Uchiha Jiang Feng still left the comfortable, spacious Grand Tutor's Chair and picked up his sword.
"Sorry, Jiang Feng. I didn't know Asuma would come along..." Kurenai Yuhi apologized carefully, worried he might mistake her for a scheming girl.
"Why are you apologizing?"
Uchiha Jiang Feng waved a hand. "A girl who hasn't done anything wrong doesn't need to apologize. Or do you think I'd suspect you of having ulterior motives?"
Of course not.
Jiang Feng knew Kurenai Yuhi wouldn't do that deliberately, at least not when other women weren't involved, because he'd watched Naruto.
The greatest benefit of having watched Naruto wasn't knowing the plot by heart. It was knowing the personalities of every character in it.
Kurenai Yuhi also knew Jiang Feng wouldn't suspect her, because she liked him very much. When a girl fell for a boy, she always became blind to reason. No matter what he said, she believed him.
So after Kurenai Yuhi nodded, she and Kakashi's group stepped aside.
The four of them stood by the river, watching Uchiha Jiang Feng and Asuma face each other with eager anticipation. Whether it was Kakashi, who aimed to surpass Jiang Feng, or Obito, who wanted to challenge Kakashi, they were all looking forward to this battle.
Of course, they were even more eager to see what Uchiha Jiang Feng would do.
Everyone in Konoha knew that Uchiha Jiang Feng excelled at three things: making friends, making money, and killing people. To kill without being killed, he had to be very strong.
So no one treated him like an ordinary Chunin.
Warning, warning. The challenger is a top-tier master of this age. Host, be careful. Warning, warning. The challenger is a top-tier master of this age. Host, be careful.
Uchiha Jiang Feng held his sword and ignored the Low-End System's warning. Years had passed, and the Low-End System still hadn't realized this was the Naruto World.
The Low-End System's full name was the [Martial Arts Supreme] System. By defeating powerful enemies, he could obtain a martial arts master's template from a wuxia novel. He would reincarnate in different wuxia worlds, acquire different master templates, and eventually reach the pinnacle of martial arts.
His first reincarnation world should have been The Legendary Twins. He was supposed to start as Jade Lang Jiang Feng, the most handsome man under heaven. Instead, the Low-End System had brought him straight to the Naruto World, where he became Uchiha Jiang Feng.
During a practical lesson at the Ninja Academy, his opponent had been nothing more than an unknown student, but the system insisted he was a first-rate master of the age and rewarded Jiang Feng with a [Ye Gucheng] template.
During a C-rank mission, he'd merely been ambushed by a few worthless rogue ninja, but the system insisted he was in a Ten Deaths, No Life predicament and rewarded Jiang Feng with a [Yihua Palace Mistress—Yaoyue] template.
Then again, the Naruto World's power level was pretty high. Even an ordinary Genin would be a super expert in a Low Martial World.
Unfortunately, the templates the system rewarded him with were just as useless. But just as Uchiha Jiang Feng thought this, he unexpectedly discovered that perhaps because of a system error, the different templates could actually stack.
Martial arts mastery, Internal Energy, physical talent... all of it could stack.
By now, Uchiha Jiang Feng had collected over fifty templates and mastered countless martial arts. With the effects of those fifty-plus templates stacked together, his raw physical abilities were twenty or thirty times those of an ordinary person in the Ninja World. He also had over 1,200 years' worth of pure Bright Jade Technique Internal Energy.
In The Legendary Twins, even Yaoyue and Lianxing, who had thirty or forty years of Bright Jade Technique Internal Energy and had cultivated it to the eighth or ninth level, might not be able to beat an ordinary Konoha Chunin.
The Internal Energy system of a Low Martial World was indeed different from the Chakra system. But when Uchiha Jiang Feng could exploit a system bug, stack over fifty templates, and raise his stats to an absurd level, it was hard to say which was stronger.
Who says I'm practicing martial arts?
I'm clearly cultivating immortality. This sword has 1,200 years of power behind it. Can you take it?
Uchiha Jiang Feng believed his current strength was enough to surpass 99 percent of Jonin in the Ninja World. He also wasn't too far behind Kage-level masters.
In the original Naruto story, there hadn't been any such thing as "Kage Level." There were only Genin, Chunin, and Jonin. If this were a novel, readers would definitely complain about the term Kage Level.
Thinking of this, Uchiha Jiang Feng shook his head as he held his sword.
More than ten meters away, Sarutobi Asuma looked at the jade-like young man facing him. He was around fifteen or sixteen, dressed in a black, high-collared robe, and Asuma's feelings were complicated.
[For the clothes, refer specifically to Madara, Izuna, and Red Night Obito. For the looks, refer specifically to Izuna, Sasuke, and yourselves.]
He should have hated the other man.
The other man's surname was Uchiha, and the Uchihas were practically born to be hated by the villagers of Konoha.
But he didn't hate him. He even considered him a close friend, just as nearly everyone in Konoha thought Uchiha Jiang Feng would make a good friend.
He should have envied him.
The other man was more handsome, more capable, and more talented. Everyone in Konoha said no young ninja could withstand even a casual stroke of Jiang Feng's sword, and no young woman could resist his faint smile.
"Everyone in Konoha" included Asuma's father, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But he didn't envy the other man, even though he'd stolen Asuma's childhood sweetheart. Some people were simply so outstanding that you couldn't bring yourself to resent them.
Asuma only wanted to beat him once. If he won, he could prove there was at least one thing he was better at. Then maybe Ah Hong would come back to him.
The two exchanged the Seal of Confrontation, and the duel began.
Uchiha Jiang Feng still held his sword and stood perfectly still.
"Why aren't you drawing your sword?" Sarutobi Asuma demanded.
"I'm a few years older than you. It wouldn't be fair if I used my sword."
"Draw your sword!
"I'm challenging you fair and square. Everyone knows you're best at swordsmanship. Not drawing your sword is what's unfair to me!"
Uchiha Jiang Feng came up with another excuse. "Actually, swordsmanship isn't what I'm best at. I only use a sword because I think it looks cool."
The martial arts mastery of over fifty masters, more than 1,200 years of pure Internal Energy, and physical strength dozens of times greater than an ordinary person's in the Ninja World.
With stats this high, Uchiha Jiang Feng was actually stronger with his fists and feet than with a sword. After all, Taijutsu was one of the best ways to get ahead in the Naruto World.
But Uchiha Jiang Feng shared one of Meng Qi's ambitions in The Exalted: he'd rather become a graceful, jade-like Immortal Swordsman.
He had to learn from Mad Monk Lei Dao Mang Jingang's lesson. So even though he'd mastered hundreds of martial arts from more than fifty templates, Jiang Feng usually stuck to the ones that looked cool.
I don't need to be the strongest. I just need to look the coolest!
"Hmph!"
Asuma sneered and taunted him. "You're not drawing your sword because I'm your friend, because you once said that whenever your sword left its sheath, it had to draw blood."
Jiang Feng sighed helplessly. "I only said that because I wanted to show off. Don't you think the whole 'a sword must draw blood once it's drawn' thing sounds cool?"
I don't care what you think. I only care what I think!
Asuma wore an expression that said he'd seen right through him and continued provoking him. "Are you not confident you can draw blood without killing me?"
"I am."
"Then draw your sword!"
Sigh...
Uchiha Jiang Feng could only draw his long sword with a drawn-out sigh. It was different from the "swords" commonly seen in the Ninja World. It was closer to Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword in the anime, a long, straight blade sharpened on both sides.
Good!
Asuma braced himself for a fierce battle, his fighting spirit high. He didn't form any hand seals, but stood motionless, searching for his opponent's weakness.
As Uchiha Jiang Feng's teammate, he knew that the other man's sword was fast, but his Body Flicker Technique was even faster. If a ninja was within twenty meters of Jiang Feng, then the moment he started forming hand seals was probably the moment he died.
Kakashi and the others held their breath, not wanting to miss a single detail.
Several seconds later, as a leaf blown by the wind drifted between them, Asuma suddenly moved. But a split second later, he froze in place.
A sharp, icy blade rested against his throat. A button lay on the blade—it had come from Asuma's collar. There was also a drop of blood on the button, blood flowing from Asuma's throat.
Fast. Impossibly fast.
Asuma instinctively raised a hand to touch the wound on his throat. Even now, he still hadn't realized how the other man had drawn his sword or moved in front of him.
"Was that the legendary Heavenly Flying Immortal?" Asuma murmured.
Everyone in Konoha knew that Uchiha Jiang Feng had once created a peerless sword technique. Its movements changed as he pleased, taking shape before the strike was made and leaving its spirit behind after the strike was complete.
No one could describe the brilliance and splendor of that sword, nor its speed. It was no longer just a sword technique. It was the Thunder God's fury, a strike of lightning.
I really did just swing my sword casually.
Uchiha Jiang Feng sighed. "If you think it was, then it was."
"Good, what a move! Heavenly Flying Immortal! I, Sarutobi Asuma, accept my defeat wholeheartedly!"
Defeated in a single move, Asuma turned around cheerfully, leaving behind what he thought was a dashing silhouette. "I've lost to you in strength and looks. Ah Hong is yours. Just promise me you won't let her down."
"How can one match decide who a girl belongs to?
"No man can decide who a girl belongs to. The only thing men can influence is who a girl falls for."
Golden lotuses bloomed from the earth as flowers rained down from the heavens. Congratulations, Host, on defeating a top-tier master of this age. As a reward, you have received the top-tier master [Bai Choufei—Angry Sword Draw] template.
Before you continue