Blood-Spattered Sparring

In the first round of battles, it was obvious that everyone was hitting much harder.

The pressure of Early Graduation was immense. Normally, they would graduate at eleven, but graduating two years early meant entering the battlefield alongside seniors two or three years older than them. They were at a huge disadvantage.

Even the battle between Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara looked like a tightrope walk. Their Kunai nearly sliced through each other's clothes several times.

Yamano remained unmoved. A cut a few centimeters long was nothing.

That was, until a student named Dule Jiong was stabbed in the shoulder by Aoba Yamashiro, and blood began gushing out.

Aoba Yamashiro was terrified and hurriedly turned toward Teacher Yamano.

Dule Jiong was terrified too. With a Kunai sticking out of his shoulder, he looked pitifully toward Teacher Yamano.

Was this really okay?

He could even hear the sound of blood flowing. Just how much blood was he losing?

Teacher Yamano still did not move. His meaning was clear: What does an injury like that matter? Keep fighting.

Aoba Yamashiro jumped backward and hesitantly pulled out another Kunai.

With a Kunai still lodged in his shoulder and no order to stop from Teacher Yamano, Dule Jiong gritted his teeth, grabbed his Kunai, and charged forward again.

Bright-red blood splashed across the ground. All the students realized that Teacher Yamano was serious. He really was willing to accept students dying during training.

Aoba Yamashiro dodged left and right, his movements already frantic. Only after Dule Jiong's Kunai stabbed into his forearm did his fighting spirit become resolute again.

The two fought for a while longer. Dule Jiong's face had gone pale, so Teacher Yamano stepped in and seized the arms with which the two were holding their Kunai.

"Akimichi Takashi, Ebisu, take them both to the Infirmary."

The students sucked in cold breaths. With so many more bloodstains on the ground, the battles that followed became even more ruthless.

One person caught Uchiha Ling's attention.

The sickly Gekko Hayate.

He was one of the few Bloodline Disease users in the class and had mastered Transparent Release.

If Jiraiya could learn Transparent Release, his peeping career would reach a whole new level.

Peeping was great. He had to learn peeping... No, Uchiha Ling meant Transparent Release was great. He had to learn Transparent Release.

He wondered whether he could draw a Dojutsu from the system. He would have the Sharingan in the future, but if he could also get the Byakugan, that would be even better.

Unfortunately, there were no Hyuga Clan ninjas in the class.

Gekko Hayate had deliberately gone home at noon to retrieve a long sword. He was now fighting Ibiki Morino with it.

He had heavy dark circles under his eyes and drooping eyelids, and he coughed from time to time. He did not look very healthy.

Transparent Release involved using Chakra to alter the body and make it transparent.

This kind of bloodline that altered the body had a major impact on one's health, leaving the members of their Family in poor condition.

Uchiha Ling had obtained bone density and muscle talent from Might Guy, so Bloodline Disease should have less of an impact on him.

After watching the sparring for a while, Uchiha Ling found that Gekko Hayate's Swordsmanship was quite good.

It was said that the ancestor of the Gekko Clan had watched the crescent moon in the sky and comprehended the essence of Swordsmanship: curved like a new moon, with a blade like a bow moon.

To break Gekko Hayate's defenses, he would need to make some preparations.

For the second round, Teacher Yamano announced that Uchiha Ling would battle Namiashi Raidō.

Everyone looked at Namiashi Raidō sympathetically. What terrible luck. Just look at how miserable Might Guy was—he was still standing with his legs spread apart.

After forming the Opposing Hands Seal, Uchiha Ling clasped his hands together and made the gesture for Thousand Years of Death. Then he said:

"Namiashi Raidō, show me everything you've got. Otherwise, you'll be sleeping facedown tonight."

Seeing the gesture for Thousand Years of Death, Yamano suddenly recalled a rumor.

When White Fang of the Leaf, Hatake Sakumo, had been at the Ninja Academy, he had been especially unruly. Hatake Sakumo had invented Thousand Years of Death and achieved astonishing results with it.

Later, Hatake Sakumo's teammates died on a mission, and his personality changed drastically. Thousand Years of Death then disappeared from the world.

He wondered where Uchiha Ling had learned Thousand Years of Death.

Namiashi Raidō swallowed with difficulty.

His grades were average in the class—not bad, but not good either. He did not want to make a fool of himself.

He tightened his grip on his Kunai and charged at Uchiha Ling.

His Kunai slashed toward Uchiha Ling's chest, but Uchiha Ling leaned back slightly and dodged it.

Namiashi Raidō did not dare expose his back to Uchiha Ling. He quickly reversed his grip on the Kunai and stabbed toward Uchiha Ling's shoulder.

Uchiha Ling raised his hand and swept his Kunai toward Namiashi Raidō's.

"Too slow, Namiashi Raidō!"

Uchiha Ling's Kunai collided with Namiashi Raidō's. The powerful force knocked Namiashi Raidō's Kunai away and sent him spinning.

Namiashi Raidō had not expected Uchiha Ling to be so strong. By then, his back was already facing Uchiha Ling.

"Thousand Years of Death!"

All the male students felt their buttocks clench, as if they could feel Namiashi Raidō's pain themselves.

That was too vicious. How could anyone be so vicious?

With no time to spare, Namiashi Raidō clenched his buttocks and covered them with his hands.

A patch of burn scars marred his face, spreading from his nose down to beneath his ear. He had gotten them two years earlier by forcibly practicing Fire Release Ninjutsu.

At that moment, the scars on his face had turned red.

However, the terrifying Thousand Years of Death never came. In his panic to protect his buttocks, he lost his balance while facing away from Uchiha Ling and fell to his knees.

A Kunai slowly reached Namiashi Raidō's neck. Its cold edge made his hair stand on end.

"You lost in an utterly disgraceful manner. You're even worse than Might Guy.

"You should go write your withdrawal application too. Take this advice: Early Graduation means being sent to your death early."

[Detected that Namiashi Raidō's defenses have been broken. Extracting an ability related to Namiashi Raidō. The host may choose one of three.]

Option One: Water-Nature Chakra;

Option Two: 0.3 Kā Chakra Amount;

Option Three: Long-Sword Swordsmanship Technique.

Namiashi Raidō had failed to become a Jonin in the original story. His Chakra talent was average, and he currently had only 0.3 Kā of Chakra.

In the future, he would wield a black-bladed long sword. For now, he had already begun studying Swordsmanship.

Uchiha Ling ultimately chose Water-Nature Chakra to prepare for dealing with Fire Release users in the future.

His Chakra natures were Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, Yin Release, and Yang. He was only missing Lightning Nature.

As he walked off the field, all the students in front of him automatically moved aside.

Iwashi Tatami ran in, helped Namiashi Raidō, who was on the verge of tears, to his feet, and led him out of the Training Ground.

The students whispered among themselves.

"That's too much! Uchiha Ling is practically a demon!"

"Why can't we come up with some nasty insults and throw them back at him?"

"You can insult him, but can you beat him? We really can't beat him."

"Yeah. We'd probably be beaten to death, right? Ever since he said he wanted Early Graduation, Uchiha Ling seems to have become even more ruthless."

"If we don't insult him because we're afraid of dying, then how are we any different from being truly dead?"

"Then you go do it."

"When I battle Uchiha Ling, I'll definitely insult him back!"

The afternoon sparring finally ended. The students felt as though it had been pure torture.

Whether it was the blood-spattering sparring between Dule Jiong and Aoba Yamashiro or Uchiha Ling's vicious Thousand Years of Death, everything had made the students feel how different graduation season was.

Might Guy decided that he absolutely had to open the Second Gate of the Eight Gates Technique as soon as possible and defeat Uchiha Ling!

After Uchiha Ling returned home, he acquired a long sword and began studying how to break Gekko Hayate's defenses while planning how to obtain Transparent Release.