"Teacher! I'm reporting him! He cheated!"
Uchiha Ling complained to Teacher Yamano that Akimichi Takashi had actually taken out earplugs and stuffed them into his ears.
Teacher Yamano said, "There's a very obscure Ninjutsu called Sound Wave Technique. Blocking your ears counts as a way to deal with it. Uchiha Ling, this isn't cheating."
Uchiha Ling was speechless. Not listening to his trash talk was an epic nerf to him.
He stared at the smug Akimichi Takashi and remembered one of Jiraiya's techniques.
Jiraiya had modified his hair, allowing him to release Needle Jizo, Wild Lion's Mane Technique, and other Ninja Arts through it.
This method of using Chakra to modify the body had something in common with the Akimichi Clan's Multi-Size Secret Technique.
Could it be that Jiraiya preferred plump women?
After suffering setbacks with Tsunade and failing to win her over, had he discovered that the women of the Akimichi Clan were also plump and started peeping at them?
Lord Jiraiya, you...
Wait a minute, could Jiraiya have been using the pretext of peeping to secretly learn Ninjutsu and Secret Techniques?
How could anyone be so lecherous and still be so powerful?
Peeping and being good at researching Ninjutsu—one of those two had to be fake.
How sly of Jiraiya!
Now that he had obtained the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique and Akimichi Takashi had delivered himself right to his door, he might as well try to collect the Akimichi Clan's Secret Technique too.
"Form the Opposing Hands Seal!"
After Teacher Yamano shouted, Uchiha Ling didn't move, and neither did Akimichi Takashi across from him.
Those earplugs were really high quality. Akimichi Takashi couldn't hear a thing.
Uchiha Ling charged toward Akimichi Takashi.
Akimichi Takashi instantly tensed, raising both arms in front of his chest and preparing to defend at any moment.
He saw Uchiha Ling form a Hand Seal. Then white smoke suddenly appeared in front of him.
Two Uchiha Lings burst out of the white smoke.
Akimichi Takashi nervously looked left and right, unable to tell which one was the real body and which one was the Shadow Clone Technique.
Ebisu, standing nearby, curled his lip. Was there really any need to figure out which was the Shadow Clone Technique? Why was he so nervous? It wasn't as if he could beat Uchiha Ling's clone.
Wait!
Ebisu suddenly realized that his thoughts sounded a little like Uchiha Ling's. Was this a case of becoming corrupted by bad company? After sparring with Uchiha Ling so many times last year, had he become a vicious person too?
This was bad.
Still, he somewhat missed the days when he had constantly challenged Uchiha Ling last year.
When Akimichi Takashi turned his head to the left, he suddenly felt heat beside his right ear.
The real body is on the right! He's so fast!
Akimichi Takashi felt someone take away his earplug and lean beside his ear, whispering something.
"Akimichi Takashi, just because you like eating pork belly, you can't go steal pig feed. Look at how fat you are."
In the original work, Akimichi Choji's sensitive trigger was the term "fat pig." Whenever someone said those words, Akimichi Choji would fly into a rage and Defense Break.
Uchiha Ling tried that word too.
However, Akimichi Takashi wasn't Akimichi Choji. He wasn't sensitive to it at all.
"I'm fat. So what? Being fat is my pride!"
Uchiha Ling froze. Akimichi Takashi had a broad mind and a broad body—trash talk didn't affect him.
Akimichi Takashi swung his arm and slammed an elbow toward Uchiha Ling.
Bang!
White smoke appeared. It was a Shadow Clone Technique.
The real body appeared from the other side and kicked Akimichi Takashi away.
Akimichi Takashi rolled painfully across the ground before covering his ear without the earplug and standing up.
Nara Saku taught him nothing but useless things. At a time like this, he was still covering his ears instead of listening to Uchiha Ling's trash talk.
"Battle over! Form the Reconciliation Seal!"
Uchiha Ling stared at Akimichi Takashi, pondering how to make him Defense Break.
The Akimichi Clan's Multi-Size Secret Technique was far too useful. Among all the Ninjutsu, Secret Techniques, and forbidden techniques in the Shinobi World, it could be called the technique most friendly to men.
A man couldn't possess both the Multi-Size Secret Technique and an inferiority complex.
For the sake of his future life and lower-body happiness, Uchiha Ling was determined to obtain this Secret Technique!
For the next week, Akimichi Takashi was the one who raised his hand and challenged Uchiha Ling every day.
A week later, when Akimichi Takashi sparred with Uchiha Ling, there was actually a smile on his face.
Uchiha Ling found it inexplicable. Did Akimichi Takashi have a masochistic tendency?
He knew that Akimichi Takashi was constantly on guard against Uchiha Ling transforming into Nara Saku. When he got the chance, he waited until Nara Saku and Akimichi Takashi had separated, transformed into Yamanaka Mei, and approached Akimichi Takashi.
"Takashi, why have you been so happy these past few days?"
"Hehe, I looked in the mirror these past few days and discovered that I've gotten even fatter!"
Uchiha Ling froze. He carefully looked at Akimichi Takashi's fat face and said softly:
"Takashi, is it possible that you haven't gotten fatter—you've gotten swollen?"
The flesh on Akimichi Takashi's face twitched.
Why does my face hurt a little?
He took a mirror out of Yamanaka Mei's desk.
In the mirror, his face was black and blue, with patches of green, red, and purple. It really was swollen.
"That's outrageous! I thought I'd gotten fatter, but it turns out that Skinny Pole Uchiha Ling beat me until I swelled up!"
Akimichi Takashi put down the little mirror and said, "It can't be helped. Nara Saku insists that I keep challenging Uchiha Ling. Fortunately, I haven't gotten thinner. As long as I don't lose weight, I can accept it."
Uchiha Ling understood. Getting Akimichi Takashi to lose weight would probably make him Defense Break.
During sparring class, Akimichi Takashi challenged Uchiha Ling again.
This time, Uchiha Ling wasn't aiming to defeat Akimichi Takashi. After using a Shadow Clone to remove Akimichi Takashi's earplug, he said:
"Akimichi Takashi, defeating you is as easy as drinking water.
Since you insist on provoking me, come on. I bet you can't touch me even once.
If you touch me, I'll give you my pocket money for three months—15,000 ryo—to buy pork belly!"
When Akimichi Takashi heard that he might win a huge amount of pocket money, he instantly perked up.
Uchiha Ling began leading Akimichi Takashi in circles around the Training Ground.
It looked as though Uchiha Ling was using Akimichi Takashi to practice his footwork.
After a week of this, Akimichi Takashi was completely miserable. During every sparring class, Uchiha Ling ran him around in circles.
"Akimichi Takashi, with your current strength, you can't even touch the corner of my clothes.
You can keep challenging me, but could you improve your strength a little?
I'm running you around like a dog. Anyone who didn't know better would think I was deliberately torturing you.
If all you do is eat without training, you might as well donate your food to the Ninja Dogs of the Inuzuka Clan.
You can eat, and you can defecate, but eating and defecating without contributing any value isn't right."
Akimichi Takashi braced both hands on his knees, tilted his head back, and stared at Uchiha Ling while large beads of sweat streamed down his face.
Uchiha Ling had taken his earplugs long ago, so all of Uchiha Ling's taunts reached his ears.
When he lowered his head, the sweat on his cheeks joined into several streams and dripped onto the ground.
Uchiha Ling watched with satisfaction as a guilty expression appeared on Akimichi Takashi's face.
Train. Train properly. Once you start training, you'll lose weight. How else are you supposed to get thinner?
It would still take some time before Akimichi Takashi lost his composure. For now, he had to find a breakthrough with someone else.
After school, Uchiha Ling went over to Ebisu.
"Ebisu, wait for me at the Training Ground. Akimichi Takashi keeps challenging me, and it reminds me of you. I'm going to teach you a technique!"
"What? You're going to teach me a technique?"
Ebisu felt as if the sun had risen in the west, the south, and the north, just not the east.
This was far too abnormal!
"Trust me! This is your destined technique! With this technique, you'll finally become yourself."
Before you continue