Chapter 68: Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke lay exhausted on the dirt floor of the Uchiha Training Ground, a few bruises spread all over his body. But he looked happy; this was one of the best training sessions he had ever had. He might not have learned any strong jutsus, but he had learned a lot from being beaten up.

Meanwhile, Tekku looked at Sasuke a bit worried, 'Is he a masochist? Or why is he smiling so creepily?'

The last Uchiha had discovered many of the flaws in his version of the Uchiha Interceptor Style. This was the traditional Taijutsu style used by the Uchiha Clan, which every member learned, including Sasuke.

He discovered why it was a Taijutsu style meant for a more defensive approach to a fight, relying heavily on reading the opponent and countering every move. Of course, he could beat Academy students with it; they had no idea what they were doing and only relied on the standard Academy style, which was a solid foundation to develop a more advanced form.

After all, Sasuke had experienced firsthand just now how attacking with the Interceptor Style was really ineffective, especially against an experienced opponent. He also saw that the true strength of the style would only reveal itself with the Sharingan, since a lot of it relied on observation.

"It seems you learned a bit, huh?" asked Tekku as he stood beside the boy.

"Yes, I need to learn an offensive Taijutsu style and combine it with the Uchiha Interceptor Style to balance out its defensiveness," summarized Sasuke.

"Yes, good that you could see that yourself. What else?"

Sasuke pouted a bit as he sat up from the ground, not really wanting to admit it, "I underestimated the basic three Academy jutsus by a lot. You demolished me easily with them."

"Good that you realized that, even a bit reluctantly. So could you do what I did with them?" asked Tekku with a grin.

"No, I can't," admitted Sasuke with a sigh.

"But I thought you mastered what they taught in the Academy," mocked Tekku with a grin, "Don't worry; you made the typical mistake that most people do. But the Academy three are really powerful jutsus. There is a reason why they are taught in the Academy to almost every Shinobi, with a few limited exceptions."

"And what would be the reason?" asked Sasuke as he stared at him curiously.

"They are one of the three basic cornerstones that every Shinobi needs to survive. Taijutsu is the obvious one out of the three; it lets you fight in between using chakra and while even out of chakra. As for the Academy three, they are the second one. Three jutsus that consume almost no chakra but are powerful in dodging and confusing your enemy are the essence of a Shinobi's fighting. No matter how strong of a Fireball you throw at me, I easily dodged them with a Kawarimi. My Bunshin, even though ethereal, let you waste your shuriken and other attacks in the middle of the fight. The Transformation technique caught you so many times off guard. Do you see my point? So mastering them is important," explained Tekku with a smirk as he saw Sasuke nod.

"So I should practice them more?"

"No, you need to master them. The first step is to be able to perform them instantly without using any seals. After that, you incorporate them into your fighting style. Look for someone who could spar with you and limit yourselves to only the Academy three," suggested Tekku.

"Why can't you spar with me?" asked Sasuke, disappointed.

"Because I have missions and am legally not allowed to become the teacher of an Academy student. So look for someone close enough to your skill level with a lot of stamina and train together with these three by fighting each other," explained Tekku, once again pointing out the village law. Of course, an exception could be made with the permission of the Hokage, but Tekku had no plans to become a teacher right now. He already had a part of what he was here for; the second part follows soon.

Sasuke nodded in understanding before he realized, "Wait, you said one of the three basic cornerstones that every Shinobi needs to survive. That was only two? What's the third field I need to work on?"

"So, you caught that. It's pretty simple. Chakra control," replied Tekku with a smile.

"Chakra control?" asked Sasuke with disbelief in his voice, "How is sticking a leaf to my forehead gonna help me survive? Or make me stronger?"

"Ah, once again the naivety of youth," sighed Tekku, while Sasuke muttered that he was only a year younger than Tekku, "Let's take your Fireball as an example. You used it four times during our spar before you were out of chakra. But you wasted chakra each time because you used too much. What chakra control helps with is using the precise amount of chakra you need to perform a technique without wasting any. This will allow you to cast the Fireball 5 to 6 times in battle instead. Which could be the difference between life and death."

"I see. So I will be able to use more jutsus with better control," muttered Sasuke.

"And also be able to modify them. Instead of one big but slow Fireball, you could spit out a smaller, faster one if your control is good enough, or increase the heat and more," added Tekku, as controlling the technique was also an important part of advanced chakra control. After all, some spit the Fireball out like a fire breath, without changing the jutsu.

"Will keeping a leaf on my forehead really help me with that?" asked Sasuke, still a bit doubtful.

"No. This is just the entry-level exercise to let the students get a feel for their chakra. Usually, you would learn that once you become a Genin. But here, I have to agree with you; it's a waste of time to just practice the Leaf Sticking Exercise, as it is easily learned. And these more advanced exercises are also important utility for every Shinobi, which confirms their importance as one of the basic cornerstones for every Shinobi's survival," explained Tekku as he began to show Sasuke tree walking and water walking, along with their more advanced varieties that added Leaf Sticking at the same time.

"Hn. Thank you for helping me," thanked Sasuke once he understood the concept.

"We are not done yet," interrupted Tekku, "I may have made you realize how important the basics are, but I am not much older than you, so I know that you won't be satisfied with just that for long. Doesn't your Clan have a library?" asked Tekku with a grin.

"Hn. They have, but most of the higher-grade techniques were taken by the Hokage until I am older and ready for them," explained Sasuke, a bit regretful.

'Tch, there goes that. But there still should be some cool stuff in it. If not, I will at least save my monthly jutsu quota to not waste them on the basic Fire Jutsu.' "Makes sense, the more advanced techniques are really dangerous. But let's still check it out. Maybe we will find something that can become really powerful. At least I can help you to choose an offensive Taijutsu style to learn," said Tekku as he followed Sasuke, leading him towards a big building in the Uchiha Clan Compound.

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