Early the next morning, Hui had a rare lie-in.
He had held the necklace in his hands for a long time the night before, unable to calm down.
He had imagined how different his battles would be with it in the mix.
At the entrance to Chuanhe Residence, Sasuke had gotten up early and was ready to call Hui so they could head to the Training Ground and test the Flame Explosion Technique.
"Sasuke, you're up early. Hui went to bed a little late last night, so you might have to wait a bit."
"Have you run into any problems with your ninjutsu lately?"
Chuanhe opened the door and let Sasuke in, asking as they walked.
Recently, Sasuke had been coming to Chuanhe to ask about ninjutsu whenever he had a chance before or after school. The two had grown quite familiar with each other.
"Yeah! Thank you, senpai. I haven't had any problems with the ninjutsu I've been learning lately."
Sasuke thanked him instinctively, then thought of the Secret Medicine.
His body gave a reflexive shudder.
"Se-senpai, could you leave out the pain next time you develop something?"
Seeing Sasuke's expression, Chuanhe decided to tease him.
"Haha, you could sell this stuff on the black market for a hundred million ryo, and plenty of people would buy it. And you're complaining?"
At the astronomical figure, Sasuke panicked. He didn't think he'd ever have that much pocket money in his entire life.
Chuanhe took the opportunity to ruffle Sasuke's hair.
"Little Sasuke, your father and brother love you very much."
"Once they confirmed it was safe, they decided right away to let you use it."
"As a parent myself, I can understand."
"From now on, make sure you talk more with your family. Don't wait until you've lost them to regret it."
So... that's how it is?
My father actually does love me.
"I understand. Thank you, senpai!"
Sasuke's expression turned complicated, and he gave a firm nod in response.
Just then, Hui finally finished getting ready.
With the necklace around his neck, he greeted Sasuke with a happy look.
"Sasuke, sorry, sorry for the wait."
"Shall we head out now?"
At the sound of Hui's voice, Sasuke's expression immediately returned to normal.
"You're so slow. Let's go."
The Training Ground.
There seemed to be a lot of people at the Training Ground today, so Sasuke's expression turned cold.
People kept greeting him along the way. Clearly, more people knew him than knew Hui.
One thing struck him as strange.
The people his father called the Militant Faction seemed to respect Hui quite a bit.
He'd seen several members of the Militant Faction he knew personally go out of their way to greet Hui.
Those annoying guys have actually learned to show respect?
Sasuke didn't like people addressing him so deferentially, but he knew they meant well.
Those Militant Faction members always walked around with sour expressions. Just looking at them was enough to put him in a bad mood.
Senpai Chuanhe really lives up to his reputation. Even the Militant Faction has to bow their heads to him?
That was what Sasuke thought.
"Big Sister Chiyuki, we've come to see you!"
Hui spotted Chiyuki again and greeted her with a smile.
Uchiha Chiyuki had just finished examining someone when she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
She turned around and saw two familiar little brats.
"Hui, long time no see. You too, Sasuke-kun."
Hearing her call him that, Sasuke finally nodded in satisfaction.
"Big Sister Chiyuki, sorry for worrying you last time."
"We're at school during the day, and by the time we get out, you've all finished work here."
"So we came again today."
Hui explained why they hadn't visited in the past few days.
"I see. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your body?"
"I asked my teacher specifically, but he doesn't seem to have heard of anything like that either."
"Are you hiding something, you little rascal?"
Chiyuki recalled the records she'd looked through and the answers she'd gotten over the past few days.
"Uh, there is something. But don't worry, Big Sister Chiyuki. It's a good thing."
Hui scratched his head awkwardly.
"Is that so? Then I'm relieved."
Chiyuki didn't press him. She smiled at the two in front of her.
"So, who's here to be tested today?"
"Me," Sasuke said.
Chiyuki looked at Sasuke in surprise. Hui's chakra reserves had already amazed her.
The Flame Explosion Technique required a certain amount of chakra.
And now there was another one. Since when had the Uchiha Clan been overflowing with geniuses?
Still, this was a good thing.
Once again, she left the person on duty to watch the entrance and led the two of them to the familiar observation platform.
Chiyuki teased Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun, you're not going to use the Earth Clone Technique this time too, are you?"
"Sh-shut up. I'll definitely learn it next time."
At the mention of the Earth Clone Technique, Sasuke's expression grew a little awkward.
He immediately began forming Hand Seals.
Shadow Clone Technique
Today, he'd put everything he had into it and refined a lot of chakra.
Although Hui's Secret Medicine had put him through quite a bit of suffering, it had indeed greatly increased his chakra. His brother had told him that he now had the chakra reserves of five standard Chunin.
And the increase would continue as he got older.
At the familiar term, Sasuke remembered what he'd said the first time he saw Hui use the Flame Explosion Technique.
"One standard Chunin's worth of chakra is equivalent to 102 Explosive Tags?" Sasuke murmured.
What Sasuke didn't know was that the explosion produced by different versions of the Flame Explosion Technique varied "slightly."
Although he and Hui were using the same version, different people made for different techniques.
When he felt his Shadow Clone dispel, Sasuke instinctively clutched his chest.
There was a scorching sensation there, as if it had been burned by fire.
It was only an echo of the memory.
With enough training, most people could ignore side effects of this degree.
That was one of the reasons this Training Ground had been established.
Hui was quick to support Sasuke from the side.
Chiyuki gave Sasuke a brief examination too.
This time, however, she found a problem.
Sasuke's chakra pathways showed clear signs of having been forcefully expanded.
Chiyuki asked him with a serious expression.
"Sasuke-kun, did you take some kind of forbidden drug? Pushing your body beyond its limits is a bad idea."
Sasuke froze at her words.
Hui understood why.
The excess chakra boosted by the Secret Medicine wasn't much of a problem.
It was a reaction caused by the purification of his bloodline.
The problem was that Sasuke's body couldn't suddenly handle such a massive amount of chakra.
His chakra pathways had been constantly flushed by that huge amount of chakra, so they had expanded.
That was one source of the pain; the other was the pain caused by bloodline purification.
As long as Sasuke didn't use more chakra than his body could handle during this period, there wouldn't be any problems.
"Haha, don't worry, Big Sister Chiyuki. I looked into it beforehand this time. This is normal for Sasuke."
Chiyuki laughed in disbelief at that.
"You two are both so mysterious. All right, all right."
"Here, Sasuke-kun. This is your damage rating."
Sasuke took the sheet. A large B was printed on it.
There were also some figures he couldn't understand at all.
"Hmph. Once I learn the Earth Clone Technique, I'll definitely surpass you. Just you wait, Hui."
"Sure, sure. But first, Sasuke, you'll need to get an Earth nature transformation."
"Then we'll train for it. We can always compete with Naruto and see who gets a new nature transformation first."
The two of them left the Training Ground, trading remarks as they went.
Watching them leave, Chiyuki muttered to herself, "Kids these days are all strong enough to be monsters."
"A B-rank self-detonation could almost cover the entire Uchiha Compound."
"Let's hope your A-rank one won't be used for that matter in the future, Hui-kun."
Chiyuki thought of the disagreements that had arisen at the recent clan meeting.
If they really ended up going to war with the village, the only possible outcome would be... the destruction of their homes and the loss of their lives.
All of Konoha would cease to exist.
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