King of Inner Competition Starting Today

"Fugaku, from now on, Aokiji is your senior brother."

After Aokiji defeated him without shedding a drop of blood, Fugaku swiftly acquired his new position as the "junior brother."

Puffing out his cheeks, Fugaku said unwillingly, "But I was here first..."

By the principle of first come, first served, he felt that he should have been the senior brother.

"From now on, please take care of me, my foolish little brother."

Aokiji beamed as he looked down at the little runt before him. Fugaku was pretty cute as a child. How did he end up looking like a middle-aged Maki Shinichi at such a young age, so mature and worldly?

Could it be because his wife was beautiful, and he worked too hard every day, causing him to age before his time? Aokiji stroked his chin, feeling that it was quite possible.

There were so many Secret Techniques in this world. He wondered if there was a dual cultivation technique.

If there was not, Aokiji would not mind being the first to eat the crab.

For the sake of academic research, a little personal sacrifice was hardly worth mentioning.

If he really developed one someday, what should he call it? Dual cultivation sounded too tacky. Since he was in Rome, it at least needed "Release" at the end.

What name would be good? Aokiji fell into troubled thought. As the founder of this Release, he needed to give it a mighty, imposing name.

(Wake up, you do not even have a girlfriend.) Little Fugaku's face darkened. "You are only relying on the advantage of being older than me. In a few years, I will defeat you."

"Huh?" Aokiji's thoughts were interrupted. "What did you just say?"

Feeling ignored, Fugaku gave an unhappy snort.

Elder Itachi glanced at Uchiha Aka beside him. The latter understood at once and coughed twice, drawing the two brats' attention.

Elder Itachi quietly retreated to a chair and slowly sat down, cane in hand. There was no need for him to handle every part of their training personally; he would only offer guidance when necessary.

Aokiji asked, "Dog Teacher, what are we doing next?"

"Dog Teacher?"

Why did that sound so much like an insult? "Yeah, isn't your nickname Red Dog? I just shortened it for you."

"Why, thank you so much."

"You're welcome."

Uchiha Aka: ...

"Let me make this clear in advance. My training is very harsh."

Uchiha Aka immediately tried to intimidate Aokiji, hoping to dampen his spirit first so that he would be easier to handle later.

Aokiji sighed and complained, "What a hassle. As a Medical Ninja, do I really need to learn combat techniques? It is not like I will use them."

Uchiha Aka's eyes widened as he threatened, "Kid, do not think that becoming a Medical Ninja means you can rest easy. Let me tell you, on the battlefield, Medical Ninjas are not much safer than combat ninjas. Once the enemy discovers you, their first target will be to kill you. I am making you learn combat techniques so that you will at least have some ability to protect yourself."

There was nothing wrong with that, except most Medical Ninjas never went to the battlefield and stayed safely in the rear...

Not long after receiving Elder Itachi's order to guide Aokiji, Uchiha Aka had reviewed Aokiji's records.

After his grandmother's death, his personality had changed drastically. He had become lazy and completely given up on himself. During his time at the academy, aside from sleeping, all he did was sleep. He had even been mockingly dubbed the "Sleeping Kage."

And his motivation for doing so was simply that he wanted to be useless.

He had even uttered a famous line at the academy that shattered everyone's worldview:

"As long as I act useless enough, I will not have to go to the battlefield."

He had utterly disgraced the Uchiha Clan. If he had been an ordinary clansman, they might have expelled him from the clan just to distance themselves from him.

But the problem was that Aokiji was a genius, which made things troublesome.

Even before entering the academy, he had displayed talent far beyond that of his peers. His gift had been obvious to the naked eye.

To avoid becoming a ninja, Aokiji had deliberately concealed his strength. Nor had he hidden it all at once, since that would inevitably arouse suspicion. Instead, he had steadily regressed bit by bit every year. This showed that aside from his exceptional ninja talent, he was also quick-witted. He simply did not apply that intelligence to the right path and was always coming up with all sorts of nonsense.

If the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan had not possessed the ability to perceive the flow of Chakra within the human body, they might have been fooled by this kid and lost such a talent for nothing.

Training a rebellious Uchiha child like this gave Uchiha Aka a terrible headache.

So he had come up with a plan. He would first exploit Aokiji's fear of death and scare him a little. That would make the training afterward much easier.

"Huh? Is that so?"

Aokiji widened his eyes and pretended to be terrified. "But I heard that Medical Ninjas have a very high survival rate."

"Kid, that is what people tell you to fool you into becoming a Medical Ninja. It is true that Medical Ninjas play a vital role on the battlefield, but because their combat strength is low and they are too weak to even truss a chicken, once they are targeted, they cannot even outrun their enemies. That is why nobody wants to become one. With your intelligence, surely you can understand that."

"Tch, I do not believe you. Do not think I am that easy to fool."

"Hearing is false; seeing is believing. Raise your head."

"Why?"

Aokiji was full of suspicion, but he obediently raised his head anyway.

Then he saw a pair of Sharingan with three tomoe staring straight at him.

Damn it.

Why was it the Sharingan again...

Uh.

Why did I say "again"?

In the blink of an eye, the surroundings changed completely. Corpses were piled up like mountains everywhere he looked, every one of them frozen in an expression of agony before death.

What was going on? Aokiji stood stunned for a moment before realizing that the scene before him had probably been created through the Sharingan's power.

The Sharingan's abilities were truly convenient. It combined Genjutsu, copying, recording, control, hypnosis... hypnosis instruction? Aokiji deliberately thought of lewd things to distract himself, but the scene before him was far too real. The sight of corpses littering the ground and blood flowing in streams made his stomach cramp, and he wanted to vomit.

When he returned to reality, Aokiji was panting heavily and drenched in cold sweat. It was not all an act. He had been in this world for so long, yet he had never set foot on a battlefield.

Even as an adult, seeing such things had turned his mind into a muddled mess. Not to mention those children who had seen such unsuitable scenes from a young age.

No wonder a certain psychopath would emerge within the clan in the future and slaughter the entire clan for some bullshit "greater good."

Aokiji really wanted to say: "Aren't you noble? Aren't you something?"

"I just used the Sharingan to show you a real combat scene. This is the real world we live in. Do not keep thinking about running away from problems. Think about how to face them."

"Hmph, trying to trick me into becoming a combat ninja? No chance."

Uchiha Aka saw Aokiji's stubborn expression. A sly smile curled at the corner of his mouth. It seemed that the earlier demonstration had worked well. With that, Aokiji probably would not slack off too much during the training ahead.

Seeing Aokiji acting like such a coward gave Fugaku some sense of balance. Coward. He had gone to the battlefield when he was only four.

Aokiji lowered his head, and a flicker of cunning flashed through his eyes. He looked as though he had been scared out of his wits, but in truth... he really had been scared out of his wits.

But that was not the important part. The important part was that with this groundwork laid, his upcoming "all-out grind" would have a perfectly good reason in everyone else's eyes.

Do you really think I, Uchiha Aokiji, am lazy?

From now on, I will show you what it means to be the King of Inner Competition.