Tsuki Uchiha

Night.

After parting ways outside Ichiraku Ramen, Ryōken strolled leisurely along Konoha's streets.

The cool evening breeze felt rather pleasant.

Konoha was quite good. At the very least, unlike the small shinobi villages, one did not have to live in constant fear of being wiped out at any moment.

Although the treatment in Konoha was somewhat lacking, one could at least grow up safely.

At that moment, a ninja wearing a green flak jacket and a forehead protector approached him.

This was a jonin.

They had learned the distinctions between ninja uniforms at the Academy, so Ryōken recognized him at a glance.

Ryōken paused, paid him no mind, and intended to pass by him.

Who would have thought that the jonin seemed to be coming specifically for him? He stepped directly in front of Ryōken, his face expressionless.

"Are you Ryōken?"

"Yes."

Ryōken answered just as calmly, though a trace of vigilance appeared in his eyes.

He knew very few people in Konoha. Anyone who came knocking without cause was up to no good.

"Then I have the right person. My younger brother may indeed be somewhat useless, but he is not someone an ant like you can toy with."

His voice was as still as an ancient well, devoid of the slightest emotion.

His bewitching Sharingan glimmered faintly red. As though looking down on an ant, his gaze suddenly locked with Ryōken's.

Instantly, a powerful and sinister aura crashed down upon him.

In the next moment, Ryōken's vision turned entirely blood-red, with nothing else remaining.

Ryōken's body began to tremble violently, as though crushed beneath an unbearable weight. He struggled to resist the urge to drop to his knees.

Slowly, he raised his head. His delicate young face had become somewhat twisted and terrifying, while flames of stubborn defiance burned in his black eyes.

Tsuki Uchiha remained expressionless, neither sorrowful nor pleased.

Would a person care about an ant's refusal to yield or its resistance?

No!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Three figures appeared around Ryōken in quick succession. Wearing masks, they watched the jonin warily. One of them spoke.

"Tsuki Uchiha, this is Konoha."

Tsuki Uchiha did not care in the slightest and merely glanced at him.

That person's scalp immediately went numb. He forced himself to say, "This is Lord Hokage's order."

Only upon hearing that did Tsuki Uchiha nod noncommittally. He withdrew his overwhelming aura, turned away, and treated everyone as though they did not exist.

Then he left.

Seeing this, the three ANBU looked at one another in relief.

"Terrifying. As expected of one of the strongest of this generation's Uchiha."

"I wonder when we'll break through to jonin ourselves."

"Forget it. Even if you became a jonin, you still wouldn't be his match. A three-tomoe Sharingan is far too powerful."

Only then did the three turn to look at Ryōken.

They saw that Ryōken had already calmed down. Only his tightly clenched fists, with faint traces of blood visible between them, revealed anything.

Without saying a word, he took the lead and walked away.

Seeing the boy suppress his emotions almost instantly, the three ANBU ninja suddenly felt a chill in their hearts.

"What terrifying willpower. Tsuki Uchiha is probably going to suffer in the future."

The ANBU ninja who had been oppressed earlier thought solemnly to himself, feeling a faint sense of satisfaction.

Ryōken sat in his small house, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long time.

"Heh. Strength... without strength, in this world, you're not even worth a pile of dog shit. Anyone can stomp on you whenever they want!"

His teeth bit tightly into his lip as he allowed the faint taste of blood to spread. His low, self-mocking laughter echoed through the small house.

"I will never suffer today's humiliation a second time."

Ryōken's voice was hoarse yet resolute.

Only after a long while did Ryōken calm down, his face expressionless.

Ryōken narrowed his eyes and summoned the system panel, examining it carefully.

Personal Attributes

Host: Ryōken

Talent: Tenacity lv1

Skills: Fearless Advance lv2, Frozen Domain LV1

Inheritance: Fiora, the Grand Duelist

Energy Level: Genin

Items: Skill Point*4, one Subsystem Activation Right

Use the Subsystem Activation Right? This activation will require one month.

"Confirm!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Ryōken immediately chose to confirm. As his words fell—

The blue screen before his eyes shifted, and another section opened beside the Skills System. However, it was currently in the process of activation and could not yet be used.

Its name had appeared, though: Summoning System.

"Summoning System?"

A trace of confusion appeared in Ryōken's eyes. Summoning meant calling something forth—could this system possibly allow him to summon champions from League of Legends?

Or summon other things?

However, there was clearly no way to find out yet. Ryōken set aside his doubts and began reviewing the gains and losses of this practical combat examination.

He had naturally gained much. The Summoning System surely would not disappoint him.

His combat experience, as well as the focused state he had temporarily entered while fighting Minato Namikaze, which had allowed him to unleash Sword Qi, would be immensely important to Ryōken's future growth.

Of course, there were drawbacks as well. This was an era rife with war, and assassinations targeting prodigies from other nations emerged one after another. Ryōken had become Konoha's foremost genius in one stroke, so naturally, he would also become a target for assassination by other villages.

However, the path of a genius was inherently soaked in blood. Ryōken had long been prepared.

Through this series of battles, Ryōken had also discovered his own weakness. He clearly lacked a powerful offensive method.

Before he had fully mastered the technique of releasing Sword Qi, the swordsmanship he based his fighting style around lacked sufficient destructive power.

Unfortunately, when his chakra had broken through to genin level last time, the skill he drew had not been particularly satisfactory either.

Frozen Domain LV1.

It was a domain-enhancing skill belonging to Trundle, the Troll King. Within the domain, it could increase Ryōken's movement speed, attack speed, and recovery.

It could not be denied that this was an extremely powerful skill.

However, for Ryōken, this skill had clearly appeared too early. His genin-level chakra simply could not support its use.

By rough estimate, he would need at least jonin-level chakra to release it.

The chakra required was not merely a difference in quantity. More importantly, it was a difference in quality.

Ryōken could do nothing about that and could only put it aside for now.

"I'll just have to figure something out."

Ryōken scratched his head, already forming a plan.

The next morning.

On a sheer cliff at the back of Konoha's mountains was a broad stretch of land suspended in the air. Looking down from there, one could see the entire Konoha shinobi village, making the heart feel open and refreshed.

However, Ryōken had no mood to enjoy the scenery. Drenched in sweat, he repeatedly drew his sword and slashed.

Crack!

Another explosive sound rang out. Stones protruding from the cliff shattered, and a long, narrow gash was carved into its face.

The cliff was covered in crisscrossing sword marks, disorderly and without pattern.

For a swordsman, the force behind a slash was an extremely important measure.

With the Duelist Eye, Ryōken's precision was already sufficient.

The power and speed of his slashes were what he now sought.

In the early stages, arm strength was nearly the key factor determining the force of a slash.

If he wanted to train his arm strength, simply swinging his sword through empty air would naturally not be enough.

Therefore, Ryōken had found such a place.

Slashing at mountain rock produced immense recoil. It could not only train his swordsmanship, but also strengthen his body.

The hand gripping his sword had already been numbed by wave after wave of recoil. Sweat poured down like rain, even forming a puddle beneath him.

Although he was not striking directly with his fists, the pain from continuously swinging his sword was unavoidable, and his muscles even began to cramp.

"Ha!"

With Ryōken's low shout, the sword light along his blade suddenly blazed brilliantly, and he brought the sword down in a sudden slash.

Without a sound.

A deep sword mark appeared on the cliff, cutting through it like rotten wood. The hard mountain rock was utterly unable to resist.

"No, the pace of training still isn't fast enough."

It was now the end of Konoha's thirtieth year. In less than a year, the Second Shinobi World War would erupt.

When that happened, leaving aside the dangers of the battlefield, even Tsuki Uchiha's threat made Ryōken feel as though a thorn were pressed against his back.

During wartime, it would be far too easy for a jonin like Tsuki Uchiha to kill a genin or a chunin.

Ryōken looked at his battered sword and revealed a faintly helpless expression.

There was not enough time. The gap between chunin and jonin was simply too great.

He could only think of another way.

Resting his chin on his hand, Ryōken began to think.

At that moment, it was fortunate that Ryōken came from an era of information explosion. He had read countless novels and watched countless anime, and he also knew the plot of Naruto well.

"I remember that when Naruto trained his wind-nature chakra, he used a waterfall."

If so, he could also use a waterfall to train his swordsmanship, and the training would strengthen his body more comprehensively as well.

The water pressure of a waterfall plunging down from over a hundred meters would be enough to train Ryōken for a long time.

However, normal training itself would be a problem.

Thinking of the difficulty of putting it into practice, Ryōken scratched his head in frustration, feeling somewhat troubled.

At this point, he did not even know where Yamato was. He could not find a ninja capable of using Wood Release.

Less than a day had passed since the practical combat examination, and everyone was still discussing him. That was why he had not continued training at Training Ground Seven and had instead come to this remote, uninhabited place to practice in secret.

He did not want people watching him while he trained.

No matter how great his reputation was now, training steadily and strengthening himself step by step were Ryōken's most urgent priorities.

Everything else was illusory. Strength was what truly mattered.

The approaching Second Shinobi World War was also constantly reminding him that he could not slack off.

His current strength was still far from enough.

Just as Ryōken was preparing to continue training, a ninja wearing a demon-faced mask suddenly appeared.

"Ryōken, Lord Hokage summons you."

The ANBU ninja spoke to Ryōken coldly.

"Alright."

Ryōken nodded faintly and sheathed his sword.

It was about time. The winners of the practical combat examination were all eligible to apply for graduation.

After achieving victory, Ryōken had applied to graduate.

Now, it was time for a jonin instructor to be assigned to him.

Before leaving, the ANBU ninja looked at the crisscrossing sword marks on the cliff, as well as this place far from Konoha, and a strange look appeared in his eyes.

He had long heard of Ryōken's reputation as a genius. He had assumed that someone who achieved such results at such a young age would likely become arrogant and complacent.

Yet he had not expected that this ten-year-old child could endure loneliness and train so diligently.

It made him feel a trace of fear.

As he watched Ryōken's back, he vaguely had the feeling that so long as this child did not die, he would surely dominate the shinobi world in the future.

Great talent was not frightening. Effort and perseverance were the necessary conditions for becoming strong.

"I truly envy Lord White Fang for receiving such an outstanding student."

The ANBU ninja thought enviously, though he was not jealous.

He knew very clearly that a genius like Ryōken was not someone he could teach. Only Lord White Fang was likely qualified.