Izayoi's Rejection

Points could only be obtained by dismantling perks.

Izayoi had known this since he was three years old.

Back then, in order to plausibly appear near the Hyuga Clan, he had befriended a group of children and played ninja games with them.

Because he was too popular, he had drawn the resentment of children his age and gotten into fights with some of them.

Several of those children had White Perks for Ninja Aptitude.

After those perks dropped, the system prompt likewise offered fusion or dismantling.

After dismantling those perks, Izayoi had obtained twenty-five Points. Each White Perk yielded a random single-digit number of Points when dismantled.

Now, dismantling a Purple Perk had given him a four-digit number of Points in one go.

His Blue Perks could now be upgraded.

"Then how many Points does it take to upgrade a Blue Perk?"

Curious, Izayoi could not help tapping the plus sign behind Chakra Control.

Immediately, his Status Panel changed again.

Host: Izayoi

Talent Perks: Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red), Super Kage Aptitude (Gold), Kekkei Genkai · Byakugan (Purple), All-Attribute Constitution (Purple), Chakra Control (Purple), Medical Genius (Blue)

Points: 793

The Chakra Control perk had changed from blue to purple.

Meanwhile, the plus sign after Medical Genius had disappeared.

His Points had also decreased by 999.

"Perk grades are divided into white, green, blue, purple, gold, and red. Dismantling White Perks randomly gives single-digit Points, while dismantling Purple Perks gives four-digit Points. Upgrading a Blue Perk requires a three-digit number consisting entirely of nines. Are these Point costs random or fixed?"

Izayoi muttered inwardly, If the cost is fixed at a number made entirely of nines, does that mean upgrading white to green costs 9 Points; green to blue costs 99; blue to purple costs 999; purple to gold costs 9999; gold to red costs 99999; and red to some unknown new grade costs 999999 Points?

Izayoi did not know. He currently had no low-grade perks below blue, nor did he have enough Points to test it.

Even if he had spare Points, Izayoi would not use them to upgrade low-grade perks.

Aside from special perks like the Byakugan and Chakra Control, Izayoi did not intend to upgrade any perks below red.

As long as he awakened the Tenseigan, he would gain a large number of techniques akin to Dimensional Strikes.

Developed to the extreme, it would even grant him Six Paths Level power.

A single pair of eyes would be enough for Izayoi to coast through to the final battle of Shippuden.

Rather than wasting Points on trash perks, he might as well use them to upgrade his Otsutsuki Bloodline.

As long as the Otsutsuki Bloodline upgraded again, its purity would surely reach the same level as the extraterrestrial Otsutsuki Clan.

At that point, it might even give rise to Rinnegan of other colors, or abilities like Karma and Divine Techniques.

Of course, those were merely guesses, and they were still far off for Izayoi.

Time came to September 1st.

The Ninja Academy began its second semester.

This semester, Izayoi finally came to class with his Main Body, though only for the afternoon lessons.

In the second semester, mornings were still devoted to academic classes. In the afternoons, besides physical education and shuriken throwing, there was an additional class: Taijutsu Sparring.

Unfortunately, Iruka Umino randomly assigned the Taijutsu Sparring matches. Izayoi was not paired with Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, or Hinata.

"Iruka Sensei, may I apply to spar with Sasuke?"

When he heard the pairings were random, Izayoi had even approached Iruka Umino himself, hoping to have a match with Sasuke Uchiha.

Iruka Umino hesitated for a moment, but still shook his head. "There will be no special treatment in Taijutsu Sparring. Its purpose is to remind you that the enemies you encounter may be evenly matched with you, weaker than you, or even stronger than you."

"You must adapt to evenly matched battles, as well as battles where you crush your opponent or are crushed in turn... Improve through hard-fought battles, gain a sense of accomplishment through victory, taste bitterness through defeat, and continue growing."

"I understand, Iruka Sensei."

Seeing that Iruka Umino had not agreed, Izayoi did not press the matter.

He planned to challenge Sasuke Uchiha after school instead.

However, after school, Sasuke Uchiha's response made the corner of Izayoi's mouth twitch slightly.

"Sasuke, want to have a match?"

"Sorry, I'm not interested. I need to go home and train."

Sasuke Uchiha, who had not yet become an avenger, was not as aloof as he was in the original story. Even so, he refused Izayoi's challenge without hesitation, then jogged home with an expectant look on his face.

After the Nine Tails' Rampage, the Uchiha Clan had been suspected of being the masterminds behind releasing the Nine Tails. Their clan grounds had no choice but to relocate from Central Street to the vicinity of the Naka River.

Sasuke Uchiha, who had not yet mastered the Body Flicker Technique, needed some time to get home from the Ninja Academy.

All he wanted now was to return home and train with his brother. He had no time to waste on Izayoi.

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Before Izayoi could provoke the Uchiha Clan and goad Sasuke Uchiha into fighting him, Sasuke had already vanished without a trace.

Izayoi felt rather helpless about that.

Nor did he switch targets and challenge Naruto Uzumaki.

Although the year-end exams that would determine the Top Student had yet to take place, Naruto Uzumaki's overall grades for the first semester were already dead last in the year.

After all, even the worst students knew how to pronounce the word "Chakra."

Naruto Uzumaki alone could still mispronounce the word "Chakra" even after graduation. It was clear that his academic grades were just like the Chunin Exams—either blank papers or random answers.

Slightly malnourished, his physical education grades did not even reach above average.

If Izayoi, as an honor student, suddenly challenged a dead-last student, it would easily draw the attention of the Anbu, as well as Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, who had been watching Naruto all along.

The former would be fine, but the latter might very well suspect that Izayoi knew something, or assume that he was a pawn sent by someone to get close to Naruto.

To prevent any accidents, they would likely take certain measures.

When that happened, Izayoi's position would become extremely passive.

That was not what he wanted.

So for the time being, Izayoi's only targets were Hinata and Sasuke Uchiha.

After being rejected by Sasuke Uchiha, Izayoi did not persist stubbornly.

It was already September of Konoha Year 54. There were only three months left before the year ended.

Next year would be the Filial Son's Clan Massacre Incident.

By then, Sasuke Uchiha would have become an avenger and would definitely no longer refuse Izayoi's challenge.

Thus, the next day, Izayoi still attended class with his Main Body, but he did not take the initiative to apply for a match against Sasuke Uchiha, nor did he challenge him after class.

Being matched with Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki was certainly a good thing.

But the other classmates were not bad either.

After all, aside from the two Saviors of the Ninja World, this class also had the new generation of Ino-Shika-Cho and the Sensor Team.

All the other students possessed at least Ninja Aptitude (White).

Every one of them had Perks. Even if only a White Perk dropped, dismantling it would still yield single-digit Points.

As for the Konoha 11, they possessed blue and purple Perks, and even gold and red ones.

Getting any one of them would be an enormous gain.

Since Izayoi was not sure whether Shadow Clones could produce Perks, he naturally could not skip the afternoon classes.