The Uchiha's Evil-Faced Rakshasa

The Uchiha Clan Compound, Rear Mountain Training Ground.

Short sword in hand, Kyosuke stared intently at the tree trunk ahead.

One breath... two breaths... three breaths...

Suddenly, his chakra surged. The leaves shaken loose by the burst of power immediately fluttered down through the air in a scattered shower.

He raised his arm in a motion that looked slow but was blindingly fast. His muscles flexed, and his short sword erupted in a dazzling flash.

By the time the wind died down, every fallen leaf before him had been cut in two.

After a year of grueling training, Kyosuke's actual combat strength had finally reached the chunin level.

Of course, without the Sharingan's assistance, he might not have managed to cut even a third of those leaves.

There was no denying that bloodlines gave shinobi a tremendous advantage in strength.

Name: Uchiha Kyosuke

Age: 8

Physical strength: Genin

Mental strength: Chunin

Chakra reserves: Chunin

Abilities mastered: Uchiha-style Swordsmanship (Level 4), Three Body Technique (Level 4), Throwing Technique (Level 5), Chakra Control Technique (Level 2), Hand Seals (Level 3)

Kekkei genkai: Sharingan (one tomoe)

Summoning beast: None

Ninja tools: None

Points: 5840

In the second week after he began training, his soul fusion had finally finished, leaving his mental strength temporarily fixed at the chunin level.

As he grew older, it would continue to improve to some extent.

If he focused on genjutsu and refined his Yin Release chakra, both his rate of improvement and his upper limit would increase considerably.

As for his physical strength, swordsmanship training naturally exercised his body, but his age kept him from improving quickly.

Genin... that was already Kyosuke's current limit.

His chakra reserves had also grown considerably. With both his body and mind improving, that increase was only natural.

He might not compare to the Senju of the Forest, but the Uchiha were descendants of Ōtsutsuki, after all. Their chakra reserves far exceeded those of ordinary prestigious clans.

His Sharingan still had only one tomoe and had not improved much. The real leap had come in the Uchiha-style Swordsmanship he had devoted himself to practicing.

Level 4 swordsmanship was already comparable to that of the Land of Iron's elite samurai.

With the Sharingan's assistance, it was not difficult for Kyosuke's swordsmanship to deliver level 5 power.

Overall, his close-combat strength should have been slightly greater than that of an ordinary chunin.

As for ranged combat... given his limited chakra, Kyosuke had simply abandoned ninjutsu training, choosing only to keep honing his throwing technique with hidden weapons.

At the chunin level, excluding freaks on the scale of the Konoha 12, ordinary C-rank ninjutsu was pretty much the limit.

Techniques like Fireball Jutsu, in other words.

They were not useless, but rather than waste chakra on them, he was better off devoting it entirely to taijutsu.

After honing himself in dozens of real battles, Kyosuke had discovered that close-quarters killing was the most effective way to fight.

Over the past year, he had gone out on missions almost every three days.

His teacher would follow him from the shadows. Unless he faced mortal danger, he could forget about anyone coming to his rescue.

At first, Kyosuke had struggled to adjust, but after a few attempts, he gradually grew accustomed to acting alone.

Over dozens of assassination missions, he had eliminated nearly a hundred genin.

Word spread throughout the shinobi world that the Uchiha had produced a bloodthirsty brat. He ran whenever he encountered an expert, but if his opponent was a genin, he would doggedly pursue them even at the risk of his own life.

"The Uchiha's Evil-Faced Rakshasa"-that was the title Kyosuke had earned through a year of hard work.

There were two reasons behind it. First was Kyosuke's slaughter: no enemy genin he encountered had ever escaped alive.

Second, he habitually wore a Demon Mask while carrying out missions.

Initially, he had feared others would see the cowardice inside him. Later, as he kept killing, it became a habit. Besides, the mask kept blood from splashing onto his face.

It certainly had plenty of uses.

Besides increased combat experience, fighting for his life had also earned him nearly 6,000 points.

That would not buy anything too expensive, but it could at least raise one of his abilities by two levels.

If he wanted, he could also exchange it for an entry-level B-Rank Ninja Art.

At present, Kyosuke's strength lay entirely in close combat.

With his Sharingan activated, he could clearly discern his enemies' movements, while his swordsmanship gave him an overwhelming advantage in a fight.

The only remaining problem was how to get close to his enemies.

So Kyosuke set his sights on a category of ninjutsu known as the Body Flicker Technique.

Any technique that achieved instantaneous, high-speed movement fell under the general term Body Flicker Technique.

The most common method involved a burst of chakra, using a sudden increase in muscular power to move at high speed.

Might Guy, Sasuke, and most jonin used this type of Body Flicker Technique.

Nature-transformation variants used various ninjutsu as a medium to achieve instantaneous, high-speed movement akin to substituting one substance for another. Most required special secret ninjutsu or a kekkei genkai.

Notable users included Gaara, Haku, and Deidara.

Representative techniques included Sand Body Flicker, Water Body Flicker, and Clay Body Flicker.

The most complex of all was the Space-Time Ninjutsu mastered by Minato, the Second Generation, and others.

By warping and altering space, it allowed direct movement from point A to point B, making it the most mysterious and powerful category of Body Flicker Technique.

If possible, Kyosuke naturally wanted to exchange his points for a space-time ability. It was an indispensable, godlike skill for escaping danger and traveling.

Unfortunately, Space-Time Ninjutsu was exceedingly rare. Even the cheapest option, Flying Thunder God, required a full 25,000 points.

By comparison, the burst type suited his needs best.

Even if his physical limitations prevented him from using it routinely, acquiring the Body Flicker Technique would still greatly extend Kyosuke's hunting range.

After a year of analysis and experimentation, he had roughly worked out some of the rules governing points.

Killing genin yielded roughly 20 to 100 points, ranging from rookies who knew only the Three Body Technique to elites who had mastered a certain amount of ninjutsu.

For chunin, that jumped straight to a range of 100 to 500.

In other words, killing even the weakest chunin would yield as much as several genin.

Once he strengthened himself, he could try hunting chunin. His rate of earning points would certainly increase then.

Without an initial investment, how could he expect to flourish later? Hoarding points was all well and good, but he feared he might not live long enough to spend them.

After all, Mysterious Father's term was up. As of yesterday, he was no longer teaching Kyosuke.

Without a jonin watching over him from the shadows, one careless mistake could turn the Evil-Faced Rakshasa into a wandering ghost.

That was precisely why Kyosuke had decided to spend his points to strengthen himself.

As he gazed at the dazzling array of burst-type Body Flicker Techniques on the list, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

If I practice it beforehand, could that reduce the requirements for the exchange?

Even if I only save a little, those are still real points. Managing a household isn't easy-I should save wherever I can.

With that thought, Kyosuke hurried home and dug out the Ninjutsu Manual his teacher had left behind.

"Found it!"

Completely absorbed in his arduous training, Kyosuke spent the afternoon mastering the most basic burst-type technique.