The Reason for Poor Ninjutsu

Fugaku arrived at Yamaki's residence immediately.

He saw a visibly exhausted Yamaki emerging from his room as he entered.

"Yamaki, what happened? There was a surge of ocular power earlier."

Yamaki waved his hand tiredly. "It's nothing, just testing an ocular technique. No need to worry, clan head."

"Ocular technique?" A gleam of understanding flashed in Fugaku's eyes. Ordinary ocular techniques wouldn't cause such a disturbance.

That leaves only one possibility: a Mangekyō Sharingan technique!

Yamaki had mentioned before that his technique was "Heaven's Rift," a powerful ability to foresee the future.

Did Yamaki just foresee the future again?

Seeing Yamaki's weary expression, Fugaku spoke gently, "Yamaki, does foreseeing the future drain you this much?"

Yamaki looked haggard, with dark circles under his eyes and bloodshot eyes. He seemed utterly drained.

Hearing Fugaku's words, Yamaki paused, then rested his eyes.

He finally replied, "Activating Heaven's Rift isn't something I can control. In recent years, its activation has become less frequent."

"That's why I've tried to record as much useful information as possible for the future."

"I just saw some more future scenes, but this time the visions were longer than usual. I have a premonition that Heaven's Rift will never activate again."

Fugaku felt a sense of loss. Yamaki's Mangekyō Sharingan had brought great benefits to the Uchiha.

Though such powerful abilities often had limitations, the sudden cessation of its use was disheartening.

But on the bright side, the Uchiha had already found their path forward. Their development in both the Sound Village and the Hidden Leaf Village far exceeded that of a year ago.

Now, neither the Third Hokage nor any other ninja clan dared to underestimate the Uchiha.

"Clan head, I'm going to rest now. Once I've organized everything, I'll update you." Yamaki yawned and headed back to his room.

Fugaku, accustomed to Yamaki's casual demeanour, didn't mind and instead called over the Fourth Elder, Hinata.

He instructed Hinata to issue a gag order to all Uchiha, forbidding discussion of the night's events.

While all three Tomoe Sharingan users had sensed the ocular power surge and wouldn't normally discuss it, Fugaku issued the order as a precaution.

...

Yamaki stumbled into his room, collapsed onto his bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

Despite his immense ocular and chakra power, his exhaustion stemmed from testing his new ocular techniques in the dream space.

One technique enhanced his observational abilities, while the other boosted Susanoo's attack power.

The dream space didn't consume his actual ocular power or chakra, but the intense bombardment there had drained his mental energy.

Furthermore, the actual cause of his fatigue was his Sharingan's transition to the next level.

He had achieved the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Yamaki slept until noon on the third day, undisturbed by anyone.

Fugaku had checked on him earlier, finding him in a deep, restful sleep rather than unconsciousness.

Understanding that Heaven's Rift must have exhausted Yamaki, Fugaku decided not to wake him.

When Yamaki finally woke up, he felt a gnawing hunger.

After drinking some water, he headed straight for the bustling Eighth Street in the Hidden Leaf Village.

...

Eighth Street, Hidden Leaf Village

Naruto and Sasuke became regular patrons after the fame of the "Chinese Cuisine" shops. Naruto preferred stinky tofu, while Sasuke preferred hot and sour noodles.

Today, after another dismal performance in ninjutsu class, Naruto dragged Sasuke to Eighth Street to buy their favourite snacks.

While munching on stinky tofu, Naruto recommended it to Sasuke: "Sasuke, you really should try this fried stinky tofu. It's incredibly tasty!"

Sasuke turned away in disgust. "I'm not eating that. It smells awful and leaves a terrible taste."

Naruto sighed at Sasuke's lack of appreciation for good food while thinking about his poor test results.

The Nine-Tails inside him often disrupted Naruto's chakra control, making precise ninjutsu techniques like the Transformation Jutsu unreliable.

Although he could perfectly mimic Sasuke during practice, his transformations were often failures during exams, resulting in bizarre forms.

Feeling troubled, Naruto slowed his pace. Sasuke, noticing this, thought Naruto was still upset about the test and reluctantly said, "Actually, I could try the stinky tofu."

Naruto's eyes lit up, and he immediately offered Sasuke a piece of stinky tofu.

"Mmm..."

Sasuke suppressed the odd smell, chewed a bit, and was surprised by the crispy, flavorful taste. He quickly grabbed Naruto's tofu and began eating.

Naruto was stunned.

What's going on? Didn't you just say you wouldn't eat it?

"Hey, leave some for me!" he protested.

After a brief scuffle, Sasuke emerged victorious, eating most of the tofu. Naruto didn't mind too much; he enjoyed seeing Sasuke's happiness.

At that moment, a figure descended from above.

A hand landed on Naruto's head.

"What are you two doing, causing a commotion on the street?"

It was Yamaki, holding several skewers of candied hawthorns. He gently knocked Naruto on the head before doing the same to Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled; his teacher, Yamaki, was always approachable and kind. Yamaki hadn't come to pick them up in a while.

Naruto, however, seemed a bit down, feeling guilty about his poor ninjutsu performance despite Yamaki's support.

Seeing Naruto's uncharacteristic silence, Yamaki handed them each a candied hawthorn. "What's wrong? Feeling down? Don't you want to see me?"

Naruto hesitated, unable to speak.

Sasuke quickly explained, "Teacher, Naruto didn't do well in his ninjutsu test."

"Oh?" Yamaki said with amusement, seeing Sasuke's expectant look and eagerness for praise.

"And how did you do, Sasuke?" Yamaki asked, playing along.

Sasuke puffed out his chest with pride. "I got first place, of course. I'm not like Naruto."

"Good job, Sasuke. You've made the clan proud," Yamaki praised casually. Compliments satisfied Sasuke, who was still young and not yet rebellious.

Hearing Yamaki praise Sasuke, Naruto felt even worse. While his taijutsu was decent, his ninjutsu always fell short due to his disrupted chakra.

Yamaki ruffled Naruto's hair. "Why the long face? It's just one test. You can do better next time."

Naruto tried to shake off his sadness. "Summerwood-senpai, it's different this time. Every time I try to extract chakra, it feels like something is interfering."

"Normally, I can perform the Transformation Jutsu well, but during exams, it always goes wrong. I don't understand why."