Two Uchiha

The brief sparring session during special training soon spread through both the Ninja Academy and the Uchiha Clan compound.

The children at the academy put it far more simply.

Nothing more than, "Ling beat Sasuke by half a move again," "Neither of the two Uchiha can completely overwhelm the other," and "There'll definitely be a good show on the day of the public match."

But once it reached the Uchiha Clan compound, the matter took on an entirely different tone.

When Ling returned home, he could already clearly feel that the way the clansmen looked at him had changed. There had once been disdain, scrutiny, and doubt; now there was also evaluation and comparison, as though they were reassessing whether this child they had once held little hope for was worth more attention.

After dinner, his father stopped him for the first time.

"You've been getting close to Sasuke at school lately?"

"Not really," Ling replied.

"But people have been comparing the two of you a lot."

Ling raised his eyes to him. "So?"

His father fell silent for a moment before saying, "The Uchiha Clan doesn't fear internal competition. What it fears is someone carrying the Uchiha name but being unable to live up to that position."

He had not said it outright, but it was already clear enough.

Now that he and Sasuke had both been placed on the scales, the clan was naturally watching to see which of them looked more like the one who could better represent the Uchiha Clan's future brilliance.

"I can live up to it," Ling said calmly.

His father looked at him as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end, he only left him with one sentence. "Then don't lose too badly."

The night wind swept through the courtyard.

Ling stood where he was, yet his mind was calmer than ever.

Uchiha pride had never been a gentle thing. It would not go easy on you because you were young, nor would it fully acknowledge you just because you had taken first place once. It would only keep pressing higher standards down upon you, forcing you to climb ever higher.

When he arrived at school the next day, Sasuke was indeed quieter than usual.

But the intensity of his training had clearly risen another level.

His burst sprints were faster.

His counterattacks were fiercer.

Even during Fire Release practice, the flames were noticeably more tightly controlled than before.

Kiba's mouth twitched as he watched. "Are all you Uchiha this incapable of letting people breathe?"

Sasuke ignored him, and Ling said nothing either.

The two seemed to be pulling against each other in silence, neither willing to slow down first.

During the noon break, Shikamaru unusually carried his lunchbox over to Ling's side. He sat against the roots of a tree and sighed. "Even my dad has heard about you and Sasuke lately."

Ling glanced at him. "The Nara Clan cares about Ninja Academy kids fighting too?"

"It's not about caring about a fight." Shikamaru rested his chin on his hand. "It's about wondering why an Uchiha who wasn't noticed too early is suddenly rising so fast."

It sounded casual, but it had already touched on something deeper.

Ling's thoughts stirred, though he showed none of it. He only asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you'd better understand that your reputation can travel farther than you think." Shikamaru looked at him. "You think it's just the academy comparing you two right now, but that may not be the case."

Ling was silent for a few breaths before answering flatly, "I know."

Of course he knew.

From the moment the anomalous file had been sent out, he had no longer been competing only against those his own age.

It was simply the first time someone had pointed that feeling out to him from the side.

After afternoon training ended, Iruka had the top ten remain for free sparring. Sasuke did not choose anyone else. He walked straight over and stood opposite Ling. The defiance practically written into his movements no longer needed words to express it.

"You two really aren't done yet." Izumo stood nearby, and there was even a faint hint of enjoying the show in his voice.

Kiba crossed his arms at the side and muttered, half seriously and half jokingly, "They might as well fight a real match right now."

Ino shot him a glance. "You really just want to watch the fun."

Kiba replied righteously, "Don't you?"

Ino did not answer.

Because she realized that when she saw the two standing together now, her feelings were no longer quite the same as before. It was no longer pure excitement. She would instinctively look at Ling's condition, wondering whether he had overtrained today, whether he was hiding an injury without saying anything.

Even she found that change a little dangerous.

Once the spar began, Sasuke was indeed fiercer than usual, pressing forward with sharpness from almost the very first move. Ling, meanwhile, kept his rhythm steady. Unlike their previous exchanges, he did not make the gap too obvious, only occasionally returning a heavier counterattack at key moments.

What the others saw was an evenly matched fight.

But Ling knew clearly that Sasuke was approaching the edge of a true outburst.

This fellow clansman was prouder than he had expected, and even less willing to admit defeat.

And on the day of the public match, if he wanted to suppress Sasuke through steadiness alone, it likely would not be so easy.

That night, back in the courtyard, Ling raised a hand and threw a shuriken at a wooden post.

Thud.

The metal sank into the heart of the wood, its remaining force exceptionally steady.

He looked at the shuriken, his gaze calm.

Outside, everyone was talking about the two Uchiha.

But to him, what truly mattered had never been who he was being compared with.

It was that, in this comparison, he had to prove again and again that he was absolutely not the one there merely to serve as a foil.