Classroom Turmoil

There was never a shortage of rumors at the Ninja Academy.

After Uchiha Ling displayed stability and explosive potential far beyond his peers in basic classes for several days straight, the ridicule over his "unstable chakra" had yet to completely fade when new rumors began to surface.

Some said he had been deliberately hiding his abilities.

Others said his outburst during the entrance test had merely been luck, and that his recent excellence was only because the Uchiha Clan had secretly given him extra training.

No matter which version people believed, the conclusion was much the same.

They simply refused to admit that he was truly stronger than them.

That morning, Iruka arranged a chakra control exercise. Every student had to steadily attach a small amount of chakra to a wooden practice sword, then complete a basic set of slashing movements. This training tested control greatly, and it was no easy task for children who had just entered the academy.

The first few groups struggled through it. The chakra on their wooden swords was either too scattered or unable to last for long.

When it was Ling's turn, a short-haired boy in the front row suddenly snorted.

"Teacher, is there any point in making him do this? Isn't he only good at losing control?"

The classroom immediately fell silent.

The speaker was Morikawa Shu, a civilian child with above-average grades who loved showing off with his tongue. He was not particularly noticeable in everyday life, but at times like this, he always liked to be the one who voiced everyone's thoughts directly.

Iruka frowned. "Morikawa, be quiet."

But Morikawa remained unconvinced. With his chin raised, he looked at Ling. "I'm not wrong. What if the practice sword explodes in his hand and hurts someone?"

Quite a few students did not join in, but neither did they refute him. Clearly, many of them thought the same way.

Ling stood where he was, practice sword in hand, his expression calm.

In his previous life, he might have found such childish provocation annoying. But now, he found it more convenient. Often, it was better to let someone see the gap for themselves than waste effort explaining it.

"Want to try?" Ling asked.

Morikawa froze for a moment, then reacted as though someone had stepped on his tail. "Fine! You think I'm scared of you?"

Iruka was just about to stop them when Ling had already laid the practice sword across his palm and said lightly, "Same exercise. Whoever lets their chakra disperse first loses."

This was not a real duel, merely an added contest during class. Iruka was silent for a moment and did not immediately object. He also wanted to see just how far Ling's control had reached.

The two began at the same time.

Morikawa gritted his teeth and poured chakra into the wooden sword bit by bit. A layer of unsteady blue light slowly surfaced across the blade. That already counted as a decent level for someone their age.

Ling's movements, meanwhile, were much simpler.

He merely held the hilt lightly, and chakra flowed through the meridians in his arm into the wooden sword. There was no exaggerated release, nor any unnecessary fluctuation. If not for those eyes capable of seeing its structure operating faintly, even he would not have noticed that the chakra inside the wooden sword was being compressed and smoothed out bit by bit.

One breath.

Three breaths.

Five breaths.

Sweat had already formed on Morikawa's forehead, and the chakra on his sword began to waver.

By contrast, the wooden sword in Ling's hand was as steady as a stone. Even its glow was more restrained and heavier than everyone else's.

"Impossible..." Morikawa's voice tightened.

The next moment, the chakra on his wooden sword dispersed with a soft pop. He staggered back two steps and nearly threw the sword away.

The contest was over.

No one in the classroom spoke.

Morikawa's face flushed red. He stared at the wooden sword in Ling's hand, his eyes full of unwillingness. "You must have practiced something else beforehand!"

"I did," Ling said calmly. "That's why you lost."

The words were not particularly sharp, yet they hurt more than any sarcasm.

Morikawa still wanted to argue, but Iruka spoke in a deep voice. "Enough. A loss is a loss. The Ninja Academy teaches strength, not excuses."

He took the wooden sword from Ling. The instant it entered his hand, his expression changed slightly.

It was too heavy.

Not the sword itself, but the texture of the chakra attached to it was too heavy, as though some force had forcibly pressed it deep into the wood grain. Without drawing attention to it, Iruka dispersed that chakra and placed the sword back on the table. Yet for the first time, a clear thought arose in his mind.

Perhaps Uchiha Ling's problem was not that he "couldn't control" chakra at all.

Perhaps his chakra itself was simply different from everyone else's.

The lesson continued, but the atmosphere was completely different from before. Those who had originally been waiting to see a joke now watched Ling in silence. Once the gap in strength had been revealed, much of the hostility first turned into quiet observation.

Afternoon sunlight filtered through the window lattice and fell across the floor. As Ling put away his practice sword, he suddenly felt someone watching him.

He looked up to see Shikamaru leaning against the back of his chair, yawning as though he could not be bothered to involve himself in anything. But in the brief moment their eyes met, what flashed in the other boy's gaze was not drowsiness, but an overly clear-eyed scrutiny.

"What a pain," Shikamaru muttered softly. "He looks even harder to figure out than Sasuke."

Ling did not respond. He merely remembered that self-directed remark.

At dismissal, Morikawa passed by him. His expression was still unpleasant, but he did not say anything more. Compared to stubborn words, children were often more honestly afraid of a genuine gap in strength.

Ling walked out of the classroom. The sunset was slowly spreading across the horizon, dyeing the entire Ninja Academy in warm colors. He paused in the corridor for a moment and heard light footsteps approaching from behind.

"Hey, Uchiha."

Ling turned and saw Ino Yamanaka standing there with books in her arms. The blonde girl's smile was bright, completely unlike the oppressive, indifferent atmosphere around him.

"That move you pulled just now was pretty cool." She openly looked him over. "No wonder so many people have been secretly watching you lately."

Ling glanced at her and said nothing.

Ino did not seem embarrassed. Instead, she stepped a little closer and blinked. "But if you keep looking so cold all the time, you'll scare people away."

As she spoke, she deliberately raised a hand and made a light gesture beside his shoulder, as though she wanted to see whether this person who always seemed surrounded by cold air would immediately dodge whenever someone got close.

Ling said flatly, "Wouldn't that be more convenient?"

Ino paused, then smiled even more brightly. "So you can say things like that. I thought all you knew how to do was keep a straight face and train."

Before leaving, she turned back and lifted her chin at him, as though giving him a half-serious reminder. "Someone like you will suffer in the future if you don't learn to be a little gentler with girls sooner."

She waved and ran off, as though she had only made a joke in passing. Ling remained where he was, watching the direction in which she had left. His expression did not change, yet he rarely remembered someone approaching him without any hostility at all.

At the staircase not far away, Sasuke happened to witness the scene.

The black-haired boy silently withdrew his gaze, but his fingers unconsciously clenched.

The Uchiha name should not be overshadowed so quickly by another child their age.

This silent competition had already begun, quietly, before anyone said it aloud.