Karl Malone's Elbows

After returning home, burning incense, and taking a bath, Uchiha Mai opened the dog system's lottery interface.

"Use the last of your strength to chase the fleeing foe; never imitate the Overlord and seek a hollow reputation." Tonight's gains had been substantial, so he might as well press his advantage and enjoy a draw first.

100 Style Points were deducted, and the half-star prize pool slowly began to spin. A few seconds later, a card flashed into view.

[Karl Malone's Basketball Skills

Karl Malone, a famous basketball player who played power forward, was one of the superstars of Jordan's era. He was selected among the NBA's 50 Greatest Players and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

After use, you can learn all of Karl Malone's basketball skills.]

Uchiha Mai: "..."

It was time to behead the dog system as a sacrifice to heaven!

As expected of a half-star skill, it was a knowledge-based reward. There was nothing wrong with that. But basketball skills? What the hell was that supposed to be?

If he had transmigrated into an urban world—or had not transmigrated at all—this would have been an absolute jackpot.

Uchiha Mai did not know much about basketball. Before transmigrating, he had indeed been a sports fan, but a soccer fan. When it came to basketball, aside from a few people like Jordan, LeBron James, and dunk king Curry, he could not recognize anyone else.

Basketball players, especially superstars, generally earned more than combat athletes, and their careers were much safer too.

If he had drawn this skill before transmigrating, it truly would have been more useful than boxing skills or jujutsu skills.

If his height and wingspan were good enough, he could go to America for the draft and play in the NBA. Don't ask how a soccer fan could play basketball—just say he was born for basketball.

There was nothing shameful about making money.

If his height and wingspan were not enough, he could still play basketball in college, show off a little, fool some young girls, and see whether he could become a campus version of the Canadian Cannon King.

A system-produced skill that claimed he could learn all of Karl Malone's basketball skills meant he really could learn all of them. That much could not be denied.

What a pity. What a pity that this was the Naruto world.

What use were basketball skills here?

Basketball and Street Dance both sounded like frivolous pursuits, but the latter could help Uchiha Mai harvest Style Points from young girls.

The Ninja World had all kinds of dances since ancient times. Mai had merely "created" a new dance style on that foundation. The visual impact of Street Dance could leave people deeply shocked.

Basketball, an activity that emphasized physical confrontation and teamwork, overlapped heavily with ninjas' daily training. It was destined to have no future.

Street Dance competed directly with other dances, while basketball competed with the ninja system itself. At least during wartime, it would be impossible to promote it.

Uchiha Mai shook his head. Debuting as a duo with Killer B? How could he have such a crazy idea? Even if he debuted, he would teach himself to sing and rap, then debut solo.

At this point, he could only treat those 100 Style Points as having been fed to a dog. It was only 100 points; there was no need to feel bad about it.

Uchiha Mai chose to accept the reward.

The previous few times he had accepted rewards, some images had appeared in his mind to teach and guide the host's learning and imitation.

Watching Karl Malone play was not so bad. He was, after all, a basketball superstar from Jordan's era recognized by the system. He could treat it as seeing familiar things and reminiscing about his previous world.

After accepting the reward, Uchiha Mai casually opened one of the clips and glanced at it. Then he froze on the spot.

What the fuck! This was basketball?

In the footage, Karl Malone—a huge, muscular man whose forearms were as thick as an ordinary person's waist—jumped up for a shot.

As he came down, he swung his elbow with perfect naturalness. With a smack, he drove it into the opposing player's head beside him, blasting the man to the ground and knocking him unconscious for several minutes.

In the next clip, Karl Malone was shielding the ball. Again, he naturally swung an elbow backward, striking the opposing player in the face and leaving him covered in blood. The man had to be carried off and received more than forty stitches.

Shooting, protecting the ball, driving past defenders, physical clashes—in clip after clip, Karl Malone swung his elbows again and again, using those massive iron elbows to batter his way across the entire NBA.

His elbows struck with the force of a tiger!

His elbows struck as though they had crossed an age!

How was this basketball? This was clearly fighting with a ball thrown in as an afterthought.

Uchiha Mai watched in rapt fascination. From his professional perspective, Karl Malone's elbow techniques were exceptionally impressive.

They were so impressive that even Jean-Claude Van Damme, the action star trained in Muay Thai, fell more than a level short of Malone in technique alone.

Dog system, I wronged you again.

Basketball skills? Pah. Karl Malone had clearly been fighting mixed martial arts. His elbow techniques were so exquisite that they left one speechless in admiration.

The shift from crushing disappointment to overwhelming joy took only a single thought.

Carried away by excitement, Uchiha Mai rushed into the courtyard and practiced his self-created Mai Style Ancient Martial Arts, trying to incorporate Karl Malone's elbow techniques into it.

Boxing (Mayweather), jujutsu (Peng Yuyan), fantasy traditional martial arts (Master Ma), taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai (Jean-Claude Van Damme), superior elbow techniques (Karl Malone)...

Together with the Konoha Strong Fist style he had learned from Might Duy, his taijutsu system was becoming increasingly complete, and his offensive power was growing stronger and stronger.

Every part of his body was a deadly weapon!

After practicing several times, Uchiha Mai had integrated Karl Malone's elbow techniques into his Mai Style Ancient Martial Arts.

Mai Style Ancient Martial Arts was still in its infancy, leaving plenty of room for refinement and revision. Karl Malone's elbow techniques also differed from other taijutsu schools; they did not have countless techniques requiring selection and refinement.

Mai Style Ancient Martial Arts had advanced another step! With only a few more days, he would be able to develop new awesome moves based on those elbow techniques.

This time, Uchiha Mai wanted to go a step further.

Pure taijutsu techniques could no longer satisfy him.

Phoenix Kirin Asura, Iron Tuo, Boom Axe, and several moves he had yet to use—he already had more than enough ordinary taijutsu.

Uchiha Mai wanted to do it in one step and attempt to develop Nintaijutsu, fusing taijutsu with Fire Style.

After setting his goal, Uchiha Mai took another bath and rolled back into his bedroom to sleep.

He was not feeling particularly motivated today. He would start working hard tomorrow.jpg

The next day, Uchiha Mai finished breakfast early and arrived at the place he had agreed to meet Master Minato.

There were still more than ten minutes until their agreed meeting time of nine o'clock, but Might Guy and Kakashi had arrived early.

Might Guy was still brimming with energy. Dressed in a green skintight suit, he frog-jumped around the small lake while shouting slogans, as though he had been training for quite some time.

Kakashi held a short blade and was likewise drenched in sweat as he practiced Hatake Style Kenjutsu. Even when he heard footsteps, his movements did not pause in the slightest.

Not bad. I did not expect to be the last one here. Even Kakashi, who was always late in the original story, arrived before me.

After a brief moment of surprise, Uchiha Mai began his daily routine. He leaped onto an ancient tree, spread his legs, and sat carelessly on a branch.

He planted both elbows on his thighs, interlocked his fingers beneath his chin, and put on a grim face as he pretended to be profound.

His cloak fluttered in the morning breeze, and for a moment, he seemed like a lonely master. He perfectly copied Bu Jingyun's classic pose from Wind and Cloud.

Work hard when no one was watching, then show off in front of others—that was Uchiha Mai's guiding principle. If he did not show off a little every day, how would he earn Style Points?