Do You Think You Deserve My Full Strength?

For the next month, Ebisu kept challenging Uchiha Ling.

Ebisu had made a name for himself in the original story, so he had some skill. Like a name that flashed by in the history books, he might have been someone important in life, capable of deciding the fates of tens of thousands.

Since he could not resist, he might as well enjoy it.

During every sparring class, Uchiha Ling seriously drilled the basics with Ebisu.

He suppressed his chakra, extracting only half each time and channeling it into his muscles, sparring with Ebisu using pure taijutsu.

Straight punches, hooks, front kicks, side kicks, snap kicks, knee strikes, shuffle steps, sliding steps...

Before long, Uchiha Ling discovered a little trick.

Taijutsu actually began with footwork.

Whenever Uchiha Ling changed his steps, he could suppress Ebisu with just a small amount of chakra.

Forward, backward, left, and right sliding steps; sprinting steps, retreat steps, circling steps, cross steps, triangle steps, feints, stance-switching steps...

He found a new source of fun: practicing these steps through the basics without using the White Fang Flow Body Technique.

Of course, his mouth could not stay quiet during practice.

"Ebisu! How come your legs are already going weak at such a young age? Don't tell me you've discovered a man's secret?"

"Your family's pretty rich, huh? This is the seventh pair of glasses I've broken this month, right? What, is your father, Teacher Huìdài, about to get fired from the school? Are you opening an eyeglasses shop?"

"Your father really should be fired for teaching a piece of trash like you!"

"Ebisu, take a look. Did I step in dog shit with my shoes today?"

A large foot planted itself in Ebisu's face and sent him flying.

Ebisu climbed back up, a footprint still on his face.

"Don't move. Let me get a good look at that shoeprint on your face... Damn it, I must've stepped in chewing gum."

Ebisu said nothing. He wiped his face and continued charging at Ebisu.

Their classmates witnessed a strange sight.

Even after Teacher Yamano called off the sparring session, Uchiha Ling and Ebisu would continue sparring off to the side.

The two seemed tireless as they studied each other's every movement.

This continued until the final week of the term.

"Teacher! I want to challenge Uchiha Ling!"

Uchiha Ling stepped into the center of the field and looked at the unyielding Ebisu.

"Ebisu, I've been using you as a whetstone this whole time. You have no value left.

I've learned all of your so-called basics, and I'm even better at them than you are.

This is our last spar. Are you prepared?"

His words were harsh, but Uchiha Ling's eyes held a rare trace of gentleness.

After sparring for so long, Uchiha Ling had honed his fundamentals with Ebisu.

Ebisu adjusted his new sunglasses. "Skinny bastard, I know. This is my last time challenging you."

Uchiha Ling had a bet with Asuma Sarutobi. Asuma Sarutobi had said he would defeat Uchiha Ling in the final exam.

Ebisu had completed the task his father assigned him. He had dragged things out until the final exams, buying Asuma Sarutobi enough time.

During this period, whenever Uchiha Ling ran into Asuma Sarutobi on the road, he would throw a few taunts at him, but it did not disrupt Asuma Sarutobi's training rhythm.

Ebisu could do no more than this.

The corner of Ebisu's mouth suddenly twitched. He had noticed the different emotion in Uchiha Ling's eyes. Could that have been gentleness?

This spar was not for Asuma Sarutobi. It was for himself!

"Uchiha Ling! I know you've been suppressing your chakra. Go all out this time. Let me see the true gap between us."

"Oh? Just don't end up lying in the dirt and crying like when my Shadow Clone Technique defeated you."

"You underestimate me too much. You can defeat me, but you'll never make me cry!"

As usual, Ebisu charged at Uchiha Ling.

Uchiha Ling still needed to save some of his trump cards for Asuma Sarutobi in the final exams.

"I don't need to go all out to beat you, Ebisu!"

Uchiha Ling kept using side-sliding steps to evade Ebisu's attacks again and again.

Every one of Ebisu's attacks missed. His fists brushed past Uchiha Ling's shoulders, and his feet skimmed past the hem of Uchiha Ling's clothes, making him feel as though he were striking cotton with all his strength.

At first, Ebisu had been deeply unwilling to take the blows for Asuma Sarutobi.

But after all this sparring, he had grown accustomed to—and even started to enjoy—the pressure Uchiha Ling put on him.

His progress was real.

But this time, he was fighting for himself. His fighting spirit had never burned more fiercely.

"Uchiha Ling! Show me the bare minimum of respect! Fight me with your full strength!"

Uchiha Ling used a side-sliding step to dodge Ebisu's palm strike. He even had the spare energy to stamp his foot, shaking the dust off the top of his shoe, before saying:

"Oh? Do you think you deserve my full strength?"

Ebisu thought he had grown used to Uchiha Ling, but that one sentence still made his chest seize up in an instant.

"This is our last spar! Don't you have a heart? Don't you understand how important this spar is to me?"

"You're asking whether I have a heart?" Uchiha Ling used a retreat step for the first time.

Standing two meters away, Uchiha Ling continued:

"I was isolated by the entire class. Do I need a heart? Who would I even use it to open up to?"

Ebisu stepped forward twice and continued swinging his fists at Uchiha Ling.

"Even if it were a punching bag, you'd develop feelings after beating on it for months! Why do you always look down on me?

Even in our last spar, you still have to look down on me?"

Uchiha Ling was slightly surprised. Ebisu's punch was clearly a little faster.

The other students rubbed their eyes. They saw that Ebisu's arm had become almost a black blur.

Ebisu had clearly grown stronger—so strong that the others could barely see him.

Asuma Sarutobi said to Kurenai Yuhi beside him, "Ebisu has suffered so much at Uchiha Ling's hands, and it's really paying off."

Kurenai Yuhi did not understand. "Ebisu clearly can't beat Uchiha Ling, so why does he keep challenging him?"

Asuma Sarutobi fell silent. He could not exactly tell her the truth—that Ebisu was taking the hits for him.

Yamano turned and glanced toward the school building. Beside a pillar in the second-floor corridor, Department Head Huìdài was watching them.

Department Head Huìdài had noticed it too, hadn't he? Ebisu had used the strongest Uchiha Ling as a whetstone, and he had clearly become stronger.

In that brief instant, his long period of grueling training had brought about a qualitative change. Ebisu's taijutsu had broken through its limits and risen to a new level.

When ninjas trained, they encountered plateaus—the limits of their talent or physique at a certain stage.

But after suffering a certain amount of overload-induced physical damage, the body would undergo supercompensation, breaking through its limits.

Ebisu's few punches just now had achieved the effect of supercompensation.

Uchiha Ling dodged Ebisu's punches three times in a row, each escape more dangerous than the last.

It seemed he could no longer spar with Ebisu using only half his chakra.

He secretly extracted more chakra and once again easily evaded Ebisu.

"Ebisu, do you think you're worthy of making me go all out? Why would I ever go all out against someone weak?

You're ridiculous. Go back and practice your basics.

When you meet an enemy, you'd better perform your entire routine of basics like calisthenics and scare them to death with it."

Uchiha Ling delivered a soul-piercing whisper: "Ebisu, you don't deserve my full strength..."

Ebisu's face flushed red. He had endured Uchiha Ling's torment for so long that he thought he and Uchiha Ling had developed some kind of friendship.

He never expected it, never expected...

[There is a ninja nearby whose defenses have been broken. The Defense-Breaking System is activating...]

Uchiha Ling was delighted. Ebisu had given him another surprise.