiple small fireballs launched alongside hidden shuriken.

He lined up the seals. Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger.

He threw a handful of shuriken in one fluid motion and expelled several fireballs with them.

"Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni!" (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire with Shuriken)

The flames sputtered unevenly, shuriken spinning off course. Some of the flames even missed the targets completely. He groaned.

"Focus. Rhythm. Not force."

He repeated the technique over and over again, refining the motion—inhale, spin, exhale, release. By dusk, he managed to launch six fireballs in rapid succession, each cloaking a spinning shuriken that embedded itself into the training posts with a hiss of steam and smoke.

Thuk! Thuk! Thuk!

Crack!

A distant tree branch broke and fell. Haruki stood there, panting, hands smudged with ash and soot, lips scorched slightly from repeated exertion—but smiling.

End of Day Two:

As he gathered the scrolls and cleaned up the training field, Haruki glanced up at the setting sun. Orange flames rippled across the sky, painting Konoha in hues of fire and dusk.

He clutched the scrolls close, whispering almost to the wind:

"Thank you, Mom. I'll make sure this doesn't go to waste."

His heart beat stronger now. Not with ambition, not with vengeance—but with readiness. If something were coming… he wouldn't run. He'd stand. For Izumi. For himself.

Even if he had no Sharingan—

He had his fire.

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