Sanity Is a Rare Virtue

Only two people remained in the classroom: Nara Saku and Ibiki Morino.

Nara Saku watched Ibiki Morino's strange movements. A pen was wedged between Ibiki's hands, its tip deeply embedded in his palm. Didn't that hurt?

Ibiki stood up, released his hands, then repeatedly clenched and unclenched them, feeling the pain in his palms. He said:

"Nara Saku, I know you're targeting Uchiha Ling, but I don't want to join you.

"I challenged Uchiha Ling only because he can bring me far more pain than anyone else.

"I have a special family training method.

"Pain does not lie. Pain stimulates my nerves and makes me tougher.

"I enjoy pain. Pain is my ninja way.

"Clan ninjas like you have powerful secret techniques. You could never understand my ninja way."

Nara Saku had always known Ibiki Morino was a little strange, but he had not expected him to be this strange. Who liked pain?

"If you need any help, just ask. As long as it can deal a blow to Uchiha Ling, I can provide it."

"No need. Everything I do is for my ninja way."

Over the next several days of sparring classes, the same scene played out every time.

Uchiha Ling shouted, "I challenge Might Guy!"

Ibiki Morino shouted, "I challenge Uchiha Ling!"

Teacher Yamano would always say, "It's rare for someone to challenge Uchiha Ling. First sparring match: Uchiha Ling versus Ibiki Morino."

Uchiha Ling was deeply displeased. Sparring with Ibiki Morino did nothing for him.

In taijutsu sparring, Ibiki Morino had no strengths besides being able to take a beating.

And it was difficult for Uchiha Ling to break through Ibiki Morino's defenses.

He had to get rid of this clingy pest, but how could he make Ibiki Morino lose his composure?

Staring at Ibiki Morino across from him, Uchiha Ling said with disgust:

"Ibiki, don't you have any self-respect?

"As far as I know, you live with your father. When you go home all bruised and battered after getting beaten up every day, doesn't your father worry?

"He sent you to the Ninja Academy just to watch you get beaten up every day?

"Wait. Sometimes you arrive at school in the morning already bruised and battered. Does your father let you enjoy some pain at home too?"

Ibiki Morino showed none of the embarrassment of being humiliated. Instead, he grew even more excited.

"Only pain can give me a sense of security. Suffering makes me stronger.

"My father wants even more than I do to see me surrounded by negativity and pain!

"Come on, Uchiha Ling! Let me feel pain!"

Uchiha Ling could not understand him, and he understood Ibiki Morino's father even less. What father would want to see his child suffer?

Could Ibiki Morino's father be the root of it all?

Uchiha Ling was speechless. After school, he planned to use the Military Police Force to investigate Ibiki Morino's father.

Girls with strong empathy, such as Rin Nohara, had already turned away, unwilling to watch what came next.

When Ibiki Morino got beaten up, they rarely felt any disgust toward Uchiha Ling, because Ibiki Morino was a freak. Every time he was badly beaten, he would instead say excited things they could not understand.

Dopamine? Could getting beaten up produce dopamine too?

Bang!

Uchiha Ling drove a fist into Ibiki Morino's abdomen, making Ibiki curl up like a shrimp.

Before Ibiki could spout any nonsense about liking pain, a rain of fists and kicks followed, crashing down upon him.

After more than a minute of strikes that were practically a beating, Ibiki finally collapsed onto the ground.

Ibiki lay on the ground, his body twitching, but his face was filled with excitement.

Teacher Yamano said nothing about it. Since Ibiki claimed that pain was his ninja way, then they had to respect the conviction carved into a ninja's bones.

After school, Uchiha Ling hurried to the Military Police Force.

"Second Brother, I ran into a very troublesome classmate, Ibiki Morino. He wastes my time every day, and I can't properly improve through sparring."

"Hm?" Uchiha Jing's eyes turned cold. "Do you want me to deal with his family?"

Ever since his cousin had gained Clan Head Fugaku's recognition, Uchiha Jing had paid even more attention to Uchiha Ling.

If Uchiha Ling could become an elite jonin, then Uchiha Jing would have done right by his second uncle, and the clan head would value him even more.

"No, no, there's no need. I just want to know about his family. I can handle it myself."

Uchiha Jing took Uchiha Ling to the Military Police Force's archives room and found the Morino family's file.

"Read it yourself. I still have work to do."

Uchiha Ling carefully read through the Morino family's file and understood.

Mori no Kosai, Ibiki Morino's father.

Because of his exceptional interrogation skills, Mori no Kosai had entered the Torture Division. The file recorded that, in order to extract intelligence, Mori no Kosai had acted recklessly on several occasions and tortured hard-won prisoners to death.

The Torture Division's purpose was to obtain intelligence, not to sadistically murder prisoners.

After several workplace incidents, Mori no Kosai was expelled from the Torture Division.

From then on, the man became obsessed, constantly insisting that pain did not lie. Whenever he met someone, he would say that the Torture Division's higher-ups did not understand pain and did not know how to efficiently obtain intelligence from prisoners.

That twisted mentality extended to his son, Ibiki Morino. From a young age, he taught Ibiki that pain was their ninja way.

The Military Police Force had received more than a dozen noise complaints. Mori no Kosai's neighbors reported that he often beat Ibiki until he wailed like a ghost in the middle of the night.

The Military Police Force had investigated more than a dozen times. In the end, it was not the Military Police Force's efforts that worked, but Ibiki's acceptance of Mori no Kosai's ninja way. Whenever he was beaten, he silently endured the pain.

Uchiha Ling put the file back into its folder, thinking that for ninjas, mental stability truly was a rare virtue.

The Torture Division inflicted torture on prisoners and spies every day. Stare into the abyss for too long, and you become the abyss yourself.

Now that he knew why Ibiki had turned out this way, Uchiha Ling pondered briefly and came up with a plan.

In a few days, he would definitely make Ibiki Morino lose his composure. He could not keep playing master and slave with Ibiki Morino for nothing.

After returning home, he continued familiarizing himself with Wind Release: Great Breakthrough and practicing wind-nature chakra.

Great Breakthrough could create gusts and wind pressure, but its destructive power was insufficient.

Uchiha Ling suddenly recalled that in the original story, when Shukaku and Gaara faced Madara Uchiha, they had used a joint ninjutsu: Wind Release: Sand Buckshot.

Gaara created sand bullets, while Shukaku used a wind release similar to Great Breakthrough, firing the sand bullets at the enemy like a dense barrage of bullets. Even Madara Uchiha had been injured.

He could use part of the Multi-Size Technique to strengthen his hair, then fire it out like Jiraiya's Hair Needle Senbon.

If he combined Hair Needle Senbon with Great Breakthrough, it would make for a powerful combination ninjutsu in the early stages.

No sooner said than done, he formed hand seals and created a Shadow Clone Technique.

The shadow clone understood Uchiha Ling's intentions.

"Hey, original body, you want to imitate Jiraiya and use Hair Needle Senbon? You don't actually think you're some genius, do you?

"You're just an outsider who can't take a single step without the system. You—"

"Shut up! We're developing Hair Needle Senbon together. I'm naming this still-incomplete technique Black-Gold Senbon, since I have a head of jet-black hair.

"Return your experience to me later."