Oh no, I've become Fifty-Fifty

He didn't immediately check his Attribute Panel.

Qingye first struggled to climb out of bed.

He was in the infirmary at the Konoha Ninja Camp, and someone could come by at any moment.

He got out of bed, leaned on his crutch, and returned to his own tent. Only after making sure no one would disturb him did he start figuring out his Golden Finger.

"Are these numbers the Eight Ninja Parameters from the formula books in my past life?"

Essence, Body, Strength, Speed, Ninjutsu, Seals, Genjutsu, and Intelligence were the eight metrics used to evaluate a ninja's abilities.

"Essence represents Chakra reserves. I only have a 6?"

Qingye remembered that Kakashi Hatake had an Essence score of 6 in the original story.

Did that mean he currently had about one Kakashi's worth of Chakra?

Qingye thought about it and decided that seemed reasonable.

With Uchiha blood and pretty decent talent, he naturally wasn't short on Chakra. But he was only twelve, and his body hadn't yet reached its peak.

He just didn't know how much Chakra Kakashi, that cheat of a ninja, had now without the burden of the Sharingan.

What? I've become a cheat, too?

Well, in that case, never mind.

After analyzing the eight stats, Qingye felt that Speed, at 8, was the only one he could really boast about.

That fit with the direction he'd focused on in his training all these years.

As everyone knew, among all the martial arts in the world, speed was the only thing that couldn't be beaten!

That applied to ninjutsu, too!

Of course, the ancients had also said that great strength could overcome all techniques, that strength could beat skill, and even that softness could overcome hardness, or that four ounces could deflect a thousand pounds...

But for a ninja, speed was still more important.

Ninjas didn't have much physical defense. If you were fast enough, you could kill a Chunin with one slash—and an elite ninja, too!

Aside from Essence, which represented Chakra reserves, and basic attributes like Strength and Speed, Qingye's stats in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were fairly balanced. But he usually focused more on taijutsu and swordsmanship.

After all, for most ninjas, the main fight came down to trading Kunai and clashing blades.

He closed the Attribute Panel.

There were now two modules on the system interface: "Ninjutsu Learning" and "Talent Enhancement."

After fiddling around, Qingye had more or less figured out how his Golden Finger worked.

The system let him obtain abilities in advance that he might master in the future—for example, learning a ninjutsu ahead of time that he might eventually be able to learn.

For instance, if he had talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu, he might be able to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique through the system.

The price was that the system would draw on his Chakra for a period of time in the future, like paying off a loan.

Of course, if he didn't have the corresponding talent, he wouldn't be able to learn the technique.

Qingye tried it, but the Ninjutsu Learning module couldn't be opened yet. The system said he hadn't met the unlock requirements.

As for the other module, "Talent Enhancement," the system's description suggested that it could permanently improve one of his talents, once.

Just once!

The direction depended on his bloodline!

If he had a special bloodline, he could choose to strengthen it.

If he didn't have any special bloodline, he could instead choose to improve his Chakra across the board.

Qingye could choose either to strengthen his Sharingan bloodline or to improve his Chakra across the board.

"Wait, does that mean I have to strengthen my bloodline before I can unlock the Mangekyo?"

Qingye's face darkened.

When he tapped "Enhance Sharingan," the system displayed: "Three Tomoe → Mangekyo."

In other words, his Sharingan talent only reached the Three Tomoe level. Without strengthening his bloodline, he'd never awaken the Mangekyo.

No wonder he'd fought tooth and nail and only managed to reach Two Tomoe.

Obito, on the other hand, had seen Kakashi get hurt during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge and awakened his Two Tomoe Sharingan right away!

Sure enough, awakening and developing the Sharingan depended on talent, too.

On the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, there had been so many Uchiha with Three Tomoe, but none of them had awakened the Mangekyo just from watching their family and friends get killed.

In the Naruto world, where Bloodline Theory reigned supreme, if your talent and bloodline weren't good enough, your potential was basically set in stone.

"I have two options for improving my talent right now."

Qingye thought it over.

Fortunately, he didn't have to make a choice right away.

According to the system's rules, even if he chose to improve his Sharingan talent, he'd first have to upgrade it to Three Tomoe.

And Three Tomoe was already the limit of his existing bloodline. It counted as power he might master in the future, so upgrading to Three Tomoe wouldn't use up his one-time bloodline Talent Enhancement!

As for which direction to take after that, he could decide later.

[Please confirm: Upgrade Sharingan (Two Tomoe) to Sharingan (Three Tomoe)?]

[Tip 1: This loan requires a total repayment of three months' worth of Chakra.]

[Tip 2: You must fully repay this Chakra Loan before taking out another loan.]

[Tip 3: After borrowing, the host's maximum Chakra will be reduced. The deducted amount will be used to repay the Chakra Loan. The host may choose to defer repayment. After deferring, the maximum Chakra will be restored, and the repayment period will be extended accordingly.]

He could defer repayment?

Qingye's eyes lit up.

And from the looks of it, even if he deferred repayment, he wouldn't have to pay back double. He just needed to repay a total of three months' worth of Chakra Loan.

After thinking it over, Qingye silently said:

"Confirm."

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Chakra surged from somewhere inside his head and flowed into his eyes!

Qingye hurriedly hobbled over to the mirror, activated his Sharingan, and watched as the two black Tomoe in each crimson eye spun. Suddenly, a third Tomoe split off in each eye!

Three Tomoe Sharingan!

His ocular power instantly rose to a new level, and his Chakra reserves rapidly increased along with it!

But barely three minutes later, before he'd had much time to celebrate, Qingye suddenly felt hollowed out. His body and mind were both exhausted.

[Sharingan (Three Tomoe) upgrade complete.]

The system's voice sounded in his mind.

Qingye hurried to check his Attribute Panel.

[Stats: Essence 6 (7), Body 7, Strength 5, Speed 8, Ninjutsu 7, Seals 6, Genjutsu 8, Intelligence 9]

His Essence had increased to 7, but had been reduced back to 6.

Aside from that, his Genjutsu had also increased by 1.

"This feeling... Did reducing my maximum Chakra directly lower the limits of my physical and spiritual energy?"

Qingye grimaced.

It felt like he should have had access to more power, but something had siphoned off his Chakra and slashed his blue bar.

Oh no, I've become Kakashi Hatake, Fifty-Fifty!

Luckily, he could defer repayment if he needed to.

"But..."

"What should I do now?"

Before, he'd wanted to recover as quickly as possible so he could resume taking missions because the situation was urgent. And since his talent wasn't good enough, he'd had no choice but to improve his Sharingan in battle, on the brink of life and death.

But now, once he'd finished repaying this three-month Chakra Loan, he could either upgrade his Sharingan to the Mangekyo or improve his Chakra across the board. Either way, he'd have enough power to protect himself.