Locking Onto the Target

The moment his shadow clone vanished, Jingchuan Lirang seized the opportunity, whipping his right foot toward Uchiha Isho's left leg.

With a sharp "slap," Isho felt a powerful force strike him, causing him to lose his balance and tumble to the side.

Fortunately, as if he had anticipated this, he steadied himself with one hand on the ground and, using that palm for support, suddenly exerted force through his legs to strike at Jingchuan Lirang's chest.

Seeing this, Jingchuan Lirang crossed his arms in front of his chest to defend.

Tap, tap. Jingchuan Lirang retreated two steps, and Isho took advantage of the gap to scramble to his feet. No sooner had they steadied themselves than they both gripped their kunai and lunged at each other again.

Clang! The two traded blows back and forth. They were using the same style of taijutsu, but everyone present could clearly see that Isho was on the defensive. Because Jingchuan Lirang's attacks were more ferocious and forceful, Isho could only parry and react.

Time slipped away bit by bit, and after about a quarter of an hour, Isho felt he had trained enough, sensing that his stamina was reaching its limit.

In any case, as long as he could stay in the top rankings without increasing his training load, he had no desire to fight for the top spot. He immediately called out, "Teacher, I concede."

Jingchuan Lirang's vigilant expression turned to one of shock, and he looked up to see Isho sheathing his kunai and adjusting his wounds and clothing.

Isho looked somewhat disheveled at the moment; his clothes were torn in several places, a few small cuts were oozing blood, and beads of sweat the size of beans were continuously sliding down his forehead.

Jingchuan Lirang was in even worse shape. He had actually been thinking of conceding for a while, but he hadn't expected Isho to give up first.

He felt that if they kept fighting, he might be exhausted to death by Isho. He had been relying entirely on willpower to hold on, and the only advantage he had was that he had slightly fewer wounds and less damage to his clothing than Isho.

"Very well, Jingchuan Lirang takes first place in this assessment. You may go home now; the afternoon is for rest. Dismissed."

After the Exam Proctor finished speaking, he was the first to turn and walk away.

What Isho didn't notice was that even though he had missed out on first place, the gazes of many female students in the class remained fixed on him.

"I won. I actually got first place in this assessment. Mom will definitely reward me with a barbecue feast.

But it was also my luck; Uchiha Isho clearly had the chance to use ninjutsu just now but didn't. He must have been low on chakra."

Jingchuan Lirang muttered to himself with a smile, thinking, Luck is part of strength, but I have to work harder. I won't have such luck next time.

The others left the field one by one, especially Lingdou Yiyou and his group of six, who were surprisingly energetic and were the first to start running home.

Isho, however, had no time to pay attention to them. He walked toward a pretty female medical ninja, muttering to himself as he went, "I should probably get this wound bandaged. Then again, it's fine—if I'm injured, I won't have to waste time taking a bath. Heh."

The fight was intense, but I gained something from it. My main weaknesses are explosive power and taijutsu; I need to practice more in the future. Isho calculated his gains from the session.

"Isho, why don't you seem more excited? Are you disappointed that you lost to Jingchuan at the end? If you ask me, you definitely could have won if you had used that level of ninjutsu one more time."

Tiancheng Changyang, who had short hair and a handsome face, jogged over to Isho's side along with Qiupu.

"That's for sure, but second place is pretty good too. The two of us barely managed not to finish at the bottom. But Isho, when did you learn such a powerful ninjutsu?"

Qiupu's round, full face showed a hint of confusion, as he had rarely seen Isho training or demonstrating the Great Fireball Technique.

Isho smiled and looked back at his two friends, saying:

"I was just reviewing the combat experience in my head, but I'm actually thrilled. As for that ninjutsu... of course, I learned it through hard training during the break.

Want to celebrate? My treat at Ichiraku Ramen."

"That's a great idea. Since we have the afternoon off, I'll treat you next time once I've saved up enough money," Qiupu replied.

"Same here." Changyang nodded with a smile, his eyes full of anticipation.

While the three were talking, Isho suddenly caught sight of Rock Lee still standing where he was, looking dejected. Remembering Rock Lee's second-to-last ranking, he shouted loudly at him:

"Hey, Rock Lee! The current ranking doesn't mean anything; you just haven't learned powerful taijutsu yet.

You should increase your taijutsu training now. Once you graduate from the Ninja Academy, you'll have the chance to learn incredible techniques. By then, I might not even be your match.

Oh, and come eat ramen with us tonight! My treat."

The other two assumed Isho was just trying to encourage Rock Lee, and since they were kind-hearted enough to be friends with Isho, they immediately smiled and showed their goodwill, joining in the invitation.

Rock Lee was truly the Rock Lee that Isho knew; upon hearing such recognition and the sincere invitation from the three, he was moved to tears. He wiped the tears from his face with his forearms repeatedly and nodded vigorously, saying "Yes" in agreement.

Time flowed on, and another new break arrived.

In the bustling commercial street of Konoha, Lingdou Yiyou and his group of six wandered aimlessly. After strolling for nearly a quarter of an hour, they all began to feel a bit bored.

"Xiongtai, Longye. Did you two really spend all your pocket money? Don't tell me you're waiting for the rest of us to leave so you can sneak off to buy food and enjoy it by yourselves?!"

Jietang Qiandu, whose hairstyle was quite conspicuous among the six, questioned them suspiciously. His bald head suddenly glinted; it turned out the skin on his scalp had a faint sheen under the sunlight.

"I already told you, my pocket money was spent on three-color dango because I was hungry. Who knew you guys would decide to pool money for barbecue today?"

"I spent mine on drinks and snacks too. Who can resist spending money when they have it? Seriously! Can't you guys make decisions in advance?"

The group brainstormed and eventually sat in the shade under a closed shop to discuss.

It was at this moment that, on a rooftop that provided both cover and a clear view of the six, three heads of similar size rose stealthily, peering over the wall to observe the group below with only their eyes visible.

"Big Brother Yi Xiang, those are the ones who provoked you. Just let me use the Transformation Technique combined with the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique to take them out; I guarantee no one will know who did it."

The moment the three of them pulled their heads back, Naruto immediately assured Yi Xiang with full confidence.

"No, that's boring. If we're going to mess with them, we should do something interesting. I already have a plan, so lean in closer and listen."

The time it takes for a stick of incense to burn slowly ticked away—at least, that was how it felt to the group, who couldn't seem to come up with a decent plan.

In the end, unable to bear the thought of missing out on today's discounted barbecue just because they were a little short on cash, the group reached a tacit agreement: they would simply have to "borrow" some. Of course, they never actually repaid the money they borrowed, and no creditor dared to come asking for it, which made them look quite imposing.