Abnormal File

After the first sparring class ended, the names Uchiha Ling and Sasuke Uchiha quickly spread through the Ninja Academy side by side.

For the children, it was still hard to say who was stronger.

But everyone had seen it: Ling was no longer that "strange kid who might lose control at any moment," but a genius who could already face Sasuke's sharp edge head-on.

This should have been a good thing.

At least, on the surface.

In the staff room after school, Iruka sat at his desk, flipping through the past few days' class records page by page. He had circled Uchiha Ling's name separately and written several notes beside it.

Abnormal chakra reserves.

Control curve improving too quickly.

Obvious compression characteristics.

An excessive burst during the beginner stage of Fire Release.

He stared at those words for a long time before finally taking out a more formal observation form and copying everything over again. It was not to report him as dangerous, but because this had already gone beyond what an ordinary classroom teacher could fully assess.

"You're sure you want to submit it?" Another teacher beside him glanced over and lowered his voice. "In a situation like this, it would be best to let it sit for now. Matters involving the Uchiha Clan are sensitive to begin with."

Iruka did not stop writing. "Precisely because it's sensitive, there needs to be a record. Talent isn't the problem. Having no one watching him is."

The teacher sighed and said nothing more.

As night fell, the record was placed into a file bag and sent to a higher-level archive room. The process looked utterly ordinary, just like the records of every outstanding Ninja Academy student—calm, standardized, even a little dull.

But the real problems often hid within such seemingly ordinary procedures.

At the same time, Uchiha Ling stood at the edge of the training field, continuing his extra training for the day.

His greatest gain from the fight with Sasuke was not fame, but confirmation of his own shortcomings. The instantaneous burst after compression was indeed powerful, but it consumed chakra quickly and placed a heavy burden on his chakra pathways. If he could not refine that burst into a stable technique, he would sooner or later suffer against stronger opponents.

"Again." Iruka stood some distance away, his voice deep.

Ling nodded. He drove power into his legs and shot forward in an instant, then forcibly halted midway. As the high-density chakra withdrew from the soles of his feet, his chakra pathways felt as though they had been repeatedly pricked by fine needles. His brow twitched almost imperceptibly, but he still came to a steady stop.

"Still not natural enough." Iruka watched him. "The power is borrowed. Your body will have to repay it sooner or later."

Ling caught his breath and said quietly, "I know."

Of course he knew.

But many times, he did not have the luxury of taking things slowly. At least in this world, no one would allow you to become stronger later just because you were still young and not yet prepared.

After practice ended, Iruka handed him a bottle of water, his tone unusually gentler. "A lot of people have their eyes on you lately."

Ling accepted the water, his movement pausing slightly. "Including you, Sensei?"

"Including me." Iruka did not deny it. "But I'm watching you because I don't want to see you take the wrong path."

Ling fell silent.

This teacher was different from many people he had met. It was not that Iruka had no guard up, but beyond that wariness was a kind of almost clumsy sense of responsibility.

"Thank you," he said.

Iruka waved him off, signaling for him to hurry home.

That night, the lights in Konoha's archive room were dim. The ninja on duty sorted the newly delivered files one by one. One of them was singled out and handed to an ANBU wearing a mask.

"It's a special observation record from the Ninja Academy."

The masked ninja opened the file. After only a few glances, his gaze stopped on the name "Uchiha Ling."

Uchiha.

Abnormal chakra.

Improving too quickly.

Put together, those keywords were sensitive enough on their own.

"Send it up," the masked ninja said flatly.

The file continued deeper through the system, like a drop of water falling into a bottomless well.

Elsewhere in Konoha, in a darker room, a candle flame swayed gently. Someone accepted the copied summary record, and upon turning to the final page, lightly tapped a finger against the paper.

"Uchiha Ling..."

The hoarse voice sounded in the dark room. It carried little emotion, yet it naturally sent a chill through the heart.

The shadow kneeling halfway beside him lowered its head without a word.

"Keep watching him," the man said slowly. "Especially his chakra."

"Yes."

No one mentioned a name.

Yet the darkest force in all of Konoha had, for the first time, turned its gaze upon a child who had only recently entered the academy.

Early the next morning, Ling went to school as usual. On the surface, everything seemed no different from before. Ino still smiled and waved at him, Hinata still grew nervous instinctively whenever she saw him, and Sasuke was still like a cold blade.

But the instant Ling stepped through the school gate, he vaguely sensed something different.

It was not the gaze of the other children.

It was a watchful gaze from farther away—more hidden, and colder.

He did not stop walking, but something inside him silently drew taut.

If the previous scorn and rivalry had only been matters between youths, then from this moment onward, he seemed to have truly been swept into Konoha's deeper waters.

The classroom bell rang, and Iruka stepped onto the podium as though nothing had happened.

Ling sat by the window, slowly raised his eyes, and looked at a black bird flying past above.

The wind stirred the treetops, sunlight streamed into the classroom, and everything seemed ordinary and bright.

Only he knew that an "abnormal file" about him had already traveled along an invisible thread into the hands of someone it should never have reached.

And one day, that person's name would appear before him in person.