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Withdrawing his gaze, Qian closed the Status Panel, took out a Soldier Pill, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Crack—

His teeth pressed down lightly and crushed it.

At once, a bitter taste burst across his tongue, making even the corners of Qian's eyes twitch.

"No wonder no one likes eating this stuff. That taste..."

Qian shook his head and, forcing down his discomfort, swallowed the broken pieces in his mouth.

Soon, a warm current appeared in his stomach and quickly spread through his limbs and bones.

Qian wasted no time. He immediately sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and began refining chakra.

More than two hours later, his chakra had recovered to full. Qian stopped using the Chakra Refining Technique and began practicing the Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique.

The Transformation Technique was one thing. He only needed to gather chakra step by step and change his appearance to gain Proficiency.

But the Substitution Technique was different. Practicing this technique required preparing auxiliary props in advance, such as wooden boards used for substitution.

The so-called Substitution Technique did not involve spatial displacement. It was more like a kind of misdirection.

That was, at the instant one was attacked, one quickly used a substitute item prepared beforehand to replace one's body, causing the opponent to misjudge.

At that point, the caster could seize the chance to launch a Sneak Attack or escape.

Therefore, this technique tested a ninja's grasp of timing tremendously. Used well, it was a divine skill; used poorly, it could even expose even more openings.

However, no matter how proficiently the Substitution Technique was used, it still had its Limit.

As long as there was still a substitution process, openings would inevitably be exposed.

This little opening might not matter much in battles between Genin and Chunin, but once it reached the Jonin level, basically everyone could seize such a moment.

Therefore, in battles between Jonin, the Substitution Technique was rarely used to confuse opponents.

However, for Qian, that was still a little far off.

At this stage, the Substitution Technique was indeed a rare life-saving skill for him.

Therefore, even though practicing it was very troublesome, he did not show the slightest impatience.

More than ten minutes later, his chakra was exhausted. Qian swallowed another Soldier Pill and began refining chakra again.

Two hours later, when his chakra had more or less recovered, he practiced the Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique again.

Just like that, close to midnight, Qian finally completed his final round of training.

Compared with before, today he had trained the Chakra Refining Technique for two extra hours. His Chakra Limit had increased by two more points, and his Proficiency had increased by three more points.

At the same time, the extra hundred points of chakra he had recovered also gave his Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique over a dozen more points of Proficiency.

One should not underestimate this small change. As the saying went, little drops made an ocean. If he gained this much in one day, how much would it be after a month? After a year?

Uh, a year was a bit too far away.

But one month was still something Qian could look forward to.

If not for the fact that refining chakra and practicing ninjutsu both consumed an extreme amount of mental energy, and that eating too many Soldier Pills would cause indigestion, Qian really would have wanted to grind through the entire night.

"Haaah~~~"

Stretching and yawning, Qian washed up briefly, then returned to his bedroom.

Soon, familiar snores came from inside.

Time flowed by, second by second, minute by minute.

At a certain moment, a figure appeared on the utility pole outside the window, a pair of scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan staring at Qian, as if observing something.

A moment later, the figure vanished.

Deep within the Uchiha Clan Grounds, in the Great Elder's estate.

Knock, knock, knock—

A gentle knocking sounded.

"Come in!"

From inside the room came an aged voice.

Uchiha Zhi Ren pushed the door open and entered. Looking at the old man behind the desk, he bowed and said, "Great Elder!"

"Oh, it's Zhi Ren!"

The old man raised his head and glanced at Uchiha Zhi Ren, then said, "What is it?"

"Reporting to the Great Elder, it is about the observation results concerning Qian."

Uchiha Zhi Ren answered respectfully.

Hearing this, a sharp light flashed through the old man's eyes. Then he asked unhurriedly, "Well? Has he awakened the Sharingan?"

"No."

Uchiha Zhi Ren shook his head and said, "After observing him these past few days, there has been no explosive increase in the Chakra inside his body, and his mental state has been fairly stable. We can basically confirm that he does not have the aptitude to awaken the Sharingan."

"Is that so..."

Hearing Uchiha Zhi Ren's answer, the old man had expected it, but he still could not help feeling a little disappointed.

Generally speaking, if a clansman had the aptitude to awaken the Sharingan, a stimulus on the level of hearing of their parents' deaths would immediately awaken it.

Even if it did not awaken at once, their body and mind would show certain changes. After that, with just a little more stimulation, they would be able to awaken it smoothly.

However, after Qian learned the news of his parents' sacrifice, he neither awakened it immediately, nor did his body undergo the corresponding changes for some time afterward.

From this, it could basically be confirmed that he did not have the aptitude to awaken the Sharingan.

"Great Elder, should we continue observing him?"

Seeing that the old man still had not spoken, Uchiha Zhi Ren spoke up.

"No need."

The old man waved his hand and said, "You may go!"

"Yes, Great Elder!"

After answering, Uchiha Zhi Ren withdrew from the room.

Qian did not know that today had been his final chance to be valued by the clan.

If he had been able to awaken the Sharingan today under the stimulus of the Survivor's Benefit, then even if he would not have soared straight to the top, his road ahead would absolutely have been much smoother.

It would not even have been a problem to get a bodyguard while he was still a genin.

That was right. This was the Uchiha clan. Though they were difficult to deal with externally, internally, they were still quite united.

Uh.

Except for a certain traitor!

However, Qian had not awakened the Sharingan, so he was destined to be unable to enjoy the treatment of a genius.

Still, even if Qian had known, he would not have cared.

What he relied on had never been the Uchiha clan. With the Proficiency Panel, he would be able to grow sooner or later.

Five days later.

School was nearly over.

Clap, clap, clap~

Sugi Itto clapped his hands and shouted loudly, "Students, everyone, come over here!"

"Teacher, what is it? School's almost over!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"."

Hearing Sugi Itto call them over, more than thirty students noisily crowded around him, each talking over the other. The scene was very lively.

Qian stood at the edge of the crowd without saying anything. From Sugi Itto's serious face, he sensed that something was off.

Sure enough, what Sugi Itto said next confirmed his guess.

"Quiet!"

Sugi Itto shouted, and only after everyone had settled down did he say, "The village has already decided to change your Annual Assessment in half a month into a Graduation Assessment.

When the time comes, those who pass the assessment will be granted the status of Leaf Village Genin and become true ninjas."

Although he had expected it, when Qian truly heard the news, a little more urgency still rose in his heart.

However, unlike his solemnity, many students in the crowd actually cried out excitedly when they heard the news.

"Teacher Sugi, is what you said true?"

"Yeah, Teacher, can we really become ninjas early?"

"."

Hearing these somewhat naive words, Qian shook his head and thought to himself, These people have still been protected too well. They have no idea how dangerous the profession of ninja is, especially in this period.

If possible, Qian would have liked to stay in school for the rest of his life.

But that was impossible.

Now, he could only hope that after graduation, they would not be sent to the battlefield immediately. Otherwise...