The Younger Prodigy

Suguru sat at the center of his favorite training grounds with his eyes closed and his mind focused.

Then, he flickered to his right after making a hand seal. After this, he launched several wooden kunai and shuriken in numerous directions. His crimson Sharingan flashed in the shade.

All struck their intended targets, reminiscent of Itachi's feat that Sasuke wished to emulate.

"A fully-matured Sharingan is indeed impressive." Suguru blinked and deactivated his Kaisugan.

Then, he repeated the same action, this time hoping for at least a 60% hit rate.

—Thwack!

"...Fifty-seven percent," Suguru sighed, "I'll try a few more times."

Just like this, Suguru first did an action with his Sharingan activated, and then mimicked his movements with his Sharingan deactivated. He trained from sunrise until the next sunrise in a methodical manner.

First with physical exertion such as Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu, then with Genjutsu and Ninjutsu, then finally nature transformation and chakra control.

A black mound of ashes would always form at Suguru's feet. Furthermore, he could hold the leaf on his forehead for about two hours already.

'Perhaps I can move on to walking on walls...'

Suguru would then visit his laboratory at around one in the morning and do experiments and study Fuinjutsu until five. At six, he would head home, freshen up, and restart his day.

If he had to attend his Academy classes, he would opt to do this entire routine within shorter time frames.

With such an efficient use of his time, Suguru soon reached the top of his class, even without the use of his Sharingan.

Furthermore, at the end of his second year in the Academy, he could already use the Body Flicker technique without any hand signs.

Upon achieving all of his desired milestones, Suguru decided to start learning a C-Rank Ninjutsu. His jutsu of choice?

[Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu].

'It's only a matter of course,'

After all, Suguru was practically half an Uchiha at this point and he had already memorized how to do so, long ago.

***

After making sure that no one was spying on him using his Kaisugan, Suguru began weaving hand seals.

[ Snake » Ram » Monkey » Boar » Horse » Tiger ]

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!'

Pulling out a portion of his chakra, Suguru blew a small fireball into the air. The scalding heat was immense despite its size.

"Was that my first try? No way... That was my first try!" Suguru gaped, shocked by his own ability. "Did Arata have a talent and affinity for Fire Release too?"

It would be the only explanation why he was able to use the jutsu without any problems. Perhaps a portion of it was because he had used his Sharingan to memorize the way it was used, but it was more likely that his Living Corpse Assimilation had helped a lot.

"Then what about..."

[Snake » Ram » Monkey » Boar » Horse » Tiger » Dragon » Ox » Dog » Tiger]

'Fire Release: Fire Bullet Jutsu!'

A small bullet of flames that fired forward burst out of Suguru's mouth, engulfing the trunk of a tree. The fire dissipated after its collision, becoming nothing but wisps in the air.

"Oho~ That confirms my skill with Fire Release... Now I just need to build on it further."

Suguru touched his tongue.

"Though I didn't expect an occupation hazard of a burnt tongue."

***

Suguru continued his routine for another year. At this point, he had been in the Academy for nearly three years. He turned eight a few months ago based on the time he was transmigrated, and the original cast was all around ten years old already.

All of Suguru's abilities had their growth seeing plateaus. He was at the top of the class with nowhere to climb higher.

It was time to leave.

'I'll ask Masumi-sensei if I can graduate in advance.' Suguru thought. He would join the upper years in their Graduation Exam to become a fully-fledged shinobi.

'In the meantime, I think it's about time I acquaint myself with Naruto, Sasuke, and the others. That way, my graduation would have more of an impact on them.'

A devious smile appeared on Suguru's face.

***

"Sensei," Suguru approached his teacher, "Masumi-sensei,"

"Oh! Suguru, is it? What's bothering you?" Masumi let out a gentle smile. Suguru was his best student, both in academics and in personality. He was quiet and stayed out of trouble, very much unlike a certain blonde kid.

"Would it be possible for me to spar with the older kids? I would like to train with stronger opponents."

"Oh?" Masumi was surprised. Coming from Suguru, these words implied complete confidence. Moreover, this was the first time he had ever heard Suguru speak a full sentence in three years.

"Why is that?"

"I would like to graduate from the Academy this year."

Hearing these words, Masumi was even more surprised. "A-are you sure? Do you know what graduation entails?"

A nod.

"I...I see," Masumi nodded and thought, 'So we're back to zero words again...'

"I'll arrange for you to attend the older kids' spars."

Suguru bowed, expressing his thanks.

"Can I learn under Iruka-sensei?"

Masumi tilted his head. "O-oh, Iruka, huh? Sure, I'll tell him."

***

It didn't take long for Masumi to obtain Iruka's permission. Upon leading Suguru to where Iruka conducted the spars for his class, Masumi introduced him.

"Iruka-senpai, here's the kid I was talking about. He would like to attend your class' spars."

"My name is Hiryu Suguru. Thank you for your generosity, Iruka-sensei." Suguru bowed, expressing his gratitude for allowing him such an opportunity.

"Aha, so you're that silent Suguru that I've heard about from the others. Very well, you can join us today to try it out. Just know that the older kids hit harder, okay? I want you to be careful when you spar with them."

Suguru nodded, his expression serious.

"I see that you understand." Iruka laughed, "Come on, I'll introduce you."

"Then I'll take my leave," Masumi said, turned around, and then left.

This left Suguru following after Iruka, gaining curious glances from the students in his class.

"Ohhh!" A boisterous gasp resounded from the group of students. "Iruka-sensei, who is this?"

"Oi, Naruto. Don't speak too loud and scare your kouhai with your voice." Iruka blocked Naruto with his body, protecting Suguru from the latter's excitement.

"Everyone, this is Hiryu Suguru. He'll be joining us for today's Taijutsu class. He's younger than you all, so please control yourselves in your spars later."

"I'll be in your care," Suguru bowed for the third time today.

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I made a P@treon! Hehe~

Link: pa treon.com/ubemantou

(No space.)

You can now read up to FIFTEEN (15) chapters on P@treon!

Big thanks to Godphaze, CosmicOwl, HE, Drowz, and Calm Dxwn for supporting me on P@treon! <3< p>

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