The afternoon consisted of a testing class.
The Chūnin instructor announced the rules at the front.
The rule was simple: use shuriken to hit thirty dummies scattered across the field in the shortest possible time.
"Next, Kiyoshi Uchiha."
The Chūnin teacher called Kiyoshi's name.
Kiyoshi stepped forward, raised his hand, and tossed a shuriken, which struck a dummy.
The Trait related to shuriken throwing did not require an excessive number of practice attempts; Kiyoshi had already reached 88% completion.
Even without fully acquiring the Trait, his shuriken throwing skill was much better than before.
He could clearly see every target that would appear as just a black dot to others, which significantly improved his accuracy.
*Thunk! Thunk! Thunk...*
After hitting one dummy, Kiyoshi began to run forward.
The dummies were placed far apart, requiring the ninja to throw while running to minimize the time taken.
A short while later, Kiyoshi let out a slight breath.
"Nine points!"
The Chūnin instructor gave Kiyoshi a score, with a perfect score being ten points.
"Your progress is very fast, Kiyoshi."
After recording the score, the Chūnin instructor sighed in admiration.
Was Kakashi the only one who could be called more talented than Kiyoshi?
What would happen if Kiyoshi had enrolled earlier?
And he even possessed the Sharingan.
After thinking for a moment, the Chūnin instructor shook his head.
It was just that the border had been unstable recently. Many colleagues returning from missions were injured.
Kiyoshi nodded slightly and returned to his spot.
"Kiyoshi-kun, you're improving so fast."
"Kiyoshi-kun, do you have a secret trick?"
Kiyoshi had been at the Ninja Academy for several months now. His classmates all knew him and sometimes sought him out to talk.
However, Kiyoshi rarely wasted time on these people. He wished he could split his time in half.
"It's just hard work. If everyone works hard, you can definitely progress quickly," Kiyoshi replied with a smile, humoring them.
The second person to be tested was Kakashi.
Kakashi threw shuriken with an expressionless face.
He finished in a very short time.
While Kiyoshi was still observing Kakashi's movements, trying to steal a move or two, a pleasant voice came from beside him.
"Kiyoshi-kun, may I talk to you?" Rin Nohara asked.
The purple markings on the sides of her face were very noticeable in the sunlight.
Kiyoshi raised his eyes, looked at her calmly, and nodded.
"Kiyoshi-kun, we've known Kakashi for longer, yet why does Kakashi prefer to seek you out?" Rin Nohara got straight to the point.
She hoped to find the answer from Kiyoshi.
Kiyoshi pondered for a moment and said:
"That's because Kakashi needs something to vent his emotions and escape the various gossip in the village. I imagine, Rin Nohara-kun, you don't practice swordsmanship."
"I don't." Rin Nohara lowered her head upon hearing this.
Her grades at the Ninja Academy were good, ranking high, and the school taught some basic medical Ninjutsu knowledge.
She excelled at learning these.
Even the instructor responsible for teaching medical Ninjutsu at the Academy extended an olive branch to her.
If she graduated, she could go to the Medical Squad for further intensive training and acquire more medical Ninjutsu.
But she truly wasn't good at combat, or in this case, swordsmanship.
"Moreover, if things continue this way, Kakashi is likely to run into trouble."
"Trouble? What do you mean?" Rin Nohara looked bewildered, she couldn't understand Kiyoshi's words at all.
"Who knows." Kiyoshi did not explain further, turning away.
The "trouble" was, of course, psychological issues.
This was the darkness of the Hidden Leaf.
The so-called Will of Fire sounded grand, yet when someone abandoned a mission to save comrades, they were subjected to criticism from the entire village.
If the leadership had praised Sakumo Hatake for saving his comrades while still penalizing him slightly for the mission failure, a system of reward and punishment, would Sakumo Hatake have resorted to suicide?
Instead, the situation unfolded with the leadership remaining silent, while the people below, and even the comrades Sakumo Hatake saved, turned to criticize him.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi had been willing to speak out, Kiyoshi didn't think anyone would dare to criticize Sakumo Hatake.
The Third Hokage was known as the Teacher of Shinobi and the Strongest Hokage.
Of course, these were titles circulated by the new generation who had never witnessed the First Hokage's power.
Rin Nohara stood still, her brows tightly furrowed.
She turned her head to see Kakashi had finished the test and blended into the crowd.
What should she do?
***
Several days passed consecutively. Kiyoshi spent his extra time training at home, preparing for early graduation.
"You have comprehended the Trait: [Three-Body Technique (White)]."
[Trait: Three-Body Technique (White).]
[Requirement Achieved: Learn the 'Clone Jutsu,' 'Transformation Jutsu,' and 'Substitution Jutsu.']
[Progress: (Completed).]
[Effect: Your understanding of the Three-Body Technique surpasses the average person, the effect is 5% better than average.]
[Note: Can be further upgraded later.]
The training of the Three-Body Technique was finally completed by Kiyoshi.
A technique that usually takes common people several years to master was compressed into a few months by him.
Of course, that was the time required for civilian ninjas to train.
Ninja clans with inherited secret techniques or bloodline would learn these techniques very quickly.
Even so, Kiyoshi's training speed was considered among the fastest in the Uchiha clan.
"Advance Trait."
Kiyoshi opened the Trait panel to proceed with the advancement.
When he acquired [Water Walker (White)] and [Tree Climber (White)], an advancement route appeared, with the required condition being the [Three-Body Technique] Trait.
"You have comprehended a new Trait: [Solid Fundamentals (Green)]."
[Trait: Solid Fundamentals (Green)]
[Requirement Achieved: Achieve the fundamental proficiency required of a ninja.]
[Progress: (Completed).]
[Effect: Chakra volume increases by 20% on top of your existing foundation.]
[Note: Can be further upgraded later.]
"It feels like being ripped apart."
The moment the Trait panel voice fell silent, Kiyoshi felt intense pain.
The fierce pain assaulted every cell in Kiyoshi's body, from his muscles to his bones, and even every nerve, as if they were being forcibly stretched by an external force and then filled up from the inside out.
"Chakra is a combination of spiritual energy and physical energy, which means I will not only improve spiritually but also physically," a thought suddenly flashed through Kiyoshi's mind. His consciousness quickly recalled his knowledge about chakra. "That is to say, my physical body will become stronger."
One minute, two minutes...
It wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that his already robust physique became even larger.
Kiyoshi looked down at his hands. They were thicker than before. Taking off his shirt, his muscle definition became clearer, his fingers became more powerful, and he seemed more flexible and elastic than before.
He stood up straight and stretched his neck.
There were still changes in his physical body.
His height seemed to have changed as well, Kiyoshi looked down and saw his pant legs had moved up a bit.
"Now I'm getting taller and taller."
Kiyoshi could still feel every cell in his body throbbing with pain.
However, this was accompanied by a feeling of abundant power and high spirits.
***
50 stones for bonus.
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