Level Up

"Then, let the match begin." With a light wave of his arm, the Second Elder announced the start of the match with a smile.

At the same time, his attention was fixed on the two children—or rather, on Kyosuke.

Even though he knew that Kyosuke, having awakened the Sharingan, was no match for Hiroji.

He was still somewhat uneasy. What if something unexpected happened?

If Kyosuke, possibly the most talented Uchiha in history, suffered any mishap right under their noses, they might as well slit their own throats.

Kyosuke had no mind to care about their hidden thoughts right now, because Hiroji had already charged at him.

At first, he tried exchanging blows with Hiroji using only his own taijutsu, only to find that he was no match for him.

Left with no choice, he exerted his strength to force Hiroji back, while taking a step back himself. After gathering himself for a moment, he activated his Sharingan once more.

In an instant, the once-noisy grounds fell into deathly silence.

The Uchiha clan members who had come to watch stared at Kyosuke in disbelief. They felt as though they had countless things to say, yet none of them could open their mouths.

And so, Kyosuke and Hiroji began their second round of exchanges amid the silence.

This time, Kyosuke seized the initiative from the very start.

Without hesitation, he stepped straight into Hiroji's reach, his gaze locked firmly onto him.

Hiroji lowered his head and looked at those eerie Sharingan eyes. After letting out a pained groan, he suddenly took a step back and raised his right hand.

"I... I surrender." Hiroji shut his eyes, his voice trembling.

There were many reasons for his choice.

The Elders' disbelief, the clan members' speechless silence, and... the shame, frustration, and faint fear deep within his heart.

Though he was still young, he understood what it meant to awaken the Sharingan at the age of five.

It was precisely the accumulation of all these factors that led to his current, cowardly display.

After all, while everyone could understand his choice, this action also meant that he would likely never have a chance to rise within the clan again.

Just as Hiroji felt like he was on the verge of breaking down, a pair of small hands suddenly pressed against his chest.

Hiroji opened his eyes and found Kyosuke looking at him with a serious expression. Kyosuke stood on tiptoe with effort and lightly punched him in the chest.

"Don't lose heart. Think about how I used to be. You can do it," Kyosuke said gently.

"I... I understand." Hiroji's mood eased slightly, and he answered with a bitter smile.

"Good!!!" Seeing this, the clan members finally came back to their senses and began cheering loudly.

As for whether they were cheering for Kyosuke's sincere and virtuous act or for those Sharingan eyes, no one could say.

But what they thought was not important. What mattered was what the Elders thought.

Kyosuke nodded to the loudly cheering clan members, then turned to look at the Second Elder not far away.

The Second Elder smiled kindly at him, said, "Come with me," then turned and walked toward a nearby courtyard.

That enormous residence was where the Second Elder's direct family lived. In the past, someone of Kyosuke's status would not have been allowed anywhere near it.

As for the other clan members, seeing that there was no more excitement to watch, they gradually dispersed.

However, the fact that Kyosuke had awakened his Sharingan at the age of five would probably spread through their mouths before long.

Kyosuke sat properly in his chair, watching the busy Second Elder with a somewhat absent look.

Of course, he was not lost in random thoughts. He was checking his attribute panel.

Attribute Information

Strength: 1.2

Agility: 1.1

Constitution: 0.7

Spirit: 2.7

Perception: 1.6

These were his attributes at Level 1. Thanks to the fusion of souls, not only were his spirit and perception far beyond those of ordinary people, but he had even awakened a talent ability.

Spiritual Power Activation: Spirit growth coefficient +0.1

Spiritual Power Activation was one of the talent abilities he had awakened. As for the other one, it was naturally the talent of the Sharingan.

As for growth coefficients, they were tied to a person's innate aptitude.

Attribute Growth Coefficients: Strength 0.5, Agility 0.3, Constitution 0.5, Spirit 0.6, Perception 0.6

In other words, each time Kyosuke leveled up, his attributes would increase according to their respective growth coefficients.

The Experience Points entry in his Occupation Information now displayed:

Level: 1 (10/10)

Thus, he impatiently chose to raise his level.

When the level display changed to Level 2, he looked again at his Attribute Information, as well as the Combat Power Rating at the bottom of the page.

Attribute Information

Strength: 1.7

Agility: 1.5

Constitution: 1.2

Spirit: 3.3

Perception: 2.2

Combat Power Rating: Ninja Apprentice

His attributes had increased accordingly, but his Combat Power Rating had not changed. In other words, by the system's standards, he was still a ninja at the apprentice level.

By Kyosuke's understanding, a Ninja Apprentice was roughly equivalent to a student at the Ninja Academy.

He just did not know who the system used as its benchmark. Kakashi?

After silently mocking it to himself, Kyosuke began studying the other sections.

Active Skills

Substitution Technique LV1 (3/10)

Transformation Jutsu LV1 (1/10)

Clone Technique LV1 (4/10)

Kunai Throwing Technique LV1 (3/10)

Shuriken Throwing Technique LV1 (2/10)

At present, every skill he possessed was an E-rank Skill, the lowest rank, so they only required 10 Experience Points to level up.

At the same time, if he chose not to use Experience Points, he could still raise his skill levels through diligent training. It would just be much slower.

Passive Skills

Swordsmanship Training LV1 (2/30)

Fire Release Nature Transformation LV1 (3/40)

Chakra Refinement Technique LV1 (5/10)

Chakra Control LV1 (4/10)

Trap Creation Technique LV1 (8/10)

Then there were the Passive Skills. Swordsmanship Training was classified as a C-rank Skill, so it required 30 Experience Points to level up even at Level 1.

Fire Release Nature Transformation was even more outrageous. It was directly classified as a B-rank Skill, meaning it had the training difficulty of a B-rank Ninjutsu.

As for the others, such as Trap Creation Technique, which had helped somewhat earlier, Chakra Control, and Chakra Refinement Technique, they were all of the lowest rank.

All of these skills had been mastered by Kyosuke's original self. He had merely inherited them after transmigrating.

Still, although these skills looked decent, they were all rather ordinary. Even commoner children could learn them through various means.

Only Fire Release Nature Transformation was the most outstanding ability his original self had learned, yet he had not learned it very well.

What irritated him most was that he had even learned a skill as useless in the early stages as swordsmanship, so why had he not mastered the essential ability of Hand Seal Training instead?

For that, Kyosuke could only sigh helplessly.

Just as he was lamenting inwardly, the Second Elder, who had been busy all this time, suddenly turned around and smiled at him. "What's wrong? Why are you sighing?"

Kyosuke snapped back to attention and answered cautiously, "Nothing, Second Elder."

Seeing that he did not wish to speak, the Second Elder did not press him. He merely called toward the outside, "Come in."

"Yes."