Champion

By the time the finals reached this point, even the air over the training ground seemed crushed into scorching heat.

Neither Sasuke Uchiha nor Uchiha Ling left the other any room to spare.

Every advance, every exchange, every clash of Fire Release and movement techniques felt like another layer piled atop all their previous battles. Everyone knew that the moment deciding the champion was close at hand.

Sasuke had clearly realized it too.

His gaze darkened, and Fire Release rose again.

This time, it was not simply to force Ling back. He compressed the stream of fire narrower and sharper, like a blazing blade slashing diagonally toward Ling's retreat. An ordinary student, pressed like this, would have had almost no choice but to block head-on.

And waiting for anyone who blocked head-on would be Sasuke's even faster follow-up assault.

But in that instant, the stabbing pain in Ling's eyes finally reached its limit.

It was as if something at the edge of his pupils had been forcibly torn open.

The next moment, the world abruptly became clearer.

The flames were no longer merely flames, but distinct outlines woven from layer upon layer of chakra structures. Sasuke's movements were no longer merely fast either; before every exertion of force, clear traces appeared in his chakra pathways.

Ling could even see that the weakest point in Sasuke's Fire Release was hidden within a flame pattern low on the left.

There.

The thought had barely surfaced before his body moved ahead of it.

The chakra beneath his feet compressed violently.

He shifted sideways.

Cut in.

The wooden kunai in his hand did not block the flames head-on. Instead, it stabbed directly into that thinnest point. The stream of fire was knocked half an inch off course, and a razor-thin gap appeared in the retreat route that had been sealed shut.

Ling forced his way through that gap.

Sasuke's pupils suddenly contracted.

He clearly had not expected his Fire Release to be cut apart like this. But what made his heart sink even more was Ling's eyes at that moment.

Those eyes were colder than before, and clearer too.

At the edges of his pupils, a second Divine Pattern had fully formed, like a genuine second tomoe glowing quietly in their depths.

Two tomoe.

The second stage of the Divine Pattern Sharingan.

Ling gave no one time to react. His first step after cutting through the fireline was to seize the center head-on. A shoulder check knocked aside Sasuke's raised arm, the second step brought a short punch toward his chest, and the third used the shift in Sasuke's center of gravity as he was forced back to drive him all the way toward the edge of the white line.

This exchange was too fast.

So fast that even the teachers at the sidelines barely had time to intervene.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and forcibly steadied himself, turning his hand to cut back, but Ling's newly formed two tomoe saw every bit of it with perfect clarity.

He did not greedily pursue more techniques. At the most secure moment, he drove forward with an incomparably heavy shoulder check.

Bang!

Sasuke was jolted completely past the white line, his heel stamping hard outside the boundary.

The sidelines fell silent at first.

Then every voice erupted at once.

"Out of bounds!"

"Sasuke is out of bounds!"

"The champion... Ling is the champion!"

Izumo raised his hand almost at the same moment and announced, "Uchiha Ling wins! The champion of this Freshman Tournament is Uchiha Ling!"

Cheers surged over in wave after wave.

Kiba took a sharp breath, then cursed after a long moment, "That guy really is a monster."

Ino stood where she was, her eyes shining brilliantly. It was not as if she had never considered that Ling might win, but seeing him truly stand at the end beneath everyone's gaze sent such intense warmth surging from her heart that even her breathing caught.

Shikamaru looked at the boy in the arena and let out a quiet sigh. "What a pain."

Because from today onward, the name Uchiha Ling was no longer simply "the number one at the Academy."

He was the champion who had truly surpassed everyone in a public tournament.

In the arena, Sasuke stood outside the white line, his chest heaving heavily, but his eyes never leaving Ling.

He had lost.

This time, it was not about total points, nor was it a draw. He had lost in a straightforward head-on confrontation.

But what he could not ignore even more were Ling's eyes at the end.

"Your eyes..." Sasuke's voice was hoarse.

Ling did not answer immediately. He merely slowly dispersed the excess chakra. The stabbing pain in his eyes remained, but the clearly formed second Divine Pattern proved everything.

"They're clearer than before," he finally said.

Sasuke stared at him hard. After several breaths, he slowly clenched his fist.

"Next time, I'll win it back."

The same words as always.

But heavier than ever before.

Meeting his gaze, Ling answered calmly, "I'll be waiting."

Just then, a figure suddenly rushed down from the stands.

Before anyone could react, Hinata had already run up to Ling. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was unsteady, but her eyes were filled with joy and excitement she could not suppress.

Even she did not know why her body had moved before she could think.

"You won..."

The next moment, as if she could no longer hold back her emotions, she suddenly threw her arms around Ling.

The movement was gentle, yet real enough to make the surroundings fall quiet for half a beat.

Ling froze for an instant.

The girl's warmth and her flustered yet sincere joy came through clearly even through their clothes. Only when he looked down and saw Hinata's reddened ears did he realize belatedly that this quiet girl who had always stayed a short distance away was genuinely happier for him than anyone else at the moment he claimed the championship.

He instinctively raised a hand to steady her shoulder, as if afraid she might lose her balance in her haste. That perfectly natural gesture, however, completely threw Hinata's already chaotic heartbeat into disarray.

"C-congratulations..."

She held him for less than two breaths before seemingly realizing what she had done. She hurriedly let go in panic, her face so red it looked ready to bleed. Even her voice trembled as she stepped back.

At the edge of the stands, the smile Ino had been wearing paused slightly, and her gaze deepened.

She watched Hinata's retreating figure, then looked at Ling's hand resting on her shoulder. For no reason she could name, something tightened in her chest, and even the words she had wanted to say as she rushed down were forcibly held back for a moment.

But the next instant, she suppressed that emotion. She merely stood at the edge of the stands and watched the arena, her eyes shining brightly.

More than anyone, she understood that she cared not merely because Hinata had beaten her to him by a step, but because the person standing at the center of the arena shone so brightly that she could not bear to look away.

No matter what anyone else thought, the one standing at the very center today, watched by everyone, was still Ling.

But regardless of what others thought, the champion at this moment already belonged to Uchiha Ling.

To the boy who had gone from "abnormal chakra" to standing before everyone.