Preliminaries Begin

Preliminaries Begin

On the day the tournament opened, the training grounds were far livelier than usual.

Though the stands were only a few tiers of temporary wooden scaffolding, quite a few students and teachers had already taken their seats. For the Ninja Academy, an event like this was formal enough; for these children being watched by so many people for the first time, it was enough to make their hearts race.

Izumo served as the head referee today, while Iruka stood at the scorekeeper's table.

After the sixteen contestants drew lots, the first-round matchups were quickly arranged.

Ling's opponent was not particularly strong—a student with decent speed but clearly lacking in experience. Sasuke likewise advanced steadily into the top eight. The real surprise was that Kiba faced an exceptionally defensive opponent in the first round. The fight left him so frustrated that he nearly disrupted his own rhythm first.

"First match, Uchiha Ling."

As the referee called his name, quite a few people at the sidelines unconsciously sat up straighter.

Ling walked into the arena, his expression no different from usual. Yet the more he acted like that, the more he gave off an indescribable sense of pressure. Everyone knew that this seemingly unruffled Uchiha boy never did anything ordinary once he made a move.

Once the match began, his opponent clearly knew he could not drag things out and charged forward at once.

But the gap quickly became apparent.

Ling sidestepped the first wooden kunai.

He raised an elbow and deflected the second close-range straight punch.

When his opponent tried to seize the center line on the third step, Ling gave a short burst of force beneath his feet. The instant he pressed forward, he was already at the other boy's blind angle. A single shoulder strike threw his footing into chaos.

Then the wooden kunai pressed against his throat.

"Stop. Uchiha Ling wins."

The entire match had lasted barely a dozen breaths.

The sidelines fell quiet for a moment before low murmurs of amazement rose up.

"That was way too fast..."

"He was holding back, wasn't he?"

Ino leaned against the edge of the stands, but there was little surprise in her eyes. She was already used to Ling's style—he looked unremarkable, but the moment he applied pressure, it was over. What truly caught her attention was that close-range forward press he had made just now.

It was lighter and steadier than during special training.

That meant he had restrained himself even better.

She watched his back in the arena for a few breaths, then suddenly smiled faintly and murmured to herself, "He really does get more pleasing to look at the longer I watch."

The remaining first-round matches proceeded one after another.

Kiba's match was the noisiest.

His opponent's defense was too solid. Several hard charges failed to break through immediately, making the veins at his temples nearly bulge with anger. It was not until his fourth lunge that he used a feigned retreat to lure the other boy out of his turtle-like rhythm, then drove fiercely into the inner line and sent him flying beyond the white boundary in one go.

"Finally survived that," he cursed as soon as he stepped off the field, panting.

Ino's victory was as stylish as ever.

Her opponent was a girl who attacked in small, rapid bursts and liked to probe with repeated strikes. If she had truly been drawn into that slow entanglement, the rhythm would have become troublesome. But Ino was best at disrupting situations others believed they had firmly under control. During the first half, she deliberately retreated and let her opponent press in bit by bit. Once the girl thought she had seized the initiative, Ino abruptly halted, cut inward instead, and flicked and pressed her wooden kunai against the girl's wrist, ending the fight cleanly.

As she stepped down, she passed Ling and deliberately raised an eyebrow. "Well? I didn't embarrass you, did I?"

Ling glanced at her and said flatly, "Not bad."

The praise was hardly enthusiastic, yet it made Ino's heart light up. Even her steps became more buoyant.

Hinata's first-round victory had not come easily either.

At first, under the audience's gaze, she was visibly tense. But after several exchanges, the Byakugan's detailed observation gradually came into play. She caught her opponent's habit of letting his shoulder line sink slightly before exerting force, then dismantled his most familiar combo route in return and finally secured the win.

During the break, Ling passed by her and paused for a moment. "Just stay steady."

Hinata looked up at him, as if she had not expected him to say that to her specifically. She nodded gently, and the hand clutching the corner of her sleeve slowly loosened.

When the second round began in the afternoon, things became more exciting. The top eight were mostly familiar names, and the clashes grew noticeably fiercer.

After Kiba fiercely knocked down that defensive opponent, he finally managed to vent his frustration.

Ino still won beautifully, using continuous feints and shifts to draw her opponent into her rhythm.

Hinata, meanwhile, regretfully stopped in this round, though her overall performance had already far exceeded many people's expectations. Her loss was not ugly at all. In the middle of the match, she had even used her observation to pull the situation back into a controllable range. But her opponent was ultimately more experienced and pressed her down with that experience in the end.

When the match ended, Hinata stood at the edge of the field, clearly disappointed, but she still bowed seriously to the referee.

"You fought well," Ling told her as he passed by after his match.

Hinata had still been somewhat downcast, but she visibly froze upon hearing those words. Then the tips of her ears gradually turned red, and she nodded softly. "I-I'll keep working hard."

After saying that, she did not leave immediately. Instead, she added in a small voice, "You too... be careful."

Ling nodded once.

Just then, Ino came down from the other side and happened to see the scene. Her steps paused for a moment, but then she walked over as if nothing had happened and shoved her water bottle into Ling's hand.

"Hey, don't just focus on comforting other people. Drink some water yourself."

The movement came so naturally that Hinata did not react at first and could only instinctively move half a step aside. Ino, however, acted as if she had not noticed the subtle shift in the atmosphere at all. She smiled at Hinata. "You did well today too. Try again next time."

Her words were lovely, but when she handed the water bottle to Ling, her fingertips deliberately lingered at the edge of his palm for half a breath longer.

Not far away, Sasuke had just finished his own match.

He had won this one even more forcefully than Ling.

There had been little probing. He directly drove his opponent back again and again with a continuous assault, then sealed off the final retreat with a precise Fire Release. A louder wave of exclamations immediately rose from the stands. Clearly, this style of fighting—sharp enough to leave people unable to breathe—was more entertaining to watch.

"You saw that, right?" Kiba stood at the edge of the field with his arms crossed and lifted his chin at Ling. "That guy's in even fiercer form than usual today."

Ling said flatly, "I saw."

Of course he had.

Sasuke had clearly taken this tournament as an opportunity to reclaim the momentum of first place. He was sharper than usual, like a blade already drawn from its sheath.

By evening, the matches came to a temporary halt. Once the list of advancing contestants was posted, the familiar names were indeed at the front once more.

Ling.

Sasuke.

Kiba.

Ino.

And four other consistently strong contenders.

Before the crowd dispersed, Ino waved at Ling again from the edge of the stands. "Don't lose before I do tomorrow, or I'll be really embarrassed."

Standing on the other side, Hinata also said softly, "You can definitely do it."

Ling looked at the two of them. He did not say much, only gave a quiet reply.

As night fell, he stood alone outside the training grounds, watching the wooden stands gradually empty as the crowd flowed away, his gaze calm.

The truly meaningful part of the tournament would begin tomorrow.

And sooner or later, he and Sasuke would clash again beneath everyone's watchful eyes.