Copy Ninja or thief Ninja?

Yami remained calm, his face expressionless as he responded, "I don't know what you're talking about, Takeshi."

Daiki. Yami remembered him well. He had been a member of his team during their last mission—an unlucky fellow who met a gruesome death after stepping into an enemy explosive tag trap.

Takeshi's glare intensified. "Don't play dumb with me, Yami. Your last mission was with him. And you, the weakest Genin, managed to come back, but he didn't. I want to know every detail of that mission."

Yami sighed inwardly, knowing this conversation was inevitable. "I've already submitted the mission report to the Hokage. I don't have time to tell you a story you could read right now."

Knowing that Takeshi wouldn't easily give up, Yami attempted to leave, but his path was blocked.

Takeshi stepped closer, his voice a low growl. "Do you expect me to believe the things you mentioned in the report? You know damn well that anyone could manipulate the information if they were the only survivor. Daiki was my cousin, and I won't rest until I find out the truth."

"Oh, come on. People die every day. Just get over it," Yami replied, a little annoyed. All the time he was wasting here could have been spent on developing his Kekkei Genkai.

"You..."

Seeing that Takeshi had no intention of backing down, Yami was about to use stealth when he paused, an idea coming to mind.

"How about this..." Yami turned to face Takeshi. "If you manage to beat me in a spar, I'll tell you everything that happened."

"Huh? What are you talking about? You wanna fight me?" Takeshi asked, confused.

"Like I said, if you manage to win, I'll tell you everything..." that I wrote in that scroll. Yami didn't say the last sentence, instead looking at the boy with a smile. "So, what's your decision?"

Takeshi stayed silent, but his glare intensified. "You know that I'm in Konoha's police. I can arrest you on the charge of hiding critical information and lying to the Hokage."

"Yeah, yeah. I call that bullshit," Yami dismissed Takeshi's serious charges with a wave. "You don't have the authority to do that. So, what's it going to be? Are you going to spar with me or not?"

Takeshi's eyes narrowed as he eyed him. After a tense silence, he finally spoke. "Fine. Let's spar. But don't think for a second that I'll let you back down."

"Sure, sure," Yami nodded, a smirk playing on his lips. "Let's head to the training ground."

The two of them walked in silence to the nearest training area, a clearing surrounded by trees.

As they reached the training ground, they positioned themselves opposite each other, preparing for the spar.

"You ready?" Yami asked, loosening his shoulders.

"Don't underestimate me," Takeshi replied, clenching his fists.

"Just one question before we start," Yami said, holding up a hand. "Have you mastered the Uchiha's Great Fireball Jutsu?"

Takeshi's eyes flashed with pride. "Of course, I have. Why do you ask?"

Yami shrugged nonchalantly. "Just wanted to see if you're really up to the Uchiha's genius standard. How about a demonstration?"

"No," Takeshi refused. "Enough talk, let's start."

"Then I'm going home," Yami said, turning around to leave.

"Huh? What do you mean? Are you trying to run away?" Takeshi asked, seeing Yami walking away.

Pausing his steps, Yami said without turning back, "The only reason I proposed this spar was because I wanted to see the Uchiha's famed Fireball Jutsu. But since you refuse to show it, there's no reason for me to fight you."

Takeshi's glare intensified, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn about Daiki's death. "Fine. Watch closely."

"Yeah, I'm rooting for you," Yami said, stepping back and closely watching as Takeshi performed the Jutsu.

Takeshi stepped back, forming the necessary hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

He took a deep breath and exhaled a massive ball of fire that roared across the clearing, scorching the grass and trees in its path before dissipating into the air.

"Impressive," Yami said, though he kept his tone neutral.

Takeshi turned around, looking proud and smug, but to his surprise, he didn't find Yami.

"Where did he go?" Takeshi kept searching and yelling but found no sign of him.

"That bastard, he tricked me." He clenched his fists before roaring, "Come out, you bastard!"

Despite his shout, Takeshi was only met with silence.

****

From a nearby tree, Yami watched Takeshi with a faint smile. "You're too easy to fool, Takeshi. Maybe next time you'll learn to be a bit more cautious."

Satisfied, Yami slipped away in stealth mode and made his way toward his training spot.

There was no reason for him to get into an unnecessary fight with no benefits.

Arriving at the secluded area, he walked to the edge of a stream and stopped. With a smile on his face, Yami formed multiple hand signs.

Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger

He had carefully observed Takeshi performing these signs earlier. Taking a deep breath, he focused his chakra and tried to replicate the technique.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Yami exhaled, but instead of a massive fireball, a small, pitiful flame sputtered from his mouth, barely reaching the stream before fizzling out.

He sighed, watching the tiny plume of steam rise from the water. "Not even close," he muttered. "Guess Takeshi is better than me at this. It's not easy to perfectly copy Uchiha's Jutsu with regular eyes."

Over the past year, Yami had discovered that you don't need Sharingan to copy a Jutsu. As long as you knew a Jutsu's hand signs and had the right chakra ratio, anyone could perform it. That was why he worked hard to make his chakra control high enough to copy other Jutsu. During this period, he made sure to memorize a few Jutsu performed by his teammates.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to practice them much due to his weak chakra. But now, with his current chakra reserve, he could start training in Ninjutsu.

He repeated the hand signs, focusing more intently on his chakra control. Again, he tried to release the fireball, but the result was the same—another weak flame that barely made it a few feet.

"This isn't working," Yami thought. "I need to adjust my chakra ratio."

He took a moment to feel the flow of his chakra. Yami adjusted the amount of chakra he used, slightly increasing it this time. He formed the hand signs again and exhaled.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

This time, the flame was larger but still far from what Takeshi had demonstrated. It fizzled out with a weak puff.

"Too much chakra," he thought. "I need to find the right balance."

He continued to experiment, adjusting the ratio of chakra each time. Each attempt brought a different result—sometimes too weak, sometimes too explosive and uncontrollable. But with each failure, his chakra control improved.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Yami formed the hand signs once more, focusing intently on achieving the perfect balance. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A large, roaring ball of fire shot from his mouth, soaring across the stream and dissipating with a satisfying hiss as it hit the water, creating a massive plume of steam.

Yami grinned, feeling a rush of triumph. "Got it!"

Even though it was still smaller than Takeshi's, he was getting there. Yami knew he wasn't a genius like Itachi who could perform it after a single glance. All his achievements came from hard work and a little bit of luck.

"Stealing others Jutsu sure is satisfying."

He repeated the jutsu a few more times, trying to increase the size of the fireball. Each successful attempt boosted his confidence.

Feeling his chakra almost exhausted, he stopped.

"While my chakra is restoring, it's finally time to train my Kekkei Genkai." Yami had wanted to try his Kekkei Genkai in the morning, but he had barely managed to suppress his excitement and postponed it until now. From yesterday's experiment, he realized that it consumed too much mental power. If he trained his Kekkei Genkai in the morning, he would be too mentally exhausted to train for the rest of the day.

Yami sat under the shade of a large tree and pulled out a few leaves he had gathered earlier. Holding one of them, he focused on using his Kekkei Genkai ability, "Soul Infusion." Since he didn't know exactly how he was supposed to split his soul and infuse it into an object—which seemed like a terrible idea—he channeled his spiritual energy into the leaf, hoping for results similar to Big Mom's devil fruit ability.

He closed his eyes, feeling the flow of his spiritual energy. Slowly, he guided the energy from within himself into the leaf, imagining it coming to life. The process was mentally taxing, requiring intense concentration to maintain the delicate balance of energy transfer.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. The leaf remained still in his hand, unresponsive. But Yami didn't give up. He adjusted the flow of his spiritual energy, trying to find the right amount that would trigger a reaction without overwhelming the leaf.

Minutes passed, and then, to his surprise, the leaf began to twitch. It was subtle at first, just a slight tremor. But as he continued to channel his energy, the movements became more pronounced. The leaf seemed to pulse with a faint, inner light.

He was on the right track. He poured a bit more of his spiritual energy into the leaf, careful not to push too hard.

"Come on," Yami whispered, his voice barely audible. "Just a little more."

But even after a while, the leaf remained unresponsive. Yami exhaled, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him. The mental strain was immense, but the result of the first day was satisfying. He had discovered that he could use spiritual energy as a medium to infuse his soul power into objects.

"Hmm, my chakra hasn't recovered yet." Feeling his chakra only halfway restored, Yami didn't move to train Ninjutsu. Instead, he grabbed another leaf and tried to train his wind nature transformation.

"According to the status, I'm close to mastering the wind element, and fire is still halfway through." Yami thought as he channeled wind attribute chakra into his palm, causing a few cuts on the leaf.

He continued training, switching between Ninjutsu and his Kekkei Genkai for the rest of the day until sunset, before calling it a day and heading home.

*****

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