Supercompensation, Again

The Defense-Breaking System activated, but once Uchiha Ling saw the options, he felt annoyed just looking at Asuma Sarutobi.

Asuma Sarutobi had been a spoiled, useless son of privilege as a child. Uchiha Ling could hardly be blamed for calling him one.

Just look at the junk rewards he got after causing Asuma's Defense Break.

[Asuma Sarutobi's Defense Break detected. Extracting abilities related to Asuma Sarutobi. Host may choose one of three options.

Option 1: Wind Release Chakra;

Option 2: Shuriken-Throwing Technique;

Option 3: Supercompensation. Break through a physical plateau once.]

Option one, Wind Release Chakra, wasn't worth considering. Uchiha Ling was five, with another month to go before he turned six. He was still building his foundations; another chakra nature would do him no good.

Option two, Shuriken-Throwing Technique?

If it had been the forbidden Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, Uchiha Ling might have been interested.

The Uchiha Clan was even better with shuriken than the Sarutobi Clan. He would be better off going home and reading his father's ninjutsu notes.

His parents had died in the Land of Waves, but his father's old ninjutsu notes were still at home. They were an important source of advanced ninjutsu knowledge for Uchiha Ling.

Option three: Supercompensation.

It seemed Asuma Sarutobi's hard training this semester had brought him through a bout of supercompensation, breaking him past a physical plateau.

Asuma Sarutobi had turned his humiliation into motivation, but it hadn't taken him far. His improvement was only on par with Ebisu's.

That left option three.

A tingling itch spread through Uchiha Ling's muscles again. They were growing.

The sensation was strange. His muscles and ligaments strengthened to varying degrees.

It was as if he had taken a dose of some kind of steroid.

Uchiha Ling reached up and felt the top of his head. This unnatural boost to his physique wasn't going to make his skull pointy, was it?

He patted it twice. Good. Still flat.

By the Eight Ninja Attributes' standards, his taijutsu, stamina, and speed had risen from an average of four to around five.

That was roughly the level of a Hidden Leaf Genin. In the original story, many of the Konoha 12 had scored around five in those three attributes when they graduated.

If Uchiha Ling applied for Early Graduation now, he could probably get approval, given the wartime shortage of personnel.

But he had no intention of doing that.

The Shinobi World War was underway. The Third Kazekage had vanished, White Fang had killed himself, and the other ninja villages were buzzing as if it were a holiday.

The Stone Ninja, Cloud Ninja, and Mist Ninja were all out for blood. Each wanted to exploit Konoha and Sunagakure's weakness, tear off a chunk, and fill their own bellies.

Only a fool would graduate early.

He would stay tucked away in Konoha, inside the Ninja Academy. It was safe there. At his age, no one intervened when someone put pressure on him—but no one intervened when he put pressure on others, either.

The taijutsu boost from Supercompensation was the most important gain he could get while building his foundations.

Taijutsu was the foundation of every ninja's combat ability.

Now he just had to see which of his classmates had hit a plateau in taijutsu and give them some pressure... no, some proper encouragement.

By the time he graduated from the Ninja Academy, his other abilities could wait. His taijutsu had to be strong.

The White Fang of the Leaf had been terrifyingly powerful, with a fearsome record, yet his foundational abilities were little more than the Body Flicker Technique and Lightning Release Sword Technique.

Both were closely tied to taijutsu.

Teacher Yamano told them to form the Reconciliation Seal. Asuma Sarutobi climbed to his feet in a daze.

The first thing he saw was the disgust in Uchiha Ling's eyes.

Uchiha Ling genuinely thought he was useless. The contempt was unmistakable.

Asuma glanced up at the teaching building's roof. Nothing had changed. His father, the Third, still had his head lowered, watching the older students spar nearby.

No one on the roof—the ANBU, the Principal, or the teachers—was looking his way.

Just now... those teachers had been watching him. They must have hoped he would perform brilliantly and make a good impression on his father, the Hokage.

Now they were all tactfully looking elsewhere. Ha. Tactfully...

Asuma Sarutobi turned to his classmates. Their expressions varied.

Ebisu looked disappointed.

For months, Ebisu had endured Uchiha Ling's torment to draw his attention away from Asuma, giving Asuma room to focus on training without the challenges and pressure ruining his composure.

Facing Uchiha Ling had been immensely stressful. The only reason Ebisu hadn't broken down was that he had grown a little through the ordeal. At least he had that to comfort himself with.

Now those months of torment had been for nothing.

Obito Uchiha looked indignant, his frustration plain on his face.

Nara Saku frowned, apparently mulling over some troublesome problem.

Akimichi Takashi was so stunned that he stuffed an unpeeled chestnut into his mouth and chewed, shell and all.

As for the girls, Rin Nohara was leaning close to Kurenai Yuhi's ear, whispering something.

Asuma Sarutobi didn't dare look at Kurenai Yuhi.

Farther away, older students stood in groups of two or three, pointing this way. Perhaps they were mocking the Hokage's second son for losing so badly.

Nothing delighted people more than seeing someone important brought low.

When the White Fang of the Leaf failed his mission, plenty of people with no grudge against him had cursed him in private out of sheer jealousy.

That was human nature. Everyone wanted to grow stronger, because the weak lived without dignity.

Asuma Sarutobi swallowed hard and turned toward Kakashi, who stood on the wall.

Kakashi wasn't looking at him at all. His gaze was fixed on Uchiha Ling.

Of course. Who bothered looking at the loser?

Kakashi Hatake's mask hid most of his expression, but beneath it, he was astonished.

Why did Uchiha Ling's taijutsu look so much like his father's basic taijutsu?

His father had developed the Chakra Acupoint Burst Technique when he was young, displaying extraordinary talent.

Kakashi had never expected Uchiha Ling to discover a similar technique on his own.

No wonder this Uchiha had managed to cause his Defense Break. Uchiha Ling's talent was astonishing.

Kakashi felt a new urgency. He had to train harder in his father's techniques.

After his father's suicide in disgrace, Kakashi had believed everything about him was tainted. He hadn't wanted to learn his father's fighting style.

But after seeing Uchiha Ling today, he saw no reason to reject his father's taijutsu. His father's techniques couldn't be carried on by an Uchiha instead of him.

He would start training in the Chakra Acupoint Burst Technique too.

Uchiha Ling held out his hand, curling his index and middle fingers.

To Asuma Sarutobi's relief, Uchiha Ling didn't mock him again.

The two formed the Reconciliation Seal, then left the field one after the other.

On the roof, Black Chimp saw his younger brother trailing behind Uchiha Ling like an inferior and felt exasperated by his lack of backbone.

He wanted to say something to his father, but this inspection was meant to assess students applying for Early Graduation. It wasn't the right occasion to discuss his brother's upbringing.

Judging by his father's expression, he hadn't paid the slightest attention to Asuma's performance.

His father was too absorbed in his duties as Hokage. Nothing mattered to him except the office's responsibilities and power.

If Asuma kept growing up like this, he would be weak—an ordinary Jonin at best.

Black Chimp felt a sense of urgency. He couldn't let his brother waste his potential. He had to find a way to give Asuma more resources.