After school on Wednesday.
The members of the Sealing Jutsu Research Group gathered once again on the school's rooftop to conduct today's activities.
Natsuhiko was flipping through the projection Jutsu design assignments everyone had just handed in.
Meanwhile, the students, led by Guy, were doing radio callisthenics and chatting.
Asuma said to Obito, who was standing nearby with a cane:
"Obito, I heard about your challenge to Kakashi. Damn, why didn't I think of such a great plan to show off!"
Obito, who had been feeling a bit smug, quickly adopted a righteous expression when he noticed Rin's gaze.
"I'm not doing this to show off! I'm doing it for my dear friend Kakashi!"
Seeing Rin's relieved expression, Obito also sighed with relief, suppressing the urge to gag.
Asuma, on the other hand, looked disbelieving.
Who are you trying to fool?
Who was the one badmouthing Kakashi in my ear all the time?
But seeing Rin's expression, he somewhat understood Obito's reasons and couldn't help but spit in his heart.
Ugh, simp!
Not wanting to continue this topic, Obito noticed Asuma's slightly swollen eyes and quickly changed the subject:
"By the way, Asuma, why are your eyes red?"
Asuma awkwardly turned his head away, mumbling, "I... I just didn't sleep well last night."
He wasn't lying, but he didn't mention that not only did he not sleep well, but he also got angrier the more he thought about it, soaking his pillow with tears.
Thinking about it, he angrily said:
"It's all that 'Doctor's' fault. I will definitely get my revenge, or I'll take his surname!"
The others looked at each other, wondering where Asuma had such a big grudge.
After chatting for a while longer, Natsuhiko had roughly finished reviewing the assignments and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"I've reviewed everyone's ideas for the lifeblood projection Jutsu. While there are many points worth discussing, there are also some commendable ideas that inspired me. Well done."
"Let's start with Obito's design."
Natsuhiko opened the first assignment and said to Obito, "Your projection version of the Great Fireball Jutsu is quite standard, considering there's already something similar in the Ninja Card Game."
Obito stuck out his tongue, saying, "I thought since the Great Fireball Jutsu rarely hits, why not use a projection to save some chakra."
Hey, is this something a Uchiha should say?
Even if it's true, you shouldn't admit it!
Natsuhiko thought to himself but said, "However, Obito, you still need to learn the Great Fireball Jutsu, or it will be hard to create a convincing projection. The key is to make it indistinguishable from the real one to deceive others effectively."
Who knows? One day, someone will mistake the real Great Fireball for a projection and get hit, allowing Obito's Great Fireball Jutsu to finally score a hit.
Obito nodded, "I'm learning it. My brother Fugaku has been guiding me in practising the Great Fireball Jutsu whenever he has time."
Fugaku, huh...
"That's good."
Natsuhiko nodded, "But Obito, you should note that because the projection version of the Great Fireball lacks the high temperature of the real one, it's hard to fool experienced ninjas."
"The solution is to either turn the battlefield into a real sea of fire in advance to confuse the temperature changes or to shorten the casting distance and increase the speed of the fireball to reduce the opponent's time to discern and react."
"So, when practising the Great Fireball Jutsu, focus on enhancing the speed of hand seals and the fireball's flight speed rather than its power and range."
Obito nodded slowly, feeling that he had a more precise direction for his future training.
Truly, Sensei Natsuhiko is fantastic!
He thought to himself.
Then Natsuhiko summarised Obito's idea:
"Due to the instability and destructive power of the Fire Release nature transformation, it often risks harming the user. Therefore, ninja applications of Fire Release tend to be straightforward and crude, mostly altering the shape or increasing the power of the Great Fireball Jutsu."
"If you can combine it with projection Jutsus to create new variations, it could produce good results. Obito, you can apply this approach to other Fire Release Jutsus in the future. The future looks promising."
After finishing with Obito, Natsuhiko opened the following assignment and glanced at Asuma, who was doing leg exercises, with a slightly peculiar look.
"Asuma, your idea is to use projection to simulate Mr. Duy's appearance when opening the Eight Gates because it looks cool..."
Asuma proudly raised his head, and the other boys nodded in agreement.
Natsuhiko lightly massaged his forehead.
Hmm...
Indeed, every boy has a Super Saiyan dream, right?
But isn't this just adding special effects to yourself?
"Alright, setting aside your strange reasoning, at least after Mr. Duy makes a name for himself, this move will have considerable deterrent power."
A surprise attack after scaring the opponent—is also a decent strategy.
At this point, Asuma had temporarily forgotten his sorrow and excitedly said, "Of course, it would be even better if my face didn't turn red. It would look cooler!"
"Do you mean like this...?"
Natsuhiko said helplessly, snapping his fingers.
Immediately, the floor cracked, dark clouds gathered, and a substantial golden aura erupted from him, with lightning arcs flashing around him.
Simultaneously, his appearance changed to golden hair and blue eyes, his hair standing up, and his demeanour becoming sharp.
"Wow!"
Everyone was stunned; even Guyi's movements faltered, startled by Natsuhiko's appearance.
However, the experienced students quickly realised that despite the turbulent aura around the Sensei, there was actually no wind at all where they stood.
So it's all just special effects!
Although somewhat speechless, the boys quickly recovered and exclaimed enviously.
"Ahhh!!"
"So cool!"
"Amazing, Sensei, I want to learn this too!"
They looked at Natsuhiko with longing eyes.
Indeed, everyone knows that being strong is temporary, but being cool is a lifetime matter.
Meanwhile, the girls continued to look speechless.
At this moment, Asuma suddenly realised:
"Oh, I'm so stupid! I forgot that I can use projection to change my hair colour!"
"It's decided. I'll use projection to dye my hair green!"
"Red, what do you think?"
He turned to ask Kurenai's opinion.
"Asuma, as long as you like it..."
Kurenai replied with an awkward yet polite smile.
Ugh, Kurenai cares so much about my feelings; she's so kind!
Asuma was touched, further firming his resolve to dye his hair green.
Obito, standing nearby, looked disdainful.
Kurenai is just humouring you; can't you see that?
He couldn't help but spit in his heart.
Ugh, simp!
Natsuhiko snapped his fingers again, cancelling the projection and returning to normal.
Amid the boys' disappointed sighs, he smiled and said:
"Unlike the Transformation Jutsu, which requires continuous chakra maintenance and makes it hard to use other ninjutsu simultaneously, the images created by projection Jutsus form all at once, making them quite useful in battle."
"For example..."
Natsuhiko snapped his fingers again, and the students gasped, seeing a kunai stuck in the Sensei's chest with blood pouring out, staining his clothes red...
But Natsuhiko still appeared unbothered, speaking while spitting blood:
"Projection Jutsus can create the illusion of injury to feign weakness, or vice versa, conceal wounds to bluff, with the usage depending entirely on one's mindset."
Natsuhiko cancelled the projection and looked at Asuma, summarising:
"So this idea is not just for looking cool. Asuma, you need to develop a method of usage like Obito by combining it with your fighting style."
Seeing Asuma begin to think seriously, Natsuhiko nodded and opened the next assignment.
"Kurenai, your idea indeed involves combining it with genjutsu, creating a dual illusion of mental and physical realities to increase the difficulty of breaking free. The design is quite detailed, suggesting you've been thinking about this for a long time."
Kurenai slightly raised her chin, feeling a bit proud.
However, Natsuhiko continued, "But the design is overly complex and somewhat unrealistic."
Kurenai pouted, looking like a puffed-up pufferfish in protest.
Natsuhiko chuckled helplessly and said:
"Since unlike other students who just need to memorise a few fixed projections Jutsus, achieving the effect you want requires constructing projections on the spot based on the opponent's condition after falling into the genjutsu. The difficulty is significantly higher."
"Not to mention, keeping up with the boundless illusions of genjutsu also demands high proficiency in projection Jutsus."
Kurenai argued, "But Dad said..."
"You are a genius, right?" Natsuhiko said helplessly, "I certainly don't doubt that you can achieve this in the future."
"But even a tall building starts from the ground up, so let's start by learning the simplest uses of projection Jutsus first."
Seeing that the Sensei had said so, Kurenai could only mumble and accept his suggestion.
"Now let me see," Natsuhiko flipped through Kurenai's homework book, "Let's take this use of projection Jutsus to simulate various environments and objects and to hide oneself as your first step in learning projection Jutsus. After all, it's relatively simple and practical."
Although Natsuhiko needed to improve in illusion Jutsus, he knew that most of them required the caster to concentrate fully to maintain their effect.
This also explained a question that had puzzled Natsuhiko in his previous life: why didn't illusion ninjas just cut their opponents' throats with kunai when the latter was under illusions?
It was because once they moved, the illusion would be broken...
Thus, ordinary illusion ninjas usually needed teammates to exert their strength fully and couldn't act alone.
Additionally, because illusion ninjas weren't very defensive when casting their spells, they could quickly get their throats slit by other enemies.
Therefore, aside from the Uchiha clan members, who could paralyse others with a glance, learning to hide their location while casting illusions was a mandatory course for all illusion ninjas.
What Kurenai wrote in her homework was about using projection Jutsus to create images of environmental objects and hiding among them to cast illusions.
In simple terms, it was like playing hide and seek with the enemy using projections.
Natsuhiko commented, "This method requires preparing many different projection models in advance based on various environments, so the workload is heavier than others. However, it will accumulate material for your future use, Kurenai."
"Moreover, you could also try using some illusion Jutsus to make people unconsciously overlook the inconsistencies in your projections, which might even turn into a way to launch sneak attacks."
Hearing this, Kurenai was slightly stunned and began to think.
She had always considered using projection Jutsus to assist illusions, but she wondered if using illusions to complement projection Jutsus was also a viable idea.
Then Natsuhiko opened Rin's homework book, his expression becoming peculiar again.
"Rin's ultimate goal for projection Jutsus is to create various story projections like me, but the first step is to construct projections of cute little animals as practice?"
Rin said a bit embarrassedly, "I'm Sorry, Sensei. I thought long and hard and still chose this non-combative use."
"Because I want to bring joy to everyone with projection stories like you do, but I know it will take a long time to reach your level, so I thought at least I could use cute little animals to make everyone happy..."
Natsuhiko originally wanted to explain why live animals were not used, but then he thought that projected animals didn't need feeding, cleaning, or walking, which indeed had quite an appeal.
Otherwise, there would have been fewer people raising virtual cats in his previous life.
He could create a small toy for projecting pets, releasing them when people wanted to play and storing them away when they didn't. It might have good market prospects.
So, is this like Pokémon or Digimon?
After his thoughts wandered a bit, Natsuhiko came back to his senses and said:
"No problem; I originally said that your unique projection Jutsu should be chosen based on what you like the most."
"And projections of small animals might also be useful in combat, such as using cute little animals to attract the enemy and lead them into traps..."
Rin got a few black lines on her forehead, feeling that using small animals in this way went against her original intent.
However, she also understood the harsh realities of war, so she didn't argue and nodded in agreement.
After commenting a few more words, Natsuhiko suggested:
"Unlike ninjutsu and dead objects, simulating living creatures vividly is much more challenging, so you need to observe the actions of various small animals more to accumulate material."
Rin nodded to show she understood.
Then Obito eagerly offered, "Rin, our Uchiha clan has many ninja cats, and all of them can do backflips. Do you want to see them?"
Rin smiled and politely declined, "Sorry, Obito, but I actually prefer puppies over cats, so my first projection model has already been decided as a puppy."
"But hearing you say this, I just remembered that Kakashi seems to have many dogs at home. I wonder if he would let me see them."
Obito suddenly looked like he had lost all colour, his body still doing exercises but seeming like a corpse...
Natsuhiko then realised that Rin is a dog lover; no wonder she's so kind to Obito.
After a mental chuckle, he opened the last homework book.
"Um... Ebisu, you blacked out many parts of your homework. Did you change your idea midway?"
Ebisu replied painfully, "Yes, I realised that with my current skills, I couldn't create such realistic projections, so I decided to abandon that idea temporarily."
Hearing this, Natsuhiko felt a bit regretful. It seemed that the projected version of the Sexy Jutsu wouldn't appear anytime soon.
He then cleared his throat and said, "But your later idea is also quite interesting. Using projection Jutsus to create large mosaics to block the opponent's vision is one of the simplest and most direct uses of projection Jutsus."
It was somewhat similar to his Black Screen Death Jutsu.
"But why use mosaics specifically?" Natsuhiko asked.
Hearing this, Ebisu stiffened a bit, then stammered, "Actually... it's because I realised that I could restore the original image through the mosaic..."
Hiss...
Natsuhiko rarely showed a shocked expression.
Could this be the legendary realm where the mind sees without mosaic, naturally high-definition?
Moreover, Natsuhiko knew that this was not entirely impossible.
In his previous life, many projects were researched on how to remove mosaics using AI algorithms.
Not to mention that many veteran enthusiasts claimed they could see through mosaics with their rich experience.
The principle of mosaics was to merge multiple pixels of an image into a larger pixel, with the colour taking the average value of the original pixels.
Using experience to fill in the gaps mentally could restore the image hidden by the mosaic.
It could only be said that Ebisu was experienced and had a strong imagination, achieving such a god-like skill.
Natsuhiko couldn't help but think that this guy was terrifying and must not be let go.
Although achieving what Ebisu wanted was not easy, creating actual mosaic effects with projection Jutsus took a lot of work.
But if he could do it, it might become a formidable skill:
When everyone else was struggling in a sea of mosaics, Ebisu could navigate it like a fish in water, seeing everything in high-definition.
Even if the enemy lost their life, the last thing they saw would be a blacked-out figure...
Amazing!
You should know that Natsuhiko's Black Screen Death Jutsu also blocked his vision. It was only after he developed a portable sensing array that he slightly compensated for this flaw.
Natsuhiko then praised, "Ebisu, this use is indeed interesting, but it has some difficulties in implementation."
He explained the principle of mosaics and the difficulties of using projection Jutsus to create them to Ebisu, then said:
"So, Ebisu, wait to aim for perfection. Start with lighter mosaics and gradually work towards heavier ones."
Ebisu nodded in agreement, then wondered—how does the Sensei know so much about mosaics?
After commenting on all the students' homework and asking them to continue refining their unique projection, Jutsus, based on his suggestions, and Natsuhiko resumed the previous activity's lesson.
"Last time, we finished the first three runes Jutsus without seals. Today, we'll cover the next five runes, Jutsus..."
...
In a flash, it was Saturday morning again.
In a distant alley near the Konoha branch of Pantasia Bakery, two sneaky figures were spying on the store entrance.
Kushina, with her red hair, yawned and sleepily asked:
"Mikoto, why did you drag me here so early in the morning?"
Mikoto, who had been intently watching the bakery entrance, stiffened slightly and clenched her fists, but she quickly returned to her usual gentle and smiling demeanour.
"Kushina, don't be surprised when you hear this."
"Because we're here to catch an affair!" she said with a sweet smile.
Hearing this, Kushina immediately woke up.
(End of the chapter)
I am back after a short break, as my laptop was completely fucked up. I did not get any support on my Patreon, so I did some minor fixes to my device, and here I am. The fiction will be updated on a regular basis now.
Chapters 128-125 are up on my Patreon.
Chapter 105 is free on my Patreon.
pat reon.com/ReidAstrea