At dusk, the setting sun stained the training ground red.
Word had already spread throughout the academy. Countless students flocked over, surrounding the training ground and holding their breath as they awaited this clash of geniuses.
On one side stood Sasuke Uchiha, the fallen, long-established genius; on the other stood Lin Chen, the rising powerhouse who had become a legend overnight.
Everyone wanted to know who truly ranked first among Konoha's new generation!
"Sasuke's an Uchiha! His bloodline is powerful. He's bound to win!"
"Not necessarily! Lin Chen's too strong now. All wins, zero losses-he's never slipped up!"
"I'm betting on Sasuke unleashing his hidden power! The pride of the Uchiha won't let him lose easily!"
Amid the chatter, Sasuke stood alone in the center of the field, facing the lingering sunset as the chakra around him churned wildly and surged.
His brows were tightly knitted, fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his temples, his muscles were taut, and his eyes were bloodshot.
He was forcibly squeezing out his bloodline's power, forcing his way toward the threshold of awakening the Sharingan!
The awakening opportunity Lin Chen had plundered and the bloodline potential that had stagnated were forcibly stirred by his extreme obsession and the Heavenly Dao's secret support!
Sizzle-
Fine strands of blood-red chakra coiled around his eyes. His eye sockets reddened slightly, and a fierce, bloodthirsty Uchiha aura suddenly erupted.
"He's about to awaken it! Sasuke's about to awaken the One-Tomoe Sharingan!"
The spectators instantly erupted, their faces filled with shock.
Even with his awakening greatly delayed and his opportunity cut off, Sasuke still forced a breakthrough through sheer obsession and the Heavenly Dao's support!
The next second.
Whoosh!
His pitch-black eyes instantly turned red, a single deep tomoe slowly spinning within them.
The One-Tomoe Sharingan had been forcibly awakened!
In an instant, Sasuke's perception and dynamic vision increased severalfold. His entire aura transformed, far surpassing the level of an ordinary Genin!
He stared fixedly at Lin Chen as he walked slowly onto the field, a cold gleam shifting through his Sharingan, aloof and icy.
"Lin Chen, this is my Uchiha trump card."
"As I am now, beating you will be effortless."
As Lin Chen watched Sasuke's aura surge after forcibly awakening his eyes, a system notification sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Detected a forced breakthrough by the destined target, Sasuke Uchiha!] [The Heavenly Dao's will temporarily infused a trace of power, helping him forcibly awaken his eyes ahead of time!] [Plunderable targets detected: One-Tomoe Sharingan essence, Uchiha bloodthirsty chakra, and bloodline explosive power from the forced breakthrough!] [Plundering a destined opponent can trigger a fifteenfold critical multiplier!]
A sharp glint flashed in Lin Chen's eyes. His heart remained unruffled, leaving only absolute calm.
The Heavenly Dao was forcibly elevating its destined protagonist?
Perfect.
He never refused a top-tier opportunity delivered to his doorstep.
Lin Chen slowly came to a stop and lightly raised a hand toward Sasuke, whose aura was fully unleashed and whose Sharingan was active.
"Then give it a try."
As those calmly spoken words fell, the clamor around the field abruptly died.
The setting sun slanted low, stretching their shadows out long, one calm and the other fierce, their confrontation stark.
Sasuke's scarlet One-Tomoe Sharingan locked firmly onto Lin Chen. Within his field of vision, every movement Lin Chen made and every subtle flow of his chakra was captured.
The Sharingan's most basic perceptive ability was displayed to its fullest at that moment.
In Sasuke's eyes, ordinary ninjas' movements were riddled with openings. Yet Lin Chen stood steadily before him, his aura concentrated, offering no opening whatsoever.
This made Sasuke, whose confidence had soared after forcibly awakening his eyes, increasingly displeased.
"Quit putting on an act!"
Sasuke barked, his body suddenly shooting forward!
After awakening the Sharingan, his speed and explosive power had doubled. His figure became a blur as he lunged straight at Lin Chen's face.
Combining high-speed Taijutsu with concentrated Uchiha chakra, his punch carried a fierce gust, sharp and overbearing, far surpassing any attack he had ever made before.
The watching students' hearts clenched abruptly. They did not dare so much as breathe heavily.
"He's too fast! The Sharingan's boost is incredible!"
"Lin Chen can't dodge that! There's no way he can withstand that punch!"
Everyone believed that Sasuke, with his Kekkei Genkai trump card in hand, was certain to win.
Even Naruto, standing outside the field, clenched his fists, his face tense as he could not help shouting, "Lin Chen, watch out!"
Facing the heavy punch hurtling toward him, Lin Chen did not shift his stance, his eyes perfectly clear.
The next moment, the abundant chakra within him stirred slightly. He shifted lightly sideways, a single simple step taking him just clear of Sasuke's lethal strike.
Whoosh!
The fierce gust swept past his ear, and the wind from the punch struck the empty ground, stirring a light scattering of dust.
Sasuke's full-power punch missed. His pupils abruptly contracted, his Sharingan spinning rapidly in disbelief.
A strike with his speed and perception pushed to their limits had actually been dodged so easily?
"Impossible!"
Sasuke refused to believe it. He unleashed the Body Flicker Technique repeatedly, striking with fists and feet in an unbroken barrage, swift and tricky.
Gusts from his palms and blurring fists filled the entire field, every strike carrying the fierce explosive power of the Uchiha bloodline.
Yet no matter how fast or ferocious his assault became, Lin Chen always evaded every attack half a step ahead.
He strolled as though through a quiet courtyard, composed and unhurried.
He seemed to be dodging passively, but in reality, he neutralized every one of Sasuke's attacks.
It was not that the Sharingan's perception was too weak. Rather, Lin Chen's dynamic vision, combat awareness, and physical speed surpassed Sasuke's in every respect!
Combined with the ultimate foundation unlocked by plundering the Scroll of Seals last night, the neural reflexes of his Nine-Tails physique, and the ocular power granted by his trace of Uchiha bloodline, his overall physique had long since exceeded the limits of a Genin.
Sasuke's Sharingan could see the trajectories, but he could not keep up with Lin Chen's speed!
In just a few seconds, Sasuke unleashed dozens of furious attacks, all of which missed.
The intense bursts of power, coupled with the burden of forcibly awakening his eyes, made his eyes increasingly bloodshot. His breathing gradually quickened, and his chakra drained rapidly.
The drawbacks of his forced breakthrough were fully exposed at that moment!
"Why?! How can you be so fast?!"
Sasuke completely lost his composure, his scarlet Sharingan filled with agitation and fury.
The greatest trump card he relied on had actually become completely ineffective!
"Your trump card is indeed powerful."
Lin Chen finally spoke. With a light step, he suddenly counterattacked.
"Unfortunately, it's still not enough."
As his words fell, he appeared instantly at Sasuke's side.
He moved so fast that he even left a faint afterimage where he had stood!
The basic footwork of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and his ultimate Taijutsu came together seamlessly. The explosive power of that instant completely overwhelmed Sasuke!
Sasuke's pupils shook violently. His Sharingan worked at full capacity, barely catching the trajectory, but he had no time to dodge.
Thud!
A crisp, clean palm strike chopped precisely onto Sasuke's shoulder.
Dense, pure chakra surged in with it, directly dispersing the chaotic blood-red chakra around him.
"Argh!"
Sasuke let out a muffled cry and staggered back several steps. His shoulder throbbed with numbing pain, and the chakra within him instantly fell into disorder and reversed its flow.
The light of his One-Tomoe Sharingan abruptly dimmed. Much of the blood-red color faded, showing faint signs of disappearing.
Now!
A thought stirred in Lin Chen's mind, and he decisively activated max-level Plunder!
[Ding! Destined opponent locked on! Fifteenfold critical plunder activated!] [Plundering: One-Tomoe Sharingan essence, Uchiha bloodthirsty bloodline explosive power, and the Heavenly Dao's temporary blessing!] [Plundering... stripping away the temporary destiny buff and severing Sasuke's reserves for further eye-awakening growth!]
An invisible devouring force crashed down over Sasuke's entire body.
Sasuke felt a burst of agony in both eyes. The warm bloodline power throughout his body was drained away in an instant, and the Sharingan he had struggled so hard to awaken rapidly dimmed.
That perception that let him command the entire situation, that explosive power far beyond ordinary people, was rapidly leaving him!
"My power! My Sharingan!"
Sasuke's face turned deathly pale. He roared in panic as overwhelming terror instantly flooded his heart.
The trump card he had forcibly awakened by exhausting his bloodline and borrowing against his future was vanishing into thin air!
[Ding! Plunder successful! Fifteenfold critical multiplier applied!] [Host obtained incomplete One-Tomoe Sharingan essence and pure-blood Uchiha potential!] [Host's dynamic vision and perception have surged significantly. Basic ocular power control unlocked!] [Target Sasuke: Sharingan temporarily sealed, bloodline potential greatly reduced, difficulty of awakening his eyes a second time doubled!] [The Heavenly Dao's blessing has been plundered. The world will's correction mechanism is fluctuating violently!]
The instant the system notifications rang through his mind, Lin Chen's eyes grew slightly warm.
Invisible ocular power took root in his eyes, and his vision transformed once again. The trajectories of everything in the world and the subtle movements of chakra all appeared clearly before him.
Although he had yet to fully awaken the Sharingan, he already possessed perception far surpassing a single tomoe!
Across from him, however, the scarlet in Sasuke's eyes faded completely. His tomoe vanished, and his eyes returned to their ordinary black.
Not only had his Sharingan shut down completely, but the chakra aura surrounding him had also weakened considerably.
The breakthrough he had gained by overextending everything had been utterly plundered by Lin Chen, harvested in its entirety!
High above in the void, that cold sensation of being watched suddenly intensified, and the oppressive feeling between heaven and earth instantly grew several times stronger.
Faint, obscure fluctuations of the Heavenly Dao's laws swept over the training ground, laden with fury and warning.
Brazenly plundering the essence of the destined protagonist's breakthrough and cutting off the plot correction had thoroughly enraged the world's will!
Lin Chen lifted his eyes and gazed calmly at the sky, utterly unafraid, with nothing but indifference in his heart.
A warning?
From the moment he had bound himself to the system, he had already been destined to oppose destiny and the Heavenly Dao.
The harder they suppressed him, the stronger he became!
At the edge of the field, everyone fell deathly silent.
Everyone stared blankly at the scene before them, their minds empty, completely speechless.
Sasuke, who had forcibly awakened his eyes-the genius who had unleashed his hidden power-had actually been crushed head-on, and even his bloodline trump card had inexplicably vanished?
The outcome had already been settled!
Lin Chen looked at the deathly pale, trembling Sasuke. His voice was quiet, yet it rang throughout the field.
"Now, do you still think I was just lucky?"
Before you continue