The curriculum for the second year was not much different from the first.
The cultural subjects were the same, only with increased difficulty.
In the afternoon, there were no more physical exercises, and by now, the students who hadn't been advised to drop out had clearly all gathered chakra. As long as they followed the process and completed six years, they would either become recognized Genin by the Jonin or be assigned to other departments as new recruits.
The chance of wasting six years and then returning to an ordinary life was extremely rare.
The next five years would be about teaching them how to gather intelligence and master assassination techniques.
For Izayoi, these courses posed no challenge and could even be described as boring.
After just a few days, he couldn't help but abandon his original plan and sent out shadow clones to attend the lessons.
Meanwhile, he stayed at home to focus on his training.
Although he couldn't train in the Five Elements Release technique at home, he could still try developing his own ninjutsu.
Despite the fact that creating ninjutsu required a solid foundation in nature transformation or shape transformation, Izayoi, as a traveler, knew of one ninjutsu that didn't require this foundation—just enough chakra.
That ninjutsu was the Rasengan, developed by the Fourth Hokage from the inspiration he received from the Tailed Beast Balls. It was an A-rank, no-hand seal ninjutsu that had a unique significance in Konoha.
In the original series, it was a jutsu used by Naruto Uzumaki from childhood to adulthood, evolving into various signature forms. The Rasengan was the only ninjutsu in the original work whose full stage development method was revealed.
The training process for it was unforgettable.
Anyone who liked watching Naruto could never forget how to develop it, and Izayoi was no different.
However, for Izayoi, mastering the Rasengan wasn't about having a trump card. As mentioned earlier, it was a way to develop ninjutsu.
The Rasengan was a no-hand seal technique developed by the Fourth Hokage, and it held special meaning in Konoha.
Apart from the Fourth Hokage, the only people who could use this technique were his master and students.
If Izayoi suddenly used the Rasengan in the future, it would undoubtedly draw the attention of the higher-ups in Konoha.
Without a reasonable explanation, it could raise suspicions.
That was not what Izayoi wanted.
So, he planned to use the Rasengan as a base to develop another no-hand seal technique—the Super Typhoon Ball.
The Super Typhoon Ball, also known as the Multi-layered Great Ball Cyclone, was a technique used by Ashura Otsutsuki in the TV anime to battle Indra Otsutsuki.
The jutsu was similar to Naruto's Planetary Rasengan.
The principle of this technique was to first create an energy ball just below the size of the Great Ball Rasengan, and then add five smaller rotating energy balls of the same size as the Rasengan into it.
This jutsu was like the Rasengan Shuriken—it could be thrown or launched.
Once it exploded, it would create six explosions.
If the energy ball were to be destroyed, the five smaller energy balls inside would scatter and attack the enemy.
Much like how Naruto added various attributes to his Rasengan, this jutsu could also inject the Five Elements attributes and even combine them, similar to the Third Hokage's Five Elements—Great Bomb technique.
At that point, the power would be immensely destructive.
Without the Otsutsuki bloodline (red) and the full-attribute physique (purple), Izayoi would never have dared to entertain such an idea. Being able to learn the Rasengan would have been enough for him.
But with the Otsutsuki bloodline (red) granting him a natural talent for no-hand seal techniques, along with his full-attribute physique (purple) and chakra control upgraded to the purple level, Izayoi had the foundation to turn this original anime jutsu into reality.
Thanks to his powerful chakra control, Izayoi mastered the Rasengan in just a week.
Next, he just needed to continue injecting chakra, enlarging the Rasengan to the size of a basketball, without letting the energy ball explode, and then try to condense smaller energy balls inside.
However, at this stage, Izayoi couldn't practice at home.
If the energy ball exploded, the consequences were unimaginable.
So, he patiently waited for the downfall of the Uchiha clan.
On May 15, Izayoi finally waited for that day to arrive.
In the afternoon, there were usually only two or three classes, and after a few weeks, there would be a survival drill to test the students' growth.
Even with this special circumstance, the school usually ended around 5 PM.
But on this day, the second-year class unusually had four lessons in the afternoon.
The final survival drill didn't finish until dusk.
The Uchiha clan's estate was located near the South He River, and it felt no different from the outskirts.
Without using the Shunshin technique to travel, by the time Sasuke Uchiha returned to the clan estate, the night had already fallen.
At that time, the sky was already illuminated by a full moon.
In the evening glow, the sky appeared slightly blood-red.
Izayoi's shadow clone glanced at Sasuke's back as he jogged home after exiting the school gate.
Izayoi knew that after today, this version of Sasuke, who wasn't too cold and didn't care much about his grades, would disappear for good.
In his place would appear a version of Sasuke who exuded a cold aura, cared deeply about grades and family honor, and was easily provoked by a little verbal jibe—someone Izayoi had been waiting to see for an entire year.
…
The next day, a piece of news shocked Konoha and quickly spread outward. Through spy transmissions, it quickly reached every corner of the Shinobi World.
After the fall of the Senju clan, the Uchiha clan, which had become the number one clan in Konoha and even the entire Shinobi World, with their powerful Kekkei Genkai known for their invincible Sharingan, Genjutsu Eyes, and other abilities, had been wiped out.
The culprit who exterminated the clan was not the Hyuga clan, nor was it Konoha's higher-ups or other villages. It was the son of the current Uchiha clan head, 13-year-old Itachi Uchiha.
The name Itachi Uchiha quickly spread across the Shinobi World in the following days, making him Konoha's—and the entire Shinobi World's—youngest S-rank rogue ninja.
As Izayoi stepped out of his home that day, he saw villagers discussing this incident.
This was a major event.
The shock it caused was on par with the Nine-Tails' Rampage in Konoha, 48 years ago.
In just a few short years, Konoha had lost the Fourth Hokage and his wife, several powerful shinobi, and now, the number one clan in the village.
Konoha was undoubtedly in its weakest period since its founding.
Once a village with enough shadow-level experts to defeat four enemies at once, Konoha now only had the elderly Third Hokage left, who was the only remaining shadow-level shinobi.
After the Nine-Tails' incident, Konoha had attracted the attention and scheming of the Cloud Village.
Now, with the fall of the most powerful clan in Konoha, logically, more outside enemies should have targeted Konoha.
But strangely, for the next few years, Konoha experienced an unprecedented period of peace.
Clearly, the other major ninja villages had noticed something wasn't right.