Sasuke: I absolutely won't lose this time

In the forest near the Uchiha Clan's grounds.

Sasuke was in a place that no barrier covered.

Clang, clang-

Whoosh-

Thud, thud, thud!

Uchiha Itachi threw over a dozen shuriken and kunai, which collided in midair, ricocheted away, and struck every target!

Each target was tucked away in an awkward position behind cover, realistically simulating battlefield conditions.

Yet even under these circumstances, every one of Uchiha Itachi's projectiles hit its mark!

Terrifying Shurikenjutsu-no, Manipulated Shurikenjutsu would have been a more fitting name.

"That was amazing! Amazing, Nii-san!"

Sasuke emerged from hiding, clapping excitedly and showering him with praise.

"You even hit the blind-spot target behind the rock!

"You're incredible, big brother!"

"Sasuke."

Uchiha Itachi's stern expression softened, and he smiled as he stroked Sasuke's head.

"Nii-san, I want to learn that too!"

Sasuke said excitedly, "Then I'll definitely be able to beat Yecheng!"

"Yecheng?"

Uchiha Itachi looked slightly puzzled. Despite carrying out missions in the ANBU, he had never heard that name.

Sasuke Uchiha immediately told him all about his defeat during their earlier taijutsu class.

"That guy's taijutsu is ridiculous, but if I learn Manipulated Shurikenjutsu, I'll definitely beat him!"

Uchiha Itachi smiled. "All right. I'll teach you."

The two began training.

He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his younger brother Sasuke. It allowed him to relax completely, body and mind.

He did not have to think about the Uchiha Clan or the village, nor worry about the balance between them, which had already become fragile to the extreme.

Simply practicing techniques with his little brother was enough to soothe his weary heart.

Yet in this fucked-up world, even that tiny wish was too much to ask.

A figure suddenly appeared in the shadows. Uchiha Itachi glanced at him and understood.

"Sorry, Sasuke. There's an urgent mission. I have to go."

Uchiha Itachi gave an apologetic smile.

At those words, Sasuke Uchiha's little face immediately fell. He pouted, puffing out his cheeks in a sulk.

"But you promised you'd train with me today..."

Seeing him like that, Itachi found it both amusing and painful.

Then he beckoned to him.

Thinking he had changed his mind, Sasuke immediately hurried over with a beaming smile.

Itachi reached out his right hand and tapped Sasuke's forehead with two fingers.

"Sorry, Sasuke. Next time."

He smiled apologetically, with far too much helplessness in that smile.

Sasuke grumbled inwardly, Next time, next time. It's always next time.

But he also knew his older brother was an exceptionally outstanding ninja, someone everyone admired. Even their father was full of praise for him.

Capable people are always busy, he thought.

"All right, but you have to spend time with me next time."

"Yes. Definitely next time."

Itachi left.

But Sasuke did not stop training. Again and again, he painstakingly practiced the Manipulated Shurikenjutsu Itachi had taught him.

As long as I beat Yecheng, Father and my brother will surely acknowledge me too!

With that thought, Sasuke trained even harder.

Just you wait, Yecheng. I absolutely won't lose this time!

The next day.

As usual, Yecheng sent a shadow clone to school.

His real body went to his usual training ground.

Having mastered Monster Strength, Yecheng wanted to test his current strength in combination with Playful Cloud's properties.

Naturally, the best way was to perform a Subjugation on a shikigami.

This time, he chose [Max Elephant] as the target of his Subjugation, which was just right for testing his current head-on offensive power.

Yecheng formed the Max Elephant hand seal with both hands and chanted, "Max Elephant!"

Trumpet-

Accompanied by a piercing trumpet, an enormous shikigami emerged from the shadows.

[Max Elephant] was actually even larger than an ordinary African elephant, standing a full two stories tall!

Has my chakra strengthened him?

Yecheng silently speculated.

He gave it no further thought, nor summoned any other shikigami to help. He simply activated his incomplete Yang Release Chakra Mode and Monster Strength, drew Playful Cloud from the shadows, and charged straight at him with a long cry.

Max Elephant swung his long trunk, immediately curling it toward Yecheng's waist.

If that trunk wrapped firmly around him, he would be in danger and would have no choice but to abandon the one-on-one fight and summon shikigami to get him out.

But Yecheng was utterly unafraid. The black-and-red staff spun through a flourish in his hands, whistled through the air, and smashed viciously into Max Elephant's trunk!

Smack!

Bang!!!

Unexpectedly, his single blow actually burst Max Elephant's trunk apart!

Had this been an ordinary creature, that blow would have ended the fight on the spot.

Fortunately, shikigami felt no pain. Even after suffering such a grievous injury, Max Elephant could still move.

He trumpeted, and a massive torrent immediately erupted from the end of his trunk, forming a huge wave that swept toward Yecheng!

Yecheng did not panic in the slightest. With a leap, he landed on the crest of the wave, chakra gathering beneath his feet as he stood as steadily as on level ground.

"This blow will turn you to dust~"

Yecheng was extremely fast, and his strength was even more terrifying!

An unsubjugated shikigami ultimately had only instinct, without control or strategy. Caught off guard, Max Elephant took a heavy blow to the forehead from Yecheng's staff, and his body immediately faltered.

Yecheng pressed his advantage, swinging again and again, every strike a heavy blow!

Under this relentless barrage, even a shikigami as enormous as Max Elephant could not hold out. He dissolved into ink-black shadows that splashed across the ground before surging into Yecheng's shadow.

Max Elephant—Subjugation successful!

Yecheng spun his staff in a flourish, looked at the black-and-red staff in his hands, then at his own hands, and suddenly burst out laughing.

A few days earlier, subjugating [Great Serpent] had required all his shikigami and considerable effort.

Now, he could easily subjugate [Max Elephant] alone, clearing the fight without a scratch!

Such tremendous progress was truly intoxicating.

Without even realizing it, he had already become this strong.

At last, he had gained a sliver of power to protect himself in this deranged world.

Yecheng nodded in satisfaction.

Striking while the iron was hot, he used [Max Elephant]'s advantageous matchup to subjugate [Rabbit Escape] as well.

That left only [Nue] among the three mid-stage shikigami.

That afternoon.

At the Ninja Academy.

During taijutsu class, Sasuke volunteered to fight.

"Yecheng, let's settle this!"

Sasuke stepped forward and looked at Yecheng with an air of looking down upon the world.

Before Yecheng could speak, Naruto stepped out first.

"What are you talking about, you stuck-up Sasuke? You already lost before!

"Beat me first!"

Sasuke glanced at him and snorted dismissively.

It was as if he were saying that a defeated opponent was beneath his notice!

Naruto immediately went red, stamping his feet and pointing at him. "What?! You're making me so mad! Stuck-up Sasuke, I challenge you to a duel!"

Yecheng stepped forward with a smile to soothe him. "It's fine. I'll fight first, then you two can fight."

"...Fine."

Naruto folded his arms. "Since you've said so, Yecheng, I'll let you go first!"

Everyone chuckled at the sight.

"Form the Seal of Confrontation."

Sasuke looked at Yecheng, taking his stance as his expression grew serious.

"Yecheng, I'm not the same as before. This time, I absolutely won't lose!"

"Really? But I trained hard over the weekend. Underestimate me, and you'll pay for it."

Observing him with the Six Eyes, Yecheng clearly saw that his palms had far more calluses than before. He had indeed put in some hard work.

Unfortunately, I'm not like you. I've got cheats!

Sasuke gave Yecheng a suspicious glance. Finding nothing different about him from before, something clicked, and he arrived at an answer.

He's just bluffing.

Watch me seize the initiative!

Instead of advancing to attack, Sasuke abruptly retreated.

"He knows he's outmatched in taijutsu, so he's creating distance first? A very good decision."

Iruka nodded from the sidelines in approval.

If it were Naruto, he'd definitely charge in shouting and swinging his fists.

The thought gave him a slight headache.

Just as Yecheng had anticipated, the moment Sasuke retreated, he immediately formed hand seals for the Clone Technique.

Sasuke's clone pushed off the ground and attacked Yecheng. At the same time, the original moved both hands in rapid succession, sending four wooden shuriken slicing through the air toward Yecheng.

Naturally, students could not use iron ninja tools while sparring. It would be bad if someone died.

Facing the attack, Yecheng smiled calmly and likewise threw four shuriken, knocking down all of Sasuke's with the proficiency of a Special Jōnin.

As for the clone, he popped it with a single finger.

After all, what the Ninja Academy taught was merely the most basic Clone Technique, a visual trick rather than the Shadow Clone Technique, which produced tangible bodies.

"What's wrong, Sasuke? You should still have something to show me, right?"

Yecheng chuckled.

"Hmph. You won't be laughing in a moment!"

Sasuke threw another four shuriken. Unlike before, this Shuriken Throwing used extremely tricky angles: the four shuriken collided with one another, then the steel wires connected to Sasuke's hands guided them toward the blind spots behind Yecheng from unexpected angles!

At the same time, he formed hand seals, gathering fire-nature chakra in his throat before expelling it in a single breath to form a gigantic fireball!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

"What?!"

Iruka was utterly stunned at the sight.

A ninjutsu of this level required at least a genin to perform. In other words, Sasuke Uchiha's current strength was already every bit on par with a genin's!

Moreover, other genin would have been unable to handle this combination attack. Even he could be injured if he faced it carelessly!

He was already itching to move, wanting to rescue Yecheng from this combination attack!

Yet Yecheng remained perfectly unhurried in the face of it.

With the Six Eyes, his vision had no blind spots whatsoever. He had long since seen through the Manipulated Shurikenjutsu attack.

As for the Great Fireball Technique...

Don't you know Fire Release is also called the merciful technique?

Its kill rate in the original story was pitifully low!

This Great Fireball Technique in particular looked impressively grand, yet had never actually hit anyone.

What complete garbage!

Besides, even if Yecheng did not dodge, he had plenty of ways to deal with it.

There were two universal solutions to basic release ninjutsu like this: counter it with a release of an advantageous nature, or cancel it out with a release of the same nature.

Yecheng pretended to form hand seals while actually mobilizing his chakra directly, performing the Fire Release Ninjutsu he had obtained by opening a card from that Root Anbu.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

Yecheng likewise gathered a great mouthful of chakra, transformed its nature, and blasted it straight out!

Unlike Sasuke's, his flames burned hotter, their color actually shifting from red to orange-yellow!

Something even more incredible happened. After Yecheng spat out his flames, they gathered without dispersing, even transforming into an actual fire dragon!

The fire dragon coiled around Yecheng, burning every wooden shuriken attacking from behind to ashes, then raised its head toward the sky in a silent roar.

The fire dragon opened its jaws wide and, as everyone watched in utter disbelief, swallowed the great fireball Sasuke had spat out!

Not even the tiniest spark remained!

It even let out a burp!

Only when Yecheng stopped forming hand seals did the fire dragon circle once more and finally fade away.

"Huh?"

All the spectators were stunned.

Sasuke's earlier assault had been fierce and powerful. They knew that even if they had faced it themselves, they would have struggled to deal with it, only able to dodge desperately until he seized an opening.

"Wow! Yecheng, I knew you could do it!"

Naruto jumped up in excitement, sincerely delighted by his good friend's victory.

"Yecheng-kun seems to have gotten stronger again, Shikamaru."

Choji had grabbed a handful of chips and forgotten to eat them.

"That's why it's such a drag..."

Shikamaru glanced at Ino beside him, who was just as stunned, and shook his head with a wry smile.

With Yecheng that strong, it would probably be hard for Ino to earn his recognition.

Kiba Inuzuka was dumbfounded too, muttering, "How am I supposed to beat that?"

"That's not where your strengths lie. You should just give up on fighting him."

Shino Aburame suddenly appeared behind him.

"Ah! What the-Shino, you're here? You scared me."

"I've been here all along."

Despite saying that, Shino kept his gaze fixed firmly on Yecheng.

Could my insects break through Fire Release like that?

No. They'd all die.

Looks like I'll have to breed a batch of insects specifically resistant to flames and high temperatures.

"Hmph, I'm not giving up! I'm not letting anyone else have the Hokage position!"

No, that's even less likely.

Shino thought this to himself without saying it aloud.

After all, it would have been too hurtful.

Nearby, Hinata watched everyone cheering for Yecheng and wanted to cheer him on too.

But when the words reached her lips, she still couldn't shout them out.

With all her might, she only managed to say quietly, "That was amazing, Yecheng-kun..."

Then she suddenly saw Yecheng look her way, give her a brilliant smile, and mouth the words, "Thank you."

Hinata froze, then her pretty face instantly turned crimson, right down to the tips of her ears. She lowered her head, looking as though steam were rising from it.

So cute.

Yecheng looked away, sighing inwardly.

How could anyone bear to hurt such a cute girl?

"Huh?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. Still holding the pose he had used to spit out the Great Fireball Technique, he froze on the spot.

H-how could this happen?

Today, my hands trembled. Today, my heart ached!

I practiced that combination for so many days. I thought I could easily take down my opponent. Even if Yecheng's Taijutsu was formidable, there was nothing to fear!

But why was I beaten so utterly?

Without even the slightest ability to fight back?!

Weren't the Uchiha invincible?

Could it be that I'm not actually an Uchiha, and Yecheng is?!

Today, the big shots were chatting in the group.

"I'm jealous of people who get seven days off for National Day."

"It's fine. Webnovel authors get to request one day off."

"Other jobs pay triple for working on National Day. Why don't we get triple royalties?!"

"But three times zero is still zero."

"..."

For some reason, all the big shots fell silent.