Swinging a Blade in Your Sleep? Is That Even Carbon-Based Life?!

"It's over..." Asuma sat in the corner, his face deathly pale.

"This psycho is listening so seriously. He must be holding back some big move, figuring out a new way to kill us..."

"He's taking notes? That's a fucking Death Note, isn't it?!"

"Is he studying how to kill people without leaving any traces?!"

The students around them swallowed hard, each one feeling a chill run down their spine.

[Guard-Break Points from Kurenai Yuhi, +55!]

[Guard-Break Points from Ibiki Morino, +33!]

Ye had no time to care about the wild fantasies of these brats.

He looked at the key points on the blackboard, but his mind was racing with calculations.

Three years from now, the Third Shinobi World War would fully erupt.

In that meat grinder where human lives were cheaper than dogs, the theories on the blackboard had been paid for with the lives of countless predecessors.

Yet relying solely on this exam-oriented education meant he would instantly become cannon fodder the moment he hit the battlefield.

He needed some hardcore trump card to keep himself alive.

And in the short term, his best hope was the Taijutsu cheat code—the Eight Gates!

A pure breakthrough of Taijutsu limits, requiring neither Kekkei Genkai nor the Sharingan.

As long as his physical condition was strong enough, he could forcibly pry open the limits of the human body.

Since Kakashi could open the First Gate later on, Might Guy had to be, Zetsu-like, an exceptionally generous, high-quality leek.

Ye raised his head, his gaze passing over row after row of heads before locking precisely onto the glossy black watermelon-shaped head in the front row.

Not only could he harvest Guard-Break Points from this leek, he could harvest techniques too.

When he got the chance, he had to get that trump card for free somehow.

And starting after school today, he had to use his peak Genin Chakra to train his body intensely and toughen up this frame first.

Time slowly passed.

At last, the dismissal bell rang.

The afterglow of the setting sun streamed into the classroom.

Obito slung his backpack over one shoulder, stretched lazily, and complained to Ye through a yawn.

"Ye, let's go. We've had class all day, and I'm exhausted. When I get home, I'm going to sleep like the dead."

Ye's hands, which had been packing his bag, froze.

He slowly turned his head.

His eyes instantly became razor-sharp as he stared fixedly at Obito.

The students who had not yet left the classroom were startled and stopped in their tracks.

Ye lowered his voice and spoke in a heartbroken tone that was just loud enough for the entire class to hear.

"Obito."

Ye's voice was filled with the pain of seeing someone fail to live up to expectations.

"You're so young. How can you possibly sleep?"

Obito froze in place, his mouth hanging half open as his half-finished stretch stiffened abruptly.

"Do you know where you fall short compared with Kakashi?"

Without changing expression or missing a beat, Ye immediately switched into full-blown master manipulator mode.

"I'll tell you. It's because Kakashi doesn't sleep when he gets home!"

Obito's eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. "He... he doesn't sleep?"

"While everyone else is sleeping, he's training every single second!"

The more Ye spoke, the more outrageous it became, yet his voice was immensely convincing.

"Even if he truly can't endure it any longer and is forced to doze off for a while..."

Ye suddenly leaned close to Obito, deliberately lowering his voice to create an atmosphere that made everyone's scalp tingle.

"His muscle memory works with his nervous system to instinctively practice swinging his blade in his sleep!"

"Even with his eyes closed, his body automatically farms monsters and levels up!"

Ye sighed and delivered the final blow with utmost seriousness.

"Look at you. You can waste two whole hours just running into a few old ladies."

"With your lazy attitude, when will you ever outwork that pretentious bastard?"

Obito was completely dumbfounded.

He stood there blankly.

An extremely bizarre image uncontrollably formed in his mind:

Kakashi lay flat on his bed with his mask on and his eyes closed.

His limbs were stiff like a zombie's, while he gripped a Short Sword and wildly slashed through the air.

Obito sucked in a sharp breath.

The students around them, who had been listening with pricked ears, also collectively sucked in a breath.

The entire class was deeply shaken by Kakashi's inhuman level of relentless self-improvement.

"No wonder he's so strong..." someone muttered.

His muscles automatically swung a blade even while he slept?!

Was that something a carbon-based life-form could fucking do?!

Just then, in the corridor outside the classroom's front door.

Kakashi, who was about to head home after school, limped past expressionlessly with thick bandages wrapped around his legs.

Every word of Ye's utterly absurd nonsense entered his ears without exception.

Kakashi's steps came to an abrupt halt.

For about 0.3 seconds.

His eternally dead-fish eyes suddenly widened.

What kind of nonstop bullshit was this lunatic spouting?!

Whose muscles would swing a blade on their own while they slept?!

Wasn't he afraid he'd cut himself into sashimi in the middle of the night?!

Even Kakashi himself had not known that he had already become this godlike at grinding.

He turned his head and looked into the classroom through the crack in the door.

Every student, including Obito, was looking at him with an extremely reverent gaze reserved for a freakishly obsessive overachiever.

Kakashi opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to curse.

But at a glance, he saw Ye standing there with his arms folded, wearing a smile as radiant as spring flowers.

Then he looked at Obito's utterly convinced eyes, full of innocent stupidity.

The agony of having both legs pierced by Kunai yesterday instantly surged into his mind.

He couldn't respond.

He, Zetsu-like, absolutely couldn't talk to this living devil.

Arguing with these two weirdos would only make himself miserable.

Kakashi shut his mouth with a dark expression and swept Ye with a cold gaze.

Then he snorted through his nose with extreme disdain.

"Hmph."

He sharply swung his head away, quickened his limping pace, and fled down the corridor without looking back.

The classroom fell deathly silent.

Three seconds later.

Obito pointed in the direction where Kakashi had disappeared through the front door, looking as though he had been struck by lightning.

He viciously yanked at his hair and let out a soul-shattering scream.

"Holy shit!!! He actually admitted it!!!"

[Ding! Guard-Break Points from Obito Uchiha, +666!]

[Ding! Guard-Break Points from Kakashi Hatake, +888!]

[Ding! Guard-Break Points from Kurenai Yuhi, +122!]

Listening to the dense stream of coins arriving in his mind, Ye smiled even more brilliantly than the sunset outside the window.

Obito's worldview had been ground into the dirt, while Kakashi's frustration had turned into a solid haul of points.

This was an absolute killing.

Ye picked up his backpack, swung it over his shoulder, and strode into the sunset.

In his mind, a perfect plan for freeloading the Eight Gates had already taken shape.

Meanwhile, over at the Training Ground, Might Guy was carrying out his unwavering after-school extra training.

The sunset dyed the Training Ground a brilliant orange-red.

The figure in the green jumpsuit was throwing punches wildly, each one carrying a howling whistle as it tore through the air.

Ye's gaze passed over the crowd and locked tightly onto that green figure.

"My dear friend..." he murmured inwardly.

"Your Eight Gates are mine first."