Chapter 9: Izayoi Rebuffed

Chapter 9: Izayoi Rebuffed

Points could only be acquired by Dissolving Traits.

Izayoi had understood this since he was three years old. Back then, to justify lingering near the Hyūga Clan Grounds, he’d befriended a group of playmates and joined them in ninja games. His popularity had earned him envy from peers, leading to several scuffles with other children.

Some of these opponents possessed White-ranked Entry ninja potentials. After defeating them, the system’s chime would sound, offering the options: Fusion or Dissolve. Dissolving these traits granted him twenty-five Points total—each White-ranked Entry yielding a random single-digit Point value when dissolved.

Now, Dissolving a Purple-ranked Entry had instantly awarded him a four-digit Point total.

Blue-ranked Entries could now be upgraded.

“So, how many Points does it take to upgrade a Blue-ranked Entry?”

Curious, Izayoi clicked the plus sign next to Chakra Control.

His stat panel updated accordingly:

[Host: Izayoi]

[Talent Traits: Otsutsuki Bloodline (red), Kage-Level Potential (gold), Bloodline Limit (purple), All-Affinity Body (purple), Chakra Control (purple), Medical Genius (blue)]

[Points: 793]

Chakra Control had upgraded from blue to purple, while the plus sign beside Medical Genius vanished. His Points had decreased by nine hundred ninety-nine.

“Traits were ranked White, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold, Red. Dissolving White-ranked Entries gave single-digit Points, Purple-ranked yielded four-digit totals, while upgrading Blue-ranked required a three-digit extreme value. Were these fixed or random?”

Izayoi mused, “If fixed, did White to Green mean 9 Points? Green to Blue 99? Blue to Purple 999? Purple to Gold 9999? Gold to Red 99999? And Red to an unknown new tier… 999999 Points?”

He lacked sufficient Points for experimentation—and certainly wouldn’t waste them upgrading anything below Red-ranked. Excepting special traits like Byakugan and Chakra Control, he’d abandoned all Red-ranked inferior traits.

Once he awakened the Tenseigan, countless Dimensional Reduction techniques would become available. Developed to its peak, it might even grant Six Paths-level abilities. A single pair of eyes would carry him through to the final Shippuden conflict. Rather than squander Points on inferior traits, he’d invest them into the Otsutsuki Bloodline.

Further upgrades would match the purity of the alien Ōtsutsuki clan. Who knew—perhaps it might even produce Rinnegan of different hues, or even Cursed Seals and Divine Techniques.

Of course, these were mere speculations, and still far off for Izayoi.

September 1st arrived. The Ninja Academy’s second semester commenced. Though he only attended afternoon sessions, the new term introduced Taijutsu Sparring to their curriculum.

Randomly matched by Iruka Umino, Izayoi found himself paired with neither Naruto Uzumaki nor Sasuke Uchiha.

“Iruka-sensei, may I request a match with Sasuke?” he’d asked.

Iruka hesitated but ultimately shook his head. “There can be no special treatment in Taijutsu Sparring. Its purpose is to prepare you for all kinds of combat—battles against equals, weaker opponents, or even stronger foes. You must grow accustomed to fighting on equal footing, crushing enemies, or being crushed. Only through such hard-fought battles can you improve.”

“I understand,” Izayoi replied, though he resolved to challenge Sasuke after school.

But after class, Sasuke’s response made Izayoi’s eye twitch.

“How about a spar?”

“No thanks. I need to go home and train.”

The pre-avenger Sasuke hadn’t developed his signature coldness yet, but he rejected the challenge without hesitation. Eager to train with his beloved older brother, Sasuke sprinted home, leaving Izayoi empty-handed.

Izayoi didn’t bother trying to provoke the Uchiha. The Clan had already been relocated to the Nanakawa River area after the Nine-Tails’ Rampage, and without Body Flicker Technique, Sasuke’s commute home was lengthy.

Challenging Naruto was equally impractical. As the class dead-last, Naruto’s academic record was abysmal—his graduation exam results had even included mispronouncing the word “chakra.” His malnourished physique meant his physical education scores remained below average.

Challenging such a Dead-Last might attract unwanted attention from the Anbu, let alone Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō Shimura. The latter might suspect Izayoi knew classified knowledge or was a pawn sent to manipulate Naruto. Such measures could leave Izayoi in a precarious position—something he wanted to avoid.

His current targets remained Hinata Hyūga and Sasuke Uchiha.

But September meant only three months remained in Konoha Year 54. Next year would bring Sasuke’s Clan Extermination Event. When that happened, the vengeful Sasuke would certainly accept any challenge Izayoi proposed.

The next day, Izayoi continued attending afternoon sessions in person but made no further requests to fight Sasuke. Matching against Sasuke or Naruto would be ideal, but other classmates—like the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the sensor team, and other students—were equally viable.

This graduating class contained the nine prodigies and various others, all possessing minimum White-ranked ninja potential. Even White-ranked Entries yielded single-digit Points when dissolved, while the prodigies’ traits ranged from Blue to Red-ranked.

Until confirming whether Shadow Clones could acquire traits, Izayoi couldn’t afford to miss afternoon sessions.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end