Locking Onto the Target

At the moment the clone disappeared, Jingchuan Lirang seized his chance and suddenly swept his right foot at Yi Xiang's left leg.

With a sharp slap, Yi Xiang felt a powerful blow catch him, and his body immediately lost its balance and toppled sideways.

Fortunately, as if he had anticipated this, he braced himself with one hand and steadied his body. Then, supporting himself on his palm, he suddenly drove both legs toward Jingchuan Lirang's chest.

Seeing this, Jingchuan Lirang raised both hands in front of his chest to defend himself.

With two quick thuds, Jingchuan Lirang staggered back two steps. Taking advantage of the opening, Yi Xiang hurriedly got to his feet. As soon as they had steadied themselves, both clenched their kunai and lunged at each other.

With a clang, the two exchanged blows. They were both using the same taijutsu, but everyone present knew that Yi Xiang was at a disadvantage. Jingchuan Lirang's attacks were fiercer and more powerful, leaving Yi Xiang no choice but to counter each move.

Time passed little by little. About fifteen minutes later.

Realizing he was exhausted enough, Yi Xiang decided he had trained about as much as he needed to.

As long as he placed near the top and avoided having his training load increased, he had no desire to fight for a higher ranking. So he called out, "Teacher, I give up."

The wariness in Jingchuan Lirang's eyes gave way to surprise. Then he looked up and saw Yi Xiang put away his kunai and tend to his wounds and clothes.

Yi Xiang looked rather disheveled. His otherwise intact clothes were torn in several places, and a few small wounds were bleeding. Beads of sweat the size of beans kept rolling down his forehead.

Jingchuan Lirang was in even worse shape. He had actually been thinking of giving up for a while, but hadn't expected Yi Xiang to concede first.

He felt that if they kept fighting, Yi Xiang might wear him down completely. At this point, he was relying entirely on sheer willpower to keep going. The only thing in his favor was that he had fewer wounds and less damage to his clothes than Yi Xiang.

"Good. Jingchuan Lirang takes first place in this assessment. You can go home now. Take the afternoon off. That's all for today."

After the teacher finished speaking, he was the first to leave.

What Yi Xiang didn't notice was that, even though he had missed out on first place, the gazes of many girls in his class still lingered on him.

"I won! I actually came in first in this assessment. Auntie will definitely reward me with a huge barbecue feast.

"But I was lucky, too. Uchiha Isho could've used a ninjutsu just now, but he didn't. He must have run out of chakra."

Jingchuan Lirang muttered to himself, a smile spreading across his face. Luck is part of strength, too. Still, I'll have to work even harder. I won't get this lucky next time.

The others also began to leave. Lingdou Yiyou and his group of six were especially full of energy, racing at the head of the crowd on their way home.

Yi Xiang didn't have time to pay those guys any attention. He headed toward the pretty medical kunoichi, talking to himself as he walked.

"I'd better get these wounds bandaged. But at least getting hurt means I don't have to waste time taking a bath. Heh."

That was a pretty intense fight, so I must've learned something from it. My explosive power and taijutsu are both pretty weak. I'll have to work on them. Yi Xiang considered what he had gained from the fight.

"Yi Xiang, you don't seem very excited. Are you disappointed you lost to Jingchuan at the end? I mean, if you'd had enough chakra to use that high-level ninjutsu one more time, you definitely would've won."

Tiancheng Changyang, a handsome boy with short hair, jogged over with Qiupu to catch up with Yi Xiang.

"Yeah, exactly. But second place is still pretty good. We barely managed not to come in last. Speaking of which, Yi Xiang, when did you learn such a powerful ninjutsu?"

Qiupu asked, his round, plump face full of confusion. He had rarely seen Yi Xiang train or show off the Great Fireball Technique.

Yi Xiang smiled and glanced back at his two friends. "I was just thinking over what I learned from the fight, but honestly, I'm already over the moon. As for that ninjutsu... I learned it by training hard all through the holidays, of course.

"How about we celebrate? I'll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen."

"That sounds great. We have the afternoon off, anyway. Once I've saved up enough, I'll treat you next time," Qiupu replied.

"Me too." Changyang nodded with a smile, his eyes full of anticipation.

As the three chatted, Yi Xiang suddenly noticed Rock Lee still standing nearby, looking dejected. Remembering that Rock Lee had placed sixth from the bottom, he called out loudly, "Hey, Rock Lee! Your current ranking doesn't mean anything. You just haven't learned powerful taijutsu yet.

"You should work on your taijutsu training now. Once you graduate from the Ninja Academy, you'll have the chance to learn some amazing taijutsu. By then, I might not even be your match.

"By the way, come have ramen with us tonight. It's my treat!"

The other two assumed Yi Xiang was just trying to encourage Rock Lee. After all, they were good people to begin with, or they wouldn't have become friends with Yi Xiang.

They smiled kindly at Rock Lee and immediately invited him along, too.

Rock Lee was just as Yi Xiang remembered him. Hearing Yi Xiang's words of encouragement and receiving such a sincere invitation from the three of them moved him to tears once again.

He kept wiping his face with his forearm, then nodded hard and said, "Yeah," accepting their invitation.

Time drifted by, and another year's holiday arrived.

On Konoha's bustling commercial street, Lingdou Yiyou and his group of six wandered aimlessly. After nearly fifteen minutes, they were all starting to get bored.

"Xiongtai, Longye, are you two seriously out of pocket money? Or are you just waiting for the others to leave so you can sneak off and buy food to enjoy by yourselves?!"

The bald-headed Jietang Qiandu, whose hairstyle stood out among the six, eyed them suspiciously. His scalp suddenly gleamed as sunlight caught its faint sheen.

"I told you already, I spent all my pocket money on Three-Color Dango because I love eating them. Who knew you'd decide today that we should pool our money for barbecue?"

"I spent mine on drinks and snacks, too. If you have money, who can resist spending it? Honestly! Couldn't you have decided this earlier?"

The group tried to come up with a plan. In the end, they sat in the shade outside a closed shop and discussed what to do.

Just then, on a rooftop where they could hide and still clearly watch the six below, three heads of similar size slowly rose into view. The trio peeked over the wall, watching the group below with only their eyes showing.

"Big brother Yi Xiang, they're the ones who messed with you. Let me use the Transformation Technique and then the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique to take them out. I guarantee no one will know who beat them up."

The three ducked back down. Naruto immediately made his confident promise to Yi Xiang.

"No, that wouldn't be any fun. If we're going to prank them, we should make it interesting. I've already got a plan. Come closer and listen."

A full fifteen minutes passed. At least, that was how it felt to the group, who still hadn't come up with a good idea.

In the end, not wanting to miss the discounted barbecue just because they were a little short on money, the group tacitly agreed to borrow some. Of course, they never paid back the money they borrowed, and no creditor dared come after them for it. They were quite the fearsome bunch.