New daily tasks!

Time always flew by amid monotonous repetition.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed since Ye Chuan entered the Ninja Academy.

After three months of uninterrupted, grueling training, especially with the later increase in his tasks, his inheritance progress had steadily risen to [1.9%].

Yes, his tasks had increased.

A month earlier, when his inheritance progress finally struggled past the 1% mark, his daily tasks, which had consisted of just one item, changed.

[Daily tasks:]

[1. Swing a blade 1,000 times (0/1000)]

[2. Run 10 kilometers daily (0/10)]

[Task rewards: Gain 1 inheritance experience point for each task completed.]

A physical conditioning task had appeared on the system panel.

"Just as I thought, practicing technique alone won't do. My physical foundation has to keep up."

Ye Chuan had expected this.

Hawkeye's strength lay not only in his incredible swordsmanship, but also in his monstrous physique.

The system had clearly recognized how frail this body was, too, and had begun forcing him to improve his physical conditioning.

Now, he had two tasks to complete each day, and correspondingly, the inheritance experience he could earn daily had increased to [2 points].

Although his progress remained slow, it had at least doubled compared to the beginning.

The price was that his already tight schedule became even harder to manage.

With classes in the morning and afternoon, he could only squeeze these two punishing daily tasks into whatever gaps he could find.

Fortunately, as his inheritance progress increased and he practiced for three months, he had become thoroughly proficient in the basic blade swing, and muscle memory had long since formed.

The thousand swings that had once required multiple breaks were now much more efficient, taking nearly half as much time and allowing him to barely squeeze in the ten-kilometer run.

Of course, that was only relatively speaking. The intense training after school each day still drained him to his limit.

Besides his slowly strengthening body, the inheritance experiences in his mental world had also undergone new changes over these three months.

As his inheritance progress increased, he no longer merely experienced the insights Hawkeye gained while practicing swordsmanship as a child, but began experiencing battle scenes firsthand.

These were not earth-shattering battles, but more like fights between the young Hawkeye and his peers, mostly street brawls.

The images remained blurry, but the atmosphere of the fights was exceptionally brutal, filled with the ruthlessness of fighting to survive.

With every experience, Ye Chuan could distinctly feel the tension of surging adrenaline.

The keen gaze searching for an opponent's openings, the decisiveness in seizing an opportunity to win with a single strike, and the calm after victory.

The Ninja Academy had yet to formally begin sparring lessons, so in theory, all the students were still complete novices in combat.

But Ye Chuan knew that through these intermittent mental experiences over the past three months, he had already acquired almost instinctive combat intuition and experience.

Although children from clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga might have sparred under their elders' guidance from a young age, that sort of practice was entirely different from the actual combat Hawkeye had experienced.

Ye Chuan was confident that, in a real fight, as long as he was not completely outmatched physically, he could beat anyone in his class.

Of course, confidence aside, he had not let himself slack off because of it.

Besides the system's daily tasks, he also used every spare moment to quietly practice cultivating chakra.

Chakra was a special energy produced by perfectly combining the physical energy extracted from the human body's 130 trillion cells with spiritual energy, and it was the foundation for the vast majority of ninjutsu a ninja performed.

Although Ye Chuan focused on swordsmanship, he understood very well that he could not get by in this world without knowing anything about chakra.

Even the most basic three techniques required chakra to perform, let alone the Body Flicker Technique he might need in the future.

He also remembered that in the original story, there was a samurai nation called the Land of Iron, where the samurai could channel chakra into their swords, greatly enhancing the power and sharpness of their slashes.

Thus, after the school began teaching chakra extraction, he secretly devoted considerable effort to it.

Following Iruka's instructions, he sat cross-legged, focused his mind inward, sensed the two energies within his body, and tried to guide them into merging.

Thanks to the spiritual advantage his adult soul gave him, he clearly perceived the two sources of energy hidden within his body with hardly any effort.

The instant the two energies met, an entirely new, warm energy came into being. Though extremely faint, it was unmistakably chakra.

As he continued practicing, this chakra slowly grew stronger.

However, limited by his six-year-old body, his chakra reserves did not grow particularly quickly, nowhere near as noticeably as his control over the energy improved.

His chakra extraction efficiency and control already far surpassed those of every classmate, but each time, he displayed only an above-average level, never revealing his true progress.

The days passed steadily in this rhythm of attending classes and keeping up appearances by day, then training to his limits at night.

Until one day, during the afternoon practical lesson, Iruka led everyone to the outdoor training ground.

"All right, class. After three months of foundational study, I'm sure you all have some understanding of chakra and basic taijutsu."

"Today, we'll have our first combat sparring session!" Standing in front of the class, Iruka clapped his hands and announced.

"Combat sparring?" The children immediately grew excited, eager to try.

"Yes. Stop short of hurting each other. The main purpose is to let you get a feel for actual combat and test the results of your training."

As Iruka spoke, he took out the class register. "Now, the first pair..."

Several pairs soon finished their matches. Most fought like ordinary children, without any method, leaving Ye Chuan with little interest in watching.

Until Iruka called out two names: "Next pair, Naruto Uzumaki versus Sasuke Uchiha!"

Oh? Has the plot started? Ye Chuan's interest perked up a little.

He watched the two in the field. Naruto was as loud and boisterous as ever, while Sasuke displayed composure and skill far beyond his peers, easily evading Naruto's attacks and counterattacking from time to time.

Although their movements still looked immature to Ye Chuan, he could already see traces of their future selves.

In the end, unsurprisingly, both boys lost their tempers. Iruka forcibly separated them and ordered them to form the "Seal of Reconciliation," which symbolized the beginning of their bond.

Watching this scene, Ye Chuan had no particular thoughts, other than that these two rivals really had become entangled with each other early.

"All right, next pair!" Clearly somewhat troubled by what had just happened, Iruka quickly turned to the next page. "Ye Chuan versus..."

Hmm? My turn? Ye Chuan raised his eyebrows slightly and stepped out from the corner.

Iruka's gaze lingered on the class register for a moment. Then he looked up, turned toward one part of the group, and called out his opponent's name:

"Hinata Hyuga!"