Really! It Was Real!

Another day of being challenged by Ibiki Morino.

After beating Ibiki into a painful hunch, Uchiha Ling quietly told him, "After school, meet me at Training Ground No. 13 beneath the western wall."

Ibiki Morino was sweating profusely from the pain. Sweat ran into his eyes, but he ignored the stinging irritation, his eyes gleaming brightly.

There was a second round today? Wonderful, simply wonderful!

After school, Ibiki Morino eagerly arrived at the agreed location, only to find no one in the training ground.

"Over here!"

Uchiha Ling stood in the woods beside the field and waved at Ibiki.

Ibiki eagerly slipped into the woods.

He looked at Uchiha Ling with feverish eyes and said, "Come on. Let me experience pain to my heart's content!"

A resolute look flashed through Uchiha Ling's eyes. Today, he had to deal with Ibiki once and for all. He wanted to challenge Might Guy in class and continue his taijutsu training.

"Come, Ibiki. Get a little closer."

Lush trees surrounded them, along with dense shrubs. No one outside could see what was happening within.

Ibiki's face was flushed with excitement as he walked forward and said:

"Uchiha Ling, I know you didn't use your full strength during sparring class. It was a public setting, after all. It wouldn't have looked good if things got too ugly.

I really like the place you chose. No one will notice us here.

Come on. Let me feel pain beyond my limits, then let dopamine erupt in compensatory release!"

Ibiki took a few more steps forward when he suddenly heard steel wires slicing through the air.

Uchiha Ling pulled the wires tight. More than a dozen wires rose from the ground and nearby tree trunks, binding Ibiki in place.

His wrists, ankles, shoulders, waist, abdomen, and knees—every important joint was locked down by the wire traps.

Ibiki became even more excited!

"Bondage, huh?! Tie me up and make me feel pain properly! Come on! Do it!"

Looking at Ibiki's excited, almost feral expression, Uchiha Ling could not understand it.

Was he really this sick?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The woods filled with the dense sounds of fists striking flesh.

Uchiha Ling focused his blows on Ibiki's head and face, as well as his exposed arms and legs.

In no time at all, he had beaten Ibiki until his head was bleeding and his face was swollen like a pig's. His eye sockets had split open, leaving bruises, red welts, and swollen patches all over him.

Once he had tired himself out, Uchiha Ling took out another steel wire, moved behind Ibiki, looped it around his neck, turned his back to him, and tightened it.

"Don't be nervous, Ibiki. Feeling dizzy is normal... You must really enjoy the thrill of suffocation, right?

Your brain is deprived of oxygen, carbon dioxide builds up, and in that dizzy state, your body urgently secretes a large amount of endorphins. Under the stimulation of those hormones come dizziness, hallucinations, weightlessness, and excitement.

I've also tightened the wire around your carotid sinus. Can you feel your heart rate suddenly dropping..."

Several minutes later, Uchiha Ling left the woods, lowering his head as he sorted through the steel wires covered in blood droplets.

Ibiki Morino convulsed in the woods behind him, letting out strange, breathy laughter from his throat.

After an unknown amount of time, Ibiki Morino crawled to his feet and staggered home.

Back in the courtyard of his home, Ibiki Morino saw Mori no Kosai beneath the eaves. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Father, today I experienced the ultimate pain. I think my spirit has grown stronger again."

"Oh? Do you even know what ultimate pain is? Have you ever seen a dying spy beg for mercy?"

Mori no Kosai rushed forward and began beating Ibiki Morino.

Ibiki Morino hurriedly begged, "Father, I really reached my limit today. I can't..."

Mori no Kosai punched Ibiki in the mouth, knocking out a fistful of blood.

"Pain is our ninja way! How dare you claim to have experienced the ultimate pain!"

Ibiki Morino could not speak. In despair, he watched his father's gaze become more and more savage, more and more excited.

A few minutes later, Ibiki Morino could no longer feel any compensatory pleasure from pain. He felt as if he were going to die.

At that moment, a figure flashed down.

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

A high-pressure blast of wind surged out, sending Mori no Kosai flying and saving Ibiki Morino from the ground.

Seeing Ibiki Morino's miserable condition, Uchiha Ling hoisted him onto his back and hurried toward Hidden Leaf Hospital.

In the courtyard, Mori no Kosai was still roaring, "Who?! Who interfered with my practice of the ninja way?! Why did you interrupt me as I passed down my ninja way?!"

At Hidden Leaf Hospital, Uchiha Ling handed over the blood-soaked Ibiki Morino to the emergency medical ninja.

"What happened to this child?! Why is he so badly hurt?!"

"His surname is Morino."

Uchiha Ling had seen the Military Police Force files. On several occasions, Ibiki Morino had been beaten into the hospital by his father.

Sure enough, once they heard the surname Morino, the emergency doctor stopped asking questions.

There were many strange ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village. A former interrogation division ninja obsessed with torture and punishment—any child raised by someone like that was bound to suffer.

Uchiha Ling handed over all the allowance his second brother, Uchiha Jing, had given him to Hidden Leaf Hospital: a full fifteen thousand ryo.

In the latter half of the night, Ibiki Morino woke up. Through his haze, he saw someone sitting by the window.

After looking carefully, he realized it was not his father, but Uchiha Ling.

"Why are you here? Where is my father?"

Uchiha Ling turned his head and said, "I know many people in the Hidden Leaf Village have terrible families. Some have parents suffering from severe depression, severe anxiety, severe bipolar disorder, or even schizophrenia after years of ninja missions. Others are orphans who have barely managed to care for themselves since they were two or three years old.

But you have it worse than all of them."

"I... I... I'm not miserable. You don't even have parents. I still have a father."

Uchiha Ling was so angry that he laughed. Even now, Ibiki was still bullying him for being an orphan. He said:

"You saw the look in your father's eyes during those final blows, didn't you?

He wasn't teaching you the ninja way of pain. He's a complete failure, venting all his frustrations on you.

Ibiki Morino, stop lying to yourself.

Stop yearning for that nonexistent fatherly love. Stop trying to please your father, whose mind has already broken.

You have no fatherly love, and you have no home. You need to learn to kill your father in your mind. Otherwise, you will die."

Uchiha Ling left behind a scroll.

Two of Ibiki Morino's fingers were broken. Trembling, he opened the scroll and found a set of research records.

Uchiha Ling explained, "There are plenty of lunatics in the Uchiha Clan. Quite a few people have tried using pain to increase spiritual energy. Every one of them failed."

With that, he left the hospital room.

Ibiki Morino stared blankly at the ceiling.

Pain could not strengthen the spirit. Was that true? Was it really true...

"Hahaha! Really! It was real!"

Outside the ward, Uchiha Ling leaned against the wall. He was afraid that Ibiki Morino had gone mad.

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

Suffering itself had no meaning. As long as one was willing to suffer, there would always be more suffering waiting.