Sasuke's Refusal to Accept Defeat

The second week of special training had begun, and Sasuke Uchiha's refusal to accept Uchiha Ling was no longer something he bothered to hide.

It was not the childish kind of picking fights over everything.

It was something colder, heavier, and more dangerous.

Whenever training began, Sasuke's gaze would almost instinctively fall on Ling, as if confirming what the other had accomplished this round, what he had held back, and how much he had yet to reveal.

Even Kiba had noticed that attention.

"Have you two been fighting some kind of secret war lately?" During a break, he plopped down beside a sandbag and asked between breaths, "Neither of you says a word, and it's annoying just looking at you."

Ino rolled her eyes without hesitation. "Because unlike you, you don't wear everything on your face."

Kiba clicked his tongue and was about to retort when the whistle signaling the next round cut him off.

Today's training focused on paired countering drills and continuous attacks.

The rules were simple. They would pair off and continuously alternate between attacking and defending within a designated area. The teachers would score them based on rhythm, completeness of movement, and efficiency in breaking techniques.

Sasuke and Ling happened to draw different groups.

Yet the more that was the case, the stronger that unwillingness to yield to one another became. Sasuke's movements were as clean and sharp as ever, every strike like a honed blade. After a period of special training, Ling had further blended his short bursts of explosive power with his basic taijutsu. He was steadier when countering moves and fiercer when seizing openings.

Round after round, their scores remained nearly neck and neck.

Izumo flipped through the record board and suddenly spoke. "You two, come up here."

The sidelines fell silent at once.

Kiba immediately sat up straight, and Ino's eyes lit up as well. Everyone knew these two would be pitted against each other sooner or later. They just had not expected it to happen so soon.

"This isn't an official match." Izumo walked to the center of the field and pointed at the area enclosed by white lines. "Thirty breaths. Whoever holds the greater advantage in rhythm wins."

Iruka stood nearby and did not object.

Clearly, he also wanted to see just how far the two of them had come through the special training.

Sasuke and Ling stepped into the field. When their eyes met, the air seemed to grow still.

"Begin."

Sasuke moved first.

He barely bothered with any probing. From the start, he charged straight in with clean, decisive aggression. After two consecutive feints, his third step suddenly closed the distance, his fist shooting for the most uncomfortable point between Ling's shoulder and neck.

Ling raised an arm to block, but his feet did not retreat. Instead, he used the impact to redirect the force to the side, then answered with a short punch.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Thirty breaths did not sound long, but in this kind of exchange, it was enough for them to test each other's rhythm twice over.

Sasuke was fast; Ling was steady.

Sasuke was sharp; Ling was composed.

Everyone at the sidelines could see it clearly. Their difference was not just one of style, but of how they understood "winning." Sasuke wanted to tear open a flaw through sharp, relentless pressure, while Ling seemed more like he was waiting—for the moment when that sharpness would expose its own opening.

On the eighteenth breath, Sasuke suddenly accelerated.

It was noticeably half a beat faster than before, so fast that even Kiba instinctively blurted, "Damn." But the instant Sasuke lowered his shoulder line, Ling had already made his judgment. Chakra briefly pressed beneath his feet, and he shifted sideways by half a step, narrowly avoiding Sasuke's sharpest strike.

And that half-step sent Sasuke's center of gravity farther forward.

Ling swung a back elbow straight into his ribs.

Sasuke forcibly twisted to block it, but the impact still shook him back a step.

"Stop."

Izumo raised a hand. The thirty breaths were up exactly.

For a moment, no one at the sidelines spoke.

Neither had overwhelmed the other in that brief exchange, but everyone could see that Ling had indeed held a slight advantage in the latter half.

Izumo looked at them both before finally saying, "This round goes to Ling."

Kiba immediately sucked in a breath. "He really pushed him back?"

Ino's lips curved faintly, as if she had not been surprised at all.

Sasuke stood where he was, his expression not visibly changing, though his chest rose and fell more heavily than usual. He stared at Ling, the suppressed fire in his eyes sinking deeper.

"One more time," he said.

Izumo frowned. "That's enough for today."

"I said, one more time."

This was not directed at the teacher, but at Ling.

The atmosphere immediately tightened.

Ling looked at him. After two breaths of silence, he said calmly, "Your mind is unsettled right now. It'll be the same even if we go again."

Those words struck exactly where they should not have.

Sasuke's eyes darkened sharply, and even his fingers tensed.

Iruka stepped forward then. His voice was not loud, but it was enough to suppress the field. "Sasuke."

That presence, which had nearly surged out, was forcibly restrained.

Sasuke stood there for several breaths before finally withdrawing his gaze and turning away from the field.

Only after he had gone some distance did Kiba curse under his breath. "That pressure was terrifying."

But Ino looked at Ling and suddenly asked, "Why did you deliberately say that?"

Ling wiped the dust from his hands, his tone calm. "Because he needed to hear it."

Ino froze for a moment.

She had thought it was merely a simple provocation, but after hearing that answer, she found herself speechless for an instant.

Ling had not been trying to humiliate Sasuke.

He had simply understood earlier than most what the other boy was truly stuck on.

But the more clearly he understood it, the more frightening it became.

Because that meant he could not only fight Sasuke head-on.

He had already begun to understand him.