Kazuki practiced the Fireball Jutsu for one more week before moving on to the next jutsu.

Standing in a forest, Kazuki moved to the small clearing where he was practicing every day and thought, 'I have mastered the Fireball Jutsu. Now I just need to reduce its hand signs, which I will do with time, but which jutsu should I learn next?'

After thinking for a bit, he decided, 'It is decided then. The jutsu I am going to learn now is the Fire Clone Jutsu. It will help me in doing many physical tasks like borrowing a book from the library or doing some housework, but the only drawback of the Fire Clone is that it consumes the most chakra out of all the elemental clones except lightning. Still, it's less than a Shadow Clone, and like all the other elemental clones, it also doesn't transfer the memories and remaining chakra when dispelled to the user. Too bad I won't be able to learn Shadow Clone until I become a chunin or my future jonin sensei teaches me.'

After that, Kazuki made the hand signs for the Fire Clone Jutsu.

A rough clone of himself appeared in front of Kazuki for a moment before turning to fire.

Kazuki analyzed, 'Hmm, it turned to fire instantly after appearing in a rough shape, which means its structure wasn't of a human. I am so used to making normal clones without any structure or chakra pathways that it didn't work. Guess it's time to grind again.'

Replicating his body structure and chakra pathways and making a clone out of it proved very difficult for Kazuki, but after a few weeks, he was finally able to make a perfect, stable clone of himself.

Kazuki thought, 'Damn how did Naruto pull a greater feat than this in just a few hours, there must have been an east trick in the scroll of sealing.'

Standing in front of his clone, Kazuki raised his hand for a high five to check if the clone was physical or not. The clone completed the high five, proving that it was a real clone.

Kazuki spoke, "Hey, me, try to perform a Fireball Jutsu."

The clone made the hand signs and performed the Fireball Jutsu. It was exactly how Kazuki did it—same shape, same size.

Kazuki said, "Good. Now try using the Transformation Jutsu to transform into kid Itachi."

The clone nodded and made a hand sign to transform into kid Itachi.

Kazuki said, "Perfect. Now keep using the Fireball Jutsu until you run out of chakra."

The clone started performing one Fireball Jutsu after another.

After using the Fireball Jutsu twelve times, the clone dispersed.

Kazuki analyzed, 'That's actually good, but my chakra isn't as high as a half-Uzumaki should possess.'

Kazuki then created one more Fire Clone.

'Now, just in case, let's check if this clone will transfer memories and chakra to me after being dispersed,' Kazuki thought.

Kazuki looked at his clone and said, "Hey, run into the forest and disperse yourself after one minute. Make sure to keep a distance from the trees when you do or they'll catch fire."

One minute passed, and Kazuki suddenly sensed that his clone had just dispersed, but he didn't get any chakra or memories.

Making a disappointed face, Kazuki thought, 'Figures.'

The next day, Kazuki tried to make as many clones as possible, using the Fire Clone Jutsu multiple times and telling his clones to use the Fire Clone Jutsu too. In the end, the total number of Fire Clones they could make was nine. After they had made eight clones, and used the Fire Clone Jutsu again, they dispersed without making another clone; only Kazuki was able to make another Fire Clone which also made him a bit dizzy.

Kazuki analyzed, 'This means that the clones require some amount of chakra to sustain their form. That's why they dispersed when they had very little chakra. Whenever I use the Fire Clone Jutsu, my chakra divides in half, but in this scroll, it is also written how to form a Shadow Clone with more or less chakra, so I have to learn that before starting training for other jutsus.'

In the next few months, Kazuki learned all the other D-rank Fire Release jutsu that he had picked. He also learned how to give less chakra to his clones, but he didn't know how much chakra he was providing because he wasn't a sensor.

Some jutsu he learned in a few days, while others took him weeks. The most difficult jutsu to master for him was the Heat Wave Jutsu, but it still took him less time than an average shinobi because he had already mastered the third stage of Ember Control.

His chakra reserves also increased. Now he could make eleven Fire Clones if he used the minimum chakra required to sustain a clone.

The academy had started teaching them the three basic jutsu, which Kazuki just pretended to learn slowly. Luckily, Hiroshi wasn't a sensor, so he didn't notice anything. He also checked Yuki's expression several times after faking the jutsu to see if she was sensing this but Yuki's expression always remained normal.

Kazuki was sitting in his classroom when Hiroshi announced, "Pay attention, everyone. I have an announcement to make."

Everyone in the class looked at Hiroshi as he spoke, "As you all already know, this is your third year in the academy, and thus you are allowed to take the graduation exam if you feel like you are ready to become a ninja and take on missions with your team. So, those who think that they are ready to take the exam can start preparing. The exam will be at the end of this year."

Everyone started talking to each other, asking if their friends were going to take the graduation exam, while Kazuki sat calmly, thinking, 'Should I take the exam? Hell no, I don't want to graduate early and then just die in a mission. I still have many things I want to learn from the academy, like jutsu of some other elements, genjutsu, maybe fuinjutsu. I also want to be a sensor, but right now I don't know how to do it. I'll ask my jonin sensei once I graduate.'

Kazuki spent the rest of the year practicing all his jutsu again and again to reduce their hand signs. By the end of the year, Kazuki had learned to perform the Transformation Jutsu without any hand signs, the Fire Clone Jutsu with just one hand sign, and the rest of the jutsu with two or three hand signs.