Freshman Tournament Begins

Two days after the public sparring ended, the Ninja Academy released news that was enough to ignite everyone's excitement all over again.

Registration for this year's Freshman Tournament had officially begun.

It was called registration, but the top ten and several of the most outstanding students had already been tacitly included. The real selection only concerned the last few spots needed to fill out the sixteen-person bracket.

The moment the announcement went up, the entire corridor was packed solid.

"Again?"

"Is the school afraid this class isn't lively enough?"

"This time, we're really going to see who takes the championship, right?"

Kiba looked at the notice board and clicked his tongue. "Your school really is afraid of people having free time. The last matches just ended, and now another tournament's starting."

Ino folded her arms and smiled. "Don't you love this kind of thing?"

"Of course I do."

Unlike the earlier assessment stages and special training, the tournament was more public and drew a larger audience. Besides the current class, lower-year and upper-year students, some teachers, and even parents from ninja clans would attend. Put simply, it was a competition that put "which children were the brightest of this class" directly under the sun for everyone to see.

When Iruka explained the rules in class, he made a point of emphasizing the key details.

"Basic taijutsu, ninja tools, and beginner ninjutsu are allowed, but deliberately inflicting serious injuries on your opponent is prohibited. The referee will call a halt directly at critical moments."

"The tournament isn't for proving who can go crazier. It's for proving who is stronger—and who has better control."

The moment he said that, quite a few gazes in the classroom subtly drifted toward Ling.

Clearly, in many people's minds, Uchiha Ling was still tightly bound to the word "dangerous."

Ling showed no reaction. He merely went over the limits of his own attacks again in his mind.

The tournament was different from special training.

It was more like a highly performative selection process.

In other words, winning was certainly important, but how he won and how much strength he displayed were equally important.

During the evening special training class, Izumo read out the list of sixteen directly.

Uchiha Ling.

Sasuke Uchiha.

Ino Yamanaka.

Inuzuka Kiba.

Hinata Hyuga.

Nara Shikamaru.

And ten other students who had performed exceptionally well.

Once the list was finished, Kiba immediately looked at Ling and Sasuke. "I'll say this first: my goal this time is the championship. It makes no difference which of you two gets in my way."

Ino mercilessly tore him down. "You didn't even make the top two in the last public sparring."

Kiba bristled at once. "That was last time!"

His outburst did make the mood a little lighter. Still, everyone knew that the real favorites for the title remained only the top two or three names.

After training ended, quite a few people still lingered by the field, obviously sneaking glances at those favored contenders. Ino put away her water bottle and casually stopped Ling, who was about to leave.

"Don't tell me you really plan to keep training the same way as usual these next few days."

"More or less."

Ino raised a brow. "Sometimes, you really don't know how to stop people from worrying about you."

She said it softly, but Hinata, standing nearby, still heard it. She had originally been waiting quietly for fewer people to be around before approaching, but after hearing that, she seemed to finally gather her courage and softly called out to Ling.

"You'll participate, right?"

Ling looked at her. "Yeah."

Hinata lightly gripped the cuff of her sleeve, as though gathering courage before continuing. "Then... you'll definitely go very far."

When she said it, her eyes shone brightly, as if she had already seen something ahead.

Ling watched her quietly for a moment, then nodded faintly. "I will."

As those two words fell, the tension in Hinata's eyes visibly eased, replaced by an even softer light.

Not far away, Ino happened to hear those last two words, and the corner of her lips lifted slightly.

When she walked closer, she first glanced at Hinata, then turned her gaze back to Ling and smilingly added, "Then let me remind you first: since you've promised to go very far, don't lose too badly halfway there."

Hinata was slightly startled by her sudden interruption, and the tips of her ears reddened again.

Ling, however, remained unaffected and merely replied, "Worry about your own opponents first."

Ino paused for half a breath, then her eyes curved. "Fine. Once I make it further in, you'd better watch me properly."

After saying it, she realized that it sounded a little too much like she was acting cute. She immediately raised a hand to straighten the ends of her hair as if nothing had happened. Yet she could not immediately calm the slight disorder in the rhythm of her heart.

Standing beside them, Hinata quietly watched their brief exchange, and her heart tightened slightly as well. She had never been good at competing, nor could she make her feelings as bright and clear as Ino did. But perhaps precisely because of that, she could feel even more clearly that if she kept standing behind everyone else, many things would truly drift farther and farther away.

"Then... I'll work hard too," she suddenly said softly.

Both Ino and Ling turned to look at her.

Hinata's face reddened even more, but she still did not back away.

Ling nodded faintly. "I know."

It was only an ordinary response, yet Hinata's heart still skipped lightly. She suddenly realized that Ling made people's hearts race most easily not when he said anything especially moving, but when he used perfectly ordinary words and somehow made them sound like he would truly do what he said—and truly remember what others told him.

That night, Ling practiced alone in the courtyard.

With news of the tournament out, he was more cautious than usual. Shuriken, compressed bursts of power, close-range counters, Fire Release combinations—he had to reassess how much of each could be used in public.

Yet halfway through his training, what flashed through his mind was not only Sasuke, the rules, and his hidden cards.

There was also Ino's seemingly casual remark: "Don't lose too badly."

And Hinata's quietly shining eyes.

Those feelings would not affect his judgment, but they made him realize more clearly that every step forward he took would stir more things than before.

When he briefly activated the Divine Pattern Eye, the faintly visible pattern at the edge of his pupils seemed to deepen another shade.

Ling frowned slightly.

It was not an illusion.

Ever since he had fought Sasuke to a draw, these eyes seemed to have remained on the verge of some slow transformation. It was as if a second, clearer structure was gradually taking shape amid the repeated collisions of ocular power and chakra.

He did not rush to pursue it.

Because he knew very well that with something like the Sharingan, the more one forced it, the easier it was to go astray.

But at the same time, he had a vague feeling.

This tournament might become the opportunity for these eyes to change once again.