The Uchiha Are Repressed

"How was that possible?" Sasuke stared at the kunai embedded in all ten bullseyes. He had failed to do it, so who was this guy? How could he have managed it?

Back then, he would not even have been interested in learning the other person's name. He was the Uchiha clan's genius. But at this very moment, the name Chiba Lin Chuan was deeply etched into his mind, making him remember the man who had defeated him.

"Who is that? I've never heard of him." Sakura Haruno looked at Lin Chuan's unfamiliar face. She usually only paid attention to Sasuke and never bothered with anyone else, so she genuinely had no idea there was someone like him in their class.

"I think he's the one who fought with Choji and the others?" Ino said uncertainly. She was more familiar with the other two members of Ino–Shika–Cho, so she had only heard them mention Lin Chuan.

"Wow, Chuan, you're amazing! How did you do that? Can you teach me?" Naruto crowded in front of Lin Chuan. Faced with Lin Chuan's astonishing performance, he truly wanted to learn.

"Didn't you see me doing it? Throw kunai three hundred times every day. Keep it up for three months," Lin Chuan said as he put the kunai spinning on his fingertip back into his ninja tool pouch. He had not noticed Naruto and the other two following him the first time, but they had done it too often, so he eventually caught on.

"Huh? Three months? Three hundred times a day?" Hearing that amount of training, Naruto clutched his head in utter despair. Was that even something a person could do?

It was too hard. He could not do it!

"Naruto..." Hinata hid in a corner of the crowd, quietly watching the frantic Naruto with her Byakugan. She believed Naruto would definitely pass next time.

"The exam is over. There will be another kunai throwing test next month." Iruka looked at the students who had failed, especially Naruto, who had scored only one point, and warned, "If you fail the next exam, you'll be cleaning toilets for a week..."

"No! Cleaning toilets?" Naruto was even more devastated when he heard that. He had to learn how to throw kunai before next month's exam. At the very least, he had to pass.

Faced with Naruto's pleading gaze, everyone avoided eye contact. Shikamaru, who hated trouble, could not even be bothered to look at Naruto and headed straight back to the classroom. School would be over soon.

"Naruto, just train three hundred times a day," Lin Chuan said with a smile before leaving. As long as Naruto was willing to work hard, he could master kunai throwing. After all, throwing kunai did not require chakra.

"Lin Chuan, can I train with you?" Naruto hurried after him. He had not expected his bento friend to be so strong, strong enough to defeat Sasuke.

"Sure." Lin Chuan nodded lightly, picked up his schoolbag and lunchbox, and prepared to head home. He did not know that his performance today would earn someone a harsh scolding.

When Sasuke returned home after school, he saw his older brother about to leave and immediately ran over to hug Itachi, acting spoiled. "Brother, practice kunai with me!"

"Next time, Sasuke. I have a mission," Itachi said with a smile, refusing him. He lightly tapped Sasuke on the forehead. He had already joined the ANBU by then, so naturally, his missions were ANBU missions.

"Oh, really?" Sasuke had lost the exam today, and hearing that Itachi had a mission inevitably made him feel a little down.

"What's wrong? You seem unhappy today." Itachi noticed that Sasuke was in a bad mood. He was not usually like this. At most, he would feel a little regretful, but today, he was upset.

"It's nothing. We had a kunai throwing exam at school today." Sasuke was too embarrassed to say that he had only come in second.

"A throwing exam? What place did you get, Sasuke?" Fugaku Uchiha had just arrived at the entrance when he heard about the kunai throwing exam. Seeing Sasuke's unhappy expression, he knew it could not be good news.

Facing his strict father, Sasuke did not dare hide anything. He could only lower his head and say quietly, "Second..."

"Who got first?" Fugaku Uchiha was genuinely curious. They were only children who had just entered the academy. Was there really someone whose family training was stricter than his? Even Sasuke had only taken second place.

"Someone named Chiba Lin Chuan." Sasuke lowered his head even further. He had never even heard of this person, yet he had been defeated by him.

"Chiba? Hmph." Fugaku Uchiha pondered for a moment, then suddenly snorted. He realized it was a surname he had never heard before, not even belonging to a minor ninja clan. The boy was probably the child of an ordinary Konoha ninja.

He had not expected Sasuke to lose to the child of an ordinary ninja. His expression darkened as he looked at Sasuke and said heavily, "Sasuke, I'm very disappointed in you. Go to the backyard and practice throwing kunai a thousand times..."

"Yes, Father. There'll be another kunai throwing exam next month. I'll definitely take first place." Sasuke kept his head lowered, too ashamed to look at his brother again, and headed straight for the backyard.

"Father, my mission is urgent. I'll be going first." Itachi held his ANBU mask. Watching Sasuke leave with his head down, he wanted to say something, but his father was too strict, and in the end, he said nothing. This home was too stifling. The Uchiha were too stifling as well. He still preferred going on missions.

[ANBU, Itachi Uchiha]

"Go. The mission comes first." Fugaku Uchiha nodded lightly and watched his eldest son leave. Then he sighed helplessly. The relationship between the Uchiha and the village was getting worse and worse, and he found himself increasingly powerless.

Information on the student Chiba Lin Chuan was quickly delivered to him. Looking through Lin Chuan's file, Fugaku found that it was exactly as he had expected. He really was the child of an ordinary ninja, and his father was merely a Chunin.

"Another genius?" Fugaku Uchiha muttered to himself, setting down the documents in his hand. So what if he was a genius? Konoha had never lacked geniuses.

Ever since the incident in which three children had died, the conflict between the Uchiha and the villagers had intensified. The Uchiha no longer had the strength to concern themselves with such matters, and he was powerless to do anything about it...

After returning home, Lin Chuan ate dinner, then went to the backyard for a weighted jog. Once he finished jogging, he went to the riverbank to practice ninjutsu.

For the past week, he had been sitting quietly by the river, sensing the flow and moisture of water. He took out chakra paper, lightly pressed it with his fingertips, controlled the flow of chakra into it, and felt the chakra liquefy into water. Once the chakra paper became steadily damp, it did not matter if it became soaked through. The important part was chakra liquefaction.

Next came spitting water and controlling water. Once he could steadily convert chakra into water, he would have successfully mastered chakra's water nature transformation and would be able to use Water Clone and Water Shock Wave.

The essence of ninjutsu was the conversion between energy and matter. If one could draw upon matter from the environment, one could save chakra. Ninjutsu expelled from the mouth completed the conversion between energy and matter directly within the body, making it difficult to save chakra. At times like this, the environment could provide assistance.

Water Clone required only one hand seal. Coupled with the heavy moisture by the river and his chakra's high affinity for the water nature, he quickly created a Water Clone that looked seventy or eighty percent like himself.

His bargain-bin dad had been right. Learning nature transformation from the chakra attribute most compatible with him before practicing ninjutsu was twice as effective with half the effort. It had saved him a great deal of study time. If he could use Shadow Clones to speed things up, he might progress even faster!

Next, he needed to become proficient with Water Clone's single hand seal and Water Shock Wave's three seals: Dragon, Ox, Rabbit. As long as he could cast the ninjutsu, it counted as having learned it. That already put him ahead of more than ninety percent of his Chunin peers. After all, Chunin made up the majority. To cast it instantly, he would probably need to grind its proficiency past the limit.

"Water Release: Water Shock Wave!" Lin Chuan slowly completed the three hand seals, opened his mouth, and sprayed a stream of water at a tree by the river. It slammed into the trunk with a series of bangs.

After the water's impact ended, he found that the tree had only trembled slightly under the stream's force. A few leaves and bits of bark fell away before it quickly steadied again.

It was not that the water stream was weak. It was simply that the Water Shock Wave he had used was weak. He still needed to keep increasing its proficiency, shortening the casting time while increasing the stream's impact.

He would use breaking this tree in half as his goal. Looking at the tree that had just been struck by the water stream, he knew it would be his sparring partner from now on...

[Ninjutsu]

[Water Release Ninjutsu]

[C-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Clone (Beginner: 1/10)]

[C-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Shock Wave (Beginner: 1/10)]

He opened the Grind Panel and took a look. After learning water nature transformation for chakra, these two C-rank Water Release ninjutsu had also reached the beginner level. Combined with his precise chakra control and the humid riverside environment, he could use the chakra needed for one Water Clone to cast Water Clone three times.

Water Shock Wave worked on the same principle, though he could not conserve chakra as effectively as with Water Clone. At most, he could use the chakra needed for one Water Shock Wave to cast it twice.

If he were in a dry environment like a desert, the situation would be exactly the opposite. To use normal Water Release ninjutsu, he would need to spend even more chakra.